Thank you so much for all your support for our album! We’ve had a brilliant couple of weeks so we (well, Robin) thought we’d recap what we’ve been up to…

Thursday 26 May – Sheffield launch gig

Preparations for launch night in Sheffield seemed to go to plan, until the night before when I checked the website for the venue, The Red Deer. I was alarmed to see that they were advertising an archaeology event in the upstairs room for the following night! A call to the pub put our minds at rest that this was in fact just a website error, and they were not expecting any archaeologists the next evening. Phew!

I also found out on our way down to the pub that our bassist/singer Nik had been really poorly the day before with a bad virus. I’m glad I didn’t know about this, as she had been too ill and weak to do anything. So it was a relief that we were playing a day later. Well done Nik for braving it despite not being 100%!

Much of getting ready at the pub involved decorating the room with balloons, our banner and fairy lights, so we got busy with that between running through a song or two with our friends Lofter who were supporting.

It was nice to be all ready 15 full minutes before the doors opened, which meant we could have a drink and chat to people early arrivals – a stark contrast to our Seven hills launch were we still had loads to do while the room was filling up.

Lofter were on first. When we’d asked them to play, I’m sure they were a duo but they have since morphed into a four-piece, meaning they didn’t really fit on the stage so spilled out into the crowd which added to the atmosphere. They played a brilliant set, including some lovely harmonies and the songs with the amazing, guitar-mounted little music box.

By the time we came on the room was reassuringly packed, with people squeezed in and sat on the floor too. We were a bit nervous but settled down into things without too many mistakes. I got all choked up in the emotional ones, as usual, and the only big technical error was our keyboard which was bafflingly quiet. Have since realised that it sounds LOUD when played at home and QUIET in a larger room of 40/50 people!

Here is a song from the night, In the next town (same old radio) – there are more videos here:

A special thanks to our lovely friend Jane who kindly locateded herself on the merch table for most of the evening and did a fine job selling copies of the album.

And thank you to everyone who came, you were a wonderful audience!

 

Watch more videos from the night

Thursday 2 June – London Totally Acoustic

The first time we played in London at Totally Acoustic, we had a lovely night, so we were excited to go back.

Our journey down didn’t go completely to plan. An hour of travelling on the train saw me go to Doncaster and then have to come straight back to Sheffield due to problems with overhead lines. This meant the Sheffield to London train was really cramped, especially for those laden with guitars and CDs!

I met Nik at St Pancras and we headed to Scandinavian Kitchen for some tea. I’m mildly obsessed with anything Nordic so feasting on meatballs, salads, coffee and cake was a proper treat – not to mention a browse round the Scandi shop.

After that we headed to the venue where we met the host Mark. The room upstairs in the pub has been repainted since we last visited. Thankfully the Bob Dylan cutting, explaining how this was the room where he played his first gig outside the US, was still there.

Paul and Cathy Tornbohm were on first and they kept everyone entertained with their atmospheric and beautifully sung jazz songs.

After this Mark, aka MJ Hibbett, treated us to live versions of his new album, Still valid, from start to finish. It sounded brilliant – my favourite was In the North Stand, a song about going to the football with your dad, during which I think I quite possibly had something in my eye.

We were up next, although after a last-minute check of the  setlist we noticed that only about half of the songs we were due to play were from our album! It didn’t seem to matter too much though as we had a fine old time, and I think the lovely crowd seemed to enjoy it too.

There was some fine audience participation during our new song More fun than me (hear it below) and we sold some CDs after which made the weighty journey north the next day slightly easier! Thank you!

You can hear clips here from everyone below, including our songs Everyone’s a geek, Tomorrow and More fun than me.

And Mark’s generous write-up of the night is here

Saturday 4 June – Tonearm Vinyl in-store set

We were excited to have the opportunity to play a show in Sheffield to help promote our album at the excellent Tonearm Vinyl record shop in Walkley. Scott who runs the shop has always been super supportive of local music so when he suggested we do an afternoon gig there we knew it would be worthwhile.

It was another acoustic show which we like, partly because it suits our setup but mainly because it’s so hassle free: basically you turn up and play and can pack away again in about five minutes. A 2pm start also meant that children could come along too which added to the fun.

Tonearm has moved to a bigger shop now and we were pleased to see more and more people pile in. Our friend Pete even went over the road to pick up some beer from Walkley Beer Co. which was most appreciated.

We played OK and made sure most of the set was songs from the album this time. Thanks to everyone who came along and to Scott for organising!

It has been SO good to finally get our album out and a big thank you to everyone who has bought a copy – and also the radio shows that have played songs from it.

If you’d like a copy of the CD or to download the songs then head this way.