I’ve had some time to chill out and FINALLY this morning I have some time to myself just to sit down and have a good natter with you all! There’s so much gossip to catch up on, so much news to mull through so this is probably going to be another stupidly long post. I’ll give you all the dirt on the gigs first though....
LONDON ( The Griffin – Let them Eat cake ) :-
Actually quite excited about this gig because it was the first time ever I had managed to pack my kit into three bags! Stu’s mum is ridiculously talented on the old sewing machine and made me a bag that would fit my kick drum in on my back and it wears like a ruck sack, it’s comfy and makes it able for me to get back and forth easily, well, as easy as it can be to carry a keyboard and five drums. The gig itself was alright, a giant board fell directly onto my kit, thankfully not killing anything, and after a usual fight with the PA things went off ok. The manager was about to cancel the gig about five minutes before I went on so I went on early, there was no way I was travelling all the way to London and not playing. Those kinds of venues are right for me, small intimate, where people listen. Plus there was some good cake!
SWANSEA ( mumbles mile festival ) :-
Absolute frikkin NIGHTMARE! In terms of playing ( my friends excluded ) I have never played to such a disinterested crowd in my life. One or two people turned their heads but it was just completely the wrong venue for what I do ( a glorified working mans pub ). The manager seemed to enjoy though which was one thing to be positive about I suppose. The people that did speak to me were alright but it was just not flowing at all. I have NEVER played a gig and watched the clock before and when I got home I promised myself I would never do it again either. That gig gave me a lot of food for thought and definitely gave me a lesson I needed.
CARDIFF ( No Sweat – Acoustic Night ) :-
Lovely time, lovely night, lovely people. A small-ish venue but a good appreciative crowd. It was a sort of open mic deal but they have a regular headliner which they slotted me in for last minute. Im putting that venue on my books because I would like to play there again.
BRISTOL ( Hear No Evil – End of Tour ) :-
I have had such a good time with the Hear No Evil crew, I’ve learned ridiculous amounts and laughed just as hard and that night was no different. Thekla is a lovely venue and we rocked that boat as hard as we could. Maria looked beautiful as ever and Scott sang dead on! I thoroughly enjoyed playing and connected to new people, I love those moments when you look at someone while you’re playing and you’re just in that space with them. Music, vibration, energy. All in one place at one time.
SWANSEA ( Acoustic Junkkies ) :-
I do like playing in the Uplands and acoustic junkies is awesome. I got to witness the musical immensity of Galanastra but couldn’t stick around to hear their full set. I will DEFINATELY be catchin up with them again soon though. Again I was back in that space of just connecting with people. Sometimes you make them laugh ( normally with a ridiculous cover ) and sometimes you open up a part of yourself you never intended to. If anything this night gave me a light bulb moment, helping me to reconnect with the artistry of music. Helping me to understand that it was time once again to let out some new things. Time to write.
SHEFFIELD ( A Taste of EDEN festival ):-
Looked awesome! In an abandoned warehouse with more tie dye than should be allowed, giant mushrooms and ladybirds and flowers I took to the stage amongst belly dancers, burlesque acts and a reggae band. Not entirely sure it was my crowd but people were dancing along to me. It’s always more daunting playing to a large venue, especially when you’re a small acoustic act, but thankfully I survived thanks to the immense PA prowess of Marcus ( Goblin King ).
And on the seventh day I rested. Yes I did all of that in a week. Absolutely shattered I have come home and taken a day or two just to allow everything I’ve learned to sink in. What I love about music in general is the amount of experiences you need to process FAST. It’s been time again for me to write new things, speak a little deeper and allow out experiences that have been weighing on my chest. So that’s what I’ve been doing. I have a lot of new material, a few more songs to complete and I’m ready again to record more. I know this album hasn’t been out a year yet but I like to be a step ahead!
On the subject of the RIVER OF BONES album I have received in the mail something too delicious for words, the OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR SERENADE! In an abandoned art gallery Mistress ALLY SCARFF took me with a bunch of irish fellows and threw glitter and powder paint at me for a day. It was alot more fun than it sounded and poor poor James Devlin who developed an OCD whilst trying to get the powder paint OFF MY DRUMS! Lol. I’ts up on my website but I’ll leave it here too for you lot.
I’m trying to keep a limit on how long this gets so I’ll leave you here for now and chat to you all again soon. If you can push or promote my video in any way it would be much appreciated!
Big Love
RJ xx
