Rock & Yoghurt

I'm still recovering from last night (tiredness only) and what a night it was! Looking forward to seeing some pictures, but in the meantime suffice to say that we totally rocked! Haydn (Callow) was on amazing form and the set is really starting to click now. Wayne and Charlie also played their parts very well, and it was gratifying to have a number of people come up and say how much they liked it. The evening also featured songs from Jude Cowan, Theo Morris and Dave Hill; a picture of me as an evil robot (!) and a performance that involved a striptease, a long green wig and yoghurt (I kid you not!). Top night.

More music to come this weekend (see post below) - Charlie Savigar at the Camden Rock 6pm Saturday, and Charlie and me live as a duo on Sunday at the Cavendish Arms (some time after 7:45pm) - come on down and join in the fun!

Dxxx

Three Of The Best

My dad doesn't really like my band's name: Callow Youth. His surname being Callow too and the phrase being much in use when he was younger it was used to tease him and he's not forgotten it. These days nobody much knows what it means, and for my own part the fact that it was used to describe Luke Skywalker in the novel of Star Wars actually made it rather cool. So hands up, who does know what the phrase "callow youth" means? (answer at the bottom of this post). Regardless of it's meaning the name tickles me as a moniker for my band. It's very useful that it has my name in it, but the "youth" part makes me laugh every time. Not that you'd know that we've been in one or two bands before this one, we all look so fresh faced!

I'm taking my band to the Montague Arms this Thursday (8th April) for one of Frog Morris's excellent cabaret nights. This month you can also expect to see a Voice Activated Drawing Machine, the singers Jude Cowan and Dave Hill, Charlotte Young and Dr. H. Notter giving a lecture on DNA cloning techniques and (as if that weren't enough) performance art from Alex Fear. All this, plus my kick ass rock band (Haydn Callow, Wayne Myers, Daren Callow & Charlie Savigar) all for £3! It's a seriously enjoyable night and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

There are actually 3 chances to hear me play / sing this week and the band gig is just the first. Secondly I will also be appearing as a backing singer for the Charlie Savigar band at Camden Rock on Saturday (10th April) as a part of the Camden Weekend - Charlie's songs are very catchy and feature really strong melodies and harmonies - her shows at the Cafe de Paris, The Troubadour and the Bull & Gate were all excellent and very well received and this one promises to be another great show, at the family friendly time of 6pm. Check out her recently recorded songs produced by Gregg Jackman on Last FM.

Thirdly Charlie and I will also be appearing in our spanking new duo on Sunday (11th April) at The Cavendish Arms. The duo act features a combination of the best of both of our songs presented in new acoustic arrangements, with harmony vocals and percussion, plus a few surprises. We're also writing new songs and previewing new material in the duo, so you should always hear something a bit different from our band shows. Charlie and I are really excited about this collaboration and I've been told that we have real chemistry on stage (by people who really should know better, ha ha) - so do come down and check us out. This show is free, so make the most of it!

So there you go, three good reasons to leave your house and venture out into music world this week. I should also mention that I'll be using my brand new TC Helicon VoiceLive 2 at all these shows and it adds an amazing sound that will really take your breath away. Here's all the details for you:


8th April 2010 - CALLOW YOUTH (feat. Charlie Savigar)
Frog Morris presents @ THE MONTAGUE ARMS, 289 Queens Rd, London, SE14 5JN

10th April 2010 - As part of the Charlie Savigar band
Camden Weekend @ The Camden Rock, 18 Kentish Town Road, NW1 9NX (6pm)


11th April 2010 - As a duo with Charlie Savigar
The Cavendish Arms, 128 Hartington Road, London, SW8 2HJ (7.30pm)

Looking forward to seeing you and playing for you very soon.

Daren
xxx

P.S. So what does "callow youth" mean? Naive and innocent youth. So who got it right?

Meeting Bob Taylor

I've met a couple of legends of the music equipment world. I was really happy to get a signed poster of Jim Marshall OBE at a music show a few years back. Marshall amplifiers and speaker cabinets have virtually designed the way we hear and appreciate electric guitar today.

On Thursday I met a new kid on the block (relatively speaking) in the form of Robert Taylor of Taylor guitars. The event was a special Taylor presentation at Harrod's department store (some of you may have heard of it) and it was great fun to meet the man behind the guitars and try some of their new models. For those that don't know much about guitars, my acoustic guitar is a Taylor 210-E. It's one of those guitars that soundmen and audience love very much as it sounds great just plugged straight into the mixing desk. I've often loaned it to people who's guitars weren't working, or had broken a string mid-set and I've always enjoyed hearing how it sounds from the listener's point of view. It really is a great sounding guitar, and very inspiring for writing songs too as it also sounds great unplugged. Songs such as Lightkeeper and A Song About Pain were written on it, and sound at their very best played acoustically.

Charlie (Savigar) also has a Taylor guitar (see picture above, with Bob himself holding it) - a very beautiful Taylor SolidBody Classic in stunning purple flake. This is an electric guitar rather than an acoustic and it sounds great when she plays it with her band. According to the great man it is the very first one in that colour that they made, it's certainly a very special guitar. Charlie loves that colour so much that she is planning on getting an acoustic in the same purple sparkle! If you'd like to see and hear Charlie's Taylor then come along to the Camden Rock on Saturday 10th April - she's playing with her band at 6pm as part of the Camden Weekend.

I'd also like another Taylor guitar. They do some really fantastic sounding hybrid (both acoustic and electric) guitars and the one I'm after is the Taylor T5 - this amazing guitar will allow me to play both acoustic and electric sounds in the same song. It will be perfect for songs like Lightkeeper and When The Snow Fell In Denver which really need both sounds to be played at their best.

Until I have one though I'll just have to stick with my trusty Fender Telecaster (a very special guitar too) and you can hear this guitar in the flesh on Thursday 8th April with my band Callow Youth at the Montague Arms in New Cross.

See you there!

Daren
xxx

The Band Begins

It's always been a dream of mine to put a three piece band together to play the songs I've been working on for the last two years. Originally I planned to start recruiting players next year, but a chance to play a headline set at the Montague Arms brought the plans forward. So it was that two weeks of rehearsals and planning started. The first part of the planning involved working out which songs to play and then get some friends in to help play them. I'd had an idea to take the best of the acoustic arrangements that I'd been playing, and combine them with performance ideas and rock instruments.

Given that I only had a small amount of time to get a band together and limited rehearsals, I chose just five songs to play with the band and a further three to do on my own or in collaboration with other artists. My brother Haydn stepped up to play drums and percussion, Wayne Myers (of Fit & The Conniptions) agreed to play guitar and Edward Kaye took up the challenge of playing bass.

I started the set myself playing The End Of The World part I using the looper pedal and TC Helicon VoiceLive box. Then I was very fortunate that Martin White agreed to play accordion on an acoustic version of After All. Following that the band stepped up to play The Fool I Am followed by Obsession that included spoken word parts by Daniel Lehan and Frog Morris.

After the poetry it was time for the four last songs and so we played Lightkeeper, When The Snow Fell In Denver, All I Want Is You (featuring a reluctant Stuart on tambourine) and finished with a triumphant I Need Your Love. Not everything worked perfectly, for example we managed to play Denver better in the soundcheck, but we did enough to get a genuine call for an encore, we obliged with a reprise of The Fool I Am. There is still lots of room for improvement, but there was enough there to show that we had some big potential. The hope is to play with more players and finalise the line-up later this year or early next year. The next band gig will be on the 11th November at Power's Bar in Kilburn - so come on down and see the progress.

A big thank you to Haydn, Ed, Wayne, Martin, Daniel and Frog for their contributions. It's been a good start, but the future is going to be even better.

Band Debut & Faith Album Launch

Hi friends, I just wanted to let you know about two exciting events that are coming up in October.

Firstly I am very excited to announce that I am putting together a small band to play at Frog Morris Presents on the 8th October. The band will consist of my brother Haydn Callow on drums, Edward Kaye on Bass and myself on acoustic and (shock! horror!) electric guitar, also performing with us will be Wayne Myers of Fit & The Conniptions on guitar and, hopefully, Martin White on accordion. I'm particularly excited about the chance to play with my brother again, he's played with many bands including, but certainly not limited to, Honeytunnel, Damien McCabe and The Barron Knights as well as many shows, and his own jazz trio. He's also taught at Drumtech and written for Drummer and Rhythm magazine - so he certainly knows his flam from his para-diddle!

We will be playing for about 40 minutes and the set will include solo numbers, full band numbers and one or two surprises. If you can make it down then please do, it should be an excellent evening. Martin White is also doing a set and I'm sure Frog will be doing a turn or two as well. I'm hoping to video our set too, so that I can share bits on YouTube, but please do come along if you can.

You can find the Montague Arms at 289 Queens Rd, London, SE14 5JN it's very near Queens Road Peckham station and not far from New Cross. Here is a map.



The second event I want to draw your attention to is the Faith Album which is launched on the 24th October and will be available to buy from the 26th October in aid of Cystic Fibrosis. I have recorded a special, full band version of Lightkeeper for this project. The recording again features Haydn on drums and Paul Tkachenko on bass, and will only be available on this album - it will not be released in this form via any other media.

The album, signature song ‘FAITH!’ will be performed by 15 year old singer / songwriter Luke Jackson who co-wrote the song with Charlie Mason in the USA. Charlie has co-written with some of the best stars around including "Hit 'N' Run" single, Billiam the UK supernova boy band with "The Beautiful Ones” their first top 40 hit single. Charlie has also scored co-writes with, among others, PJ Bianco (who hit No. 1 with the Jonas Bros.), Aussie hit maker Hayden Bell, Johan Aberg (of Christina Aguilera fame) and Westlife producer Niklas Jarl.

The other fantastic artists featured on the album are: The Dunnos (Germany), Anders Fransson (USA), Anglo Saxon (UK), Charlie Savigar (UK), Dan Cropper (UK), Billy Page (USA), Eddy Johns (UK), Johan Nokland Lund (Norway) Unfolds (UK), Kayley Weller (UK), Mike Hirst (USA) and 11 year old Jordan Jansen (Australia).

The album will be mastered right here in the UK by Ian Thompson of White Wolf Recording, Newcastle. Ian has over 25 years experience in the music/recording industry and has recorded artists including Erasure, The New London Symphonic, Floyd2 and many chart hit artists.

Sounds pretty exciting doesn't it? The album is available for pre-order on CD already and you can do this here:

http://www.faithalbumlaunch.co.uk/

All the money raised is going to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and it's only £9.99 plus an extra £1.50 for those outside the UK. So what are you waiting for? Go order a copy or two now! Those of you on Facebook can also join the Group for the album here.

If you are in the UK, you can also come to the launch night on October 24th at the Lido in Margate, tickets are on sale now, and can also be bought from the website above. Many of the acts on the album are playing, plus some special guests and it should be a really fun evening. I can't wait - will you be there?

And as if that wasn't enough I also have many acoustic gigs coming up in London, and hopefully some full band gigs soon too. Check out all my gigs here:

29th September 2009, 8pm
Liquid Nation, 161-165 Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, London, W10 6HJ

1st October 2009
Nine Bar, 146 Tanner Street, London, SE1 2HG

8th October 2009
Frog Morris Presents:
DAREN CALLOW + FRIENDS @ The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, London, SE14 5JN

11th October 2009, 8pm
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PP

18th October 2009, 8pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, St Katherine's Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA

24th October 2009
Faith! Cystic Fibrosis charity album launch - limited tickets BOOK NOW
The Lido, Ethelbert Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RX

1st November 2009, 8pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, St Katherine's Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA

I'm also going to be hosting some nights for 15 Minute Club in Hoxton, so stay tuned for more news on all this.

See you very soon, better go prepare for tonight's gig now! Although since it's actually tomorrow (29th) I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, that's how excited I am!!

Daren
xxx

P.S. More updates on the band and all gigs on Twitter.

Seeing The Light

Technology is an amazing thing. These days I have more recording equipment and processing power available to me than many studios had in the hey-day of rock'n'roll in the 50s and 60s. Even the Beatles only had access to 4-track tape recorders in the early 1960s. My hard disk recorder can record eight inputs at a time, and play back up to 16 tracks, all in digital. To further complicate things, it also allows up to 8 takes per track. On my Apple Mac I can record as many tracks as the specification of my computer will allow. Currently the track count for my re-recording of Lightkeeper stands at 48 different "takes" on the hard disk recorder and track count on for the mix now stands at 32! It's only since the 1970s that so many tracks could be played back at mix time (on analogue tape) and, frankly, it's kind of mind-boggling.

It's further complicated by the fact that I am song-writer, guitarist, singer, studio engineer, producer and client! It's hard to step back from it all and just listen to the song and hear what it needs. This is why I've not listened to it for a day now, and will try and clear my mind before working on the mixes later this week. In case you didn't realise I'm working on this track for a charity album which will be released later this year. The album will be called "Faith" and includes a number of artists that I've seen or played with live, including Luke Jackson, Eddy Johns and Kayley Weller. It's in aid of Cystic Fibrosis and will contain 16 tracks in total. If you want to follow progress then check out their website here:

http://www.allroundmusic.co.uk/

As mentioned my own contribution will be a new (and unique) mix of Lightkeeper, featuring Haydn Callow on drums, Paul Tkachenko on bass and, err, me on everything else. This recording will exist as two mixes, one shorter one for my use on demos and a longer "album" mix just for this record. So essentially if you want to hear that mix, you will have to buy the album. You can follow my own updates on the track here or on Twitter. I will also be working of a shorter version for my own purposes, and I'll let you know as soon as you can hear this version.

In other news, last Thursday was a cracking night down at the Montague Arms again. This month's highlights included a laughing bear, a horse comedian, a real human comedian, Aaron Barschak, pie roulette and the excellent Dead Victorians. The latter featuring a unicycling violinist and the maestro Paul Tkachenko (again) this time on accordion, saw and bells!

Quite frankly a full review would be impossible, but here are some video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/user/charlotteyoung

Next one is July 9th - be there for more of the same, only different.


In the meantime, I'm playing tonight at the Abbey Tavern in Kentish Town. Full list of gigs is as follows:

15th June 2009
RAW Rocks @ The Abbey Tavern, 124 Kentish Town Rd, London, NW1 9QB

21st June 2009, open mic from 7.00pm onstage after 8.30pm
Stripped Bare @ The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London, W1G OPP

25th June 2009, open mic from 7.00pm onstage after 8.30pm
Stripped Bare @ Edinburgh Cellars, 125 Newington Green Road, Islington, N1 4RA

28th June 2009, doors 7.30pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, Unit 1 Tower Bridge House, St. Katharine Docks, E1W 1AA

1st July 2009
Stripped Bare Acoustic Productions presents:
Wood 'N' Strings @ LOOM featured act
Loom Bar, 5 Clipstone Street, London W1W 6BB


See you soon,

Daren
xxx

P.S. The picture is Paul Tkachenko (AGAIN!!) this time playing Sousaphone for the Jazz Kings as part of the Croydon Jazz & Blues Festival. He's a busy boy!

Playing Without Electricity

I have to say I really enjoy playing genuine "unplugged" gigs. I'm sure that some performers hearts sink when they see that there is no amplifier or microphone to use, but actually I find it very exciting. There is a rawness and emotional connection that you get when the music from your guitar and mouth are reaching the people sitting before you directly. It has the added advantage of meaning that the audience has to remain quiet in order to hear the songs and this allows you to use playing dynamics and your vocal range freely.

I have just done such a gig at The Jago in Shoreditch. It was an electric (!) night of spoken word, poetry and music in an intimate and enjoyable setting. I particularly enjoyed the work of John Zammit, Andreas, the singing bouncer (who came in, sung one number beautifully and then left to go back to work!), Failed Hearts (part blues, part punk - nice harp playing), Trinity (the DJ, who played real vinyl and some of my favourite tunes - Supertramp anyone?) and the co-hosts David Amery and Jazzman John Clarke. I sold a good number of CDs, including one to a lady who wanted me to sing her a cover song before parting with her cash. In the end I managed a pretty reasonable version of California Dreamin' and the deal was done. I played 6 songs in total and the night comes highly recommended: it's the first Saturday of every month (so also a rare weekend gig) and I'm back there to play again on the 4th April.

I've got some really exciting gigs coming up, in north, south, east and west London, Guildford, St. Albans and (possibly) New York. Plus, this coming Saturday is the excellent Fiestival in Chatham, Kent. Expect lots of mexican themed songs and performances and lots of latin-American themed fun. I'm also back at the Montague Arms this Thursday (12th March) - this time performing a one-off interpretation of one of Daniel Lehan's art pieces. This really is a one-off, if you are not there, you will not experience it! In fact there are so many gigs that I can't really do them justice here, and I don't always have the time to promote every gig properly, so PLEASE go to my gigs page on my website and scan the list, find one near you and COME ON DOWN!

http://www.darencallow.co.uk/gigs.html

If you haven't yet taken advantage of the free downloads from the site, then I would swing by there too and grab anything you like. I'm about to record some new songs and review what is available for free, and what I will be charging for: so get in there now!!

Have a great week.

Daren
xxx

P.S. The photograph is from the excellent Powers venue in Kilburn, I'm back there for a featured set on the 15th April. Perhaps the Angry Badger has been down that way.

What?!

I can't really describe the antics at the Montague Arms last night, and I'm quite sure you wouldn't believe me if I told you. So here's a picture instead.

Captions or suggestions at to what was happening are welcome!

Meanwhile, don't forget tonight's super gig at the River Bar, 206 - 208 Tower Bridge Road, music kicks off at 8pm. It promises to be a super night.

Daren
xxx

All Elbows And Arms

This week I played two gigs in two days. Wednesday was a last minute fill-in at the Fiddler's Elbow in Chalk Farm. I enjoy playing there as the sound is good and you actually have monitors on the stage so I can hear what I'm doing. It was a very cold night, but a good crowd came out and we had a really good evening. Had a bit of a technical disaster during Denver. There is a spot when I have to change patch on my voice processor and then sing a note and then stop playing. The idea is that the note rings out in the gap at a tempo that I've tapped in earlier (are you following this?!) I then join in playing at the same speed. Unfortunately I managed to not change the patch, so I sang the note, stopped playing and... nothing! Nightmare, still I think I got away with it. You can hear how it should sound here:

Daren's Videos

Thursday night took me to the fabulous Montague Arms in New Cross. This was the last of my birthday celebrations and boy did we celebrate in style. The event was billed as a Masquerade Ball and it was great that so many people got into the spirit and either brought masks, or made them at the craft table (pictured above). All the artists that performed were excellent: Anne-Marie Sanderson, Eddy Jay, Steve Antoni and Wayne Myers - thank you all. Many even played in masks, which is quite a feat! I didn't manage that as my mask kept hitting the microphone! My set was interrupted by the arrival of a wonderful homemade birthday cake (yes, with 40 candles!!) - thank you Victoria!! I was also somewhat spooked out by all the posters and "Daren" masks that people were wearing.

The night was capped by the arrival of Uncle Santa (Santa's lesser known reindeer loving brother) and a sing-a-long with karaoke Santa too! Quite frankly the whole evening was excellent, and it all carried on afterwards back at Frog and Vicky's place with Doctor Who and Strawberry flavoured vodka (and the world's cheapest Scotch!). If you've not yet been to 2nd Thursdays at the Montague Arms - then get along. It's every 2nd Thursday of the month and it always fun and interesting.

Don't forget to ink in 1st February for my gig in Tufnell Park - more details to follow next week and look out for some more excellent live shots from Kris Gruber.

This Sunday I'm at Prohibition for 15 Minute Club. Do come down!

Music Mayhem

This week is the last chance to officially celebrate my birthday, but what a lot of chances there are!!

First and foremost is the fantastic - Masquerade Ball at the Montague Arms in New Cross. It's part of a series of wonderful and enjoyable events that are run every 2nd Thursday in the month. This time around you need to be wearing a mask to get fully into the vibe, for those unable to organise one before the night there will be a craft table to make your own. Yes, at the Montague you really do get to be a kid again. Since this event is partly to celebrate my birthday I've chosen all the acts, so you will be able to listen to and flirt with anonymously: Fit & The Conniptions (half inscrutable Guinness slurping Wayne Myers and half hilariously self-deprecating webcomic!), Steve Antoni (singer, songwriter, guitarist, inspirational teacher and published poet), Jacen Bruce (the spirit of Rock'n'Roll incarnate), Anne-Marie Sanderson (acoustic angel of the north), Eddy Jay (talented folk picker extraordinaire), Frog Morris (he's a big Doctor Who fan y'know) and myself. Now if that line-up hasn't got you salivating then there is a buffet too! Yes, this is the place to be alright. So be there - this Thursday 11th December - kick off is around 8pm.

If you really can't make it to the masked mayhem on Thursday, then you can catch me at one of the following other gigs:

7th December, 8.30pm
The Horn, Victoria Street, St. Albans, AL1 3TE
- a return to the open mic night at this lively venue

10th December, 8.00pm
The Fiddler's Elbow, 1 Malden Road, London, NW5 3HS

11th December, 8.30pm
Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, New Cross, London, SE15 2PA
- have I mentioned this yet?

14th December, 7.30pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, St. Katherine's Docks, London, E1W 1AA

18th December, 8.00pm
The Duchess, Battersea Park
- the last Open Mic night of the year!

So there you have it. Hope to see you all at a gig very soon - I'm off to practice for my floorspot at The Horn tonight.

Daren
xx

Here There And Everywhere

This weekend brings an exciting set of gigs, a mini-tour even. It all starts this Thursday 14th when I return to the Montague Arms in New Cross for a brand new Unwrong Quiz night. For those that don't know, the Unwrong Quiz is the invention of Frog Morris and Mark Quinn and involves rounds of questions which have no wrong or right answers! Instead prizes are given for creativity and humour (the more surreal the better) - which invariably means that everyone gets a prize. It's a funny and stimulating night, and what's more you get to see me play too! I will be doing at least two regular sets and then one set of sing-a-long favourites (Angry Badger etc...) to round off the whole evening. It's all good clean fun (mostly), and should be doubly so this time as fellow Blogger - Trixie - will be there with her sisters to celebrate her birthday (perhaps some other Bloggers too). Do come along and be part of it all! The Montague Arms is at 289 Queens Road, New Cross SE15 2PA - it's £3 on the door (£2 Concessions) and entertainment starts about 8.30pm.

After I've recovered from all the mayhem, I'll be catching a train out to the wilds of Blo Norton, near Diss (not dat, diss!) for the remains of Frogstock. Which is not much after the local council got a bit fed up last time, so it's been re-christened Acoustock this year, and apparently I have to play songs in the key of D, although I forget why.

After training it back from Diss, I'll be tubing it down to London Bridge to play 15 Minutes @ Prohibition on Sunday 17th, which is certainly somewhat different from a field in Norfolk. This is a showcase night for the best in acoustic music from the capitol. I will be getting my fifteen minutes, so why not come down and take a listen. I'm taking my VoiceLive box down this time and I promise to make it an unforgettable 900 seconds. Think you've seen singer-songwriters before?! Well if you've never seen a performer play guitar and sing whilst triggering 4 part harmonies from a computer, layering loops from a phrase sampler AND playing tambourine with his foot, then you have not seen this one! Prohibtion is in St. Katherine's docks near Tower Bridge. Be there from 8pm - entry is free, and the food is good too.

As if that were not all enough, I will be capping this mini-tour off by recording it for posterity. Tuesday 19th will see me playing at Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm, where the set will be recorded and videoed, so those that can't make it will have the chance to see me on YouTube and listen on the internet. To be a part of the recording, please be at the venue by 8pm prompt! As an incentive to attend, everyone who comes will get a copy of the set on CD - bargain!

Btw, at all these gigs I will be giving out my CD samplers and taking emails for my mailing list. If you cannot make it, but would like a CD please email me (music @ darencallow . co . uk - remove the spaces!).

Somebody Loves Me

Small things mean so much when you are a musician and songwriter. This morning someone on Last FM clicked a small icon to say that they "loved" one of my tracks. Thank you Samantha829x - you made my day! Btw, the track in question was After All - which in some ways leads me nicely on to...



Farewell Peacharse

My very bestest friend (f) and the reason why I am blogging here at all, is putting down her metaphorical pen for a while. She's soon to become a mother for the very first time and, as I'm sure many of you know, becoming a parent is not easy at the best of times but has been particularly fraught for Peachy, and it's understandable that she might need a break from being the UK's 50th most influential blogger (and as if this sentence wasn't long enough already, she has also had to change job and is currently buying a new place to live - world's three most stressful things anyone?!). She has hinted that she may return with a Baby Blog, but for now farewell. I love you sweetie, thanks for introducing me to this weird and wonderful world of Weblogs - come back soooooooon! Oh, and buy her book!!!!!!

Head here to send her some love of your own: http://peacharse.blogspot.com

That's all (for now) folks!

Daren
xxx

STOP PRESS - As if that were not all enough, I have just found out this morning that on Monday I'll be performing at an ad-hoc Open Mic night for the benefit of Channel 5 cameras!! They are filming a new show called Best Friends Rehab and on the show a girl plays at an open mic night... well you get the drift. Should be on TV next year... HOW EXCITING IS THAT!!!!!!

The Summer Of Music

Much as I do enjoy the performance and art things that I get involved in, it's nice to get back to my first love from time to time. The last few weeks have been filled with playing and appreciating music of all kinds. On Thursday 3rd I headed to The Duchess in Battersea Park with my wonderful (and now glowing) friend Sarah Peach in tow. I've played a few times at this open mic night and it's always an enjoyable experience, in no small part due to the ebullient (and perhaps occasionally, slightly drunk - only slightly mind, and only occasionally) host - Will O'Durkin. For various reasons this was the last open mic night 'til September, so I really wanted to play. It turned out that one of those reasons was that Will and partner were having a baby, and as coincidence would have it, it's due on more or less the same day as Peachy's. In between the baby chat, I managed to play four tunes and was happy with how it went.

Next appointment was on Wednesday 9th when Peachy and I ventured out again, this time to the Jazz Cafe to see our friends Katrina and U'mau perform. True to form, we arrived too late to see Soul Bar, but did manage to catch a large part of the set by Tunday Akintan & The Yorubeat AllStars (catchy name that!) - who were an excellent set of funky musicians. U'mau was singing and the whole vibe was upbeat and infectious.

Thursday 10th brought a trip to New Cross for 2nd Thursdays at the Montague Arms. This evening was Ladies Night and once again the entertainment was diverse and interesting. The highlights were Holly & Jenny's montage of embarrassing situations and overhead mobile phone conversations and aerobics (highly enjoyable), Caroline De Lannoy's fragments of words and feelings to even more fragmented piano stabs (highly stimulating) and Jo Stevenson's songs and ukulele playing (highly hilarious). Her song about Hitler being her favourite dictator is a work of comic genius. Emma Leach was also giving medical advice to pub goers and performers alike, although by the time I got round to it she'd finished! I was also grilled (in the nicest possible way) by Felicity Mukherjee about safety and security in London, this might have actually been a performance art piece by Lucy Panesar, but as is often the case these days, it was kinda hard to tell. It seemed professional and off-beat enough to be entirely genuine.



Okay, slight art diversion there... back to the tunes. Sunday night saw me trekking a long way north to the Fiddler's Elbow near Chalk Farm station (how do you farm chalk exactly?). Two reasons for the trip, firstly to see my friend Johnny Ryder play (young, talented, good-looking, footloose, fancy free... ah he's just sooo like me... ha ha) play and secondly to check out the venue as I'm doing a set there myself this Wednesday (16th). Johnny was not having the best night, his acoustic guitar had given up the ghost, so he was forced to do his solo set on a borrowed electric guitar. It took him a while to warm up, but by song three he was cooking on gas. He sounds like a mixture of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Joan Armatrading, if you can imagine such a multi-headed musical beast. Following Johnny were Hedorah (sort of Garbage-lite - very pretty singer, moments of genius), Lost Gravity (lost in a rock-timewarp, the guitarist couldn't have been more Angus Young if he actually was Angus Young, and the bass player looked like an estate agent on his night off, great fun though. One of their fans had dreadlocks to his ankles, I kid you not!) and Thick As Thieves (super friendly guitarist - he loaned his guitar to Johnny - my personal favourite band of the night).

Well that's a round up of my musical week or so. My turn to play at the Fiddler's Elbow on Wednesday 16th, do come down. It's a great little rock venue, and I'm really looking forward to playing loud and unrestrained. Be there - 8pm.

Love to all,

Dxxx

P.S. Pics top: U'mau with Tunday Akintan & The Yorubeat AllStars, bottom: Johnny Ryder

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside... II

First up I must must correct an omission from the last post. One of the other pieces I saw on the first day was Serena Korda's The Library of Secrets. This is a custom made portable library that looks like it was made in the 60s, the idea is that you select a book, and then write a secret and place it amongst the pages of the book, for someone to discover another time. I really like this idea, as I love discovering things left in books (plus I've also taken to leaving my gig flyers in appropriate books, as a random way of meeting new fans... possibly). I actually met Serena at the Seaside Cabaret and it turns out she's from the Harrow area where I used to live. She has a piece on Stanmore Station platform at the moment.

On with Sunday at Whitstable then. After a less than restful night at the artist house (the sound of hoovering at one in the morning turned out to be a pump for inflating blow-up beds!!), we headed back to the seaside for some lunch. Since this is the coast it was seafood we were after and we were not disappointed. We went to the Pearsons Arms and enjoyed a fine lunch of potted shrimp, scallops and local fish in the company of Vic Reeves (well he was in the restaurant at the same time as us, so that must count).

In the afternoon I caught some more video projections at the local museum (I saw the end of a Paul MaCarthy piece, I think) and the tail end of the Whitstable Tourist Board's tour of Whitstable Art, which it seems most people where not sure if it was a spoof or not. Since it was listed under the performance art pieces, I guess it must have been!

The Unwrong Quiz

A brief rest and a shower later and it was time to make my way back to The Smack to set up for the Unwrong Quiz. This is a format developed by Frog Morris and Mark Quinn which follows the standard pub quiz format except for the fact that there are no wrong or right answers. Creativity and originality rule the day and the answers are often very funny. In the company of many of the day's performers and artists the routine is to ask about 5 questions and then while Frog and Mark go through the answers I play some songs. An added twist this time around is that due to the nice weather we started out in the beer garden, so I did my first outdoor show for a while. Some of the songs are better suited to being al fresco than others, so I had to shift the set around to accommodate this situation. I was a little frustrated to start with as I'd brought all my clever kit with me to allow me to do harmonies, effects and loops and playing in the garden kinda prevented me from using them. I kept willing the weather to turn cold so we could all head indoors.

After three or four rounds (I won a set of emergency blankets!) we finally decamped to the warmth of the pub and I was able to use the equipment I'd brought with me. This produced a few nerves, but I feel that my first ever use of the VoiceLive box for my songs live went well. Even the use of the looper at the end of When The Snow Fell In Denver, which calls for accurate foot stamping whilst playing, went well. I can't wait to make use of this kit at full volume for a proper set, roll on The Fiddler's Elbow on the 16th... should be an exciting night! Despite the two location gig and the amount of kit involved I only repeated one song, which was I Need Your Love, this one works well both on it's own and with effects and harmonies, so I felt it deserved a reprise.

The final act of the evening was the sing-a-long, which we've been perfecting at the Montague Arms. We now have giant songsheets as well as handouts, so there is no excuse for people not joining in. First up was It's Summertime (which you can download here if you'd like to hear it) with harmonies and a delay effect it was a big sound and people certainly sang along with gusto. Finally another rousing chorus of Angry Badger (it's not my song... Frog maintains it's a traditional folk tune that he's arranged, but I'm not so sure... you can download a version from here if you'd like to check it out for yourself) wrapped the evening up - I even managed to play the chorus right and add the voice of doom!



So that was it, Whitstable was over for us and all that was left to do was pack the van and head back to the big smoke. If any of this sounds like your sort of thing, then do come down to Second Thursdays at the Montague Arms in New Cross (every 2nd Thursday of the month, next one is Ladies Night on the 10th July) or one of my gigs - next one is 16th July at The Fiddler's Elbow in Chalk Farm.

See you soon!

Dxxx

Princess Penang And A Very Angry Badger

We're mad we are... Thursday night was another great fun event. It was Old Chap evening at the Montague Arms, and many a fine moustache was seen paraded in this truly unique venue. Frog Morris kicked the night off with some readings from a particularly spooky looking pulpit. He was followed by Will Noble on piano and Daniel Lehan reading from his childhood diaries (1957 - 1972). Following on from that it was my turn to entertain. With Frog pointing to lyrics pinned to a coffin lid (don't ask, I have no idea where they got it from) I proceeded to lead the crowd in a rousing chorus or two of It's Summertime. After that was the world debut of my version of the well known folk tune - Angry Badger (Arr. Frog Morris) - with increasing amounts of chaos I used my VoiceLive processor to add choruses of mice, and a doom-laden deep voice for the final line of the last verse! This is all a bit different from what I usually do, but great fun, in fact I had to stop myself laughing from the stage as it descended into farce towards the end.

If this wasn't enough - Princess Penang (Alex Staiger) was also in the house... healing people and providing advice and therapy from her stall. Amongst the items she uses are a yellow lollipop, a toy cow that poops jellybeans, marshmallows (for sculptures) and a strap-on phalus (a symbol of luck and fertility, so I'm told). Many people were healed during the night, and the picture shows the Princess listening to Frog's heartbeat during a comprehensive physical examination. Sound like fun? Well it was and we'll be doing most of it again, plus more in Whitstable Biennale during the weekend of 28th-29th June... do come along and join in.

The evening was wrapped up by Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer... who previewed new songs for us. Tell me, where else can you get that much entertainment for £3?!



Other news... Many thanks to Giggles! for a great review of my CD on her blog, I'm still happy to send a CD to anyone who would like one... click here for details.

Don't forget I'm playing tomorrow 15th June 2008, 7.00pm at the 15 Minute Club @ Prohibition Bar & Grill, Unit 1 Tower Bridge House, St. Katharine Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA. I'll have some CDs with me for everyone who'd like one, so that's another extra reason for coming along.

More news soon! Have fun,

Dxxx

Come On Chaps

Tonight will be another of those fun nights at The Montague Arms in New Cross. It's Old Chap Evening tonight and the featured acts include Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer (a hilarious take on rap songs, but done in the Queen's english!), Daniel Lehan and Will Noble. I have a cameo part too as I will be performing a sing-a-long of my track It's Summertime alongside Frog Morris, who will be conducting and leading the rousing choruses! We're also planning to debut the sing-a-long version of Angry Badger, so make sure you are there nice and early. Oh, and I almost forgot, technical issues permitting, I should also be debuting my TC Helicon VoiceLive processor tonight... no idea what I'm on about? Well come down and find out.

Also making a rare appearance will be the amazing Princess Penang (Alex Staiger) - a therapist and self-help guru, who cures all ills through the use of lollipops, balloons, marshmallows and trampolining to heavy metal riffs. Got a life issue you need help with? Then come along and let the princess heal you!! Her "Old Chap" will be making an appearance too... it's an unmissable night!!

On Tuesday I played a new open mic night at the Bunch Of Grapes in London Bridge. It was a (depressingly) excellent evening with many, many acts from the UK and further afield shining for just two songs each. I especially enjoyed Eddy Jay and Jo Faith amongst so many other great acts. The featured artist was NY born Bill Grady, who was a spell-binding mix of Paul Simon and Jason Mraz... fantastic lyrics, well delivered, definitely one to watch! Nice guy too, who was working his way through the English bitters... glad I was sticking to the Guiness!!

DON'T FORGET

My next gig is this Sunday 15th at Prohibition Bar & Grill in St. Katherine's Dock, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA - be there from 7.00pm to catch a great set.

You can now buy You're Not Alone from Lulu - it features one of my written pieces (previously unpublished) and 105 other bloggers. It's in aid of charity too, so buy a copy for all your friends!!

Dxxx

Art Art Art... oh, and Music

On Thursday I ventured up to Bethnal Green to the first birthday bash of Art Art Art. This was at the VINEspace gallery in Vyner St and was another eye-opening event. Chief amongst the highlights were Lee Campbell sticking Evening Standard posters to the wall whilst playing What A Wonderful World This Would Be, then chanting the headlines and shouting into the world's worst megaphone before setting off down the road on a one man protest, shouting Down Down! I also really enjoyed the performance from Holly Darton and Jenny Hunt, which was practically indescribable, but featured dance moves, exercises, overheard phone conversations and party poppers!

After some delicious cake the main events were over, but as we loitered outside the Victory pub it turned out there was one more piece to view. Broadcast live from the Bun House pub in Peckham onto a screen in the pub was what could only be described as a female crotch shot. We discussed what it could be, was she about to give birth, or was it porn masquerading as art?! The answer turned out to be that that it was a close-up of a life drawing class as was soon revealed when the camera changed shot.

Megaphones, cake, party poppers and naked models... that's what I want for MY birthday dammit.

Anyway, in other news... do stop by Global Icon and rate my tune The Fool I Am, which is currently lying at number 108 (hopefully not out of 108!!!!) in the Pop & Rock competition.

If you've not yet had the indubitable pleasure of singing along to It's Summertime... your next chance will be Thursday 12th June at the Montague Arms as part of the Old Chaps evening - featuring the sublime Mr B the Gentleman Rapper.

I've also been practicing very hard for the Blag Club gig on the 28th May, do come along as I think there will be a good crowd and I'm hoping to put on a really good show. Oh, and don't forget to email me if you want a free CD!!

Love to all,

Daren
xx

EXTRA

You can now check out highlights of the evening on video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPuSK0yT3WA

Round 'Em Up

It's been a busy week. After my podcast debut on Sunday I ventured out to Kentish Town on Tuesday to see three excellent bands at the Bullet Bar: My Federation (very tight performance and some interesting hooks - very silly website too, check it out), Drookit Dogs (bags of raw punk energy and attitude) and perennial favourites Fit And The Conniptions (Wayne has been having a tough time busking and broke a string in this gig so do visit his website, download a song or two and lend him your support).

Friday saw another trip to the Montague Arms in New Cross. This time as the filler in a rather odd pub quiz sandwich. It was strange to play to the drunken Friday night crowd rather than the (more attentive) 2nd Thursday's art crowd. There was a fair bit of heckling, but thanks to the two girls, Mark's friend and the sound guy who led a clapping fightback from the front. I actually enjoyed it immensely and played a full set comprising:

All I Want Is You
Lullabies From The Wheels Of the Bus
Obsession
Minneapolis. Hungover. Tired. Awake (complete with vintage Boss BF-2 Flanger!)
Do You Want To Dance?
Vulnerable
I Need Your Love

Thanks again to Frog Morris and Mark for letting me play, looking forward to the next one.

Next on my to-do list is to record some stings for broadcast on NAB - "My name is Daren Callow and you are listening to NAB radio..."

I'm also heading to St. Albans again this Sunday for a floorspot at The Horn and next Thursday I'm at Finnigans Wake in Ealing. See you there!

P.S. I am desperately looking for a bass player and drummer to become permanent band members, check out the Gumtree ad here and pass the word on.

Extra Fun At The Montague Arms

Someone worked out that January had an extra Thursday, so Frog Morris and the 2nd Thursday's crew trooped down again to run the Unwrong Pub Quiz. This was similar to a normal pub quiz except that there were no wrong or right answers, surrealism and creativity would win prizes! It was also accompanied by some suitably otherworldy music.

I was the light relief whilst the questions were marked. I'd noticed recently that annual events are happening earlier and earlier these days. For example, Christmas starts around the middle of September and Easter eggs often make it into the January sales these days. With that in mind I decided to have a sing-along of my Summer anthem to welcome THE START OF SUMMER!! The weather did it's part too, with the worst weather of the year so far. Perfect English Summer conditions, as if to re-inforce my point. I printed up some lyric sheets and encouraged the (admittedly small) crowd to sing along, which they did with gusto!! So well done to everyone there for a very fun evening. I'm doing the Summertime sing-along again at The Horn this Sunday, so do come along and join in.

As far as the quiz went there were prizes for everyone. I won a laser pointer for my answer to the question "Discuss?" when I drew a picture of a discus. Although co-host Mark though it was a UFO. He had a point. I'm disappointed I didn't win anything for guessing the question to the answer "Norway". I wrote "Complete the well known Frank Sinatra song; I did it _______". Geddit?

I was so enjoying the evening that I forgot to get any pictures. Ah well.

First Gigs Of The Year

Thursday 31st January - The Montague Arms
289 Queens Road, New Cross SE15 2PA

Someone spotted that January has an extra Thursday this year, so the 2nd Thursday's crowd are back with the Unwrong Quiz Night, along with comedy, art and music (not necessarily in that order). Since all the yearly events (e.g. Christmas, Easter, etc...) are happening earlier and earlier every year, I thought I'd welcome the Summer with my summertime smash: It's Summertime


Sunday 3rd February - The Horn, St. Albans

A cheeky floorspot at the popular Sunday night in St. Albans. This time reprising It's Summertime with original bass player - Sean Watkins. Anyone fancy playing drums for us?! Lyric sheets will be available for a mass sing-a-long.

Wot A Laugh

I played at the Montague Arms in New Cross on Thursday at a new event of art, music and poetry called SECOND THURSDAYS. It was hosted by Frog Morris and the atmosphere was friendly and eccentric. The bar itself has a plethora of eclectic knick-knacks, mostly of a boating nature. Any place that has a Penny Farthing as a railing and a huge model boat over the bar gets my vote any day.

I did a small set first a the main act had pulled out, playing songs from my Lullabies album.

Next up was Frog Morris doing his excellent stand-up routine, I greatly enjoyed his new take on the Spanish Armada and the poems/songs The Angry Badger and I Was The Pig Semen Delivery Man were familiar favourites.
http://www.frogmorris.net

After Frog we had a debut performance from Fred - Sweden's guitar playing answer to David Beckham. He'd never performed on his own before, and it showed, but he won the audience over with his perseverance and pluck.
http://ateljen.50megs.com/

Then it was the turn of Victor Mount, with his guitars, kick drum and violin!! He kept forgetting the words to the songs and then interrupting his own performance to tell anecdotes. Very funny.

Finally I took the stage again to play a selection of my other songs and the evening was over. It all went very smoothly and the venue is a really fun place to play. Looking forward to the next on on December 13th.

Dxxx