Shepherds Arise live at Birling Church March 2011

Well, I have finally finished uploading the video of us performing Shepherds Arise and you can see it by clicking on the link below. Our lingering memory of the concert is that it was bitterly cold in the church that evening - probably you can hear our teeth chattering in the background. In strict rhythm, of course! Nevertheless, we really enjoyed it and we got lots of positive feedback in the days following the concert. Maybe we'll go back again - when it's warmer!

Regards - John

A still from the forthcoming Phaedra video

Work is coming along well on the new album and the final recording sessions will be taking place over the next few weeks. Alongside the recording over the last few months I have been putting together a video for the song, Phaedra. It's going to take a while before it's ready to go onto YouTube. In the meantime there will shortly be a video uploaded of the live performance of the unaccompanied traditional song, Shepherds Arise, for you to enjoy. Recorded at the recent Birling concert.

Regards - John

Behind you! A view from the back line at the Birling concert

The concert at Birling Church on Saturday night was a great success. It was very well attended and raised some much needed money for the fund for the repair of the stone boundary wall. Our thanks to Nick, Rob and Robin for the design and set up of the stage lighting and to everyone else who helped - Sue on the sound desk, Clare for looking after us and Romey for the chocolate cake!

Attention now switches to completing the recording for the new album.

Regards - John

Photo courtesy of Ian Gilchrist

The concert at Birling Church is now only a week away. Tickets are £8 (which includes refreshments) - give Dave or Margaret a call on 01732 521022 or 01732 842216 respectively to reserve a seat. The concert starts at 7.30pm. The church is in the centre of Birling at the junction of Ryarsh Road, Bull Road and Snodland Road. For you SatNav folk the address is Birling Church, Snodland Road, Birling, ME19 5 Kent. There is a car park just behind the church. Birling is just north of the M20 at the junction with the A228 for Snodland and then taking Snodland Road westward to Birling.

We will be featuring some of the songs that will be found on our new album which should be nearing completion around Easter.

Hope to see you at the concert.

Regards - John

new video

Asleep at the guitar - photo courtesy of Ian Gilchrist

Well, Christmas is over and 2010 is nearly done. Just time to upload a video of a song from our recent concert. The song is 'Ritual' which was on our last album. The live version is a bit faster than the album version and has more menace to it. Don't be frightened!

Regards - John

photo courtesy of Ian Gilchrist

Well, the Winter Solstice has past and it's the evening of Christmas Eve and all is quiet and there is just time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year - let's hope it is better than the 'Old' Year.

Rehearsals start in a couple of week's time in preparation for our concert in Birling, near Maidstone in Kent, in March. The two traditional songs I sent demo recordings of to the others seem to have met with approval so we might well try and work them up for the concert.

In between rehearsals we will be recording the final tracks for the new CD and hope to be starting mixing it during February.

So, happy wassailing to one and all and an enjoyable Plough Monday.

Regards - John

A shot from the St. George's concert courtesy of Ian Gilchrist

Steady progress is being made on the recording of the new album. I must try and remember where the files are on the computer. You knew where you were with several ten inch square boxes of half inch magnetic tape - or at least the cupboard where they were!

I've just finished putting together a rough edit of the recent concert footage so that the band can see what was going on with all the amazing lighting around us. Thanks again to '10 out of 10' for organising all that. The next stage will be to choose a few of the songs to go on a DVD which will eventually be available for sale. In the meantime I will try and get a song up on the blog for people to listen to.

A few weeks ago, with Alice and Bruce's help, Sue and I hosted a house concert for Susan Enan, an English singer-songwriter now based in the USA, and currently touring the UK following Europe, Canada and USA . It was a great success and it made me think it would be great to be able to an acoustic concert ourselves. It would certainly save on the hours of setting up and taking down that goes with a full PA performance. Mind you there are six of us which will start to fill up your front room before you add in 20-25 audience members. So if you have a large lounge and you would like us to play an intimate concert for you ........

I've also found a couple more traditional songs that might work well for the band. I've prepared a demo of each and I will be sending them to the others for consideration in due course.

Regards - John