What WAS on at The Goose is Out!
Dave Swarbrick
Friday 28 March
Our opening night with Swarb was a sellout!
Folk legend extraordinaire, brilliant fiddler and mandolinist, ex Fairport Convention, but maybe best known for his amazing gigs/albums with Martin Carthy. Possibly the only folk musician (or indeed anyone) to have had an obituary printed in the Daily Telegraph whilst, erm, not actually being dead...... Swarb performed solo for the Goose's opening night - you will look back in years to come and say "Yes! I was there!"
You can see some pictures of our opening night in our gallery
Links to more information and music:
Goose floor singers on 28 March
Kevin Sheils
Kevin has been involved in singing, MCing and organising several London Folk clubs over the years, including The Enterpris at Chalk Farm, The Chestnuts at Walthamstow and the present Walthamstow Folk Club. He is a regular presenter of the Traditional Music Hour on Resonance 104.4FM, and some of his old shows are syndicated on Radio Britfolk. He was a concert MC at Sidmouth Folk Festival for 18 years and still is at Towersey. He has also introduced concerts at the Purcell Room as part of "Folk in the Fall", and at The Barbican.
Kevin and his colleagues at Walthamstow Folk Club have given a lot of enthusiastic advice and support to us two newbies on our steep hike up the learning curve of setting up a new venue - thanks, Kevin, it was great to have you down in Sarf Lahndon for the evening :)
You can hear some of Kevin's songs on MySpace.
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Andrew McLeod
Andrew made his live debut at the age of seven singing Oom-Pah-Pah in an assembly at Eliot Bank primary school with his friend Neil Wallace. A classically trained cellist, Andrew spent much of his 20s singing and playing in a Brighton avant-garde grunge band. He got back into folk seriously about ten years ago when he started going to Sidmouth festival with his mum and sister. He is a regular floor singer in small venues and folk clubs. He currently sings with the indy-blues band The Pendletons and in an amateur choir in Hackney.
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Dan Maitland
A great singer, songwriter and musician. Dan Maitland will be releasing an unashamedly reflective album of acoustic songs on Folkwitt records this spring (2008), entitled ‘Rumours Of A Nice Day’.
Read more about him and listen to his music on MySpace.
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The Woodlarks
The Woodlarks sing traditional folks songs from all over the world, adding their own subtle twists to the likes of Railroad Boy and Nottamun Town with finger-picking guitars and honeyed vocal harmonies. Originally from Watford and Warrenpoint, Tanya and Brona met when they heard each other perform at the Magpie's Nest in Islington. Discovering a common passion for folk music, they decided to try a few songs together.
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Andy Hank Dog
Andy needs no introduction to those of you who know and love his Easycome Acoustic Club, every Wednesday night at the Old Nun's Head on Nunhead Green. In the seventies, at its previous location at The Ivy House, the Easycome was one of the major South London venues - the Stones played there, and Pink Floyd had their first gig there.
From rock star in the seventies, Andy Hank Dog left the drugged up music scene and became a jewellery designer throughout the eighties, returning to his music career in the nineties. His band The Hank Dogs were signed to Joe Boyd's record company Ryko Music, and their second album Half Smile (on Spinney Records) got great reviews in the national press.
Andy has lived in Crystal Palace for ten years now, and has a recording studio there called Crystopolis, where he promotes young talent. He also curated the Tate's Floor Spot night in 2007. We are grateful to Andy for being so supportive of The Goose Is Out, and for being so tolerant of our talent-spotting amongst his Easycome singers!
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Circulus
Wednesday 23 April
The Goose was delighted to welcome mediaeval/psychedelic band Circulus for our celebrations of Saint George's Day. We think it's unlikely East Dulwich had seen anything quite like Circulus before - except maybe in mediaeval times, of course ..... we don't think we've ever seen quite such an array of strange and unusual instruments!
Atmosphere was added to the evening with a football semi-final being screened in the adjacent bar - oh how appropriately very English! - as we were downstairs instead of upstairs as usual, but hopefully everybody enjoyed the mix of English music to sing along to (though in retrospect perhaps Benny Hill's "Ernie" was a bit over the top - sorry, the Goose got carried away there ......)
The Guardian said this about Circulus' debut album:
"By turns preposterous, unsettling, tear-jerkingly beautiful and wonderfully refreshing: the one thing it is not is a concerted effort to storm the charts by sounding a bit like Coldplay or Franz Ferdinand, which may explain the flurry of critical excitement the band are currently generating."
Click here to see the full Guardian article
Click here to go to Circulus' MySpace page
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John Kirkpatrick
Friday 25 April
Brilliant performer on the squeezebox, great singer, and a very funny guy as well (we think he could have done stand-up if Steeleye Span hadn't nabbed him first), John Kirkpatrick is one of the most well-known and popular performers on the British folk scene.
His amazing skill with accordion, concertina and melodeon has taken him from folk dancing to experimental rock music - and a wide range of international recording collaborations.
John regularly toured and recorded with Richard Thompson, and played with both the Albion Band and Steeleye Span. He always maintained his love of acoustic music - that led to a long standing partnership with Martin Carthy which subsequently blossomed into the group Brass Monkey.
And now the Goose must fess up - we had a hidden agenda here. We brought John Kirkpatrick to the edt in a last-ditch attempt to encourage him to sing "Bow Down to the Bonny Broom", which is one of our all-time JK faves and which we haven't seen him do recently. Yes, heavy hints were dropped to Mr Kirkpatrick ...... :)
And hey - they worked! Not only did we get the Broom (apparently correctly entitled "Riddles wisely expounded"), we got a song about dogs (erm, seemingly entitled "What do doggies do when they get bogies up their nose?" and what must be the only folk song in the world with a chorus of "Hey derry down the computer is down."
Hope you'll come again, John - it was great!
More info on John's website.
back to topFloor singers on 25 April
CORNRIGS
The Cornrigs are Hannah Harris on vocals and Ian Granton on acoustic guitar. They are based in London.
Hannah and Ian met several years ago when they were both in a band called "Telophase". They formed the Cornrigs in 2006, taking their name from a song in the movie "The Wicker Man", and have been been writing original music since 2007.
Their influences are wide ranging and include Nick Drake, John Martyn, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Joni Mitchell, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Miles Davis and - er - Doris Day. And many more!
They say "We are very interested in the tone of the guitar and voice and have tried to write uncluttered music that emphasises the melody and allows the songs to breathe"
The Cornrigs are in the process of completing their first album A Kinder Fayre, which is due to be released later this year.
Click here to see some video clips of Cornrigs
back to topMATT MILTON
Brixton-based Matt Milton is a classically trained violinist who plays bluegrass fiddle for the low-down dirty country singer Rod Stern. For the last two years he has been concentrating on the noble art of folk/blues fingerpickin' guitar and song.
Very much of the Bert Jansch school, his bluesy chops and bizarre lyrics have often been compared to both Robert Johnson and Robyn Hitchcock.
Matt does have a MySpace page, but we are assured that Matt will be in his folkie incarnation tonight and not performing his violin and saw improv, which we feel may be an acquired taste for many of the Goose's audience :)
Click here to go to Matt Milton's folkie MySpace page
Click here to go to Matt Milton's improv MySpace page
back to topBULGAKOV
Bulgakov is a seven-piece acapella vocal ensemble who are completely smitten with the folk music of the Balkans, with its spine-tingling and often clashing harmonies, and powerfully evocative songs.
Their skills, understanding and technique have been fine-tuned through several years of singing and performing with the wonderful London Bulgarian Choir (Open Category winner of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2006) and its charismatic leader Dessislava Stefanova.
They are all still dedicated members of the Choir, but decided to form Bulgakov so that they could explore songs from beyond Bulgaria, for example from Georgia, and to bring this great form of singing to South London, where most of them are based.
Where does their name come from? This is what they say: "We are named Bulgakov after the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov, writer of the seminal 20th century novel ‘The Master and Margarita’. Why? Well, we love that book; his name conveniently contains the first five letters of ‘Bulgaria’; also the particular ‘open throat’ singing technique sometimes makes us cough!"
Click here to find out more about Bulgarian singing and the London Bulgarian Choir
Bulgakov were brilliant and we shall definitely be inviting them back to the Goose in the future!
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The Woodentops
Friday 23 May
This was a great and unique night of English nu folk - The Woodentops played a special acoustic set for the Goose!
Formed in 1983, The Woodentops soon achieved worldwide fame as a brilliant live band. Original indie heroes - and longtime favourites of John Peel (R.I.P.) - they were renowned for hi-speed melodious semi-acoustic rock and roll, based on the distinctive acoustic guitar style of singer Rolo McGinty. At the beginning of the late 80's dance scene, they found themselves Balearic champions in Ibiza - resurfacing in 2006!
Three of the Woodentops now live in East Dulwich, and this gig was the band's first ever local performance! Their legendary energy and charisma have survived the eighties intact, as has Rolo's unmistakable voice.
P.S. The Goose found out only recently that "Woodentops" is old time slang for 'acoustic guitars'. This has greatly confused us as we were hoping the band would bring along The Very Biggest Spotty Dog you Ever Did See to have a bark with Sue, but now we find they are not in fact related to a fifties television programme. Duh.
back to topOur floorsingers on 23 May included:
CHEESEBURGER
What can we say about Cheeseburger? Here's what some other people have said:
"Cheeseburger are maybe the oddest and best band you'll see this year"
"Like an apocalyptic fallout out by The Meteors with Nick Cave and Link Wray in attendance"
"Cheeseburger's appeal lies in their shambolic beauty and their knack for writing skewed, off kilter songs that would grace the soundtrack of a David Lynch road movie"
"Cheeseburger's songs collectively create a movie in the mind's eye -- a long-lost road movie of guilt-ridden men, nascent love, and go-go girls."
You can find out more about Cheeseburger and listen to some of their music on their website and MySpace page:
Click here to go to Cheeseburger's website
Click here to go to Cheeseburger's MySpace page
back to topTHE BOYCOTT COCA-COLA EXPERIENCE
And then we had something completely different .....
Backed by William Warren on toy drums and brass, Tim Siddall sings caustic, funny, surreal and mundane songs and has been described as "Mark E Smith meets Jake Thackray". Siddall has got something to say and he says it with wit and warmth whilst grappling with a demonic Mississippi-via-Peckham guitar.
The Goose thinks TBCCA is brilliant, and judging by the applause, so did you!
Find out more at
The Boycott Coca-Cola Experience's MySpace page
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Tim Van Eyken
We had a brilliant Goose evening with Tim on 20 June!
Tim has come a long way since winning the 1998 BBC Young Folk Award, breaking new ground with Dr Faustus and touring the world with Waterson:Carthy. He is now firmly established as a leading light in the UK's thriving folk scene. The Guardian described him as "compelling" and "original" and the Observer described his last album (acclaimed everywhere from the Times to the Sun) as "a triumph".
Here's what the Morning Star said,
"Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves sees Tim van Eyken slipping from traditionalism into the ghostly hinterland occupied by the likes of Alasdair Roberts and Will Oldham, where folk formalism meets the eerie textures of modern electronica to bring out the mix of death, lust, religion and hedonism that lies at the heart of folk."
The Telegraph said,
"He fully exploits his great strengths of versatility and boundless enthusiasm. Babes in the Wood is given a darkly compelling treatment, and there is chaotic joy to Twelve Joys of Mary, its anarchic percussion and brass inspired by memories of a boisterous wedding procession Van Eyken joined while visiting Syria." The giant strides made by English folk music will not shorten while it remains in such accomplished hands."
The Sunday Times made the "Stiffs" album a **** Pop (sic!) CD of the Week, and said,
"In his sleeve notes, Tim van Eyken attempts a definition of folk able to encompass his quietly radical arrangements of traditional tunes......(he) encourages the songs to speak for themselves, and finds they still have plenty to say."
You can hear some of Tim's music here:Tim van Eyken's MySpace page
back to topFloorsingers on 20 June included
THE KITTIWAKES
The Kittiwakes are Kate Waterfield on vocals, Chris Harrison on accordion and Jill Cumberbatch on violin, mandolin, banjo and guitar. They are planning to release their first album in the Autumn, and have recently released a free downloadable EP called "Lotofen calling". It is available from Woven Wheat Whispers here: here!
"Lofoten calling" is original music based around the people, landscape, folklore and history of the Lofoten Islands, an area above the Arctic Circle in Norway. The music is song based, and influenced by traditional British Isles and Norwegian folk music.
Paul Collier of the Leigh Folk Festival described their music as "delicious, intriguing and evocative, beautifully played and sung by this talented trio."
You can find out more about the Kittiwakes at Kittiwakes' MySpace page
back to topSALT AND BLUE
South London duo Salt & Blue are multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jessica Cahill, described by Nigel Eaton as "one of the best hurdy-gurdy players in Britain, with a superb driving style", and the uniquely haunting cellist Jakob Kaye. Together they have been described as spine-tingling and hypnotic.
Salt & Blue's inspiration derives from many sources: Jessica's love of traditional music from England, France and Eastern Europe; Jakob's Icelandic heritage, and the passion that both of them have for all forms of contemporary music. Taking its cue from the hurdy-gurdy, their music is primarily drone-based, and explores both traditional and original material, with unconventional use of instruments and voice.
back to topFRAN MCGILLIVRAY AND MIKE BURKE
Fran and Mike are acoustic folk-blues guitarists who play as a duo and also in the blues band So Long Angel. In February 2008 the Guardian said of them "Very impressive. McGillivray has an agreeably controlled and laid-back vocal style, often with an American twang, while Burke is an excellent blues guitarist."
Colin Irwin, an fRoots Magazine reviewer said of them "The material is beautifully, grippingly balanced - heartbreakingly poignant one minute, rousingly upbeat the next - and the acoustic settings give it all an illuminating freshness"
To find out more, visit Fran and Mike's websiteand Fran and Mike's website page
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Jackie Oates
Friday 18 July
Friday 18 July
Well, we thought we'd better have a change from all this BlokeFolk (technical term - copyright us). Jackie is fast establishing a reputation as a fiddle-singer (singing and playing the fiddle at the same time) and has just finished recording her second album.
Spiral Earth said of her:
"Beautiful music of intrigue and passion."
She has played as part of Rachel Unthank's Winterset, and more recently with Tim van Eyken.
You can find out more about Jackie and her music via these links:
The Goose was delighted to welcome Jackie to East Dulwich, and we hope it will be the first of many times.
back to topFloorsingers on 18 July were:
DROHNE
For over a decade Philip G Martin has been making and releasing a unique modern music based on the use of hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes. His music incorporates medieval pieces, traditional songs, carefully selected modern songs, folk and sound pieces into albums which are always varied but coherent. (from Woven Wheat Whispers
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TONE DEAF LEOPARD
Well for once words fail the Goose when attempting to describe Tone Deaf Leopard. If you have ever seen them, you will know what I mean. One of them did email Sue to say "I've just seen your picture on the Goose website - were you that person convulsing at the front in the scout hut at the Leigh festival?" Erm, yes, that was me.
Go to the loo before you watch them, that's (almost) all I have to say
You can see some Leopard stuff on their website.
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