Hey everyone
I’m playing at the lovely Sunflower Sessions acoustic night on Sunday 3rd February (tomorrow!) It’s a really great night and features:
JIM LOCKEY 7.15 - 7.45
ZEROIZE 7.55 - 8.25
TOM KERSWILL 8.35 - 9.05
EMILY 9.15 - 9.45
NATHAN BENNETT 10.00 - 10.30
Tom
Hey! It’s the last night on our little tour tonight - Friday 11th May - and we’re doing an event at the Sunflower Lounge. It starts at 8pm, £3, and there are four acts:
Should be a good one!
Tom
Announcing many gigs far and wide…
The Birmingham date on 11th May (Sunflower Lounge) is going to be great… always fun to play with Midget and Giant. This’ll be hot on the heals of our 8th May Songs for the Bath Tub at Trof Northern Quarter (Manchester), which is one of my favourite events to do…
Before all that, I’m off to Atlanta, Georgia. Can’t wait to play at Mahoneyfest and to meet all the musicians out there!
Writing this from Somerset, where I’m taking a quick break. Tomorrow I’m playing in Crediton, Devon — though I’ve not put this one on the gig calendar. It’s at an old people’s home there, at the heady hour of 2.30 pm. Whee!! Hopefully afterwards I’ll be out in Exeter or somewhere though -which is always good fun!
Tomx
The Birmingham trip was great fun. On Saturday we went to a really impressive concert by Birmingham’s BEAST collective - a breathtaking sound extravaganza featuring 96 speakers – concert review here.
My own gig at the Sunflower Lounge was really great fun. There was a lot of good acoustic music on, and the venue is really special - and was packed full of people. Was great to catch up with the Birmingham lot too 
Looking forward to playing there again some time soon!
Pictures of BEAST and the Sunflower Lounge gig coming very soon…
When I first heard about Birmingham University’s BEAST project in 2004, the prospect of going to see a “live” performance didn’t seem instantly appealing – high-fidelity sound played from laptops to an auditorium…. I thought it would be a bit like going to a hifi store and listening to some high-end sound systems.
I was pretty wrong about that. The BEAST performance in Birmingham on Saturday 3th May was impressive and, at times, breathtaking. 96 high-quality studio monitors of all shapes and sizes are used to create a massive sound field. Sound, originating from some computers running MaxDSP, is “diffused” around the room using a large number of mixing desks. The music ranged from sublime watery sounds to impressive electronic booms and whines that whizzed over your head and almost under your feet. It was a bit like listening to fireworks, except with sound, rather than vision.
The evening comprised a collection of pieces by various composers. We were there to see a new performance by electroacoustic composer Alexander J Harker, Orbits for piano and Max/MSP featuring Melissa Morris on piano. The piece relied heavily on improvisation, with a microphone which sampled the piano, and generate counter melodies and phrases. It was an unusual and beautiful performance - and as you’d imagine from BEAST’s high-end equipment, the quality of sound was absolutely fantastic. It was the first time I’d seen any of Harker’s pieces performed live – and was certainly a great introduction. I’m looking forward to hearing more!
Other pieces included an interpretation of Claude Lelouch’s C’etait un Rendezvous (click for YouTube video. The composer, Pete Stollery, undertook the same journey – this time on foot – and sampled audio from various locations along the way. scenes/rendez-vous was an incredibly detailed journey, and really enjoyable to listen to… the sounds of Paris flashed by in multiple directions, as if we’d all been picked up in a cage and carried through the city on foot.
Birmingham University’s BEAST project performs one or two large concerts a year, and can be found here.
Really looking forward to the upcoming Birmingham trip.. heading down there tomorrow. I’m playing at the excellent Sunflower Sessions at the Sunflower lounge, Birmingham, this Sunday (4th March)… can’t wait!
Here’s some info on where to go if you’re looking to play an open mic in Birmingham, UK… If you come across any new open mics in Birmingham, let us know by adding a comment, and we’ll add it to the open mic guide.