MATTHEW NORTH MUSIC

Stockport Clubhouse at the Bulls Head 29th Nov 2009 Now that’s more like it! We had a leisurely drive to Stockport, as we were already on the M6 It didn’t take long at all. We stopped off on the way, and dug out the trusty camping stove, and in the rain I was determined to make coffee and not pay rip off Costa prices, I succeeded at that! We eventually found the travelodge we were staying in it was behind a massive complex but didn’t have a specific address, so sat nav got a bit lost!. Anyhow, we were all knackered after the previous night, so we had a few hours rest and recuperation, once done we were all ready for the challenge ahead. Got to the venue in good time, It was a really nice place, they had converted the upstairs of the very nice bulls head pub into a venue, had decent enough PA and monitors, and lights. Special mention goes to Danny who runs it, he books the bands, and even does the PA as well. We did manage to use up Every single input to his desk nothing was too much tr...

Wolverhampton Giffard 28th Nov 2009 Lee-Anne and Nev Having a Strum Tony the Merch Matthew with Des from Balaam who helped out loading out (thanks mate) Hi all This is being written at the Travelodge in Stafford, the reason we are in Stafford is that the Travelodge we booked into was over sold, and they had to send us off to another one! Still its actually an advantage as it’s a lot quieter than if we had stayed in the city center Anyhow I guess you want to know how last night went? Well as I said earlier, the sound check went very well and we popped to a pub up the road for some food. The support band was Ted the promoters daughters band, and they were rather good, doing the modern indie pop things, they were very tight and for their first gig pretty amazing. We went on stage at around 11.30 was a late show, we played out set, I’m not going to post the set list until after the tour. There was in essence one major problem, the sound engineer had simply disappeared nowhere to be seen, s...

New Voice Tour - Arrive in Wolverhampton So hear I am in the Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton. The Drive up was good, we made a detour as part of the M5 was closed, however, this also saved is 10 miles in travel too. Sound check was good, we did a little bit of tweaking to the overall sound just to get it right. They have great monitors here as good on stage sound is always good to have. Funny thing in the room where the gig takes place we just did a really good rendition of Jessica acoustically with Nev on Guitar, Lee-Anne on Bass and me and Niall singing. Maybe ill post a video of it he he.

Pre Tour Thoughts This is a very nervous time for me, I haven’t done a tour for 11 years, and it didn’t help that my main music PC’s had drive decided to die today, fortunately most of my documents are on other drives, but still a pain in the arse! Today was spent packing kit, double checking that I had everything, and doing more vocal practice, I feel I might be annoying people in the van singing Gug, Me, and La all the way up to Wolverhampton!!! As the other half pointed out today, this is also a tour where I’m with a completely new team, unfortunately, Martin who is normally with me whatever band I’m in is unable to do the merchandise as he’s ill and the doctor has signed him off, fortunately our good friend Tony is doing his shift. I am though very excited about the tour, and I hope to see a few old friends on the way and make many new ones too.

All Living Fear - Tour Video Here is a short video to promote our tour.

All Living Fear - Terminal Studios London 22nd Nov 2009 So yesterday the 22nd November we ventured to London for the final All Living Fear rehearsal before the band goes on tour. Steve and Nev have known each other a little while but Niall had yet to meet either, though the night before it was a evening in Camden to celebrate Steve’s birthday and Niall came out as well, fortunately they hit it off well , and by Sunday a jolly time was had. We got to terminal and had a fine drop of soup for the organic café round the corner, well recommend it if you are ever in the London bridge area. So we set up and practiced in earnest, I got to say the first run through was a bit shabby none of us were getting it together, this was part not being able to suss the layout of the mixing desk, about half way through I had a fiddle and got thing s working better then we had a break for coffee, they have a reasonable cappuccino machine there. The last run through was great, could hear the drums properly ...

Whitby Interview Recently I did an interview for a semi official brochure for the Whitby Gothic Weekend festival that I have performed at many times over the years as well as being the festivals Videographer. Anyhow here is a scan of the interview click on the image to see it full Size.

All Living Fear - Exeter Picturehouse 5th November 2009 Well it only seams like 5 minutes ago that I played at the picturehouse, this though was an All Living Fear show rather than just me. There were some great acts on tonight, they do get some fabulous players, so I was a bit worried that what we were going to do might not be up to the mark. When set time came I did 2 numbers on my own, then Niall joined me for the rest of the set. He has a great bass sound tonight, and I was feeling more confident, The Microphone stand kept falling down this was not ideal, after the first song it was sorted though. The set Ran Fortunes Light (That I have done a new arrangement of) New Song Untitled Then with Niall Jessica Home Too Soon Each And Every Way The Widow’s Blame Stranger To None I did feel we played Home too Soon WAY too fast, but other than that I felt that the set went ok. Again monitoring wasn’t really there I think next time I will take my own wedge.

Oxjam Exeter 25th October 2009 So I was asked to perform at the Oxjam Oxfam benefit gig in Exeter, this is where 6 venues are open for live music with a roving ticket for just a fiver with all monies going to Oxfam. I was playing at Cooling’s wine bar on the same bill as the legendary Frank Turner. The set I performed was similar to what I have been doing acoustically recently however I was asked to do an encore and I just repeated Fortunes Light again. The set Fortunes Light Each And Every Way New song untitled Jessica The Widow’s Blame Friends Forever Stranger To None Home Too Soon Fortunes Light The Venue was nice and the PA good, though not having any form of monitor made it very hard. Thanks to Sue for taking the photo.