Exciting Times

There are quite a few exciting things happening behind the scenes: a new band, some new songs, gigs further afield in the UK and Europe and even a new guitar. But these are all for the future, in the present there are two really exciting musical projects to savour. Firstly my duo with Charlie Savigar is starting to attract attention and fans, we're expecting the crowd to continue to grow. Do come and check us out as soon as you can, there are lots of chances coming up (check on MySpace for a full list). Secondly my new band (Callow Youth) continues to get rave reviews and we're getting tighter all the time as we really start to know the songs, and get into the live vibe.

Here are the next three chances to hear me play, do come along to one or more!

Daren Callow & Charlie Savigar
Sunday 25th April, 8pm
The Torriano, 71-73, Torriano Avenue, London, NW5 2SG

Hosting 15 Minute Club (with a short set from Daren & Charlie)
Wednesday 28th April, 8pm
The Hoxton Pony, 104-108 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3AH

Callow Youth (band featuring Haydn Callow, Wayne Myers and Charlie Savigar)
Wednesday 12th May, 8.30pm
Elixir Bar, 162 Eversholt Street, London, NW1 1BL

Catch you later,

Daren
xxx

Photo is from Charlie Savigar at the Camden Rock taken by Annelie Rosencrantz. Check out more pictures from this gig on Charlie's redesigned website: www.charliesavigar.com

Obsession

It's been a month of real highs and occasional lows. I've had some great gigs and some ordinary ones, but the good ones are outweighing the others. The band gigs have been especially enjoyable. Last week on the 23rd we played at Power's Bar again and it was a tough gig to play with the audience either a) not being into us or b) not being there. But we still played our best gig yet. Haydn was on sensational form and Wayne too (despite a trapped nerve in his shoulder). We played like there were a couple of thousand people there to see us, rather than the dozen or so that were left by the end. That is, after all, how you should play every gig, so we felt good and energised if just faintly disappointed that we didn't get a bigger crowd. It was a quiet time of year anyway, so we're expecting better things in 2010.

Which brings me on to plug our two next gigs, which are both really exciting. Firstly we'll be at THE WHITE HART, Whitechapel (Mile End Road) on the 21st January. We are the only band on, so will be using Haydn's full kit again and really looking forward to it. The gig is upstairs, and we will be on between 9.30pm and 10pm, so plenty of time to come down after work. Do come along if you can.

Then on the 16th March we have a really excellent line-up for you at the TROUBADOUR in Earl's Court. We will be headlining, and the other acts will be Charlie Savigar and the 15 year old singing sensation - Luke Jackson. We are really hoping that Frog Morris will be able to be the host and perform sketches and poetry and there will be one more opening act. This night is NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!! You've had plenty of warning, so get it in your diary now, and make sure you are there.

Meanwhile my solo gigs continue. Best way to see those is to check out my website:

Gig List

I'll try and do another post early in 2010, but for now, I'd like to wish you a fantastic and music filled 2010. Make sure you get to see as many bands as possible and support unsigned and up-and-coming bands.

All the best!

Daren
xxx

Callow Youth - 11th November

With great excitement I can announce that my new band will be called Callow Youth. The band is myself on guitar and vocals, Haydn Callow on drums and percussion and Wayne Myers on bass.

Out first gig will be at Power's Bar, Kilburn on the 11th November.

There will be more news and a website coming soon. But for now, stay tuned to this Blog for all the latest recording and live news.

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.