Oli Brown & Jonathon Ross

Ok, so this was random and not something I'd normally do out of respect for celebs' privacy, but...

Last night I ran into Jonathon Ross plus wife at a book reading by David Sedaris. When I saw Mr Ross I remembered that the Oli Brown Band were trying to get on his show a while back and so, before I knew it, I did the unthinkable, briefly stopped the man and, passing him a note with the band's name on, I urged him to check them out...

Now, he did say that his show really didn't do blues, but you never know. Maybe he'll get curious about the name scrawled on the back of a lunch receipt and take a look.

Their second album is coming out soon and hopefully they'll do sone shows to promote it. If you like fiery blues guitar in the SRV vein (amongst others), do try to catch one of their shows!

Summer In The City

...what happened to Spring?!



It seems like summer has arrived in London. The weekend saw soaring temperatures, loads of lobster tans and drunken revellers spilling out of every pub in the land. The capital was packed, both with tourists and winter-weary locals stumbling, blinking into the fierce sunlight.

We were celebrating the completion of Tim's last big paper of this term. Something like eighteen thousand words. Still a couple of exams and a short paper to do, but the end of this year's study is in sight. Alcohol was drunk. Lots of it.

It was also a weekend of walking, culminating an afternoon stroll from Old Spitalfields Market, past London Wall, Moorgate, St Paul's, up High Hoburn, through Soho and on to Picadilly Circus and Haymarket. Total distance? Something like 4 miles (and two beers). Sometimes it's nice to abandon public transport and rely on Shanks's Pony to get from A to B. You see so much that you would ordinarily miss when trapped in a bus or on the tube. It reconnects you to the city.

What of The Project? Not much progress. The physical need to be out in the sun took precedence over playing guitar. I did swing by Studio Lounge on Borough High Street but didn't go in. I'll admit that I was intimidated by the place's blacked-out windows and no obvious point of entry. It was Friday night, I was headed to meet Tim's class at the pub and I used that as an excuse not to ring the doorbell. Next time, eh?

Oh, and last but not least, The Oli Brown Band have released their debut CD, "Open Road" on Ruf Records. There's a complete track listing on their website. I was very pleased to see that they've included all my favourite tracks from their recent shows, including a cover of Ram Jam's "Black Betty" which they just tore up live onstage. I have, of course, ordered a copy of the album and will give you guys a full review as and when it arrives. I'm really curious to see how the backing of a label will have changed the sound of their studio produced material. Very exciting times for the band, I'm sure!

Oli Brown Band & XtremeMac MicroMemo Reviews

As expected, Oli Brown and the band were great.



The power trio played a double set of original material with the occasional cover thrown in for good measure (including a storming "Black Betty" by Ram Jam - good to hear that one live again!)

I'll be buying their debut album when it comes out later this month. I'll let you all know how it stacks up against their live performances.

In other news, the XtremeMac Micromemo for iPod arrived on Saturday. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of the recording. The mic it comes with is slightly hissy, but hey, you can fix that with a filter. The digital recording itself is flawless and it's really easy to use through the iPod menu and iTunes.

As a demo, I learnt, recorded and mixed the following version of Matt Nathanson's "Angel" in literally an hour or so, exclusively using the iPod recorder. Please forgive the vocals (I told you I can't sing)...

Upcoming Gig: The Oli Brown Band

I didn't start this blog as a way to plug other bands, but hey, why not..?

I've mentioned these guys before as they were supposed to be supporting Jeff Healey in London. Since Jeff passed away recently, that gig obviously fell through.

Pete Feenstra, a local champion of real live music, has booked the Oli Brown Band to play at the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill on Saturday the 12th April 2008. They'll be previewing their debut album on Ruf Records. The Oli Brown band are a young power trio (guitar, bass and drums), hailing from Norfolk, UK. Not really the home of the blues but don't let that put you off. These guys WAIL!

Hopefully the band won't mind me quoting from their website:

"Oli has played guitar since the age of 12. His first main influence in guitar work was Jimi Hendrix. Blues initially was a genre of music for him to solo over and he didn’t take the time to understand its meaning. In 2005, when invited to the States to guest with American Blues band Blinddog Smokin’, he learned about stage performance [...] From the America tours every summer with Blinddog Smokin' he managed to open for artists such as Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Delbert McClinton, Koko Taylor, Eric Sardinas and many others. Back in England. Oli has had the pleasure of playing alongside John Mayall, Walter Trout, Aynsley Lister, Ian Parker and others."

I saw the boys open for Devon Allman's Honeytribe at the same 'intimate' venue and they tore the house down. Anyone in the London area who's into the blues? I strongly suggest you check them out.

Tickets are available here, and cost £8 in advance or £10 on the door.