Hello, more blogtastic fun for you to read.....
Let's start with 'Nowt Flash' at the Donkey, Leicester on Monday 11th April, This night was a last minute gig put on from a friend of mine. Simon Gliroy host's the night at the the Donkey every Monday, it features house band 'The Moonlight Sinatras' who play all sorts of covers including songs by The Beatles, Rolling Stones and even a very cool take on the single 'Black and Gold' by Sam Sparrow! Along with these guys every week the band invite a host band to fill a slot in the middle of the evening and this is where our role came in.
On Friday 8th April I was travelling to my home in Leicester from Derby when I recieved a Facebook message asking whether the band were avaliable to play on the monday! Luckily, we had a band practise sheduled for that weekend any way so I fortunatley had my Guitar with me, however not by tambourine pedal or bass drum pedal! After checking with the band it turned out that Nick was free however Sean was working late and so just me and Nick would play.
On the monday we arrived at The Donkey at about 9 O'clock when the evening usually kicks off, we sat back and enjoyed a drink whilst watching the Moonlight Sinatras for a while before taking to the stage at around 10. I managed to commandere a tambourine pedal, (quite lucky I'd say don't know many people who use one) and a bass drum pedal and we played for around 30 minutes to a moderately sized crowd. All in all the audience where very appreciative and listened a lot, something that doesn't always happen!
After playing we were approached by Gaz Birtles, who organises the gigs at the Donkey and he asked us whether we were avaliable to play as part of the St Georges Day celebrations at the Chutney Ivy restaurant in Leicester as part of the Song Club. We agreed and that moves us onto that.........
St Georges Day this year was in fact today (23rd April) and earlier on I played a set at The Chutney Ivy which included a new song (played in the wrong key whoops!) and lots of other usual material. The gig was played by myself on my own this time, as Sean was gigging with the Irish band he plays in and me and Nick felt it's better if it's just me on my own other than with him and me!
So quite a new and novel experience having not played on my own for some time! All in all though very good fun!!! I arrived at the Chutney Ivy at about 2 O'clock ready to play for about 2.40. The event was part of a large St Georges Day celebration in the cultural quarter in Leicester. The songclub is basically an acoustic stage usually held at the Donkey every Saturday however especially for St Georges we were at the Chutney Ivy.
So I took to the make shift stage in the restaurant at about 2.40pm and off I went playing all Davenport songs and a new song called 'Winter's Light' which we rehearesed the previous weekend but haven't played live yet. I started this song and was playing away when i suddenly realised I was in the wrong key, with the capo a fret to high up the neck of the guitar! Meaning I was forced to start again!! In the end it all went well on a beautiful sunny day in the city! A great day all in all!
Overall so far we have played some brilliant gigs, it's been just over a yea since we first got together to play this kind of material and we've developed well into th band that we are today! Our next gigs are the 15th May at Walkabout Derby for a Comic relief gig and the 3rd June for the 3rd Gentle-Folk's Ball!! We're currently working on writing some new material and are going to be recording our first full album very soon!!
Thnks for reading
Dan
p.s More photo's and videos coming soon, a broken camera is causing me problems!!
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 45 mins
Travelling: 2hrs 30mins
Rehearsing: 8hrs
Time at Gigs: 6hrs
Blogging: 1hr 30mins
Total: 18hrs 15mins
Total so Far: 156hrs 50mins
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Joel Owen & The Antoine Band
So..... Following on from the previous blog entry, We were asked to support Joel Owen and The Antoine Band at the Musician, Leicester on the 24th March 2011.
The usual journey was made to the musician from Derby on the train to Leicester and then a short 10 minute walk stopping off to purchase a fishcake and chips for tea :)
I arrived at the Musician at about 7.00pm and sound checked on my own breifly before Sean arrived and we checked without Nick agai because of him working. After the sound check the evening began, there was a fair sized crowd at this even all eager to see Joel Owen as his reputation in the local area is quite high.
We took to the stage just before Joel and the band at about 9.30 and played a 30 minute set of the usual material, without any big hitches! The gig went well and we made some friends with Joel Owen and his band, it's worth talking about his band.
Joel has been hotly tipped around Leicester for a long time and is a great singer songwriter, recently he has been playing with a full band that includes drums, bass, electric guitar, keyboards, a trumpet and trombone! These musicians are hand picked from some of Leicester's best bands and the band is a great band worth checking out at this link.
Another successful gig for us and another great night! So far we've had a really busy 2011 and it keeps on coming, another blog soon about 'Nowt Flash' at the Donkey and we're playing again as part of The St Georges celebrations in Leicester on the 23rd April, So more blogs about that also!!
Thanks for Reading
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 30mins
Travelling: 1hr 40mins
Rehearsing: 4hrs
Time at Gigs: 5hrs
Blogging: 30 mins
Total: 11hrs 40mins
Total so Far: 138hrs 35mins
The usual journey was made to the musician from Derby on the train to Leicester and then a short 10 minute walk stopping off to purchase a fishcake and chips for tea :)
I arrived at the Musician at about 7.00pm and sound checked on my own breifly before Sean arrived and we checked without Nick agai because of him working. After the sound check the evening began, there was a fair sized crowd at this even all eager to see Joel Owen as his reputation in the local area is quite high.
We took to the stage just before Joel and the band at about 9.30 and played a 30 minute set of the usual material, without any big hitches! The gig went well and we made some friends with Joel Owen and his band, it's worth talking about his band.
Joel has been hotly tipped around Leicester for a long time and is a great singer songwriter, recently he has been playing with a full band that includes drums, bass, electric guitar, keyboards, a trumpet and trombone! These musicians are hand picked from some of Leicester's best bands and the band is a great band worth checking out at this link.
Another successful gig for us and another great night! So far we've had a really busy 2011 and it keeps on coming, another blog soon about 'Nowt Flash' at the Donkey and we're playing again as part of The St Georges celebrations in Leicester on the 23rd April, So more blogs about that also!!
Thanks for Reading
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 30mins
Travelling: 1hr 40mins
Rehearsing: 4hrs
Time at Gigs: 5hrs
Blogging: 30 mins
Total: 11hrs 40mins
Total so Far: 138hrs 35mins
Folk It..... A Late Blog
On Thursday 3rd March, We played at the Musician as part of the Folk' It event, hosted by Adam Breedon. When revuing my blog entries I realised that in all of the excitement of the Gentle Folk's Ball I'd left this event out!! So here's my account of what was quite an eventful gig...
As always with being away in Derby and the gig being held in Leicester, I had to make the journey on the train with my gear ready to play, so 40 minute journey and 10 minute walk to the venue later, I arrived at the Musician for about 6.45pm. On arrival I was greeted by a very relaxed atmosphere, took a cup of coffee and went on stage to sound check (Nick and Sean hadn't arrived yet due to Nick's work and so I checked on my own, before a line check later on). Sound check done all that was left was to wait for Nick and Sean and enjoy the event.
The night kicked off with Dan White, a comedy singer songwriter making a come back to the scene after about two years of not playing a live show! The reception for him was fantastic and is song's about 'Gammy Hands' and 'Chavs' where as hilarious as ever. At about 9.00pm Sean and Nick where both there and we prepared to take to the stage.
Mounting the stage at about 10.00pm we began to play a 40 minute set including all of the usual songs, only this time there was a slight problem. Before leaving Derby that afternoon I had fitted new strings onto my guitar! Doesn't sound like a problem, however any guitarist will know that it takes time for new strings to stretch into position and stay in tune!! So although I had stretched the srings when putting them on, when taking the guitar out into the cold to transport it over and then under the hot lights, the strings had stretched all over the place and the guitar was terribly out of tune!
So a quick tune up solved the problem... for about a minute. The guitar would not stay in tune at all throughout the set and so an amusing banter began betwen myself and Nick on stage. Luckily for us our humour was responded to well by the audience and although the music wasn't of the best standard the comedy managed to get the audience on out side! Luckily by the time the set was over everybody was laughing and we had a very good night.
After we came off stage I was approached by girl asking me whether we would like to play a gig on the 24th March supporting Joel Owen and the Antoine Band. It turned out we were free and so we agreed. This moves us nicely onto the next gig in the next blog.........
Thanks for reading
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 30mins
Travelling: 1hr 40mins
Rehearsing: 0hrs
Time at Gigs: 4hrs 15mins
Blogging: 30 mins
Total: 6hrs 55mins
Total so Far: 126hrs 55mins
As always with being away in Derby and the gig being held in Leicester, I had to make the journey on the train with my gear ready to play, so 40 minute journey and 10 minute walk to the venue later, I arrived at the Musician for about 6.45pm. On arrival I was greeted by a very relaxed atmosphere, took a cup of coffee and went on stage to sound check (Nick and Sean hadn't arrived yet due to Nick's work and so I checked on my own, before a line check later on). Sound check done all that was left was to wait for Nick and Sean and enjoy the event.
Mounting the stage at about 10.00pm we began to play a 40 minute set including all of the usual songs, only this time there was a slight problem. Before leaving Derby that afternoon I had fitted new strings onto my guitar! Doesn't sound like a problem, however any guitarist will know that it takes time for new strings to stretch into position and stay in tune!! So although I had stretched the srings when putting them on, when taking the guitar out into the cold to transport it over and then under the hot lights, the strings had stretched all over the place and the guitar was terribly out of tune!
So a quick tune up solved the problem... for about a minute. The guitar would not stay in tune at all throughout the set and so an amusing banter began betwen myself and Nick on stage. Luckily for us our humour was responded to well by the audience and although the music wasn't of the best standard the comedy managed to get the audience on out side! Luckily by the time the set was over everybody was laughing and we had a very good night.
After we came off stage I was approached by girl asking me whether we would like to play a gig on the 24th March supporting Joel Owen and the Antoine Band. It turned out we were free and so we agreed. This moves us nicely onto the next gig in the next blog.........
Thanks for reading
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 30mins
Travelling: 1hr 40mins
Rehearsing: 0hrs
Time at Gigs: 4hrs 15mins
Blogging: 30 mins
Total: 6hrs 55mins
Total so Far: 126hrs 55mins
Monday, 18 April 2011
The Second Gentle-Folk's Ball...
Well it seems like a while a go now and my apologies for the late blog entry, in fact since the Gentle-Folk's Ball there have been two more gigs! One supporting Joel Owen and another at the Donkey as part of 'Nowt Flash' on a Monday night. More blog entries will follow talking about those though!
The Gentle-Folk's Ball, Friday 18th March 2011! I travelled to Leicester from Derby on a very sunny Friday afternoon dressed in my Red Nose Day T-shirt, as it was Red Nose Day and armed with my guitar and gear for playing and a couple of mics and leads to help mic up Humble He.
The 40 minute train from Derby arrived in Leicester around about half past 5 and I made the 20 minute walk across the town from the train station to the High Street where the Crumblin' Cookie Bar and Cafe is situated. A nice fairly easy jouney nowadays after the academic year's gigging I'm quite used to sitting in doorway seats on the train with my guitar and a suitcase and then trecking from one side of a city to the other! (Why do they never build venues near train stations?) That aside I arrived nice and early, which is a good thing when you're hosting the night and I began the setting up for the evening. The stage in the Crumblin' cookie is a rather clever fold up stage and so we set about unfolding the stage and setting up the microphones ready for the night.
First to arrive were Humble He. A 4 piece band with beautiful harmonies accompanied by 2 guitars, a violin and a cello. By the time we had given those guys a good sound check, the rest of the artists playing where there and ready to go.
After the doors opened at 7.30pm the crowd arrived and piled in and the show kicked off with Lena Walker. Lena is a young singer songwriter with a beautiful clear tone and soft voice, she began with a good 30 minute set of spine tingling music. She was followed by Kristy Gallacher, a successful inger songwriter from Coventry. Her guitar skills are completely increadable, and are equally matched by her beautiful lyrics and great personality. Kristy's set went down brilliantly with the crowd and after a short break in between Jack Day took to the Stage. Jack had travelled all the way from London in order to play. He is involved with the Lantern Society, a similar night of acoustic and folk music based in North London. His set was a brilliant mix of country, folk and blues guitar played to accompany a brilliant voice with an underlying gravelly tone. After Jack, Humble He took to the stage and wowed the crowd with beautiful melodies and harmonies with a set list from 'a photo of an old set list' the band charmed their way through the set and eventually were followed by us. We took to the stage and played out usual set, the hopes where to get some new material into the set but with only one band practise before the gig there really wasn't the time.
All of the bands involved with the night intermingled and some great connections were made for everybody. After the audience left, the night ended with a jamming session going late into the early hours between members of Humble He, Myself, Jack Day, Lena Walker and a good friend Daryll Kirkland from the Kirkland Turn.
Overall the night was an unequivical success and a really great experience for all the artists. A third Gentle-Folks ball is even in the pipeline already and early planning has begun!!
More blogs in the very near future regarding Joel Owen and The Donkey.
Thanks for reading!!
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 0hrs
Travelling: 2hrs
Rehearsing: 2hrs
Time at Gigs: 8hrs
Blogging: 1hr
Total: 13hrs
Total so Far: 120hrs
The Gentle-Folk's Ball, Friday 18th March 2011! I travelled to Leicester from Derby on a very sunny Friday afternoon dressed in my Red Nose Day T-shirt, as it was Red Nose Day and armed with my guitar and gear for playing and a couple of mics and leads to help mic up Humble He.
The 40 minute train from Derby arrived in Leicester around about half past 5 and I made the 20 minute walk across the town from the train station to the High Street where the Crumblin' Cookie Bar and Cafe is situated. A nice fairly easy jouney nowadays after the academic year's gigging I'm quite used to sitting in doorway seats on the train with my guitar and a suitcase and then trecking from one side of a city to the other! (Why do they never build venues near train stations?) That aside I arrived nice and early, which is a good thing when you're hosting the night and I began the setting up for the evening. The stage in the Crumblin' cookie is a rather clever fold up stage and so we set about unfolding the stage and setting up the microphones ready for the night.
First to arrive were Humble He. A 4 piece band with beautiful harmonies accompanied by 2 guitars, a violin and a cello. By the time we had given those guys a good sound check, the rest of the artists playing where there and ready to go.
After the doors opened at 7.30pm the crowd arrived and piled in and the show kicked off with Lena Walker. Lena is a young singer songwriter with a beautiful clear tone and soft voice, she began with a good 30 minute set of spine tingling music. She was followed by Kristy Gallacher, a successful inger songwriter from Coventry. Her guitar skills are completely increadable, and are equally matched by her beautiful lyrics and great personality. Kristy's set went down brilliantly with the crowd and after a short break in between Jack Day took to the Stage. Jack had travelled all the way from London in order to play. He is involved with the Lantern Society, a similar night of acoustic and folk music based in North London. His set was a brilliant mix of country, folk and blues guitar played to accompany a brilliant voice with an underlying gravelly tone. After Jack, Humble He took to the stage and wowed the crowd with beautiful melodies and harmonies with a set list from 'a photo of an old set list' the band charmed their way through the set and eventually were followed by us. We took to the stage and played out usual set, the hopes where to get some new material into the set but with only one band practise before the gig there really wasn't the time.
All of the bands involved with the night intermingled and some great connections were made for everybody. After the audience left, the night ended with a jamming session going late into the early hours between members of Humble He, Myself, Jack Day, Lena Walker and a good friend Daryll Kirkland from the Kirkland Turn.
Overall the night was an unequivical success and a really great experience for all the artists. A third Gentle-Folks ball is even in the pipeline already and early planning has begun!!
More blogs in the very near future regarding Joel Owen and The Donkey.
Thanks for reading!!
Dan
Hours So Far...
Planning & Promoting: 0hrs
Travelling: 2hrs
Rehearsing: 2hrs
Time at Gigs: 8hrs
Blogging: 1hr
Total: 13hrs
Total so Far: 120hrs
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