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We won't say who, but a band of our acquaintance recently set their pc alight, with a serious session of goblin slaughter. As well as games, the hard disk contained the bands most recently recorded songs. Fortunately the band have been able to find a way to get the songs they needed back. It goes to show why you should always find time to back up your songs. Yes I know managing data is boring, but if it means you don't lose your hard work, it's worthwhile. The songs seem to have survived, not so the gremlins.
One of England's hardest working duos is starting to get the wider success they deserve. Rumour has two tracks of their 'Indigo' album hitting the Radio Two airwaves. "In America" gets played on Good Morning Sunday next week and 'Somewhere In Dreams' a fortnight later.
Tickets for this years 25 year Beverley Festival are now available.
Full weekend tickets and individual artists tickets can be purhcased now from the festival website and site office.
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Kasai Masai, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Whippersnapper, Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting, legendary rockers The Buzzcocks, Tony Benn and John Shuttleworth bringing a touch of comedy, are just a few of the fabulous artists performing over the weekend. There are education workshops too and the whole weekend promises to be packed full of fun and excellent music.
Go along and help them celebrate their 25 years celebrations.
Thanks
http://www.beverleyfestival.com/
If you haven't already downloaded the free download of fifteen up and coming singer songwriters, "Songsmiths" from www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk now would be a good time. You might also want to grab a free Seth Lakeman EP from http://sethlakeman.co.uk/liveep/get.php and a New Light Entertainment compilation from http://www.newlightent.com/page22/page22.html
It's good to see the mainstream press catching up. Maverick has awarded the Sean Taylor album, "Angels" five stars in this month's issue. It's just reward for an album we made our album of the year at the end of 2007. It's good to see other publications getting switched onto Sean's talents. Check out www.myspace.com/seantaylorsongs to see why Sean is being hailed.
Rumour has Brighton based, Dorset lass, Emily Baker, playing a couple of warm up gigs ahead of her Glastonbury booking. If you're lucky enough to be at the Apple Store in London on June 4th or in Brighton June 13th then take the opportunity to check out Emily Baker's work. more detail on her MySpace, myspace.com/emilybakermusic
Hotly tipped London four-piece Conil have used MySpace to their advantage from day one.
Remarkably, they attracted two-time Grammy winner Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Pearl Jam) and double-bass legend Danny Thompson (Nick Drake) to work on their debut album both getting in touch following the exposure the band received through Conil's MySpace page.
They have gone on to secure national radio play (Radio 2, 6 Music) and 4 star reviews in the national press (Q Magazine) without the support of a record label and they release title single, "Strange Part Of The Country", from debut album as exclusive free download on MySpace next Monday.
As issue songs go, Stornoway have set a new mark. They've teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society, to release a charity single as a fund raiser. Nothing unusual about that until you relaise that the single "Good Fish Guide" is just that, a guide to the best, environmentally/dolphin, catches. Don't be put off by the title or your thought of the content. This is one of the best list songs you are going to hear and you're doing some good when you're buying it. CD Version comes with a copy of the leaflet.
A little bird has told us that Fatea Male Vocalist of the year 2007, Daniel Spiller, is going to be playing this year's Nozstock Festival in Mid-Wales. Expect to see Daniel With his band The Broken Record Project. More details on the festival website Nozstock08
As a Long-time purveyor of classic blues guitar music, Chris Rea has decided that he won't be succumbing to the culture of musical downloads and will in fact boycott the very idea during the release of his latest single 'Let's Get Away' which will be released in 7" format only.
Rea returns to an age where people cherished the beautiful artwork that accompanied their favourite artists' music and taking a stand against the current industry model seems to be paying off as fan orders have been huge, tipping this release to become a bit of a collector's item. Could this be the beginning of a backlash against the MP3?
News has reached us that three of Scotland's finest, Kris Dreever, John McCusker and Roddy Woomble, have teamed up for an album to be released in May. Summer and Autumn dates are in the process of being assembled. It's a collaboration that's likely to prove popular both record and live, so keep your eyes out for more detail.
All of the profits from Antiqcool's "Songs Of Hope And Desire" and "Digging For Gold Albums" are being donated to the Great Ormond Street Street Hospital Children's Charity. Another good reason to check out the music of this prolific band.
Fatea's favourite music festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, has joined MySpace. It can be found at http://www.myspace.com/cambridgefolkfestival It will bring you regular updates of the festival going forward
Amy has this evening, Tuesday, 29/01/08, given birth to a little girl, Mali Jennifer Jenkins. She was born by C section at 21.13 and weighed in at 6lb 12oz. Mother and baby are both fine.
Amy would like to thank her community midwives, her delivery room midwives, Rhianydd and Morfudd and the whole medical team at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant for their wonderful care and kindness.
Prior to her arrival, Mali, was last seen, staring as the bump for Amy's Bump On The Road Tour. Fatea wishes Amy and Mali all the best.
Encouraged by the virtual sell out of the last single, The Chris Simmons Band, will be venturing back into the studio in the not too distant. I managed to catch Chris Simmons and Adam Stafford live recently and judging by the songs they were playing, there's a lot expected of te next recording. More news as we here it.
Rising Dorset based singer songwriter has added a couple of new demos to his Myspace Page. Whilst still raw in nature it's easy to see why Zac is being compared to a young Nick Drake. Zac won Blandford Battle Of The Bands by a huge margin last year. He continues to grow in stature, both as songwriter and performer. Hopefully there'll be a release sometime this year.
As Alice McLaughlin moves towards a more band orientated sound, the singer songwriter switches from her solo name to the 'nom de guerre' of Alice And The Majesty. One thing that hasn't changed is the focus as the new single, "I Could Love You" finds it's self rich in noir.
Former Humpff Family member, John Coletta has put together a trio that will allow him to take his recent solo album, "Living In Hope" on the road. Joining John will be fiddler Carol Anderson and tabla player Dave Martin. Rehearsals are under way, keep an eye on www.johncoletta.com for more details
Megson break new ground by being the first folk artists to play "Music At GMC"(Gillingham Methodist Church). Originally started back in 2004 to raise funds for a new organ, the concerts have taken on a life of their own. Until now they've been in the classical space, but are expanding to folk and jazz. Megson kick it off on March 1st.
Some what belatedly, due to a losing it under the stereo problem, we heard the Gary Fulton demo "Rosie". It prompts us to say that we are over the moon to hear that he's in the studio with producer Andy Spence. We hear tales of guest appearances from Ian Scanlan, Rob Metcalf and Laura Spence.
Ok we know it's a coincidence, but Bournemouth Folk club will be featuring a number of artists that have seen recent Fatea coverage. On the Sunday night bills during Jan/Feb are: Lou Brown, Megson, Amalthea, Kat Flint and Jonny Dickinson. If that's not a blazing start to the new year, I don't know what is.
We're already picking up on artists that are in the studio and looking to release albums next year. Andrea Soler is in the studio recording tracks for her new album. A copy of her "Better In The Sunshine" three tracker landed in our lap and it looks like good things are in store.
Word has reached the Fatea office of an expansion in the ranks of Uiscedwr. Following Anna's successful bone marrow transplant and Uiscedwr's end of year tour, a new project, The Uiscedwr Big Band will be launched onto a waiting world at Celtic Connections. Joining Anna Esslemont and Cormac Byrne will be Karen Tweed, Neil Yates, Dylan Bible and Nick Waldock. We await news of further dates.
In what appears to be a bad year for bands with the word Witch in their title, Waking The Witch have announced plans to call it a day in 2008. Runners up in the 2007 Fatea Folk Awards, Waking The Witch will be missed so please take an opportunity to see them on their farewell tour. It's not all bad news, the various band members will be continuing in music, solo and in various combinations.
Unfortunately the Witches Of Elswick have announced that once they complete the current tour they will be hanging up the broomsticks. The final gig will be at the Cumberland Arms, Byker where the whole thing started. Witchnotes and other solo projects will continue, but the Witches Of Elswick sneak back into the ether
Hoax Funeral are playing Radio Lincolnshire's Friday Night Mix on the 26th. More details on the Radio Lincolnshire website. Also they're most recent album, "Pour Away The Ocean" is now available for download through I-Tunes, Napster, Sony Music and EMI Music
Rumours have reached us that there will be a new Doghouse Roses mini album before the end of the year. This may well be followed up by a full album. The band's previous release, called Doghouse Roses came second in the Fatea Single/EP/Mini Album Award Catagory last year.
John McCusker has apparently quit the Kate Rusby Band after twelve years. It was announced at the end of the last gig of the current tour. Reports say it came out of the blue to the surprise of the audience. John and Kate had previously been married. We wish both John and Kate well with future projects
Cambridge Folk Festival has been nominated for three awards in the festival awards
Best Small Festival
Most Fan-Friendly Festival
Best Family Festival
This is the website: www.festivalawards.com Voting closes 28 October, winners announced 6 November.
Oxford Folk Festival is on the hunt for festival stewards for 2008. Oxford Folk Festival runs from the 11th to 13th of April.
You can apply online here: www.oxfordfolkfestival.com/stewards/bnbform.html