People's Republic of South Devon » music

Rising with the lark for a jolly morning tune

Katie Marie — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:52 +0000

Katie Marie has finished her latest album! Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography)

If you’ve read any of my previous articles you’ll know that I’ve been working away writing and recording my third studio album… and Sunday was the deadline date I’d set myself to get all the audio and mixing finished.

For this album I’ve been writing the tunes as I go. This is because I wanted to try and create a CD that had a nice variety of music on there. So I looked at the list of songs I’d written and recorded each time and wrote according to what seemed to be missing.

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday finishing off mixing what I had already recorded and also writing and recording what I thought would be the last song for the album (which is called Staring at the Pieces). This is the only song on the CD that features a full drum kit set-up (all the others have cajon) and it’s been bloomin ages since I recorded a full kit (and boy it felt good!).

A friend of mine lent me a couple of rather tasty mics to have a play with over the weekend, the first one being a Rode NT4 which I discovered made an amazing overhead for the drums!

Katie Marie's nice and simple drum kit set up

This is my nice and simple drum kit set up. For the song Staring at the Pieces I wanted have a softer tone for the hi-hat so I used a cajon brush for my right hand and a normal stick for the snare.

The mic-ing set up was nice and easy too – just the Rode NT4 as an overhead, an AKG D112 for the kick and two SM57s top and bottom on the snare. Sounded really lovely.

The other mic I had to play with was a Neumann 103. It felt a little uncomfortable to sing into at first, as I didn’t like the way it was reacting to my vocals. But when I sat down to mix the track I couldn’t believe how my voice just seemed to slice through the mix like a knife and sound crystal clear. Amazing.

For most of the CD I’ve been relying heavily on the powers of the Rode NT1a and for the price it’s an incredible microphone. You can stick pretty much anything tin front of it and it will sound amazing… and put through my TLA compression unit it really sings.

Anyways, enough geeky microphone talk…

On Sunday night I was listening to all that I’d recorded and there seemed to be a lack of what I could only think of as… well… a jolly song lol. Not the sort of thing I write *that* often, but I did feel the CD was in need of a light hearted tune.

As some of you may or may not know, I’m working a ‘proper’ job at the moment between Monday and Friday (eeerg). So the only time I had left to write my jolly song and get it recorded was before and after work. I was up for the challenge and decided to get up at stupid o’clock the following morning to begin my mission… perhaps not the best time for me to write a jolly song, as I don’t do mornings at the best of times! But when it’s all in the name of music, it doesn’t seem quite so terrible.

I can see the moon! Why on earth am I awake?!

At 5am Monday morning I was in my little studio, armed with a mug of tea, pencil and paper and thesaurus. I thought into order to write an uptempo song I’d enlist the aid of my trusty Ukulele (called Kurtis) as lets face it, it’s pretty much impossible to write anything sad on a Ukulele!

Tara Takamine and Kurtis hanging out in the studio

As I mentioned before, uptempo tunes aren’t exactly my forte, so I though to help me really get into the ‘happy’ zone I’d write down a whole bunch of words that would hopefully sum up my tune. I wrote down stuff like ‘Sunny, bright, authentic, optimistic, witty’. This is a technique that I use quite often if I’m having trouble finding inspiration and it works wonders for getting my creative juices flowing.

Between 5am and 7.30am I managed to write lyrics and music for my jolly tune (yay!). Now it was time to take Molly for a walk and then head off to work and hope that I would feel with it enough to finish recording it after 5pm.

Thankfully the buzz of getting my new tune finished managed to get me through the day and I whizzed back to the studio to record all the bits and bobs for my jolly tune.

By 9.30pm it was all done and dusted. I listened to it with all the other tunes and thankfully I’m happy to report that my album is all finished up!

If you fancy taking a listen to some unmastered clips I’ve uploaded a little sneaky peek to Soundcloud.

Let me know what you think!

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Lots of music business means lots of smiles

Katie Marie — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:23:59 +0000

Lots of smiles for Katie Marie: Katie Marie Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography)

There’s absolutely heaps of good musical stuff happening at the moment… which = lots of Katie smiles.

The album is pretty much sorted now. Although I did have a minor dilemma last week, which was that I’d written a new tune and really wanted it to be on the album… but I wasn’t sure if I had time to get it recorded and mixed in time. But me being me, I’m always up for a challenge. So I got into the studio and began creating… and I’m happy to say that it paid off and I managed to get the extra track onto the album, horrah!

Katie Marie noodling in the studio

Sandra in Germany is working away on the design for the cover, back and booklet. What’s she’s done so far looks amazing. She’s using the beautiful painting that Amy Chudley created especially for the front cover and Sandra’s managed to take elements from the painting and dot them around here and there. Looks so great.

original painting by Amy Chudley for Katie Marie's album

I also managed to meet up with Amy earlier in the week and talk over some t-shirt design ideas. It was lots of fun thinking up quirky and original designs and I can’t wait for you guys to see what Amy’s working on.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve been organising a tour to promote the release of the CD. It’s going to be called the Tea Total Tour and is a tour of mostly tea and coffee houses, arts centres… that type of thing.

I’m amazed at the response I’ve had and it’s all coming together really nicely.

Here’s the dates thus far:

MAY
3rd – The Ironworks, Shropshire
5th – Carlton Theatre, Teignmouth (Acoustic Cafe)
12th – Germany, TBC
18th – Eden Cafe, St Austell
19th – Miss Peapods, Penryn
26th – Folking Live! Bracknell Arts Centre
JUNE
2nd - Studio Lounge, Totnes
23rd – Salisbury Arts Centre
30th – The Blue Bar, Porthtowen
JULY
8th – Poland, TBC

I’ve got lots more UK TBCs just waiting to be confirmed, so it’ll be a pretty action packed line up once completed.

We’re also working on some video ideas for a couple of the tracks from the album. One is a stop motion video for a song called It’s Alright. This is the first time I will have tried to do a video like this and judging by what I’ve seen other peeps do it does look like it’s going to be rather epic… but fun. I’m currently trying to create a story board for the whole song which is pretty full on but I’m hoping it’ll all come together ok and not look silly, lol

So yeah, lots going on… but it’s all good!

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Airplay, party, gigs and snow: The Simmertones look back on 2011

Rich Mills — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:00:30 +0000

The Simmertones: another EP looks likely and gigs begin again in Newton Abbot in January

2011 has been a pretty good year for The Simmertones for many reasons not least of which is our being invited to write a regular blog for this site (note to self – make it more regular for 2012!)

Snow
The year started off slowly with us snowbound and delaying our recording sessions for our planned new EP but we were quickly back on track. I wrote about the recording, mixing, mastering, release process here.

Party!
The EP was eventually released in July at a packed launch party at Torquay’s Rainbow Hotel which featured guest appearances by DJ Eddie Piller and guitarist Steve Cradock. You can read about here.

Radio
We got some great airplay this year including first plays on BBC 6Music courtesy of Steve Lamacq, Chris Hawkins but we have to thank our local DJs – the wonderful Mr John Govier of BBC Radio Devon, Richard Gunton of Radio Plymouth, Jackson Cooper and Guy Henderson of Riviera FM and Chris Glew of Phonic FM, Exeter. Cheers guys, it’s appreciated and your support of local music is a wonderful thing.

There are also some great specialist, internet shows which picked up on us this year. Barnsley Sime of Scooter Forums Radio and his colleagues including Rich Hill of Exeter have played us loads and I can’t thank them enough. Nate Taiapa of Hamilton, New Zealand also played us on his Go Feet Radio show which is downloadable as a podcast every week if you miss the actual broadcast.

Injury
It wouldn’t be The Simmertones without a problem or two and something we didn’t foresee was our singer Glyn slipping a disc and effectively putting us out of action for a couple of months. Fortunately he’s all fixed now and anyone who has been to one of our recent gigs will vouch for the fact that Wilcox back is back and boogieing.

Deps
It’s difficult keeping a nine-piece band gigging as often members can have other commitments and because of this we have a number of stand-ins or “deps” as they’re known in the trade. It would be a pretty poor show if they didn’t get a mention as I wound up the year so step up and take a bow, Gaz Southcott, regular sax player of The Loose Cannons, trombonist Alex Wesson, classical sax player Jade Gall and another trombonist, Chris Spreadbury. Thanks, we really couldn’t have done it without you!

Venues
We played a few gigs throughout the year, including our regular haunts such as The Spinning wheel, but it’s always sad when a venue falls by the wayside which is what happened to The Bank in Plymouth. After a couple of packed Thursday night shows there the owner decided to focus on cheap drinks and food rather than music to get the punters in. Hmm, all that effort to build up a following there…

Moustaches
But it’s not all doom and gloom as we found a new Plymouth venue at The Junction on Mutley Plain. We played our first gig there in late November and it felt like coming home – packed solid with dancing friends and fans – and we are booked for return gigs in 2012. It was also notable for the hairiness of many of the crowd and also Glyn and I as we took part in the Movember charity moustache growing!

Other new venues for The Simmertones this year were The Garden in Torpoint and The Attic, Torquay. Both saw us play in November and The Attic kindly invited us to play at their Christmas thrash so we must be doing something right! We’re going to be returning to both in the new year.

Next Year
We’ve got plenty planned for next year, including gigs at venues new and old. Our first show of 2012 will be at The Jolly Farmer in Newton Abbot on Friday, January 27 so come along, have a sing and a dance with us and work off any excess Christmas baggage.

We’ll also be recording again so stay tuned for news of that as we gear up to start the whole process again. Another EP looks likely.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who has come to see us, bought a CD, worn our t-shirt, downloaded a tune, requested us on the radio or took the time to say you like the music. It makes it all worthwhile and because of that you’ve got us for another year!

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Will music lead to fame and fortune? Maybe not, but it’s a wonderful journey!

Katie Marie — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:37:32 +0000

Katie Marie, on a successful musical journey. Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography)

In between doing oodles of musical type stuff, I’ve spent an awful lot of time this week partaking in lots of pondering. It doesn’t usually take much for me to drift off into various trails of thought, but this week I’ve been mulling over something that was said to me a few days ago.

I was having a chat with some-one I bumped into who I’ve not seen in ages. We were exchanging the usual pleasantries. You know, things like ‘how are you?’ ‘how’s so and so?’ etc. He then asked me about my music and how things were going. I said things were going well, it’s hard work but I wouldn’t be doing anything else. He then said something to me that kind of took me by surprise… ‘well, to be honest – I did think you would have made it by now and been rich and famous’.

I laughed and took his reply as a compliment… and said I could certainly do with the rich bit right now, lol.

When our conversation was over I was walking along the road thinking (probably a little too deeply) about what he’d said. I suppose there’s a part of me that feels that way too. Maybe I should have hit the big time by now. But if I’m being honest there have been many twists and turns in my life that have led me down different paths, none of which were the same paths I was following when I first decided to be a musician 20 odd years ago.

I began playing music when I was six years old and started gigging when I was 15. My plan was a very simple one. I was going to get signed. Period. It wasn’t a question of ‘if’, it WAS going to happen. And after that *everything* would be fine. I had absolutely no idea what getting signed meant or even what would happen once I was signed, but that was what was going to happen.

As I got older, the realities of what happened when people were signed wasn’t exactly what I thought they would be. I was offered a couple of contracts in my teens and none of them seemed… very… well… fair. I mean, they were offering… not very much… in exchange for… a whole lot from me.

A few years later I started working as a session musician for people who were signed to various-sized labels and I felt very grateful to be able to be on the outside of it all, as it seemed to controlling and so totally not me. I can remember the turning point was when I went along to a music conference. You know, the ones where lots of musical big wigs go along and sit on a panel offering their pearls of wisdom to the hordes of unsigned artists and songwriters desperately seeking a taste of the big time. I managed to book a meeting with one of the main A&R people there who ran a pretty big label in LA. She was really nice and certainly didn’t mind giving me her time.

I had put together a CD of what I thought were my best three songs. I played one of them to her, and after less than five seconds she started hitting the fast forward button. She did that about three times and then went: “N… no, you’re songwriting’s ok, I’ve heard a lot better. I need radio play, I need radio friendly. This ain’t it.” It wasn’t the reaction I was looking for, but I really appreciated her honesty and asked her what she though I could do to improve. “Well, the thing is…for a label my size to be interested in someone like you, you’d need to be shifting something like around 5,000 a year before we’d take you on.”

What?!

I sold over 1,000 copies of my previous album, which took a *heck* of a lot of work… and I thought that was a pretty good going for a small indie artist like me. But 5,000?

The thing is, if I was selling 5,000 copies of my album a year I would be EXTREMELY happy! Think about it, that’s not a bad living at all!

It got me thinking… if I was selling 5,000 copies of an album per year I’d be more than happy. And I wouldn’t need to then go to a label and have them take over something I’d put my heart and soul into building up, only to probably turn it into something I wasn’t happy with.

I guess life has made me realise that I don’t do music for the fame and fortune. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very aware that I am part of a business world and I need to have my head screwed on, but although I crave success, the same as every other hard-working musical person, the whole reason that I do music is because I HAVE to. For me it’s like breathing and eating. I simply can’t be without it. And even if no-one bought my CDs and no-one turned up to my gigs, I’d still be going out there and doing what I do, because I love it.

Which led me onto another trail of thought

I think a lot of us artistic types are guilty of not looking behind us once in a while and realising just how far we’ve come. It’s something I don’t do as often as I should. I spend waaaay too much time giving myself grief about all the things I haven’t done and I haven’t achieved. When the reality is that I have so much to be very proud of. I just need to stop once in a while and notice it.

I can remember the first ever Katie Marie website I put up online. I was 19. I had NO idea how to build a website. I didn’t know anyone who could build a website for me and the people I did know wanted shed loads of money, and at that time I barely had enough for food each week never mind a website! So, in the usual me fashion this didn’t stop me one bit. I hopped online and taught myself the basics of HTML. I then loaded up Notebook on my computer and began making a website all out of HTML code. It took me absolutely ages. And it looked really, really crappy. But it was my website and I was very proud of it. When it was up online I had a stats report each week
telling me when people had come to visit and at what time. I updated the website everyday and do you know how many people I had come to it every week? One, maybe two, three or four on a really good week. It was really depressing, but it somehow never seemed to dampen my enthusiasm.

It blows my mind now that I can upload a video, a photo, post something on Twitter… even write this article, and to know that you are sitting at your computer right now reading it is truly amazing. I have people who really, genuinely care about my music and it actually means something to them. I’ve not just gigged in the UK but I’ve visited other countries and met people who support me so much and this is really something I feel so very grateful for.

So to answer my friend, I guess I could say, you’re right. I’m not rich and famous. But the past few days realised that I’ve come a long way over the years and although it isn’t the big time, the journey that I have taken thus far as been a seriously beautiful one that I wouldn’t change for the world.

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Gigging, filming and recording albums…

Katie Marie — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:41:03 +0000

Katie Marie Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography)

It’s been a while since my previous article. But I promise it’s not because I’ve been just plain lazy – I’ve been running round like a loon, and I’m looking forward to telling you all about it. Grab yourself a cup of something nice and I’ll begin…

I’ve done a whole heap of gigs all over the place that have all been oodles of fun. Most of them feature in my latest vlog which is up online if you fancy taking a look:

And talking of videos… I had to head up to Exeter a few weeks ago to shoot a promo video for The Logarhythm stomp box. I’d been asked to demo the Logarhythm with a cajon in a kind of drum kit stylee. I had to put together a few simple but catchy beats that would hopefully demonstrate how well the stomp box and cajon work together, particularly for peeps who need a smaller alternative to a full kit (for acoustic gigs, radio shows or even practising at home).

It was so much fun and Nick Gordon (who was in charge of all the video-ing) is a easy going guy to work with. He also had a beautiful old room for us to do the filming that featured high ceilings, wooden floors and plain white walls. What I’ve seen so far looks great and I can’t wait for you guys to check it out.

Mr Nick editing the vid on fancy software

My new album is going really well and so far all the tracks are gelling really well together (thank God! lol). My mission was to make a CD that has a super raw and acoustic feel to it and my main worry was that all the songs would sound too samey. But as always I’m up for a challenge and I’m hoping I’ve managed to create something that’s varied and interesting for peeps to listen to (we’ll soon see!).

Recording beats in my little studio!

On the subject of recording, I was hanging out at one of my favouritest places last weekend… which was the beautiful Sawmills Studios in Cornwall. It’s such a special place in a completely unique location and I always feel very privileged when ever I pay a visit. The reason I was there was to record some bassy bits on Nicky Swann’s new album (which really is sounding mighty fine indeed… can’t wait to hear it all finished).

Sawmills studio taken by Lisa Robins @ Indigo Blue Photography

recording bassy bits at Sawmills, taken by Lisa Robins @ Indigo Blue Photograph

Next week I’ve got a few cool gigs coming up. I’ve got two with the hugely talented Sion Russel Jones who I supported at The Barrel House in Totnes a few months back. The first one is back at The Barrel House on December 1 and I’ll be supporting Sion again along with another duo and then a few days later, on December 3, Sion and I will be playing a gig at the wonderful Miss Peapod’s in Cornwall. Can’t wait..

I’ve also got some plans to upload a couple of cover songs that I’ve messed about with in my usual fashion so watch this space…

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Let’s Work Together song and video aims for the charts ahead of November 30 day of action

PRSD — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:47:06 +0000

The Workers' version of Let's Work Together aims to increase awareness ahead of November 30

Help get some solidarity into the charts, says the blurb surrounding The Workers’ re-release of the oft sung tune Let’s Work Together.

The Workers are 14 public service staff from around the country who’ve come together to record the tune to raise awareness and solidarity before the November 30 day of action.

Have a watch, and pop over to the Going To Work site from more info about the band, the tune and the day of action

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Gig of a lifetime: supporting a musical hero

PRSD — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:41:17 +0000

Katie Marie: an epic five-hour journey to support an epic singer/songwriter

Picture this. You’ve been listening to a particular artist’s music since you began gigging and writing your own music. You own all their albums and their music is a big part of your life.

Now image that you’re going to be the support act at a gig on their UK tour. Sounds pretty cool right? Well, weirdly enough that exact scenario happened to me last Tuesday… it was totally amazing and well worth the rather epic five-hour drive there and back!

The artist in question is one of my fav singer/songwriters called Lynn Miles, whose music I’ve been listening to for the past 15 years or so.

I was stupidly excited at not only being able to see her play live but also be the support act too (yay!).

The gig was at a relatively new venue called The Ironworks in Shropshire. As I mentioned earlier it took us around five hours to drive up from Devon, but the sun was shining most of the way up and the traffic behaved itself.

The peeps at the Ironworks were all very friendly and I wandered up the stairs to dump my guitar and bags in the room where the gig was being held. It was a slightly surreal experience to open the door and see Lynn tuning up her guitar on a table by the stage.

I didn’t have any idea what Lynn would be like as a person, but she was such a wonderful character. A truly unique person who I really liked straight away. She has a extremely dry sense of humour and takes the piss out of pretty much everything (including herself).

As with all support slots, you have to accept that more often that not you are going to be ignored. And if the bar’s in another room then you’re more than likely going to be playing to yourself lol. But thankfully this wasn’t the case at all and everyone who came to see Lynn watched my set attentively which I very much appreciated.

Katie Marie at The Ironworks in Shropshire: supporting one of her favourite singer/songwriters

After I’d done my bit it was time to grab a drink and enjoy the rest of the night (woohoo!).

Lynn’s set was totally awesome. I couldn’t believe how crystal clear her voice was (bearing in mind this was her 16th gig in 18 days) and I don’t think I’ve ever heard some-one with so much control over their vocals.

Lynn Miles at The Ironworks in Shropshire: ‘Lynn’s set was totally awesome’

So yeah, a very memorable night that I wont forget for a while

If you read my last article then you’ll know that I had a couple of really cool gigs in Germany and Sandra has very kindly uploaded a load of videos from the Stuttgart gig. So if you fancy taking a look:

Red Light (with a surprise ending!)

Maybe (on the piano!)

My version of Another Day in Paradise using just vocal and cajon

David Gray – As I’m Leaving

Later tonight (Friday) I’ll be gigging with Nicky Swann at South Milton Village Hall. It’ll be another gig where I’ll have the best of both worlds (as I’m the support act and then I’m playing cajon & bass in her trio). So have a great weekend and pop along later if you’re free!

(image: Katie Marie Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography))

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Underneath The Simmertones’ covers

Rich Mills — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:28:56 +0000

The Simmertones performing Fire Corner, the Clancy Eccles classic, at their EP launch party

Playing covers in a band can be the source of many an argument, not so much between band members when deciding which to play but amongst the gig-going public.

Lots of bands play cover versions and we’re no different. We also write our tunes but we will always play (and record) covers too although we don’t see ourselves as a ‘covers band’ as such.

Jazz… nice!
Many jazz bands play standards but would you say a jazz band is a covers band? They play music written by others and they treat it as just a valid piece of music in their repertoire as say Mozart or Beethoven’s music might be for an orchestra. Are orchestras playing covers?

So why do bands get treated with disdain for being a ‘covers band’? Is it how you play the tunes rather than what you play that sets you apart?

Barnsley
On the subject of covers a friend of the band, Barnsley Sime (@barnsleysime) of Scooter Forums Radio summed it up nicely when he tweeted, “If done with respect… then I love ‘em.” Another friend Graham Yates (@graham_y) tweeted, “When they’re done well and enhance the original… then I’m all for covers… but when they’re just bland, karaoke rehashes… then I loathe them.”

Rather than giving good answer to any of this (you can have a bee or two and discuss it in the pub on Friday) I thought this blog should tell you a little more about some of the tunes we play, why we play them, who originally wrote/recorded them and if there’s an outstanding version which you should check out.

So in no real order here are the ‘tunes written by others’ we have played at some point over the past four years; some we still play, some we shudder when they are mentioned…

Dance Cleopatra – an ‘instrumental’ by the mighty Prince Buster dating back to the early 70s, it has some words but nothing you would really call a verse or a chorus. A great way to start a gig and get feet moving, our arrangement of the tune adds an original horn section ending to the established tune.

Mothers Choice – “If your mother and your wife were drowning, I want to know which one you would be saving” is the opening lyric of this trad ska tune by Lord Tanamo as he advises us “…you will never get another mother in your life”. Wise words.

Blam Blam Fever – this warning about Jamaican gun crime is a tune we recorded recently for our Everything’s Comin’ Up Ska EP. It was covered by a late lineup of The Specials too but forget that, check out the original by The Valentines.

Confucious – The Skatalites are a big inspiration to us and this classic instrumental is a tune we have been playing since day 1, a classic groove and a showcase for the horn section. We actually recorded this track during sessions for the new EP so expect our version to see the light of day sometime soon.

Sammy Dead – based on an old Jamaican folk song, Sammy Dead has been recorded by a number of artists but we looked to Eric ‘Monty’ Morris for inspiration for our version, both live and on our debut Presenting The Simmertones, Volume 1.

Phoenix City – the definitive ska instrumental? This huge tune by Roland Alfonso back by The Skatalites is regarded as a classic and rightly so. Not an easy tune to play either but well worth the hours of practice.

Watermelon Man – did we mention jazz standards? This is definitely one of them, written by Herbie Hancock and recorded and sampled by more artists than you can shake a stick at. Check out a great ska version by Byron Lee and The Dragonaires.

Monkey Spanner – this organ led instrumental by Dave and Ansel Collins is a tune which we play every now and again.

Baby Elephant Walk – you know this tune, trust me. It was written by Henry Mancini (of Pink Panther theme fame) but you should checkout a wild version by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra where they mash it up live with the Sesame Street theme. And they’re playing in the round too. Simply awesome.

Rudi, A Message To You – made famous for the version on The Specials’ debut album which reached number 10 in the UK singles chart in 1979, this tune was originally recorded by Dandy Livingstone 12 years previously and both versions are worth listening too.

Dr Who – do we count our version of the Dr Who theme as a cover? It’s written by Ron Grainer, arranged by us and the definitive version is obviously by The Simmertones!

Fire Corner – Clancy Eccles’ keyboard led classic, sampled many times by many artists and a video of us playing this at our EP launch party is right here –

Over The River – a Justin Hinds and The Dominoes classic we dusted off on our debut album and one we have played in every gig without fail since we started out. Check out the original and compare with our recording. Hopefully we did it justice.

Ball of Fire – another Skatalites instrumental and there are plenty of recordings available of this as they have re-recorded it several times, the original 60s version being the best, but if you want something different then hunt down the absolutely mental version by Jazz Jamaica, you won’t be disappointed. Oh, and our version on the first album isn’t bad either.

King of Ska – we recorded this version of Desmond Dekker’s hit song on our new EP and play it quite closely to the original except ours has an ending – no fadeouts in a live gig!

Liquidator – well known to football fans as the Chelsea FC anthem, this Harry J All-Stars tune came from the album of the same name.

Strongman Samson – another Eric Morris tune and a good example of a ska song with biblical themes. Don’t think anyone else has recorded this so please search for Eric’s original, it’s well worth a listen.

Al Capone – Prince Buster’s instrumental-ish masterpiece was re-jigged by the Specials for their debut single Gangsters. A classic riff and no mistake!

Broadway Jungle – not sure if we really do this tune justice – check out Toots and The Maytals version – but we keep trying!

Carry Go Bring Come – another Justin Hinds classic and another biblical theme of sorts. It’s been covered by a few 2Tone era bands but th e original is where it’s at so stick with that. “Carry Go Bring Come” actually is a Jamaican phrase meaning to “carry mischievous tales from person to person”

Want Me Cock – a slightly dubious 60s Jamaican hit by Owen & Leon Silveras and one we haven’t played for a couple of years but check it out, it’s fantastic!

Whine and Grine – another Prince Buster classic but instead of that, search out the version by The Beat, particularly the version which segues into “Stand Down, Margaret” – back when bands made political records with messages!

Simmer Down – Bob Marley recorded this classic in the early 60s with backing from The Skatalites and we named the band because of this! Listen to Mr Marley as he was then and compare with the later reggae superstar, it’s a world of difference.

A Shot In The Dark – another piece of film music by Henry Mancini which we played for a short while but dropped from the set as we had better tunes and couldn’t play everything!

54-46 Was My Number – another song we play at every gig, this Toots And The Maytals number is actually about him being arrested but don’t worry, it turned out okay for him as this tune was one of a few breakthrough hits which took Jamaican ska and reggae to a wider audience.

Wet Dream – we only played this Max Romeo hit a few times; we know when to drop a song because we aren’t doing it well enough. Don’t let that put you off though, it’s a cracking tune.

Soon You’ll Be Gone – a duet (we used to have two singers don’t you know!) by Jamaican stars The Blues Busters, this is a really sweet ode to lost love. Well worth searching for.

Enjoy Yourself – originally released in 1949 by Guy Lombardo this song is so well known and covered by so many artists as to not need much writing about. Prince Buster recorded a classic ska version in 1963 and it’s also one of the standouts of the second Specials album. Enjoy it now while you’re still in the pink!

John Jones – I’d forgotten about this one! Originally by Rudy Mills and also covered by Madness on their Dangermen Sessions album. Cracking tune and one I think we ought to dust off again.

Rub Up, Push Up – we really should play this again; another fantastic tune by the inspirational Justin Hinds who is certainly not as well known as he should be.

Magic Star – yet another Skatalites instrumental (can you see a bit of a theme here?) but one we don’t play any more. It’s not that we don’t like it or that we didn’t play it well it’s more a case of it being absolutely exhausting for the horn section – four-and-a-half minutes with no breaks whatsoever! Please hunt for it though, it’s a fantastic piece of music.

Penny Reel – if Justin Hinds doesn’t get the right amount of recognition then neither does Eric Morris whose version we took as our guide. He didn’t record the original though, that was a guy called Lord Power in the 50s. We don’t play this tune any more as quite simply we weren’t that good at it and it deserved better. Hepcat have recorded a great version though and it’s worth looking for.

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Crapfesters’ asked to bring their wellies

PRSD — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 07:20:31 +0000

Crapfest: remember your wellies for the Crapstone music festival

The organisers of Crapfest are asking the 1,000 festival goers expected to converge on Crapstone today (Saturday, September 10) for the annual local music festival to remember their wellies after two days of rain.

The weather forecast for the afternoon is looking up but the ground may be a little moist, notes the festival organisers.

Lara Pollard, the event organiser, said: “Crapfest is on. The field is ready, the stage is ready, the beer is ready, the food is ready and we’re ready for the mud too. We’ve been planning Crapfest for a year now and a spot of rain won’t dampen our spirits.”

Local bands including XLR, Sound House, Ten Zero One, The Rising, Bad Band and Ministrel Cyclists will join singer Kirsten Smith, Jo Harris, Peter Crawford and The Avatars on the main stage. Four of this year’s line up played the inaugural festival for 400 people last year.

Proceeds from this year’s Crapfest will go towards Buckland Monachorum Cricket Club. Last year’s event raised over ￡2,500 for the local community sports club.

Lara added: “Crapfest is fast becoming the local festival of choice for local people. We have an unashamedly local line up and the 1,000 people we are all expecting come from the local area. It’s a real celebration of the best of the Westcountry.”

Dartmoor Brewery will be providing the beer for Crapfest.

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Launch party – the best gig so far, without a doubt

Rich Mills — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:56:13 +0000

Everything’s Coming Up Ska: launch party at Torquay’s Rainbow Hotel

We released our Everything’s Comin’ Up Ska EP on Thursday, July 21 with a launch party at Torquay’s Rainbow Hotel, and all in all I have to say it was a very successful night.

We had been working to put the gig on for a couple of months and put in a huge amount of effort to make it a success; not for us in terms of attendance but also for the venue (operations manager Roger is a friend of the band) and most importantly the fans, followers and friends buying tickets. We wanted it to be a memorable, entertaining night and I really think we managed that.

Everything came together nicely and ran to plan with the CD being available on www.rootscd.com as well as on download sites such as iTunes and Amazon, all to coincide with the gig!

The night kicked off with a great set of ska and reggae DJ-ed by our singer Glyn which got the crowd in a dancing mood and that was followed up by a set by DJ Eddie Piller. Eddie is a well known name on the Northern Soul and Scootering scenes (more about that in a future blog) and plays a fantastic mix of soul classics and obscure tunes all guaranteed to get a crowd moving.

Hot to sweltering: Torquay’s Rainbow Hotel had 450-plus people at The Simmertones’ launch of Everything’s Coming Up Ska

What we hadn’t quite a appreciated was just how hot it would get in the Rainbow with 450+ people in there. Actually hot didn’t quite sum it up, try “sweltering” instead!

The band hit the stage at 10pm to our new intro music, a mash up of loops of an old Skatalites tune Nimrod and samples and it was genuinely moving to see so many people there for us. We eased ourselves into the groove with another Skatalites tune, Confucious, before racing through Sammy Dead from our first album.

How did everyone stay standing in that heat let alone dance? No idea but we’re glad they did. It was a special night and one we didn’t want to end. Highlights of the set had to be our traditional charge through the Dr Who theme which had the dance floor shaking, Warm your Bones, another from our first album and Al Capone.

We announced the end of the set proper after 70 minutes with a rendition of Toots and The Maytals’ 54-46 Was My Number. but that wasn’t the end… we were then joined onstage by Ocean Colour Scene guitarist and now resident of Torquay, Steve Cradock.

Steve kindly played lead guitar on our EP and he joined us to play the four tracks from the EP to a crowd still keen to dance. New tune Bring your Love to Me, Blam Blam Fever and King of Ska sailed by and left us at our final new song A Little Time, a song we had yet to play live. It was greeted like an old favourite and Steve ad-libbed it into an extended version there on the stage – awesome! A great guitarist and a true gent, please take a minute to check out his solo albums right now, they’re highly recommended.

We weren’t allowed to call it a night of course and we’re called back to play Enjoy Yourself which saw us outsung by the crowd in a magnificent feat of singing and stamina! Eddie then took over again to play through ‘til the end while we got some fresh air and refreshments and also fresh clothes!

I think the head doorman summed the night perfectly at the end of the night when he shook my hand and said: “Best night in a long, long time. I can’t remember it being so busy and more importantly we’ve had nothing to do; no trouble at all, not so much as a crossed word!”

What’s next then? Well, there are radio DJs and magazines that need a copy of the CD for reviews and airplay and of course we still have gigs to play! After that? Well, we’ll start thinking about future recordings and projects. We have songs in the pipe line and some collaborations we’d like to do, just watch this space and of course, listen to the music!

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How to promote a music festival. The Lemonfest crew hit South Devon!

Matt Freemantle — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:47:35 +0000

Lemonfest: get set for a sunny weekend of music promoting for the day full of music in Newton Abbot

My bags are all packed and I’m on my way to do a day’s work; before getting the train from Paddington back down to the sunny Westcountry for a busy weekend of promoting around Exeter and South Devon.

First stop tonight (almost literally as soon as my train arrives in Newton Abbot) is Bar Deep in Paignton to see the fantastic Cosmo Jarvis, armed to the teeth with flyers and tickets.

This is a bit of work/pleasure thing for me to be honest as I’m a huge Cosmo fan, not to mention the fact he actually played at last year’s festival.

Straight after that, me and the team will be hot-footing it over to The Attic in Torquay to catch the end of the Babysnakes Album Launch – which is a sell out! Great news for the guys, who will also be playing the Main Stage at Lemonfest this year.

Saturday is an early one too. We will be spending the day rolling out Lemonface 2011 at the inaugural Devon Dub Fest over at Crealy Adventure Park in Exeter. This is a day packed with plenty of music & entertainment, as well as a Lemonfest ticket giveaway, so we’re hoping to meet lots of potential Lemonfesters!

Then on Saturday night, via a brief visit to the guys over at Torquay’s Riviera FM for a chat about the festival and the local music scene (that’s at 8pm, if you’re interested!) – is the Lemonfest warm-up party over at The Attic Nightclub in Torquay. Featuring the brilliant The Aurora Skies from Teignmouth (another of this year’s line-up), beatboxer Mikbeats, and a DJ set from Waste Little DJ’s. We’ll again be armed with a shedload of Lemons and taking lots of photos, so if you’ve got nothing on, come along and get involved!

Hopefully I might even get a rest on Sunday at some point. Oh no wait, we’re off flyering and postering in Exeter for the day, until my five-hour coach journey back up to London for work on Monday. No rest for the wicked eh?

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes – but has the music industry changed for the better?

Rich Mills — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:24:24 +0000

The music business has changed, totally and utterly changed. The internet is at the heart of it but has it changed for the better? It’s better for the listener but whether it’s good for bands/artists is a moot point. I’m not decided yet but what I can say with some certainty is that it’s not going to change back so we’ll just have to make the best of it.

It’s certainly easier to get your songs heard these days; you can post tracks on your website or social media sites such as Myspace, Facebook and Youtube and you can sell them through iTunes and Amazon. As a listener if you hear about a new band from a friend, on the radio, in a newspaper or magazine or see them on TV then as long as you have a connection to the internet you can be listening to or buying their tunes in minutes.

The Simmertones: working hard to get their music ‘out there’

The world is a totally connected and smaller place now. Radio stations stream their shows online, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and your website give you a worldwide reach and a much bigger potential audience. Devon and Brisbane are 1000s of miles apart physically but online they might as well be next to each other.

So, this all sounds great, what’s the problem? Well, despite it being easy to get music “out there”, I think we need to work a lot harder these days as it’s easy for everyone to make their music available, not just us.

The rate of change is challenging too – a few years ago, Myspace was all the rage; a single place to interact with fans, friends, bands, etc, and we used this along with the band’s website and email mailing list.

Now it’s Facebook but that’s not as efficient for bands, but we use it as Myspace is a lonely, lonely place. We don’t even get spam from it any more! We also have our own Youtube channel where we host our videos. Did I mention we have videos? Check them out if you have a minute. If you’d told me a few years back we would have done a music video I would have laughed at you as that was just for signed, bigger bands but… times change!

This leads us to my last point and what is perhaps the biggest problem for bands these days; all bands, whatever level they’re at.

In my opening paragraph I first wrote “record buying public” rather than “listener” but does that apply anymore? The internet and other technologies have made it easier for people to get your music for free. Some do it maliciously, knowing that they’re avoiding buying your songs, the songs that you’ve spent money recording, producing, mastering and pressing. Others do it more innocently, thinking that they’re helping you spread the word or that giving a copy to a friend or hosting it on a filesharing ‘site is okay; “It doesn’t hurt, they’re selling loads, what does one copy matter?”

Actually yes, it does matter; it’s our intellectual and artistic property! We want people to hear it, sure, but on our terms. We want to be able to decide when we can afford to give something away for nothing. We aren’t in the position where we can write it off and recoup costs on a stadium tour or by selling a pile of t-shirts. Next year maybe…

Ok, rant over but I hope you get my drift. If we all share music without a thought for the bands and singers then maybe we won’t have those band and singers around; support them by listening to them legally whenever possible. Share the things the bands want you to share!

The Simmertones have their home in a small corner of the web at www.thesimmertones.co.uk and can also be found on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Drop by, have a listen and let them know if you like what you hear.

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