A couple of people have asked for a copy of this recently so I thought I’d make a it a bit more prominent and easy for people to download than it’s current location which is hidden away as a hidden track at the end of one of my older EPs.

Hope you like it!

New York New York by sugardrum

You can still download it for free as a hidden track on previously mentioned EP.

Ah, what a lovely couple of festivals Tribal Earth and Small World were. Big thank you to those who came to hear me play and to Storme for his excellent percussion skills at Tribal Earth.

Not as many photos taken by me as usual,  just a few random slightly blurry night shots. I do like the way rainbows appear quietly in the background, offering us a brief escape from the chaos that sometimes surrounds us. Once I saw one from the window of a train but no one else seemed to notice it as it followed us on our journey.

Anyway, enough rambling on about rainbows, that’s it for festivals for me for this year. Just a gig at the Gallery Cafe on Sat 24th Sep which you should all come to as it will be amazing as the other acts sound great, then I’m going to focus on trying to get an album recorded, yay!

I’ve got a few gigs coming up this month…

Fri 12th August- doing a 20min set at The Cavendish Arms, 128 Hartington Rd, Stockwell, SW8 2HJ. The music starts at 8pm prompt and should be a nice night.

Thur 18th Aug – Sun 21st Aug – Tribal Earth Festival. I’ll be doing a set sometime on the Thursday eve with some possible extra sets elsewhere over the weekend. more info available at : www.tribalearth.co.uk

Thur 25th Aug – Mon 29th Aug – Small World Festival. More info at www.smallworldsolarstage.org

Right, off to do some more recording

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Yay, we’re on the radio

Where Once were Roads is being played on Gary Crowley’s new music show on BBC London 94.9FM tomorrow, Saturday 11th June 2011 sometime between 7-8pm.

If you miss the show you can catch it on the Listen Again service upto a week afterwards.

We’ve got a lovely house gig in the E5 area of London this coming Saturday 16th April. I’ll be doing a set with Danielle and Matt and possibly Storme followed by the lovely Gemma / Woodpecker Wooliams.

All unplugged and surrounded by comfy cushions, candles, tea and cake. Yay!

There’s more info on the Wupadupa website about how to come along to the gig:

http://www.wupadupa.com/blog/116-Wupadupa_House_gig_on_April_16th.html

After a lovely gig in Bracknell last week at Folking Live, I’m now about to travel upto Norfolk to do a gig on a beautiful looking boat. Yay and ahoy there!

Benny from Weston Green is also playing so it should be a great night. If anyone in the area is free then please pop along.

Fri 1st Apr 2011 – The Albatros Sailing Ship, Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk, UK. Onstage about 8pm ish.

Benny from Weston Green and Nigel from Sugardrum playing on a boat in Norfolk. Yay!

Nigel, Beth and Storme will be chatting and playing some songs on Kingston Green Radio on Monday 14th March between 6-7pm. The show will be available to listen to online and on 87.7FM in the Kingston Upon Thames area as part of Kingston Paint the Town Green. Yay!

As we’ve got a house concert or house gig tour planned for the Spring, I thought I’d write up a quick guide for anyone planning to host one.

House Concerts are a great way to see artists perform in a relaxed and intimate environment. They are also a great way to meet new people and share a unique musical experience.

Here are a few guidelines if you are planing on hosting a House Concert in the UK. These ideas are based on our own past experience of hosting house concerts; please feel free to let us know in the comments section below if you have any further advice you’d like to offer.

1. The key to remember is that it is your home so you should remain in control of who and how many people come to the gig. With that in mind do not post the address of the venue with any promotional material for the concert. Instead, just mention the approximate area, e.g. SW London and provide an email address where people can send a message requesting they add their name to the House Concert audience list.

2. Make it clear that the only way people can get in to the concert is if their name is on the audience list and to get on this list all they need to do is to send you an email request. If there is still room on the list then you let the person know and then and only then give them the address of the venue. Also mention that if they want to bring some other people then that’s fine but they must ask you first to see if there is still room and under no circumstances must they publicise the address of the venue.

This way, when people arrive at the concert, you only need to let people in who’s names are on the list and you don’t end up with 100 people turning up to watch a concert in a living room that only has room for 20

3. Allow time for each artists to perform for around thirty to forty minutes, and then have a suitable amount of time between artists for people to talk to each other and the artist to sell CDs or other merchandise.

4. Decide in advance if you are going to provide refreshments for people and make this clear in any promotional material. It’s nice if you can make people some tea to drink or offer some cake or biscuits. Also, let people know in advance if you wish the Concert to be an alcohol free event.

6. Instead of charging people on the door, pass around a Magic Hat encouraging people to donate money to the artists playing that night, to cover costs or to donate to a charitable cause.

7. Feel free to just invite a load of your friends to the gig; just make sure they know what sort of music they are coming to hear as it’s not very nice for say a quiet acoustic artist having to deal with requests from people wanting some upbeat music to dance the Charlston.

That’s about it. Remember, the key is to remain in control as it’s your home, to have some fun and enjoy some great music with the company of some lovely people. Do please let us know if you would like us to play at a house gig you are hosting.

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