The Bedford London 4/03/15

We’ve recovered from our sleep deprivation after our gig in Balham, London on Wednesday. We had the pleasure of joining four other acts at The Bedford  - The Willow Band, Viara Ivanova, Yasmin Corrigan and Azzedine.

For once we experienced a smooth and reasonably quick journey, with added entertainment as Natalie played with apps on her new phone.

Arriving with time to spare (yay!) we popped in to visit Sally and Natalie’s aunt and their newest baby cousin. Only two weeks old, we were all taking it in turns to hold the adorable sleepy baby. Of course we all left the house declaring our dire need to have babies of our own right away. Don’t worry; none of us are quite ready to bring a baby on stage yet!

After making our way to The Bedford and meeting the lovely staff we had a quick sound check and went to doll ourselves up. The best part of London gigs is having a decent excuse for turning up with bare faces and comfy clothes. Car journeys are SO much better without worrying about smudging your makeup or creasing your dress.

Sound Check at The Bedford

It was really wonderful and impressive how the evening was set up. Each of the five acts had, on average, four songs to play, which were split into two sets. The performance was always changing and developing and creating different atmospheres, and playing in different sets encouraged peers of each act to hang around and enjoy the whole evening. Not only did the audience stay until the end, but they were so wonderfully quiet and respectful. We are so happy to have met and played with all the other acts of the night, who were all fantastic and friendly musicians.

There was a live streaming video of the gig accessible online which was pretty cool; if anyone was watching let us know how it looked!

After leaving our mark on the wall of the green room we set off back to Bristol. Luckily we had a remarkably smoother journey home than our last London gig when we were almost crushed to death by a HGV, followed the wrong diversion route and ended up back where we started, and got caught in heavy snow. Let’s cross our fingers for next time…

Thank you to The Bedford for supporting music and musicians and making us feel so welcome, as well as the audience.

If you’re around in Bristol tonight, we’ll be playing a few songs alongside Jane Taylor, Bashema and Bethany Porter in aid of the John Dillon Foundation at The Bristol Fringe Café-bar. Tickets will be available at the door.

Falling for Orpheus/Eurydice Rising at Arnolfini Bristol 10/01/2015

Our first gig of the year on Saturday 10^th January did certainly not disappoint. You may have heard us talking about the Orpheus and Eurydice project we’ve been working on alongside composer Richard Williams.

Saturday was the first event for the project, which was held in the Dark Studio at the Arnolfini. We had never played there before and it really did have the most artistic and tranquil atmosphere, something we often search for to suit our ‘moody and dark’ sound.

Falling for Orpheus/Eurydice Rising is a project originally founded by Richard Williams, a series of songs relating to the Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. As a composer, Richard would write the chords and pass them on to a musician/band he felt could complete and perform the song, feeling that an artist can connect more fully to lyrics they themselves have written. He initially contacted Zoë Wren and together they co-wrote their song ‘Eurydice Rising’, a modern take on Eurydice rising from the underworld. We were then contacted about the project and agreed to write the linking song, Eurydice falling to the underworld and her lack of power as a woman.

As the opening event, this was a short evening in a small room with all acts involved in the project performing, including Ed Wren, the opening artist of the night. We hope that everyone that was able to attend gained an understanding for the feel of the project, which will have its second much larger event on the 17^th April. Details included at the end.

It was a delight to see the room full with people before the night started with Ed Wren and his accompanying band. Creating wonderfully dynamic and soothing music from a range of obviously talented musicians, they were definitely not one to miss. Ed’s set consisted of instrumental pieces, as well as songs with vocal accompaniment from Johnny Velon and the headline act Zoë Wren. Together Zoë, Ed and the band finished the set with Zoë’s ‘Eurydice Rising’.

We then played our set, which was a more acoustic and chilled version of our electric set. It was a really enjoyable experience; we loved the intimacy of the close and quiet audience. After playing some songs from our album we ended on our song ‘Falling for Orpheus’.

The night then ended with Zoë Wren’s set. We had the fortunate experience of playing with Zoë in London a few months ago at The Lantern Society, and once again her set was absolutely lovely. Zoë has an effortless and beautiful voice which complements her guitar playing perfectly. It was a pleasure to see her perform again and we very much look forward to the next time.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made the night so special.

For anyone who is interested in Falling for Orpheus/Eurydice Rising, the next event will be held on 17^th of April at the Arnolfini.This will include all the same acts, though with different accompanying musicians, as well as between-act entertainment. Our song ‘Falling for Orpheus’ will be released on the night, available to purchase online. We will be playing a full electric set and Zoë will be collaborating with both us and Ed Wren as well as playing her own set. More details about the night will be announced over the next coming months. Advance tickets are now available for £7.

Gig Review – Marika Hackman at The Birdcage 16/11/14

Last night we had the pleasure of seeing the brilliant Marika Hackman play in Bristol at The Birdcage. She is one of our inspirations and the opportunity to see her perform meant a lot to us.

Even though we got there early before doors, we had to fight our way to the front and although we missed out on the big comfy sofas, we got a great (although uncomfortable) spot on the floor in front of the stage. It was a nice surprise to bump into Phil Collings (Dear Light) there too, who will be supporting us at our album launch.

Ema Sierra was the support act for the night. Performing as a two piece with just two guitars and a vocal, they created a really lovely and delicate sound. The whole audience sat quietly throughout their whole set and watched. Ema Sierra is on Soundcloud.

Marika Hackman performed alongside a bassist and drummer, which she said is a rare and enjoyable set up for them. It did sound lovely with the accompaniment, and both the drummer and bassist played in very sensitive and gentle way, which worked so well with Marika’s beautiful songs.

We enjoyed every moment of Marika’s set, and although we know all her released songs by heart, we were equally mesmerised by her new songs.

At the end of the gig we were lucky enough to get the chance to meet her (and of course buy almost matching t-shirts). She was a really lovely and down to earth person and we can’t wait to get the chance to see her play again!

Album Launch One Month Away!!

It is officially just ONE MONTH until The Honeyfire Album Launch!

We’re not quite sure where the time has gone either, but we’re practically jumping out of our seats at the thought. This album has been our main focus for over a year now, and we've put so much work into it. We can’t wait to both show the world our hard work, and have a great time by playing our music and seeing the fantastic Dear Light perform. We’re even going to be doing some never-seen-before collaboration! There might be some extra performers involved too…

If you would like to support us and come along to our most important event to date, please do buy a ticket and leave the rest to us! We've been planning how to make this event one of a kind, and as they say – the more the merrier!

A few details – Date: Thursday 11^th December 2014

Venue: The Louisiana, Bristol

Tickets: £4

Hope to see you there. Thank you again for everyone’s support so far xx

London 16th October

We had a fantastic time playing in Zigfrid von Underbelly of Hoxton on the 16th of October.

The Honeyfire at Zigfrid von Underbelly

The venue was really interesting, and gave a relaxing atmosphere with sofas, candles and coloured lights. We definitely appreciated the sofas after the long car journey.

There were three other acts that also played on the night, Alex Dobson, Kristin Caswell and Karman Line. They were all amazing and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to see them play.

We really enjoyed playing our set and ended up making a couple of new friends and contacts along the way. One of the parts we like best about our gigs is chatting to members of the audience, so that was a nice bonus!

Hopefully we will be playing in London and possibly seeing our new friends again soon.