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!

Live in Salford

Lats weekend I made my first road trip for a while to The Old Pint Pot in Salford to support fellow political musos The Thought Police for the launch of their new single 'Holy Man' (out now on various platforms. They were ace, the gig was ace and here is a live video of 'The Worst Lie of All' to prove it.

Another new live video!

I'm trying to make an effort to record and upload more 'content' (Christ I hate that word). I doubt anyone would want to see a video of me just talking about my day and pretending a million exciting things are happening right now with my music, so it's taking the form of more live videos from cool gigs I'm playing this summer. Here's another from Banstock, a festival quite literally a stones throw from my house (if my aim was better).

Hope you like it :)

(Disclaimer: It's not that I'm not doing anything with music, quite the opposite, I just get a bit jaded by supposed 'music industry experts' constantly pushing that you need to be doing Facebook Live videos every time you cook your tea or pack up your car for a gig. I'm busy with gigs, with merchandise making for myself and other people and general musical work. I post about it on various social media platforms on a semi regular basis. I'm just not going to video everything I do for the internet.)

New Live Video

Check out the new live video of 'Used to be my Hero' live from Lechlade festival  (25/5/18). It's a cool festival and you should check it out :)

Halfway through this song Buddy ran up to the stage and stole my drink! I'm being forever upstaged by him nowadays!

Another cool fact; because the headliner for the stage I was playing on never showed up, I technically headlined my first ever music festival stage on Friday night. It's a technicality, but it's still cool!

Another new live video :)

Here it is, another new live video from Codfest last year. Check it out :)



Don't forget to get your tickets for the full band gig at The Robin 2 on the 22nd of February. It's going to be awesome!

Brand new live video.

Check out the live video of 'The Day That I Was Meant to Die' from Codfest 7. If you want to see the band in action, get your tickets for our upcoming show at The Robin 2 with The Arrangements, Alex Vann and Dominic Malin here.

Tour write up

So yesterday I finished my November tour. I've really enjoyed the whole experience and I thought I would write some of my thoughts and stats about the tour down here, just in case you're interested.

In total I travelled over 800 miles during the three weeks I was on tour. I played 10 gigs (11 if you count a private party) and sold 35 copies of my new album. Though I've not costed it exactly, I'm pretty sure I about broke even, which is cool for a first outing, especially as most of the gigs were unpaid.

As always, some gigs were more enjoyable than others, though I think I enjoyed all of them in their own ways. Heading into the tour I was least optimistic about the two nights that were open mic rather than booked shows, but they actually turned out to be some of the best of the tour. It helps that both Worley's in Stourport and The Market Vaults in Stafford are great venues that really try hard to support original music, and also that they have both promised me booked gigs going forward. Worley's also stream all of their gigs and open mic acts on Facebook Live, which is something I see a lot but hadn't experienced before. The video of my set there has been watched over 1100 times since then, which is crazy but really cool. I think the live streaming thing is something I definitely need to look into more in the future.

It was great to get the opportunity to play with some old friends too, and the beauty of booking your own tour through your friends is that they can come and play too! Massive thanks to Tone Tanner, Huffy, Dan Hartland, Bleeding Hearts, Dave Busby and The Pale Aliens for sorting gigs for me and playing. It's always a pleasure to see all of you play and spend some time with you. Thanks also to Roots Music, The Musician's Union and Pistol Pete Wearn for booking gigs for me too. I promise I'll come back to The Market Vaults when you're actually there to host Pete!

So to round up, I think the whole thing was a success. Yes I drove a lot (though the podcast 'I Only Listen to The Mountain Goats' has helped with that a lot), I did get woefully lost in Nottingham - huge thanks to Ben Benson from the MU for rescuing me - and I did only just break even, but as an exercise is playing to new people further afield I think it was worthwhile. After all, there are now 35 more people that have listened (I hope) to my new album, and if they tell all their friends about it then they will soon be flying out the door!

I wait patiently by the post box ;)

See you soon (like in Leicester next weekend, for a tour never really ends does it?)

Sam.

November tour!

I'm delighted to announce that in just over a week's time I'll be heading out on tour! Check out the dates below, it would be great to see some friendly faces :)

 

I'm really looking forward to getting out there :)

1000 shows!

So I just updated the past gigs page of my website and it seems I have passed the 1000 show mark! Part of me sort of wishes that I'd made a bigger deal of it, but I'm not really one for ceremony and it's still a nice achievement to look back at now. Plus it turns out the 1000th show was Strummerjam, which is really cool as it's a gig I really enjoyed, I really like everything that the gig and the charity stand for and I kinda hope that Joe would approve of what I'm doing.

Here's a video from that gig;

'So I take a breath and steel myself for the next one thousand shows...' Frank Turner - The Road.

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.

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!

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.

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!