December action

I did a last minute show on monitors for Richard Reed Parry, accordion player (among other things) for Arcade Fire, who was headlining the Spitalfields Festival at St johns church in Bethnal Green.

His most recent album “Quiet Rivers of Dust “ is described as slow moving and majestic. To be honest the recording is not a patch on how this stuff comes across live – it was proper Maxell Tape ad time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBauT4ADKbw)

Tunes that are quite chill and folky had massive power live and his band were exceptional . The way they blended acoustic and electronics was incredible – pure mastery! If you get a chance to see these lot live you wont be disappointed.

Check him out here:

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/richard-reed-parry-quiet-river-of-dust and check out the recording on Spotify etc.

I also went to the French Alps to do a show with the Hackney Colliery Band at a ski resort. We flew in the day before which gave us a morning on the slopes which was great fun. I was terrified of having a dreadful stack on the slope having not been skiing for 30 years but it all came flooding back and I had a fab time.

Gig went well – playing at 11pm outside in minus 5 centigrade was an experience! – savage for the horns especially!

Getting home was miserable due to the drone nonsense at Gatwick and took forever.....but then it was Christmas!