Year's end - 2016

It's time to look back over the last twelve months and measure myself against the goals I had set both personal and professional. This year, as with many years, I think this process will leave me with mixed feelings. On one hand there are things I wanted to do that have yet to happen, but while looking back over my listings and memories I see that on the other hand I have achieved a massive amount this year. So here goes...

I played 136 gigs this year, so an average of 2.6 per week. That number surprised me, as I feel like I've taken my foot off the gas in 2016. Granted many of those gigs are repeated hostings so are in the same venue, but it's still more than I expected. I started up open mic nights at The Wharf in Walsall and The Clarendon in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, the latter of which is still going strong. I also handed over the sessions at The Grain Store after they wanted a change in musical direction. The Fox & Anchor sessions were a success once more, though the long time manager of the pub has now retired so we shall see if the gigs return there in 2017. Some of my highlights from this year include returning to Kidderminster Arts Festival for Music in the Valley and my first appearance at Cradley Heath's famous Chainmakers' Festival.

But it's 'off stage' where my greatest achievement of the year can be found. After buying our first home in late 2015, Kayla and I welcomed our son Buddy into the world on the 2nd of April this year. It's impossible to put into words just how special this has been for us, and he is an amazing addition to the Draisey family band!

Now on to my goals for 2016:

While my new album remains unfinished, it's a great deal closer than it was, and with all the upheaval of this year I'm hoping I can be granted a pardon. A few little bits are left to be tracked before the mixing and agonising can begin in ernest.  Once again this will make my main resolution, though I do have an idea for another one...

I'm aware that I don't expose myself to enough new music - that is, music that is new to me. So I'm hoping to hear something new every week, be it an album, ep or live set. I'll try and keep an update going on here or social media.

Finally, after a year where we have lost so many great musicians, I feel I should pay another tribute to Maria Broster. Maria was a great friend and a great musician and is missed by everyone who knew her. There is a tribute gig at The Barge & Barrel in Tipton on the 7th that I'll be attending and hopefully playing, so I'll hopefully see you there.

So that's it. I hope everyone has a wonderful and prosperous new year. See you out there.

Sam.

Last week of the year!

Merry Christmas everyone. It's my last gig of the year on Thursday! Come down and say hi, and if you play I'll record you!

This week!

Fancy getting a live recording? Come to open mic at The Clarendon on Thursday armed with a USB stick and I'll record you!

Gigs this week!

As well as the weekly open mic night at The Clarendon this week, I also have a gig Saturday evening at The Plough in Claverley. It should be a nice chilled out one while people are eating, so if that's your thing why not come and check it out?

3 gigs, 3 counties

This week I've got three gig in three different counties! Does that count as a tour??!!!

I'll be hosting the open mic night at The Clarendon in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton on Thursday from 8:30. From there it's on to Village Coffee in Codsall for my resident fortnightly gig on Saturday and then another open mic hosting job on Sunday at The Crown in Bridgnorth. The last one is a bit up in the air at the moment because of management changes so make sure you come down while you still can!

more open mics!

More open mic nights this week! First it's the grand re-opening of Hogshead tomorrow night from 8, then my brand new weekly night at The Clarendon on Thursday, also at 8!

A brand new open mic night!

Got a brand new open mic night starting this week! The Clarendon has just had a posh new refurb and is really pushing live music. I'll be running the open mic night every week with different feature acts, so come down and check it out :)

I've also got my usual fortnightly gigs at Village Coffee in Codsall and The Crown in Bridgnorth :)

See you there,

Sam.

20/10/2016

More gigs coming up this week! I'm back for a Saturday afternoon session at Village Coffee in Codsall and then I'll be at The Sow & Pigs in West Bromwich on Saturday night. It's a fun venue and should be a fun night!

Sunday night I'm hosting another open mic night at The Crown in Bridgnorth. I keep saying it to my muso friends, but they do book acts, so come and show the what you can do :)

See you at the weekend,

Sam.

Gigs!

Exciting times ahead this week! It all kicks off Wednesday with a a brand new gig at The Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton. I've never played there before, so I'm really looking forward to it. Plus, Rob Fellows in playing, so it should be a really special night! (I hear the headliner - Daddymatic - is realy good too!) It's Rob's first gig at this cool new venue, so come down and show your support :)

Then on Friday I'm playing at The Rose & Crown in Wordsley, Stourbridge. I may or may not have played there before, depending on whether it's the same 'Rose & Crown' or not. Either way it should be fun and I'm looking forward to letting rip on a couple of gigs this week that I'm nbot putting on myself!

Having said that, it's still always nice to do a chilled out session at Village Coffee, so I'll be there on Saturday. Then it's my new open mic night at The Crown in Bridgnorth on Sunday for Jim & Ann-Marie. They are greet people, really work hard to support live music and put bands on, so if you play, come down and give them a turn!

See you in the week!

Sam.

Codfest week!

Codfest week is here! 

It's the busiest week of the year for me, rushing around setting up and making sure everything is going to plan. It will all be worth it in the end, I'm sure!

First though I've got the small matter of The Wharf bar open mic night tonight from 8. Come down if you're free.

Sunday is another great free session at The Fox & Anchor too, so don't miss out on that!

See you in the week.

Sam.

Gigs this week!

Exciting week this week! First it's open mic at The Wharf tomorrow night from 8, then I'm playing with The Replicas at The River Rooms on Friday! It's going to be ace!

Maria Broster

I've been building myself up to this since yesterday. It's difficult to put into words just how much she influenced me musically and personally. She didn't just teach me to play guitar. She didn't just teach me to play mandolin. She didn't just perform with me at many of my gigs and open mic nights. She taught me that someone who follows their dreams without comprimise can be happy without limits. Even more importantly than that, she was my friend.

I get called an inspiration quite a lot because of what I do and how I do it. I can honestly, hand-on-heart say that Maria Broster was an inspiration to me, and I'm sure many people feel the same.

The world today is a bleaker place having lost a wonderful artist, musician and person. Rest well old friend.

x

a quieter week

A quieter week this week. Open mic tonight was good fun (thanks to Matt Dooner and Faye Bagley for coming down to play) and I'll be back at Village Coffee in Codsall on Saturday for my usual residency gig.

I spent some time setting up the studio at home today and have almost got everything working and how I want it, so hopefully I can get working on the new album shortly. It's embarrassing how long it's taking me to be honest, the project file is labelled 'new album 2014'!

So, I better get to it then!

a weekend of festivals!

 

Another mega exciting week!

Tuesday is open mic at The Wharf. If any of my muso friends fancy it I can give you a lift, so why not come down and play some tunes? Depending on what time I finish I might head over to the songwriters' night at The White Lion too.

Saturday sees me return to one of my favourite gigs from last year, Music in the Valley at Habberley Valley Nature Reserve for Kidderminster Arts Festival. It's a cool 'semi' unplugged gig out in a clearing at the nature reserve, so bring a blanket to sit on a enjoy it :)

Two gigs on Sunday! First it's a morning trip to The Legendary Llangollen Faery Festival (Kayla has already bought Buddy's faery wings in preparation!) before heading back to The Crown, Codsall for my first gig there since it re-opened. Im hoping to put on some music sessions there in the coming months similar to the sessions at The Fox & Anchor, so it would be great to see you there showing your support :)

See you in the week :)

 

Sam.

Gigs this week!

Great week of gigs coming up!

Tonight I'm hosting open mic at everyone's favourite Walsall bar The Wharf from 8. Come down and watch or play :)

Friday night I'm playing at The Sow And Pigs in West Brom from 9. It's always lively in there on a Friday and it's a craft beer pub! What's not to like?

Saturday is a chilled afternoon at Village Coffee in Codsall from 2. Try the brownies. Trust me.

Then Sunday I've got another super gig at The Fox and Anchor from 7:30. David Young and Brains for Breakfast are also playing, so you know it's going to be great!

See you in the week!

Sam.

To vinyl, or not to vinyl...

Just a quick one. I've been thinking, and I'd really like to release my next album on vinyl (as well as on CD and online). I enjoy collecting it myself and it would feel like a real achievement to do it. Only problem is, I'm not sure how well it would sell. I'm not really interested in making anything from it, but I'd need to sell enough copies to at least get close to breaking even, and getting vinyl pressed is expensive!

What do you reckon? Would you be interested in buying my 'still' upcoming album on vinyl?

More gigs for July...

 

I'm just back from another really good Brewood Music Festival. It was a great day and great turn out. I won't start ranting about what happened during my set, but needless to say that, in my opinion, it's very rude for the band on after you to start setting up around you while you're playing your second song!

Anyway, I still had a good time :)

This week coming I've got open mic at The Wharf in Walsall from 8 of Tuesday, which is a venue that books live music every weekend, so maybe come down and show what you can do!

On Friday The Replicas are making a rare public appearance at The Crown in Bridgnorth for it's grand re-opening. It's also my last day of working at school for the summer, so I'll be looking to have a good time! It's free entry and in the courtyard, so it should be a really good atmosphere and a good night.

Saturday there will be a chance to nurse your Replicas induced hangover with a chilled session at Village Coffee. Promise it won't be too loud for you!

Then Sunday it's Fox & Anchor time again, with another super line up of local musicians hosted by me!

Hope to see you in the week :)

Sam.

11/07/2016

 

Some cool gigs coing up this week.

After having to call in sick last week (massive thanks to Craig Pate for covering for me at the very last minute!) I'll be back at The Wharf in Walsall for open mic on Tuesday from 8pm. As always, everyone is welcome to come down and show their stuff!

Then on Sunday I'm returning to Brewood Music Festival. Two years ago I compered with local hero Will Morgan, but this year I've gotr my own slot on the main stage at 4:20. It's always really well attended, and I'm looking forward to playing. I'm also looking forward to seeing Pete Kent play again!

See you there!

Gigs this week!

 

Another really great week or gigs coming up this week! Three old favourites and a brand new and exciting one!

Firstly it's open mic at The Wharf on Tuesday from 8. Everyone is welcome to come down and sing, play, dance, tell knock-knock jokes. Whatever you like really! Last week was really cool because, even though I was the only one playing, I met a couple from Scotland who really liked my music, bought some CDs (and a T shirt!) and asked me to go and play at a festival in Bathgate!

On Friday I'm going on an adventure over to Stourport to support Bleeding Hearts at Worleys at The Swan from 7. Check out the stage, it looks amazing!

Saturday I'll be chilling out after Friday's antics with an afternoon session at Village Coffee, Bar & Kitchen from 2. I've started squeezing a couple of my own tunes into my set there, and haven't been kicked off yet!

Then on Sunday I'm hosting a superb line up at The Fox and Anchor including Dan Hartland, Alex Vann and Lauren Macmillan. It's always an honour to be able to book myself onto a line up with such talented musicians, and Sunday is going to be a perfect example of that.

It would be great to see you somewhere along the way :)

 

Sam.

Autumn Update

It seems that every post I write on here starts with an apology for not posting enough and a promise to 'be better'. The former is true once more, but I'm not convinced about the latter yet.

A lot has happened in the last 4 months since my last post, some of which is music related! I've started a new open mic night at The Wharf Bar in Walsall, booked some more cool acts to play at The Grain Store Live Sessions, re-started the Fox & Anchor sessions for this summer as well as booking in at some new gigs and festivals for the coming weeks and months. There are more details of these on the gigs section of my website :)

Off the stage is where my life has changed the most. At 19:49 on April the 2nd my son Buddy Costello Draisey was born! He is absolutely amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without him. He's already been to his first gigs at Village Coffee and The Fox & Anchor, though he usually gets more attention than me when he turns up!

We've also moved into our house, which should hopefully mean (after some more DIY jobs are done) that the studio can be put in and I can FINALLY get to working on this album I've been promising. I know, you'll believe it when you see it, but I promise it is on the horizon.