Performing

  • 90s Jam Launches January 2020

    90s Jam Launches January 2020

    For the last two years, I have run and MDed Ultra 90s Jam – a spin-off lineup of the PX Productions’ hugely popular Ultra ’90s dance music show, which recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary.

    '90s Jam

    As of the start of this year, Ultra ’90s Jam is becoming 90s Jam – still based on the tried-and-tested Ultra ’90s concept, but now a separate show in its own right – featuring former star of BBC’s The Voice Jade Mayjean on lead vocals.

    I consider myself extremely privileged to have been a part of the PX Productions family over the last ten years, so to have been given the reigns of my own project by them is something I value hugely. We have been hard at work over the last few months designing new logos and branding, creating a brand new Facebook page for the new show, and an all-new website which will go live soon. We’ve got exciting new ideas for the coming year – including (but not limited to!) new arrangements and songs to add to the show, as we seek to bring you even more of the classic ’90s club and dance tunes we all love than ever before – and we can’t wait to get started.

    So go and give us a Like on Facebook and a follow on our new Twitter account, and keep an eye on www.90sjam.co.uk to see when we’re next performing near you. (And as always, all the live performance dates will appear on my own Calendar page as well.) Looking forward to seeing you all out there soon, for the launch of 90s Jam and the start of this exciting new era!

    For bookings or management please email jam@pxproductions.com.

  • A massive thank you to Gordon Woolcock for these amazing photos from Sam Coe’s Comeback Queen Album Launch night at Epic Studios in Norwich last month.

  • Another live video from the Comeback Queen album launch show a couple of weeks ago with Sam Coe and her wonderful band.

    This slow track, The Truth – a rare switch from organs to electric piano for me – is one of my favourites of Sam’s songs to do live. It is a gorgeous, mellow number with so much space in it, and I always feel like we are making something profound happen when we play this.

    Video shot and edited by Sam Thurlow.

  • Check out the first video from the Sam Coe album launch show at Epic Studios on Thursday last week… ‘Hard Time’ was the first single released from the record, and also our opening song of Sam’s set on the night. It’s a big, gritty country/rock anthem which is tons of fun to play on keys! Looking forward to being able to share more pictures and video footage from this gig very soon.

    Video shot and edited by Sam Thurlow.

  • Ipswich Christmas Lights Video

    Ipswich Christmas Lights Video

  • Sam Coe Album Launch

    Sam Coe Album Launch

    After working with Sam Coe for the first time at That Music Thing at Epic Studios last week – a gig which was very favourably reviewed – I am delighted that I’ll be back playing keys and organs for her again at the launch of her brand new solo album, entitled ‘Comeback Queen’.

    Redefining British Country Music, Sam Coe sheds a new light on the musty, tinged world of traditional country. Raw, gritty and honest. No pretence, just her gutsy truth colliding with the music. Following previous critical acclamation and success as both a solo artist and with her band, The Long Shadows, 2019 sees Sam Coe heading in a fresh musical direction. Ready to start a new UK Country scene that draws upon, rather than tries to replicate, the American scene we know and love, Sam wanted to embrace being an unashamed British artist, and bring some sincerity and soul to the UK industry. Heading back into the studio, she began recording her debut solo album under label GingerDog Records. Influenced by the sound of throwback instrumentation like the Fender Rhodes, the new record is heavily piano driven, while combining tremolo guitars, hammond organ and her beloved Gibson with an emotional and raw vocal. Influenced by artists such as Brandi Carlile, Margo Price, Larkin Poe, First Aid Kit, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris, Sam’s songwriting reflects 33 years of her self-confessed ‘shit storm’ of a life. Struggling to achieve the next step both personally and musically and striving to leave her mark on the world. ‘If you get to the end of the line and look back, I would hate to feel like I had any regrets – have fun, chase every adventure, leave your legacy.’

    The album release show will also be at Epic Studios in Norwich, and takes place on Thursday 28th November. Tickets are available from Epic, or online. It will be great to see as many people down at Epic for this show as possible, so I hope to see you there! In the meantime, here’s a few great snaps by Gordon Woolcock, from the last gig I played with Sam…

  • I am very excited that I will be playing drums with Jade MayJean and her band for the big Christmas Lights Switch-On event in Ipswich town centre on Thursday 21st November this year.

    Jade and the band will be performing a mixture of original songs from Jade’s album 20Sixty and classic Christmas crowd-pleasers from five o’clock on the main stage outside the Town Hall & Corn Exchange.

  • In September 2011, I wrote about how proud I was to have joined an El Sistema-inspired music education programme in my home city of Norwich, working with students in inner-city schools teaching orchestral percussion an general musicianship. The project — then called In Harmony Norwich — was one of three trial nucleos setup by the UK government in different cities, and was just entering the third of its three years of funding when I came on board as one of the percussion tutors.

    A lot of change has happened in the years since I joined the programme back in 2011 — including a rebrand as Sistema In Norwich. But the one thing which has always remained the same is the steadfast determination of the programme directors and the team of tutors to bring music education to children who might not otherwise have had those kinds of opportunities available to them.

    This coming Friday 11th October, a performance by Sistema In Norwich students and tutors at the University Of East Anglia In Norwich will celebrate ten years of Sistema’s presence in the city. I feel extremely honoured to have been involved with Sistema In Norwich — in its various guises — for eight of those ten years, and it will be a privilege to walk onstage on Friday evening with my colleagues and students from the Sistema programme to celebrate this landmark anniversary.

    Sistema Fiesta will take a look back over the last ten years, including highlights from the Performance Project (for which the concert is also a finale) and it will look forwards, with new repertoire that will include nods to Venezuela, our carnival work, East Anglia and a big piece from the classical canon.  The concert will feature the Colegate Nucleo Orchestra, alongside children from across the programme, tutors and some special guests.  
     
    The evening will conclude with music from the Sistema in Norwich tutor band, guests and friends. Join in the Sistema party and help us celebrate a programme that is changing lives, as we look forward to another 10 years of making a difference.

    From the NORCA & Sistema In Norwich website

    Please do come down and support this event, and the Sistema In Norwich project. Tickets for the performance are available from the UEA Box Office website, or directly from NORCA & Sistema In Norwich.

  • I will be playing piano with Jade MayJean live on Essex radio station Phoenix FM this coming Sunday 15th September as part of The Sunday Sessions.

    Tune in to 98.0 fm in Essex and East London — or listen online here — from eleven o’clock on Sunday morning to hear acoustic versions of Jade’s original songs from her recent album 20Sixty.

Kit Marsden // Musician