La La LA

More travels beckon as this week I'm off to LA and then it looks like I'm going back on the road as a roadie, but more news on that later.

First a round up of the last few gigs (mine for a change) which have all gone really well: last Wednesday I was in Guildford at a great bar called Fahrenheit 55 that has a great viewing area upstairs and I made full use of all my TC Helicon VoiceLive box and looper pedal during the set.

On Thursday I was up in Islington at the Edinburgh Cellars. Daniel, who promotes the Stripped Bare nights, had been let down by a couple of artists, and then on the night another had to pull out due to a death in the family! In the end there was just myself, Andy Page and my good friend CT, but we played our hearts out for the whole evening. I did two half hour sets and made use of the looper pedal again (despite a slightly dodgy PA) to entertain an increasingly enthusiastic crowd. The feedback from the evening was all really positive and I'm looking forward to getting back there soon. When I left Andy was still singing away with most of the audience joining in with his set of well performed covers!

Easter Sunday night brought me back to St. Albans were I first started out on the acoustic open mic scene. The Horn pub has just won an award as the Best Music Pub in the UK and it was fantastic to be able to use all my effects pedals with their excellent sounding PA and powerful monitors (the bits that let the artist onstage hear themselves... very important when you are building loops). The Sunday night crowd is very knowledgeable as most of them are veteran performers themselves, so it was particularly pleasing to have a good number of them come over to let me know they had enjoyed the set. Can't wait to get back there either!

Fancy hearing what everybody is talking about? Well you can tomorrow night, when I'm doing the full looping/VoiceLive show at the Powers Bar in Kilburn (332 Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, NW6 2QN), I'll be on around 8.30pm. Alternatively you can check out my videos on YouTube:

Daren's YouTube Channel

There are new videos from an exclusive Whitechapel gig going up this week and next week.

You might also be interested to know that a written piece of mine has recently been published in A3 magazine. This is available free from many London galleries, plus I have a few copies that I can post to you if you'd like one. Leave me a comment if you are interested.

Right, better get rehearsing for tomorrow!

Daren
xxx

P.S. Heading to see Fit & the Conniptions at the Abbey in Kentish Town tonight, do come along if you fancy it.

December Gigs

Hi all,

several great chances to see me play coming up in December - and help me celebrate my birthday too!

4th December, 8.00pm
The White Hart, 1 Mile End Road, Whitechapel, E1 4TP
- this is a combined open mic night and featured acts, there's always a high standard of music and this is my third appearance here. This is the best chance to see me play a full set with all the electronics, so do come along and enjoy the night. If you are an open mic performer, then get yourself on the bill too, but do mention that you've come to see me on the door.

7th December, 8.30pm
The Horn, Victoria Street, St. Albans, AL1 3TE
- a featured set at the renown St. Albans venue.

11th December, 8.30pm
Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, New Cross, London, SE15 2PA
- The Masquerade Ball - featuring Fit & The Conniptions, Jacen Bruce, Anne-Marie Sanderson, Frog Morris, Eddy Jay and others... I'll be playing a short set at the start of the night, the £5 door fee includes a buffet. Please wear a mask, prizes for the best ones.

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

Surface Unsigned Music Festival

It's not until February (date to be confirmed very shortly) but you will very shortly be able to start texting to support me. Just text "LONDON 6004" to 64343 to vote.

(You must be 16+ to vote, texts cost £1.00 plus standard network charges. Please get permission from the bill payer. Customer services: info@surfaceunsigned.co.uk or contact us on 0800 434 6076).

Have fun!

Daren
xxx

www.darencallow.co.uk

Giving Winter The Boot

Great fun at the Boot in St. Albans last night. Sean and I managed to romp our way through It's Summertime, Obsession and Do You Want To Dance. It was great to have Sean's playing and backing vocals again. It makes me hanker for having a proper band again. After the duo stuff I did All I Want Is You and I Need Your Love on my own and all the tunes seemed to go down well.

The super photos on the Blog today are by the wonderful Kris Gruber and are actually from when we played at The Horn the other week. Check out some more here. Oh, and that's Bill Johnson lurking in the background with the tambourine.

I'm looking forward to recording a couple of popular live tunes this week, so stand by for more listening pleasure.

Summertime in St. Albans

Well despite a complicated journey to St. Albans via the Eurostar terminus at St. Pancras International (really), I had a fantastic time at The Horn on Sunday. I once again welcomed in the Summer by playing It's Summertime, but this time accompanied by Sean Watkins on bass, and Bill Johnson on tambourine. I had truly forgotten how wonderful it is to perform live with other musicians (it's been a long, long time) and also to hear the crowd singing along with your song. Nothing much beats that feeling and I think we went down well. Sean and I enjoyed ourselves so much that we've decided to do it all again next Tuesday (12th Feb) at The Boot in St. Albans. So do come along an sing along once more. My friend Kris Gruber took some photographs which I will post when I have them, and thanks again to all those who sang along. I'm also hoping to do a solo performance again this Sunday at the Cross Kings in Kings Cross.

I now have my own Musician page on Facebook, so if you are a Facebook user please do drop by and add yourself as a fan.

I also notice that my plays on Last FM have gone up quite a bit in the last few months, so if you have listened to any of my tracks, and have traced me back here, please make yourself known.

Right off to practice Man In A Suitcase by The Police which is my song du jour.

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.

Normal Service Almost Resumed

I went up The Horn again the other night to see the eclectic Astral Gurus play and was happy to bump into Sean and Bill. Sean used to be the bass player in a band called Normal for which I was the second guitarist. When I left, Bill took over. Sometime after this the lead singer and creative driving force behind Normal - Stevie Simmons - died of a brain tumour. It was a sad and traumatic loss at the time and came in the midst of one of the worse periods of my life. Fortunately things have improved since then and I'm glad that Sean and I have stayed in touch. In fact Sean collaborated with me on my summertime anthem - It's Summertime - which failed to trouble the competition judges at XFM, but is now the biggest download from my website!! We have vowed to reprieve it for a live performance at The Horn in the next couple of weeks.

On top of this, Bill has an unfinished Normal song on his multitrack recorder. He's keen to finish it as a tribute to Stevie and this is a great chance for me to wheel out my electric guitar for a change. I'm looking forward to working on that too.

One last piece of news is that I have the next track in my remixing series to work on, and it's a cracker. I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with it towards the end of the week. Btw, if you are an artist looking for a re-mix of a demo, please do get in touch.

More very soon,

Dxxx

That Was The Week That Was

In no particular order:

1) I was coming off the tube at Aldgate East with Alex when I spotted a familiar face framed by white hair. He was carrying a camera and peering down the Tube tunnel, researching a new book or programme? It was the unmistakable features of Dan Cruickshank, I was almost tempted to ask for an autograph, but decided that TV Presenter-worrying is not really my style. He has the most fantastic voice.

2) I was in the ex-Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street (it's now called something utterly unmemorable) pottering about. I spotted that there was a band setting up in the music store in the basement. I was just pondering sauntering down to check them out when, amidst muted screams they began to play. It was Wet Wet Wet!

I ran out of the store.

3) I went to Paris with Peachy. Despite cold, strikes, a broken train and a very heavy bag (get a wheely case!!!) I had a relaxing and enjoyable time. The champagne was chilled, the hotel trendy, the food wonderful and the company perfect. Paris genuinely feels like a home away from home now, just a small shame that my friend P couldn't join us, despite living in Paris, she was in England for the weekend.

Doh!

4) Went along to the 10th Anniversary of the Blue Acoustic Cafe at The Horn last Wednesday. Strange evening of crazy cheering audience in the first half and crazy cheering table football players in the second half. Had to sneak out early as I didn't feel too good, but great to see Kris, Sean, Bill and plenty of familiar faces in the crowd.

That's the week that was. This weekend features a trip to Bucharest with the Pet Shop Boys. This is definitely, finally, for sure the last gig with them ever. Well alright the last gig this year anyway. I won't be spending my birthday in Moscow after all, so next week there will probably be a big PSB retrospective.

Please check out my tunes (see below) and let me know what you think.

Lots of love,

Dxxx

P.S. Check this out, very silly: http://store.shirtsofhawaii.com/tstefiuk.html

Rock 'n' Pop

Couple of chances to see me strum my stuff this week. Tonight I'm off to The Horn in St. Albans, where the music quality is varied, but usually high, and the loos have to be seen to believed! Check the picture.

On Wednesday I venture to a new venue, The Castle, in Notting Hill. (225 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, W11, Nearest tube Ladbroke Grove) I'll be on about 9pm and will be playing for 20 minutes!!

More gigs coming. Plus I've recently jammed with a new bass player who was excellent. Trying to talk my brother into drumming for us on Monday, or at least helping us find a suitable tub-thumper... very excited by this, as it will be a song-led three piece with a lot of improvisation, effects and real impact. I've been dreaming of having a band like this for a long time and it's a good feeling to know I'm close now. BTW, if you are a drummer who likes the sound of a three-piece with some adventure and experimentation thrown in (something between The Police and Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood) then get in touch!!

See you at a gig very soon,

Dxxx

The Police

Where am I? Queensbury in Harrow in a church hall. What am I doing? I'm playing live in front of an audience on electric guitar for the first time ever. It's 1986 and the song my brother and I are playing (badly, I've no doubt) is Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police. I'm playing a white Stratocaster copy through a Carlsbro amp... I really wanted a Telecaster. I fell in love with The Police when they released Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and slowly worked my way through the back catalogue. Synchronicity became my soundtrack. By 1986, mind you, The Police were nearly over. They released a remix of Don't Stand So Close to me and then split up. My first gig was a Sting gig, I wished it was The Police.

Where am I? Soho, London. What am I doing? I'm at a gallery looking at pictures taken by Andy Summers in the mid-eighties. I'm not alone, the other guy in the room is another 30-something. I feel rumbled. It's September 7th 2007. I have the Telecaster now. I can play Roxanne and Message In A Bottle. I can even play Every Breath You Take, but it's harder. I've been playing in bands for 21 years... still one thing I haven't done yet... see they guys that started it all play live.

Where am I? Twickenham Stadium. What am I doing? Well you can probably guess. It's September 8th 2007, my friends and brother are all here (somewhere) alongside 55,000 other people. On a stage, somewhere down there, a small figure walks onto a darkened stage and starts to play a gong. It's Stewart Copeland and he's closely followed onstage by Andy Summers and Sting... something I've waited 24 (ish) years for is really happening. I can't actually believe it. The crowd roar as Summers starts to play Message in a Bottle. I panic, I can't hear anything! But the crowd noise abates and I get treated to 2 hours of pop perfection. I cry. Someone buys me a drink. I start to sing along with everything. I'm pleased I know the words to some of the less well known songs. Andy Summers plays some huge guitar solos... why the fuck not. I don't care, I love it. I cry more. Somehow we get home. I don't really remember.

Where am I? The Horn in St. Albans. What am I doing? I'm on stage playing Do You Want To Dance? I improvise some lyrics from Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. It's Sept 9th. I got to do the one thing that I really wanted to do and never thought would happen. I've been through the gamut of emotions and come out singing. I don't cry. I smile and have fun. Life carries on.

Dxxx