Last weekend we got to spend at Uttoxeter Racecourse for the Acoustic Festival of Britain. This was the second year we had been invited to play and when we arrived it almost felt like we had never left. This time round we were joined by friends and fellow Bristol based musicians Bashema, Jodie Stadden and Ria Timkin.
We also managed to beat last years record for tent assembling which turned out to be impeccable timing, as moments later we were caught in the middle of a thunder storm. Just typical that we forgot our raincoats - although sun hats apparently make very effective umbrellas.
After the storm finally eased on Saturday we headed over to the Sessions Beer Tent where we had the pleasure of performing (drumless), and on the following day we played an acoustic set with drums in the Big Top tent (which was completely solar powered!). Thanks to everyone there for listening, buying our music and giving such lovely compliments. It was really nice to share the stage with all our Bristol friends too. They were so amazing.
The rest of the time we got to experience other parts of the festival where we met lots of pirates dressed up for Mark Radcliffe and Galleon Blast's set later on that day, and some rather gothic morris dancers.
You may have noticed
that we've been rather quiet in the last few weeks. We have actually
been busy making some acoustic videos in a church, which we will be showing to you very soon. Tomorrow we will also
begin filming a music video for our next single - 'Falling For Orpheus' (more details of the launch are below).
Now on to what we
really want to tell you about – after a month's break from gigs we have a number of shows coming up in March and April.
First off, on 4th
March we will be travelling back to London to play at The Bedford in
Balham, alongside the Willow Band, Viara Ivanova and Yasmin Corrigan.
On 13th
March we'll be playing in Buckland Dinham Village Hall near Frome in
Somerset. Support will be from our friend Bashema, plus local artist
- Amelia Lewis. Tickets are available from Jelli Records
priced £6.
Then on 24th March
we're playing again in London at the Finsbury. Details to be
announced soon...
On 28th
March we'll finally be returning to Bristol to play at The Crazy Fox,
with support from brilliant artists, The Black Feathers and Tamara
Parsons-Baker, plus poet George Chopping master of ceremonies. Entry
is £5.
Finally, come April
17th in Bristol we will be releasing our single 'Falling
For Orpheus' – A modern twist on the Greek myth of Orpheus &
Eurydice. We can promise it will be something a bit different. We're
also lucky to have the amazing Zoë Wren and Ed Wren (no relation) supporting us.
Note that this was to take
place at The Arnolfini but has had to be moved due to unforeseen circumstances. We are hoping to be able to announce a new venue just across the water very shortly.
Firstly, we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered the album and
bought an e-ticket to our launch on 11th December. We have been a bit overwhelmed to be honest. Your support and generosity really means a lot to us!
Don't forget you can still pre-order our album and buy an e-ticket for the launch show at our Bandcamp page.
We also really appreciate all the lovely comments we've received about our name change. It's really great that you like 'The Honeyfire' as much as we do.
The Honeyfire and Bashema at the Balloon Fiesta
On Saturday we played at the wonderful Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which was Anja's first time at the Fiesta. It was also our last festival this year. It was nice seeing some of you there, although you
were rather shy so next time please do come over and have a chat. Thank you to Bashema from Meet Your Feet who joined us on piano for a few songs and for Jelli Records for running the stage. After playing we stayed and enjoyed sets from Darren Hodge, Brockley Forest and Meet Your Feet.
We're now all on holiday which is nice but a bit sad to be apart. We'll be back in two weeks fully recharged and ready to work on an exciting new collaboration project involving Greek mythology the underworld and a trip to a London recording studio! We'll post more on that soon.
Really excited for our next show which has just been announced in basement of The Louisiana in Bristol for THE FLUX Presents playing alongside Ellie Makes Music and Demi Louise Music on Friday 12th September. This will be a stripped back acoustic (ish!) set from us which will be fun. Checkout the Facebook event for more information. Entry is £5 on the door. Doors open 7.30pm.
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 19th
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.
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 21st 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.
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 2nd November. We will be
playing alongside the amazing Maxi Rai who is a must see! It's
free entry and starts at 5:30pm.
