Tag Archives: Charlie Barnes

Foxes and Convicts: The Leeds Indie Radio Sessions

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Over Christmas our beloved Hope House studios flooded, so we had to shift to the room next door. The silver lining with this was a great new studio for us to practice in, and record live sessions.

Photos by Louise Distrass

I’ve been running a Podcast with Jon from the Dimes, called Foxes and Convicts, for a while now. We’ve been bringing various different acts in to Hope House to record some sessions and have a bit of a chat, and we’ve been putting them out on podcasts. If I’m honest I have no idea how many people have actually been listening to them cos I screwed up a setting on the tracking software, but that’s by the by. Lots of people tell me they listen and like it, and that’s good enough for me.

To celebrate re-opening our studio, we got some of the finest acts we have worked with on the Foxes and Convicts night to all pop down on Saturday afternoon and record some songs for a brand new version of the podcast which will be premiered exclusively on Leeds Indie Radio. It’s a great privilige to turn our daft larking around into a proper show for LIR, who are celebrating a year doing amazing things for local music. Having heard the early mixes this will be a great part of their lineup.

So – coming soon to LIR, a brand new series of Foxes and Convicts, featuring:

March of Dimes - Photo by Louise Distrass

  • Daniel Pearson
  • Charlie Barnes
  • Louise Distrass
  • March of Dimes
  • Tag Team Preacher
  • Secret Sirens

…and many more! I’ll post up when they’re finished and scheduled in!

Depending on how the various life-changing events pan out I’ll be looking to record the next series in the late Autumn… Keep in touch if you’d like to be part of it and get your live set on Leeds Indie Radio!

Gig & EP Review: Ellen and the Escapades

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Ellen Smith © Jo Murricane Terms like “Feel-good event of the year!” get littered around far too liberally. However, last week at the Brudenell one of the most heartwarming gigs I’ve seen this year took place.

After winning the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition this year, and being picked for the Leeds and Reading BBC Introducing stages in 2009, their EP release is long over due – but worth the wait. This is proper, great songwriting, and the four tracks are packed with emotion and respectfully produced.

The EP “Launch” – despite the EP having been available for a fair few months – was a really wonderful affair.

First up, Sam Airey. I listened to his Whiska’s-produced Season’s Change EP, and was very impressed, but that wasn’t a patch on his live set – looking totally natural and at ease with guitars on who-knows-what tunings, his voice was reminicent of a young Nick Drake.

I was wondering for a while why The Travelling Band sounded so familiar, putting it down to the catchyness of their tunes, which along with their spot-on harmonies and assured musicality made for a great set. It turns out that we (March of Dimes) supported them last year in Manchester. Oops. That said, it was a tremendous set and they’re clearly getting better and better.

A slightly weather-worn troupe of Escapades came on stage, with Ellen fighting that nasty throat infection that’s going round, and bassist Andy just about recovered from some ghastly sounding thing that took him out of action for the first half of the tour. Andy was, I am reliably informed, admirably replaced by Gary Stewart, despite not being tall enough to reach the tuning keys at the end.

As soon as the music started though, you’d never know. The stage at the brudenell – which generally looks like some of the places I woke up in during my student days after particularly hefty houseparties – was made all the more cozy with lamps, rugs and fairy lights.

I had only heard four or five tracks by Ellen and the Escapades through the EP and an online vid, but every song sounded both fresh and like an old favourite. An hour of great tracks flew by, showing that not only is the EP well worth getting and listening to over and over, but there’s plenty more great material to come too.

It was great to see so many faces from the Leeds music “scene” there too – Adam and a couple of the girls from LeedsIndieRadio, Gary Stewart (who’s album I finally bought, and sounds brilliant too – but more about that later), Charlie Barnes (who, as always, is working on some really interesting and exciting stuff), Chris Selman (almost unrecognisable in his day-guise as Teacher rather than Popstar… I mean how cool a teacher is THAT to have?) and a whole bunch of other people besides.

It’s clear there’s a lot of love for Ellen and the Escapades right now, it’s rightly deserved, and I do think we will see plenty more of her before long.

www.ellenandtheescapades.com

All photos ©2010 JoMurricane