A season of Stornoway

As I sit and start to write this, it’s 24 hours since I was watching Stornoway play for the fifth time this year, at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms. Weather permitting, I’m tempted to go and see them again this week. (Spoiler: I went, of course I did.) I’ve not been to many gigs since covid, for various reasons, and at the moment it feels that there aren’t many bands that could keep getting me out of the house. Stornoway, however, are so very special to me and I have had the best time following them around over the past few months. It’s been a genuinely really inspiring ride, and I feel motivated to write a little self-indulgent ramble, so here goes.

This has been a generally shitty year for me, and like it so often does, music helps. In recent years, I’ve found a deeper love for nature and wildlife, especially birds. For a while, it felt that I’d replaced loud, busy, crowded gigs for open green spaces, swapped music for birdsong. It doesn’t have to be either or, though. Like a couple of other artists I love (hello Cosmo Sheldrake and Johnny Flynn) Stornoway bring together these joint loves in a truly beautiful way. A love of nature, a passion for environmentalism and brilliant music - an irresistible combination. Getting to see Stornoway perform a few times recently has been a real highlight of a miserable year. One of the gigs was even at a wetland centre: the absolute dream.

Now let’s rewind. I can’t claim to have been around from the start (their gorgeous debut album came out in 2010) - in fact, I stumbled across the band a little by accident, meeting bassist Oli at a Sofar Sounds show in Oxford in 2014. I’d only been living in Oxford for a couple of months, and while I’d been to a few gigs, joining the Sofar crew was the best introduction to the local scene that I could’ve had. I had been an admirer of the Sofar videos on Youtube for a while at this point, and was really excited to get the opportunity to volunteer as a photographer for the Oxford shows.

I had a camera and plenty of enthusiasm, but not much experience of taking photos at gigs, and I was certainly learning ‘on the job’, but I loved my time at Sofar - I met so many cool people (volunteers, gig-goers and artists alike) and got to attend gigs and take photos in some interesting places, many of which I’d likely never have visited otherwise. The first of these shows was at the Worcester College Common Room. Classic Oxford. Oli set up the Oxford branch of Sofar, so we met at the show, and I remember finding him on Facebook afterwards, and noticing that he was in a band, a band which seemed to have a lot of likes… I quickly realised that they were basically Oxford music royalty and started to listen.

The first time that I got the opportunity to see Stornoway perform was on Record Store Day at Truck Store on Oxford’s famous Cowley Road, in the release week of their album Bonxie. An origami bird (I still have it in the CD case) guaranteed me entry as I’d bought the album beforehand, but I was late as I’d headed into town after an early morning RSD shopping. It was so so busy (perhaps I’d underestimated how much Oxford loved them) that I literally had to squeeze in to the doorway and couldn’t see a thing as there was a wall between me and the stage. I might not have seen much, but it sounded glorious.

A few days later, I took a train to Reading with a flatmate to see them play a ‘proper’ gig at Sub89. There was birdsong playing in the venue between sets, which at the time I would probably have thought was a bit quirky, but would now appreciate as a superb artistic choice. More birdsong, always. I remember being completely transfixed by the ‘unplucked’ Josephine and watching my recording of it over and over afterwards.

They played a few acoustic shows later in the year, promoting their new Bonxie Unplucked EP, on which sits their now classic (thanks to the Co-op) The Only Way Is Up cover. Oli got me a photo pass for the Oxford show, and I felt like the coolest person wandering around the church with my camera. I remember avoiding an essay or something similarly important to go to the gig - but it was definitely worth it. They played a beautiful show (and Charlie Cunningham supported!) and I was happy with my photos, and I was certainly starting to really fall for the band.

Stornoway performing at on the Bonxie Unplucked tour

At the start of 2016, I was doing a placement module on the English Literature side of my degree, and the opportunity to work with Oli and Tom (a member of the extended Storno live band) came up. Probably a fairly tenuous link to English Literature when most of my fellow students were working at publishing houses and newspapers, but my lecturer seemed fine with it, and suddenly I was entering the world of live music promotion. As part of the placement I put on my first ever gig, and people actually came to it! The placement went well and I worked with them as community manager for a while (both at university and after graduating), avoiding some of the responsbilities of my degree while working the door for multiple gigs a week across Oxford and often going to other shows in between. 

Later that year, just before the public announcement, Oli emailed me one morning to let me know that Stornoway would soon “be no more”. Compared to some, I hadn’t been around as a fan for long, but I loved the band and was sad for my friends, as I knew how much they loved playing together. It wasn’t meant to be a hiatus or a break, they were all moving on to other projects, to other lines of work, to other countries. The finality of it made it tough news, but a farewell tour was on the horizon, which promised to be a celebration of the band.

The farewell tour happened in March 2017 and was a complete triumph - it seemed that they really were bowing out at the top of their game, with adoring fans left begging for more. Better than fading into the background, surely. I saw them play in London (and got the tea towel) and a couple of days later in Oxford at the final date of the tour. I got to hang around for most of the day (at Oxford’s New Theatre, no less) as we were promoting the show: I watched the soundcheck, had a wander backstage, watched the show, watched as fans said their hellos and goodbyes at the merch stand, and went to the after party with the best of the best of Oxford’s music scene. I never really made tons of friends at university, but the local scene was really welcoming, and Stornoway were always an integral part of it. At the end of the party, I shared a taxi with Oli & Rob’s parents as my halls of residence were close to their house. I remember sitting in the kitchen until the light switched off automatically and just having a cry that something so special was over. Stor-no-more.

I was still working with Oli and Tom at the time, and I’ve kept in touch with them beyond, and knew that the band still occasionally played together at private events, but I had no inkling that a reunion might be on the cards. Last year brought a couple of festival appearances that I couldn’t get to, and it felt a little bittersweet to know that they were playing but that I couldn’t see them. The shows were a sort of extension of the farewell tour, promoting the live album that they’d released from the Oxford show. (Aside: if you have this CD, my photo of the soundcheck is behind the CD in the case!) 

Little did we know that they’d actually been recording a new album at this point, in sheds around the country (where the best albums are made, of course) and that they’d soon be back. Properly. Who could’ve dared to hope for such a scenario?!

The band getting back together and announcing a new album was the best news to kick off Spring this year. I missed out on tickets to their comeback London gig (big sad) but soon the gig and festival announcements started to come thick and fast. I was reunited, physically and musically, with Stornoway at Cambridge Folk Festival in July. It was magnificent. I wrote about it here. The band were so so great, the crowd loved it, and I got to meet one of my favourite authors before their set. Truly the stuff of dreams.

Reuniting with Stornoway at Cambridge Folk Festival

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks since then around the album release - the band invited me along to see an intimate album launch celebration at WWT’s London Wetland Centre in Barnes in September. It was definitely one of the coolest places I’ve seen a gig, as the band performed with the backdrop of the wetland behind them. Getting to birdwatch while listening to one of my favourite bands was a fairly magical experience. Parakeets were determined to feature on every song, and I saw a jay fly past at one point during the set. Lapwings out on the water too, I think!

Stornoway performing at WWT London Wetland Centre

They brought out Yijia and Fyfe Dangerfield to sing the songs they’d collaborated with them on, and were interviewed about the record afterwards by another collaborator (and all round musical/environmental hero) Sam Lee. I stuck around after the main event, and got to go out into the reeds and watch Brian and Fyfe performing Anwen a couple more times for the video below. Easier said than done, as we were directly under the shared flightpath of airplanes and birds, and while the video looks gloriously sunny, the sky was the deepest grey behind us, and the heavens opened just after this video. After helping to load the van back up (transferrable skills from working in a bookstore and carrying big ol’ piles of books all day every day) I caught a lift with the band back to Hammersmith, and felt pretty sure this wasn’t the last I’d be seeing them…

Of course I couldn’t resist going to see them at Rough Trade East a couple of days later for an instore performance - a very different setting (let’s just say that I’ll take a nature reserve over the rubbish lined streets of Brick Lane any day) but they were ever so brilliant. Before I knew it, I was going to a last minute show at Banquet Records a week or two later, on the day of the album being released. It’s a bit of a trek down to Kingston but so worth it to see them play in such an intimate setting, and to celebrate album launch day with Brian and Jon. 

A few weeks (and many many listens of the album) later I took my dad along to see them (well, he drove me) at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms. This is where I first saw The Hoosiers back in May 2011 (my first gig in a proper music venue) and it now holds even more special memories for me. Yijia opened the show with a mesmerising set and then it was time for Storno… A full band, a mind-boggling array of instruments (including: a saw, multiple trowels, a bucket of Welsh gravel, a melodica…), a setlist travelling through each of their albums, Low Island’s Felix playing an absolute blinder on drums, unplugged tracks. It had all the ingredients to be one of my favourite ever gigs (it was) and then they went and played one of my favourite songs, dedicated to me. Fairly sure I cried.

I discovered their track Boom Went The Bittern last year through a live video on Youtube from several years ago. There’s a chance I’ve heard it live before, but it has become a bit of a soundtrack of my walks in the past year or so. I’ve been slyly nudging the band to play it since Folk Fest, and on Sunday, they conceded to my badgering - it was one of the best moments of a gig ever for me, no lie.

If I was sensible, that should probably have been it, but I adored the Nottingham gig so much that I had to try and get along to another show. On Wednesday, I took two trains there and back to Cambridge, straight after a busy shift at work, and rounded off my little season of Stornoway with another beautiful show. Complete with a little bit of crowdsurfing from Oli and one of my favourite gig photos ever.

Oli crowd-surfing during Zorbing in Cambridge

So that’s that! It’s been an absolute treat to get to see Stornoway over the past few weeks - in various venues, with different line-ups, different songs. Following them around has given me a little of that gig-going confidence back, and I squeezed in a few other shows in between theirs, with a few in my calendar that I’m hoping to get to before the year is out - looking at you Johnny Flynn, BE GOOD, Chartreuse, Bear’s Den…

At each Stornoway gig I've been to by myself lately, I've connected with people in the queue or at the barrier. They've had a little of the magic of those Sofar gigs, providing the opportunity to chat to like-minded folk who are into nature and music. Stornoway fans are a lovely bunch. The band, it goes without saying, are wonderful humans too. They're touring again in February (you should go) and I'm hoping to make it to a show or two then. 

For now: I love you, Stornoway. I am so so glad that you're back, and I'm certainly not the only one. The world, my world, is better for having Stornoway in it. 

Stornoway tour dates here. 

Listen to and get your copy of Dig The Mountain! here.

Follow Stornoway - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Rowing Club Bar & Cafe (24/9/19)

For the three years that I studied in Oxford from 2014 to 2017 one of my favourite things to do was helping out at Sofar Sounds shows in the city. I started volunteering as a photographer at the shows a couple of months after moving there and got to see lots of brilliant artists in various intimate (and often bizarre) venues around the city - a bicycle cafe, an independent cinema, a museum and an art gallery to name a few. I had some time off work last week and headed back to Oxford for the first time in a couple of years. It was really great to be back in the city and luckily my trip coincided with a Sofar - it was a treat to be back!

China Bears

If Sofar Sounds is new to you - they're an organisation run mostly by volunteers, curating live music events in over 400 cities around the world. Originally set up to combat the issue of people talking around you and using phones etc at gigs, they create an environment for people to sit and discover new artists away from distractions. As the line-up and venue aren't announced until close to the show, there is an element of mystery and the opportunity to discover something new - it's a real joy to be part of! 

Tuesday's show took place at the Rowing Club Bar & Cafe at the City of Oxford Rowing Club, overlooking the Thames. I took a beautiful walk along the river from the centre of town to get to it. It was great to be reunited with my friends on the Sofar crew, as well as to meet some of the new volunteers and we had four brilliant artists on the line-up.

Opening up the show, it was a real pleasure to catch local (ish) guys China Bears playing their first ever Oxford show. I blogged about a couple of their songs recently and I'm really enjoying their debut EP I've Never Met Anyone Like You which was released via Fierce Panda Records back in August. Giving us a stripped back set showcasing their honest songwriting and indie influences it was a really fun way to open the show, and really sweet to meet the guys after the show. They're fans of the blog so I may be a little biased towards them... here's a video of them performing the EP title track from a Sofar London show!

Next up and hailing from Vancouver were duo Momento. I'm a fan of a violin at a gig, but what's better than one violin on stage? Two violins! Though their live set is now more electric in nature, they offered us a stripped back set (because they couldn't carry all the extra kit on the train, I think) covering popular tracks. Their immense talent and stage presence was obvious immediately and they very quickly got the audience on side - it was a really typical Sofar set, something that you might not expect and might not have usually gone to see, but which everybody seemed to love. Watch a cover of The Killers' Mr Brightside below!

Having travelled down from a show in York the night before especially for the night, next up was Sofar veteran Kim Logan. She's played lots (upwards of 70, I think?) Sofar shows and helps curate Sofar Paris as she currently lives between New York and Paris. Also (do you sense a theme?!) delivering a stripped back set and promising that her usual show was a full band rock affair, Kim sang a set of country and blues infused acoustic tunes. There's a video from Sofar Long Island below, featuring live dancing. Very Sofar.

Last up and after a long day exploring the gorgeous museums that Oxford has to offer, the lively set I needed to wake me up - Oxford favourites of mine, Little Brother Eli. It was the third Sofar I've seen the guys at, and my ninth time seeing them in total. I'll never tire of the infectious energy of frontman Alex Grew and his impressively broad vocal range, while backing him up, Josh Rigal and Adam Stowe offered superb musicianship and lovely harmonies. They're a well oiled machine and a local favourite and you can catch them playing at the O2 Academy Oxford for their Christmas gig on 21st December (tickets.)

Overall it was a really lovely show and is one of my favourite ways to experience live music - a really calm and inclusive environment where you're likely to leave the show having seen something you didn't expect, and lots that you loved. Long may shows like Sofar Sounds continue - I think it is clear that fans and artists alike love these shows! Check out the Sofar website here to see if there are shows happening close to you and take a chance on an evening of music discovery - you won't regret it!

Follow China Bears - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Momento - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Kim Logan - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Little Brother Eli - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'Never Never' for Sofar Sounds

A lot of my favourite acoustic videos come from the lovely folks of Sofar Sounds all over the world - not least because they book tons of brilliant artists. The nature of the shows - with an intimate audience watching the artists with talking to a minimum - means that they can produce videos in the style of acoustic sessions, with a live audience feeding into the performance and affecting the artist on this level, making it all a little more authentic. The latest Sofar session that I've fallen in love with is from Christof van der Ven (guitar/banjo/vocals for Bear's Den) who played for Sofar in London just days after releasing his beautiful debut album Empty Handed back in April. Check out the video below and if you like what you're hearing - his album is here!

Follow Christof van der Ven online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford house gig (24/4/17)

As my third (and final) year draws to a close I'll soon be saying goodbye to Oxford and moving back home (though I'm not sure I'll be able to stay away for long!) One of the things that I'll miss the most is the local Sofar Sounds, which I've been going to as a photographer/social media whizz on and off for the duration of my degree, meeting a bunch of incredible people in the crew and seeing lots of great music in unique spaces around Oxford along the way. Before university I was mad about the online Sofar sessions and remember being totally overwhelmed that they wanted me to come along and take photos. Volunteering over the years has made me realise just how lovely the whole Sofar family is, and I'd love to keep attending the shows closer to home, and maybe there's even demand for a Sofar Sounds Peterborough, who knows?! Anyway back to now, and last Monday I caught my final Sofar Oxford for a while as the two May shows clash with other gigs (part of the charm of the local scene is how much there is on offer!) 

The show took us back to the roots of Sofar in a cosy living room in an area of Oxford I hadn't been to before, and up first we had a lively and infectiously positive set from Prague/London based Lake Malawi, who supported the lovely Banfi guys a couple of days later in London. The set was complete with foot stomping, luckily the neighbours below didn't seem to mind! They released their single Surrounded By Light recently with a music video filmed in Cuba, check it out below... 

Next up a Winchester based duo who have been playing together since they were in school and 14, with influences including The Staves and First Aid Kit - not bad role models to aspire to! If I remember right, they said that they had only played one Sofar before back in Winchester, and the video online from that show is actually the track I remember most fondly from their set this week, entitled Tough Love, and it features some beautiful harmonies, take a listen if you enjoy the aforementioned female folksters.

Up next was singer-storyteller Gecko... a little browse on his Facebook page provides this quote from Huw Stephens,  'It made me instantly happy when I heard it', and I think that sums up his set pretty well as he had the audience in stitches for the duration with his clever and hilarious lyrics. A particularly comical and slightly ironic track was iPhone, therefore I am, taking the mick out of our widespread obsession with our mobile phones... ironic due to the fact I was looking after the Twitter and Facebook updates for the show. He's raising funds to record an album, it's reached 100% but you can still pledge at this link for signed CDs and all sorts of perks if you like what you hear below!

Our final set of the evening came from a singer, poet, playwright, activist, American and all round lovely human being, Amy León. Missing her band back in the States she treated us to some gutting and passionate a cappella tracks before inviting Gecko back to the stage to accompany her with some guitar while she improvised a couple of tracks, spurred on by the words retirement and passion, suggested by the audience. Here's a really powerful from Sofar London of a piece called This. 

I think that was my eighteenth Sofar Sounds Oxford show, and what a pleasure it's been to be involved over the last couple of years, I've just counted up and think I've seen nearly 80 performers between those shows. Long may Sofar continue to bring wonderful music to people in such a unique and beautiful way! 

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at St Ebbe's Primary School (24/2/17)

Set up back in 2012 by Oli Steadman (who's band Stornoway head out on their farewell tour tomorrow - last tickets here), Sofar Sounds Oxford celebrated it's 50th show on Friday evening with a show at a local primary school, St Ebbe's. I just worked out that I've been to 16 of those shows, experiencing a huge range of artists of various genres in unique spaces including cafes, a cinema, The Ashmolean Museum and a living room. At Friday's show, as well as birthday cake, we were treated to sets from OUTLYA, Evarose, Vas Leon and Martin Luke Brown, and I took my camera along for the first time in a few months... I'll embed some photos in the post but you can see a full album here!

First up were OUTLYA, who you might know as Port Isla, who I caught at Bushstock a couple of years ago and enjoyed! They were a lot of fun on Friday and got some great crowd participation going on The Light, their debut single which they've released recently - there's a Facebook Live video I recorded of that one here. They're heading out on tour with Frances in April (tickets here) and they are performing at Barn On The Farm festival too.

Next up and from down the road in Banbury, four piece rock-pop girl band Evarose performed what I gathered for them was incredibly stripped back, telling the audience that they probably play a couple of acoustic shows a year. Their debut record Invisible Monsters is out now... there's a taster below with the track Provoke Me. They're back in town next Saturday with a proper rock show headlining the O2 Academy 2 Oxford on the first date of a UK tour, tickets for Oxford here!

Next up was Vas Leon with something completely different... you'll probably grasp from the music I post about that rap isn't high on my list of favourite genres to listen to, but part of the charm of Sofar Sounds is bringing an audience together to experience new things, and a rapper performing in a primary school is certainly a new one. Hear his track My Life below...

Finishing up the night and returning for his third Sofar Sounds Oxford, London's Martin Luke Brown treated us to a beautiful set including the tracks Shadow & Light (another Facebook Live video with some brilliant crowd participation here), Take Out Of Me and Scars On Scars, as well as a cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

The next Sofar Sounds Oxford is on 8th March for International Women's Day and has been sold out for a while but you can grab the last few tickets to the show on 27th March here. If you're reading this and you're not in Oxford, Sofar exists in most cities around the UK as well as worldwide, check out the main website for local shows. I'd really recommend checking out a show, it's a really interesting and unique way of experiencing live music in a different environment and you never know what you might discover!

WATCH: Little Mammoths play 'She Came In From The Storm' for Sofar Sounds

I had a great time at last night's 50th Sofar Sounds Oxford show in a primary school a little walk out of the city centre... I'll write up a post about that soon but for now, here's a wonderful new video from just over a year ago when I managed to help get Little Mammoths onto the line-up to play a stripped back set in town before their headline show I'd organised for the next week.

After shipping out copies of their debut album Phantom Dreams recently (buy on vinyl or listen on Soundcloud), they've already got to work on album two, which this track is going to be on. Enjoy!

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Ashmolean Museum (27/01/2017)

Yesterday was my first gig of the year, helping out with the Sofar stage at Oxford's Ashmolean and running the social media. I've been living in Oxford on and off since September 2014 but it's only the second time I've visited the museum, the first time being another Sofar show almost exactly two years ago, both shows being part of the museum's Live Friday events. This time the event was Linguamania, a celebration of languages, so we had four different acts who were all born elsewhere or grew up in another country, singing us tunes in various languages.

Josh Savage, Anna Zed, Count Drachma and The Fusion Project

First up, somebody who is no strange to Sofar, having set up Sofar Winchester and having played the most Sofar shows of anybody - I believe yesterday was his 49th. Josh Savage is in the midst of a living room tour at the moment, and shared some tracks in French as he grew up in Paris... check out his The Living Room Tour documentary below!

Next up was a set from Anna Zed, who was born in Athens and studied in the UK. She played with an electric guitar and sang in a mixture of Greek and English, and I really enjoyed her set, particularly the track Holiness - see a video from a London Sofar below!

Next up, Oli Steadman's project Count Drachma treat us to some Zulu Maskandi music. Oli actually set up Oxford Sofar a few years ago, and there's a video below of Count Drachma performing at a Sofar years ago with percussion, bass, and violin, but this time around there was Oli and a violinist. It's actually almost exactly a year since I started off my uni placement with Oli's company Tigmus who haven't been able to get rid of me since - the year has flown by!

Finishing up the night with a couple of sets for two separate audiences - there was a constant queue outside our gallery for the whole evening - Oxford's The Fusion Project. They fuse together Indian Classical music with Western music, performing their covers of Ed Sheeran and Adele tracks last night and performing in Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew, English (and probably more!) They sold out a Tigmus show at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre last year and are doing so well for themselves at the moment, so it was lovely to catch them live again! Check out their most recent cover of The Chainsmokers' track Closer below.

Personally, my next gig is tonight at The Cellar in Oxford, an Independent Venue Week show with Hudson Scott (who I saw supporting Foals at the end of 2015), Catgod and Coldredlight - tickets for that here. The next Sofar Oxford in Feb is sold out, but there's a special show for International Women's Day on 8th March with a bunch of the best local female artists (apply for tickets here.)

WATCH: Dawes perform 'Somewhere Along The Way' for Sofar Sounds

Back at the start of November I spontaneously followed the lovely Dawes guys around for a few shows over a couple of days in London, finishing up with a set at a Sofar Sounds show in a 3D printing shop (my post about the weekend is here) - the video from that night was posted online recently, check it out! This track is taken from their fourth record All Your Favourite Bands which was my favourite release of last year - looking forward to reflecting on this year's releases and making a playlist of my favourite music from this year (it's on the to do list!)

WATCH: Little Brother Eli perform 'Carry You' for Sofar Sounds

As I write this, it's 11pm and I'm sat contemplating the early night I promised myself half hour ago which is slowly disappearing.... it's very rapidly nearing the end of semester, I've got two big deadlines coming up (but I have managed to get one of the essays mostly written!) - and I somehow thought it'd be a good idea to be out of the flat for six nights in a row last week for a bunch of gigs and the Tigmus christmas get-together. Essentially the next week will include lots of reading, hopefully lots of writing, and a general lack of sleep... and I'm struggling to find time to write blog posts, but I thought I'd write up a quick one before I get to sleep, as many of my favourite bands are continually putting out brilliant new music which needs to be shared! 

Hopefully as the semester finishes I'll get back to posting a lot more regularly, but for now, here's a new video from Sofar Sounds Nottingham with one of my favourite Oxford bands, Little Brother Eli performing Carry You. I've certainly heard the track live before but it isn't on their debut album Cold Tales which was released back in June, so I presume it's a fairly new track. When they play with a full set-up there are five members in the band, the vibe is energetic and the tracks are catchy, and in the handful of times I've seen them perform acoustically, they've played as a trio, with Alex on vocals and Adam and Josh on guitar and bass respectively - it's awesome to see them mixing it up here with Tom on lap steel, which certainly adds an extra level to this performance!

If you're based in London and looking for things to do around Christmas, and you're a live music fan then you're in luck as LBE are playing a show for Tigmus on 21st December at The Monarch in Camden. Support comes from Darla and the Blonde and another Tigmus favourite, James Beau Barclay, and it's totally FREE! I'll be heading home for Christmas before then (meaning trips to London become around three times the price...) so won't be able to make it myself but I know it'll be a great night!

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Handle Bar (21/11/16)

Since I've been attending Sofar Sounds shows in Oxford, there have been a couple of shows at The Handle Bar, a cafe and restaurant above a bike shop, located in the centre of town, but for various reasons I haven't been able to make them. Naturally I was chuffed to finally get along to a show there this Monday, for another night of brilliant acoustic music. I spent most of the evening trying not to make everybody else ill, but also dabbled in a bit of photography and social media, posting photos and live videos to the Sofar Oxford Facebook. You can check out some of my photos from the evening on my Flickr here.

First up on the night, we had a set from local folk musician Rosie Caldecott. I've heard her name tons over the past couple of years, and couldn't recall if I'd caught her playing before, but a little browse of my gig spreadsheets tells me I haven't - and what a mistake! She played a couple of new tracks and a couple from her Inside Out record, and I got some Laura Marling vibes from the set, which can't be a bad thing!



Next up, Gloucestershire duo Ethemia played for us, letting us share in their 'musical marriage' for a few moments. The bond between the pair was lovely to see, and their songs, as well as their stories and how they engaged with the crowd during and after their set was totally heartwarming. Lovely people! Here's a video below from the last Sofar Oxford they played in the summer of 2015.

Up third and probably the set I was waiting in most anticipation for, and my favourite of the night, we had Leicester born and London-based Martin Luke Brown play a solo set for us. I've heard his name in many places online and elsewhere for a year or so now but until the day of the show hadn't really given him a proper listen. Sat barely a metre from the crowd, he made no efforts to hide that it was a little daunting in between songs, but you couldn't guess this at all from his performance! His set was totally engaging, with sing-alongs, clapping and clicking... even a little Britney chucked in for good measure (which I caught on one of the Facebook Live videos from the night, of his track Take Out of Me - definitely worth a watch.) Loving this recent lyric video for his track Shadow & Light which is also worth a listen and a watch! He's also a really lovely chap, had a lovely chat (as my voice was just about returning) after the show. So many positive vibes that night!

Last up we had a full band, playing plugged in and bringing a little more noise to wake us all up at the end of the night. They'd travelled from Fareham for the show (sounded impressive though I wasn't entirely sure where it was... a little Googling tells me it's next to Portsmouth.) The track I recorded live for our Sofar Facebook, Stay Golden, is instantly made ten times better when you know the idea originally came from the lead singers golden retriever (crossed with something which has slipped my mind..) puppy. Adorable, even if he did start the anecdote by letting the audience know he doesn't really like dogs (to some pretty sharp intakes of breath) - "so I got a puppy!" They describe their sound as a unique blend of folk, country, blues and acoustic, and performed with a cajon and banjo, win win in my eyes! Take a listen for yourself with Shake It Off,  a track from their recent EP.



Overall, the night was totally worth braving the cold drizzly night, the venue is lovely, the crowd were totally respectful as always and all the artists were great and lovely people to boot. If you haven't been to a Sofar Sounds show before, chances are there's one coming up near you soon (especially if you live in London where there are usually a few each night all around the city) so check out the website and sign up for a great night of live music and discovery in an interesting setting, with a crowd of likeminded music fans!

LIVE: Dawes at Islington Assembly Hall, Rough Trade West and Sofar Sounds (4/5 Nov 2016)

Since seeing them in Hackney last August I've been desperate to see Dawes again, so when they announced a mini UK tour for November a couple of months ago I was over the moon. I quickly grabbed a ticket and spent October listening to the record and getting excited... the show was on Friday in the beautiful surroundings of Islington Assembly Hall, my first show in the venue! Arriving expecting a queue I found only a couple of people waiting outside, and once we'd been let in I got chatting with two lovely girls at the barrier. The atmosphere was lovely and the show kicked off beautifully with a support set from Lily & Madeleine who recently released their record Keep It Together... definitely worth taking a listen to! Check out this live session of their track Nothing.

Lily & Madeleine

While chatting away to the girls at the front, they'd asked if I was going to the signing and acoustic performance the next day. There'd apparently been an announcement on Facebook for a show at Rough Trade West which I'd somehow missed... so I decided to see how I felt after the show, knowing I'd probably be heading back to London the following day for it. Dawes came on and played something like an eighteen song set, particularly impressive when so many of their songs are quite long! I got to hear tracks from the new album for the first time as well as tracks from the previous four, the show was full of incredible instrumental sections, solos, amazing crowd sing-alongs and a couple of stunning acoustic tracks, I was pretty overwhelmed - it was everything I'd hoped for and so much more. I recorded a couple of videos which I'll stick below... first up my favourite track from the new record, Roll With The Punches, and then I Can't Think About It Now, which is my favourite track from the previous album (All Your Favourite Bands) and, I think, one of my favourite tracks of all time, so hearing it live was really special (apparently they played it at Hackney too, but the track certainly didn't mean so much to me then!)

After hanging around at the merch stall, I left the venue and found a little group of people waiting to see if the band would come out. They're one of my favourite bands and their music means an awful lot to me, so I figured I'd stick around too. Their lovely tour manager took some of the other guys' stuff up to get signed, and they mentioned the Rough Trade set to him, at which point he said they were also playing a Sofar show after it. I've only ever been to Sofar in Oxford, where we have one or two shows a month - in London this month alone there are 92, so when I checked online I found there were three shows last night. Luckily, after hanging around a little longer, Taylor, the lead singer and guitarist of the band came out. Meeting him was pretty special and he kindly checked which show it was they were playing. Suddenly one Dawes show had turned into a couple of days of following them around for three shows. I headed back on the coach to Oxford, getting back at 2am and heading back to London to meet a friend eight hours later... tired but pretty happy! After a little shopping we headed to Rough Trade West for the instore, where we met with Christine, one of the lovely girls I'd met the night before. Crammed into the tiny store (which I also hadn't been to before, only the East London shop, and Nottingham) Taylor opened the show with a solo performance of For No Good Reason before Lee and Griff joined him for Million Dollar Bill and Roll With The Punches (which I filmed a tiny bit of), after which, deciding how to fill the last few minutes of the set because "all my songs have too many words", he played Now That It's Too Late, Maria ("it's like a song and a half"), the track which closes their fourth record. After a quick album signing we headed to the tube, and after saying goodbye to my friend, Christine and I travelled over to Farringdon, arriving a little early at the venue for Sofar Sounds, the iMakr studio, the world's largest 3D printing store.

Dawes at Rough Trade West

Opening up the night was Bruce O'Yates and his band... amusingly (and rather cool) he'd been to the store before to have his face 3D printed for his album cover - you can see it just behind him to the right on the pic below! I really enjoyed his set, check out his track Helen here. Next up was Natalie Wildgoose playing a solo keyboard set of jazzy tunes!

Bruce O'Yates

Up last, and finishing off a brilliant couple of days were the Dawes guys, this time with Taylor, Lee and guitarist Trevor. They played a different set to the earlier one as they knew a handful of us were going to be at both, opening with Taylor playing Moon In The Water solo before (not sure of the order) Something In Common, Picture of A Man and Somewhere Along The Way (little video of that here). Luckily the rest of the audience enjoyed it as much as us and requested an encore, and crikey, did they deliver... in the form of a song "we've never played for anybody", entitled My Greatest Invention. It was a little emotional and a beautiful way to finish off the little trio of shows!

Dawes at iMakr Store for Sofar Sounds

After a little chat with Taylor and Jerry, their tour manager, I headed back to get the coach back to Oxford. An emotional coach journey reflecting on what had just happened - seeing a band I've admired for a few years up close and personal like that in such a raw, stripped back environment where you can really appreciate their musicianship and Taylor's fantastic songwriting was truly special! Wishing them safe travels back to LA and hoping that it isn't too long until they're back in the UK! Also if you've made it to the bottom of the post and you're not already a Dawes fan... get listening to them - there are five fantastic records for you to choose from, and so many incredible tracks!

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at Sarah's house (7/10/16)

Last night I went to another brilliant Sofar Sounds Oxford, hosted beautifully by Sarah in her lovely living room! This time around I didn't take my camera along (pretty distracting in such a tiny space... it was definitely my first gig sat on a fireplace), and I was instead in charge of social media... tweeting photos and posting to Facebook, as well as my first ever live videos. It was a lovely evening with great artists and a bunch of wonderful people, raising money for Oxfam through their Oxjam Festival (the main Oxjam Takeover in Oxford takes place on 15th October, tickets here for a huge number of bands playing venues up and down Cowley Road.) 

If you don't know the history of Sofar, it was set up by a couple of guys who were sick of going to gigs with the audience talking during the sets, going to the bar etc (I know the feeling), so they started to host shows in their living room and as more people came, it spread and is now in over 270 cities worldwide. In the majority of places, most shows are still in living rooms, however Oxford Sofar takes place in so many brilliant locations (art galleries, cinemas, cafes) so last night was my first proper Sofar house gig, which is pretty cool. 

The show last night kicked off with country brothers Loud Mountains, who are from the USA but now based in Oxford. It wasn't until after the show that I figured I'd seen them before supporting Neverlnd almost a year ago at the O2. Last night, rather ironically as they both played our Oxjam show a year ago, the duo reminded me of a mix of Adam Barnes and Chris Ayer. They play the proper Oxjam takeover a week today so you can catch them then, and check out this beautiful track She's A Fire, performed for the Green Chair Sessions.

Loud Mountains

Next up was another American artist, Meredith Baker, a singer-songwriter who studied her MSc in African Studies at Oxford University and who has played a few Sofar shows around the world, but not in Oxford, so it was a pretty special one for her. Her album Maybe I Won't Come Home Tonight features many of the tracks she played last night, including Reggae My Blues Away (video from another Sofar) which encouraged a big sing-along!

Meredith Baker

After Meredith, we were lucky to have Nigel Powell, AKA The Sad Song Co., who is a drummer for his day job, touring pretty relentlessly with Frank Turner. With a new album to promote, it was his first solo set in eight years, the opening night of a mini tour (including a free London show, details here), so we were very lucky! I hadn't listened to his music before but he had me at that name... we all love a sad song, right?! 

The Sad Song Co.

Finally, I was very happy to see The Fusion Project play for the first time, having missed their performance at another Sofar Oxford in Worcester Chapel  previously. Usually far stronger in numbers they played a fairly stripped back but impressive set, opening with their cover of one of my favourite tracks, Ed Sheeran's track for The Hobbit, I See Fire - which you can see in its full glory here! With the mission of taking "the immense depth and beauty of Indian Classical music to a wider audience in the West", they are headlining a huge show for Tigmus at The Sheldonian Theatre, the first night of its kind to take place in the venue, which is traditionally a venue for Western classical music. It's going to be a great night and tickets are available here - please come and join us! Also a little mention to Josh, who plays bass for the guys as well as Little Brother Eli, who are playing as part of our Tigmus season at the O2 Academy Oxford next Friday - it'd be great to see some of you there too!

The Fusion Project

All in all a brilliant show - the next Sofar Sounds Oxford show is free as part of a family fun day at the New Theatre on 15th October, with the next regular show on 4th November (I won't be there as I'm seeing Dawes that night but can guarantee you a great evening if you choose to go along!) 

GIG NEWS: Sofar Sounds Oxford does Oxjam (7th October)

I'm looking forward to a really busy weekend (and month) of shows, all kicking off this Friday with a special Sofar Sounds Oxford at a secret venue (of course). The show is unique because its an Oxjam show, fundraising for Oxfam, and the show we did last year for the charity featured Adam Barnes, Chris Ayer, Hattie Briggs, Okina and Lail Arad, a line-up packed with talent, playing to a wonderful crowd in a primary school hall (amazing.) 

I've no idea what the line up will be this time around, but the element of surprise is what makes Sofar amazing, which is the same with the venue - but as our last show was in a cinema, you get the idea! Here's a couple of videos from our Oxjam show last year...

Tickets for the show (with all the money going to Oxfam!) are available here, please come and join us!

LIVE: My week in gigs... Khamsina, Sofar Sounds, Bastille and Lucy Leave (Sep 2016)

I moved back to uni a week ago today and I've already managed a stretch of four gigs in 6 days. First up on Sunday was a Tigmus show, with local band Khamsina launching their album Everything I Am. I hadn't listened to them before the show but was pretty impressed and it was a lovely evening of folk music to ease myself back into the local scene! I took photos on the evening, a few of which are on the blog Facebook page!

Next up on Tuesday evening was my first Sofar Sounds Oxford since March - I can't believe quite how it's been so long but it's always lovely to see the crew, a really nice bunch of people! When I got the email saying where the show would be (as they're secret venues, announced a couple of days before) I could've cried out with joy as it was in the local independent cinema up the road from me. A gig in a cinema! Definitely as cool as it sounds... 

As we were squeezed in after the early evening film, we had less bands than normal, as there can sometimes be up to five acts, but the three that played, though very different in terms of genre, were received incredibly well. First up was Laurel, an acoustic singer-songwriter originally from Southampton and now based in London. She's got almost twenty thousand likes on Facebook so is clearly doing something right and we were lucky to catch her in this intimate environment. Next up were electro-visual duo Enno and Shalti who made use of the cinema screen, showing visuals alongside their set (which I think they were producing at the time using a programme they'd created.... I can't say I understand in the slightest but it was cool!) Last up were local band The Shapes, a 7-piece band who were glad to be asked to play as they reckon it's hard to get gigs if you're not an 18 year-old hipster. They might have a point. Photos from that night are up on the page here.

On Thursday night I ventured a little further to Kingston, to catch the Bastille album launch show, with Tom Speight supporting. I've been wanting to catch them live for a while and, travel stress aside (don't get me started... who's idea is it to finish shows at half 11 when we're a half hour train out of central London?!), it was a brilliant night! I went along with a friend who lives locally who'd mentioned she'd love to go to another show there so it was a great opportunity when I noticed the ticket and CD bundles on sale. As it was a show for the new album (which just got its second week at number one... no big deal) Dan was quick to say that they'd be trying to play as much of it as possible, and they premiered a lot of the tracks (setlist.fm tells me they played 6 debuts!) so that was pretty special to see, but of course it was also great for them to finish off with just a couple of tracks from the first record (Things We Lost In The Fire and Pompeii), they definitely left the crowd wanting more! Below is a little video of Power being played for the first time.

Last up this week I ran the door for the last night and homecoming show of the Lucy Leave Tigmus tour on Friday night at The Cellar, with three other locals bands on the line-up, Slate Hearts, Holy Moments and Kancho, all of whom were lovely and it made for a grungy, rock-y evening loved by all who came (as displayed by the crazy head banging and dancing.) Of course they had to end on the title track of their recent Fighter Pilot EP, but they squeezed in Carry just before (video below), inviting the Slate Hearts lads to play with them, as they'd toured with them as main support for all dates. It was especially lovely seeing how much fun they were all having up there, and seeing the various bands watching each other's sets throughout the night!

A very busy (but fantastic) week and while I haven't currently got anything planned next week, October is looking very busy which should make up for that (also uni starts up this week so that should probably take some priority...)

WATCH: Tom Figgins 'Bury My Ghosts' for Sofar Sounds

The video dropped a few days ago from when troubadour Tom Figgins played at Sofar Sounds London back in March. The track is Bury My Ghosts and it's great, but lets be honest - Tom's new puppy is definitely stealing the show over on his Instagram. How sweet is Treacle?! 

Keep an eye on Tom's Facebook for info on upcoming releases and shows - if you're interested in theatre, he's performing in a new production that's headed to Edinburgh Fringe soon and is previewing in London on the 28th, info here.

WATCH: Sofar Sounds at Art Jericho (Feb 2015)

Rewind to last February, and at Sofar Oxford we had a beautiful line up of Monument Valley, Benedict Benjamin, Twin Hidden, Tom Terrell and Rachel Sermanni in the stunning surroundings of Art Jericho. The editing team seem to have been pretty busy lately and a flurry of videos from Sofar Oxford shows have been surfacing on the Sofar Youtube, including three from that night. The videos of Twin Hidden and Benedict Benjamin aren't up yet but you can check out this great video from a Sofar Benedict played in Bristol last year.

Rachel Sermanni (pic by me)

First up is Monument Valley performing the track When I Go Clear. He's supporting Bryde tonight at her sold out Slaughtered Lamb show!

Next up is Tom Terrell playing The River on what seems to be a pretty big banjo, and which a quick Google search suggest is a 'cello banjo', but perhaps in more friendly terms, Gretta, as Tom named it/her in his FB post about the video. I can remember being pretty mesmerised by Tom's set on the night and you can certainly see why!

Last up is Rachel Sermanni, joined by Tom (they were touring together at the time) to perform a track called Tractor which Rachel explains has nothing to do with tractors... They were a beautiful pairing, both joining each other during the other's set, and those who go to see them playing full live shows together were lucky indeed, though their sets in the intimate art gallery venue were both pretty special.

You can find out more about Sofar Sounds in Oxford here, and apply for tickets for the upcoming show on 24th May which is in association with the Common People festival. Also if these videos left you wanting more, check out the main Sofar Sounds Youtube page here, which is constantly updated with new sessions from the shows around the world!

WATCH: King Charles 'Gamble For A Rose' for Sofar Sounds

Two of my favourite things in the world collide... King Charles and Sofar Sounds, as Charles recently played Sofar in London (if I'm not wrong, I think he actually played two nights in a row!) The only bad thing is that I wasn't there to watch, but this beautifully filmed video of Charles playing the title track of his January release Gamble For a Rose makes up for that a little!

If you're ever after some new music to listen to, a browse of the Sofar Sounds Youtube channel is a great place to start, with videos filmed at their shows, which take place in over 240 cities.