that's right, it's been too long! you tell us: we love 'tell me now'... we love 'let yourself go!' but you cry out: what's next?!
so it's after a long wait that we're finally getting our heads down again over the easter weekend to sculpt for you two - or maybe even three - brand new tracks. As ever, the Smart Soutane are self-producing, and as ever, we're moving our temporary studio (complete with an arsenal of assorted mics, tea-making facilities and mood lighting) to a new top secret location in south bimingham. 'sgonna be good!
we'll be sure to let you know when it's all finished; in the meantime, come support us at the Flapper and Firkin for the first round of the Surface Unsigned Festival this friday night (for details see our gig listings). If we don't see you - have a good weekend!
by the way, dan, we will need someone to make the tea for us...
tane out x
Thursday 9 April 2009
Sunday 22 March 2009
And Welcome...
...to the Soutane's brand new blog!
well, we say brand new - so far we're simply mirroring our existing MySpace blog here, but in time, and with your help, we trust it will grow into a beautiful living, breathing, multimedia extravaganza in its own right. This is all part of our ongoing effort to let you, dear listener/friend/blog junkie, access everything you need to know about the Tane in the easiest possible way, which recently includes our new mailing list (get in touch via smartsoutane@hotmail.com if you'd like to sign up) and our soon to be unveiled website. You may even hear us Twittering soon...
As ever we want to make the experience as streamlined as possible, so if you've any comments or suggestions just holler.
enjoy the weather - tane out! x
well, we say brand new - so far we're simply mirroring our existing MySpace blog here, but in time, and with your help, we trust it will grow into a beautiful living, breathing, multimedia extravaganza in its own right. This is all part of our ongoing effort to let you, dear listener/friend/blog junkie, access everything you need to know about the Tane in the easiest possible way, which recently includes our new mailing list (get in touch via smartsoutane@hotmail.com if you'd like to sign up) and our soon to be unveiled website. You may even hear us Twittering soon...
As ever we want to make the experience as streamlined as possible, so if you've any comments or suggestions just holler.
enjoy the weather - tane out! x
Electric Presence (The Mild Mild West)
Thanks to everyone who attended the second Electric Presence in Bristol this weekend. Smart Soutane had a wicked late night and we hope you did too!
The load in was like nothing we'd experienced. Walking with our gear through the abandoned offices of Hamilton House, Bristol's new creative hub situated in a converted office-block, felt more like something out of Die Hard than a typical gig situation. Then from out of the darkness we reached the gig-space, a warm and lovingly decorated room with relaxed ambience, a well stocked bar and a view overlooking Banksy's Mild Mild West, much to Phill's delight!
The night grew as strange as it did magical. We ordered food at the Full Moon down the road, and it was brought over to us by none other than ex-Birmingham singer-songwriter Tom Bellamy, who we promptly brought back with us to play an open mic slot. No sooner had we got back to the venue than we were greeted by our old mate John Wright who had just got back from India and had rushed out to see us (or at least we imagine that's how it went!) After accompanying Harmonica Steve's steaming blues set (and Danny having been hit in the head by said harmonica) we were entertained by a consistently high standard of open-mic - good work all round, guys! The late night set was a blast, and we loved the dancing, you made it what it was. Thanks to Sarah and all the team for having us, and to Dan for doing a sterling job on the Sound. Cheers to Steve Shapcott for being a legend - and for wearing our t-shirt. And thanks again to Tim and Bex for more food than we could ever eat and late night whiskey-macs.
We hope to be back in sunny Bristol soon - we were all quite taken by its positive creative vibe, and besides, we never got to meet Louisiana Jeff... In the meantime we're working on recording two of new tunes for our upcoming EP - watch this space, it's gonna be big. Also we're in the early stages of developing our new website, so if anyone has any ideas for content they'd like to see up there, do drop us a line.
Til next time, Tane out x
The load in was like nothing we'd experienced. Walking with our gear through the abandoned offices of Hamilton House, Bristol's new creative hub situated in a converted office-block, felt more like something out of Die Hard than a typical gig situation. Then from out of the darkness we reached the gig-space, a warm and lovingly decorated room with relaxed ambience, a well stocked bar and a view overlooking Banksy's Mild Mild West, much to Phill's delight!
The night grew as strange as it did magical. We ordered food at the Full Moon down the road, and it was brought over to us by none other than ex-Birmingham singer-songwriter Tom Bellamy, who we promptly brought back with us to play an open mic slot. No sooner had we got back to the venue than we were greeted by our old mate John Wright who had just got back from India and had rushed out to see us (or at least we imagine that's how it went!) After accompanying Harmonica Steve's steaming blues set (and Danny having been hit in the head by said harmonica) we were entertained by a consistently high standard of open-mic - good work all round, guys! The late night set was a blast, and we loved the dancing, you made it what it was. Thanks to Sarah and all the team for having us, and to Dan for doing a sterling job on the Sound. Cheers to Steve Shapcott for being a legend - and for wearing our t-shirt. And thanks again to Tim and Bex for more food than we could ever eat and late night whiskey-macs.
We hope to be back in sunny Bristol soon - we were all quite taken by its positive creative vibe, and besides, we never got to meet Louisiana Jeff... In the meantime we're working on recording two of new tunes for our upcoming EP - watch this space, it's gonna be big. Also we're in the early stages of developing our new website, so if anyone has any ideas for content they'd like to see up there, do drop us a line.
Til next time, Tane out x
Russ (Open mic tour continued)
I thought I'd get on it, and finish off the last Blog,
On the Thursday, I actually didn't stop drinking like I said and carried on until I played at The Steamboat Tavern (approx. 10:45pm) for the Suffolk Songwriters open mic night. This is a night with lots of talented artists and bands with a refreshing emphasis on songwriting. By the time I was playing I'd already upraded to Scotch, so fair to say I was a trifle intoxicated. I reversed the order of the set and played 'Sleeping on a Train' first, which went down really well! That generated enough quiet from the audience to do a good rendition of my ballad 'Her Song' and I was very pleased with how that went. Normally, I find it difficult to completely get into the personal aspect of the song when there is a lot of audience noise. I can only assume that went down well also, as they asked me to do another tune so I had great fun on an improvised boogie-woogie/blues. Definitely the best of four good nights and just goes to show that maybe it's not always a bad idea to have a beer before a gig...or was that my slightly warped perception?
On the Thursday, I actually didn't stop drinking like I said and carried on until I played at The Steamboat Tavern (approx. 10:45pm) for the Suffolk Songwriters open mic night. This is a night with lots of talented artists and bands with a refreshing emphasis on songwriting. By the time I was playing I'd already upraded to Scotch, so fair to say I was a trifle intoxicated. I reversed the order of the set and played 'Sleeping on a Train' first, which went down really well! That generated enough quiet from the audience to do a good rendition of my ballad 'Her Song' and I was very pleased with how that went. Normally, I find it difficult to completely get into the personal aspect of the song when there is a lot of audience noise. I can only assume that went down well also, as they asked me to do another tune so I had great fun on an improvised boogie-woogie/blues. Definitely the best of four good nights and just goes to show that maybe it's not always a bad idea to have a beer before a gig...or was that my slightly warped perception?
Open mic tour (Russ)
I've done three open mics this week.
1) Mon 16th Feb, The Golden Lion - Bristol. Quite a loud venue but a great atmosphere. This went really well and even though nervous I think I did quite a good performance as the audience reaction was pretty loud!
2) Tue 17th Feb, The Miners Arms - Bristol. Not as great, I managed to get in one song because it was so busy and I had rehearsals in Wells until 9pm. This is much more of a bohemian listening venue, much quiter and a very chilled atmosphere. 'Sleeping on a Train' got a good cheer none the less!
3) Wed 18th Feb, The Bull - Colchester, really good venue for open mics and full-band gigs. My set went very well. I was quite nervous, possibly a bit tentative with 'Flying Nightingales' and 'Her Song' but as usual the up tempo 7/8 riff of 'Sleeping on a Train' got everyone going, myself included.
I'm now off to the Steamboat Tavern tonight (Thu 19th Feb) in Ipswich to do a set with Suffolk Songwriters, I should probably stop drinking sometime soon!
1) Mon 16th Feb, The Golden Lion - Bristol. Quite a loud venue but a great atmosphere. This went really well and even though nervous I think I did quite a good performance as the audience reaction was pretty loud!
2) Tue 17th Feb, The Miners Arms - Bristol. Not as great, I managed to get in one song because it was so busy and I had rehearsals in Wells until 9pm. This is much more of a bohemian listening venue, much quiter and a very chilled atmosphere. 'Sleeping on a Train' got a good cheer none the less!
3) Wed 18th Feb, The Bull - Colchester, really good venue for open mics and full-band gigs. My set went very well. I was quite nervous, possibly a bit tentative with 'Flying Nightingales' and 'Her Song' but as usual the up tempo 7/8 riff of 'Sleeping on a Train' got everyone going, myself included.
I'm now off to the Steamboat Tavern tonight (Thu 19th Feb) in Ipswich to do a set with Suffolk Songwriters, I should probably stop drinking sometime soon!
BBC WM Introducing... Smart Soutane
that's right, blink and you'll miss it, as we very nearly did! here's the link if you want another listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001xxvb you'll need to go to 35 minutes in, then sit back and enjoy Tell Me Now.
But smart soutane know there'll be some of you for whom streamed audio is still not enough. You demand high definition stereo audio! if this is you, come see us at the bristol pear this friday evening (time to follow), where we'll have our most recent and most exclusive EP for sale, featuring Tell me now, Lovesic, and Let yourself go. We'll start the bidding at three quid apiece... thanks to brett and louise and thanks to all our fans for their continued support. And next time, we promise to be just a little more on the ball and give you lots of notice when we're gonna be on the radio!
soutane out x
But smart soutane know there'll be some of you for whom streamed audio is still not enough. You demand high definition stereo audio! if this is you, come see us at the bristol pear this friday evening (time to follow), where we'll have our most recent and most exclusive EP for sale, featuring Tell me now, Lovesic, and Let yourself go. We'll start the bidding at three quid apiece... thanks to brett and louise and thanks to all our fans for their continued support. And next time, we promise to be just a little more on the ball and give you lots of notice when we're gonna be on the radio!
soutane out x
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