#live at zedel

[magazineprefecture]

Do you have any usual haunts in the city where you live?

Yes yes yes. So I live in London. It's a five quadrant city. North, East, South, West, Central. In each sector I have a spot for a drink, a cocktail, and dinner. North: The Southampton Arms; The Parakeet; Cadet East: The Auld Shillelagh; Bar Lotus; Sonora Taqueria South: The King's Arms; Swift; L'Antipasto West: The Westbourne; The Warwick Castle; Daquise Central: Bradley's Spanish Bar; Bar Italia; Zedel's

Come and find me.

[piecesofafangirl]

This place is soooo stunning, gorgeous though, so many beautiful things. And the people are lovely too. Can't get any closer to the stage.

[thewidowstanton]

Peter Groom, actor, choreographer and drag artist – Dietrich: Live in London

Peter Groom, who comes from Newcastle upon Tyne, graduated from the Guildford School of Acting in 2013, and has since worked both in the UK and internationally. His dance credits include One Side to the Other for Akram Khan Company, and his theatre work includes Romeo and Juliet and Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at the Aquila Theatre in New York. He was artist in residence at Battersea Arts Centre in London in 2014.

In January 2018 Peter launched his multi award-winning solo show, Dietrich: Natural Duty – co-written with and directed by Oliver Gully – which documents screen icon Marlene Dietrich’s life during the Second World War. It premiered at the Vaults in London before touring internationally, taking the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Adelaide Fringe by storm. He has followed this with a cabaret, Dietrich: Live in London – accompanied by his MD Jimmy Jewell at the piano – which sold out at London’s Crazy Coqs, Live at Zédel in July and will return to the venue on 1 October 2019. Peter chats to Liz Arratoon.

The Widow Stanton: Did you always want to be onstage? Peter Groom: Yes, yes I did. I joined a youth theatre group in Newcastle when I was nine or ten and did plays and musicals with them until I was 17.

Was there anyone in your family in showbiz who inspired you? Er, no. [Laughs] My mum worked for the NHS and my dad used to work for Coca-Cola, but my grandma was very funny and very musical. She sang a lot but just with us as kids, you know, nothing… nobody performed professionally or anything.

So you don’t know where this urge came from? No, it just always seemed there, really. I remember the first time, it was in nursery, pre-school, I played Santa and I had to come down a chimney and pop out at the bottom. When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney, that was the song. I remember really clearly the room, and appearing from the chimney and everybody looking at me. And I remember where the lights were… that’s a really clear thing. I remember them all laughing.

You’ve appeared as a dancer; did your course at Guildford cover dance? We took ballet, jazz and contemporary, but before I went there I was really more interested in dance. I used to dance when I was a kid and then I went to Germany and was part of a show there called Sommertanz. That was with dancers from Pina Bausch Company. I’d never seen her work, I didn’t know who she was, and working with that company blew my mind because the dance I’d done up to then was all technique-based; a lot of ballet, and then her dancers were all about your expression and what you feel and what interests you and what you’re passionate about.

Suddenly that sparked more of an expression side and I thought, ‘Well, maybe dance isn’t right for me, maybe acting is much better’. So that’s why I trained at a drama school. But it’s funny, you know, the minute I left drama school I thought, ‘Oh, I want to dance again’. So I did and I went off and did a show with Akram Khan for a little bit, and then with some other companies, and I still make work that’s very dance based as a choreographer that I don’t perform in. It’s usually quite devised and working with a lot of text; usually half dancers and half actors.

You seem to have got international work very soon after graduating… I’ve been really lucky that I haven’t really been out of work a lot since I graduated, which is a really lovely position to be in. I stayed around In London for a few months after I graduated and then… I really love Germany. I lived there when I was 17 and when I graduated I thought, ‘I really wanna go there again’. I feel very at home there. So I went back to the school where I’d trained with dancers from the Pina Bausch Company – Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen-Werden. I had a friend there and she said: “Oh well, just come and take class here in the mornings.” So I did, and an audition came up in Berlin. I went and I got the job in the show MEAT at Schaubühne, so I stayed there for about a year. It was wonderful. I loved it.  

Again you were artist in residence at BAC quite soon after that… Yes, I came back from Berlin and it came up… you could live there.

Oh yes, I’ve been on a backstage tour and seen the rooms. It’s marvellous! It’s amazing! They give you this space, and they give you a weekly budget to eat, and then you just make work all the time. Its wonderful; it’s like taking all the pressure off. You have time. I think I was there six months and you have time to let things develop and let you thoughts sit.

I would call your Marlene shows ‘female impersonation’ rather than drag, but how did you get into drag? It had been floating around for a while, I think. A few people had said: “Oh, you should really do it, because we think you’d be adept at it.” And then, I’m trying to remember, the first time was at BAC. A friend of mine had had a really bad year and he had a big Hallowe’en party and said: “Everybody has to come really full-out. Everybody has to get their great costumes on.” And I like Marlene Dietrich anyway, I have for years, and he said: “Oh, you come as Marlene because you’ll like that.” So I did! There were some photos, one got put on Facebook and then a woman called Tanith Lindon, who was the events co-ordinator at BAC saw it and said: “Oh, you look great! Come and host a New Year’s Eve party at BAC.” So I said, ‘Yes’.

And that was the start of it? That was the start of it, yeah, but it was little bits of cabaret. I’d never thought about making a show.

How had Marlene first come to your attention? I first heard her name through Vogue by Madonna; there’s that bit at the end where she raps all the Hollywood stars names, Garbo and Hepburn… and I went and looked them all up [laughs] and it was Marlene’s image that was really fascinating to me because she was cold… and distant… and aloof. This person that really didn’t coo… well, she wasn’t sweet or cute in any way. And as a teenager that really appealed to me.

When you were creating the show, did you study her mannerisms by watching her films? Well, I’ve seen all her films and read about 17… 18 books on her, newspaper articles and things like that, and then I think you have to forget all that and try to embody her without copying her. I never looked at footage and they tried to imitate her. I sort of tried to find where all these mannerisms came from. I mean, she just had the spine of a Prussian soldier. Everything pulled up, everything is tight, taut. Maybe towards the end that’s also because she was pinning her face in place so it looked younger, but it’s all these things that she has in her that are from her life experience. I was interested in that; both the illusion and what was behind it.

I’m really hot on costumes and must compliment you on your gown. Is it based on her famous ‘nude’ dress, designed by Jean Louis? Yes. It was made by a costume designer called Kathleen Nellis. She studied at London College of Fashion and graduated a few years ago. We’ve collaborated for a couple of years now; we have two dresses and a coat. When we first started making the show, before we wrote anything, before we thought what the story would be, the first thing we did was find out if we could make that dress. I feel similar to you, costume’s such a huge thing for me, particularly with that show. In the first two minutes when you see the dress and when you see Marlene, you have to be impressed, you have to go, ‘Oh my gosh, where did you get that?’. Because if you don’t have that you may as well throw the rest out the window. We need to be drawn in and dazzled.

It’s so fabulous! It’s so classy, and, well done, because too many people skimp on costumes. And I like Marlene too much to do that. It is, you know, a lot of beading backstage and a lot of time, but I think, ‘That’s good!’. And in a strange way it really gives you an insight into her. I played Edinburgh for the month last year and by week three, you think, ‘Gosh! Doing drag every day and painting this much and looking after the hair and looking after the dress, it’s a lot of work and it’s not much fun’. You just have to do it; it’s your duty to get it on and deliver the image of illusion every day. And it really took it out of me and I’d get a little bit annoyed sometimes. But then I thought, ‘She did this for 70 years, before she became a recluse’. The amount of perfectionism and will it must have taken to maintain that image is extraordinary. But there’s nothing I do in the dressing room that she didn’t do; probably just as much make-up, just as many support garments.

We haven’t mentioned your wig. Did you have it specially made? Yes, by Jack James Baxter at Wig Chapel. They’re based in Whitechapel.

How long does it take you to put on the make-up and everything? From nothing to everything, about two hours. It’s a long time but it is a lot of layers and stuff because the make-up isn’t exaggerated. It’s not really ‘drag’ make-up. It’s very clean, so it needs to be very clean.

Let’s talk about Dietrich: Live in London… Live in London is based on her Vegas cabaret show, really, and her subsequent cabaret shows around the world. It came about because I really love Zédel; I love that space, it’s so beautiful. They had asked me to come and do Natural Duty there, but Natural Duty, really it’s a play. It has aspects of cabaret in it and there are songs but it’s a story with a narrative that you follow through, and I thought, ‘The space at Zédel is so cabaret, you can get drinks with people serving throughout and that wouldn’t be good for Natural Duty. I don’t think it would work, so I said, ‘I’m not sure’. And they said: “Make something else, maybe make a new cabaret.”

And actually there was loads of things I wanted to do that didn’t fit with Natural Duty, loads of songs… ‘I’d love to do that song but it doesn’t fit’. So I wanted to make an evening that felt glamorous and take that class idea and see if I could make a very… I didn’t know of anyone else who just stands there and sings songs, without any joke, you know, when the drag isn’t a joke. So, yes, I think it’s that. It’s glamorous, it’s fun and it’s the first time I’ve done the tuxedo, which is really exciting.

Have you found any footage of those concerts she gave later in life? There’s only her show at the Queen’s Theatre in London that was recorded for television but that’s more of a recital. She doesn’t do the tails, she doesn’t do any of that stuff. There are a few clips… she used to have a kickline at the end of her cabaret show… the girls would come on and do little tuxedo-Fred Astaire kickline, there are clips of news footage of that.

So the songs you sing are the songs she sang in her concerts? Yes, the only one she didn’t that I sing is Top Hat, White Tie and Tails.

And there’s no patter in this one; it’s song, song, song. Is that what she did? She did do that, yeah. Sometimes there’s a little bit of introduction… ‘A song by Charles Trenet’, there’s a little bit of narrative based on her coming to America.

Will you be touring Live in London? Yes, we’ve been asked to perform it at the Sage in Gateshead, which is great. It’s amazing to be asked to play a concert hall like that. And also it’s home for me. That’s going to round off the year.

Is Marlene taking up most of your time or are you managing to fit in other work? No, it mostly Marlene.

So you’ve got to spend those hours getting ready all the time. I like her and to not have the pressure of the narrative that’s in Natural Duty and to just enjoy and sort of play with the audience in London has been really great. I’ve got to say I was really terrified the day of the first Zédel show. I thought everyone would be bored. There’s no story, they’re just gonna… they’re just gonna leave! So I was so thrilled that it was received so well. It was a great night. It’s such a nice energy in that room.

You’ve won loads of awards with Marlene, which stands out? We won Critics’ Choice at the Adelaide Fringe. Marlene was in Adelaide 50 years before we were there, strangely, and her tour manager, Ron Tremaine, who organised her Australian tours, came to see the show. He’s 80-something. He was incredible and stayed with us afterwards and he talked and told us stories about her, showed us photos of them together. That was really extraordinary and very touching. It’s fascinating when you meet people who knew her as a human person and not just the illusion, people who see behind that. He wanted to know how we made the show, and he really loved it, which was really kind.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about her? I guess, back to the drag thing, it’s funny because a lot of people see the show and then they tell me: “Oh, but it’s not a drag show,” which I really like. That was a real aim with Natural Duty; how do you do a drag show that isn’t a joke and isn’t demeaning to the man playing it or the woman who it’s representing? I have a lot of admiration for her and particularly her work for peace in the world. That’s an incredibly timely message now, you know. Everybody has a platform to promote themselves, to promote how good they look or whatever it is. What she managed to do was link that and a stance for peace. If we all did that the world might be a better place.

Peter performs Dietrich: Live in London at the Crazy Coqs, Live at Zédel in London on 1 October, and Dietrich: Live in Gateshead at the Sage on 18 December 2019. He will be touring Dietrich: Natural Duty again in 2020.

Picture credit: V’s Anchor Studio; vintage Marlene holding papers, with thanks to Andrew Davidhazy For tickets to Dietrich: Live in London, click here

And for Dietrich: Live in Gateshead, click here

Peter on Facebook

Twitter: @_petergroom

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

Read the story behind Andrew Davidhazy’s picture of Marlene, which he took as a schoolboy!

[damienmolonyforum]

Damien Molony ON STAGE THIS WEEKEND in WordTheatre's 'Voices From the American Heartland' - TICKETS AVAILABLE!

Exciting news Molonians! You could see Damien on stage this weekend!

He will be performing at WordTheatre event Voices from the American Heartland: Stories by Peter Orner in London on Sunday.

Our fave actor joins an incredible cast of actors including David Soul, Ian Hart, Emily Bruni, Rhashan Stone and Madeleine Potter, giving voice to a selection of short stories by American author Peter…

[vivelabarks]

[brokenboysfrombrokenhomes]

Max Bowden sings Can’t take my eyes off of you (4th September 2018 Live at Zedel, London)

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to the working week although, for those of you in the NHS, welcome to just another day!

Many thanks to everyone that listened to the show on Saturday afternoon, and many thanks to those that will listen to it on Mixcloud. Naturally, because of the Queen’s passing, we had to keep it downtempo and mellow, so I jumped straight into The Letter J and selected two hours of relatively chilled music. Next week, The Letter I (Pt. 4) featuring a tribute to Gregory Isaacs, ending The Letter I with a two-hour tribute to The Isley Brothers on September 24th.

In my humble opinion, it was the wrong decision to postpone the football games at the weekend. These games were perfect opportunities for ordinary people and the football community to express their love and grief. The players could have worn black armbands, there could have been a minute of silent reflection and the crowd would have needed little encouragement to sing ‘God Save The King’. Which is EXACTLY what they did at the test match at The Oval! It could have been a huge cathartic experience for many people. Did my gas and electricity and Sky and BT and council tax bills get postponed this week? Did they hell!

Really glad to say the pain is subsiding. I’m now actually walking in shoes! I’ve been living in sliders for the last three weeks! I am moisturising like crazy, particularly my feet, and this is going to be a major change in my life. Straight white guys are not that hot on moisturising. Dry, cracked skin? Not a problem! We all imagine we are indestructible; no ailment will affect us, nothing can infect us. I was wrong. So wrong. Cellulitis has been painful. Almost as painful as listening to one genre of music for hours on end. Almost. So, from now on, I am actually going to moisturise my skin every day. My wife does it every day and so can I.

On Saturday, people marched to Scotland Yard to demand justice for Chris Kaba, who was shot and killed last week by Met. police. Sky News showed aerial footage of the march and actually told viewers it was ‘well-wishers’ on their way to Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to the Queen. Gross incompetence or racism? You decide which. Amazingly, Sky News corrected themselves later in the day but did not apologise to viewers for this horrendous faux pas!

When I was a kid, attending Highgate Wood Secondary Modern Comprehensive, one of my best mates was a kid called Lewis Nicholson. He used to live on Muswell Hill Road and I hung out at his place a lot. His mum, Mavis, had her own TV interview show; she was like a female Michael Parkinson. To many, she was a big star. To me, she was Mave The Rave. One day, Lewis and I were making a lot of noise up in his room. Mave shouted up the stairs, “What are you doing?” “Nothing!” we innocently replied. “Well, stop doing it!” she said. Makes me laugh to this day. Anyway, Mavis Nicholson passed away on Thursday. Very sad.

On Sunday, The Trouble and I went to a wonderful soiree at The Crazy Coqs inside Zedel’s in Piccadilly Circus, to celebrate my cousin and his wife’s ruby wedding anniversary. Delicious champagne and canapes and no DJ but a live quartet playing beautiful songs from the thirties, forties and fifties. 40 years of marriage! That is some good going! I guess it’s actually quite a skill to choose a life-long partner? To look at someone and know – confidently – that you’re going to be comfortable to spend a lifetime with them.

It was a brilliant Sunday until we got home to ANOTHER speeding ticket for driving 24 m.p.h. Really? The cost of living is affecting all of us. Food, fuel and energy bills have gone through the roof. A speeding ticket for driving 24 m.p.h.? Is that not a little heavy-handed and insensitive? Yes, I understand the police are trying to slow drivers down by making more streets 20 but these are exceptional times!

Have a marvellous and momentous Monday. I love you all.

[reorientingtothexdaylight]

Max Bowden singing Feeling good live at the Brasserie Zedel in Septembre 2018, for "Somebody call me a cabaret" (video source)

[centrestagereviews]

Track of the Week:

Luke Bayer - You Will Be Found (Dear Evan Hansen Cover):

On Sunday 2nd September Luke will be performing live at Zedel. For more information or to book tickets click here. You can also follow Luke on Twitter by clicking here. 

Video Courtesy of Luke’s YouTube. 

[fuckyeahthebookofmormon]

Performed at ‘‪An Evening With Declan Egan’ The Big Smoke Festival Live At Zedel‬ ‪With MD Nick Barstow‬

[forcryingoutbat]

From her Live at Zedel show.

[golfuk22]

The river Thames is confounding to me.... it often features in London's history which lends it some grandeur.... yet when viewed it feels plain. A dirty brown colour, like many rivers that course through cities it's shape is defined by human walls that seek to reclaim land and/or reduce floods. I was reminded of all this when I met Helen for a 2 hr around the bridges (Hammersmith - Putney) walk. The finely engineered Hammersmith Bridge is closed to traffic while maintenance is underway.... something which I recall occurring when I was here 25 years ago..... maybe it's the same job.... still "work in progress". Our walk progressed at a steady pace too (but did have an end) with the updates on our lives and those within our networks. Then later it was dinner with Nadine who is visiting London from Belgium. Staying at the exclusive Cavalry & Guards club (courtesy of a friend).... it was a quick view of how magnificent the interiors can be of many of these old majestic buildings that make up London's centre. Often referred just by its address... 127 Piccadilly... it has its own labelled spirits.....and a fine display of Cavalry & Guard headdress. A privileged look inside an exclusive club.... before we headed to dinner at Brassiere Zedel (a quiet haven in the middle of Piccadilly Circus).

[nfg-miimochii]

House of Roses

Name: Farron-7

Class: Hunter

Ghost: Vendetta

Race: Exo

Gender: Male

Rez time: Second risen, Collapse

Subclass: Nightstalker

Affiliation: Ex-Warlord, Rogue Lightbearer

Personality: Paranoid. He tends to stay to himself and avoids other Risen at all costs. He's very paranoid and often feels like he's re-living the Collapse and Dark-Age often. He always feels like he's being hunted.

Sexuality: Homosexual

Backstory: ???

Name: Saash Theriv

Class: Hunter

Ghost: Starlight

Race: Awoken

Gender: Female

Rez Time: Twilight Gap, Mid City-Age

Subclass: Stasis

Affiliation: Ex-Guard, Dredgen(Drifter)

Personality: Nonchalant. She tends to gamble a lot. She was fighting in a war not long after she was Risen. She is extremely weary of Fallen for the same reasons as Saint-14. She'll steal your glimmer if you aren't looking. A Mercenary if you have enough glimmer.

Sexuality: Pansexual

Name: Aiden Crawford

Class: Hunter

Ghost: Styxx

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Rez Time: Fall of Rezyl Azzir, Late City-Age

Subclass: Nightstalker

Affiliation: Guard

Personality: Leader. He is fairly outgoing but also very stern. He'll do anything to protect his team and complete a mission. There has been times when he's planned out entire raids start to finish and completed it flawlessly. Though he can be demanding.

Sexuality: Aromantic

Name: Behemoth-13

Class: Titan

Ghost: Bo

Race: Exo

Gender: Male

Rez Time: Destiny Guardian

Subclass: Defender

Affiliation: Guard, House of Roses

Personality: Nurturing. He's looked up to the Legendary Saint-14 since the moment he heard of him. He loves flowers and overall most open fields or bright scenery. He takes care of any animal he possible can, most definitely an animal hoarder. He's terrifying in the crucible though. Sooner will break your kneecaps of you make his friends cry than to ask what happened.

Sexuality: Bisexual

Name: Martyr-4

Class: Titan

Ghost: Metroid

Race: Exo

Gender: Female

Rez Time: Death of Citan, Mid Dark-Age

Subclass: Sunbreaker

Affiliation: Guard?, House of Roses

Personality: Chaotic. Will headbutt other Guardians as a greeting, often killing them, causing their Ghost to revive their Guardian. Only interested in people who could possibly kill her. Maniacal laughter during crucible. 100% a Psychopath.

Sexuality: Disaster Bisexual

Name: Declan Hastings

Class: Warlock

Ghost: Nimh

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Rez Time: Faction Wars, Early City-Age

Subclass: Dawnblade

Affiliation: Ex-Guard, House of Roses

Personality: Reserved. He hides from his fireteam quite often to escape their loud voices. Banshee-44 let's him sit in his shop to read or fix his weapons since its quiet. He's the healer of his team and will do what he can to help them, even if they died for idiotic reasons.

Sexuality: Asexual

Name: Mayv

Class: Warlock

Ghost: Zephyr

Race: Awoken

Gender: Female

Rez Time: SIVA, Early City-Age

Subclass: ???

Affiliation: Rogue Lightbearer

Personality: Tired. She often sleeps in her free time or wanders the woods around her small hut she had made as her home. She stays out of the violence until she's absolutely needed. Took up wood carving and weaving dreamcatchers as a side hobby when not sleeping or taking care of her plants.

Sexuality: Pansexual

Name: Jinx Zedel

Class: Warlock

Ghost: Wolfsbane

Race: Awoken

Gender: Female

Rez Time: VOG, Mid City-Age

Subclass: Stormtrance

Affiliation: Ex-Guard, House of Roses

Personality: Mother. She's extremely stern and quick to point out what people do wrong. She'll raise her voice if she has to, causing the entire room to go silent. Though if she sees someone struggling emotionally she'll baby them until they feel better. The cook and caretaker of her team.

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Name: Vyltreks

Race: Fallen

Rank: Kell

Gender: Male

House: House of Roses

Personality: ???

Sexuality: ???

[thewidowstanton]

Tricity Vogue, cabaret performer, musician and band leader of Tricity Vogue’s All Girl Swing Band

A regular on the cabaret scene, Tricity Vogue – who grew up in Leeds but now lives in rural Leicestershire – overcame various hitches and disappointments in her younger years to become a singer, musician, teacher and band leader. She created Tricity’s Vogue’s All Girl Swing Band in 2011. Before all the disruptions of the last 18 months, they regularly filled the dance floor at swing nights, parties, weddings and balls, playing favourite tunes from the twenties and thirties, as well as pop numbers given the retro treatment and many of what she calls her “cheeky jazz” originals. The band now returns to the Crazy Coqs in London almost two years after their last scheduled gig at the venue was cancelled because of the pandemic. Tricity chats to Liz Arratoon about the setbacks and triumphs of her fabulous career.

The Widow Stanton: Are you from a musical or showbusiness background? Tricity Vogue: Not at all, no.

Really! So how did you become who you are? I didn’t really know I was musical for a long time. When I was five or six I campaigned very hard to be allowed to join the school recorder group. My teacher campaigned for me as well but apparently a recorder was too expensive. Then my granddad, who was an antiques dealer, found a Bakelite recorder and I was allowed to join, but they discovered it was out of tune with everybody else’s; it was flat. I had the massive humiliation of: "Somebody’s playing the wrong note." The teacher found I was playing the right note but the recorder hadn’t got a standard tuning or it had gone out of tune. I wish I knew where it was now; it’s probably worth a fortune.

I wrote my first song when I was about five. I made up the tune in my head and wrote the words down. I wrote what I thought looked a bit like music and, bless her, my teacher tried to play it. It was hilarious because why she thought I’d know how to actually write at that age… she much have thought I was a prodigy or something. I was a bit embarrassed because even I knew it wasn’t going to work. [Laughs]

Did you move on to other instruments? It’s really sad, and it still makes me feel quite sad, because when I changed schools, everyone had one chance to pick an instrument, literally one chance, and all I wanted to play was the piano. I’d always loved playing on people’s pianos, messing about and making tunes up and enjoying it, but mum and dad said: “We can’t afford a keyboard.” This was in the eighties and they were horrifically expensive, and they said: “Pick something else.” So I picked the drums. I was the only girl and I didn’t like the teacher. She wasn’t warm or encouraging. That first year in middle school I kind of had a little bit of a breakdown. I used to cry and cry and was very unhappy. One of my strategies to get over it was to give up the drums. That was it. Nobody said: “Would you like to pick another instrument instead?” So I just fell through the cracks in the system.

Later on did you have any formal training or go to music college? I studied English at Cambridge. I was going to be… well, I still am a writer. I got headhunted for the choir by a flamboyant gay choirmaster; an amazing guy who’s gone on to great things. I had a great year singing in the choir and I was headhunted to play the harp in the pantomime, Jack and His Beanstalk. Then they discovered I could sing. But I didn’t know anything about music or have any musical training and when he left I didn’t feel I had the right to be there and I didn’t carry on. [Laughs] I didn’t know how good a singer I was because nobody told me.

So how did you get your start in the business? I remember going to a party and singing round a piano and being very excited about singing these jazz songs, but that didn’t go anywhere because the guy playing the piano started dating me and when we broke up that was the end of that trail. Then I went to Sri Lanka. I was teaching English in an international school after university. I was spotted singing late night round the piano in the foyer of the Ramada Renaissance Hotel with this Sri Lankan pianist, who’d heard me singing some karaoke. I did Like a Virgin and he said: “There’s a piano in the lobby, shall we go and knock out a few tunes?” It was this massive empty marble foyer and this woman came over – a very groomed high-society Sri Lankan lady – who said: “I’m running a jazz night in the Hilton Hotel nightclub,” which was called The Blue Elephant, “on 10th January, would the two of you come and do a number or two?” I said, ‘That’s my birthday!’, so I got my first jazz gig on my 22nd birthday. But then it was an absolute disaster again, because of romance rearing its ugly head. There was a flirtation going on between me and this pianist and a lot of his friends disapproved. They all came to see him play and instead of accompanying me, who knew nothing about music, he just decided to show off because he was under a lot of pressure to alienate himself from this unsuitable relationship. That could have been the end of it again except for the old jazzers in the nightclub. There was this pianist called Cecil Rodrigo, who had organised the night. He said: “That guy doesn’t know anything about accompanying a singer, come and do a number with us.”

Basically there was him and a sax player and a couple of other musicians and they said: “Do you know On the Street Where You Live?” We’d done My Fair Lady at school and I said, ‘Yes!’ And they swung it. I was like, ‘This is amazing!’. It was like a drug and I was completely hooked and I started working as a jazz singer by night. I learnt all my standards in Sri Lanka. This lovely singer called Jean Fernando had written out the lyrics as she thought they were from listening to recordings. I’ve still got the notebook with all these amazing Sri Lankifications of the originals.

What instruments do you play? I had learnt sort of folk guitar – I’d never learnt any classical instruments – my dad bought a guitar from his secretary. It had a warped neck and that also was out of tune. [Laughs] It had metal strings so it was much louder than anyone else’s and when I made a mistake everyone could hear it. But I persevered and I became a sort of bedroom musician and wrote songs. Then one day my dad walked past my bedroom and said: “That doesn’t sound awful. You’re not bad.” [Laughs] So I became a musician just by playing for myself. It was really about songwriting and lyrics. I was writing poetry at the same time so it was about that really; self expression. I now play the ukulele. And I use a banjo ukulele with the band because it’s louder and more percussive. It brings a different quality into the mix. We also have a guitarist, and when I played a traditional ukulele it was very hard to differentiate between them.

I’d dropped guitar when I started singing, partly when I got into jazz because I was very intimidated by jazz guitar and thought it was beyond me at the time. As a singer, I didn’t think I was a musician. I thought I was on some sort of lower grade. There’s this thing about women musicians… I very much internalised this perception that musicians were on one side of the fence and I was on the other side of it. They were entitled to be musicians and my inherent musicality was not as valid as their status and knowledge. I’ve got one student now who is a very talented musician and I’m very, very careful to keep encouraging her to continue.

What inspired you to create your all-female swing band? There were two things: the kind of underlying politics about women musicians being under-represented, under-supported and all-girl groups being perceived as something sexualised or glamorised or trivialised perhaps as a novelty act. It shouldn’t be that particularly unusual to have a band that happens to be all female. It isn’t unusual for a band to be all male. [Laughs]

But the event that triggered it is that my dad is a very keen amateur historian, and for 20 years since retirement he’s been a big player in the Leeds Civic Trust. He asked me to bring my ukulele to the unveiling of the Blue Plaque for Ivy Benson, (below) who grew up in Leeds and had an all-woman band for more than 40 years, from the forties to the eighties. He found out her theme tune was Lady Be Good, so I learnt it. Dozens of women from every generation of Ivy Benson’s band turned up. They’d come from all over and were telling anecdotes. I thought, ‘I’m going to start an all-girl swing band’.

I was running a collective for women cabaret performers called The Blue Stocking Society as a monthly night at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, which has a blue-chip cabaret heritage. We always had a different theme and decided to have a Bad Debutantes Ball to subvert the prim-and-proper debutante culture, and we needed a band, so I thought I’d form an all-girl swing band in honour of Ivy Benson for that.

How easy was it to put the band together? It was extremely easy. I’d been playing jazz with some musicians across London for a few years before that and putting together almost a session band of top-flight people. In that process I’d already met Michèle Drees, who’s the drummer in the band. We had this great rapport onstage. I just felt that she could read my mind. When you don’t have formal music training in the mysteries of musical communication, it takes a while to understand how valid that is. But she said afterwards that she was basically reading my arse! She was sitting behind me and watching the way I moved and taking the time from that. [Laughs] I found it really powerful and exciting working with her. I obviously loved working with all the other drummers I’ve worked with but there was definitely a connection.

So I had Michèle, and the bass player Amy Baldwin was recommended to me, and that was the germ of it, with a friend on piano. After that first gig Michèle said to me: “You’re a fearless performer.” I think that comes out of a certain ignorance of the orthodoxy of music and out of cabaret as well; out of many years spent being a solo cabaret performer, being mischievous and disobedient and naughty. You can’t help but take that back into the music, or certainly into your persona.

How many members does it have? At full strength, it’s a nine piece but we'll have a more intimate five-piece line-up onstage at the Crazy Coqs. When we play at Wilton’s Music Hall we have a full nine piece. We’re playing two dates there in July.

How have you and the band navigated the lockdowns? The first gig back at Wilton’s was really tough. We knew we weren’t going to be able to get together for rehearsals, and it had been at least 18 months since we’d gigged together. We tried out Jamulous, which is one of these online programmes where you’re supposed to be able to sing and play in sync with other musicians. Everyone gave it a go but it was an absolute car crash! It doesn’t work with acoustic instruments.

So initially we were going to do really safe things that we know really well, but then I was like, ‘I want you to listen back to the recordings of the last gig we did, the two newer songs’, which had blown me away and which I think are really superb. We’ve progressed as a band, we’ve come up with more sophisticated arrangements, we’ve come up with a sense of what the house style is, there’s a greater playfulness rather than everyone just piling in, like you would on a jazz jam. There are more dynamics going on and musical wit. And everyone agreed that we needed to do those songs, even though it meant more rehearsal to get them nailed. I went through all the jazz charts and made sure that they exactly matched the recordings, and said, ‘This is what we’re doing’. All the band has is the chords and the bar lines, and everything else just comes from their own musical ideas, feel, intuition and rapport. You go, here’s the framework, and the important things are where are the stops, and everything is marked on there.

What are the attributes of a great bandleader? My friend and mentor George Hinchliffe, leader of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, once quoted – or paraphrased – iconic sixties trad jazz bandleader Chris Barber when we were talking about my all-girl swing band. “The secret of a good band is to keep playing the same songs with the same people for as many years as possible.” That seems to be working out for us. My other favourite iconic bandleader quote is Duke Ellington's. "There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!" Stick with your team for as long as you can, and reward them for the work they do for the band, in cash and credits.

The band leader is the engine room, basically. I honestly believe that every one else in my band is a probably a much more able musician that I am but what I can bring to the party is making people listen to them. It’s not all about me, it’s about the band. And I must say that after years of doing solo cabaret I much, much prefer not being on my own on the stage.

Tell us about your most memorable gig. Wow! I was very, very, very excited to play the Royal Festival Hall Clore Ballroom. It was extraordinary. It was very intimidating but very exciting and a great energy. It was a free gig, it was packed and lots and lots of our friends came to watch, people were swing dancing… our tap dancer Josephine Shaker got told off for going tapping all over the floor. She’s a great cabaret performer and she'll be there for the Wilton’s gigs in the summer.

Do you have any specific hopes or ambitions for the band? I love doing gigs where people are there actually to see the band. Crazy Coqs and Wilton’s are both like that. I used to think it would be great to play somewhere like the Savoy Hotel in London but now I think, no, I don’t wanna be the set dressing for someone’s fine-dining experience at a posh venue. I’m not that bothered about just playing for the wealthiest end of the spectrum either, but I do think it’s great to play in a venue that matches the kind of vibe of the band… I mean Blackpool Tower Ballroom would be dreamy! And I would love, love, love, love to be allowed into Ronnie Scott’s.

Pictures: (except Ivy Benson) James Millar, with thanks.

Tricity Vogue’s All Girl Swing Band appears at the Crazy Coqs in London on 6 March 2022. Then at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival in Huddersfield on 19 June and back in the capital at Wilton’s Music Hall on 6 and 7 July.

For Crazy Coqs tickets click here

Find Tricity’s solo and band albums on her website

Tricity Vogue’s All Girl Swing Band on Facebook

Twitter: @tricityvogue @LiveAtZedel

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

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Brasserie Zédel / London / UK @brasseriezedel Brasserie Zedel is a grand Parisian brasserie with an authentic Art Deco interior. Hidden away behind the ZL Café in the heart of Piccadilly, it serves traditional French food at exceptional value and has a Bib Gourmand to its name. The building also plays host to a classic American bar, Bar Américain and a live music and cabaret venue, The Crazy Coqs. Open daily from early until late. @cocktailbars https://www.instagram.com/p/CEhC4IOFr_M/?igshid=2ht4assw8taj

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