Return from the Land of the Dead and Gone

Among the projects keeping me busy lately has been this CD cover for Jake Manning's new album.  He came to the table with some strong ideas about what the look of the image ought to be and initially we went down the route of the classic scary B-movies before discovering it was a bit harsh for a folk album and dialling it back!  We're both really pleased with the result.

Hopefully you've already spotted the guitar shape in the landscape, but what you probably don't know it that each of the elements you can see - the house, the winding path, the ghosts and the watery man trying to escape from his ocean - all appear in Jake's songs.  He uses some fantastic imagery and crafting it into a story like this was probably my favourite part of the project.

The Newlyweds Waltz

You may remember a friends wedding I mentioned a while back.  Well we - the Hen Party - put together a little book to cheer them up in what one of the girls liked to call the 'Post-wedding Blues'.  I think she just meant the period after the madness of constant wedding planning and honeymooning and gift opening is over.  With the book, there would still be one more present to unwrap.

I know they both love folk music, in fact it was mainly those two that got me into it and introduced me to ceilidhs, so I decided to send them a song.  While cleaning my desk I found a bit of simple sheet music entitled 'The Newlyweds Waltz'.  How perfect!

I recorded it on my Tin Whistle, but felt like it needed some backing.  The easiest thing to do was hum... and then I started wondering how many layers of backing I could put on this thing!  In the end I sung three harmonising tracks and layered them up.  And here it is!

I'm aware the speed isn't consistent, and the next time I do this I'll have a metronome playing through my headphones to keep me steady, but otherwise I think it's pretty good!  I burned it to disc, added a label and fancy paper envelope, and sent it off to join the book.

All the cool music!

There's been a steady conveyor belt of live music in my life this last week, and all of it amazing.

First were the musicians at the ceilidh; as well as all the Hekety and Blackbeard's Tea Party, who were both fantastic.  Pirate folk - it's a thing that exists!  There was also a late night gig by Professor Elemental, Gentleman Rapper.  I'm so pleased to live in a world where there are things like 'Pirate Folk' and 'Gentleman Rappers'.  Just makes it all worthwhile really, don't it.

Festive Folk 2

I up-drew another one of my sketches from last winters Festive Folk gig.  This one is my friend Anna, who you can see here playing the autoharp.

She sang a few traditional songs, but also a couple of her own, including one based on a Welsh myth.  If I'm remembering it right a stranger arrives and claims that the land all around is his.  A local tells him that only the true prince of the land, who can make the birds sing, is the land's true ruler.  So of course the stranger does just that - he was the prince all along!  

Anna sang it beautifully and I was imagining all the birds coming out of the story for her, just like they did for the prince.

Bath, Bands and Baking

The run-up to Christmas is a busy time, even if you're like me and try to avoid as much of the hype as humanly possible.  And then of course there's the recovery period, which takes at least as long!  So here's a quick update of what's been happening since I saw you last:

Festive Folk 2012

 I went along to the annual (and when I say annual I mean it happened last year too) Festive Folk gig in our local pub, The Swan.  It was a good evening all round, especially when I wont he mince pie competition, beating last years winner by just one point!  Homemade cranberry and ginger wine mincemeat for the win!

Being me I also did some doodles.  In the top left is our compere Caroline, and the others were our performers for the evening.  The music was great, and each of them had to slip a Christmas tune into their reportoire.

One of the performers, Jake Manning (whose website you can see here) liked his so much that I've done it up nice for him, so expect to be seeing it soon on mugs, stickers and other paraphanalia at his gigs.  Whoo yeah!

Getting Out - 2 of 4

Cambridge Folk Festival 

That same evening (I had a busy day!) I took my sister up to Cambridge for the 2012 Folk Festival.  It’s quite a small festival and we were only there for the evening, but after months of rain the weather was stunningly hot – exactly the festival weather we would have wanted.  Drank fresh lemonade, which had a massive kick, tried on various hats, and were well entertained with some great music. 

First we saw Megson, a married couple with a cheerful lightness to their music.  Then we listened (because the tent was so full we couldn’t get in) to the very harmonious ahab.  We could probably have got a seat with a view but on our way there we were side-tracked, as so often happens at festivals.  Blackbeard’s Tea Party were sending up a might ruckus from one of the beer tents, which distracted us.  Imagine folk music crossed with rock music played by pirates, and you’re heading along the right lines.  (Apparently ‘Pirate Folk’ is a real genre.  Who knew?!)  They were a lot of fun, and we told them so. 

The other bands we saw... honestly I can't remember their names, but they were awfully good.  Even as night snuck on and the beer kept flowing, the atmosphere stayed happy and relaxed.  It was a great night, and after a quick stop at the merchandise tent we had our memories to drive home to.

Adventure time!

It was my friend Hannah's birthday this week, so when her brother won some free tickets to Bristol Folk Festival she very kindly asked me and our friend Jamie to go with them!  HOORAY!!!  The first thing that was needed was a birthday card.  I really like making cards that are relevant to the person or what they'e doing to celebrate.  Providing I keep having the time to do these things I don't think I'll be able to go back to buying cards from shops.  These are just so much more interesting.

On the inside I wrote her a Scavenger Hunt, full of all the things (based on my limitied experience!) I thought we might see.  She loved the card, and really took the hunt seriously!  It turns out the whole festival is held in one building in the city centre (a very sensible idea considering the weather we've been having lately) so things like wellies and a waxed mac weren't around but she got almost everything else, including three successively more fantastic beards and a couple of extra items we added to the back.

It was a great day, with loads of interesting things to see and do, and some great acts to hear.  One of our highlights of the day, and a new discovery for me was Luke Jackson, a 17-year old singer/songwriter with a wonderfully controlled singing voice that would trick you into thinking he's older.  Hannah very badly wanted to see him perform but we got held up on the way to the hall and just caught the last two songs.  However we serendipitously bumped into him in the corridor later on and Hannah, being the sociable girl she is, immediately struck up a conversation.  

Hannah meets Luke

Later on, when one of the acts filled out their hall, he agreed to do a second performance for the stragglers, which we happened to arrive for just at the perfect time!  We wandered into a near-empty hall and made a beeline for the very front seats.  His set was great, including a really slick version of Wayfaring Stranger, a selection of his own songs, and the haunting traditional tune Oakham Poachers.  I think I'm now a fan!

Our other highlight was ahab, a three-part band (normally four but one was off having his appendix taken out, which seems a reasonable excuse.  Not that the other lads agreed - they kept fondly mocking him for slacking off) with an American folk feel to their music and some fantastic close harmonies.  They came on after a slightly depressing act and really changed the mood by having great laugh on stage.  Favourite songs were 'Wagon Wheel', 'Run Me Down', and 'Lightning Bug' and ... well actually the whole set was awesome.

Who needs a PA system? Not us; we have manly man voices and a bobble hat!

In between all that there was Morris Dancing to watch, stalls to investigate, and dulcimer playing to learn.  This was my call - I saw the word Dulcimer on a sign and abandoned the others to toddle off and explore.  A dulcimer is a member of the zither family (stringed instruments where the strings are no longer than the sounding box) and they had both types there for us to see and try: the 'mountain' or 'lap' dulcimer and the considerably more complicated 'hammer' dulcimer.  Within seconds of introducing myself I was sat on a chair with an instrument across my knees.  The mountain dulcimer I was shown had two pairs of 'drone' strings that provide the chord, and then one top pair that provides the tune which you play as you would the fretboard on a guitar.  You strum all three together as though they were one string, and the result is a deliciously tangy, buzzy sound which is very distinctive.  Most of the ones on display were made by dedicated hobbyists and each had it's own personality reflecting that of it's maker. 

Dulcimer demonstration by Nonsuch Dulcimer Club

We have a try

Jamie finds a cape!

There was also, as you would expect, a ceilidh to take take part in.  It wasn't even a question as to whether or not we would go.  Both Hannah and I love ceildh dancing, and with at least fifty people doing every dance there was a great sense of energy in the room.  The great thing about ceilidhs is that you don't need any experience to get started because there is a caller yelling out the moves to you, but as you get a bit more advanced you can start adding in your own quirks and tricks.  One couple next to us; a small energetic young woman and a tall man in a kilt (who Hannah immediately decided she wanted to dance with!) had clearly done this many times before, but a lot of enthusiasm and a willingness to look a bit silly from the rest of us goes a long way.  We did well at some dances and failed dramatically and hilariously at others, I taught Jamie to polka, and Hannah's brother Dave does an excellent do-si-do.

We were sitting down to catch our breath before the last song when the man in a kilt came over to our table and asked me if I'd have the next dance with him.  This has never happened to me in my life before:
1) Asked to dance
2) By a man in full Scottish regalia.  I believe a lot of Jane Austen books begin that way :)
Obviously I said yes, not sparing a though for the birthday girl.  The dance was Strip the Willow, which can be a bit... perilous so it was good to have a partner who knew what they were doing. He even thanked me for the dance afterwards, even though I briefly forgot my left from my right at the beginning.  Possibly I was a bit flustered by the kilt-i-ness!

We spontaneously decided to stay late for Karine Polwart and Show of Hands, who were headlining, and Hannah's brother generously put us up for the night.  It was such a great day, and lovely to spend so much time with Hannah.  My life is very busy, and hers is even moreso, so to have a whole 24 hours just hanging out with her was a real treat.  She's one of the coolest, most caring people I know.  Although I'll remember all the acts we saw and the big events of the day, some of the best moments were the little inbetween bits.  The throwaway comments, the jokes, the discussing, the telling of stories, tiny things we'll probably never recall exactly but which make spending time with the people you like best really worth it.

Birthdays are very tiring!

It's time to play the music...

I've been really appreciating band lately.  I play first clarinet in Loughborough Concert Band, which I joined after I graudated and was trying to find cheap ways to occupy myself whilst jobhunting.  Since picking it up in high school (although I'd dabbled in a few other instruments beforehand - we're a pretty musical family) I'd been playing pretty constantly throughout the years but it fell by the wayside in uni due to my lectures not fitting with the days their band practised.

I didn't really realise how much I'd missed playing in a group until I started up again, but there's something about playing alongside others that really takes you out of yourself.  Practising on your own just isn't the same, even if you try and play with a backing track.  I think other people have the same thing with sports.  I spoke to a friend who does rock-climbing recently and part of why she finds it so relaxing is that when you're dangling off a cliff-face you really can't think about anything else.  It's the same with music.  When you're playing you have to concentrate on one thing and one thing only, because if you don't play your best it ripples throughout the band.  Everyone's got their heads down (or up, rather - observez le conducteur!) and is pulling together to produce this sound, this movement of music.  Everyone is vital, everyone is necessary, and if they don't play, you notice.  The balance is thrown off.  This is especially true of the lower instruments; the trombone, tuba, french horns and bassoon.  Those instruments whose parts are often simpler, or don't play the tune.  It may seem like they don't get a lot of time in the spotlight but I miss them when they aren't there.  There's a depth and breadth to the sound that is absent without them. 

I've been watching... Bellowhead!

A few months ago I had a dilemma.  It was nearly Christmas, I was pretty skint and on a firm budget and yet... and yet...  Bellowhead, a band I had been dying to see live for two years were going to be touring in 2012.  Their closest stop was the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, and although the ticket prices were decent the date and distance made me do a lot of hmming and haaaaing.  "But it's on a work night.  Can I really spare the money?  No one else I know wants to go..." and then "Oh SCREW IT!  How long have I wanted to see them for?  And when will they next be so close?  Stuff it all, I'm going."  So I very naughtily bought myself a Christmas present with money I didn't exactly have spare yet and went on my own this evening.  Drove up there on my own, had dinner on my own, went to the concert on my own.

I loved it.

The video I've linked below just does not do them justice.  From the moment the first band member walks on stage they start to build up this slightly nutty energy which floats along through the entire gig and infects the audience (not that we needed the help.  It seems that Bellowhead fans are the kind of people that grin and giggle a lot).  It's helped by the motley combination of players too; for frontmen you have Jon Boden - who is hugely tall and stands there crook-kneed and slouching like a walking Tim Burton character, the most enthralling stick man you've ever seen - and John Spiers - who is in a tweed jacket and looks more like the beaming offspring of Stephen Fry and Mr Mole, but a quite bit cooler than either with his fingers flashing up and down the melodian keys with an ease that is so awesome it's sickening.  You continue looking round and although you always expect it from the drummer clearly the rest of them are just as bonkers (in the good way.  You should see the brass section dance!), and you can't help thinking 'Thank goodness they all found each other.  What on earth would they have done otherwise?'

(but like I said, even you can see them better this video doesn't really do them justice  To watch it live was a bit more like this)

Every one of the band seems to be able to play at least three instruments frustratingly well, and to swap between them with such speed that unless you're staring right at them as they do it you never actually see them move.  Although they're a folk band playing old shanties and jigs most of the song arrangements have the kind of progression you'd expect from a classical orchestra, bridges pinched from jazz and ska, and musically speaking they are just so tight.  Barely a millisecond out of place, despite some pretty funky key signatures that would throw most people off even if they had the sheet music infront of them.  You can see how aware of each other they are as a band; there's all these little glances and nods and gestures shooting round the stage that connects them all together.  Even when the drummer mistakenly started a different song to the one that the others thought they were playing, no one so much as blinked.  Instead they all immediately cracked up laughing, someone yelled "Ok, let's do that one!" and everyone scrambled for the right instruments for a grand total of three seconds before they were off again without missing a beat.  The set had all the good stuff.  They began with Jordan and Whiskey is the Life of Man, and the encore was New York Girls...

And then for a second encore they did Sloe Gin Set...

And then Parson's Farewell...

And then Frog's Legs and Dragon's Teeth...

"We can probably squeeze in one more!" yells Boden.  Finally we ended, for real, on London Town.

By this point the entire audience, who had been trying very hard to sit in it's seats like the well-behaved British music-lovers that we were for at least the first half of the show (why they thought it was worth booking a venue with chairs in it when the music was clearly the kind of stuff you had to stomp along to at the very least, I have no idea), had long since given up decorum and been dancing in the rows and clapping our hands raw since somewhere after the first half.  When we eventually left the theatre we were very sweaty and smelly and pleased.   We all had a stonking good time.