Buskers Blog entry one. June/2014
Hey my lovely ladies and gracious gents!!!!
this is my first entry of my buskers blog, in which I will be writing about some of my musical endeavours and adventures for June 2014 I will also include photographs I have taken and the photographs of some great photographers who have been snapping away at some of the gigs and such.
right so lets start at the beginning shall we,
9th June 2014
The day started off with me being rather giddy riding the bus to go along to Curvy Sounds music shop in Heaton (a Newcastle suburb, for those who don’t know the area) to pick up my lovely Takemine workhorse of a guitar. I took it into Curvy Sounds previously to get some repairs done to the tuning pegs, apparently I’d been working her too hard. The majority of the day was then spent out on the street!!! Around the corner from Northumberland street, but not quite far enough that I was at Grays Monument. I sang and played my heart out for a good, made some money was spotted by a few friends doing some inner city shopping and one lovely lady/ passer by not only threw some money into my case also gave me some churros which were amazing! I continued to busk until my good friend and competition for the North East’s loudest singing voice MR NIC WOOD happened on by, though it was coincidence he met me there busking. It was not coincidence that we would meet that day.
I packed away my gear and finished my busking and myself and Nic then went on to join Natty Nasty and we all walked up to Bar Loco because dear ladies and gents Mr Nasty had organised between himself, Nic and I to perform a gig together at Bar Loco.
As usual Nic’s very particular and mind blowing sound blew the house down followed by Natty Nastys energetic, passionate and sometimes political dubstep-singing performance thoroughly enjoyed by all. I was the headline act for the show at this lovely intimate yet highly enthusiastic crowd of loco lovely people!
below I have included some links to respective Facebook pages of Nic Wood and Natty Nasty so you can check those guys out and also a small selection of pictures I took on my phone at the gig (unfortunatly there aren’t any of me….. by the way what do people think about performers taking selfies whilst on stage good idea yay or nay? Get in touch tell me).
Nic Wood Music Facebook page link Natty Nasty Music Facebook page link
11th June
As well as performing my own gigs and playing my own music I’m a big advocate of going to see local shows and supporting the unsigned and non major label signed musicians so this day I was attending the gig of some amazing talent and I mean amazing!
It was at The Head of Steam in Newcastle, £5 but to be honest you would have gotten your moneys worth of a fiver from the opening act alone! The night was kicked off by Bob Stork & The Heaton Playboys who are a kickass fun loving cajun music band, with the finest triangle/washboard player I have ever seen, now isn’t that a statement you don’t hear every day!
Bob Stork & The Heaton Playboys played a great set of french/english language cajun songs and really got the packed out basement venue of The Head Of Steam pumping for the next band, who just so happen to be one of my favourite bands ever and also some of the nicest people and friends I know!
HOLY MOLY & THE CRACKERS!
I love their debut album First Avenue, I love their new EP Lily but nothing compares to seeing them live high energy bluesy country folk that is sure to set your feet into an uncontrollable dancing frenzy I love it!!!!!!!
The headline act I unfortunately didn’t have the pleasure of seeing in their entirety but I did buy myself their first album and enjoyed thoroughly the songs I was able to hear before I had to leave the venue to catch my bus back home.
The Buffalo Skinners! What can I say I found them on spotify on my phone after having to leave the gig early and I love it very glad I bought their album, here are a couple of photos I took at the gig.
Bob Stork & The Heaton Playboys
12th June
Again I was supporting the local music community by visiting another friends gig…..
…..SAM GIBSON!!! check out his stuff heree
Yeah he put on a great show in my home town of Morpeth in the Black Bull and I bought myself his new album, which is prettyyy cool and yeah was good to catch up with him, not much else to say so here’s some pictures!
Sam Gibson Performing
14th June
The night of the 13th of June I made up 70 Gentleman Busker Stickers.
The night of 14th of June I was bound to play at South Gosforth Social Club alongside some great other acts and for a great promotions company and friend Elysium Productions.
However we shall get to talking about the gig in just a second. I being one that doesn’t live in Newcastle had to make prior arrangements for pre gig organisation for this specific gig, for sometimes I get booked for gigs that are on days when I’m at my day time 9-5, this wouldn’t be much of a problem if I lived in Newcastle or held a drivers license. However my very lovely friend Rosa let me come round to her flat prior to the gig so I could borrow the use of the shower and get myself cleaned up for the gig (I work in a kitchen during the day so it can get quite messy!)
I don’t know what else I can say much about the gig really everyone was awesome I had a lot of fun the crowd was lush and there were two really great photographers there so I shall be stealing some watermarked photographs of theirs to she you and also provide you with their Facebook page links.
I was playing alongside Tony Bengtsson, Lost in The Crowd, Pete Shaw and Bruce Carmichael everyone performed great and there was also lots of sillyness and fun going around as well Also I joined Lost In The Crowd up on stage for a cover of Little Lion Man and now some phone photos. After that some actual professional photos!
A view of the room from the mic
Emma Lawton Photography Facebook link Mikey Anderson Photography Facebook link
16th June
So I decided to go and do some busking… but this time IN DURHAM!!! I had a really nice sunny day for it and took some photos for you all. After coming back to Newcastle I was taken to a cool bar called Nectar which had a Darth Vader disco ball and Bill Murray mural. I then performed at The Market Lane for their open mic night here’s some photos.
My gigging/busking gear
17th/18th June
Not a lot to say here open mic at Bar Loco on the 17th open mic at Osbournes bar in jesmond on 18th here are some pictures.
Performers at Bar Loco Open Mic
26th June
And now we come to the final gig of June, it was my first time performing at Bubbles Bar in Ashington and my my was it a fun gig, I had my technical difficulties like one of my strings snapped in the middle of my set, but if you pretend it doesn’t really matter it won’t ruin the show for the crowd. I still had lots of fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. After my set the mighty Death to Indie rocked up the show with their energetic enthusiastic rockin punk rock awesomeness I loved it they were great! A massive thanks to Bubbles, A massive thanks to Death To Indie a massive thanks to the crowd and finally a massive thanks to
Jay Dawson over at Shutter Online for this lovely gallery of beautiful pictures he took of me playing and for creating this lovely gallery up on the Shutter Online website here is the link please do go and check it out! http://shutteronline.co.uk/gallery-the-gentleman-busker/
