MATTHEW NORTH MUSIC

Had a bonkers gig last night. Ellie from the band was asked to play some covers at a friend’s party, initially JP and some people from his covers band were going to do it, anyhow I ended up doing it, I had a couple of weeks to learn pushing 20 songs most of which I didn’t really know and the venue was a front room.  As it turned out I was able to get a small PA in there and we got a very good sound and somehow managed to get our way through the set, we did of course throw in a few Secrets originals for good measure. It did give me the idea of the concept of House gigs if you are not familiar with the idea then you can read about them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_concert . It may be a bit tricky to do as a full band, though Mike with his Djembe or even his mini drum kit we could, or play as a duo or trio either way it’s an idea that we are considering for 2013 maybe a small tour of places that otherwise we would never be able to get to. So anyone like

So yesterday it was supposed to be The End Of The world and in celebration of this, I played 4 tracks all called the End of the World.  They were songs by The Cure, Mostly Autumn, Aphrodite’s Child and Gary Moore. An very fine collection of songs won’t you agree.   You can Iplayer it from this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011q1wl go in about an hour and 10 minutes

Dear readers, Sorry I have been quiet on here, I really must do more blogging. Just a quick note that I will again start posting what I play and talk about on the BC Radio Devon show with Vic Morgan on BBC Radio Devon. Tonight we talked about Huw Lloyd-Langton and played the Hawkwind track 'Dragons and Fables'. Then moved on to Thomas Dolby and played '17 Hills' from his superb 'A Map of the Floating City' album. Lastly the new Gilmore & Roberts album and the track 'Doctor James' probably my track of the year look them out here http://www.gilmoreroberts.co.uk More soon. Matthew

Yesterday was a good day I did some mastering for my old friend David Jaggs he’s a classical guitarist and sells a lot of CDs. This is a clip of him off the telly when I first knew him when I was 14!  His website is http://www.davidjaggs.com

So I popped into the local HMV the other day to get a dvd, the dvd in question was in stock in the 2 for a tenner range, so I found a   CD I also wanted to get so a cd and a dvd for a tenner that’s very good value in my book. On the way to the till I noticed a section of cds marked as ‘pre owned’ and in contained such classics as Pink Floyds ‘wish you were here’ and Nirvanas ‘Nevermind’ for 2 pounds a pop.  Now I have a big concern over this HMV is the only new CD chain in the uk left everyone else has gone bust. I have seen that a lot of people are now offloading there unwanted music on web sites like music magpie where they buy in cds for next to nothing typically 50 to 75p per cd then they sell them on either via ebay, or now it would seam through shops like entertainment exchanger or maybe now HMV.  What this is doing is in my view detrimental to the music industry on several levels. 1 it makes it harder for the few remaining second hand record shops to obtai

I can’t believe it’s been best part of 2 years since I played a gig in Bristol. So having a free day last Sunday I contacted my friend Mark Venus whom promotes a lot of acoustic gigs in Bristol and arranged a couple of shows for a Sunday afternoon. Mike wanted to tag along for the ride so he came along with his Djembe. The first gig was at the Hatchet Pub located by the 02 Academy, it’s a great pub and its usually the place I head to for food before a gig or if I happen to be in Bristol, they also have quite a few good alternative and 80s nights there too sometimes. We went on at about 5pm and the set went like this. Fortunes Light Broken Child Jessica Feel Love is a Spirit To Behold Mike did some great percussion of feel giving it a great groove, that song is developing all the time from the simple original acoustic song that it was to start with.   We had some great feedback from the audience which is always greatly appreciated. After this gig we popped over to Fishpond’

So while thing are going very well for secrets for September we have had a slight problem in that our Bass Player JP has been away for a long time. We had a show that our usual stand in was unable to attend as well so I had to decide whether to cancel the gig or find someone else. One of my neighbours Andrew Leigh came to mind he is an Ex pro that was in several name bands inc Spooky tooth, Keef Hartley band and Matthews Southern Comfort and goes by the name of Andrew Leigh. So knowing that we have a few mutual friends I found him on Facebook and asked him if he fancied doing a gig, to my amazement he said yes this was only about 10 days before the gig. We had a couple of rehearsals with just a tape of the drums and then off to Kozzfest we go. This was a great little festival that Matthew ‘The Wright Stuff’ Wright even turned up to and mentioned on his TV show. We played the usual Secrets set minus reflections due to set time. And a good time had by all. Set List To Be

Last night was all a bit bonkers really, My initial intension was that I was going with my girlfriend to the Picturehouse to have a Pizza and listen to music, and that’s what we did, though as one artist postponed I thought I might do a couple of tunes, and some how it ended up being a Pink Floyd a thon. I thought earlier that I fancied doing Pigs on the Wing, then one thing lead to another and I ended up doing. Pigs on the Wing (part 1) The Post War Dream Fortunes Light Morning Dew Jessica Mother Another Brick In The Wall Part 1 Another Brick In the Wall Part 3 Goodbye Cruel World Comfortably Numb Broken Dream Broken Child Outside The Wall Pigs On The Wing (Part 2) So 4 All Living Fear tunes and one Cover + a truncated version of the Wall haha! It was fun with Andy B Playing bongos, and Lee-Anne on the Shaky Egg. 

In the 1950s there were 2 kinds of musician, there was the ones that Played 5 nights a week playing anything they were asked to play, and there were the few that just wanted to do their own thing , the latter came out of the former. 2012 There are 2 kinds of musician, the ones that play whatever they are asked to (Covers / Tribute bands etc) and the ones that want to do their own thing, these mostly never went near the former. In between the 2 era’s there was this little bubble called ‘Independent music’ This started in the 60s but really thrived in the 70s and 80s and started to fade in the 90s. This was where major labels and smaller companies invested in artists doing their own thing in the hope that it would yield some return in many cases it did in others it didn’t, but with good marketing and product with the people at the top making some money this filtered down   and we had a healthy recording industry. We are now back to how things were in the 50s, there was an old

Back to the Picturehouse and the Return of All Living Fear So last night then. Usual fun at the Picturehouse, not played there myself since January so was looking forward to playing a few tunes, as it happened Mike was free so I dragged him along this going from really a Matthew North solo gig to an All Living Fear gig this being the first one for a couple of years. We didn’t have any rehearsal Mike was just bashing his Djembe to the beat I was playing. Also we did one song that I had never sing before. I think we pulled the gig off rather well it was like a Goth Tyrannosaurs Rex. Set List Broken Child (New Song) All Living Fear Each And Every Way Love is a Spirit Last Goodbye Tomorrow (With extended solo at end) I really liked the sound of what we did, I was looping guitars and I was using this new pedal called a Ravish Sitar that I got for Xmas that give more texture to the sound. No longer had All Living Fear played its set than Ellie came to the stage and we did a Sec