Showing posts with label bella spinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bella spinks. Show all posts

Thursday, 29 November 2012

Introducing - Marika Hackman

I came across Marika Hackman by chance when I went to see the supporting Bella Spinks at Komedia in Brighton on the first date of Marika's first headline tour on November 26th. Lout Promotions.
A self confessed slightly awkward stage presence between songs; quickly vanishes as each song quickly swept the intimate audience into silence. Marika has a very strong and seemingly effortless tone to her voice which is interesting and soothing. I would absolutely love to see her accompanied by a band!
There was a real sense of early Laura Marling performances about her.
She got a well deserved encore, but declared that she had no more songs and would learn some more.

Get a free covers ep here:


Certainly an artist I'll be keeping an eye on and seeing again very soon...



Wednesday, 4 May 2011

The Abbey Tavern - Open Mic

I Went to an open Mic night at The Abbey Tavern in Kentish Town last night.
It was the usual some good, some bad, up until a few standout performances by some very talented artists indeed! Bella Spinks, Lucy Rose, Kerry Leatham from Peter & Kerry and Ryan Keen all stood out.

What particularly stood out for me was Ryan's style of guitar playing and I was drawn in by the song 'Thank You'. He told us that it was written for his Grandma. She passed away and left him some money that he used to buy his guitar which allows him to make the most of his percussive style of play. See the video below.

You can buy Ryan's first EP entitled 'Aiming For The Sun'. He's currently working on a second EP. You can see him live on May 9th at 93 Feet East and I was delighted to hear that he'll be playing at the same festival as Twin Brother this year at REDFEST.

Lucy Rose also has her first single coming out and the launch night is on July 5th at Cargo. Here's the facebook event and you can buy tickets here.


What made everybody's night was the man on last with the cello which had two speakers in the back! We found out once he'd started that this played a backing track, to which he plucked away at his cello like a double bass. Unfortunately the man was not a singer, but played his costomized nstrument very competently. I think he was the most amusing of the evening!