Delighted to be back at the King Charles Hotel in Gillingham tonight, to celebrate the legacy of the legendary Excalibur Nightclub – which, in its heyday between 1989 and 1998, hosted artists such as The Prodigy, Salt N Pepa, Rick Astley and Bros, amongst others.
Ultra ’90s will be onstage from half-past-ten, to give the Excalibur Nightclub the send-off it deserves.
A few of the great pictures from three consecutive nights of Ultra ’90s Fresh at the ’90s Weekender at Hunters Quay in Argyll. All photos by Ken Clark.
I am delighted to announce that I’ll be playing percussion in a live orchestral performance for The Pisces Rising – a popular YouTube channel which re-orchestrates well-known theme tunes into large, epic-sounding masterpieces – at this year’s Summer In The City YouTube festival at the ExCel in London.
The performance will be on the main stage at half-past-five this Saturday, 11th August.
I don’t generally make ‘New Years resolutions’ – but one thing I did want to do as of the start of this year was to update this page more, and be more active here. So far, not so good…!
So what has been going on? Lots of work with Sistema in various local schools, which I am still enjoying and finding really rewarding. And lots of gigs with Ultra ’90s – in all it’s various flavours (Original, Fresh and Jam), both on drums/percussion and as a keys player and MD.
And in between all of that, we have had the eleventh annual Keyboard Camp this year, just one week ago. (More on that in a later post…) And I have been trying to get my studio setup and fully functional at my new house!
Having moved house at the end of summer last year, it has taken a little while to move all my gear across and start to get myself familiar with the new studio space. The big plan for this year is to get my recording work properly up-and-running, so I am going to try and start pushing that online a little more as I get everything finalised.
It may have been made eighteen months ago… But the inaugural Jamie Roe Band EP – ‘Reach For The Tide’ – is finally available online!
The four track EP showcases some of the early songwriting work of the band, and was recorded at Tide’s Reach Studios in Lowestoft.
I am contributing piano, organs and backing vocals on all four songs.
Click here to buy ‘Reach For The Tide’ on iTunes. Or listen to the tracks on Spotify, below:
It has been a pleasure to play drums and percussion for Ultra ’90s – the hugely popular, one-of-a-kind ’90s dance tribute show show from PX Productions – for several years now; and when the show expanded in 2015 to include two lineups, I was delighted to be included as the original percussionist for the new incarnation of the show, Ultra ’90s Fresh.
Now, with demand for a good, healthy dose of old-fashioned ’90s dance music still outstripping supply, PXP are expanding the lineups once again…
As well as continuing to gig on drums with Ultra ’90s, and on percussion with Ultra ’90s Fresh, I am proud to say I shall be taking on the running of the third new lineup – which has been dubbed Ultra ’90s Jam – as the musical director, keys player and male vocalist.
I am very excited to have the opportunity to further expand my work with such a highly professional and well-regarded outfit as PXP – and I am always grateful for the chance to develop new skills (such as learning to program DMX lighting in ChamSys MagicQ), to learn to work with new equipment in different environments, and to push myself further as a performer.
The first time I’ve got ’round to sitting down to write about it, even though it was now three weeks ago… (After Keyboard Camp finished, it was straight into four gigs over three days that weekend; an exhausting four-day studio refit; another weekend of gigs right down in the toes of Cornwall; and a day of PA system setup in readiness for new ventures this summer… More on all of that soon enough!) But I am delighted that the tenth anniversary of the (by now) famous NKO Keyboard Camp was such a success!
With music drawn from the material we have learnt as an orchestra over the previous nine residentials (plus some new music thrown in especially for this year) – as well as party games, birthday cake, a nostalgic photo slideshows from Keyboard Camps gone by – and culminating in an evening performance showcasing all the hard work and preparation over the past four days, the tenth Keyboard Camp was a true celebration of what makes it special, and exciting.
I have always been proud to be associated with a residential music course which is always evolving and improving, and where the students keep coming back year after year (for nine years in a row, in some cases!),
March 2017 is something of a landmark for me, so here is a short piece of writing (and a few old pictures) all about it.
It was back in March 2007 that I officially declared myself ‘a professional musician’. Nothing materially changed for having said it, of course – I was still doing one gig every few months, teaching two or three private students, and earning very little – but it meant something to have said it, to have ‘made it official’. It was a line in the sand.
I registered myself officially self-employed not long later (although it would be another couple of years before I was earning enough for that to have any real tax implications), and I joined the Musicians’ Union. And I resolved not to give in to any of the pressures to get a ‘real job’ (even just while I was building up my income from music).
In the ten years since then, I have gone from intermittent gigs and two or three students to having a thriving business gigging, recording, teaching, writing and arranging music (and – yes – doing actual tax returns).
I have played drums for Ultra ’90s almost since the show’s inception in 2008 – and more recently, I have played percussion with the new Ultra ’90s Fresh lineup as well. However, with the popularity of Ultra ’90s expanding quicker than ever, I am very excited to have been offered the chance to take on a new role, leading yet another lineup as an MD, keys player and vocalist.
So despite playing hundreds of Ultra ’90s gigs on drums, I am spending four days this week at Thatspace in Rochdale with Chris and Kelly from PX Productions, relearning the set on keys and programming my synth rig with the correct sounds and samples – plus developing new skills, including working in Chamsys to patch and programme lights, and rapping!
The rehearsals are long days – there is a lot to get through in a ninety-minute show packed with high-energy ’90s dance classics – but I am relishing the chance to push myself to be better and become and more versatile, more well-rounded musician with a plethora of skills to offer.
I will still being gigging with Ultra ’90s and Ultra ’90s Fresh as a drummer and percussionist this coming year as well, but I am enjoying seeing the show from a new angle, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to gig a set I know well in a totally different way.
Keyboard Camp – the exciting four-day residential course for keyboard and piano players, held every Easter in the heart of rural Norfolk (first at Wymondham College, and subsequently at Whitwell Hall and now the How Hill Trust) – is turning ten years old this year! First held in 2008, this year’s Camp marks the ten-year anniversary of what has become the highlight of the musical year for many young keyboard players and pianists in the area.
Organised and run by the team from the Norfolk Keyboard Orchestra, Keyboard Camp is a great opportunity for students of piano and keyboard of all ages and stages to come together and enjoy making music in a fun and social environment. As well as sectional rehearsals (with parts tailored to suit different playing abilities), and full orchestral playing, there are a variety of other workshops (on topics ranging from different styles of keyboard playing, to using technology in music and writing your own compositions), and opportunities to have fun learning and making music together – plus games, quizzes, ‘tuck shop’, and the inevitable talent show.
This year, we return to the How Hill Trust in Ludham, to enjoy a selection of brand new repertoire and old favourites (all especially arranged for keyboard ensemble) in this beautiful country setting.
