In Session St Paddies Perfection.

Bah - I'm rubbish at this blogging keepy-uppy stuff. 

So, for you guys this may be a slightly dull blog because I have nothing controversial to report from the penultimate week of In Session Live- well the penultimate week that I had the pleasure of booking and photographing. 

It was a very chilled out week with solid talent and beautiful performances from all the guys playing. 

The acts included Hail to the Eskimo, Rita Payne and The Ruby Jacks.

This week for me was memorable for Rita Payne, an act I've been dying to see for ages who are extremely talented and doing very well currently (we were lucky to get them on this occasion as they are in demand).......oh and my photography turned out pretty well too :) 

Rita Payne

Hail to the Eskimo kicked off In Session Live for us with their specially prepared acoustic performance.

These guys normally play sets that are described as: 

"a wall of delay drenched guitars set against pounding dance beats, that rumble beneath shimmering heartfelt vocals to create a sound that is melodic, driving and ultimately danceable."




....a little bit of info for you on them:

Hail have performed in venues up and down the UK including Tramlines and Doncaster Live. They have shared their stage with bands such as Seahorses, Starman, and Tinchy Stryder whom they opened for at the Keepmoat Stadium. In addition to having their songs played on Hollyoaks they have been championed by numerous local radio stations. Their most recent achievement comes in their nomination for best live band, best album and best female vocalist for the 2013 Sheffield Scenster awards.

Rita Payne were the next act on. 

These guys were great for me as they photographed particularly well.....I have mentioned before how I am partial to a woman with beautiful skin and Rhiannon along with being very photogenic has that! 

The reason this duo are so fab aside form being absolutely lovely people, totally professional and fab at what they do, is the following:

Rita Payne have been regulars BBC Introducing Sheffield & Humberside- with 4 sessions currently under their belt so far and regular airplay too.
They have gigged all over the UK and alongside many established American artists such as Caroline Herring, Annabelle Chvostek and Rod Picott. Recently Rita Payne played at the prestigious folk Venue The Green Note in Camden, London where artists such as Leonard Coen have performed.

 

The Ruby Jacks were our last act of the evening who turned out to be the perfect end to the session with their added electric kick. 

Basically with it being St Paddies day The Forum was packed.  As you regular readers may be aware we normally only have acoustic acts on stage - or those like Hail to the Eskimo (or The 48k's from a few ago) who can pair back their sound and give us something acoustic and chilled out.

The Ruby Jacks on this occasion weren't prepared for an acoustic gig, which would normally have caused us some problems. On this occasion with the amount of noise and people about their full on style ended up working really well for them and us.   

A bit about them:

The Ruby Jacks These guys were picked to Support the platinum selling band Space in Sheffield this March. They have had their songs played on Radio Sheffield regularly and are due to get into the studio next month to record some new material before heading off to perform around the UK.

 

A great night was had in all with much thanks to all who played. 

Oh The Arrogance Of Youth

Above, The Early Cartographers - the highlight of the week- professional, lovely and a full on musical treat. We all bought their CD after and so should you....

https://www.facebook.com/earlycartographers/app_178091127385

I've had a ball this last year working in music photography. It's reopened my eyes to the world of live music which had pretty much fallen out of my life.

I love what I do and on the whole I love the people and the Musicians I meet. bands and artists are very often driven, hard working and deserve far more respect and pay than they get.

Sadly, in amongst these gems of people you get the chaff and by chaff I'm talking about younger musicians, more often male but not exclusively male, who have had some early success and a result their heads have doubled in size and suddenly the normal rules of social interaction don't seem to be for them anymore, instead they teeter on arrogant, self interested and rude.

This week I have had the misfortune to see this up close. Disappointingly a band we had a on a few weeks ago and more specifically a member of this band has shown themselves in this light....this was coupled with another run in from an artist from a separate, recent In Session live who exhibited all the same misfortunate symptoms of the arrogance of youth and this has, for some inexplicable reason, put a downer on my week. Odd.

I shall just feel blessed that I have met far more great, talented, kind artists than nasty ones and I need to accept that meeting the other types of people is just an occupational hazard.

There is nothing to be gained from bitching and this is why I leave things here. I've had my rant and I hope these boys get a reality check soon and sober up.

I have to stress that I am two weeks behind with the blog and my disappointment does not necessarily pertain to anyone in this blog or the next....and I shall reassure you that The Early Cartographers from this blog were a dream! We fell for them big time at In Session Live. They were our highlight as we'd not had them on before unlike Matt Longden and The Young Peculiar.

Matt Longden

 

Early Cartographers

 

The Young Peculiar

A fab band who always perform, bring a crowd and are lovely.

Dimonds and Toads the toast of the evenin.

So it is March and having had some really fantastic In Session Live evenings the pressure is really on to make sure our last month matches up.

I think I have enjoyed all the evenings we've put on and since I've been booking the acts I do feel more pressure that a good evening is had by all but also more pleasure when it goes really well.

You also may have noticed a few special evenings which we and I have harped on about for ages after which included:

The 18th of Nov An evening Curated by Steve 'Papa' Edwards.

The 16th of Dec- UNICEF Fundraiser In Session Live

The 20th of Jan: Vince Freeman, The Folk Remedy, Screaming Maldini

The 27th of Jan with the 48ks

and

The 17th of Feb with In Session Live favourites, The Van Susans


Well last week is going to have to be added to the list and that is thanks to an awesome mix of Dimond Ranks, Brad Dear and The Natterjacks.






Without any doubt the headliners, The Natterjacks were kings for the evening. Both the other bands loved them too. The whole of the Forum was totally into them clapping along and even dancing at the end which is, until then, unheard of at In Session Live.

Dimond Ranks were first on. 

I adore this band and their catchy upbeat tunes. Sinead, the lead singer has the voice of an Angel: sexy, strong and tuneful. I love their Eccy road ballad and I'd recommend them to anyone who hasn't had the chance to see them live. They are also lovely.

On this occasion I wasn't responsible for booking our middle band, Brad Dear and i'd not heard of them.

It was Sam, the boss who knew about them. They came all the way from Nottingham and were punctual giving a great performance. However, I feel they were kind of eclipsed but the other two bands, just slightly, on this eve.

Because of this I'd like to see them again so I can really take in their music.

 

Ok, our icing on the cake with cherry and sprinkles this evening were The Natterjacks all the way from Chester.

My god we LOVE THEM. Everyone loved them.

They have music in their souls and I need to post you a link to them playing so you can have a listen and maybe get an idea how our evening felt:

http://www.thenatterjacksofficial.co.uk/#/music/4566496443

This night was a top evening loved by us and the bands that came too. Win Win and here's to more wins as we see out In Session live in the month of March.