Music in the woods at Wildheart Gathering

May 13th, 2011

I was lucky enough to perform at Wildheart Gathering at the beginning of this month. It’s a truly beautiful festival set amongst the most amazing grounds with lots of woods and fields nearby. Whilst there I took the opportunity to go for a wander with my guitar. I nervously crossed a field full of cows, keep a wide berth from them as I made my way to the woods on the other side of the field. The cows got bored of looking at me by the time I had past them and went back to eating their breakfast. In the woods, I set up my little camera and recorded a couple of videos. (Click on the little thumbnail image to play each video).

First, Postcard

Postcard, 1st May 2011

Then Motorway Song. There’s something really nice about recording a song outside as you get this lovely background accompaniment of birds singing, the wind blowing through the trees and the occasional plane flying overhead :) People pay alot of money to get these kind of effects in a studio! It all seemed to go so well with the natural shape of the songs too.

Motorway Song, 1st May 2011

It was at this point that I looked around and noticed that the cows from the field next door had seemingly followed me and were wandering around in the little bit of the woods I was in! So, I made a hasty but dignified exit and ventured further into the woods, away from the cows to record a couple more songs.

Under the stairs… ( I look around towards the end of this video to see if the cows have followed me! – they hadn’t)

Under the Stairs, 1st May 2011

 

and finally, Hiding in the Garden, which seemed rather appropriate :) This has a great bit in the middle where a plane passes overhead during the instrumental bit, perfectly timed!

Hiding in the garden, 1st May 2011

I think the cows did me a favour as these last two videos have so much more atmosphere provided by the surroundings on them.

Altogether a lovely way to spend a morning and I hope to go back there again and do some more next time.

There’s some more live videos from various gigs and adventures on the Sugardrum video page.

x

 

 

Video of “Forgotten” by Sugardrum from Wupadupa house gig

April 20th, 2011

Here’s a short video from our recent house gig…

Sugardrum and Woodpecker Wooliams house gig ths Saturday

April 13th, 2011

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

 

Gig on The Albatross Sailing Ship, Wells-Next-the-Sea

April 1st, 2011

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!

 

 

Sugardrum on Kingston Green Radio

March 13th, 2011

Kingston-Green-Radio

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!

Video of Fallen Guru by Sugardrum from Wupadupa house gig

January 31st, 2011

Here’s a video of Fallen Guru by Sugardrum, recorded at the unplugged Wupadupa house gig at the end of last year. This song features me, Nigel on vocals and guitar, Danielle on harmonies, Matt on glock, Storme on cajon and Fluff the Cat on Sleeping. The whole gig is available to download for free from the Sugardrum Bandcamp site.

Sugardrum guide to hosting a house concert

January 19th, 2011

Wupdadupa house concert - 20th November 2011

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.

X

Video of Sugardrum song Poppies, from our house gig last November

January 2nd, 2011

More videos available from the videos link above and from the Sugardrum YouTube Channel. You can also download a recording of this gig for free. Just go to the listen page for more details.

Merry Xmas

December 24th, 2010

For the past couple of years I’ve recorded a musical Christmas card to send out to my friends. Here they are grouped together in a free mini EP type thing.

http://soundcloud.com/sugardrum/sets/merry-xmas-1

Hope you all have a fun Chrismas!

x

A Wupduapa House gig…

November 25th, 2010

Sugardrum House gig 20th Nov 2010

So, I recently opened up our home and invited a load of lovely people, some who I knew and and some who I didn’t to come and hear us play, along with Carrie Tree and Storme Watson. It ended up being a wonderful and magical evening.

Thanks to Liz and Vera for the photos, more to follow plus videos and audio recordings once I find the time to get them off my camera.

Wupadupa House gig, 20th Nov 2010