Where Am I?

Jet lag is real - I know, I'm feeling it right now. Monday night I flew the red eye back from Newark, NY and, despite having a full row of four seats to myself, got no sleep whatsoever. I did try, but a crying baby and proximity to the loo made it impossible. Still it was a novelty to be entirely horizontal on a jet plane - now I know how the first class passengers feel (they have some very natty bed/chair type thingies these days).

New York was good fun. It was fantastic to see Alex again, and I enjoyed staying in Brooklyn and traveling around different parts of the city on the subway. I really like New York, it's probably my third favourite city in the world (after London and Paris) and particular highlights this time were walking in Brooklyn Heights (great view of Manhattan), viewing art in Chelsea (Deitch Projects is always interesting), eating in 'the only diner in LIC' (that's Long Island City of course) and catching a funky Brazilian influenced jazz band in the West Village. I have to confess that I didn't make it to any open mic nights (boo!) - preferring instead to have a break from playing - which has really energised me for more gigs here.

After arriving home on Tuesday morning I got a text from my friend Wayne reminding me that it was Hadar Manor's album launch at the 12 Bar Club that night! Well I um'd and ah'd for about half an hour before deciding that I might as well fight the fatigue and go anyway. I have to say I am very glad I did. The 12 Bar Club is a very strange venue which used to be an old forge or something, and it's very hard to see some of the acts due to the close proximity of stage and balcony. All the same it was a very special night. The warm-up acts included a bagpipe player, a harpist, and several singer-songwriters who were all excellent. Hadar sat in with most of them, and I began to wonder how her set could match up - but I needn't have worried. When she finally took to the stage with her band (a little later than advertised) they produced one of the finest live performances I think I have ever seen. With the peerless Wayne Myers on guitar and Tom Fry on bass (sorry, don't know the drummer's name, but he was excellent too - AND he had a nice hat) they were joined by a succession of other musicians. Violin, trumpet, vocals, percussion, harp, keyboards and guitar accompanied a wonderful set that covered all the emotions and was constantly entertaining.

Here are the other artists who I saw that night: Vashti Anna, Sean Taylor, Bare Hat, Judith Haustein, Wayne Myers, Diego Lavardes, Daniel Spiller & The Broken Record Project, Gemma Fuller, Tom Fry, Geoff Southall, Spencer Pierce, The Entertainment, Beth Rowley...



(Pictured are Hadar Manor, Wayne Myers on guitar, drummer in nice hat and you can just about see Tom Fry on right of the shot)

Tiredness overtook me rapidly after Hadar finished so I headed home in a drowsy (but happy) haze.

I finally fell asleep at about midnight...

...and woke up at 3pm the next afternoon!!

Somehow, despite all this sleep/music induced euphoria, I managed to practice for tonight's gig at the White Hart in Whitechapel. It's easy to get to, just take a tube to Whitechapel station, turn left as you exit and walk up to Mile End Road... the venue is upstairs. There is music tonight from 7.30pm (open mic, including my mate Ashley Cowen) and then featured acts from 9.00pm - I'm due onstage at 9.30pm and will be off half an hour later so don't be late!!

I can promise some looped delights, weird vocals and carefully crafted songs both old and new... and that's just me!

See you there.

Daren
xxx

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

The End Of The Video Quest

It's taken me nearly a month and a lot of false starts, but yesterday I finally got my first proper clip up on YouTube! You'd think it would be quite easy these days, but no! Either the video was too dark, or the music unintelligible, or the picture was the wrong format, it just seemed to be one problem after another. Yesterday I finally cracked it though, and the first of four videos from my Monkey Chews gig went on-line. Enough talking, here it is:



There will be three more videos to come, so look out for them!



Okay, I promised not to mention it again, but there are only two more days of voting left for Orange Unsigned - so please pop over and give me two more votes (one each day) - if you haven't signed up yet, it's never too late!!

http://orangeunsignedact.co.uk/acts/daren-callow



Lot's of great gigs coming up, including some out of town (Ely, St. Albans - and I'm hoping to get down to Brighton to play soon too) - for the full list go here. One in particular I'd like to draw your attention to is Thursday 25th September at the White Hart in Whitechapel (1 Mile End Road) - I played there a couple of months back and despite being hard to find (the stairs are behind two closed doors, one of which is marked Private!!!) boasts a great PA and a musician friendly atmosphere. I'm taking all my kit (weird voice box and looper included) to this one to create a big sound... hoping to video it too, so look out for that.


That's it for now,

Daren
xxx

White Noise

Three venues, three events.

Wednesday: The Blag Club in Notting Hill

A small venue hidden behind a wooden door, incongruously located next to Rymans. I'm early (as always), nervous about the new technology I'm using tonight. The soundcheck is quick, patchy, I'm not sure how it's going to sound. I have to remove all my equipment, this makes it worse, what if some important knob or switch gets knocked, some vital setting changed. I try not to worry, check out the other acts soundchecks and sit back to wait my turn to play.

The other acts do their bit - it's a hard night. The venue has bare walls, there is a birthday party in, the noise of the crowd is almost painful. It's supposed to be an acoustic venue, but the acoustics are amplifying the crowd's chatter, strangling the artists on the stage. Mentally I'm readjusting my set, putting in louder songs, resolving to stick to my guns as much as I can, use the technology. This is what I do, I've practised very hard for this moment, my 25 minutes of infamy infront of a largely indifferent group of individuals.

It's time, I move to the stage, feverishly plugging in leads, checking settings, double-checking tunings. Oh to have just a guitar and plug in and play. Too late. It strikes my frenzied brain that the electronics don't care about the crowd and their noise. The harmony voices are ready to soar above them, to follow my every utterance with a relish undimmed. The distortion pedal is ready to break up my guitar's beautiful tones, throw clipped rock notes into the space. A calm comes over me - what do I care? I have something to share. Songs based on experience, honed by a hundred performances, a thousand hours of sweaty practice. Here we go. I say something in the mic. A camera clicks in my face, the video rolls. I hit a G chord. It begins.


Thursday: The White Hart

Peace. Another upstairs room, a cool escape from the muggy Whitechapel streets. There is rain outside, I don't care. I'm onstage, playing to a hushed room. Every eye (mostly) on me, every ear sparing some listening space to hear the notes I'm creating. It's a new song. Delicate, picked guitar notes. A folky melody - not like me at all. But I play with confidence and feel relaxed. I'm relishing the silence in the room, using it, filling it. Letting notes ring longer, holding sustained notes, feeling my way. No electronics tonight, just a guitar, a voice and a tambourine. I didn't think it would be like this, I wish I had my electronics (the irony is not lost on me). It doesn't matter though, the songs work, stripped down, or padded up. The lyrics taste good on my tongue. How many hours have I worked on these lines? Every word has a value.

It's the last song, sweat pours off my face into my eye, it stings. I'm standing on one leg, playing tambourine with the other, playing guitar with both hands, singing, sweating. I close one eye, the pain doesn't go away. It's the hardest part of the simplest of songs. Try and stay with it! Try and finish well, you've worked hard. My fingers slip, but it's okay. It's near enough for rock'n'roll. I finish. I wipe my eyes dry. Sweat and tears? I leave the stage, heading towards the friendly welcoming eyes, and a slightly warm pint of Guinness. Not perfect, but still good. Deserved, I think.


Friday: Elevator Gallery

A night off. Beautiful company. A boat on the Thames, a glass of wine. A cocktail at the O2 dome, accompanied by Kylie. She's somewhere in the building, but we're in the bar. Tube - train. A lift in a warehouse, it's a performance night. There is a girl in the corridor, she's deep into a role. It's scary, too much to take. In the main space a man is playing a violin through a Heath Robinson invention, cassette tape machine innards ripped out and lashed together. Perhaps it's more Frankenstein? The noise comes down through loudspeakers in the ceiling. White noise. You can't avoid it. It's too much for tonight, too intense. We leave soon after we arrive, back into the cool air. The journey home is slightly too long. It's good to be home though. Very, very good.

Tomorrow the work starts again.

Dxxx