the soundtrack to the day you wish you'd had
My myspace page has vanished! As has the Recycle Collective one… I’m pretty sure it’s a technical problem with the site, not that I’ve actually been erased, as there are loads of people who’ve lost there’s including The Lovely Rev. G, Unknown Public and Pete Levin – too random a selection of lovelies for it to mean anything in terms of a deletion policy.
So I’m now waiting for it to reappear… come on!
Well, last night’s Recycle Collective gig was an absolute blinder! For starters, it was the biggest crowd we had so far (more than 80, possibly 90…), the air conditioning was just perfect after the sweatiness of London these last few weeks, and then there was the music…
I started off with a solo set – I sat down to play and realised that all my song-remembering space in my head was full of the New Standard tunes, and I wasn’t sure I could remember my own stuff! But thankfully they all went really well – definitely the best solo set I’ve played at the RC. Finished off the set with a lovely and slightly shorter than the album version of ‘One Step’ with Julie. Fab first set, well done me!
Then came The New Standard Edinburgh set – as y’all know, we’ve rehearsed long and hard for this, and it all went off without a glitch… well, without a noticeable glitch. Small screw up on the play out to the last tune, but I rescued it, and I v. much doubt anyone but Julie noticed. Julie sang beautifully, and the audience loved it. What fun!
And Set three started with two solo pieces by Cleveland Watkiss – the first a baroque counterpoint thing that was just sublime, and the second a dub/drum ‘n’ bass/gospel thing that was equally amazing. Two fine trio improvs finished off the evening, and everyone went away happy, Julie and I both sold lots of CDs (Cleveland is his usual style didn’t bring any merch).
I think Edinburgh’s going to be magique.
If you were there, please write a review, and post it in the comments here, or over in the forum – thanks for coming!
Directions to Darbucka, for tonights gig, or any other Recycle Collective gig.
come out of Farringdon tube, turn left, and immediately left again onto Turnmill Street. turn right onto Clerkenwell Road (the big main road that Turnmill runs into) and then turn left onto St John’s Street, after about 300 metres, at the traffic lights. Darbucka is on the right, on the corner of Compton Street, just past the Tescos.
We’re only one week away from the next Recycle Collective gig, and it’s going to be a blinder.
It’s a three part gig – part one is my album launch! Yes, I know that lots of you have already bought Behind Every Word (if you have please head over to the shop and post a review of it there, please!), but here’s your chance to hear lots of the tunes from the album live, and it’ll be a longer solo set than my usual 25 minute opening to the Recycle gigs.
then part two is Julie’s and my Edinburgh preview gig. Yup, it’s the only chance you’ll have to see the entire New Standard show from this years Edinburgh fringe, in London. We’ve been rehearsing lots, have come up with a pretty much perfect set list, and you need to come and see it! No really, it’s a must. Julie’s great, I’m not bad, and what’s more, there’s a part three to the gig, where Julie and I will be joined by Cleveland Watkiss, UK jazz legend, and one of the most amazing musicians ever to play at the Recycle Collective. He’s great.
So there you go, next Wednesday, at Darbucka, it’s only £7 to get in (£5 if you’re a student or an OAP or in the MU or whatever – bring proof, please) and the venue’s fab. bring friends, come early and eat, make a night of it.
Yay!
It’s now just over a month til Julie and I start our run at the Edinburgh Fringe – we’re rehearsing weekly now (a pretty much unheard of phenomenon in StevieWorld), and the set list and arrangements are really coming together.
Today had a bit of an 80s vibe – we’ve just done a killer version of ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ with a couple of other 80s classix woven in in the middle, and we were working on a looped vocal version of Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega, where I get to put my bass down for a tune, but still do the loopage…
The set list is pretty much there, we think – about 12 or 13 songs, no filler material at all. The evidence for this is that I was trying to think which songs we’d do if we got a one or two song set on a radio program or cabaret set at the Fringe (or before), and was really struggling to pick out any one stand-out tune. I’m loving them all!
Don’t forget that we’re doing an Edinburgh Preview show in London on July 26th at This month’s Recycle Collective gig, which is also my official album launch. Yes, it’s going to be an amazing night and all the more amazing because Cleveland Watkiss is coming down to do a lovely improv set with Julie and I to close out the evening. I think ‘unmissable’ is the word. 🙂
see you there, x
5 things list – was tagged by Jan (not worth posting a link to Jan’s blog, as you have to be subscribed to it to read it)
5 things in my fridge:
smoothie
salad
M & S red onion chutney (mmmmmmmmm)
pita bread
hummus
5 things in my wardrobe:
80s pointy suede goth boots
two old grandad coats from my college days
a bass case
many other reminders of fashion disasters gone by…
5 things in my bag:
my new CD
a sharpie
my wallet
out of date recycle collective flyers
scissors
5 things in my car:
litter
crap tapes
not so crap tapes
a road atlas
last night, Marcus Miller. (!)
tagged? anyone reading this with a blog. :o)
Saturday night I had a gig in Crouch End, at a venue called The Loft – which isn’t actually a dedicated ‘venue’ but is an apartment belonging to Jenni Roditi, a composer, singer and musician who uses her flat as a venue. It’s spacious, beautiful and acoustically lovely.
I was invited to play by Rowland Sutherland – the genius flautist who has played at the Recycle Collective before now. The non-me part of the gig was a new quartet that he’s a part of with Alwynne Pritchard – voice, Thorolf Thuestad – laptop processing and Roger Goula – guitars.
My set followed on from the end of the football (apparently bad things happened to England – ah well), and went very well. I was slightly concerned that my stuff would be a little to pop for the audience, given the contemporary composition theme of much of what happens at the loft, but the portrait of Joni Mitchell on the wall gave much encouragement, as did the hearty applause of the audience. All in, a very well received set, with much positive feedback.
Mytle’s set was a mix of composed stuff, improvised stuff and mangled-beyond-recognition standards. I have a hard time with post-Schönberg classical singing – so much of it sounds like the soundtrack to encroaching mental illness (I think this is largely due to me relating so much in music to the process of personal soundtracking, whether playing or listening – it’s all about providing a soundtrack to the world…) – There were moments I really enjoyed, and it was all expertly done (all four musicians are hugely talented), but I did come away feeling slightly traumatised by it. Maybe that’s the intention? I’m certainly not averse to being left confused or upset by music, or any other art.
Anyway, ’twas an enjoyable, fascinating evening, in a lovely venue with a very warm audience. Great stuff. This kind of house concert happens a lot in the US, and I hope it catches on here (if you have got a big room in your house, and a lot of music loving friends, and want to organise a gig, please do drop me an email…)
no, not a football match, it was in fact the 8th RC gig and the 2nd Fret Phobia gig.
And much fun it was too – BJ had brought along Emily Burridge on cello, and they opened the show with a gorgeous duo set. The logistics of getting musicians with lots of looping toys and gadgets onto the tiny stage at Darbucka is always an interesting one, and tonight was as tight a squeeze as we’ve had since the gig with Orphy, Roger and Patrick, but we made it work eventually.
After BJ and Emily, I played a 25 minute solo set, with BJ coming up and doing his special cameo on ‘Scott Peck’ – as much as I still love the solo version of the tune, it’s just not the same without him. I also did Amo Amatis Amare, which isn’t the same without Theo after having recorded it with him… such are the perils of having fabulous collaborators.
from me, we went straight into Ned Evett’s solo set, which was fab. Lots of fretless resonator guitar, and some crazy loopage, especially on ‘Are You Experienced?’ – good noises, very much appreciated by the audience.
And then the RC Royal Rumble, all in at the end – two improv pieces, the first of which started as a disparate ambient mush (in a good way) coalesced around the ‘Windham Hill Blues’ (Am7-FMaj7), and then shifted somewhere else entirely. Good stuff. The second one started with a bubbly filtered slap percussion thing by me, I think looped a pizz. cello line which I doubled in speed and pitch that became the hook for the tune, and gave us something to hang the rest of it on, and it finished with me processing Ned’s voice with the Kaoss Pad… Most enjoyable.
Thanks to all who came along, another fine evening.
The New Standard – that’s the name of the show that Julie McKee and I are doing at Edinburgh this year – it’s a show over unlikely cover-versions, where we take songs from all over the musical map, and treat them as though they were ‘standards’ – ie, we just take the melody, words and chord progression and do what we want with them.
We’ve ended up with songs by Stevie Wonder and Slipknot, Curtis Mayfield and The Cure, Green Day, Kate Bush, Gorillaz… etc. etc. It’s a great set, and we’ve done top notch arrangements. If you head over to thenewstandard.co.uk you’ll find yourself on our myspace page, which has four tunes on it for you to have a listen to. They’re just demo live recordings, in my studio while we were rehearsing and working out arrangements. Hope you enjoy them!
While I’m here, here are the dates for this week’s gigs – hope to see some of you there –
Tuesday 20th June – CB2, Cambridge. Doors 7.30pm, tickets £6
Wednesday 21st June – Recycle Collective at Darbucka, with Special guests BJ Cole and Emily Burridge. Doors 7pm, Tickets £6.
Thursday 22nd – Escobar, Market Street, Wakefield, Yorkshire – 01924 332000
Friday 23rd – Oceans Eleven, 1-2 Church Walk Leeds, 07906 140 294
Saturday 24th – (2pm) Riffs Guitar School, Stockport, 0161 484 5208
Saturday 24th (8pm) Iguana, Manchester,0161 881 9338 tickets £3 adv. £5 on the door.
Thursday 29th – Traders, Petersfield, 01730 233 022 £5 adv/£6 door.
Recycle Collective press release for the gig on May 18th, with Todd Reynolds and Andrea Hazell.