Simon Little

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…

Buzzsaw (Rough) by simonlittlebass

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

It’s been rather manic here so apologies for the distinct lack of bloggery. I’ve been involved with a number of projects over the last few weeks which I thought I’d take a moment to let you all know about.

The main development over the last fortnight, as those of you who follow me on Twitter will know, has been the little Danish adventure with Maggie Reilly. I drove up to Glasgow in the new bass-mobile a couple of weeks ago for three days of rehearsals. The lineup this time was slightly different and consisted of the usual core band of Maggie, Stuart MacKillop on keyboards, Gordon Dougall on rhythm guitar and keyboards and me on bass with the new additions of Ali Murray on drums and Jim Condy on lead guitar. We added a few new songs to the set this time including Replay, Echoes and Talking To Myself (which has become a favourite of mine live). I had no idea how cold it got in Glasgow compared to here in London. My Winter wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired and I found myself battling with the elements on more than one occasion. But that was nohing compared to how cold it was in Denmark…

We arrived in Denmark on the 10th to be greeted with huge mounds of snow, the like of which I have never really experienced. Apparently the Danes have not had snow like this for at least seven years and this kind of cold weather was particularly unusual, but it transpires that they are far more adept at dealing with the snow than us Brits. In fact we had no trouble at all with the roads or flights. Deep joy.

Our first show was at Rampelys. This was one of the first venues I’d payed in Denmark when I first started coming over with Maggie and it was great to revisit the place. It’s a great little folky club in Silkeborg with a fantastic Mexican restaurant underneath it. Needless to say we visited said restaurant straight after the soundcheck. It’s one of those clubs that seem to be quite common in Denmark where it is run by a society that pool their resources and bring in the acts they want to see. We were sold out with about 250 in the audience and ha a great time.

We played the Stubhuset in Stovring the following day, a slightly larger arts centre type venue with a much larger stage. The stage at Rampelys is a tad small for our six-piece lineup (it was tricky when we played there as a five-piece several years ago!), so it was great to have a bit more space. We had another appreciative if somewhat quieter audience. Maggie and Jim added in a bluesy version of Jesus on the Mainline which went down well.

We moved on to the Kielgasten in Holstebro on the Saturday. This was another venue we’d played before and one of my favourites (in fact, it was the place we played after my journey from Hell from Paris with TDC if you remember that particular blog post..). It’s a great little rock club, probably around the same size as the others (250/300 capacity) and has just the right atmosphere for a proper gig. It is a mixture of seated areas and standing so you feel far more connected to the audience. My favourite venue in Denmark is still the Train in Aarhus, which is entirely standing. The Kielgasten was definitely the best show of the run; I’m looking forward to going back there soon.

By this point the weather had warmed up a little bit, although the snow was showing no sign of melting. Our final show was at the Huset in Nakskov. We were playing at four in the afternoon on Valentines day as part of some kind of Maggie Reilly Valentines spectacular! I must admit that I was slightly concerned about such an early show but it proved to be a lot of fun and the audience were really marvelous. We had to get up incredibly early to drive down from Holstebro and catch the ferry but it was worth it. The staff at the Huset were lovely and really looked after us. There’s a chance we’ll be returning there in May for a little warm-up show before the Danish festival we’re playing.

I really look forward to the little ferry crossings in Denmark. Sad but true. This is mainly due to the marvelous hotdogs they invariably sell on board. Anyone who nows me well will know that I am virtually always unable to resist a good hotdog/chillidog and these are definitely right up there with the best. I managed to convince all the non-veggie in the band to get in on the sausage action too. Actually, Gordon didn’t take much convincing…

We had a lot of fun on this little Danish run. It was great to be out on the road with the guys again. We should be back in May so keep you’re eyes peeled for upcoming dates on my MySpace page.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been involved with a few other projects of late. A couple of days ago I recording some bass for my friends Sorana Santos and Chris Lane, aka Lyrebird for their forthcoming EP. Chris posted a little video of me recording on The Art of Staying Alive this morning. Thought you might like to have a look…

You can check out their music on Reverbnation and keep up with the progress of their EP on Twitter. They are well worth go to see if you get a chance…

Yesterday I found myself in the studio of a certain Mr Paul Pilot recording some saw for Duke upcoming tour dates and also for the fantastic band My First Tooth, who are incidentally also avid Twitterers. I recorded two tracks for their forthcoming album. Their music sounds great and Paul is doing a fine job of producing. I’ll let you know when it’s out so you can all go forth and purchase… Paul couldn’t resist having a go on the saw before I left and let’s face it, who could blame him?!

The big news this week is that I will be playing at The Bull’s Head in Barnes with the lovely Kate Eden in a quartet featuring pianist Alex Hutton and Josh Morrison on drums. Be there or be square people! We’ll also be playing The Spice of Life next Wednesday and the Ignite cafe at the Albert Hall on Friday 26th so there is no excuse for not making it down to at least one of the shows…

Anyway, must dash I’m afraid. I have sitar lesson number four this very afternoon and am in serious danger of being late if I continue writing. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post; feel free to share it all over the internet and leave lovely comments. I do as always appreciate your feedback.

Until next time x

I’ve just got back from three shows in Denmark with Maggie Reilly promoting her new album Looking Back, Moving Forward. The album features a great bunch of new songs alongside two songs from her days with Cado Belle and reworked versions of several of the hits including Moonlight Shadow, Family Man and To France.

These shows featured a different lineup. Stuart, Gordon and I were joined by Alyn Cosker on drums and Davie Dunsmuir on guitars. It made a real difference having both Stuart and Gordon in the band; we got a much fuller sound with two guitars which really sounded great on some of the heavier numbers. The latest incarnation of Heartsong with two acoustics sounded fantastic.

After four (loooong) days of rehearsals up in Glasgow the previous week we set off for Denmark on the 5th. Actually, I set out alone. Since I am now the only remaining band member residing outside of Scotland it is now my lot to do all the sitting around in airports on my tod. At least I finished my book. And have resolved not to read any more books by Will Self. A gig the previous evening at Pizza Express in Soho meant that I wound up staying up all night in order to catch the horrifically early flight out from Stansted to Copenhagen. No surprises there then..

Our first show was at the Teaterbygningen in Købe. The three venues were all of a similar size all were all seated. Probably around the 250/300-seater mark. We’ve definitely been to Købe before, although I’m not sure whether we’d played a show there yet. I remembered the town square, and of course the hotdog stand.. first one of the tour. Excellent stuff. We did have a rather farcical episode in a cafe when we attempted a coffee and cake stop. Having been shown to our table and handed menus we were resoundingly ignored by the entire waiting staff for the next 25 minutes, at which point we had to head back to the venue for the soundcheck. Fail.

Considering this was our first show with this lineup, the gig was fantastic. The audience really went for the new material and we got a very warm reception all round.

The second show saw us schlepping across Denmark for almost five hours to Aabybro. Which is apparently somewhere near Aalborg right at the Northern tip. It was frankly in the middle of nowhere. Although a similar setup to the previous gig, it didn’t quite have the same vibe. The stage lighting left a lot to be desired; mostly unflattering white light and certainly nothing moving. It’s amazing what a difference the lighting makes to a show like this, especially when the audience are seated. I found it very hard to get into the show once the house lights went down. It felt like the rock and roll equivalent of doing a gig in someone’s office. The guy who ran the venue insisted on us all coming onto the stage with him at the opening of the set whilst he introduced Maggie. It was one of the longest, most drawn-out introductions I have ever had the misfortune to witness; with long pauses and deathly silence between what I can only imagine were his gags. Not a great start. Luckily we managed to rescue the show from this less than ideal kickoff, but it wasn’t among the best we’ve done.

Luckily the last show was only an hour away in Hjørring. We played the excellent Vendelbohus, a great venue right in the middle of town. It’s always good when you roll up at the venue to be confronted with a massive poster advertising the show. We seemed to be following ‘Jane & Shane’ all over Denmark this time, whoever the arse they are. In the classic Danish touring tradition, the one day we arrive in a big town with shops and cafes aplenty is a Saturday when everything shuts at lunchtime. When do the Danes do their shopping? They must have to take the afternoon off work during the week. Hopefully next time we go back will be mid-week; it looked like a good town.

The show was fantastic. Definitely the best of the three. The staff and crew at the Vendelbohus were great and we got some amazing homemade food. Again, this was the first time Maggie had got some decent veggie food. The Danish really don’t get the whole veggie thing and this can cause a lot of problems for Maggie when on the road. They do however do a nice line in hotdogs and chili-dogs. So I was alright. The audience were again really receptive to the new material. I think the new album is going down really well over there and Maggie has been busy with a lot of promo appearances and interviews, so hopefully we’ll be back out there soon doing some larger venues. Fingers crossed!

We had a great hotel near the venue. This was the only one which managed to keep the bar open for us after the show. It never ceases to amaze me how seemingly every hotel in Denmark shuts up shop at about 10pm. Which is really not particularly conducive to the obligatory post-gig chill. We have become accustomed to trousering as much of the rider as possible on the way out of the shows and now have a bottle opener on standby after every show. There was a great kebab shop open opposite the hotel too, which made me very happy… But alas we were only there for five minutes having to leave at 5.30 in the morning to catch our flight home. Always the way!

Oh, and we saw these two rather unfortunately placed posters outside the venue… Classic.

So that’s it for now. Maggie has one more show in the book for the 2nd May in Belgium, but alas I will be busy touring with Clare and Lea that whole period. I think Ross Hamilton will be taking my place for that one. We’re expecting a veritable flurry of gigs in the Autumn, so do keep an eye on Maggie’s new revamped website or my MySpace page for future dates.

On a totally unrelated note, I was doing some recording with Katy at Red Gables just before we went away and tried for the first time a DPA mic on my upright bass. Let me tell you; this is the best recorded bass sound I’ve ever got in the studio and I’m going to be seriously investigating the possibility of getting one for myself. Apparently it was a IMK 4061. I can highly recommend this to any upright player; such a clear and full sound. I would be very interested to see what it does live on stage. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Until next time…