CHAISE LONGUE - NOW ON SPOTIFY & APPLE MUSIC

Hey everyone!

CHAISE LONGUE is now available on Spotify here and Apple Music here.

Who wouldn't want relaxing chillout piano music while you're cooking, in the bath, walking the dog, etc. etc..?!

CHAISE LONGUE - OUT NOW!

I am beyond proud to announce that my debut album CHAISE LONGUE is now available at the following:

Streaming and to buy on CD Baby

Streaming and to buy on Bandcamp

Streaming only at SoundCloud

More streaming services and online merchants are being added within the next 7 days, more news on this soon.

Tip: Buy it on Bandcamp and receive all the album art as a bonus download! 

performance news

Pleasure to perform today at the Christmas fair of a local school - St Mary's Catholic Nursery and Infants in Carshalton, Surrey.

The set lasted around 60 minutes and was:

Nat King Cole: L-O-V-E
Howard Blake: Walking In The Air
Oasis: Half the World Away
Alan Menken: I See The Light
Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars
Keane: Somewhere Only We Know
The Monkees: Daydream Believer
Toto: Africa
The Foundations: Build Me Up Buttercup
Robbie Williams: Angels
Abba: Dancing Queen
Queen: Don't Stop Me Now
Muse: Starlight

On a separate note about music and education, I was in talks recently with the Magna Carta School in Egham, to come on board as their pianist in their forthcoming production of Legally Blonde in February 2019 - unfortunately it turned out to be an unpaid position; their MD and music co-ordinator told me that her annual music budget courtesy of the government is £256!!! I was absolutely horrified to hear this. Young children need all the musical stimuli they can possibly have, otherwise what hope is there??

SCREWDRIVER

I am over the moon to confirm that I have my first film credit.

This film would not have happened without an entirely chance encounter between me and two young film directors. One Sunday afternoon in 2017, I was busking in Sutton and Dylan, one of the filmmakers, was waiting for the other, Natalia. When she arrived, they both approached me to ask if I wrote any soft piano music which they could use in their upcoming film... the rest is history.

I sent them a selection of songs to use in the film and they eventually picked 'Lament' and 'Jill'; the former was used not just in the feature itself but also the official trailer and end credit crawl.

Later on in 2018, news emerged that the film had been shortlisted at 3 film festivals - Paris, San Francisco, and La Frontera, which is a testament not just to Dylan and Natalia's vision, but also their endless drive and determination!

Watch the film on Vimeo here. Note: Caution recommended. Not suitable for children.

Kill The Witness

In common with my personal blog at Listless 2am Thoughts, blogging for me seems to be almost a thing of the past, now that you can instantly update your mood on Twitter (subject to available number of characters, of course) or everyone's favourite default, Facebook.

Since the time of the last major update I posted here, Tim OT formed an indie/punk/folk hybrid style band called Kill The Witness. It comprised Tim as rhythm guitar/lead vocal, me on keyboards/synths, Iman Ahmed on bass, Tom Dulieu on drums/3rd backing vocals and Aaron Gregory Brown on lead guitar/backing vocals. Iman would later be replaced by George Bunting around October 2017. Tom Dulieu departed to concentrate on his solo career, and was temporarily replaced by Rhys Feldman (the excellent sound engineer from The Fighting Cocks in Kingston). And now? George Bunting left this month as he moved to Maida Vale, not to mention that the other band he is in is doing better. Rhys's visa ran out and the government requested he move back to Baltimore, NJ. Our once proud five piece became a three piece. Luckily, Tim recruited a new drummer and bassist, but the drama doesn't stop there. Eventually, the band will, at Tim's instigation, be rebranded as "Tim OT" to reflect that the band are not always available to busk and promote our music as a collective whole, to acknowledge that his latest viral video has achieved in excess of 500k hits, and to also acknowledge he has already released material on Banquet Records. It was basically felt that there was groundwork there that we are not capitalising on.

With our last gig as Kill The Witness on Saturday, now feels like the right time to celebrate every gig Kill The Witness played - luckily, I've created a gig history when we started up just over 18 months ago, so without further ado, here it is:

KILL THE WITNESS – GIG HISTORY

28/07/18                               Gabefest, Southampton + various bands

06/07/18                               Fighting Cocks, Kingston + Model Citizens (Rhys’s goodbye party)

01/06/18                               The Wave Maiden, Portsmouth + Death By Shotgun + Ducking Punches

24/05/18                               New Cross Inn, London + Laserchrist + The Shell Corporation

29/04/18                               Wedgwood Rooms, Portsmouth + various bands

27/04/18                               Colchester + Pet Needs

23/03/18                               The Cricketers, Kingston + Pet Needs + Waiting For Sam + The Lodgers

26/02/18                               The Cricketers, Kingston + Fresh + The Winter Passing + Woahnows

22/02/18                               The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch + Wolfe Sunday + Southbank Crows

10/02/18                               The Cricketers, Kingston + Southbank Crows + The Brass Kats

16/12/17                               The Cricketers, Kingston + Steve Badcock + Crabbclaw + Euphoric Recall + The Lodgers

06/10/17                               Westow House, Crystal Palace + Desert Planes

04/10/17                               Ram Jam, Kingston + The Lodgers + Desert Planes

12/09/17                               The Hobbit, Southampton + The Dead Freights + Shoot the Duke + Mechanical Audio + Daniel Eagle + Aaron Davies + Brandon Otto + Ruby Blue + Toby Janes + Ryan Stevens – fundraiser

05/09/17                               Aces and Eights, Tufnell Park + Martyn Fillingham + Jonny Gill + Boss Caine

22/08/17                               Talking Heads, Southampton + Posh Ellen

04/08/17                               The Monarch, Camden + Desert Planes

15/07/17                               The Old Kings Head, Hampton Wick + Waiting for Sam + Brosephine

11/07/17                               Talking Heads, Southampton + various bands – charity fundraiser for Grenfell Tower and Manchester terrorist atrocities

07/07/17                               The Tavern, Raynes Park “Live at Your Local – Final” + Ella Ashdown + Waiting for Sam + Brosephine + Euphoric Recall

30/06/17                               The Tavern, Raynes Park “Live at Your Local – Heats” + Waiting for Sam + Moth + Jamie Gray + Carl Jones + Ana Pinto

03/06/17                               Fighting Cocks, Kingston + Daniel Eagle + Thom Worth + The Lodgers

28/04/17                               The Monarch, Camden + Desert Planes

16/04/17                               Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

17/03/17                               The Cricketers, Kingston + Corner Pilots + Scott Freeman

13/12/16                               The Monarch, Camden + Sean McGowan

performance - The Bicycle Shop, Norwich

This was the scene that greeted me at The Bicycle Shop in Norwich this evening, for the gig with Tim O-T. A lovely friendly pub oozing character...much better than a soulless 'Spoons or Youngs.

Our set went down well: next stop The Cricketers on Wednesday 10th! Local friends, come down and support us please, it will mean an awful lot to see you there!

performance news

UPCOMING GIGS!

I am delighted to confirm I will be playing 3 dates on Tim OT's tour with Grace Petrie! See his page for the full tour dates - these are the ones I am joining him on:

Sunday 7th December: Norwich - The Bicycle Shop
Wednesday 10th December: Kingston - The Cricketers
Thursday 11th December: Leicester - The Cookie

Kingston tickets on sale now, at £5 + 50p booking fee, here:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/298706

Norwich & Leicester tickets are £5 on the door.

Please come and support these very talented singer-songwriters, hope to see you there!

performance news

STOP PRESS!

Nothing more needs to be said. Tim has waited for quite some time to play with one of his idols... and now tomorrow we are.

THURSDAY 20TH NOVEMBER, New Slang - Kingston (McCluskys), 4 Bishops Hall, Thames St, Kingston, KT1 1QN, tickets £10 (see website)

TIM OT
Excited to announce that I'm opening up for Frank Turner tomorrow night at New Slang - Kingston - I think some tickets are still left (http://www.banquetrecords.com/NS201114)

performance - open mic, Bar XLR, Epsom

STOP PRESS.

TONIGHT I am playing at the open mic night at Bar XLR in EPSOM. The event starts at 8pm, and everyone gets 15 minutes just like at The Cricketers. I know it's stupidly late notice so I am sure you all have plans, but if you don't, seeing you there will be marvellous.

performance news

THIS SATURDAY 1ST NOVEMBER, I am performing with Tim O-T at The Cricketers. We would be very pleased to see loads of you there! £2 on the door with all proceeds to charity.

performance news

I am pleased to confirm that I am opening for Maria Ahearn & Paul Ryan at Brave New World, Surbiton, on the 19th, free entry, come down and have a drink with us!

And even better, Tim O-T and I are confirmed to play on Saturday at Something Else In The Dean festival, Gloucester, GL14 1JU. We are on stage at midday. Tickets for this 500 capacity event reportedly sold out last year...yikes!

statistics & performance news

A little statistics fix for my followers: since I last posted mid-July, I have played a total of 52 songs at 9 events (7 at The Cricketers, Kingston, 1 at the Raynes Park Tavern, and 1 at the International Youth Arts Festival) - and a gentle reminder that I will be playing at The Joiners in Southampton on September 9th with the superb Tim O-T: we are supporting the one and only GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. FLY. Tickets for this show are sold out but I have more exciting news of a further appearance from us towards the end of the month. Watch this space!

auditions - vocalist

I am in the process of auditioning for a new vocalist...a difficult task as there are many highly talented ones out there. At the moment this is taking the shape of informal rehearsals, but who knows where it could lead? Paid gigs, wedding work, fame... make yourself known to me if this is something you are interested in! I'm particularly wanting to hear from those who can sing in other languages and can easily grasp wildly different styles.

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

Super Sunday at The Cricketers! The set was:

1. Jamie Gray - Fantasia (excerpts from Iridescence Fantasia)
2. Jamie Gray - Someone to Love
3. Queen - It's a Hard Life

See y'all at the Rose Theatre tomorrow! Be there or...um...don't.

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

Super night at The Cricketers! A squeeze to fit us all in but we got there, and the set was:

1. Jamie Gray - Fantasia (excerpts from Iridescence Fantasia)
2. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
3. The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

Another super night at The Cricketers! The set was:

1. Felix Mendelssohn - Lied Ohne Worte (Song Without Words), Op. 19 No. 4
2. Jamie Gray - Beseechingly
3. Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love With You
4. Queen - Don't Stop Me Now

Thanks to Ben Henderson on cajon for pieces 2-4!

Extra thanks to Thom Worth for manning the mixer tonight and making my keyboard sound bloody fantastic -)

See y'all next week!

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

A fantastic open mic tonight with excellent singalongs and audience participation... I would expect nothing less at The Cricketers! My set was:

1. Jamie Gray - Someone to Love
2. Muse - Ruled By Secrecy
3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

And then to round the night off...

4. Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom (with Rob Winterbourne on cajon and Patrick Craig on vocals!)

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

I got a middle-to-late time slot for this week's open mic, and decided to push some of my original material instead of being predictable by recycling covers. The set was:

1. Jamie Gray - Fantasia
2. Edvard Grieg - Småtrold (Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream), Op. 71 No. 3
3. Jamie Gray - Moonlit Beach (world premiere!)

performance - open mic, The Cricketers, Kingston

An abridged set, though I'm not sure why as there weren't excessive numbers of performers down tonight and some of the later performers got their 3 songs. Mysterious. Anyhow, the set was:

1. Katie Melua - Learnin' the Blues
2. The Beatles-  When I'm Sixty-Four

SoundCloud

I'm not exactly sure why it has taken me so long to pull my finger out, but at long last I can proudly say I have a SoundCloud presence. Feedback and constructive criticism of the pieces put up is always welcome as it will only help me improve.

Listen here