Musical Wanderings

As i'm up with no hangover ( can i get-a whoop whoop!) i thought i'd update this blogaroo with a few exciting things that i'm doing at the moment and it just dawned on me how lucky i am to be a musician. I'm in quite a few things and i know lots and lots of really talented people.

I have 2 myspace pages, one personal one and one for my band 'Last of the Kiskadees':

www.myspace.com/heardansing
www.myspace.com/lastofthekiskadees

At the moment we're working on a new set for my performance exam ( i study Popular Music & Recording at Salford University and i'm majoring in composition and performance), they're so versatile as for this assessed set in may i have them playing all sorts of strange things which will be revealed on the night if it all works out. It sounds absolutely wonderful at the moment, it's VERY different to what is on the myspace ( which is just acoustic versions of our past work). I have this experimental kind of atmospheric/trip-hoppy side to what i want to create musically and we're doing that at the moment which is exciting, i'm just very lucky to be working with people who are open minded and very on my wave length. I don't know what's going to happen after uni with our music as it's not really ' kiskadees' music, but we shall see ( are you allowed to have 2 bands with the same people?!)

Another project i'm in is called ' The Voice Collective' to quote the myspace:

'The Voice Collective is a young and dynamic group of singers from the Manchester area. Their unique a cappella interpretations of a wide variety of musical styles have captivated audiences across the UK'

I absolutely adore being in this, i joined about 3 and a half years ago and i can safely say if i wasn't in it i wouldn't be doing half of the things i'm doing now musically. We rehearse every Tuesday evening and if i've had a shite day it makes it better. The summertime is great with the TVC, sunshine, singing, festivals, everyone loves a good sing-song and we do awesome arrangements of wonderful choons. Here's the myspace link and a wee vid of us doing our thang!


www.myspace.com/thevoicecollective



I'm in a folk band called Marpleg ( which means please in Cornish!). The most useful phrase i've learnt is 'pinta marpleg' which means ' pint please!'. We started it for Mary's performance exam ( lead singer/viola player) but i reckon we're gonna carry it on after uni. I'm in it with a bunch of my close friends and it's such a laugh, and by far the most fun song is our cover of ' The Pirate's Gospel' by Alela Diane. We're working on a new set at the moment, one of the songs i get a creepy whistle solo!

www.myspace.com/wearemarpleg

When i was 15 i started drumming, i remember i would sit in this tiny room for hours after school/college trying to get my co-ordination, then after about 3 months of starting i played in my very first band, We were called ' The Berettas!' haha, good times. but when i came to uni i gave it up...until now!

Last summer i was involved in something called an 'Afoxe' ( Aff- Oh- Shay), you can read about it online as there is a massive story behind it, but it was a huge precession through the streets of Manchester with a huge bateria of drums, then came a brass section, then singers ( which i was apart of), then dancers. It was a special day and it got me into drums again, more specifically Brazilian drumming. You can see what i mean here:



Afterwards i got asked by Holly ( one of the organisers of the Afoxe) if i wanted to be in her group called Juba do Leão (pronounced 'joo-bah (with a soft 'j') doo lay-yow) means 'lion's mane' in Brazilian Portuguese and of course i said YES. I started off singing in it but now i'm getting into the drumming side. Holly specialises in a specific type of Brazilian music called maracatu, you can read all about it here:

www.www.jubadoleao.com

It's fascinating and exciting, i'm getting seriously addicted to it and the people in it are some of the most friendly, welcoming and lovely people i have ever met. It's a new side to the music scene up here in the North-West that i had no idea about a year ago. At the moment we are rehearsing for a huge gig at the Royal Northern College of Music as part of Christian aid fund-raiser, it going to be A-MAZ-ING so if you know me, please get a ticket or you can buy one through the RNCM website.

Here's Juba in action!:



I also am involved in a few function bands so to cater your musical needs please visit:

www.underthecoversband.co.uk

and

www.goodvibescollective.com


I've found the music scene up here quite incestuous as i tell one musician that i'm doing this project with so and so, and they go ' oh i know them!' and it happens all the time up here. There's definitely a feeling of community. After the uni madness is over i'm going to make more of an effort to gig and put on gigs and just get involved in the scene more here. Manchester is a special city and i just want to dive in a discover its many secrets.