News, reviews and more
The general opinion seems to be that the live music venue is an endangered species these days. Even ex Beatles recently bemoaned the issue (Ringo with rather more energy than that other bloke) and this may well be true, but dig a little deeper and there are great venues playing host to fabulous performances every night of the week in London town which brings us to Dalston on a surprisingly chilly Monday night in October.
Read MoreEvery now and again here at Red Guitar Music we are lucky enough to receive a CD in the post that turns out to be just a little bit special. Darlingside and their ‘Birds Say’ album was a case in point, I was keen, but fellow RGM scribe Rich Barnard won the lottery, got to work and his resulting review concluded “Darlingside have stories to tell, mysteries to solve and journeys to take us on. Birds Say manages the impossible; it is humble and bold; it is familiar and strange; it is slick and fragile. It is, in short, a total delight”. To support the UK release of the album the band had a slot booked at the prestigious Cambridge Folk Festival before they embarked on a short run of intimate UK shows concluding with the Slaughtered Lamb in London.
Read MorePaper Dress Vintage is one of the more interesting venues on the London circuit. Located opposite Hackney Central Station this retro clothes boutique by day transforms into a cool and bijou live music venue by night. The intimate venue itself is upstairs and the small room has just a few tables doted about so I took up a position at the small rear bar to check out the evening’s entertainment. I was immediately struck by the rather imposing mixing desk which seemed a little incongruous in such a small venue but it did bless us with excellent sound on the night.
Read MoreGreen Note in Camden is fast becoming one of my favourite places to see a band in London. The Camden venue won a prestigious Time Out Magazine award ‘London Venue of the Year’ in 2015 so I’d guess I’m not alone in my view. The venue is, as they say, intimate which makes it fantastic to get up close to a quality artist or two. One such artist is Ruth Theodore and her visit to Camden was to introduce her very fine new single ‘You Can’t Help Who You Love’ and a whole lot more
Read MoreThe stage at the Green Note in Camden is tiny. You could probably just about park a car on it, if you could park cars vertically, but before they’ve even arrived, the Shook Twins have all but filled its floor with three separate boards of effects pedals. I get the feeling this isn’t going to be your average folk gig and I’m genuinely worried there’s not going to be anywhere for the band to stand. When they do squeeze themselves behind the mic stands I note (with some intrigue a little fear) that sisters Katelyn and Laurie each have two mics... this is definitely going to be interesting.
Read More