New full band show at The Robin 2

Delighted to be heading back to The Robin 2 in Bilston for a full band show. Excellent support acts on too in Dominic Malin, Jess Silk and Raphaella Kornarskis!

It could well be my only full band show this year, and we are hoping to play some new material, so make sure you don't miss it!

Full Band Show at The Robin 2 in May!

Got an awesome show coming up in May with The Revolt at The Robin 2 in Bilston. Tickets are cheap, the supports are awesome and it's going to be a great night. Get your tickets here, now!

2018 - a review

The time has come for another yearly update. 2018 has been a crazy year both on and off stage, probably more off than on, which I suppose is reflected in my gig count of 76. Its down on previous years, but it's still much higher than I expected, and averages at about 1.46 per week.

On stage I hit some major highs this year, the pinnacle being the 3 gigs I played in Dublin in March. It was my first time playing in Ireland, and the friends I made there will stay with me for a long time. I can't wait to go back (and neither can Kayla!)

Other highlights include 2 gigs at The Robin with The Revolt backing me, a trip to Salford to support The Thought Police for their single launch, the incredible experience of playing The Treehouse ouse Sessions and my gig at The Wakes in Oakengates. Plus I made returns to old favourites in The Jamhouse, Katie Fitzgerald's, Hurcutt Pools and Llangollen's Faery and Red Dragon festivals. All in all its been a year of fewer, but dare I say cooler gigs, which if I'm honest is probably a more sustainable gigging model going forward, both in terms of growing and maintaining a fanbase and getting my work-life balance right. I've always felt like I gig too much, mainly for free entry, to really be able to move towards ticketed gigs. Maybe this is the start of a shift. Maybe.

It's off stage where big things have happened. It's been a year of love, heartbreak and change for my friends and family, and I won't go into everything as this isn't the place. I lost a good friend earlier in the year to cancer, though his legacy lives on not only in the work he did to raise awareness on a grand, even global scale, but personally in the friends I have made through him and people he brought into my life. It feels somewhat disingenuous to 'name drop' him (as he is much more 'famous' than me!), because this tribute isn't about building my own profile, but remembering him. He wouldn't care, as it goes, but I still can't bring myself to do it.

I was lucky enough to attend his wedding a few short weeks before he died, and those memories will be with me forever.

At the complete opposite end of the personal emotional spectrum, my son Ezra Alfred Draisey was born on the 12th of December. I am, obviously, completely in love with him, and find myself with a newfound love and respect for both Kayla and Buddy, who have slipped into their new lives as mother-of-two and big brother respectively with equal love and grace. They are my heroes, all three of them.

I look forward to a 2019 filled with exciting adventure both on and off stage. I already have another full band show lined up and a sniff at a pretty major festival, which is mega exciting. I hope to see you out there.

Sam.

Tomorrow!

I can't believe the full band gig at The Robin 2 is tomorrow! It's going to be ace, don't miss out!

2017 in review

So here it is, another year over, another end of year blog. But it has been a pretty good one, if I'm being totally honest.

I played 94 solo gigs this year. That's an average of 1.8 per week, which is a little off the pace for me compared to previous years *checks old blog posts*. There are a couple of possible reasons I can think of for this;

Firstly, For the first 9 months of this year I was working a school job. I know I've been working other jobs before while gigging more, but I can't say it doesn't have an impact on both having time to actually find and book gigs as well as being awake enough to play them!

Secondly, all of my recurring gigs have now stopped. I was running the songwriter's sessions at The Crown Joules for the first half of the year, but they decided to take their live music output in a 'different' direction. The gigs there were great while they lasted, but sadly, last they did not. I've also finished playing at Village Coffee in Codsall after many years. I'm not aware that they have any live music on there regularly now.

However, a lower gig output is somewhat outweighed by the fact that I finally finished and released my newest album, 'As I Live and Breathe' in 2017. It was a long time coming, and I'm incredibly proud of the way it came out. People seem to like it too! Massive thanks must be given to Dickie Davis, Dan Hart and my wife Kayla who all appeared on the album.

Stemming from the album launching, I've played my first ever gigs with a full and this year too, and they were great fun. I've got another one at The Robin 2 coming up in February, for which tickets are available here. It's going to be a great show, so come down and get involved :)

On to my highlights of 2017. Other than the obvious launching of the album, I also did a mini tour at the beginning on November which was a success. One of my favourite gigs was playing at Rough Trade Records in Nottingham for a multiple union event to talk about young people's pay. Tour aside, I also had a great time at Strummer Jam, as well as discovering cool new venues like The Windsor Theatre in Birmingham and Tom O' The Wood in Warwick.

Away from the stage, I've finally taken the plunge and gone full time with music as my solo job. It's going alright so far, but I'm sure I'm about to feel the January pinch!

In 2018 I hope to have a real go at making full time musicianhood work, as well as finding a new venue for the songwriter's sessions and generally looking to book more cool gigs. I've got some cool ideas for stuff to do at home too, but they need some refining yet so I'll keep them close to my chest for now.

See you out there,

Sam.

Update for the festive period

Hi guys,

First of all, I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. For my own part, my very generous parents bought me a bouzouki, so you can expect to hear that on some upcoming recordings and maybe event some live performances! Also, my wonderful fiancée paid for us to go to Dublin for 3 nights, which was fantastic. We saw some great live music and had a fantastic time. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Irish and Folk music. You won't be disappointed.

However, it seems upon my return that the January pinch has hit home. This has culminated in one of my open mic nights, the weekly gig at The Albion in Wednesfield, cancelling the remaining dates in January. With The Hartley Arms already out until at least February as well, that cuts down on my gigging time significantly this month. I do however have a nice gig at Tattoo Freeze this Sunday to shout about!



I'm looking forward to that one! I'm also on the hunt for some more gigs, with the idea being that I look to travel further afield than my last tour. I'll still play on my doorstep though, if requested :)

As a new years resolution (one of many!) I've promised myself I'll find a new venue in a different city AT LEAST once a month. I don;t think that this is a big commitment really, but if anyone has any suggestions or requests then please don't hesitate to get in touch. I'm already booked to play in Worcester in April, and promised Jamie Perry I'd play in Leicester, so I'll look for a venue there too :)

Finally, you will be glad to hear that I start back at The Robin 2 with 'The Sam Draisey Sessions' this month. The session gigs are some of my favourite nights, and I'm really looking forward to getting back involved in running, booking and playing them.

That's about it for now. Please do keep in touch, I love to hear from you :)

Sam.

New album and new sessions!

I've not posted for a while, but I've busy planning away all sorts of things for you, so I hope you can forgive me.

First off, I will be announcing the release date of my new album this week! It won't be far away, but I won't be releasing it straight away as I want to build some momentum and put on some crazy competitions for you all leading up to it! I get hold of the CDs tomorrow. It's an exciting day!

Also, I have a busy extended weekend of great gigs lined up. Im heading to Village Coffee on Saturday afternoon for my usual 2-4 chilled out slot, before driving down to Chesterfield in the evening for the first ever 'Sam Draisey Sessions' on tour at The Commercial Inn in Pilsley. Joining me will be Alex Vann, Elliott Burton, Natch and Brains for Breakfast, some of my favourite acoustic players from the midlands who I have shared a stage with many times. I'm really excited about the whole thing! Then from there I head to Sunday night and my brand new open mic at The Albion in Wednesfield. Last Sunday was the first one, and even though no-one else played it still went down really well and had a good audience. If you want to play in front of them, just turn up on Sunday for an 8:30 start. Then on Monday it's my stalwart open mic at The Hartley Arms in Wheaton Aston, which apparently is getting some advertising on Kic.FM in the lead up. Again, all welcome for a 9pm start. Finally on Tuesday we have my 'Sam Draisey Session' at The Robin 2 in Bilston. I'm really excited about this as the confirmed acts are Moseley based band 'SYLVIA', Punk Ukulele player Dan 'Salty' Salt,  the lap steel and Americana stylings of Pete Boddis and the frankly excellent Dominic Malin. I can honestly say that these guys are some of my favourite artists from around the Midlands (there is so much talent in this region. it's amazing!) so don't miss it. It's free, and again, if you want to share a stage with them, it's open mic too. Get there from about 8 to avoid disappointment!

So that's it for now, but it won't be long before more posts appear with details of my new album, competitions and gigs coming up for you to enjoy. I always want to make it worth your while reading this blog, so I might even have a competition just for blog readers!

See you over the weekend, I hope!

Sam.

A Narrow Escape

My open mic nights have been suffering a little recently. As you know, I lost the night at The Woodman a few months back, but to add to that The Three Stirrups in Brewood closed just before we were set to put another night on there. I only heard about it because the landlord at The Hartley Arms told me. Still, I bare no grudges. I know the pub was really struggling and the boss there would have had much more on his mind than letting me know about the closure.

But then last week's Robin 2 open mic, my newest and most exciting venture, had a relatively poor turnout too. The standard of musicianship on show was very high, as usual, but the attendance was not as good as previous months, and all of the events so far have not yielded huge profit margins for the venue. So when Mike from The Robin phoned on Wednesday, I was fearing the worst, and I was even more fearful after the conversation, where I was given 2 days collect my thoughts and promotional ideas before making a judgement on whether to take the night forward.

I am, however, pleased to say that after some pleasant negotiation and compromise, 'The Sam Draisey Sessions' at The Robin 2 are safe for the time being. Moving forward, I am going to need to try and get more people in to the nights, possibly to perform but more-so to watch. But that is the fun in promotions, is it not?


A nice, relatively happy little story for you there. I'm back at work and returning to normal after Easter now, so I should hopefully be back in the studio soon. I've given myself until the next Robin open mic to finish the album mixing. Wish me luck!

Hope you are well, and to see you at a gig soon :)

Sam.

The Open Mic Story - Part Two

So, to continue from where I left off...

Around the time when the guys from Manchester came down to open mic was about the busiest I had been. But it wouldn't last. Soon pubs started closing and changing hands in 'the great public house depression' that has been going on in the last few years, seeing pubs close all over the UK every week. The Crown changed hands, and though we tried to keep the night going under new owners, they weren't keen. The New Inns experiment turned out to be a failure, and The Bird in Hand also cancelled the open mic nights due to poor attendance. It seems that the reputations of the places I was putting nights on in was finally catching up with me.

So for a while we only had The Woodman, which had changed over the summer to running twice a month, and was getting a decent reputation. With this came new performers and friends, and they in turn opened new opportunities. I started running a new open mic just before Christmas at The Harrows in Coven, and although popular, it also fell foul of the depression. I moved to The Rainbow, but we didn't have much luck there either.

It was then that I was introduced into The Hartley Arms, a canalside pub in Wheaton Aston, which now runs a fortnightly open mic with me on a Monday night. This night stops and starts in terms of attendance, but has build a small loyal community following of a couple of young artists and fans, which is integral to any open mic night. As my own pool of musician friends improve and move on to bigger and better things, they tend to frequent my open mic nights less, as their 'touring' circle becomes larger and larger.

My own solo gigs had started to improve too, and I was now getting preferential treatment at the famous Robin 2 in Bilston. I became known as their 'go-to support', as I live 20 minutes away, take 2 minutes to sound check and am happy with being called in the afternoon for a gig that evening. I started off with warm up slots for large tribute acts which, although was in front of audiences of over 400 people, it wasn't the kind of crowd that were into my music. However, in a great case of mutual back-scratching, I was also let in on support slots I could choose, so I could pick artists (and projected audiences) that would fit in with my style. This led to me supporting Ian Parker, Edgar Broughton, The Sounds of Simon and Edwina Hayes, gigs where I could really showcase my music to an audience that were 'into it'.

In my search for a 'day job' I sent a CV to The Robin 2 detailing my accomplishments, including a list of my open mic night ventures. Off the back of this I was offered the opportunity to host a monthly open mic at the venue, which I jumped at. I also get to run the sound and geek myself silly on the amount of control I have.

So that's where we are. I now run nights at The Woodman and The Robin 2 once a month and The Hartley Arms fortnightly. I also have a brand new open mic lined up at The Stirrups in Brewood for this month.

As promised, I'd like to end this blog by naming some of the people (and linking them) who have helped me along with their performances at my open mic nights. Some have since moved on to bigger and better things, musical and otherwise, but we still see them all from time to time. Here we go;

Pink Ukulele Guy - https://www.facebook.com/Pinkukuleleguy - I met Jamie before his alter-ego was even fuelled at the open mic night at Alchemy in Wolverhampton. A truly unique artist, Jamie is an excellent songwriter and the single greatest example of independent branding I have ever seen! People all over the Midlands know him due to his relentless open mic visiting and memorable stage show. Many also have a t-shirt!

Lottie Phazey - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lottie-Phazey/110538252339985 - Lottie first appeared as a 14 year old at The Bird in Hand open mic night when I started going, playing covers of Kate Nash and The Script. She has since progressed as a guitarist, singer and lyricist and has in her set now some frankly outstanding songs. I'd never say an artist needs to 'get discovered', but if anyone needs to get herself an EP/album recorded it's Lottie. I'd buy it!

Matt Dooner - http://matt486gigs.blogspot.com/ - Matt is one third of 'The Travelling Fools', a touring set of artists including myself that we are trying to put together this year. I met him, along with the third artist, at a memorable gig at The Varsity in Wolverhampton. He has since become a close friend. I recorded his EP for him recently, so you will have to keep your eyes out for that sometime this year. Matt is an excellent lyricist who writes some of the most relatable songs I have ever heard!

Elliot Burton - https://www.facebook.com/pages/ElliottJBurton/242492439128915 - Elliot is the third part of 'The Travelling Fools'. A close friend and fantastic performer, Elliot is known for his extreme performances of great classics, as well as his eclectic covers and songwriting that ranges from tongue in cheek to Dylan-esque. Look out for Psych Killer, Nessun Dorma and Jerusalem, as well his own songs 'Cannock Girls' and the magnum opus, 'Sound of a Chord'

Lydia Jones - Winner of Beacon Radio's Young Musician award last year, Lydia is well known throughout the Midlands due to her high profile performances and constant open mic gigging. She has a CD of covers that she recorded with me, and is getting better and better with every performance. If you attend an open mic anywhere enough, you will see her eventually!

So that's it. I'll write again at the weekend. If you are in the area, come down to Village Coffee in Codsall on Saturday to see me playing some chilled out acoustic classics.

See you soon,

Sam.