As Strawbs move gracefully into their fifth decade of music making, it is still difficult to categorise the unique sound that has made them Britain’s most successful international progressive folk-rock band.
Although forming in the mid 60’s, coming out of the exciting British Folk Movement alongside Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Al Stewart and Roy Harper, this tour will mark the 50th Anniversary of their first major recording, being the first UK band to be signed by the famous Hollywood label A & M, under the guidance of Herb Albert and Gerry Moss.
Major chart success followed with classic albums Dragonfly, Bursting at the Seams, Ghosts, Grave New World and Hero & Heroine earning the band 2 Gold Discs and over 30 weeks in in Billboard Charts with 7 consecutive albums charting.
Massive coast to coast tours of America swiftly followed, sharing the stage with The Eagles, Santana and Frank Zappa.
From the days of Sandy Denny in the band (pre Fairport) and Sonja Kristina (pre Curved Air), the band have always enjoyed the finest soloists in their ranks. Rick Wakeman and then his son Oliver moving on to join YES as well as Rick’s other son going on to Ozzie Osbourne and Black Sabbath. Blue Weaver to join the Bee Gees and Don Airey to Deep Purple. The keyboard stool now being filled by virtuoso Dave Bainbridge of Iona, whose blend of Folk, Rock and Celtic music has endeared them to audiences for over 25 years.
A big influence on bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes, the band are constantly producing some of the best and most respected albums since the 70’s.
The new album “The Ferryman’s Curse” received rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and saw them back in the album charts for over 30 years. A recent sold out tour of Canada, producing spectacular reviews of the live show has resulted in two major tours of North America for 2019.
Acoustic Strawbs comprise David Cousins, along with lead guitarist Dave Lambert, and the astonishingly versatile Chas Cronk, who together formed the front-line of the classic 1970s line-up of Strawbs which had a remarkable seven consecutive albums in the Billboard Top 200 in the USA.
“Easy to see why they are selling out venues” – Q Magazine
“Never content to rest on their laurels, this exceptional band continue to produce classic tracks and spectacular live shows” – Mojo
Tickets are £18 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Door price (if available) will be £20.
Please note that this is a seated event. Seating is unallocated, though all have a good view.
Licensed bar.
UK and British Blues Award winners Catfish have carved a reputation for themselves as an excellent live band with a phenomenal frontman in 23 year old guitarist/vocalist Matt Long who plays with a real passion for the blues.
In 2016 they won a British Blues Award and in 2018 won the UK Blues Award for Blues Act of the Year (England).
The band crashed onto the blues scene in January 2015, with their debut album ‘So Many Roads’ going straight in at no 1 in the IBBA blues airplay charts. Their EP, a tribute to BB King called ‘When BB Sings The Blues’, charted at no 5 in February 2016.
In January 2017 they released their much-anticipated second album ‘Broken Man’ which is almost entirely original material. ‘Broken Man’ also reached no 1 in the IBBA blues airplay charts in March 2017. It was voted album of the year for 2017 by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association.
This is blues with a very broad brush – from epic prog anthems to stripped back piano ballads.
‘Catfish are one of the finest live bands in Britain today. The quality of musicianship is outstanding and in Matt Long, they have one of the greatest young guitarists on the scene today…’ – Blues Matters Magazine August 2017
Their busy tour schedule includes confirmed European tours and an extensive list of UK festivals and blues club gigs all over the country. They are well under way with their new album of original material which they hope to release in early 2019.
Catfish are:
Matt Long – guitar and vocals
Paul Long – keyboards and vocals
Kevin Yates – drums
Adam Pyke – bass
Support TBA.
Tickets are £10 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Also available on the door for £12.
Licensed bar.
We’re really excited that once again we are part of Independent Venue Week, which runs from Monday 28th January to Sunday 3rd February 2019. We will have seven (yes, 7!) consecutive days of events for you to indulge in.
Monday 28th January: re:emerge
Four of the bands who performed at our emerge nights during 2018 return to perform live again. Kursk, The Interesting Times Gang, The Fifths, and Sophie Mahon will all be performing.
Tuesday 29th January: Granny’s Attic + support
Granny’s Attic are a fantastic folk trio who play the tradition with verve, energy, and their own inimitable style.
Wednesday 30th January: Talvin Singh
Mercury Music Prize winning percussionist, producer, and composer, Talvin Singh brings electronic music and Asian Underground to Stowmarket as part of IVW19.
Thursday 31st January: Metal Night
Friday 1st February: Pip Blom + Eton Crop
Pip Blom and her band perform ‘indie-pop tunes with a twist’.
Saturday 2nd February: Beans on Toast + support
Cult Folk Legend, Beans on Toast is coming to Stowmarket to promote his new album “A Bird in The Hand’ and he’s bringing a full band with him.
Sunday 3rd February: Something Left Behind – The Wedding Present Documentary Film
Something Left Behind, a new music feature documentary about the “greatest break-up album of all time”, will be screened here at the John Peel Centre as part of Independent Venue Week 2019.
See the individual events for more details, including ticket prices and links.
Join us we kick off IVW with a look back at some of the memorable local artists who joined us at emerge during 2018. re:emerge will showcase live performances from Kursk, The Interesting Times Gang, The Fifths, and Sophie Mahon (not necessarily in that order!). Come and support these talented artists and potentially see the international stars of the future! (especially if you missed them last time around!)
“Worth supporting if you live locally, these emerge nights” – Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6 Music
Kursk are a 4 piece band from Suffolk with a passion for heavy metal. Inspired by the likes of Judas Priest, Witchfinder General, Black Sabbath and Pagan Altar. Kursk performed at our emerge night in September 2018.
The Interesting Times Gang
Adventure Pop! Featuring Hannah Cutler on guitar and vox, Astrid Coxon on keyboards, more vox, and the egg of artistic impotence, James Brittain on bass and further Vox, and Georgi Chapman on even more vox and supportive interpretative dance. Also features Ian-1 and Ian-2, the drum machines. They sing about space travel, but they also sing about things that aren’t space travel (like betrayal, cannibals, toxic friendships, and travelling in space). TITG performed at our emerge night in March 2018.
The Fifths are an indie alternative band based in Cambridgeshire. The band consists of Simon (Guitar/Vocals), Jack (Guitar/Vocals), Jamie (Bass) and Matt (Drums). Formed only in December 2017 they have already played in a many venues in the local area, including emerge here at the John Peel Centre in July 2018.
“Sharp-suited surefire future pop sensation” Sophie Mahon brings a form of escapism and romanticism that is somewhat lacking in today’s cynical 21st Century maelstrom of plastic pop. Sophie takes inspiration from her Eighties New Wave influences Roxy Music, Duran Duran and David Bowie “but far from being a mere pastiche of bigger-haired times, [Sophie’s] music is fresh, urgent and oddly moving” [Seymour Quigley]. Sophie performed at our emerge night in May 2018.
Remember, emerge nights are for bands to perform and be supported by an appreciative crowd that will get to hear some great music, so all bands/artists and their fans are very much encouraged to support the other performers. Therefore if you are coming to see one band, please try to come for the whole evening – the bands will definitely appreciate it, and you will have a great time!
£3 entry on the door
Licensed bar. Range of soft drinks also available.
Granny’s Attic are a folk trio who play the tradition with verve, energy and their own inimitable style. We are excited that these guys are coming to Stowmarket on Tuesday of Independent Venue Week 2019!
These three young men are all exceptional musicians and fine singers and play English traditional and original music. Formed in 2009, they have since played at clubs and festivals up and down the country, and have been heralded for their lively performances and maturity beyond their years in their delivery and selection of traditional songs.
The trio are: Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (Melodeon, Concertina, Vocals), George Sansome (Guitar, Vocals) and Lewis Wood (Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals)
Support TBC
Tickets are £10 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Also available on the door for £12.
Please note that this is a seated event. Seating is unallocated, though all have a good view.
Licensed bar.
Percussionist, producer, and composer, Talvin Singh is renowned for creating the bridge between Indian and electronic music. Drawing inspiration from the classical Indian arts, he has managed to sculpt a unique sonic landscape.
Singh’s synthesis of electronic music and eastern aesthetic, is often referred to as Asian Underground, one of the most exciting movements in the history of British music.
He has taken the Tabla to the cutting edge with the most unimaginable sonic creations, which has ultimately helped him to demystify Indian classical music, and therefore inspire a whole new generation of musicians and producers of contemporary music in India and the south Asian diaspora worldwide. Singh’s influence has also spanned to the visual arts, dance and film.
Having worked and collaborated with a diverse range of artists, such as, Sun Ra, the late Ustad Sultan Khan, Terry Riley, John Martyn, and Yoko Ono, he still continues to be as explorative and imaginative in his solo career as well as curating new ventures in contemporary music.
Singh’s debut album, titled OK, achieved huge acclaim and won Singh the Mercury Music Prize in 1999. He has also been honoured with the South Bank Prize for popular music and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for Services to Music. Talvin continues to perform internationally, write and produce music and to work as a music director for various creative projects.
We are excited to be welcoming Talvin to the John Peel Centre as part of Independent Venue Week 2019.
https://www.facebook.com/talvinsinghmusic/
https://soundcloud.com/talvin-singh
Tickets are £13 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Also available on the door for £15.
Licensed bar.
We are thrilled to have Pip Blom performing here as part of Independent Venue Week 2019!
22-year-old Amsterdam-based Pip Blom started writing, recording and releasing her own indie-pop tunes with a twist in 2016. Early songs, which were simply uploaded to the internet, quickly amassed thousands and thousands of plays – prompting Pip to recruit a band and start playing them live. In stepped brother Tender Blom on backing vocals and guitar, Darek Mercks on bass and Gini Cameron on drums, with Pip herself fronting on guitar on vocals. Since, the band have played more than a hundred gigs, rising from small pubs to the european festival circuit with performances at Eurosonic Noorderslag and The Great Escape – as well as being asked by the likes of Surfer Blood, Franz Ferdinand and The Breeders to join them on their various European tours.
The band’s energetic live show quickly pricked the ears of press and radio – with Vice’s music channel hailing Pip as ‘ready to join the ranks of 2018’s rising guitar acts’, and BBC 6 Music A-listing recent singles ‘I Think I’m In Love’ and ‘Pussycat’. The station’s DJs Marc Riley hailed the former as ‘perfect pop’ with Gideon Coe branding it ‘excellent’ and, elsewhere, on the UK’s most popular music station BBC Radio One, Pip Blom performed a live session at Maida Vale for Huw Stephens. Not bad going for someone whose early ambitions were to write a few songs and upload them to the internet in case people wanted to hear them.
Support from Eton Crop
Eton Crop were an indie band formed in 1979 in Nieuwkoop, Netherlands, and released a total of 12 singles and four albums over the next 15 years. Frequent visitors to the UK, they toured with many of the “pre-C86” groups like The Membranes and The Three Johns, the latter with whom they shared a not too dissimilar musical approach. While many groups from that era downed tools towards the end of the decade, Eton Crop battled on into the mid-nineties, their last full length album, Get Real!, appearing (on cd) in 1992, eventually bowing out in 1994 with the 4 track ep Everybody. The band later changed their name to the E.C. Groove Society and started producing techno music until 2003. Recently the band reformed under Eton Crop and performed in Stockton, County Durham, UK at the Peel Regenerated Festival in 2014.
The band recorded five sessions for John Peel in the space of five years and on his Radio Bremen show from 1991 on Peel 002 (Radio Bremen), he stated that this was his favourite Dutch band:
“And this is just about my favourite Dutch band and they have been for quite some time. I mean to be honest with you, couple of them are mates of mine anyway, which probably colour my judgement.”
Tickets are £8 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Also available on the door for £10.
Licensed bar.
Cult Folk Legend, Beans on Toast is coming to Stowmarket as part of Independent Venue Week 2019 to promote his new album “A Bird in The Hand’ and he’s bringing a full band with him. His 10th studio album out 1st December was produced by Mumford & Sons Ben Lovett at the legendary Church Studios (Bob Dylan / Radiohead / Adele) and is quite possibly his finest, most accomplished work to date.
This extensive UK tour will see the unique live performer, on stage in his element playing songs from the new record alongside crowd favourites from his varied and extensive back catalogue. Over the course of his huge career Beans has become something of a cult national treasure. What seemed like a throwaway festival act has evolved into something much more important, a voice of truth and honesty, cutting through the bullshit. A consistent and reliable modern-day troubadour, not afraid to speak his mind; always touring, always writing, recording and releasing music. Playing every festival under the sun and always, always, telling it like it is.
‘A Bird in the Hand’ is a celebration of love, life, family and the world in which we live. Expect these very special live shows to personify the exact same ethos.
Support from Jess Morgan + Tilly Moses
Tickets are £15 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). £18 on the door (if not sold out).
Doors open at 7.30pm.
Licensed bar.
The surreal and beautiful beast that is Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip are on their 2018 ‘World Tour’ …and it promises to be an ‘exotic’ adventure.
Mik Artistik spouts lyrics, throws straws, and generally amuses himself over the top of an exquisite layer of rock, soul, and punk created by partner in crime Jonny Flockton on guitar, a drum machine, and one of a crack squad of bass players. The cult band have delighted and unnerved Glastonbury audiences for over ten years gaining more devoted followers each time they play, and are proving to be one of the most interesting, unpredictable, and exciting acts on the circuit. In the absence of Glastonbury this year the band had triumphant shows at Bearded Theory, Beautiful Days, and Latitude Festivals, winning over more and more new fans along the way, not to mention Daniel Lewis of Homeland fame making a beeline for Mik at Port Eliot and proceeding to dance with him! It’s been a crazy summer!
Shaun Keavaney, BBC 6Music Breakfast Show presenter, described the band ‘as mad as a wasp trapped under a pint glass.’ Graham Fellows, aka John Shuttleworth, has recorded one of Mik’s songs on his new album “Weird Town”. Martin Parr, the world famous photographer, describes them as “My favourite band on the planet”. Rick Worthy who hosts The Port Eliot Festival every year in Cornwall said “Port Eliot wouldn’t be the same without Mik…”. Keith Allen likes the band so much he has one of the bands teapots!
“Actually describing what it is that Mik does is much harder. It’s often very funny, but it doesn’t deserve the deadly term ‘comedy songs’, any more than what the work of John Cooper Clarke – an avowed Mik fan – can be called ‘comedy poems’. His songs are often surreal and beautifully observed. He qualifies as ‘cult’ in a heartbeat, sitting somewhere in the distinctive and golden lineage that brought us Vic & Bob, Ivor Cutler and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. In an ideal world, Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip would be Peel session regulars, but there you go.” – We Are Cult
The art college graduate turned to playing live on stage after a stint on the dole and working on building sites. He developed a side line as Mik Artistik, roaming Leeds city centre offering to draw pen portraits of punters on paper bags. After being invited on stage in a local pub when he heckled a band, the punters loved him and Mik took his strange, singular stand-up act around the country. The show turned into the Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip becoming a festival favourite and popping up in such diverse settings as the London Fashion Show, The Vortex Jazz Club, to Batley Rugby Club, as well as supporting Chas and Dave, and Faust. Praised for being a ‘hugely talented singer-songwriter and artist’ (The Observer) and for his ability to make up lyrics as he goes along, drawing on observations from the crowd, BBC 6Music’s Gideon Coe said they were “the best live band I have seen all summer” after witnessing the show first hand at The Port Eliot Festival.
The Ego Trip’s latest album, Sound, was released last year and contains two of his top tunes, the anthemic and poignant ‘Sweet Leaf of the North’, and the deranged ‘Plastic Fox.
Some independent reviews of the band as well…
Support TBA
Tickets are £9 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). On the door price is £11.
Licensed bar.
Multi award winning singer-songwriter Kaz Hawkins has now successfully relaunched as a solo artist with her sell out theatre show My Life And I. An intimate and personal show about her life in song that has been a hit with audiences now being introduced to the powerful, emotive new direction of a woman who owes being alive to the music she now performs.
The Belfast born singer-songwriter has wowed fans with her emotional honest performances across the globe. Her music brings an honest, fun, inspiring & hopeful message to those who need it. Using her story in song to break the barriers around mental health, Kaz Hawkins proves that music can heal, soothe and sometimes save souls that are lost.
Kaz’s vocal/piano show with Sam York is receiving raving reviews:
“This Goddess – the amazing Kaz Hawkins – accompanied by the great Sam York played at our blues festival in March 2018, Blues Autour du Zinc. She blew us away…. ”- Aideen Fahy, President of Blues Autour du Zinc, Beauvais, France
An artist that truly connects with her audience on a personal level & Northern Ireland’s very own Soul Superstar!
“One of Northern Ireland’s musical treasures & one powerful woman” – Ralph McLean BBC
PARENTAL GUiDANCE as Kaz deals with very personal issues.
Colliding Into One (from the show)
The Big Interview with Robin Elliot on NVTV
Tickets are £10 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies). Also available on the door for £13.
Please note that this is a seated gig, with seats unallocated but all with a good view.
Licensed bar.