New Music: Kentish Fire - In Our Band (Web Sheldon Remix)

A couple of weeks ago I made a remix for London Indie/Dance band Kentish Fire of their awesome song "In Our Band".

The remix is now online read for all listening pleasures...


To hear the original version, watch the video and read the lyrics, see my previous blog post below:

http://web-sheldon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/london-indiedance-act-kentish-fire-in.html

London Indie/Dance act: Kentish Fire - 'In Our Band' (Free download & Music Video)

Last week I spent some time remixing a track by London electronic/indie band Kentish Fire.  It's not available to listen yet as I've only just sent it to the band, but I wanted to post the original up here.

As soon as I heard the track, I wanted to remix it.  The vocals are what stood out most for me - great delivery by the lead singers - and clever lyrics too.  The story behind the song is talking about (either fact or fiction) that they used to be a cover band and in the third verse they use a whole bunch of song titles to complete the story of moving from covers band to an 'original music' band.  Love this idea.

We weren't there in the summer of '69
But we were living on a prayer, we were born to be wild
We would smell like teen spirit, we would drink red, red wine
We were wearing baggy trousers, we would stop...Anna time
On the stairway to heaven we would get our teenage kicks
We would rock an Abba medley and a Grease megamix
When we went under the bridge, we would do the Louis Louis
When we rode with Mustang Sally we would lick her tutti frutti
But these blue suede shoes gave us the summertime blues
We weren't the sultans of swing, we were just daytrippin'
We would get no satisfaction when we played My Generation
We were losing our religion, we had growing superstition
Never Johnny B. Goode, this was bad to the bone
So we just said  'Screw it all!
Show us the way to go home!' 

This song has that extra bit of sparkle that you're always hoping to hear when looking for new up and coming bands. And by that point, I hadn't even seen the video - it fits the song perfectly.

If you want to download 'In Our Band' for free, click on the Bandcamp link below.  I've also listed a few of their other websites as well...

Bandcamp: http://download.kentishfire.co.uk/
Official Website: http://www.kentishfire.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KentishFire
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kentishfire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentishfire

Gig Review: Cadence + Bad Names + Web Sheldon @ The Workshop, 18th Feb 2015

Cadence + Bad Names + Web Sheldon @ The Workshop.

Stage @ The Workshop (+ the very attractive and alluring guitar Dahlia. She is looking at you seductively. Yes.)

As my grandma would have said, I am 'in the wars' this week.  I had a 2 day hangover (my fault, I know!) and since I got over that, I've been on the sofa wrapped in blankets with a ManCold.  I'm using the term 'ManCold' without actually *really* knowing what it is though.  Is a ManCold inferior to regular human colds? Or are they equal? Hmmm.

I was worried how I was going to play the gig last night and was planning to sing the songs an octave lower or do it Phoebe from Friends style...my sticky shooooes...why you stick on me...ba-a-beee.. but thankfully my vocals chords had got their shiz together by yesterday afternoon.  I should have had an emergency Hot Toddy in a hip flask prepared for the occasion though...just in case.

Web Sheldon

There were 5 minutes to go and I was due to start playing at 8pm, and there was still only me, the bar man, and another guy sat at the bar..(hiii 'guy sat at the bar' if you're reading this and sorry I didn't talk to you... did you pick up a flyer I left near you? :-/ ) so yeah, I was starting to get worried! I had been stood outside the venue till the last few minutes before the gig having a rollie and trying to get a few people in. In the space of 5 minutes though, friends arrived, people started to come downstairs and I had a pretty decent audience to play to.

Correction - the audience last night were not decent, they were awesome! Chatting to me on stage (even if that did involve talks of sexual acts with my guitar Dahlia *and* a possible threesome with a mic stand.. lol), dancing and shouts of an encore! And in the last few lines of my Yoko Ono cover (in celebration of her 82nd birthday yesterday), there wasn't a sound in the bar other than my a capella. Big thank you to everyone for listening with such attention last night.  It was a gig to remember :)

Next gigs:

• Saturday 7th March @ The Islington; with New Opera Hero (Post Electro Rock) + CRHØMA (Electronic Indie) + The Boom Dogs (Funk Rock) + Tango Pirates (Glam Rock 'n Roll).
• Tues 17th March @ The Fiddler's Elbow - St. Paddy's Day Bash! With City Strays (rock) + Michael Foxall-Smith (Acoustic/Folk).

Ps. Click here to go and 'Like' my Facebook music page and be updated on all future gigs!

Web Sheldon @ Roadtrip & The Workshop. Weds 18th Feb 2015.

Bad Names

Bad Names are a 4 x piece rock'n roll band from London. First of all, I need to say that I think their song 'Mary' is pretty awesome. It reminds me a bit of early Radiohead (circa Pablo Honey) with the reverb of the lead guitar, and the playful weaving of melodies between the bass and vocal in the verses.  Before the chorus starts, the band stop and the vocal goes 'baby don't you worry cos...' and then the chorus kicks in with the full band and the lead vocal goes into his head voice to sing 'I couldn't leave you if I tried'.  The way its done, those elements make it sound sincere to me - and thats important for me in music; to have the link between the lyrics, the melody, the delivery and the band.  I want to hear that all the elements are working in unison - a song should be a single unit of delivery for me.  I think these guys are good at this; their individual parts work well together.  Great to see these guys on stage, the music works well recorded as it does live.

Next gigs:

• Proud Camden TONIGHT! (Thursday 19th Feb).
• Roadtrip & The Workshop - Thursday 26th February. With The Flowerscents (rock/alternative) + Salt + Seven Red Lions (Funky Space Rock) + Duncan Etwart.

Bad Names @ Roadtrip & The Workshop. Weds 18th Feb 2015.

Cadence

Cadence were the headliners for the night; a 4 piece alternative rock band from Greenwich with influences such as Muse and Placebo.  I'd agree with the influences there but I'd also throw in Mew as well - there were some stacatto rhythms played by the guitars and bass with the vocal layering over the top that took me back to 'Frengers'.  My favourite song from the set was 'Sweet Asphyxiaton' - with an amusing introduction as different members of the band and the audience attempted to pronounce 'asphyxiation' - some more successfully than others.  There was a friendly and lighthearted atmosphere at this gig and I must give an honourable mention to Kuba's T-shirt with the words 'I'D RATHER BE AT A ONE DIRECTION CONCERT'.  I want one! haha

We had some nice harmonies going on in many of the songs (Rozâ is a classical singer) and you could tell Micah was really feeling the words as he was singing - this is a big plus for me, being a vocalist myself.  A nice touch in the middle of the set, was a quick 1 minute break to say thanks to the audience for coming, for the other bands playing and for the promoters for putting on the night. This is what playing unsigned gigs should be about; having fun, supporting each other, and trying to pronounce difficult words together when slightly tipsy. These guys had a lovely set of fans too!

You can buy their debut EP here. (iTunes link)

Next Gigs:

• TBC! Follow their Facebook page for updates.

Cadence @ Roadtrip & The Workshop. Weds 18th Feb 2015. (L to R: Kuba, Alessandro, Micah, Rozâ)

For more pictures from the night, head over to the album on my Facebook page.

Gig Preview: Cadence + Bad Names + Web Sheldon @ The Workshop - Weds 18th Feb

Tomorrow night at The Workshop, free entry and a mixture of rock and electronic music courtesy of 3 acts!

Click play to listen to the Soundcloud playlist whilst reading a little about the bands below.

Cadence

4 piece alternative rock band from Greenwich, drawing influences from bands such as Muse and Placebo.

Micah Rose-Trespeuch (voice, keys, guitar)
"Composer/writer/musician from south-east London.  Brought up in a French/English household that has a passion for music, love (and France!)."  Micah has indulged in playing classical piano from the young age of four and more recently in terms of composing, has moved the focus from piano to guitar, putting his music into a band setting.

Rozâ Kalnins (voice, bass)
"While Roza's initial launch into music was through the history of music through the 20th Century, her recent endeavours have taken her to Classical singing as well as rocking out on the bass - a combination that has resulted in Cadence having a slight Rasputina/Portishead feel to it. With her bass and voice she brings a female touch to the band that is felt despite her 5'3" in height..."

Alessandro Vitiello (drums)
"On drums, Alessandro "Alex" Vitiello has brought a new sound to Cadence with his love and pride of his wonderful drumkit "T-Rex". A wonderfully Neapolitan expat, this hot blooded Italian drummer is so full of fire he can still kick ass in rehearsals after a 12 hour shift and always has a hilarious wisecrack to boot."

Jakub "Kuba" Opitek (guitar)
A recent addition to Cadence and I haven't got any info to post here for Jakub which means you have to go and speak to him and say Hi on the night :D

Facebook / Soundcloud / Tumblr / Twitter / Songkick (get notified when they book a new gig!)

Jakub and Alessandro (Middle and Right)

Cadence - first photo shoot (right to left Rozâ, Micah, Alessandro)

Info and photo's taken from the Facebook and Soundcloud pages.

Bad Names

Bad Names have played a whole bunch of great London venues including Barfly and Underbelly Hoxton and last year had their track 'Sister Sister' featured on the Unsigned Guide monthly spotlight blog.

Official Website / Soundcloud / YouTube / Twitter

Bad Names - Photo from https://www.facebook.com/badnamesuk

Web Sheldon

I play a mixture of electronic/trip hop/alternative pop armed with my voice, laptop and my guitar.  She's called Dahlia...I can introduce you tomorrow..she's kind of aloof and mysterious though!

I've been writing vocal/acoustic guitar songs for many years so my electronic songs are pretty vocal based but now they centre from hip hop beats and electro synthesisers.  I write mostly about my thoughts on modern life in London; consumerism, living (not just 'surviving') keeping a positive outlook (in what can be a pessimistic city). and through to anything from minority rights to religion.

Official Website / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Songkick (get notified when I book a new gig!)

Back to tomorrow... it's free entry, door open at 7pm! Get down before 8 if you don't want to miss any music!

The closest Underground stop to the venue is Old Street - see the map below.

Next Bilamie Gig - Weds 22nd Oct @ The Library, Islington

The next Bilamie gig is a week tomorrow!

Thanks to Up All Night Music for booking us.

We've never played at The Library before so we're looking forward to playing a new venue and meeting the other artists on the night.  Here's more details about the artists playing...


Bilamie
London electronic/alt pop duo
https://www.facebook.com/bilamie

Mullaha
London electronic artist. Sounds pretty funky and awesome.
Check out their Soundcloud page link below or stream the latest tune.
https://soundcloud.com/mullaha

Josh Cotterill
London Folk/Soul/Alternative Singer Songwriter.
Emotive vocals and heartfelt lyrics - reminds me a bit of Ray Lamontagne.
https://soundcloud.com/josh-cotterill

Matt Guy
London Alt Country Singer/Songwriter.
Here's a video of Matt performing at Nestival in Deptford in August this year (unfortunately I can't get the video in imbed at the moment).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MaoMsj5p1E

Bilamie - Friendly Fire (YouTube Video with lyrics!)

My electro duo Bilamie released the first full length song preview from our new album today, the song's called Friendly Fire and here's a lil vid with the lyrics too!

Unfortunately, the video link to imbed the video from YouTube isn't working at the moment, so here is the link instead:

http://youtu.be/D-QWs3faNdc

G'night!

A new song from Bilamie - Friendly Fire

Some news from Bilamie - we've released a song from the album to make available for streaming.

It's kinda Drum & Bass / Alt Pop with guitars!

Londinium

On Tuesday this week, it was exactly 3 years since I moved to Ireland. I arrived with my suitcase late on a Saturday evening, slightly hungover from my leaving party night out in Manchester.  It was also on Tuesday this week that I accepted an offer to start a new job in London.  I've been looking for a while now and I've had quite a few interviews on the way, but out of all of them, this is the one I would have picked if I'd been given the choice - so it's worked out well :)

Living in London has been my dream ever since I was 17 and I used to go down over the weekend to visit my sister in South Ealing.  The mix of people from all over the world, the energy, the excitement, the fast paced life, the smell of the underground, the massive range of restaurants, the style and the city life.  I'm sure it will be quite different living there, to actually visiting there.  But it's nice to have one of my dreams come true.  I've been lucky with the timing too - 2 of my best friends recently moved there along with having some existing friends there already so I'm not going to be all on my ownsome lonesome.  In addition to this though, the other half of the musical duo I am in, also lives in London.  Due to our distance, we've only written a couple of songs together so far but I think we're both really excited to start working together again.  Our collective name is "Bilamie" and the name comes from 2 of our favourite artists: Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse - our music so far has been in a similar vein too - jazz/blues/funky soul.  I have to admit, I'm terribly excited.  I really miss being in a band and the buzz of playing live.  I really feel alive when I'm singing.

So it's a big time of change in the next month.

But in addition to all this, I am going to be back in my home land, for Christmas :)