We're back from our Christmas break! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!
Scarlett Shocks
We began 2014 with a great gig on the 3rd at the Louisiana, in Bristol. We were given the opportunity by the venue to organise the whole night there. So we decided to put on an all female night with 3 of our favourite local acts and asked I Am Horse, Maxi Rai, and Scarlett Shocks to play with us. They all said yes!
Maxi Rai
The night began with a beautiful acoustic set from Scarlett. A stand out song from her was a one with a slightly different take on Red Riding Hood, but more on that later. She was then followed by Maxi who entertained everyone with her songs about friends, family and an ancestor (a young 18th Century female convict) who was spared a death sentence and deported to Australia.
It was then our turn to take to the stage. It was a lot of fun to play with such an appreciative crowd. It was especially nice to see the legend himself, Big Jeff, enjoying himself at the front. There were a few laughs, especially after one of Anja's cymbals fell over mid-song (she still kept playing it, amazingly!)
I Am Horse
Last to take the stage were the brilliant I Am Horse, who made their wonderfully unusual sound combining classical instruments such as the flute and violin, etc. with keyboards and synths. It was rather funny when they introduced a song as the second one of the night about Red Riding Hood, although with a slightly less positive ending!
It was a real pleasure to play alongside such lovely and talented musicians.
In other news, we have just released our first music of this year – Our single 'Starlight'. It is available to download from iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp.
Our next gig in Bristol is on Friday 24th January at Cafe Kino in Stokes Croft, Bristol. Also playing is folk artist Evie Woods. Entry £4. Doors 8pm.
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.
