Tales of New Albion

Steampunk Reading - photo: Jeanette Macklin

Greetings! It's been a little while since I last posted a Blog, but rest-assured I've been busy in the meantime.  I've been working away on writing, and performing, a series of Steampunk short stories - entitled Tales of New Albion - which I'm looking to eventually turn into an illustrated book.

Topics covered in the stories so far include, time travel, a giant restaurant complex and strange and mysterious goings on.  All with a little bit of humour thrown in.  I've really enjoyed reading them at various Steampunk events and I'm always looking for more chances to share them, so if you are running a Steampunk themed soiree and would like me to come and read, them please do get in touch.

You can now own a signed copy of my stories for a mere £1 per story (including postage and packing) - there are five titles so far and more coming.  As a bonus each copy of a story bought will count towards a 5% discount off the printed book once it arrives.  In other words if you buy 20 copies of stories you will get the book for free!  A great offer I'm sure you will agree.  I'm hoping that the illustrations for the book will be provided by the wonderful Frog Morris, so it should be most splendid.  You can pay for these stories by either cheque or PayPal - please drop me a line or leave a comment below for more details.

Here are a few comments about the stories that I've received so far:

"I enjoyed all of them immensely and would willingly read more of your writings if you have any?! 

They are all great fun and I found myself speed-reading them as I wanted to find out what was going to happen!" - Brian Hurrell

"It was a great story. Made even better by your superb delivery. I thoroughly enjoyed it." - Steampunkdj.co.uk

So that's the basic information, stand by for more news of readings and also details of some of the stories to whet your appetite - you may already have seem the first one - Futureshock!

Next reading: Steampunk Convivial 30th / 31st July (but more dates to follow)

Photograph by Jeanette Macklin

God of Fire, Queen of the Skies

Those that know me well may have noticed that recently I’ve become more than a little obsessed. Something has eked into my consciousness in a way that I’ve not known in many years. It has got to a point where I am now urgently checking maps, Twitter and phone apps to see if I can get another glimpse of her doing what she does best. I’ve been booking tickets to shows and glancing out of windows at random times, just in case she hoves into view.

I did catch a fleeting view of her from my garden a few weeks back and ended up calling out her name and pointing like an 8-year-old child. It's even got to the point that friends started to notice my feverish obsession and tried to sate my desire with pictures from magazines and books with lavish photo spreads.

My first attempt to see her put on a display was thwarted by a tragic and horrific accident only four miles from my house. Despite the terrible nature of it all and my deep sadness for those affected, a small part of my heart was aching that I wouldn’t get to see her in all her glory. 2015 is her swansong, her last season; perhaps every opportunity would somehow slip (or be unseemly ripped) from my fingers?

Finally, yesterday in drizzly Dunsfold I got to see her distinctive silhouette appear and my heart gave a little leap. Have you guessed what my object of my affection is yet? (No cheating now) Well here are some clues: she was born in 1960 (although her sisters appeared from 1952 onwards) weighs in at a mind-boggling 205,000 lbs, is 99 ft and 11in long and 111 ft wide and can shift this bulk at nearly the speed of sound. She is the last flying member of the Britain’s V-Bomber force, a guardian angel once ready at a few minutes notice to deliver the A-bomb in our name – she is Avro Vulcan XH558.

Few other planes have such a distinctive visage that the mere sight of them in the distance is enough to raise your heartbeat a notch or two. Avro’s other awesome creation (a mere 11 years before the Vulcan) the Lancaster has is, Concorde had it and (a step or two down) the marvellous pairing of Eurofighter Typhoon and Supermarine Spitfire at this year’s air shows has it. But for me the queen of the skies will always be the Vulcan.

It's sobering to think that only a few decades ago and armed with exotic, toxic and lethal loads with enigmatic names like Yellow Sun and Blue Steel these great dinosaurs of the air were a familiar sight in the skies over the airfields of Britain. Now she seems like a ghostly reminder of a time when engineering in Britain was state-of-the-art and nuclear oblivion was a very real fear for everyone. But what a ghost; arcing and banking and roaring her way past overhead. With a grace and power that belie her bulk. The display was simple yet magnificent. We saw her fly past undercarriage down, bomb bay open – she doesn’t have many tricks, but the few she has are so chest-thumpingly loud and so gob-smackingly graceful that it literally took my breath away.

When she finally turned that unique delta-wing profile heavenwards and gunned her four Roll-Royce Olympus engines one last time to power climb away I definitely felt a tear in my eye and a pang in my heart. You’ll forgive me, perhaps, if I eulogise just a little. She is one of the most beautiful things I have ever had the privilege to see, right up there with all the memories that will burn the longest in my retinas. It’s an incredible tribute to all those who designed, flew and restored her that she still steals the show wherever she goes.

Don’t miss this last chance to catch a glimpse. At the end of this year she’ll stop flying forever, so do not hesitate. I for one am glad to have made her acquaintance, but if I can figure out one last chance to gaze wide eyed and open mouthed, then believe me, I’ll be there.

Surrey Steampunk Convivial IV

So what exactly is Steampunk? Well that’s kind of hard to say, but believe me you’ll know it when you see it. From my limited exposure to it I would describe it as a revisionist alternative future dreamed up from the mind of HG Wells and other authors of the period. Imagine the future as the Victorian eccentrics would have envisioned it. Madcap inventors, fearless explorers, quintessentially English nutters and so forth. In practice it’s a great excuse to dress up, not that we seem to need one. Costumes are lovingly crafted from a combination of theatre costumes, dressing up boxes and antique shops. Top hats must have elegantly worked bronze goggles; cuff-links and watches must be elaborate and needlessly complex. Skirts could be voluminous or airforce sharp depending on your preference, ray guns sit alongside blunderbusses to repel imminent alien invasion. The transport of choice is the propeller-powered airship, or the flying steam train. Are you getting the picture yet?

With all this in mind it was particularly surprising to me to wake up one morning with a fully formed Steampunk short story bubbling up in my mind like some mad professor's laboratory experiment. But what to do with such a volatile thing? Well there seemed to be no other possible course available to me other than to write the darn thing down and then find a suitable Steampunk convention at which to unleash it on a unsuspecting public. But where would one find such a thing?

Step forward the Surrey Steampunk Convivial, brain child of one Ben Henderson (who directed, shot and edited Charlie’s Superbad video and who is pictured centre above) amongst others and now a regular date on the Steampunk calendar. Said event it now bi-annual or is that twice a year? Well whichever is more often, which is the latter, I think. So, missive in hand fresh off the coal-powered steam typewriter, I duly presented myself at the first Convivial of 2015 (on 22nd February) somewhat nervous as to how I might be received. I shouldn’t have worried after all, it wasn’t called a Convivial for nothing, oh deary me no! Barely had I set foot over the threshold when I was engaged in a friendly game of Jenga with complete strangers, complete with an fascinating discussion of the merits of three legged tables of the kind with an additional appendage. This was fairly typical of a wonderful and most excellent day that included some rather marvellous models in the Steampunk museum (pictures above and below), pop-up shops of wonder and bric-a-brac to peruse. Costumes of eccentric invention caught the eye at every turn. I was glad that my story reading was pretty much the first thing on the agenda, allowing me a chance to relax following my performance and enjoy the many splendid wonders on offer. Chief amongst my favourite events of the day were a performance from the ever splendid Dead Victorians (bit of a throwback here, but Paul Tkachenko aka The Maestro from the DVs played bass on my original recording of Lightkeeper), who entertained with some of the rudest and non-PC music hall numbers you could care to hear.

I also particularly enjoyed what is possibly the zenith of eccentricity – Tea Duelling! This turns out to be an archaic ritual basically consisting of dunking biscuits into cups of Earl Grey and attempting to out-wit your opponent by holding your nerve (and your biscuit) and consuming it whole before it crumbles. Yes it is as mad as it sounds. The prize for this worthy pursuit was the Nonsuch ashes (a burnt teabag) – but it was contested all the vigour and rivalry of chess grandmasters going head-to-head. In the end a Baron Munchausen look-a-like won the day, which seemed entirely fitting.

Following this there were other entertaining turns of opera singers, story-tellers and more musicians, and in the end I was sad to depart into the cold Surrey evening. Hopefully this humble description has whetted your appetite for what is fast becoming a national pastime. Perhaps you’d care to attend the next instalment; which is on 22nd and 23rd August. perhaps you’d also like to read my story. Well check out the first chapter here (drop me a line to get a copy of the whole thing) and let me know what you thought of the whole whizzo prang.

TTFN old thing.

Tales of New Albion: Future Shock

[This is the first chapter of a new Steampunk Sci-Fi short story that I will be reading in full at the Surrey Steampunk Convivial IV - at The Royal Oak, New Malden on Sunday 22nd February, 11:30am.]

Little could they have known, as our protagonists were collected two by two in Sir Grenville Lushthorpe’s belching steam coach, the sheer scale of the imminent disaster they were about to inflict upon an unsuspecting metropolis that very night.
First to be embarked were Philby the callow, cheap-suited journalist and Ellen Hall the fearless explorer ravishing in black leather jacket and khaki jodhpurs.
‘Some wheeze eh?’ she remarked leaping aboard, Philby did not reply, brushing his hair sheepishly from his eyes as he clambered after her notebook and pencil clamped in sweaty hands. The charabanc lurched on with an unseemly belch of acrid grey smoke; the city’s streets dimly lit by flickering ochre gas lamps, and an early evening mist settling in every gutter and back alley.
Onwards, onwards to Bankside, where the river was at full swell, foaming angrily at the sides of the embankment. Here they halted again to collect First Lord of the Admiralty Cuthbert and his good lady wife Eliza, in high spirits following a belly-filling luncheon at the Conway Club.
‘Well, well, well,’ he muttered, doffing his hat to Ellen as he squeezed his well-proportioned frame through the ornate door of the iron coach. He nodded, without really looking, at Philby and sat himself in the front most seat. ‘A right escapade and no mistake.’ Eliza was barely seated before the coach jerked on its way to collect the final witnesses of that fateful, fearful night.
Eyebrows were raised (not for the last time) across the motley crew as the last rendezvous turned out to be the ‘Minster itself, as the PM, no less, accompanied only by his Special Branch man (scandalously the scrupulously god-fearing politician had no wife) stood impatiently under the nominated lamppost.
‘What devilry do you think Lushthorpe has in store for us tonight, eh?’ ventured the PM (somewhat nervously) to no one in particular as each acknowledged the other and the final leg of their night’s adventure, some would say misadventure, began. By this time the mists were gathering into fog, but the coach had a good many modern arc lights and the pilot knew his business. Thankfully for the backsides of all in the jalopy the clanking, steaming drive to Sir Lushthorpe’s east end laboratory was made in good time and Cuthbert snored only the once.

Copyright Daren Callow 2015

Star Battles 2014

[These are the new chapters of my sci-fi story written for the Daren Callow V. Nazi Robots exhibition which is at The Kitchen Window Gallery until 28th November]

1

Rewind.

I have a memory. It’s a beautiful autumn evening, the sort of wonderful reddish brown light you only find in England. I’m moving backwards. There is a broken teacup, pretty fine porcelain, a shard lying on the ground, I can’t pick it up I’m still moving backwards. The light is just so wonderful, auburn evening hues. I’m rounding a corner; there is a flash of light. The cup is broken in my hand: hot, brown liquid seeps through my fingers. The edges of the broken cup look so beautiful, crisp and white in this light.

Forward.

A man appears around the corner. Bowler hat, dark trench coat, official looking moustache; he moves purposefully in an odd slow motion. He reaches inside his coat and pulls out a broom handle Mauser and starts firing. I see the shell cases ejecting, pulsing flashes of stark light. The teacup in my hand fractures and falls apart at half speed. Another shot, I’m moving. I don’t think I’m hit; my only thought is to get around the corner, out of line of sight. The cup is gone, it’s a shame I think. The light is just so exquisite. The moustache is still advancing, firing, but he’s lost me. I made it around the corner and I’m gone. Just the wonderful dusk light and the piece of the broken teacup.

Play.

2

I am not Captain Scarlet; I’m in big trouble. There will be no regeneration this time.

Ahead of me across a brown, arid, war-scoured dustbowls are eight war robots. Mark IVs, the very worst: sophisticated, merciless, hi-tech killing machines. Now I’m sweating badly beneath my splinter-camo cape, NBC armour and hastily re-placed respirator; sweat drips over my eye as I try to keep my rifle trained on them. They kick up dust as they move with rapid, lopping steps, but they don’t need to hide, they are masters of this battlefield. Mark IVs are the aces of killing, the ultimate inbred mechanical monster. They resemble an armoured mushroom, flat domed head balancing on an upturned fire extinguisher, a cylindrical ammunition drum on their back and a mini-Gatling gun for a hand. Their legs are spindly, but very strong, designed to be hard to hit, designed keep them in the fight. To let them kill you, before you can destroy them. Despite their mechanical brilliance, I have one advantage. They can’t actually see me, at least, not until I open fire. I’m lying against the bank of a sunken trackway, covered with a splinter-camo cape that means they cannot detect my shape, heat or light. Without these clues I’m just part of the background noise, just a shape in the dust. Fine if I can just let them go by on their merry mechanical way, but I can’t – they’re heading exactly the wrong blasted direction. Straight towards home.

Since they burnt the ground, poisoned the air and shot down everything that moved out of the sky, we’ve been hiding. We dug tunnels into the rock, camouflaging everything and rebuilding what’s precious to us underground. Nothing lives up here so we have to make everything, even our food is 3D printed (and tastes like it). But they haven’t found us yet, and they are not going to do so on my watch. If only there hadn’t been eight of them! I’m kicking myself now (metaphorically) for lazily bringing only 4 rocket tubes. Four tubes - four kills, but there are eight, so somehow I have to shoot the other four, or they will kill me. Today. Right here in the dust. I blink the sweat away and try to refocus, the time of action is rapidly approaching and I don’t want to be thinking about it too much. Definitely eight of them, definitely going the way I don’t want them to be going. Right, that’s it then, let’s be having you.

Leaving my assault rifle on its bipod I pick up the first rocket tube. Tear off the safety strip, point it towards the first Zyke in the deck, deep breath, wait for the red LED to turn green – locked on: press down firmly on the trigger. The tube kicks slightly and a rocket streams out towards the enemy. I don’t even watch it; it can’t miss unless it’s a dud. I chuck it over my shoulder and grab the second tube, same drill – two away. Tube gone I grab the assault rifle, find a target and squeeze off two bursts until the droid in my sights buckles, fractures and starts to topple. That’s quite enough; I don’t even glance as I drag the rifle back into the sunken track and head stiff-legged to my second position. There are two flashes of light, and two bangs, I’m still ducking, running. It feels like an age until I’m at the second stash of rocket tubes. The rifle goes up onto the bank in roughly the right orientation; this will be my last stand, my Alamo. I throw off the splinter-camo, too late for that now, they’ll be on this position in seconds. The tubes are just as I left them, ready to go, safety strips already pulled on these two, I knew if I had to use them there would be no time to think. Out on the plain there is twisted metal, smoke and bursts of gunfire aimed at my first position. The remaining five monsters are heading towards that spot at full speed. Last two rockets are away and my hand is shaking on the rifle grip, waiting for a target. This time I watch the rockets all the way snaking through the air streaming smoke and fire. They impact directly on the body of the two robots targeted. I say a quiet thank you to whomsoever designed these great bits of kit. Four shots, four kills. Through the light and smoke of the explosions the remaining three are turning towards me. I bring up the rifle and start to fire, but I’m panicking, the shots miss, the robots know how to move and evade fire. 100 metres away. Bullets are zeroing in on me, I have only a few seconds. Fire again, maybe hit one, but it’s still going. They are ten seconds away, but their bullets are closer. At least I didn’t hesitate when it was my turn, at least I did my job. Take one more with you, I focus, squeeze the trigger, fire.

In a blaze of colour, sound, light the whole area of earth around the droids suddenly kicks up in every direction. The machines explode, freacture, splinter, flame. Cannon shells tearing ground, rock, sand and automaton alike. There is a screaming roar in the air and a collosal, darker than night aircraft powers over my head still spitting lead from belly mounted cannons, throwing dust in every direction. I am so shocked I can barely register it. The delta wing craft banks and circles round. In a second it’s a kilometre away from me. I’m watching it pull a high G turn banking elegantly to turn back towards me. It has no marking and it’s bodywork is so black it’s almost sucking the light out of the air. An arrow shaped black hole. Instinct makes me turn my eyes away, back towards the Zyke patrol, scanning with my rifle for movement. But it’s just so much scrap metal now, blown to the four winds and scattered across the scree.

The plane by now has made it’s turn and is thundering back directly towards me. Trailing dark smoke from it’s rocket exhausts, a black triangle growing in the sky. I wonder how it’s still in the air, not shot down by AA missiles like all our craft were. Nothing flies anymore, nothing. It suddenly occurs to me that I might not know if I am friend of foe. Frantically I reach up to my line-of-sight laser coms on my helmet and point it their way. “Send ID, Send ID” I try to say, but my mouth is so dry I can barely croak. Perhaps it worked though, the craft does a strange manouvere, it dips each wing in turn, a little wiggle in the air. It feels like it’s just for me. Then it suddenly turns and powers into a steep climb. I’ve never seen something so powerful , so menacing and yet elegant at the same time. I watch until all that’s left is a drifting smoke trail and with a gulp realise that it’s turned exactly the way the Zykes were going before I so rudely interrupted them: home. It knows where I live, and it will be there an hour or more before me.

Standing up with wobbly legs and sweaty hands, I shoulder my rifle and hobble painfully to retrieve my splinter-camo cape. My legs know the way to go, even as I fumble with the clasp I’m clumping stiff-legged on the way back to base. Somehow I have a feeling now the angel of death has arrived, this war will never be the same again.

A Life In Sci-Fi

Were you influenced by Sci-fi as a child? Did you fly through the stars like Dan Dare or Kerr Avon, or prowl the dark streets of the metropolis like Captain Scarlet or Judge Dredd? I did all of this and more and from the first moment I could I recorded those adventures with pen and paper.

I was also obsessed with WWII comics (Battle & Action and Warlord) and this influenced the stories too, but Sci-fi was the real love of my childhood. Eventually I discovered 2000AD which reminded me of my dad’s Eagle comics from the 50s (which I still have) and began reading, collecting and copying the artwork from the 1980s onwards.

Star Wars (1977) changed my life. It must be hard to understand the impact that this movie had on our lives as kids. Bubble-gum cards were eagerly traded, money was saved up for toys and cardboard was feverishly crafted into spaceships, death stars and lightsabers. Star Wars harked back to the earlier matinee idols of Buck Rogers (not the camp 70s version) and Flash Gordon (ditto 80s version) and these were sporadically shown on early morning TV. The idea of battling amongst the stars had never been so appealing. Battlestar Galactica was another fascination, the silver, killer robots started appearing in my own stories immediately, albeit with a harder, grittier edge (In this case 2004s reboot of the series was actually excellent, but scarily very similar to the ideas I had been hatching in the meantime).

It wasn’t just American imports that inspired us. We had our own British heroes, the aforementioned Dan Dare, then Captain Scarlet (the man who couldn’t die – thus the perfect boyish role model as, of course, we never really died in our stories either) and, best of all Blake’s 7. In this latter case teleporter rings were cunningly fashioned from the rings of squash bottles slavered in enamel paint. Guns and control panels were constructed from Lego and friends and family duly roped in (characters carefully allotted) the adventures began (and have never stopped).

Now I continue to draw ideas and write sci-fi fiction in a literary form. Long sleepless nights are spent flying the stars and dreaming up the next chapters. The more I think about it, the more the influences are too many to mention, so below are a summary of the main ones close to my imagination with the dates they first appeared (I was born in 1968, so anything before that was TV repeats or old comics).

To celebrate this life of fierce creativity I will be exhibiting many of my early comic creations (books, comics, annuals, collector cards, fan club newsletter etc. etc.) as part of the on-going Kitchen Window Gallery series - Daren Callow v Nazi Robots. Please join me at the gallery for the opening on the 26th October 2pm – 5pm where you can handle (carefully) and read these early efforts and I will read from the very latest installment, written especially for the exhibition. Please see this link for the address and more details: http://thekitchenwindowgallery.blogspot.co.uk/

Even if you can’t join us, I’d love to hear your memories of the sci-fi heroes that influenced and excited me. Take a look at this list below and share your thoughts.

Buck Rogers 1928 (1950 TV series)

Flash Gordon 1934

Dan Dare (Eagle) 1950

Dune 1965

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons 1967-1968

Space 1999 1975-1977 (John Koenig)

Star Wars 1977-1983

Judge Dredd (2000AD) 1977

Battlestar Galactica 1978-1979 (Lieutenant Starbuck) – then again 2004-2005

Blake’s 7 – 1978-1981 (Kerr Avon)

Rogue Trooper (2000AD) – 1981-1985

Culture Series (Iain M Banks) 1987-2012

The Matrix 1999

Firefly 2002-2004

Influences... The Pretenders

What motivates someone to be in a rock and roll band so much that they are still doing it 25 years after the first chord is struck? Certainly an inclination to be “one louder” than my brother (he plays drums, very well it must be said) and definitely a desire to be attractive to the opposite sex (and possibly a few of the same sex too). But this isn’t a scientific thing; rock and roll is a primitive urge as much as it is anything quantifiable. More so, in fact, much more so.

I have a deeply formative memory that jumps to the very front of my mind. I’m the archetypal lost soul, wandering the utterly unromantic corridors of Harrow Weald Sixth Form College (it’s called something much more high-brow these days). Up on the first floor I pass the doors to the balcony of the assembly hall. Below there is a resident band playing who have clearly been granted permission to rehearse in that space. Said combo are named, somewhat unpromisingly, Jack The Biscuit and the Five Knuckle Shuffle (and this is 20 years before the Inbetweeners). But nevertheless my sleep-deprived and (frequently) confused adolescent brain is drawn to the crack in the doors to listen, and listen, and to love the idea of rock and roll music and the raw excitement it ferments inside me. And the song they were playing that moved my spirit so much…

…Back On The Chain Gang by The Pretenders. Thus begins a journey that takes me, musically speaking (and occasionally literally), all over the world. In pursuit of “that song” or “that riff” that makes my stone cold heart sing or my two left feet shuffle. That particular song will always hold an almost spiritual place in my musical memory. A small ray of light in a bleak epoch. Typically of me, I knew neither the original band nor the song and had to figure it out over time (no internet in those days). I was also convinced for a while that The Pretenders had covered it, as it felt like an older tune to me for some reason. Mind you it was released in 1982 and I recall hearing it first age 16 or 17 in 1985, practically an age later. A further year removed, in 1986, I played my first gig in a rock outfit – but more on that another time. The more I think about it, the more I can’t escape the thought - it was The Pretenders wot did it your honour.

For the record, my favourite song of theirs is Middle Of The Road which becomes more and more apt by the day.

Oh wait, I almost forgot. The entire reason for this post is that we’ve just recorded a Pretenders' cover for a friend’s birthday.

Happy Birthday Danielle.

Brighton Days (and Nights)

For a couple of days we headed to the south coast of this fair isle for a fact-finding trip, and a jolly good time in the bargain. The idea was to explore some areas of the city as potential settling grounds and also visit some of the local open mic nights to see the lay of the musical landscape. You cannot move for open mic nights in Brighton, every pub I passed seemed to have an evening for aspiring songwriters advertised (at some point in the future I have a bit of a rant about this, as open mic seems to have replaced paid gigs for musicians almost completely, but for now I’ll save it). We were fortunate that we had a steer from a (temporary) Brighton resident who suggested a couple of the best events to attend on our two evenings in town, thanks Jess!

With this good information we headed to The Hop Poles (on Middle Street) on the Tuesday night. This was a splendid and very busy evening, so busy in fact that we had to retire to the small pub garden until there was space for us all to fit into the main pub. The standard of acts was very high and with pre-booked slots there was no bun fight for positions, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere. Our slot was fairly late, 10.45pm but pre-armed with this information meant we could pace our evening and really enjoy our set of 3 songs. We went fairly upbeat and this worked very well. Overall we were well looked after and the sound and gig photos (a good bonus for acts) were all excellent. Jess, our partner in crime, played just before us and her songs were beautiful and well received.

The second of our two appearances on the Wednesday was a very different affair. The Bee’s Mouth (on Western Road) is a hidden doorway between two kebab shops, but this unpromising start reveals a wonderfully eclectic pub, cinema and music venue over several, narrow, levels. The location of the open mic was the very lowest floor and on arrival we found it filling up already. Much shuffling of guitars and bums was required as people came and went over the night. The room itself was dimly lit and adorned with posters of various spiritual and magic acts (David Devant?) giving a spooky backdrop. Nevertheless everyone was very friendly and the acts came and went fairly swiftly as this time it was just 2 songs per person. We were one of a couple of duos that night and really enjoyed our playing and our free drinks (one per artist) very much.

Overall we felt that our very small toe in the Brighton musical waters revealed a very friendly and fun scene. Acts were diverse and, generally, of a very high standard. We look forward to spending more time there and getting to know the best places to play and people to know. See you again soon.

Get In Line

Now that I’m getting back into this Blogging thing, I realised I was very overdue with a review of the latest musical release that I’ve been intimately involved in. Namely, the debut album – Get In Line – by Country Rock chick: Charlie Savigar. This is a ten track offering which features my input on 9 of the 10 tracks. Rather than go into too much detail, I thought it might be good to give a few (hopefully) interesting facts about each song, and post the latest Promo videos which are yet to be featured here.

If you want to listen along to the tracks whilst reading my notes below, then you can stream the whole thing from Soundcloud, and if you wish to own it for yourself (and support an unsigned artist into the bargain) then you can download it from iTunes, or buy a physical copy from a gig.

Get In Line
This is a firm favourite as a live track (we usually open the set with this) and a nice little rock-n-roll number. Originally the album was going to be called “My Journey” – but I thought this sounded a little passive, so I went through the songs on the album for potential alternative titles and realised that “Get In Line” worked just great. I also had the idea for the artwork that you see at the top of the post, with us all standing repeatedly in line. This was expertly shot by, great friend of the band, Kris Gruber at my dad’s house (the same location that the Superbad video, below, was shot. See picture at the bottom of the post for more of the line).

The drums for this were recorded in sessions with Tim Pennells.

Save Your Love
The beginnings of this track predate everything else on the album by quite some way. Originally recorded in sessions with Gregg Jackman and Francis Rossi way back in 2006, it was put to one side for a while until Gregg suggested that it needed to be sped up a little. Which he proceeded to do in a very painstaking process in Logic. We then searched around for a suitably weird instrument for the intro, which we found in the shape of an oddball Washburn Rover travel guitar (see pic). Brass was supplied by Charlie’s friend Bridget Goodwin who’s favourite phrase during recording was “Just shoot me”!

This is the only track on the album that I didn’t play or sing on nor does my brother play the drums. Instead the drums were hit by Michael Kruk and the bass was added by Nicholas Rossi. Francis played the solo for this track on his distinctive customised Telecaster – in one take!

When Will You Learn?
One of my personal favourites from the album and a really great pop tune. It reminds me a little of some of Ray Davies songs.

Following The Signs
I actually recorded the first demo of this song, which is actually the version you can hear on the promo video. Gregg Jackman re-recorded the drums and possible the vocals too. Marc Wyburn supplied the electric violin.

The fun video has been featured before, but it’s well worth another look.

What's Your Name?
This is the slowest track on the album and we tried to get a more acoustic / Latin feel on this one. In the end Haydn recorded the drums playing the snare with his hands rather than brushes and sticks. There’s a little percussion loop in there and this is the only thing on the album that was not recorded specifically for it.

In order to play this track live Dan (Newell) has to switch from brushes, to one brush one stick, to full sticks and back to brushes again, it took a while to get the best version of this. The lead guitar line was played on a Taylor T5 through a tape echo simulator, which gives it that wobbly, in and out of phase sound.

Superbad
A great pop tune again, that’s great fun to play live. The video for this one was again shot at my dad’s house on a sweltering hot day. Performance artist – Frog Morris – did the background painting live and then sweated his behind off as the spaceman/robot. The video was directed, shot and edited by Ben Henderson. One other interesting fact is that Kris Gruber (who shot the Get In Line cover pictures) also helped out on the video, his hands are amongst those holding postcards. Our friend Daniel Baker also turns up as Superdude (with carefully disguised logo), everyone supplied their own costumes for this one. Both of our drummers, Haydn & Dan feature too as Bond and The Penguin respectively.

Adrenaline
The heaviest track on the album and one that was recorded pretty much all at our house. The drums were re-recorded by Gregg again, but otherwise it’s actually a home project. I’m very happy with the heavy rock sound we got on the guitars, although I couldn’t tell you now which guitar we used, possibly my Les Paul Custom. The video for this one was our lowest budget effort to date (less than £200) – it was written/directed by Frog Morris and filmed and edited by his brother Theo. We tried to mimic the beginning of the Long Way Home video at the start, before heading off into the woods.

Sell By Date
This is, probably, my favourite track on the album. It’s a quirky little number that bounces along rather pleasingly.

Long Way Home
This is another earlier recording from Francis Rossi’s studio. This was also my first studio experience of working with Charlie (I provided a few harmony woo hoos). The bass on this one was provided by Allen Sassani and the hillbilly guitar lines were played by Adam Wedd.

Although you can’t really tell from the finished work the drum track was mostly recorded in little 2 and 4 bar sections to make sure we got the killer version.

Dance
Finally the album is rounded off with another track that is mostly comprised of the demo recording. The slide guitar parts were all played on Charlie’s Tanglewood resonator.

Tracks were variously recorded by Gregg Jackman, The Animal Farm, Tim Pennells and myself and all mixed by The Animal Farm. Mastering was by Hafod Mastering in Wales.

Except where mentioned in the text all drums were played by Haydn Callow and bass by Alex Lofoco.

The Beast Of Camberwell

With great trepidation and heart very much in my mouth I, and a score of others, assembled to join the foray to seek, and possibly capture, the mythical beast of Camberwell Green. Professor Frog Morris over-excitable from a week of searching greeted us by his impressive hide, adorned with many helpful likenesses of the fiend and tales of his sightings. There were many questions as the motley band were first drilled in health and safety (none of us could see the fire exit) and then led a merry dance across the wastes of the Green to hear the various yarns associated with the foul apparition. A chipper few ventured their own possible sightings: on an omnibus here, in a greasy American chain food franchise there, but most scoffed nervously at such banter. Determined that our soiree not end in failure, Prof. Morris laid an intoxicating sheen of the beast’s favoured pheromones over his most likely emerging point (Eau de kebab much enjoyed by all, scent of curry less so), but to no avail although the tension was still palpable.

Then, when all had seemed forlorn and we had minded to disperse: SHOCK! HORROR!! The beast is spied and a “Tally ho” is raised in pursuit. Chaos ensued. A fearsome melee! Children and adults knocked hither and thither as the brave professor, net clutched in white knuckles, pounced fearlessly. A glimpse of the beast only; a snout here, a smart set of braces and dicky-bow there. A hideously gnarled claw lashed out and he was gone, bundled away by Prof. Morris for examination and reports.

I hear that he returned, chained and chastened, to the Green later but I was too afeard to return and come face to face with my nemesis. We can only hope it is finally in a place where it can no longer do any harm to itself or the innocent burghers of Camberwell. We will all sleep a little easier in our beds for this escapade.

Following The Signs

It's been another hectic and busy year so far (well that's my excuse or not Blogging and I'm stickig to it). I've already had trips to Mexico, Nashville and the top of Mount Snowdon. On the music side we played a 40 minute set at Tootsies in Nashville (more on that later). To top it all off we have created a fabulous new promo video for Charlie's new song: Following The Signs which we recorded and mixed ourselves.

This was a real labour of love and took several months to get everything together. We needed a large number of props, including a book (lovingly produced by myself with Victoria and Frog Morris), costumes for all the band and four different outfits for Charlie. After the problems with rain on the last video shoot we decided to do everything indoors. The only real option for this was to convert out house into a studio. This meant costumes in the dining room, make-up in the conservatory and film sets in the living room and front bedroom. The house was crammed with equipment and people! The illustrations in the book (see above) were created by the highly talented - Frog Morris - and he even came down to lend a hand on the day too. Alongside the band and Frog we also had a make-up artist, Maximilian White the director and Rob Macfarlane on second camera - quite a house full. To cap it all a Virgin Media engineer turned up halfway through to fix the phone - what he made of it all I don't know.

Many of the scenes were to be filmed in front of a big green screen to allow us to shoot the various locations that were in the book. This meant hanging a big green sheet up (there's a great pic of Frog ironing this flat - check out the Behind The Scenes page for this and loads more) in the spare bedroom. I soon realised though that the door was going to be in the way, so this had to come off! Somehow we also managed to get a wind blower in on the landing to create a blizzard at the end of shooting. Filming kicked off in the Living Room with Charlie and our severely jet-lagged director - Max. To give you a flavour of this, here is video clip of him explaining to Charlie what she needs to do...



I think she got it!! After the living room scenes we had to shoot all the other "locations" in the bedroom. This created a headache for Max and Rob as there was very little room and for the most part they had to shoot everyone separately and then edit them all together in post production. After lots of takes and various reactions from all the guys (and four costume changes for Charlie) - everything ended in a huge snowball fight and blizzard!! Charlie even managed to throw one snowball right at the camera lens, but fortunately she didn't break it. After the wrap it was time for Max to do his magic, we were just hoping that we'd got all the shots we needed.

Well we needn't have worried, once the video arrived we absolutely loved it! We were relieved and happy as so much time and money (about £1200 in total) had gone it to it and it came ou looking like the budget was much, much higher. So here it is, do enjoy watching (make it full screen and turn up the sound if you can, it is HD after all) and make sure you give us some feedback... oh and pass it on to anyone who might enjoy it:



Many thanks to everyone who helped getting the video together...

Video director / editor: Maximilian White
Second Camera: Robert Macfarlane
Make-up: Mallzii MUA

Following The Signs recorded and mixed by Daren Callow.
With many thanks to Ville Leppenan

Thanks also to Frog Morris, Victoria Morris, Alan and Lorraine.

Long Long Long Way Home

What an incredible few months I've had! The Katie Melua tour has finally finished but not before covering over 10,000 miles across mainland Europe and the UK. I've had some wonderful experiences in Germany, Austria, Portugal and Poland to name just a few. Including driving at madcap speed along rainy autobahns, diversions into the Czech Republic and meeting a whole bunch of very friendly and interesting people. It would make a whole Blog of it's own and I can only apologise for not writing up more of it. Unfortunately this was a self-drive tour, and time was at a premium. I'm sure I'll share a few tales now I'm back and have some more time.

On top of all of this I came back to the UK in mid-tour to take part in two special events in my role as guitarist and backing singer for Charlie Savigar. Firstly we trooped off to Monmouth in Wales to perform on the Sunday at the Rockfield Country Music Festival. This was a great event to be part of and the band really rose to the occasion. At the end of the day we certainly weren't everybody's can of beans, but the response we got was great and we'd love to play there again.

Following on swiftly from that we dodged showers in Harrow to film a new video. It was an all day event including shots of us in the van, driving up and down the road (many times) and miming in front of a green screen. We were working with a young director called Maximilian White and he did us and himself proud with a really fun video. Enough talk - check it out here:



It was an incredibly long day of filming considering that it's a 2 minutes 40 seconds pop song, but the result was worth all the effort. Many thanks go out to Max and second cameraman Rob along with Michelle who did Charlie's make-up. We also should thank my dad Alan and step-mum Lorraine who lent us their house and Autocruise Pace mobile home for the day!! It was particularly poignant day for my brother (drums) and myself as we filmed the vast majority of it at the house where we used to live, and also practice with our first band. The ending was particularly serendipitous as we had originally planned to venture out to Chesham and film us arriving at the Elgiva Theatre, but rain delays thwarted us and so we opted to try filming at Brent Town Hall instead. As we drove over the hill towards the venue we had a vision of the white arch through the showers. It seemed like the perfect ending and indeed it was.

To check out a little more of what went on behind the scenes then check out this link. We'll be adding more to coincide with the official launch gig/party next week, details below (do come along and party with us). Btw, if you like the video when please do pass the link on to your friends, we need all the publicity for the band we can get - thanks guys!!

In other news Charlie is now a Rotosound Strings endorsee and we're really looking forward to an article they are preparing on her. Please do check out all her Summer gigs here and come along if you can.

Have fun! Daren xxx

OFFICIAL VIDEO LAUNCH PARTY

27th July 2011 - 8.30pm
CAMDEN ROCK
18 Kentish Town Road, London, NW1 9NX

15 Minutes Later

I've had a really fun week as Charlie and I embarked on a mini-tour of London with our duo - Dare To Be Charlie - which ends tonight at The Living Room, Tower Bridge. We've really enjoyed both our dates so far which included a bar under a railway in Brixton (Brixton Bar & Grill) and a tent over Kensington with Flamingos nearby (Roof Gardens).

Tonight we take our guitars and show to the Living Room, which used to be Prohibition. Really looking forward to this one as we'll see some old friends from the 15 Minute Club and get another chance to play our songs. The set is really strong these days with a great mix of Charlie's songs, my songs and the co-written material. Talking of which we have a co-written song in the pipeline for release on iTunes later in the year. I'm also really looking forward to recording new versions of live favourites - Lightkeeper and When The Snow Fell On Denver under the D2BC banner. We'll be releasing these later in the year as singles with some new songs - all featuring Haydn Callow on drums and Alex Lofoco on bass.

So if you're at a loose end do come down and check us out at the Living Room tonight, it will be a fab night of music. If you can't make it, then do check out the link below and see some pics by the fabulous Victoria Morris from our set at the Roof Gardens:

Dare To Be Charlie Live At The Roof Gardens

Catch you later.

Daren
xxx

Something New

I have to say I really love The New Root. I first saw their lead singer - Trish Boothby - perform at the 15 Minute Club in Hoxton. She had a very different style singing haunting songs in a vaguely Chrissie Hynde style whilst picking on a Fender Telecaster. It's great to see a female singer-songwriter on these nights which are often male dominated, but even better to see them playing electric guitar. It turned out that Trish quite enjoyed my songs too, so we stayed in touch and I finally got to she her full band - The New Root - when Dare To Be Charlie supported them at a gig in Bristol. I have to confess I was blown away! As well as Trish the band consists of a very tight rhythm section - a dreadlocked Joel Mines on drums and an occasionally be-hatted Craig Livings on bass - and the real icing on the cake for me (who loves the use of effects on guitars) - David Boothby on guitar. After seeing them live I coined the phrase - Kate Bush meets Radiohead - and that just about sums them up in a nutshell. As an added bonus there is a real depth to the lyrics and a great energy on stage that means they have the complete package. To cap it all their self-recorded album is excellent and well worth whatever you pay for it.

I really enjoyed their recent gig at the Bull & Gate, which was just an outstanding night. It went straight into my top 10 gigs of all time! Every song was strong, with my only slight criticism being that they played my favourite number - American Tale - quite early in the set. I also particularly enjoyed their new song but I don't know the name of that one yet. I became so absorbed in watching them that I didn't even notice the venue filling up behind me.

Everyone I play their songs too seems to like them as well, so I do hope you check them out and give this band from Bristol the leg up they strongly deserve.

The New Root Offical Website

The New Root on MySpace

The New Root on iTunes

Daren
xxx

Anywhere And Everywhere

It's taken 4 months, but it's finally here! The next EP release from my musical partner in crime - Charlie Savigar. Unlike the last EP - Long Way Home, which was recorded at Francis Rossi's home studio and produced by Gregg Jackman where I sang a few backing vocals - I had a slightly bigger role in bringing this one to fruition. I had a hand in the engineering, production and mixing, as well as playing guitar and singing on all the tracks!

Aside from this the majority of the singing and playing is done by Charlie herself. She sung all the vocals and played guitar and all keyboards on all the tracks (she's a very skilful piano player, which we don't get to show off live yet). The final two musicians on the tracks are my brother - Haydn Callow - who played all the drums and Italian bass player - Alex Lofoco - who supplied all the low end notes. As is the modern way the songs were recorded in a number of locations including Acton and Clapham and then mixed in my own home studio. Charlie is one of those artists who can't really be pigeon-holed into one genre and she writes in a number of musical styles. So here's a quick breakdown of what to look out for on each track:

1) ANYWHERE AT ALL
This is a toe-tapping Country rock number. As with most of these songs - Charlie's guitar is on the right and my guitar on the left (the same as we stand on stage). This was actually the last of the songs that we recorded and I felt we got the best snare sound on this track. I had a very small contribution to the writing of this song as I came up with the "anywhere at all" lyric when we were jamming it originally.

2) ADRENALINE
This song is a full out rocker and the heaviest song we play in the set. In this case my guitar is double-tracked and Charlie's picked guitar part moves from the left to the right. We shortened the intro to make the song more immediate and we play it a little different in the live show. We had great fun getting the "heys" in the middle 8 echoing from left to right in the stereo mix. This was also Haydn's first recording playing double kick drum pedal (ie he plays kick drum with both feet, for that rolling drum sound).

3) NO GOOD FOR ME
This is a song that people often pick out as their favourite song in the live set. It makes use of a lot of harmonics on the guitar (where you touch the string lightly and pluck it so it rings like a bell or a chime). It's also a great lyric, which you might not guess is about alcohol and not being able to find the drink you like! We had fun at the end of the song as mostly it's played to a click track, but the drums and bass slow down and we had to slow our guitar parts and vocals to match what they've done.

4) BLUE DAY
Again another different feel for this song which is part rock, part blues and part ballad. It's also in 3/4 time which is a bit unusual for a rock number. The end of this song originally had a 4/4 section, but we decided to change this fairly early on in the recording process and keep the 3/4 feel all the way through. Originally it also had my overdriven guitar part played all the way through, but we gradually cut it out from parts of the song to create a sparser arrangement. We also had lots of problems with one of the sung days (the first one after the guitar solo) which had an annoying "click" right in the middle of it! In the end Charlie had to re-sing that one word!! You might also be interested to know that the guitar solo is actually three different takes edited together - hopefully you'll never know that now. I have to say I really like the ending of this track where the piano chords, bass and guitar all resolve back to the root chord. The sliding guitar stop at the end is from my very first guide guitar part.

Well there you go, that's a brief summary of each track and now, I hope, you are wondering where you can get hold of the EP!! Well check out this link:

http://charliesavigar.bandcamp.com

Where you can download the tracks in MP3 format or a number of others. Also if you are quick you can buy one of a limited edition of the EP on CD. These CDs (pictured above) are individually numbered and signed by Charlie herself! Move quick if you'd like one of these as there are only 30 or so left (from 50 to start with). If you are happy to wait Charlie's EP will shortly be on iTunes and so on, and you can also download her first 3 track EP - Long Way Home from there:

Charlie Savigar on iTunes

Hope you enjoy the songs!

Daren
xxx

P.S. For those of you born in the CD/MP3 age you might be interested to know what EP stands for. It's actually short for "extended play" and comes from the days when 7" vinyl singles could be made to play at 33 1/3 rpm instead of 45 rpm. Slowing down the spin allowed more music to be put on the smaller format - hence the extended play moniker.

P.P.S. You might also like to know where Charlie is in the Hotdisc chart as it's chart day again today. She was at #36 last week and #8 in the UK chart.

P.P.P.S. As a bit of fun there is no number #13 EP - instead there are two #14s in purple cases (Charlie's favourite colour).

Hotdisc Charts

Sunday is the day that the Hotdisc charts are announced, and I can't help myself but get nervous. Some explanation is probably required: Hotdisc is a compilation CD of Country music tracks which is sent out to DJs, Magazines and other Country music people across the world. At the end of last year Charlie submitted her Country-tinged track - Long Way Home (recorded at Francis Rossi's home studio by Gregg Jackman and featuring myself on backing vocals and my brother Haydn on drums) - and this was included on disc 145 in January. As part of the package you get rated by everyone who receives the disc and this rating is used to compile the Hotdisc International and UK charts. Take a look here:

Hotdisc Chart

As I write this Blog Charlie is currently at number 20 in the International chart (down one) and unmoved at number 5 in the UK chart. But of course after midday today the position will have changed and eventually this song will drop out altogether. Hence my anxious wait to see where today's position will be. The first few weeks were very exciting. The song entered at number 38, then rose 9 places to 29 (the biggest mover that week), then four places up to 25, then another jump of 6 up to 19 and finally last week a drop of one place to the current position. The chart is revealed over the course of an hour long show that starts at midday and the tension builds as you get further into the show and your song has not been mentioned yet. Once we get the International position I also start frantically doing the maths to figure out where we are in the UK chart (this is published later in the day, and there is a show featuring these songs on Monday at 8PM on UKCountryRadio.com. This week will be especially nerve-wracking as we're expecting another a drop and we'll be hoping it won't be too great a fall.

Want to share the nerves with me? Well tune in from midday on a Sunday for the show hosted by the excellent Stuart Cameron:

CMR Nashville Radio

I do, of course, remember listening religiously to the chart show when I was a kid - tape recorder poised. The chart show was the one time when you could predict when certain songs would be on the radio and the trick was to press record just after the DJ's introduction and then pause it just before he started talking over the end! A real skill. This way you could record all your favourite tracks for enjoyment later. It's definitely a strange feeling to be listening to a chart show with a real interest in one of the songs! Let's hope for another good result this week.

One other part of the Hotdisc package is that you get 100 pieces of feedback from around the world. This is very interesting to see what people are saying about Charlie's track and where in the work her music is most liked. It seems we're very popular in Australia and New Zealand (what good taste you have) so who fancies organising us a tour down under? Good average scores from France, UK and Belgium are really encouraging whilst high individual scores from USA, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy and (most intriguingly) the Faroe Islands are just plain exiting.

Here's a collection of the very best feedback we received:

"Very good new act with a great voice."
John Morris, Trust AM Radio, UK

"Really enjoyable new act." 
Petur Rouch, Faroya Radio, Faroe Islands

"Refreshing music and nice vocals with a tight production." 
David Miller, Pukepatu Radio, New Zealand

"Likeable – more please from this gal."
Martin Van Der Laan, Radio Compagnie, Holland 

"Liked Charlie but I would like to hear another song by her and I guess that will happen in the future – very promising effort."
Al Watts, Collingwood Radio, Australia 

"Thanks to Hotdisc another new talent gets promoted. I liked it. Intrigued to hear what comes next from Charlie."
Tom Lambert, Variety Radio, Ireland 

"She has a terrific voice. Very interesting song and great debut."
Gordon Davies, Radio Maldwyn, UK 

"No doubt at all that Charlie is very talented and must be applauded for doing her own music. Some of the comments agree that possibly a more country sound would attract airplay and it will be interesting to see if she takes her music more into that direction. There is no doubt that there is a market there waiting for her to tap into, if that is what she wants to do. Her next move will be watched by many."
Stuart Cameron, CMR Nashville Radio, UK 
 
"Well done Charlie – this is good and you are talented."
Ricky Lee, WCR FM, UK

"Great track and British too."
Graham Lees, Radio Fish, UK 

"Promising artist, lovely voice."
Alan Potter, Tempo FM Radio, UK 

"Certainly uplifting singing from Charlie, just proves how the home grown country music scene is growing and getting stronger all the time, with an abundance of hot new country artists such as Charlie. A new singer to keep our eyes and ears open to, with her own self penned hit material as well."
Tom Robinson, Kingston Radio, UK 

Can I just say many thanks to everyone who said nice things, it's so encouraging for a new artist!

So has that got you as excited as me? I hope so, I'll drop a comment on this Blog later to let you know where we are. Plus, you can come and see Charlie and myself play this Friday 18th February at the Water Rats in London, UK.

Have a fun Sunday.

Daren
xxx

Lighting Up

Sorry about the severe lack of posts!! I've been busy working on new recordings and gigs for both Dare To Be Charlie and the Charlie Savigar band and both acts are really making waves. I will do a post early next week as Charlie has a new toy that is well worth mentioning, but I'll need some decent pics which we should have after the gig this Friday at The Cobden Club.

Hope all is good out there and I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, do follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/Daren68

Or eschew the virtual world and come see me in person!!

5th November - Café Rocks presents Charlie Savigar
COBDEN CLUB, 170-172 Kensal Road, London, W10 5BN

Doors 7.00pm Charlie onstage at 9.15pm
£7 with THIS INVITE
(£5 before 8.30pm or FREE before 7.30pm with invite):

18th November
HOPE & ANCHOR, 207 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 1RL

16th December
FIDDLER'S ELBOW, 1 Malden Rd, London NW5 3HS

29th December - DARE TO BE CHARLIE
UPSTAIRS @ THE RITZY, Brixton

Btw, if you're curious about the new toy the pic above is a bit of a clue. It's definitely be a highlight of the show (groan!).

See you soon!

Daren
xxx

Guitars Pictured: Taylor SolidBody Classic, Taylor T5-C and Taylor 314ce acoustic.

Daring To Be Live (On Video)

The last month has seen me and Charlie play some fab gigs. We made our way up to Bristol to play on the same bill as the amazing Less Than Me and awesome The New Root (Kate Bush meets Radiohead - my current favourite band!) at The Croft, we rocked The Montague Arms with Charlie's band as Cowboys and popped up in The Ritzy in Brixton to recreate the sound of AM radio (we had a crackly mic lead... still played a great set though, even if we say so ourselves). It's been fun and exciting, we really feel like there is a momentum building up behind our music and we're looking forward to all the gigs coming up. We've even found time to get on the radio (Charlie's been on practically every internet show you can imagine - and I've been on Radio Sydenham) and we've got a fab show coming up on the 15th October on Resonance FM. We've also started recording some new tracks with the mighty Haydn Callow on drums and Alex Lofoco on bass, look out for those in about two months.

For those of you who haven't been able to make it to a show we have been videoing our sets and it's time to share a few of those with you. Charlie and my shows are not just about the songs, we also like to think that we have a bit of a stage presence and our on-stage banter can sometimes be very amusing in itself. So I thought I'd start to include a bit of our chat so you can get the full Dare To Be gig experience! We do hope you get to see us live very soon, as that's the best experience of all!

Let's kick off the videos with the song that starts our set - Dance. These are all from our gig at The Elixir Bar on the 29th September.



Technical notes (for those that love that sort of thing): Charlie's guitar is a Martin Alternative XT played through a collection of effects including a Boss Flanger that you can hear at the start. My guitar is a Taylor 314ce played directly into the desk. Charlie's auto-tune effect is a Boss VE-20 and all my voice effects (delay, harmonies, doubling and flanging to name but a few) come from a TC Helicon VoiceLive 2. Last, but by no means least, the tambourine is played with my foot! Check it out.



This one features another of Charlie's songs - No Good For Me, this time complete with her intro explaining what the song is about. Excitingly for us we got a spontaneous round of applause before we'd even finished the song, love it when that happens. Also listen out for the coffee machine trying to join in towards the end!

That's all for now on the video front, more songs to follow.

If that's whetted your appetite then do come and see us live, check out our live dates here:

http://www.daretobecharlie.com/

or tune in to Resonance FM (on FM and over the internet) on the 15th October at 10pm (BST / GMT+1) to hear us play live.

Daren
xxx

To Edinburgh and Beyond!

I spent a very pleasant weekend just gone in Edinburgh with my friends Frog & Victoria Morris and Mark Quinn. They were up there performing on the Fringe and their shows were going down really well. The main show that Frog & Mark were performing was the Unwrong Quiz (which you may remember from my multiple appearances at the Montague Arms) - now reworked for a one hour slot in a cellar. Between the rounds it's traditional to have some music. For the Edinburgh run this was provided by Frog's brother Theo Morris, and he was doing a splendid job with songs about genetically modified dogs and land enclosure acts. On the Sunday though, Theo fancied an afternoon off so I was very privileged to step into the breach and reprise my old role as the fill-in music. The show seemed to go really well and I think everyone was happy with my contribution. I have to say though, I was very disappointed to not win a marrow, or Pots! The Game, or even a Crunchie on a mop - oh well, perhaps next time.

Whilst up there I managed to catch a lot of comedians, including seeing Robin Ince for a couple of pounds. I also saw Steampunk strippers, burlesque, singers, the mighty Beta Males Picnic in the bunker, a spell-binding one man show called Bane (very cinema noir) and Frog bemusing an audience with existential art wrestling and Dave "Security" (lovely legs, lovely, lovely legs). I also got used as a keyboard stand! Unfortunately I didn't get to see Utter, Gutted the musical or Charlotte Young's show (Aude, Vide, Tace) - but I hear they are excellent - so go and see them to make up for my absence!! I even got a seat on the train home, so that was a bonus.

Some of you will probably know already that I'm off on the road with Katie Melua again in October for nearly three months! So here are the last few chances to catch me live before then. Do come along and hear my exciting (and fun) duo - Dare To Be Charlie or see me playing guitar with the other half of the duo: the excellent young singer-songwriter - Charlie Savigar:

26th August, 8pm with Charlie Savigar
The Enterprise, 2 Haverstock Hill, Camden, NW3 2BL

29th August, 7pm with Dare To Be Charlie
The Croft, 117-119 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RW

9th Sept, 9pm with Charlie Savigar
Cowboy Night! @ The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, SE14 5JN

14th Sept, 8.30pm with Dare To Be Charlie
Upstairs @ The Ritzy, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, SW2 1JG

26th Sept, 8.30pm with Charlie Savigar
Tommy Flynn's, 55 Camden High Street, NW1 7JH

Hope to see you at one of these gigs, otherwise, catch you on the road some time!

Daren
xxx

P.S. The Dare To Be Charlie MySpace is now live, do add us to your friends:

In Real Life

The internet is an amazing thing especially, it seems, for musicians who have many different ways to get their music to potential fans around the world. One site which is really good for this is Last FM, and a couple of years ago a chap from Sweden got in touch to say that he'd enjoyed listening to my music. You can still see his comment at the bottom of my profile from October 2008 - his username is Winterbay. Well this month he happened to be in London, and wanted to know if I was gigging. As I happened I wasn't, but it's easy enough to arrange something, so I booked Dare To Be Charlie in to play at the Elixir Bar last Tuesday. In the emails concerning this date it turned out that it was actually his Honeymoon!! So he had to get permission from his wife to come along!! It all turned out fine in the end and I met him and his new wife and it was a pleasure to play some songs for them and have a good chat afterwards. It was a really good gig for us, and it was made all the better that a friend from overseas was able to make it to listen. So many thanks for coming and your support over the last two years Peter (for that is his real name) - it was a pleasure to meet you and your wife and I hope you enjoyed the music as much in real life (as you say) as you did in cyberspace.

For those of you who are not in the UK, there is another chance to catch some off my own music, and also hear me talk about song-writing and some of the songs I've enjoyed over the years on Radio Verulam - tomorrow (Sunday) morning from 10am - 12noon. Tune in hear and catch the show:

http://www.radioverulam.com

There are also lots of exciting things happening with Charlie's music, so there will probably be another post to follow on that very soon. Plus, a bit shout out to Frog, Mark, Charlotte, Martin, Richard and Theo who are all in Edinburgh this week running or preparing their shows for the Edinburgh Fringe - good luck guys!!

Daren
xxx