How the devil are you? I hope you're having excellent springs. My spring has well and truly sprung so I thought I'd write to you to let you know what I'm up to.
It's been a very fun couple of weeks of performing with a really nice mix of comedy and music shenanigans. I had a ball doing my show at the incredible Machynlleth Comedy Festival - if you came to the show, many thanks and I hope you enjoyed it (your virtual mixtape is on the way...). I also did some other bits and pieces there, including a some radio stuff with Arthur Smith for BBC Radio 4Extra. Here's a poem that Arthur wrote to perform with me, but which wasn't broadcast in the end:
Hackney Colliery Band has been touring a great deal, with gigs in Brighton, Oxford, Belfast, Cardiff, Machynlleth and Dublin over the past couple of weeks. More about what we're up to below. And I've also been playing with the Bollywood Brass Band, hip hop band Lazy Habits, mockney band (yes that's now a genre) Jarmean, and doing impressions of John Lennon dressed as a skeleton plus making silly noises at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society and Forgery Club.
But anyhew, this is what I've got on the horizon, in case you're interested:
15th May (TONIGHT!): Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, Battersea Barge 8pm I'm back introducing acts via the medium of tootling and messing around with gizmos at the ever-ace ACMS. There is a big TV comedy star headlining tonight whose name I don't think I'm allowed to mention, but if you can get a ticket, you should.
25th May: Hackney Colliery Band, Garage, Highbury, 9pm We're headlining an incredible bill to launch our latest single Prodigy Medley/Owl Sanctuary, which is out on the 28th May. That's right, you read that correctly: our new single is a medley of Prodigy tunes. This gig will be great I think, and not in an arrogant way: the other bands are more than enough to make that statement true. Whether the addition of HCB adds to that, I'll leave you to decide. Get your tickets soon, as all our recent headline London shows have sold out...
26th May: Bollywood Brass Band, Youth Festival Without Frontiers, Różanystok, Poland I'm tootling with the BBB at this festival in Poland. Swing by if you're in the area.
2nd June: Ha Ha 45s, The Grey Horse, Kingston, 7.30pm My chum Paul Hodson has somehow persuaded lots of great people like Pappy's, Gav Osborne and the like to do a gig to raise money for his marathon running. But he's a nice chap, and it's all for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation which is an excellent cause, so how could I refuse? It'll be a great night. Get your tickets soon.
5th June: How the Light Gets In Festival, Hay-on-Wye, 7.30pm I'm doing my show (now called How I Attended My Own Wake and I've Got a Mixtape to Prove It and a bit different from the 2011 Edinburgh version) at this incredible festival. My support acts are the likes of James Lovelock, Steven Pinker, Terry Eagleton, Diane Abbott and Howard Marks. That is a little joke, but those people will all be there, and probably not making jokes. For some reason, my show doesn't seem to be on sale yet, but it will be this week sometime.
Right, that's MORE than enough to be getting on with I'd say. There's loads more happening in June and July, including some super secret stuff but I won't bore you with that now. It's AGES away.
As a reward for making it this far, why don't you head here and download House Arrest, a bangy Balkan number (and the AA side to our most recent single) for free? Just make sure you’re wearing shoes with good, springy soles. You’ll need them: it’s bouncy.
Thanks, as ever, for your support. Hope to catch you at a gig soon!
So, I’ve been a bit quiet recently. Well, I haven’t, I’ve actually been very noisy, except that noise has been 10,000 miles away in Australia. So the UK has been spared my noise for a bit. Look, here’s me pulling a face in a wetsuit, by the way.
Anyway, I’m back! Why should you care? Well I’ll tell you: because I have a few fun things coming up that you might like to know about.
I’m back doing stuff at everyone’s favourite sketch and musical comedy night (well, mine). Expect mariachi brass, possibly some talking (not sure yet) and overwhelming jetlag, all at the ace new venue the Vandella down in (gulp) Shepherd’s Bush.
I think I may as well get a flat in Shepherd’s Bush since pretty much all of my Spring gigs seem to be at this new venue the Vandella, thanks to the sad closure of the New Red Lion and the Albany. I’m sure I can afford it with the squillions that I earn from trumpeting, theatre and comedy, right?
Anyway, I’ll be back doing my thang at ACMS. My thang on this occasion may include my alter ego Steven Briggs doing a multimedia grime rap about south Indian aquariums, not sure.
Tuesday 1st May Domestic Science Green Man, Riding House St, London W1W 7EP £? (not much)
This is Helen Arney’s ‘geeky new material’ night. I will be doing something geeky and new which may or may not involve material of some kind. Possibly lycra. Hopefully not.
I am doing the re-vamped version of my storytelling/music show about the true story of how I attended my own wake. It’s going to be New and Improved, so if you saw it before and liked it, you should come again. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s the show that literally one newspaper (and the Express, at that) described as ‘mild mayhem’. It’s well fun, I promise, and even a bit moving and all that.
I’m also doing ACMS at this ace festival, and probably some other things too, including playing with my band the Hackney Colliery Band on the Sunday.
Wednesday 16th May Perfect Movie Leicester Square Theatre
I’m doing a bit at Richard Sandling’s movie-themed night. I think it might involved the Blues Brothers. That or Tarkovsky, I can’t decide.
Hackney Colliery Band
It’s a pretty busy few weeks with the band building up to a very busy summer. As well as the above comedy type stuff, this spring I’ll also be touring with HCB to Belfast, Dublin, Chester, Brighton, Cardiff and doing a big headline set at the Garage in Islington. We’re also recording our new single, which should be out at the end of May. Check out our website for details, or pop along to our Facebook page.
In the meantime here's the previous single release:
Other music stuff
I’m doing various other stuff too, like playing with mockney knees-up band Jarmean at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club on 27th April, playing with the Bollywood Brass Band at Lakeside, Nottingham on 9th May and some other gigs round and about the place.
You can hear and see me endorsing the sentiments of top troubadour Philip Jeays through the medium of a trumpet right here:
(seriously, he’d be top card in troubadour top trumps)
How's tricks, eh? Hope snow is treating you well, and vice versa. I had an outdoor gig yesterday, which was chilly, but on the upside, I did see this on the way home.
Thought I'd just fire off a quick missive about a few bits and piece, so here we go. Actually, before we start, why not fire this up and listen to a Radio 2 documentary about international brass music, featuring the Bollywood Brass Band and yours truly; they followed us out to India on one of our trips last year and there's lots of interesting music on it. I think we're on from about 30 mins in. Everyone loves a good radio documentary about international brass, right?
Firstly, if you came to one of my Mixtape shows at the Leicester Square Theatre in January, thanks for being a great audience and selling the place out! I had a blast. More to come in the spring - dates announced soon.
Here's a quick rundown of what I'm up to over the next few weeks. And if you think March is looking a bit quiet, it's because I'm out of the country, not just being lazy. Though there's a good chance I'll find some time to be lazy too.
Looking forward to this one - brand new venue in the old Ocean club, which by all accounts has been transformed into something very cool indeed.
HCB have been getting our heads down and working on lots of new material over the past few weeks, and after trying some of it out at our gig at Hootenanny, Brixton in January, we're pretty excited about it. So we'll be doing a load of new stuff alongside plenty of old favourites. A few tickets still available.
We've not played Oxford before, so looking forward to this one too. Apparently the ceiling is so low that our sousaphone player will have to sit down. RAWK N ROOLLL!
This is the show I did with Frances Ruffelle in Edinburgh in 2010. It's kind of cabaret-y and theatre-y and Frances is great. I've not worked at the Menier Chocolate Factory before, so looking forward to that. Tickets for this show are sold out; there will be another date on sale (probably 19th) very soon. It's a great old toot, this show, and there are some top guests too including Frances' daughter Eliza Doolittle.
It's the Forgery Club's 2nd birthday. I'll be doing some musical shenanigans and probably some kind of knees-up to celebrate this ace night of character, musical and sketch comedy turning the ripe old age of 2. Fantastic line-up and it's happening in a new club called Deansways, behind the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. They're on the Twitters at @TheForgeryClub
We're doing a gig for the official opening of Floripa, which used to be called Favela Chic. We've played there lots of times before and they're always great nights, normally featuring rum-based cocktails.
26th Feb - Hackney Colliery Band, Trinity Pub, Borough, London
We have a kind of infrequent residency at this great pub next to Borough tube. We do a double set and will be playing all of our new stuff, so it's always a bit of a seat-of-the-pants, fun gig. The last few gigs have ended up with an impromptu street party at the end of our set, so apologies in advance if you live in Borough and were hoping to get some sleep that night.
10th April - Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, Vanderlay, London
The #Alternative #Comedy #Memorial #Society returns, rising from the ashes of the New Red Lion to be reborn in...Shepherd's Bush. Just like the proverbial phoenix. ACMS is a treat of a night; the last one at the Red Lion included a woman stuffing cakes into her mouth against the clock, a game of 'Egg Guess Who' and a man holding his hand in a pot of boiling water. But, you know, in a funny way. My alter ego Steven Briggs (one man colliery band slash grime MC) will almost certainly make an appearance at this one, showcasing his short film about the aquariums of south west India, with a live improvised grime soundtrack.
Look, here I am at the previous one.
See?
1st May - Domestic Science, Green Man Pub, London
A night of geeky new material run by comedy science geeks Helen Arney and Rob Wells. I'll be doing some stuff about science and music and Helen and I might do something together.
I am doing my show How I Attended My Own Wake And Have The Mixtape To Prove It (formerly known in a previous incarnation as Perfect Mixtape) at the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. I've never played this festival before, so I'm, like, well looking forward to it. I'll also be doing ACMS there. Yes. It will be good.
Just thought I'd drop you a line to let you know that I have sorted out a 2 for 1 ticket deal on my shows this week (16-17th Jan) for excellent people like yourselves who may have seen the previous incarnation of the show or seen me performing around and about recently.
Put 'kazoo' into the promotion box on the website (no inverted commas, but I didn't need to tell you that, you're smart, right?), or quote it at the Box Office in person or over the phone (08448 733433).
The show is shaping up really nicely; there are quite a few changes from the Edinburgh version, including, but not limited to:
- a punk song;
- lots more of the (true) story about attending my own wake;
- a (true) story about my friend's ear falling off.
It's going to be great fun. Well, it is for me. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too. And if you have seen it in previous incarnations, I would really love to hear your thoughts on the changes.
That's about it for now, except to say that I've got a couple of other fun gigs coming up this month too:
Tuesday 24th January, 7.30pm doors, £4 Domestic Science Upstairs at the Green Man I'm going to be doing some new material and generally messing about at this ace night run by Helen Arney and Rob Wells. Other guests include Steve Mould, Leila Johnson and Peter Buckley-Hill.
Tuesday 31st January, 7.30pm doors, £8 Alternative Comedy Memorial Society New Red Lion, Angel I'll be doing my usual musical bits and bobs at the ever-amazing ACMS, and probably also a new bit by my alter ego one-man-colliery-band-slash-grime-MC Steven Briggs, including an audio-visual tour of western India's aquariums with a live grime/brass soundtrack. This will, very sadly, be the last ACMS at the New Red Lion because they're turning it into a sushi bistro or somefink.
I just thought I'd drop you a quick festive line to wish you well, give you a Christmas present in the form of my festive 2011 mixtape and let you know some of the stuff that I've got coming up in case you're interested.
Shows
I have a couple of solo shows coming up on 16th and 17th January at the Leicester Square Theatre. What's that? What are they? Well, that's a good question. They're essentially a new version of my Perfect Mixtape show that I performed at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival and as in the Leicester Square Theatre in November (many thanks if you came to any or all of the above!).
I really loved doing Perfect Mixtape, but the vicissitudes of writing a show for the fringe meant that there were a number of changes that I wanted to make to it before I even got up to Edinburgh, but which I couldn't really do for logistical reasons. So, this is a kind of re-work; some new material, some from the Perfect Mixtape show and with a bit more emphasis on the (true) story of how I came to attend my own wake.
With that in mind, I've come up with the staggeringly catchy title of Steve Pretty: How I Attended My Own Wake and Have A Mixtape to Prove It. OK, OK, needs work, I know. Think of it as a working title for a kind of work-in-progress-of-a-show-that-was-finished-and-is-now-being-reworked.
The point is, I'd love you to come. If you've seen the show before, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the changes (and I'm going to try to sort a substantially reduced ticket deal for those who've seen it before - details to follow).
If you've not seen it, I can guarantee at least 3 of the following:
- balloon-based live hip hop percussion;
- a song about the reef fish of the Indian Ocean;
- some discussion about some of the quirks of going to your own wake;
- between 4-5 'jokes';
- your very own take-home-and-keep kazoo with my face on it;
- a renewed sense of existential purpose.
It will, in short, be fun. Tickets available here.
Other comedy stuff
For the rest of this week I'm performing at the excellently bonkers, Robin Ince-curated Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People. At the time of writing, we've done 4 shows which have been enormous fun as always. Personal highlights include doing a mini-solo on teapot in National Express with Neil Hannon himself, nearly getting blown up by chemists doing live explosive reactions on stage and playing aforementioned teapot full of dry ice (donated by aforementioned chemist) just after Alan Moore talked about his recent trip in a stolen swan pedalo. Basically, they're great shows. They're all sold out, but there are a few returns etc - follow Robin on Twitter for retweets of people looking to sell their tickets.
On 9th January I'm doing a new night at the New Red Lion called School Night, which looks set to be ace. There will be 'lessons' from great people including Matthew Crosby, Helen Arney, Steve Mould, Matt Parker and Humphrey Ker alongside yours truly, and a tuckshop at interval for all your sherbert dip-dabbing needs. Come along and support it, why doncha?
I'll also be back at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society in the new year. Once Thom Tuck and John-Luke Roberts get around to telling me the dates, I'll, you know, let you know.
Hackney Colliery Band
There's going to be a lot of exciting stuff going on in 2012 with HCB, most of which hasn't been officially announced yet... Suffice to say that 2012 looks set to be the brassiest year yet.
If you need a fix in the meantime, check out our latest single No Diggity/House Arrest on Spotify here, or on iTunes here. I believe that it's sold out of its 2nd pressing, so if you want a vinyl copy you might have to wait til the new year. In the meantime though, our album makes a great Christmas present. Sorry, just saying.
We're working up a new set in January and February (takes a while when there's 9 of you!) so won't be gigging too much, but we've got one or two in the book:
Anyway, that's it from me for now. Thanks for your support in 2011, and here's to 2012 not bringing the apocalypse (with apologies to any Maya amongst you).
Toooot!
Steve
And here's a link to my festive 2011 mixtape. A bit of background on the tracks follows. Enjoy!
My 2011 in Mixtape Form
Humanist Christmas
I Saw Three Ships - Sufjan Stevens I've raved endlessly about Sufjan before but I'm going to do it again: he's great. I've not had a chance to see many gigs this year as I've been so busy, but I think even if I'd seen a gig a day, Sufjan's gig at the Royal Festival Hall in the Spring would have been a highlight. It was, frankly, astonishing. He's a bit nuts and a couple of years ago released a Christmas box set of 5 CDs of Christmas music, and a small colouring book. Respect.
Never Built a Snowman - Helen Arney and Paul Richards I've known Helen for years - we used to play in the Bucks County Youth Orchestra together because yes, we were that cool - so it's funny that we are both now working in the same line of 'work'. Helen writes great songs and is funny. This is a song from her 2010 Christmas album. We've been playing my brass arrangement of it at this year's Nine Lessons shows and it seemed appropriately festive to include it here.
Touchy Feely - Jim Bob This little bit of the virtual mixtape is unashamedly inspired by the Nine Lessons gigs that I've been doing this week. I've played with Jim (of Carter USM fame, if you were wondering) on and off for years, and have done a bit of arranging for him too. He released a top version of Mr Blue Sky earlier this year featuring yours truly on tootling. It was used as the theme of a Radio 4 series of the same name by Andrew Collins. This is a song which we're playing at Nine Lessons this year. It's lovely and cheery.
Down in the Street Below - Divine Comedy Again, we did this song at Nine Lessons earlier this week. I have to admit that I didn't know the song before doing it with Neil Hannon, but I'm really glad to have discovered it as it's a superb piece of writing. Was a really privilege performing with him and he's a real gent to boot.
The Ship's Piano - Darren Hayman Darren has also been doing Nine Lessons this week and I've worked with him a fair bit this year, which has been great as he's a pleasure to work with. This is the title track from his last-but-one release (the most recent being January Songs, which you should also check out). It's an album full of beautiful, poignant songs and I urge you to buy it or at least listen to it.
Letter From God To Man - Scroobius Pip vs Dan Le Sac This is the last track of the 'Nine Lessons' section of the mixtape. I've been an admirer of Scroobius Pip for a while, and Dan Le Sac's production is astonishing. Was a real pleasure to play with Pip this week in a kind of improvised hip hop accompaniment to his lyrics. There's a nice video that goes with this track, too.
It's Not That Serious - Akala I've been listening to quite a bit of grime, dubstep and all that stuff recently, and Akala is pretty much my favourite of a very varied bunch. Again, some lovely production and musicianship, and lyrically I really respect his tackling of big themes. Grime isn't normally associated with protest music, but Akala's got a social conscience, but also, it turns out, a bit of a sense of humour (again rare in this music!). This track has a pretty straightforward sentiment but one which I fully endorse.
Brassy Goodness
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This - Soul Rebels Brass Band Soul Rebels are a great American brass band who have been a bit of an inspiration for Hackney Colliery Band. They were in town when we did our gig with Hypnotic Brass in November, and came to the show. They were very complimentary and seemed to really enjoy our set which was gratifying. This is a really high energy version of this retro tune which I think works very well, taken from their most recent album.
Dances from the Monastery Hills - Fanfare Ciocarlia Another superb brass band, this time from the Balkan tradition. Some truly amazing playing here; proper party music! I love Balkan brass which is why I wrote...
House Arrest - Hackney Colliery Band This is Hackney Colliery Band's take on the Balkan sound. I wrote it a few years ago when I was house sitting in Italy and got locked in all day when there was a power cut and the electric gates to the house wouldn't open! It's the AA side to our latest single which has been doing really well - the A side is our cover of No Diggity which is always a live favourite and is great fun to play. Bit self-indulgent to have a Hackney Colliery Band track on here maybe, but there you go. I've done it now.
Obituaries
Valerie - '68 Version - Amy Winehouse So now we move to the brief obituary section of the mixtape. It's all been said many times before, but it was of course a great loss to music losing Amy Winehouse. She sang this song with Hackney Colliery Band once (sadly not in the best state) and I think this is a great version of it, taken from her posthumous release. Who knows what she could have gone on to do. Stupid substances.
Lady Day and John Coltrane - Gil Scott Heron Speaking of substances... GSH had a bit of a longer innings than AW, but it was still a great loss. I've written about why I think he was top here; haven't got much more to say really. He was pretty great.
2011 Discoveries
Can't Hide Love (live) - D'Angelo This isn't so much as a discovery as a re-discovery. D'Angelo is absolutely ace and this is just a great track. I'm not are I've ever heard anything funkier in my life. What a band.
It Must Be Love - Labi Siffre I discovered Labi Siffre this year when I was writing my Perfect Mixtape show, and it turns out he's bloody cool. He was an openly gay Anglo-Nigerian singer-songwriter, who had Chas and Dave in his band and whose tune I Got The was sampled by Eminem, meaning that Chas and Dave have kind of played with Eminem. Awesome. I had no idea he wrote It Must Be Love, either.
May 2011 - Matthew Herbert Matthew Herbert released his album One Pig this year - an album made more or less entirely from samples of a pig, from birth to slaughterhouse. Bit predictable, really. It's not an easy album to listen to but in all the right ways. For the live shows associated with the album, Herbert built a 'styharp', which is basically a cross between an advanced sampler, harp and pigsty. It all sounds a bit nuts, and, frankly, it is, but I really respect his work; I reckon he's doing some of the most interesting, challenging electronic music around. This is the most accessible track, but I urge you to check out the album if you're feeling adventurous.
All Yours - Submotion Orchestra My brother introduced me to these guys, and I'm glad he did. It's kind of dubstep-meets-triphop, and there's superb musicianship and production throughout. Haven't had a chance to see them live yet, but hope to in 2012.
Little Bit of Feel Good - Jamie Lidell Until this year, I only really knew Jamie Lidell as a plinky electronica artist (which is not a criticism - I love plinky electronica), but it turns out he's a superb soul vocalist as well. This track is very much in the Stevie Wonder mould, and as far as I'm concerned, there's no higher praise.
African stuff
Uptown Top Ranking - Dub Colossus This band were another discovery for me this year. A great mix of Ethiopian jazz, dub and reggae, and a nice version of this song.
Adunia - Eritrea's Got Soul Speaking of East Africa, this was a really interesting album of African soul. It's a really original hybrid of styles and pretty damn groovy too.
The Wedding - Abdullah Ibrahim If you've seen Perfect Mixtape or had a conversation with me for longer than a few minutes, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Abdullah Ibrahim, and this is one of my favourite tracks. Not heard this solo version until recently, but the poise and control is really fantastic. Such simple but beautiful music. Check it out.
Indian stuff
Dancing in Madness - Anoushka Shankar I love Indian classical music, and this is a brilliant album from Ravi Shankar's daughter Anoushka who is a superb sitar player and really creative musician. It's got a really flamenco-ey vibe to it, and this track really shows off her virtuoso playing and collaborative nouce.
Choli Ke Peeche Bhangra Mix - Bollywood Brass Band I've spent quite a bit of time in India again this year, thanks to the Bollywood Brass Band. Had a great trip there in January for a month or so, and then another 10 days or so in November, and it's a huge privilege to be going over there to work so often. This is a track from the Bollywood Brass Band album Movie Masala, which they recorded before my time (so hopefully it's not too self-indulgent to include it...), and it's been remixed to give it the Bhangra treatment. I must have spent the equivalent of about 1.5 years in India over the past 10 years or so and I can't get enough of it, so looking forward to working there more in 2012. Get those shoulders shaking and screw in that lightbulb!
Star Stuff
Cosmogony - Bjork It being Christmas and all (and having been listening to cosmologists talking about incredible stuff all week), I thought I'd put together a few star-themed songs. This is from Bjork's latest album Biophilia, an absolutely insanely ambitious project, which, being Bjork, she pulls off extraordinarily well. If any of you have an iPhone or iPad, I urge you to check out the album app. Sounds overblown maybe, but she really has redefined what an album release means in 2011. The app's free and comes with this song, including extraordinary animations, live scores, essays and narration by David Attenborough. Whoah.
Stardust - Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis This couldn't be much more different, but it's another lovely track. I really like the idea of this album - bringing together jazz and country music to explore their shared roots in the blues - and of course Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis both sound amazing.
Star of Wonder - Sufjan Stevens Couldn't resist book-ending this mixtape with another Sufjan track, again from his Christmas box set.
It has been brought to my attention that I am a massive plum, and inadvertently put 2nd November as the date for Perfect Mixtape at the Leicester Square Theatre, rather than the 1st November which is when it, you know, actually is.
I hope you're having a sensational autumn so far. Just thought I'd drop you a line to let you know what I'm up to over the coming few weeks.
Perfect Mixtape
I'm doing a one-off performance of my 2011 show Steve Pretty's Perfect Mixtape at the Leicester Square Theatre on the 1st November at 9pm. That's next week, as it turns out... Better get re-learning it then I suppose. This is the show that quite literally some people were talking about in Edinburgh, including some reviewers who said nice things and one who called it 'weird', which I take as a compliment.
It's a show about how I attended my own wake (entirely true), mixtapes and how music can help you deal with those people you encounter in life who function without any Common Decency. It's probably the last time that I'll do it in exactly this form, so let's sell it out ahead of its predicted transfer to the Albert Hall as a concert spectacular in 2012.
To celebrate this show next week, I've made a virtual mixtape for you, the ace people who are reading this, so head here to check it out. There's one track for every performance of Perfect Mixtape that I did in Edinburgh, and there's some background info on some of the tracks at the end of this newsletter if you're interested.
Other comedy stuff
I'm very much enjoying being music monkey at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society every couple of weeks. Next couple are 8th and 22nd November, both at the New Red Lion, near Angel, and I'll be doing them in my Brand New alter-ego of Steven Briggs, the One Man Colliery Brass Band for t'21st Century.
Speaking of which, I'm doing a couple of nights back at the Leicester Square Theatre on January 16th and 17th (not on sale yet, but will be soon).
Not entirely sure what these shows will be yet, but there will certainly be 2 or more of the following:
- Steven Briggs the One Man Colliery Brass Band for t'21st Century presenting his fusion of hip hop beats and the Hovis ad;
- Some laughs;
- Some sort of re-working of material from my 2010 and 2011 shows - Steve Pretty on the Origin of the Perfect Mixtape Pieces, I suppose you could call it;
- Some bits that don't work that well;
- The occasional moving moment;
- A live experiment to see what happens when you play the trumpet having inhaled helium;
- Me playing a teapot whilst hitting it with a spring onion (again).
Our latest single No Diggity/House Arrest sold out of it's vinyl run in 4 days! Though sadly downloads have not yet sold out - keep trying, people (that's how downloads work, right?). The vinyl has been re-pressed, so if you have a turntable or are just a particular fan of nostalgia, grab a copy from here or all good record shops.
We've had a very busy autumn of gigs, and after our surprise performance at Scala on 15th October, we're back there again this Saturday 29th October as part of an epic night hosted by White Mischief. I think there are still tickets available, and we're on at about 11.30pm I believe (2330hrs for those of a military bent).
One for you northerners: on 6th November we're at the Leeds Hi Fi club.
On 7th November, we are going head-to-head with probably the coolest brass band in the world (sorry, Grimethorpe), the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. They've performed with Mos Def, Blur and Prince. I've performed with Timmy Mallet and Johnny Ball. It's going to be an amazing gig and will definitely sell out, so get your tickets now...
On 12th November we're doing a free show of new material at the Trinity Pub, Borough for their 5th birthday. Come and check out what we've been working on, eh?
Other gigs
27th October (tonight!): with new trad jazz band project the River City Stompers (see photo below), pre-show at Crypt, St. Andrew's Church, Holborn (doing the classic trad-jazz warmup slot for Macbeth)
28th October: with Bollywood Brass Band, Diwali event, Hounslow Town Centre, early evening
13th November: with Darren Hayman, Ship's Piano album gig, Unitarian Church, 2pm
17th November: with Colin Hoult, Leicester Square Theatre
mid November: India tour with Bollywood Brass Band
18th - 23rd December: with Robin Ince et al, Nine Lessons & Carols for Godless People, Bloomsbury Theatre
Right, I think there's plenty there to be getting on with.
Hope to see you out and about soon.
Toot toot!
Steve
Background info to virtual mixtape, if you're interested:
Monkey's Dance - Stian Carstensen: My play on music.
Pappa's Got a Brand New Bag - James Brown: I bought a new bag in Edinburgh this year which could resist the rain. I am not technically a Papa though.
Lady Day and John Coltrane - Gil-Scott Heron: GSH is ace and I wrote a piece about him, music and politics in the current issue of Red Pepper magazine, so been listening to him a lot.
The Story - Matthew Herbert Big Band: Another musician who's not afraid to tackle political theme. He samples lots of newspaper-related stuff like printing presses for this track. It's incredibly well put together, too. He's pretty much my favourite UK musician/producer. Talented chap.
The Return - Darren Hayman: This is a collaboration that I did with Darren as part of his bonkers 'January Songs' project, when he wrote and recorded a brand new song every day for a month. It's more like a short story with musical accompaniment really. I played trumpet and also mixed and produced this track.
Try Again - Pest: I like a bit of electronica and this band is run by a good mate of mine. All their stuff has a slightly unhinged sense of humour running through it which I think is great.
Crazy in Love - Beyonce: I sometimes play this as a duet with comedian and bassoonist Caroline Mabey. She's Beyonce and I'm Jay-Z.
Ride on and Turn the People on - Finley Quaye: he rhymes 'Sylvester' with 'bullet proof vest, y'all'. 'Nuff said.
Valerie - Amy Winehouse: I performed this with Amy when she gatecrashed a Hackney Colliery Band gig at the Jazz Cafe last September. What a waste of a huge talent, eh?
So What the Fuss. - Stevie Wonder with Prince: Stevie and Prince. Cool.
Welcome to my new-look-mega-techno-newsletter, complete with my patented underlined headings for all your Easy-To-Read needs. You can read it as an email or in more snazzy form in your browser by clicking the links above.
As I mentioned previously, I promise to only write once every month or two, just to let you know what I’m up to.
The Past
Well it's the best part of a month since the Edinburgh Fringe finished, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels as if my body, my mind and my very soul have only just recovered.
It was a great year and I was busier than ever swapping hats from the (metaphorical) comedy fez which I wore to do my Perfect Mixtape show and the various extra comedy gigs I did throughout the festival, to the (metaphorical) jazz beret which I wore whilst playing the swing and jazz gigs I did at the Jazz Bar and beyond, to the (metaphorical) theatrical fedora which I wore whilst working as a selector for the National Student Drama Festival Edinburgh competition. I felt like a (metaphorical) eighteenth century countess with the amount of (metaphorical) hat boxes I had to cart home.
Look, I made a pie chart of the various gigs that I did in August. It even looks a bit like a pork pie hat. Well, OK, only a little bit.
The Present
Anyway, if you came to see me perform in Edinburgh then thanks! I had a great time, and hope you did too. Also, we raised a nice lot of cash for the Red Cross Japanese tsunami fund - £225.73 (plus 20 Euro cents, about 7 dud kazoos and a button), to be precise. So thanks very much if you donated; if you’d like to donate now in exchange for your kazoo, you still can here.
The Future - Comedy
Well, the autumn is now upon us so I thought I would drop you a line with a few bits and bobs that I'm up to over the coming weeks.
First up is that my 2011 one-man show Steve Pretty's Perfect Mixtape is coming to London! Yes indeed: THE PALLADIUM, for a LIMITED RUN of just THREE YEARS.
Well, OK, the Leicester Square Theatre for one night. The 1st November at 9pm, to be precise.
If you missed the show in Edinburgh, then this will be pretty much your only chance to see it in its current form, so come and see the show that the Sunday Express described as 'mildmayhem', the show that Whatsonstage described as 'an original delight that put a smile on my face for the rest of the day' and the show that Fest magazine described as 'weird'.
It's £10 (£8 conc.) and I guarantee that it will, at the very least, be enormous fun. The ace Colin Hoult is doing a show right before mine, so why not come and check out both, eh? Why?
In short: come!
A few other comedy-related dates for your diary while we're at it:
After a great (i.e. self-consciously weird and mega entertaining) couple of shows at the fringe, I am now resident music and sound monkey for the incredible Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, run by the inimitable John-Luke Roberts and inoperable Thom Tuck who put on nights roughly twice monthly at the Red Lion. They often sell out, so get your tickets early.
Here are the dates:
Tuesday 27th September (TOMORROW. Headliner: Tom Basden! Lots of other ace people too! Yes!) Tuesday 11th October Tuesday 25th October Tuesday 8th November Tuesday 22nd November (all at 8pm, doors 5pm)
I'm also doing some musical shenanigans at the Forgery Club every month or so. The next one is Friday 21st October at the Albany, Great Portland St. It’s a really great night and the bills are always amazing.
Look, here’s me at the September Forgery Club, performing the 20th Century Fox theme on a trumpet and balloons.
The Future - Music
I've been getting a few other musical projects up and running during September, but perhaps the most exciting announcement music-wise is that my band the Hackney Colliery Bandhas released its latest singleTODAY, 26th September. Out on Wah Wah 45s and available as either 7" vinyl or digital download, the A side is a cover of Blackstreet's massive tune 'NoDiggity' which has been packing dance floors since it came out on our album in July, and the AA side is a Balkan-tinged original by me called 'HouseArrest' which is pretty much guaranteed to get you jumping, if I do say so myself. Check out the tracks on the HCB Facebook page here.
You can hear both of these tunes, as well as another hour's worth of material THIS FRIDAY 30th September at the Dogstar in Brixton or at our headline set at Scala, Kings Cross on 29th October, should you wish. Which you should. Or if you’re northern or enjoy a long commute, come and see us at the Leeds Hifi club on 6th November.
Goodbye
So there we have it.
If you’re feeling so inclined, you can leave comments, photos etc. on this ‘ere post by hitting ‘reply’ to this email.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks! I promise that future updates will be shorter...
