Kick The Plug 3rd September 2008 - Sons of Noel & Adrian + Blacklands + Stanton Delaplane

Hello, we’ve had a bit of facelift both blog-wise and flyer-wise now that Kick The Plug has now moved to the Wilmington Arms.

Hope you like it.

Here’s our first line-up in the new place:

Sons of Noel and Adrian

http://www.myspace.com/sonsofnoelandadrian
Closely resembling a giant centipede in motion Sons of Noel and Adrian grew up in the midlands with many like-minded musical folk. A couple of years ago they moved to Brighton to gather more legs and are now a fully formed outfit with sometimes as many as ten members or as few as five.

The music is acoustic and falls loosely into the progressive folk niche. At the core are Jacob and Toms tumbling guitars, joined by a colourful host of other instruments to create music that ranges from Shanty to Schoenburg, from deep underground to just above the surface and muses on whether excess can make you a better person and what’s to do when your credit’s all used up and there’s nowhere to go.

Blacklands

http://www.myspace.com/murphykidmusic
Renowned illustrator Al Murphy’s latest musical project is a favourite of ours and he returns to check out the new venue with a slightly smaller band for a more intimate show. Expect songs about baying wolves, sinking ships, moons and death, with a few chuckles thrown in for good measure.

Stanton Delaplane

http://www.myspace.com/stantondelaplane
Stanton has been playing solo developing his own live sound based around vocal loops and finger picked acoustic guitar. He now also incorporates a looped euphonium and music box as well as the odd bit of banjo and when I saw him in Bristol had a marvelous use of a french horn (although it may have been a Tuba, I’m not so hot on brass instruments).

As ever, Tom and I will be playing music between sets to keep your minds from wandering too far and this time we’ll be being joined by Dale Grundle of The Sleeping Years who’ll be bringing a choice selection of songs for your entertainment.

Should be an excellent night, hopefully see you all there.

here’s a flyer and Map should you want either of them;

KICK THE PLUG - July 2nd CANCELED

Hello all,

It seems that keeping a simple diary of events is too hard a task for Catch, and they’d also promised the venue to a mate of the manager. You may be wondering why this takes priority considering a) the comparative quality of our acts and b) the fact that every listings magazine and website is advertising our event. We are left wondering this ourselves and have had no real explanation.

One of the reasons we chose Catch is because it’s never been associated with a good long-running night, therefore we had the opportunity to really make our mark there. Despite the size of the room and quality of the sound engineers, night after night at Catch you’ll see desperate pub bands playing to their mates, with only the occasional gig of any note, and one-offs from good nights that don’t stick to one venue. This is something we saw as an opportunity to change with Kick The Plug, but sadly it seems that it’s an impossibility.

We were left in the position of finding another venue with two days notice that would have a good enough sound system for two acoustic acts AND the 5-piece Moonshine-Moonshine. Needless to say anywhere that’s available at that notice isn’t any good, and also given that all our promotion was for Catch then we were incredibly likely to lose half of our audience by moving. For the sake of the bands and attendees we’d rather cancel the event completely than waste anyone’s time with a shit night, and on investigating the venues that were available that’s what we ended up doing.

Sincere apologies for any disappointment, but I believe we’ve done the right thing. The event will be rescheduled for sometime in August, watch this space for details.

Catriona Irving + Superman Revenge Squad + Moonshine Moonshine 2nd July

Hello gang, the lo-fi-indie-folk extravaganza that we call Kick the Plug returns once again to the shadowy upstairs of Shoreditch’s friendly Catch bar. This time we welcome back the excellent Indie folk cutey Catriona Irving, with support from Croydon’s Superman Revenge Squad and Brighton’s Moonshine-Moonshine. And yes, not only will there will be cakes and badges aplenty, but joining Tom and Mark behind the wheels of steel will be Dale Grundle of the Sleeping Years, helping us to keep your tiny little brains occupied between the acts.

Catriona Irving
http://myspace.com/catrionairvingmusic

Catriona Irving is a 25 yr old singer/songwriter based in London. She’s half Scottish/half French, tiny and blonde. When pressed to do so, Catriona describes her music as Lo-fi folk. Her love for anti-folk and traditional folk are both apparent, but she’s found herself an acoustic styled, angel-voiced sound somewhere in between the two. Her debut release was the attention grabbing ‘Running on Empathy’, and she followed that with the Stitch EP which enjoyed excellent reviews (“DIY music at it’s best”, said FACT) and a generous smattering of radio play. She’s currently working on an EP of new material which is due for an Autumn release. In the meantime she’s building quite a reputation for her live show, playing at venues such as 93 feet east, the 12 bar Club and the Borderline and has supported the Espers and Emilie Simon along the way. She’s been described as having “a voice of such delicacy and sweetness, like a meringue not yet set, or thin sheets of sugar glass” (inthecompanyofus.com) and been declared “a young artist worth watching” in the London Metro. Imagine if Elliot Smith was a girl and wasn’t so depressed. Imagine Joanna Newsom kicked her harp out the window and grabbed an Emmylou Harris Hummingbird. Imagine, if you will, CATRIONA IRVING.

Supporting Catriona we have Croydon’s foremost folk wordsmith Superman Revenge Squad and Brighton’s folk scene darlings Moonshine Moonshine.

Superman Revenge Squad
http://www.myspace.com/supermanrevengesquad

Superman Revenge Squad is a bloke from Croydon, who’s real name is Ben, accompanied by an acoustic guitar. He only started writing at the beginning of 2007, but his accessible, inventive and painfully funny songs, taking shots at pop culture but never straying too far from endearing self-deprecation have earned him quite a reputation already. Tom Robinson on Radio6 Music described him as “A very sharp lyricist indeed… Absolute genius!”. Most definitely an artist to watch out for, this should be very entertaining to say the least.

Moonshine Moonshine
http://www.myspace.com/moonshinemoonshine

A reminder of what folk music is all about, Italian Beatrice Sanjust Di Teulada’s distinctive vocals sit amongst a traditional folk sound, mixing intricate instrumentals and an ear for the equally haunting and catchy. Moonshine Moonshine are making waves as part of the Willkomen Collective, a dominant force on Brighton’s blooming folk scene and are making themselves more and more a band to watch out for.

all the links in one helpful place:

Catriona Irving
http://myspace.com/catrionairvingmusic

Superman Revenge Squad
http://myspace.com/supermanrevengesquad

Moonshine Moonshine
http://myspace.com/moonshinemoonshine

Catch:
http://www.thecatchbar.com/

Kat Flint + Al Murphy + Katie Malco 8th May 2008

Hello!

Hope you had fun last time, we certainly did. The next Kick the Plug is…

Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Catch
22 Kingsland Road
London

And yes, there will be cakes and badges again. Here’s the line up:

Kat Flint

Here’s her myspace so you can check her out for yourself:

http://www.myspace.com/katflint

Kat was raised in the chilly northern climes of Aberdeen and came of age in Edinburgh, but is now hundreds of miles from home and finding that splendid isolation is all the better for writing songs. She won the inaugral New Lyric Award, presented by Ray Davies and Channel 4’s Ideasfactory, and spent March 2006 touring the UK with Rough Trade’s folk darlings Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman, as chief tour support. Her debut release The Secret Boy’s Club EP, which was recorded in a living room on a shoestring, received great reviews and her new single is out on April 28th. The lo-fi folk-pop of Kat Flint is exactly what Kick the Plug is about so we’re very excited to have her play.

Blacklands (Al Murphy)

Playing with his full band with brand new material no less, Al rules! There’s a little taster of what you can expect here:

http://www.myspace.com/murphykidmusic

Splitting his time between London and Berlin, Al Murphy (or the Murphy Kid as he’s known to his friends) and band have been working under the Blacklands guise on and off for a while. They’ve now decided that musings on baying wolves, sinking ships, moons and death are exactly what the public needs in 2008 and have a single release planned in the summer to that end. Comparisons to Elliot Smith are bound to arise, but Blacklands have a sound of their own that’s well worth seeing.

Katie Malco

http://myspace.com/katiemalcomusic
Katie was born in Edinburgh and is currently based in Brighton. While wowing all and sundry with her soothing poppy vocals, she plays a right-handed guitar upside down and while not playing solo she’s part of the excellent Alice Room.

“Few will write a tear-stained love song; and even less will make it sound as spine-chillingly beautiful as Katie Malco…she maybe a woman scorned but she still delivers it with the voice of an angel.” - BBC

Should be a great one, hopefully see you there.

Mark

The Sleeping Years, Laura Hocking & Catriona Irving

The first ever Kick the Plug party takes place March 5th at Catch in London.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Catch
22 Kingsland Road
London

Headlining the first event is The Sleeping Years, with support from Laura Hocking and little Catriona Irving.

The Sleeping Years

#23 The sleeping years - setting fire to sleepy towns
by lecargo

The Sleeping Years is the new project for singer-songwriter Dale Grundle. Recently signed to Talitres Records in France, The Sleeping Years have released three EPs so far, ‘You and Me Against The World’,, ‘Setting fire to sleepy towns’ and ‘Clocks and Clones’. Dale was born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland to an Irish father and a Scottish mother and started his first band Catchers while at school. Their first single ‘Cotton Dress’ came out on Setanta Records and became single of the week in Melody Maker. Their debut album ‘Mute’ was recorded with Mike Hedges in France. Dale went on to tour with Pulp, Edwyn Collins, The Divine Comedy, Dr. John and Oasis. The Sleeping Years debut is set for release on Talitres Records in March 2008.

The Guardian: ‘his voice breaks exquisitely between hope and despair in songs that the acoustic guitar was invented for’

Dazed and Confused: ‘a one-man show that owes his lilting metaphysical lyricism to the likes of Nick Drake, Elliot Smith and John Martyn. It’s good to know that there are people like him out there’

Stuart Bailie (BBC Radio): ‘Just as Sufjan Stevens has been moved to celebrate the quirks and character of the United States, so Dale Grundle is devising his own charts, full of wonder, dread and reverie. Can’t wait to see where he takes us next.’

Time Out: ‘engagingly mournful, melodic songcraft’

http://myspace.com/thesleepingyears

Support comes from Laura Hocking who’s riding high on the Cambridge folk scene,

There are plenty of free downloads on her myspace page

http://www.myspace.com/laurahocking

and the sweet lo-fi folk of London based singer-songwriter Catriona Irving.

http://www.myspace.com/catrionairvingmusic

Catriona Irving is a 25 yr old, tiny, blonde singer/songwriter based in London. She knocked about for a couple of years pondering on what to do when she bought a guitar she couldn’t afford; declaring it, not to customs, but as an incentive to try harder. And by jove she did. Her debut release was ‘Running on Empathy’, a limited 7 inch release followed ollowed by the Stitch EP in June 2007.

Her love for traditional folk and anti-folk can be heard in her music, but she’s found herself an acoustic styled, angel-voiced sound somewhere in between the two. Imagine if Elliot Smith was a girl and wasn’t so depressed. Imagine Joanna Newsom kicked her harp out the window and grabbed an Emmylou Harris Hummingbird. Imagine, if you will, CATRIONA IRVING.

Metro: “Lullaby-style ballads and sweet pop-folk. Lo-fi and upbeat, Irving is a polished young artisit worth watching.”

One Week to Live: “Lullaby-like vocals and a simple acoustic guitar. Like a mix between Justine Frischmann and Joanna Newsom.”