I’m very excited that I’ll be playing keys with Lincolnshire’s alt-folk duo Candacraig at The Portland Arms in Cambridge next weekend, on Sunday 26th February, showcasing songs from their debut album Thunder of Whispers.
Doors are at seven o’clock with Candacraig going onstage at eight o’clock. Hope to see you there!
Photos from the recent 90s Jam show at EGO nightclub in Perth, by Cristian Shearer-Felipe.
Some wonderful photos by Jae Storer from last week’s chilled-out restaurant set at The Mesken Hutton, accompanying Jade MayJean.
I loved working in this lovely, atmospheric venue, playing stripped-back covers and jazz standards alongside such a brilliant singer as Jade.
Really lovely to have such a glowing review from Chris Farlie – writing for w21Music – of the recent set I played on drums with Sam Coe at Buckle & Boots festival in Stockport. Chris seems to have been particularly taken with the volume and intensity of my drumming, as that enjoys several specific mentions in his article!
With a limited sized band today would not be the full “Comeback Queen” wall of sound experience but make no mistake this would be one of the most explosive 30 minutes that the Paddock Stage would see all weekend. Commencing with a thunderous drum intro and some heavy bass, the was the start of “Hard Time”, it was deliciously noisy and full of attitude – surely that drum kit would never be hit as hard throughout the whole weekend!
Chris Farlie for w21Music
I always enjoy that I get to play so ‘big’ when I work for Sam, as she and her producer Kevin both like to feel a lot of weight in the groove. The set we did at Buckle & Boots on the Paddock Stage was the first time I had got to play this material since Christmas, so it was a lot of fun to be let loose on it again.
I had the great privilege of playing drums for Sam Coe on a closed video session conducted under COVID restrictions at EPIC Studios just before Christmas. The video shoot was a pre-record of a live performance for the Americana Music Association‘s January awards show night, which this year was an entirely online event.
With the AMA Awards now having been broadcast, EPIC Studios have published the full length performance on their YouTube channel this week, and I am very excited to be able to share that with you here. I was really proud to get to be a part of this, and I think the look of the video and the sound we achieved with the drums and with the band overall is absolutely first class.
On Friday night I was honoured to have live versions of two of my songs included in an online streamed performance for World Stage Live. The gig was broadcast on Facebook and YouTube, and included three other artists’ performances, in the UK and in Kenya.
The full videos of my performances are available here, for anybody who missed it.
The past few weeks have been tough. The government says that jobs in the arts and entertainment sectors are ‘not viable’. In a huge slap-in-the-face to the thousands of artists, performers and technicians who have dedicated years of their lives to making their craft their career, they suggest we get ‘better jobs’.
Plenty of people have written more thoroughly and more eloquently than I could about this tremendous insult to our industry, and the impact this sort of attitude is having on all our lives. On a personal level, I have felt angry and alone, misunderstood and taken for granted. It’s been a difficult time.
But this weekend I was on the road, gigging with 90s Jam for the first time since the beginning of March. Even just a couple of days before, I was convinced the gigs would not in fact go ahead as more and more restrictions on events were announced during last week. At times over the past week, it has felt like the government were deliberately making arts jobs ‘unviable’ by placing as many obstacles as possible in the way of us being able to do our jobs, whilst not actually locking venues back down again.
The following is the official Covid-19 related update from the live 90s dance music show of which I am the musical director, 90s Jam.
All postponements, cancellations or other changes to gig dates as a result of Covid-19 are being updated on the Calendar page daily.
Another line video from Sam Coe’s album launch night, which I played keys for back in November.
Comeback Queen is the title track of the album, and was the closing song of the night at Epic Studios. Such a fun piece of music to play, and a wonderful group of musicians to play it with! We all got a chance to go a little mad at the end of this one, too…
Video shot and edited by Sam Thurlow.
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.
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.
