Going Live! My first adventures with Grawlix plus a solo performance tonight, 19th Sept...

After many years away from the stage, I've started playing live again. In fact, I have a few thumbs in a few musical pies lately...

Tonight I'm playing a few of my own songs and singing a couple of jazz standards at Sung Sounds Jazz, an event held three times a year at The VoiceBox, Derby.  It's a lovely candlelit affair starting at 8pm,  and I'll be playing on the Schimmel grand piano there, which is always a treat! Its been a very long time since I regularly played solo gigs, so I'm tentatively finding my feet again. One of the songs I'll be playing is Into the Sea:

Last week, I played piano and sang for the band Grawlix for two gigs, one in London, the other in Derby. The first was at Westminster Library, supporting Haiku Salut (click for amazing video) on the Lamp Show Tour, and the second, at Artsmith an independent art gallery in Derby, accompanying some contemporary dancers in the middle of an art installation which reminded me of a post-apocalyptic planet Mars... This was... kinda weird but kinda fun!

I enjoy playing with Grawlix: the music is nothing like anything I've ever written or played on.  I enjoy creating an atmosphere with layers of melting vocals, soaring guitars, twinkly piano and drums that remind me of ship at sea. And the three part vocal harmonies make me giddy. I adore singing with people. Just that 'click' as three voices make one. There's nothing like it!

For these gigs, I play on a digital stage piano. I have to admit, it's not my favourite instrument, but anything else simply isn't practical! Here's a video of some of my first ever notes played live with Grawlix: