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THE KITTIWAKES
ELLEN MARY McGEE |
{Sign up to the Midwich Records mailing list; email info@midwich-cuckoos.co.uk} Sun 22nd November, 2009 Thanks to everyone who made last night's show in Canterbury with Martin Carthy such a success. Particularly Jason for inviting us to play, and for doing such a fine job promoting the event, ensuring a sell-out crowd. I've been a fan of Martin Carthy for many years, he's the single biggest influence on me as a musician, and I've seen him perform live many times before, but something about his set last night struck a different chord with me. He was simply phenomenal, blazing his way through a near perfect set which included John Barleycorn, The Doffing Mistress, Willie's Lady and Prince Heathen among the highlights. The first thing I did this morning was tune my guitar to CGCDGA and now I'm re-arranging the next batch of songs for The Owl Service with my own take on MC's distinctive, percussive thud. As I said last night, it's incredible to think Carthy has had a five decade career in music that's seen him constantly refine and improve as both a singer and a player. He really is better than ever and now, twenty years after first discovering him, he's gone and changed my life again. At the end of the show last night, a slightly inebriated man who resembled a young Henry the eighth bellowed; "I love you Martin - you sweet man". Couldn't have put it better myself. Steven
Weds 14th October, 2009 RECENT CULTURAL EXCHANGES As well as working on the new Owl Service project this year, I've also undertaken a couple of collaborations that are about to see the light of day. Firstly, I've co-written and produced two songs for Alison O'Donnell's forthcoming album, Hey Hey Hippy Witch. After completing the Fabric of Folk EP we both felt that we wanted to collaborate again in the future, and Alison was so fired up by our work together that she went straight into writing for her next album. Alison asked me to get the ball rolling with a couple of ideas, so I first turned to something I'd been messing about with for a short while. It was a loose, jangley acoustic guitar idea that I'd been referring to as "the Zep III track" as, for me, it conjoured up thoughts of the mighty Led Zeppelin during their more laid back period of the third album. I brushed it up and sent it to Alison along with a suggestion to maybe research Led Zep's time spent in the Welsh countryside for some lyric ideas. In typically superquick fashion she sent me a finished vocal a few days later that just blew me away. The Page & the Plant, as it's now known, is a wonderful acoustic stomper embellished beautifully by my fellow owls Jason Steel (acoustic guitar) and Nancy Wallace (duelling recorders), and Martin McIver on drums - it perfectly captures the vibe that my original demo hinted at.
Floating World As well as our good selves the album features Dave Colohan of Agitated Radio Pilot, Gavin Prior of United Bible Studies, Graeme Lockett of Head South by Weaving, Margaret Ayre of Fern Knight, Michael Tyack of Circulus, Isabel Ni Chuireain and Kevin Scott of Canadian band Mr Pine. As well as that, I've undertaken production duties on a track for Adam Leonard's new album Nature Recordings. Adam has been a supporter of the Owl Service pretty much since day one, and the appreciation is mutual. I'm no fan of the singer/songwriter genre these days, and to simply refer to Adam as such does him no justice at all, but for me his singing and songs are imbued with the same wonderful eccentric characteristics as people like Roy Harper and Michael Chapman, but in a similar fashion to the aforementioned greats, he never loses sight of 'the song' in a quest to be quirky. In other words, he's what all good singer/songwriters should be in an age when so few are. If you're not familiar with Mr Leonard, go check him out here... A few of Adam's releases are still available, you'd be well advised to grab what you can. The song I worked on for him is called Lilian, I Love You which can now be heard via the above link to his MySpace page. From an acoustic demo, I created the basis of a full electric backing track which has been finished off beautifully. The album will be released some time this Winter via Great Pop Supplement .Steven Fri 11th September, 2009 TOPICALIA {Nancy Wallace plays the QEH as part of Topic's 70th birthday celebrations} That bastion of all things English, honest and for the people, Topic Records, is celebrating an amazing 70 years. We are pleased to tell you that our very own songstress, Nancy Wallace, has been asked to take part in the concert series. An honour indeed. Nancy is playing in the front room of the Queen Elizabeth Hall alongside Olivia Chaney (prior to June Tabor's concert in the main hall) on Friday 18th of September from 5:30pm, and the event is FREE to all. The festival also features a performace from The Watersons Family. For more information visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you Midwichers who have supported Nancy on her solo venuture this year. Her wonderful debut album Old Stories is available from our webstore and all good independant retailers. Here are some of the kind words already said about the album; "Rest assured, this enchanting album will doubtless, in years to come, be recognised as a remarkable start to a distinguished career by one of our finest folksingers" Rock n' Reel magazine "Long respected as one of the purest voices on the folk circuit, this recording, like her live work, fashions an amazing intimacy with her listener. A substantial debut / ****" Mojo magazine Now over to Nancy herself, who will talk you through her favourite Topic album... "Think it probably goes without saying, and it's a bit obvious, but it has to be Penguin Eggs by Nic Jones. Simply one of the finest albums ever made. The chorus of Farewell to the Gold can still reduce me to a blubbering wreck, as can the whole of the Humpback Whale (no pun intended). Stunning guitar playing, and some of the finest use of the recorder you'll hear (Courting is a Pleasure being a fine case in point)".Visit Nancy's MySpace page for all the latest happenings in Wallace-world... www.myspace.com/nancywallace Tue 18th August, 2009 New Midwich Records t-shirts now in stock; choose from cardinal red or military green shirt, both with green and brown screenprinted logo. Available from the webstore now in small, medium and large.
Fri 7th August, 2009 There's a wonderful review of our Nancy at the Supersonic festival on the Folking Cool website.
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Alison also wanted us to come up with a second shorter song, and she had a vague idea for some lyrics based on the red squirrel now being an endangered species. With an image of a woodland squirrel firmly in mind I started working on ideas in my head and over the course of a day I had the music written. I arranged the song for piano and harpsichord in an attempt to sonically mirror the movements of the tree-dwelling rodent. I had intended to add all sorts of other touches to the track, but once the vocals were on everything else felt unnecessary and in the end only a bass guitar helps along the second half of the track. Alison discovered that the red squirrel isn't actually endangered after all, so the lyrics ended up being more of an ode to people with ginger hair, bizarrely entitled March of the Strawberry Blondes. Not sure where all the stuff about Russia came from though, must ask Alison about that. Anyway, the album is out next month via Floating World Records, more info here...
