#gigs in Cumbria

[explorerfloyd]

[novablood]

So the summer has been particularly exciting for us…

…with DJ sets and live performances. We can now confirm more gigs are in the pipeline for 2024 and beyond.

Watch this space for updates.

The album, Destroy The Magic drops on 4th October and we are super excited to let you hear the new tracks. We’ve some more news regarding its release in the coming weeks.

For those who’ve been asking…

There’ll be a new online merch stall added with a VIP private link to view / grab new stuff before it goes public and we’ll explain how to gain early access very soon.

Meanwhile THANKS to those supporting / coming to gigs, sharing the posts and joining in the fun…!

Mark / Paolo / Paul

📸 Theo Suess (Pikes, Ibiza)

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

SPIDERLEG & CRASS RECORDS ACTS UNDER ONE ROOF -- WELCOME TO 1984.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on assorted shots of UK anarcho punk band FLUX OF PINK INDIANS when they supported CRASS at Cleator Moor Civic Hall, Cumbria, UK, c. 1984, showing Colin, Tim and Lou. Photos courtesy of Trunt of "Scrobe" fanzine.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/2785239583050135615.

[justforbooks]

Fleetwood Mac were Brit-rock stalwarts when, in 1974, they hit on the idea of pepping up their lineup. They invited a folky Californian, Lindsey Buckingham, to join, but he refused to come without his girlfriend, Stevie Nicks. The band agreed, on one condition: their sole female member, Christine McVie, had to feel comfortable with Nicks.

They met over dinner in Los Angeles, and McVie, finding Nicks “funny and nice, but also, there was no competition”, waved her through. That decision led to the enlarged band becoming the sultans of soft rock, underlining McVie’s status as the quiet pillar of the Mac apparatus. (And she was right; Nicks complemented rather than competed. She was the ethereal conjuror, McVie the “very, very, very English” – in Nicks’s appraisal – countermeasure, and neither ever upstaged the other.)

McVie, who has died aged 79, was co-lead singer, keyboardist and author of many of the group’s canonical tunes, including Say You Love Me, Over My Head and You Make Loving Fun. Understatement shaped her identity, with Rolling Stone magazine rather insultingly calling her “the epitome of rock’n’roll sanity”. That kind of thing riled her: “I was probably the most restrained, but I was no angel,” she protested, claiming that one of her most acclaimed compositions, Songbird, owed its existence to “a couple of toots of cocaine and a half-bottle of champagne”.

Nevertheless, she avoided the spotlight, often literally. At gigs her domain was a relatively modest keyboard set-up at the side, safely away from stage centre, and despite her talent – “the finest blueswoman and piano player in all of England,” the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, maintained – she was self-deprecating about her abilities.

Deeply melodic love songs, burnished by her warm alto, were McVie’s stock in trade, but she could address her unhappy ex-husband, John McVie, with equal tenderness. The 1977 Top 3 hit Don’t Stop, later used as the theme tune for Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, did just that. Written during sessions for the landmark Rumours album, when relations between the pair were at their worst, it sunnily encouraged John, the band’s bassist, to look forward rather than brood about the past. (She blamed their periodic break-ups, culminating in divorce in 1976, on the stress of being in the same group, and her husband’s heavy drinking: “John is not the most pleasant of people when he’s drunk,” she said in 2003. “I was seeing more Hyde than Jekyll.”)

She didn’t deliberately write commercial songs, she insisted; they just came out that way. Which was just as well – in 1975, as the group were grinding through an American tour, their US label chose Over My Head to soundtrack a radio campaign for their self-titled new album. The LP duly became their first real smash, selling more than 9m copies. For that matter, the 1977 behemoth Rumours arguably owed a good chunk of its 45m sales to the two McVie tracks released as singles, Don’t Stop and You Make Loving Fun, which remain soft-rock touchstones to this day.

The younger child of Cyril Perfect, a music teacher, and his wife, Beatrice (nee Reece), Christine was born in Bouth, then part of Lancashire and now in Cumbria, and raised in Bearwood, West Midlands. Her mother’s avocation was spirituality and Christine was uncomfortable around her circle of faith-healer friends, but an even heavier burden was being saddled with the name Christine Perfect. “Teachers would say: ‘I hope you live up to your name, Christine.’ So, yes, it was tough.” She so disliked it that after her divorce she kept her married name.

As a child, she studied classical piano and cello, only becoming interested in rock at 15, when her brother left Fats Domino sheet music on the household piano. She was an instant convert to the blues, developing a driving, boogie-woogie left-hand piano style, but music became secondary to her other consuming interest, art. Five years at Birmingham Art College yielded a sculpture degree, but she emerged with a revived passion for music, thanks to having spent her university time busking with her friend Spencer Davis and playing bass in a band called Sounds of Blue, led by Stan Webb.

Listlessly working as a window dresser at Dickins & Jones department store in London after graduation, Christine was delighted to be asked to join Webb’s new outfit, Chicken Shack, as keyboardist and vocalist. One of the only women in the mid-1960s British blues scene to both sing and play an instrument, she got noticed. Though she later dismissed Chicken Shack as a “mediocre sort of white blues band”, she sang lead on their only Top 20 song, a dreamy cover of Etta James’s I’d Rather Go Blind, and was voted Melody Maker’s top female vocalist of 1969 (she won the same award in 1970, after releasing a solo album entitled Christine Perfect).

She fancied the guitarist Peter Green of the rival blues act Fleetwood Mac, but it was John McVie who asked her out. “It was Peter Green I had a bit of an eye on,” she said during a Desert Island Discs broadcast in 2017. “I started talking to John and fell head over heels with him.” They married in 1968, and a few months later, deciding she was not seeing enough of her husband, she left Chicken Shack with the intention of being a housewife. It lasted only until her manager persuaded her to make the solo LP, an “immature” effort she later preferred to forget. The next step was joining Fleetwood Mac as a permanent member in 1970, having already played uncredited on several studio sessions.

She was dubious about the band’s decision to relocate to Los Angeles in 1974, but reconciled herself to Californian rock-star life, buying Anthony Newley’s old house and a pair of Mercedes-Benzes with her lhasa apso dogs’ names on the number plates. While making the follow-up to Rumours, Tusk, she dated the Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, but her next significant relationship, with the Portuguese keyboardist Eddy Quintela, was happier and more productive. He played on her second solo album, Christine McVie (1984), and after their marriage in 1986 the pair wrote one of Mac’s biggest hits of the 80s, Little Lies. The marriage foundered, however, when McVie found herself craving a quiet life in England; she quit the band in 1998 and bought a Tudor house in Wickhambreaux, Kent.

Fifteen years of “this country life with the welly boots and the dogs and the Range Rover” proved enough, and matters definitively came to a head when she fell down a flight of stairs and became dependent on prescription painkillers. It was, she said, a bleak time, not least because another attempt at a solo career had failed to launch. She had made the album In the Meantime with her nephew, Dan Perfect, in 2004, purposely veering away from Fleetwood Mac’s big-ticket lushness. But without it, the relaxed, mid-tempo songs had little zing; moreover, a fear of flying kept her from travelling to promote it. Innately a team player, after therapy to overcome her phobia she rejoined Mac permanently in 2014.

Reaction to her return was roaringly positive, both from fans and the band themselves; to Mick Fleetwood, it made the group “complete” again. In the same year, she received an Ivor Novello lifetime achievement award. McVie’s last recording was a self-titled joint album with Buckingham, a Top 5 British hit in 2017. It caught her in a reflective mood but her gift for melody was undimmed. Her final public performance was at a tribute show for Green in London in February 2020.

In June this year, a solo compilation, Songbird, was released, but McVie was adamant that she wouldn’t tour again. “I don’t feel physically up for it. I’m in quite bad health. I’ve got a chronic back problem, which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don’t know if I could actually physically do it.”

She and Quintela divorced in 2003. Her brother, John, and nephew survive her.

🔔 Anne Christine McVie, musician, born 12 July 1943; died 30 November 2022

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[musicblogwales]

Bored At My Grandmas House Announces New Album

Not being funny, but Bored At My Grandma House produces hazy pop gold at its very peak, Amber's new anticipated debut album 'Show And Tell' drops on the 7th of June via CLUE Records / EMI North and we personally cant wait.

After making waves with her critically acclaimed debut EP Sometimes I Forget You're Human Too, Bored at My Grandmas House, AKA Leeds-based Amber Strawbridge, announces her debut album Show & Tell for June 7th via CLUE Records (The Wedding Present, Van Houten, YOWL) / EMI North (Nadine Shah) as well as a a London headline date at MOTH Club on October 16th.  The title track is out now with the reveal of the record - following late 2023 release ‘Inhibitions’. Reminiscent of artists like Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, and Alvvays, ‘Show & Tell’ is a breezy track which meets at the intersection between dream-pop, bedroom-pop and shoegaze, the sprightly guitar work echoing the droll lyrics and themes. It’s a hooky song which lays bare difficulties with trust, and building walls for self-protection. As Amber explains:  “Show & Tell is quite a tongue-in-cheek song about me being the opposite of an open book and all the little specific things about me that I sometimes wish were different. Overall it’s about me being a guarded person and fearing the possibility of having to be vulnerable and realising that vulnerability is actually a beautiful thing and something i shouldn’t be so scared of.”  On her debut album, Amber explores a broad range of heavy topics including anxiety, friendship, introspection, love, human greed, mental health, loss and empathy (or a lack of it) in the world. Despite the breadth of themes covered, each track deals with the weight of the subject with real conviction, while not losing any of Amber’s trademark pop sensibilities. She elaborates a little more on the thematic process:  “The main overall theme of this album is connection. Connection with myself, connection with the world and connection to the people around me who I love. This album is for me first and foremost and was a way for me to internally process.  The origin of these tracks all stem from me wanting to understand these connections and process my emotions surrounding them. The album covers topics such as the power of queer love, humanity and its ‘delusions of grandeur’,  reflection and purpose.  It would be unwise to say that I haven’t developed and changed a lot since my EP. I’ve experienced more, questioned more, felt more and allowed myself to be vulnerable more - which I hope translates throughout the Album.”  Amber has received support and coverage from DIY, Dork, Clash, BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music, Rough Trade and more in the past, and has played Glastonbury, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Swn Festival, Standon Calling, Deer Shed (main stage) and more.  Originally from Cumbria but now based in Leeds, Amber began recording music in 2017 using garageband on her phone; she updated her bedroom set-up after saving up to buy a laptop and Logic Pro. After a couple of years of self taught production and recording Amber began working with Clue Records, releasing her debut EP Sometimes I Forget You're Human Too which gained critical acclaim and sold out two pressings all before Amber had ever played a single gig.  Amber wrote and recorded all the demos for her debut album in her bedroom, before taking them to The Nave studio where she worked with Alex Greaves to give them a studio twist, allowing them to fulfil their rightful potential. 

BORED AT MY GRANDMAS HOUSE ONLINE  TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY 

[onceuponatimefan1]

From Brad Kavanagh’s Instagram and posted on November 25, 2019: “VerifiedTune in to BBC Radio Cumbria from 7pm on the Arty show to hear us rant and rave about this weeks gig and why cacti are the weapon of choice. #radio#bbcradiocumbria”.

[kulvirlehal]

To coincide with the release of their new album #EverythingNotSavedWillBeLost - On this day 10 years ago, I saw @foals live for the first time. A gig that should have happened months prior, but the drummer @jackbevan broke his ankle and the band had to postpone their tour. Crowded, sweaty, pumped on adrenaline and working to take some snaps for @thebrickyardonline using the 1st gen iPhone. @ynnsphilippakis @jimmyfoals The Brickyard, Carlisle 08/03/2008// iPhone, Digital 2MP. • • • ———————————————————————- #ShotoniPhone #Foals # #Photography #Music #Colours #Carlisle #Cumbria #OxfordBand #Apple #Lighting #Photos #2008 #England #UK #FujiFilm #LiveMusic #Gig #Antidotes #iPhoneCamera #Polaroid #Archived #Friends #Design #m#Art #Portrait #Camera #Cinematography #DoP (at The Brickyard) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuwMpEtB-Bl/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yvapi0yqbnnd

[baltorostickman]

Delicious musical mayhem at The Upfront Arts Venue, Penrith. The Langan Band in concert, November 2021

[deppahirst]

NEXT GIG  *THIS SATURDAY*

See Clare and Claude at CLF Arts Cafe on Saturday 23rd April 2pm - 5pm

@clfartcafe @theclfartlounge @clarehirstsax @claudedeppaclarehirstband @claudedeppa

CLARE HIRST – SAXOPHONES

Clare was born in Cumbria and studied piano and clarinet until managing to get hold of a saxophone. She moved to York and then to Leeds before eventually making it to London where a successful career in pop music ensued. Having played live and on recordings with artists such as David Bowie, The Communards, Mica Paris, The Bellestars and Maxi Priest, she spent some time working with Mervyn Africa before embarking on a solo career based around her Quartet. Since then she has played with many of the country’s finest jazz musicians including Tony Kofi, Byron Wallen, Don Weller and of course Claude Deppa.

CLAUDE DEPPA – TRUMPET

At the forefront of the African jazz music scene is South African born trumpeter and composer Claude Deppa. His music, dizzyingly eclectic, incorporates African, world, Afro-Cuban, jazz, improvised, soul, funk and European chamber music, all of which he plays with a brilliant and pungent sound. Deppa has performed with a rich array of contemporary international jazz talent, including Dewey Redman, Art Blakey, Carla Bley, Miriam Makeba, Archie Shepp, Courtney Pine, Brotherhood Of Breath and Andy Sheppard.

https://www.clfartlounge.com/upcoming-shows...

[explorerfloyd]

[novablood]

NOVABLOOD LIVE

[inionnarequiem]

Five times kissed - Arthur!

send me five times kissed for a drabble about five times our muses kissed

1

It was an automatic response, an afterthought attached to a brief goodbye but the second it occurred it felt like lightning had struck. Victoria was about to leave for the night, worn out and drained from her late-night shift at the VA hospital. Jerry might have ceased dropping his bombs but it was only a matter of time before the explosions started up again. 

Arthur was staying in his office, determined on finishing that last bit of paperwork despite her insistence, so with a weary sigh Victoria had leaned down and pressed a light kiss to his cheek, whispering ‘goodnight’ before leaving. She didn’t see what expression he wore right after, but she realized her error just as she turned out of his sight and felt her face heat up in embarrassment. What was worse, the fact that she did that without prompting, or the fact that she didn’t... mind it at all?

2

Later that evening, when the booze and the drugs finally had a chance to flush out of her system, she would blame it on a mad rush of the high for making her so bold, so wanton and whoreish in that back room after his gig. The entire affair was a mistake yet one she had no regrets making, even if it left a sour taste in her mouth- in more ways than one. Her knees shook as she stood, removing the remainder of his release from her face before fisting his ratty vest at his shoulder and pulling him forward. 

He was still delirious so slanting her lips over his was a simple task. Let him have a taste of himself while she snuck the packet of powder from his loosened fingers. “How’s that for somethin’ you bum?” she murmured against his lips, tongue darting out to lick them before she pulled away with her prize in hand. The memory would fade come morning, but the taste would not.

3

She woke up with a raging headache and a heart full of fear. Yesterday had been another argument that started like any other these days, but the end result- Victoria couldn’t think about it again in fear of working herself up again. The damn ‘curse’ of her legs meant that once more, she was unable to leave of her own volition and rather than have Arthur pay for a cab she instead asked to stay in the guest room until she recovered. Instead, she fell asleep.

Walking slowly downstairs to the sound of breakfast being made, she poked her head around the corner and made her presence known quietly. He turned, that sad, guilty smile of his breaking her heart into pieces once more. Against her better wishes, she walked over and placed a placating kiss on his cheek which was quickly returned along with a hushed ‘good morning.’ Hardly, but that wasn’t what mattered, was it? Not when something like this remained so fragile and volatile between them. Not when, despite her best efforts, she still wanted... wanted... 

4

More. 

More contact. More of his lips on hers. More of his greedy hands leaving bruises on her hips as he held her up against the wall. He fucked her with the same voraciousness as when he kissed her; all-consuming, demanding and reverent even as he played her like a damn piano. Every gasp swallowed by his tongue, tracing every corner of her mouth as the heat between her legs built to its sharp crescendo. Victoria had known drink and drug and hallucinogens alike but his kiss- his kiss could destroy her. 

He started to pull away and in a fit of feral want she bit on his bottom lip, causing him to jolt back in mild surprise while halting his movements. Breath came in pants, clothes barely hung from their shoulders, they were too fervent to bother taking everything off before getting to the main event, and lips... kiss-bruised and red. “More...” she breathed, smirking when he reached a hand into a her hair like he was helpless to do and pulled, baring her throat to his teeth as he resumed tearing her world apart. 

More...

5

Summer was ending and soon, the leaves would fall and the Veil would grow thin again. Regardless of what that year had brought them, Victoria would always look forward to her annual rituals and routines she saved just for these upcoming holidays. Perhaps this year, she pondered, she wouldn’t have to do them alone. Smiling, she rolled over on to her side, thin blanket falling off her bare shoulder as she gazed down at her companion.

Cumbria had become their sanctuary, their home away from home situated between their own hearts and she had come to love it. Seeing Arthur be able to reconnect to his wilder roots was a blessing and a joy to witness, to nurture and encourage. Unable to help herself and protected by the canopy of the trees, she leaned down and kissed him gently. Hands found their way once more into her hair and she laughed, sounding younger as it rang out softly through the forest. They would have to leave, to break this spell and return to the stress and façade of the outside world. 

But here, where they could kiss freely, they were finally at peace.

[julamusic]

TAKE ME BACK, the second single from genre bursting producer WE TAKE POLAROIDS is set to drop on October 15th across most platforms.

Most people following his journey will undoubtedly know that We Take Polaroids is the brainchild of long time producer / song writer, Mark Zowie. He began writing under the new pseudonym 2 years after his band, Burn The Negative disbanded in 2010.

Mark Zowie - Heddon Street, London, Jan 2017 - image c/o Matthew Stuart

“Just because that peg doesn’t fit, it doesn’t mean to say that peg isn’t good enough”.

“Writing was difficult for me at the time as I’d spent so many years co-writing and co-producing as Lil’ Devious and then that morphed into the Burn The Negative song writing. I wanted to write something that encompassed potentially both. But I felt it didn’t sit in any genre. So I kind of kept writing for a while and then I actually realised that indeed was its strengths for me. Just because that peg doesn’t fit, it doesn’t mean to say that peg isn’t good enough”.

Save Me studio session - Junk Rooms Carlisle 2020

Since it’s conception, We Take Polaroids has released accessible slung back summer alt-pop, punchy song based electronic music, beautiful ambient room-filling electronica and now, with confidence and great effect, ventured feet first into the realms of neo-soul and R&B with the hybrid album, SAVE ME - due November 2021.

Mark Zowie for Novablood photo session - September 2021. - image c/o Anthony Wilson.

Previous We Take Polaroids stepping away from previous Burn The Negative songs and making a new mark in the sand. Releases across Social Conscience and Jula Music have shown multiple genres and chameleon-like moves from Zowie.

“Artwork is a huge part of the package for me, Jula Music has allowed me to express myself as an artist and my photography based imagery and design helped drop the music in an other worldly place.”

Visit and follow We Take Polaroids on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3yObekey0DyC0vOrbUtWNa?si=8ZpMRXXoTtSNI4Cc6-QnQA&dl_branch=1

[thievingmagpiesband]

Thieving Magpies at the Miners Arms in Ulverston I have been meaning to write up my notes since September and now in Christmas holidays I did it! So here goes: A beautiful late summer evening is almost perfect despite the COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions at the Miners Arms in in a little hamlet outside Ulverston in Cumbria called Swarthmoor. We were staying with my best friends Kate and Bryan but because of work commitments they couldn’t make it. They missed it! Landlord Stuart  sat on his stool at the gate and really made me feel welcome as did his staff at the bar. I was seated in  the outside garden and stage area together with the for-mentioned bar and inside tables organised to great detail allowing plenty to attend including some children and families. Still not too sure how we were allowed to be there, but we were, and as the sun began to set, I sat with a glass of chilled white wine which set things up nicely in this melancholic mood. I was looking forward to the live music, but I honestly didn’t expect to hear fast, rhythmic, rocking but also sensitively soulful blues being delivered by popular local band the Thieving Magpies.As an all-seated gig due to the pandemic this did not hinder for one moment. Some local followers and known people to the band were sat waiting obviously excited to see their friends perform again, whilst those who are seeing them for the first time are about to become fans. Kicking off with the Steve Miller hit “The Joker” with an amazing Reggae beat I had never expected in a song like that followed by a blues song called “Help Me” which I later discovered was by an old guitarist called Sonny Boy Williamson. A contrast in style and genre kept you guessing. “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and then something else I never expected? A run of Jimi Hendrix songs, “All along the Watchtower” and “Little Wing” two of my absolute faves. Brilliantly delivered I might add with a switch between electric guitar and even piano solo. All this served to instantly hit home with their deep bluesy style, full of catchy riffs and quite deep dusky vocals but still full of power. On they go with their set that just lifts everyone into a totally different plain, with songs like the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Daytripper” by the Beatles and even a rendition of “Sex Machine” by James Brown and this led to another twist which was an infectious funk style beat. That was hard not to dance to and certainly kept everyone feet tapping under the picnic benches and temporary tables.Interspersed amongst the songs the band clearly display their enthusiasm and its obvious they are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Despite this for a local band they delivered their set with a really high level, pedigree and source of talent. They were paly in a relaxed easy and chilled manner whilst producing a tight musical performance that can’t help but soothe the savage soul with infectious tapping rhythms and emotionally charged lyrics.This was definitely one of the most entertaining, well prepared and delivered gigs I have seen for some time and their style builds a mansion of bluesy delights that if I wasn’t so self-conscious in the age of social distancing would have caused me to gaze, mouth open in awe and wonderFor a local band gig in my opinion this was unique, inspiring, vivid and genuinely authentic musically. Honestly if you are anywhere near the north west and certainly near this band. Just go see the Thieving Magpies.  It will be one of the best decisions you will make. Review by Jasmin Jade Laing from Barnsley

[edgelarks]

Touring Musician Life Skills #431: Developing the ability to sleep almost anywhere. Road testing this theory on our autumn tour (where we've actually got some super lovely beds lined up 😄): 11/10/19  St Peters Church, Kinver 12/10/19 Osmington Village Hall, Dorset 17/10/19 Widecombe Sailing Club - Cafe on the Green, Widecombe in the Moor, Devon 18/10/19 St Paul's Church, Starcross, Devon 19/10/2019 Millbrook Folk Club, Cornwall 25/10/2019 Sticklebarn Tavern, Cumbria 26/10/2019 House Gig, Live at Sam's, Sheffield 27/10/2019 Hitchin Folk Club, Hitchin https://www.instagram.com/p/B2moSJHhpyA/?igshid=36ce60eju1jn

[don-lichterman]

Cumbria group 'Gals who Gig' to help women enjoy live music

Cumbria group ‘Gals who Gig’ to help women enjoy live music

A CARLISLE woman has set up a Facebook group for women who love going to gigs but don’t like going on their own. Gals who Gig Cumbria has been set up by Shelby Bradley to encourage women to enjoy live music and to make new friends. Members of the group can offer tickets to gigs to fellow members or ask if people would like to attend a certain concert. “It’s harder to make friends as you get…