White Lies at Bristol O2 Academy 8th December

All three of us go to a lot of gigs so we thought it might be nice to blog about some of them. So here's the first.

On Sunday I was lucky enough to see White Lies live once again. The last time I had seen them live was almost exactly four years ago also at the 02 Academy, so I was left with quite a strong sense of déjà vu while having ‘pre-drinks’ at the German Christmas Market (hot chocolate).

The gig started with excellent support from Frankie Rose. With an indie/surf/pop/rock sound, my brother Scott and I were left reminded of bands like Best Coast. 

 

As we stood waiting for White Lies to come on stage, my terrible ‘gig luck’ struck as a man about twice the size of myself took his place right in front of me. Not only that but he seemed to take pleasure in charging into the audience. Needless to say, I was swept away from Scott numerous times.

When White Lies started their set I was delighted to see that they continued to play songs from the album ‘To Lose My Life’, which will always be one of my favourites. I must admit that when they played ‘Unfinished Business’ my eyes may have started uncontrollably watering (again) – White Lies continue to be the only live band that can make me cry.

Amazing Light Show

First album aside, the songs from ‘Ritual’ and ‘BIG TV’ are equally brilliant and it was a pleasure to be able to see them played live. They also surprised us all with a cover of Prince’s ‘I Would Die 4 U’, which of course they pulled off.

Their light show was pretty spectacular. With large LED panels behind them playing live camera footage, it looked like a large stadium performance in a fairly small venue. A few songs featured lasers, which got me planning my dream light show. All in all it was a fantastic performance.

I must say their exit was lovely. The band, Harry McVeigh especially, seemed thrilled and taken back by Bristol’s enthusiasm and wild dancing that they just stood smiling at us after they had stopped playing, and even took a group bow - brilliant. Their look of genuine happiness was heart-warming, and I may have leapt around like crazy at this point hoping they might acknowledge my existence for a second.

Talking of gigs, our last two in 2013 are coming up fast!

19th Dec - BRISTOL, Southbank Club, Bedminster. 7.30pm, Entry £5

(The Jelli Records Christmas Show with Jelli Jelli, Crackers & Wolfhound Home Made Mince Pies)

21st Dec - BRISTOL, The Spiegeltent, Waterfront Square. 2.00pm, Free Entry

(Busking in the Christmas Market) 

Then 2014 starts with a bang and a gig with three of our favourite female acts:

3rd Jan - BRISTOL, The Louisiana. 7.30pm, £5* Advance / £6 Door

(with I Am Horse, Maxi Rai and Scarlett Shocks)

*Contact us if you want to be added to the cheap list so you can pay £5 on the door.

Until next time!

Anja x

Sammy's Guide Dog Fundraiser 30th November 2013

Sammy, Andrew and all the performers

Saturday evening we were down at The Park Centre in Knowle, Bristol headlining 'Sammy's Guide Dog Fundraiser'. We played alongside local musicians Barry Walsh, Bashema, Louise Brent, and Len Liechti. 

Bashema joined us for two songs

A special mention should be made of Bashema as we did a little collaboration with her where we joined her for some of her set and she played in some of ours. We're hoping to work with Bashema some more in the future.

 

Anja

The event was a success and a lot of money has been raised for the Guide Dog charity. 

Thank you everyone who supported it, Andrew Goddard and his helpers for organising it and Taff for giving up his evening to help on sound.

Natalie

We now only have one gig left before the new year. This will be the Jelli Records Christmas Show at the Southbank Club, Bristol. There will be Jelli jelly and crackers plus Natalie and Anja are making mince pies for it too! So if you are free on the 19^th December please come along. Tickets are £5 from Bristol Ticket Shop or on the door.

Sally

 Some exiting non gig related news.

We have been writing new material for an album planned for next year with Jelli Records. I cannot share the details just yet but we're pretty excited with the plans we've seen so far. We will be letting you all know more information in the near future so watch this space. Looking forward to telling you all!

Our single 'Starlight' is now all mixed and finished and we're going to be filming a video very soon.

We now have a mailing list and will be issuing regular newsletters so if you've not already signed up but would like to be the first to know updates on gigs, new releases and maybe a special offer or two, please sign up below.

Sally x

Mark Morriss and the South West Music Awards

Last week we did two very different but interesting gigs.

The first was on Thursday supporting Bluetones front man, Mark Morriss, at The Thunderbolt in Bristol. We already had the great privilege of supporting him once before during his last solo tour when he came to The Fleece. We were blown away by his performance then, so it was all the more exciting knowing that we would be able to do the whole thing again.

The night began with some chilled-out music from local folk artist - Evie Woods. Afterwards we then played a stripped down acoustic set. The space in front of the stage had been set up with benches and, although to begin with it felt a little intimidating having the audience looking up at us, it actually really added to the intimacy of the night. The audience were very appreciative and lots of familiar faces too. We really enjoyed the evening.

Shortly after we had finished Mark Morriss finally graced the stage. He played a brilliant set consisting of both Bluetones classics and his own equally good solo music. His jokes on mic had a lot of the audience (including me) in stitches.

I know that people say you shouldn't meet your heroes but where Mark Morriss is concerned that's not true. He honestly is the nicest person you will ever meet. His kind and supportive words sent all three of us away feeling really good. Not to mention the fact that he refused to take our money for his CD and instead offered to trade it with ours. How much nicer can a person get?

Friday afternoon began with a drive down to Exeter where we would be headlining the South West Music Awards later that evening. When we arrived we enjoyed the simple pleasures of life on the road by eating at a Pizza Hut nearby. After that it was only a matter of waiting, and a long wait it was too since we were playing at the very end. It was fun, however, and we got to listen to all the award giving and music from other artists.

We ended the night performing three of our songs, including our newest, 'Wolves'. We were also able to network with other musicians there which was really great and maybe we'll get a chance for some gig swaps next year.

Although it was a long night and we didn't get home until 3am I feel that we all still had a pretty good time. It was a great end to the week.

There aren't many gigs left in 2013. Our next one is on Satruday 30^th November at The Park Centre in Knowle, Bristol where we will be headlining a music evening to raise funds for the Guide Dogs. Our good friend, and long time supporter, Andrew, recently received a guide dog called Sammy. It has changed his life and means he can now get out and about to more live music in the city so in return he decided to organise this event to help raise funds for the charity.

You can find more details at Sammy Guide Dog's Fundraiser website.

We've finished recording our new single 'Starlight' last week by the way. Although we recorded most of it a few weeks ago, we went back into the studio to put down some finishing touches last week. We'll have some news on it's release very soon.

Sally x

Colston Hall, Bristol

Well, last weekend was a little hectic. There's a few things worth mentioning and this is a little update on what we were up to.

Maxi Rai

Saturday we were lucky enough to have been booked by Bmin (Bristol Music Industry Network) to play in the Colston Hall foyer in Bristol. We had the pleasure of playing alongside the talented singer-songwriter Maxi Rai, who is well worth listening to if you haven't. She began the evening with a brilliant set which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Us on the Foyer Stage at Colston Hall, Bristol

When we stepped onto the stage I was pleased to see a nice sized audience ready to support us, which was really great. Our set had a mixture of old and new songs. Anja finally had the opportunity to join in with our on-mic ramblings. I think she wowed our audience when she produced a saw and played it for our new song 'Unheard Voice'.

Anja on Saw

All in it was a very nice evening and we really appreciated all the support we got from friends and fans alike. Watch out for videos of the evening on our Youtube channel and Facebook page.

On Sunday evening we headed down to the Bradley Stoke Radio station to join in the fun on James Hyden's show. It's safe to say the evening didn't start well. During all the chaos at home we managed to not only leave late, but we also left behind Natalie's bass guitar amp (Whoops!). Luckily we were able to laugh about it and adapted our set. 

It was a fun show involving us playing a few live tracks, and in between, having a few silly conversations – I may have got the giggles once or twice. We discovered that Anja has a problem with a certain fruit and Natalie dislikes....well....pretty much everything.

Our next gig in Bristol is on the 14^th November supporting the Bluetones front man Mark Morriss at The Thunderbolt, Bristol. It's £10 on the door, but we have a £6 cheap list so if you would like your name added just email us at info@wolfhoundlive.com.

Sally x

Radio Silence!

Can't believe it's been such a long time since our last post on this blog. Well this is the end of the silence. We'll be posting on a regular basis from now on, I promise!

When Natalie last posted (Back in June 2012) we were a totally different band. So many things have happened, it would be impossible to mention everything in this one post. Although it's only right that I fill you in on some of the highlights of the past year.

Anja on drums - The Thunderbolt 2013

Our first big piece of news is that we are now a three piece. The lovely and incredibly talented Anja Quinn joined us on drums in November time last year. It's totally amazing the kind of dynamic that she has added to our music. That first day when the three of us came together for a rehearsal it was like everything suddenly fell into place. She totally understood what we were about and what we wanted and we haven't looked back since. In more recent times Anja has also escaped from behind the drum kit to take a large role in the song writing, singing, and even bringing other instruments into our sound such as the saw (Yes, a real saw!), bass and keyboards. More importantly, she also keeps the sibling wars between me and Natalie to a minimum.

Wolfhound and Bashema at The Bristol Acoustic Music Festival

The next good thing that happened to us was being offered a slot at the Bristol Acoustic Music Festival at St George's. We were lucky enough to collaborate with the brilliant singer, songwriter, and pianist Bashema. It was by far the best gig we had done up until that point and it pushed us to do better than we thought ourselves capable of.

In the summer we made a music video for 'Elements' in a local forest over a couple of hot, and midge infested, evenings. It was great fun but we all got loads of insect bites for our efforts.

Although we have mostly been gigging in and around Bristol, last month we were lucky enough to do our first gig in London at a place called The Islington. For the day we hired a mini bus and packed it with some of our friends and fans, including fellow musician Tom Mitchell who was also playing that night. It was a really good night and we hope it might be the first of many London shows.

Performing at Brisfest 2013 with Big Jeff at the front!

On the 21^st September, after many months of hard work, we finally released our second EP 'Tales Of Truth & Lies'. It was released on the same day that we played Brisfest – Bristol's biggest festival. The whole festival itself definitely made one of this year's highlights. The whole two days gave us so much to do and be part of. Releasing our EP, which we'd worked so hard on only made it that much better.

We've had a couple of lovely reviews by Live Music Scene and THE FLUX too.

The excitement doesn't stop there however. I saved the best news till last. We are very excited to be working with Jelli Records - a Bristol based record label, promotion and management company. We have only been with them a short time but they have already got big plans in mind for us. Only last week we were given the opportunity to record a single, 'Starlight', in Factory Studios (release date to be confirmed). We are currently writing new material for an album that we will record with Jelli Records in 2014.

'Starlight' Cover Art by Anja (yes she paints too!)

If you want to catch us in Bristol soon, our next gig is in the Colston Hall foyer on Saturday 2^nd November. We will be playing alongside the amazing Maxi Rai who is a must see! It's free entry and starts at 5:30pm.

Watch this space for more news.

Sally x