May 25 2010

Another Little Update…

Well it’s been pretty manic here at Little Towers folks…


At the beginning of the month I was back in Denmark with Maggie Reilly for the Korsør Open Air Festival. We were on a rather interesting bill with various 70’s bands including ELO, Sailor, The Rubettes, Suzi Quatro, and Showaddywaddy (!). I was in and out of Denmark in one day which proved a tad strenuous, but (crappy weather withstanding) we had a fantastic time on stage. It was great to play a big festival with Maggie again and I certainly blew the cobwebs away from my little Warwick amp. Haven’t been able to crank it up like that for a while but when you’re stood next to drum-monster Steve Alexander it’s only right!

Clare Teal’s new album is coming along very nicely too, thanks for asking. It’s based on the Great British Songbook tour and features some lovely arrangements by Grant Windsor. Grant, Ben and I were recording some backing vocals just last week and Clare is in the studio right now putting down her final vocals. We’re expecting that one to be ready in the Autumn so keep your eyes peeled.

As many of you already know, I’m off on tour with the marvelous Duke Special later this week. We’ll be playing fourteen shows around Ireland over the next three weeks starting in Letterkenny this Thursday. The Uk leg of the tour was a great success and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and playing the new material. The tour features music from the Duke’s The Stage, A Book & The Silver Screen boxset, including of course most of the songs from Mother Courage & Her Children which we performed at the National Theatre last Autumn. Expect copious bloggery on our return! Here’s a list of where you can find us…

Last Sunday was Lea DeLaria’s birthday show at Ronnie Scott’s. And let me tell you, it was a blast! We played two long sets which allowed us to pull out some great tunes from Lea’s back catalogue that we haven’t done for a while. It was great to revisit a couple of the great Gil Goldstein arrangements from Lea’s first two albums: Tatooed Love Boys and Cool were great fun live. We also had a couple of very special guests. Ian Shaw came up and joined us for a couple of storming duets with Lea and the marvelous Justin Bond (aka Kiki from Kiki & Herb) performed a number with his MD Lance Horne and totally brought the house down. The whole show was such a scream and Lea got a big standing ovation at the end of the night. Hoping we’ll be back there soon…

So, what other news? I hear you ask…


Well the new Divine Comedy single At The Indie Disco came out on Monday and has been getting a lot of airplay this month. The download bundle features two B-sides, On The Barge and At The Indie Disco Mk1 and the video. Surely that’s more than worth £1.79 of anyone’s money?! Off you go…

And finally I have one important date for your diaries. I will be performing with the lovely Kate Eden at the Bull’s Head in Barnes on the 25th June. This show will feature Janette Mason on piano and hopefully some special guests. We are going to film this show so it promises to be a very special night…

And don’t forget to check out Kate’s sparkly new Reverb Nation page and sign up to the mailing list so we can keep you up to date with all forthcoming shows!

Right then. I have another sitar lesson in a couple of hours and really should be brushing up on my meends (Ha!). Although I have yet again broken the 2nd string. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt playing the sitar over the last few months it’s that there is literally no end to the amount of money one needs to spend on strings. Mine has nineteen strings and it is a rare, nay freak occurrence for them all to be on and in one piece at once. Boring? Probably. I am meaning to do another post in the near future about my experiences learning the instrument, but frankly right now I’m far too busy!

Until next time.. x


Apr 29 2010

The ‘I Really Should Update This More Often’ Post…

I do check back to this site on occasion and it occurred to me on my last visit that I haven’t updated the blog for a couple of months. How very slack of me dear readers.. I do apologise..

And it’s not that there has been nothing to write about. In fact, the last few months have been pretty busy with various projects. I started serious work on the solo bass album. I now have six tracks finished and am going to change tack for a while to put together a few more edgier sounds. I posted a rough version of a track on my podcast a while ago to give you an idea, and I’ve just uploaded it to the wonderful Soundcloud so I can embed it right here for you all…
This week however, I find myself with a lot of new music to learn so I’m taking a little break from the solo bass project. I’m hoping to have the album finished by the time I’m out on tour with Clare and Maggie in the Autumn so it’s available at their shows. Watch this space…
Duke Special will be starting his UK tour this weekend. This tour will feature music from The Silent World of Hector Mann and the Mother Courage & Her Children albums. You can buy these albums in his wonderful The Stage, A Book & The Silver Screen boxset, available at the Duke Store. Unfortuantely due to prior commitments, I won’t be joining the Duke until the Irish leg of the tour (27th May-12th June). Until then the Duke bass will be in the more than capable hands of Mr Jon Kensington. The Hector Mann material is fantastic and I’m really looking forward to playing it live with the boys. I’m joining them for their last day of rehearsals tomorrow. Expect the usual extensive bloggery on my return and you can of course follow my deluge of updates on Twitter if you’re that way inclined (and let’s face it; who isn’t these days?!)
Next week I am schlepping up to Glasgow for a couple of days rehearsal with Maggie Reilly. We are off to Denmark on the 13th May for a festival. Don’t ask me where it is or what it’s called; frankly I don’t know! This show will see the return of the marvelous Steve Alexander on the drums and promises to be a very special show. Can’t wait for this one! And it looks like we’ll be on tour in Germany later on this year so once again, do keep your eyes peeled for upcoming dates on my MySpace page.
And it’s been a busy couple of months with Clare Teal too. Our Great British Songbook tour continues on apace. We’ve been up and down the country playing a wide variety of venues from the Stables in Wavendon right up to the Byre Theatre in St. Andrews. At the beginning of March we went into Air Studios to start work on the album with the fabulous Mr Jake Jackson at the helm. We spent two days laying down the band tracks and doing a few overdubs. It sounds absolutely beautiful so far and promises to be a great album when it’s finished. The album will feature the current touring lineup of Grant Windsor on piano, Ben Reynolds on drums, me on bass with the addition of guitar-monster Femi Temowo. Here’s a few shots taken by Jake during the session…


And the tour continues this weekend when we will be playing Bristol St Georges Hall on Saturday and the Redlett Centre on Sunday. Be there or be square, as they say..
As many of you will be aware, there has been exciting developments in the Divine Comedy camp. Our new album Bang Goes The Knighthood will be released on May 31st. Tim and I recorded our bits in Dublin with Neil in January last year (!) and the album is finally ready. I’ve had the promo for some time now and let me tell you; I reckon this is the best DC record to date. The songs are fantastic and it sounds great. And as many of you have seen, it has a great cover!
Just yesterday, Divine Comedy HQ posted the video for the new single At The Indie Disco, which will be released for download on 23rd May. So I thought I’d better post it right here for my loyal readers to have a sneaky peak. Enjoy…

Neil will be performing shows solo this year. I’m sure we will be joining him at some point in the near future and I will of course keep you posted as to when and where.
But in the meantime, I will be joining Mr Hannon and the lovely Mr Walsh AKA the recently Ivor Novello nominated Duckworth Lewis Method at a one-off performance headlining at the Meltdwon Festival at London’s Sounthbank Centre on June 17th. This promises to be a very special show and I’m expecting that tickets will sell out pretty quick so if I were you I’d get booked up right now to avoid crashing disappointment…
This post is becoming a bit of a monster. Serves me right for leaving it so long. So what else? The sitar is going very well indeed, thanks for asking. I really am intending on blogging more about this fun and exciting little journey into the weird and wonderful world of Hindustani classical music, but I fear this post is already far too long. Next time I reckon. Until then, thanks for reading and do leave your comments below and of course let me know when you’re coming to one of the shows so I can come and say hello.
Cheers! 🙂 x