Dear all,
Sorry to say, but SCE is no more.
It was a brave attempt to establish something slightly different which didn't reach its goals.
Nothing ventured, etc.
Who knows, I may try something new!
Thanks to the supporters.
S.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Sunday, 17 April 2016
A Kitty, a Kirsty and a Konfused host
Our guests at SCE #8 were notable for their differences and remarkable for their similarities (one of which, alliterative names, confused the host - sorry!).
An imbalance of male over female SCE guests was partially redressed this evening with the visit of Kitty Day and Kirsty Merryn, two highly accomplished singer-songwriters from different but complementary traditions of the genre.
Kitty's writing betrays her love of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and, to these ears at least, the influence of Americana and transatlantic writers generally. She confessed to an affection for Jackson C Frank, the near-mythical singer-songwriter (hero to Bert Jansch, amongst others) whose one album, produced by an as yet unknown Paul Simon in the 1960's, is still a reference point for many of her ilk. The iconic folk-music derived chord-changes her writing is couched in speaks of a noble tradition stretching back to British folk music via poor, white immigrants to the US, Appalachia and Woody Guthrie.
In Kitty's hands they are the setting for the tender and honest songs which are a very apt vehicle for her beautiful singing. Her economy of arrangement is an object lesson for many performers who don't understand, as she does, that less is more.
Classically-trained and jazz-influenced, Kirsty is as much a teller of other people's stories as a confessional writer. Songs imbued with jazz rhythms and changes are underpinned with a far-more-than-competent keyboard technique that offers a rich and compelling backdrop for her tales. Her velvety vocal delivery is likewise coloured by her training, making for a very rewarding evening of contrast with her stage-mate.
She has no break-up songs, she told us, but she has no need of them, speaking of love, her forebears and urban life with great lyrical control.
The host (me) sang a few of his own, doing his best to keep up and asked occasionally penetrative questions about the art and craft for the greater edification of the audience.
Americana and jazz; guitar and keyboards; confessional and narrative: a song-writing evening to treasure. These two writer/singers are to be sought out. They come SCE-recommended.
Join us on 12th May at SCE #9 with Catherine Ashby and Fabian Holland.
An imbalance of male over female SCE guests was partially redressed this evening with the visit of Kitty Day and Kirsty Merryn, two highly accomplished singer-songwriters from different but complementary traditions of the genre.
Kitty's writing betrays her love of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and, to these ears at least, the influence of Americana and transatlantic writers generally. She confessed to an affection for Jackson C Frank, the near-mythical singer-songwriter (hero to Bert Jansch, amongst others) whose one album, produced by an as yet unknown Paul Simon in the 1960's, is still a reference point for many of her ilk. The iconic folk-music derived chord-changes her writing is couched in speaks of a noble tradition stretching back to British folk music via poor, white immigrants to the US, Appalachia and Woody Guthrie.
In Kitty's hands they are the setting for the tender and honest songs which are a very apt vehicle for her beautiful singing. Her economy of arrangement is an object lesson for many performers who don't understand, as she does, that less is more.
Classically-trained and jazz-influenced, Kirsty is as much a teller of other people's stories as a confessional writer. Songs imbued with jazz rhythms and changes are underpinned with a far-more-than-competent keyboard technique that offers a rich and compelling backdrop for her tales. Her velvety vocal delivery is likewise coloured by her training, making for a very rewarding evening of contrast with her stage-mate.
She has no break-up songs, she told us, but she has no need of them, speaking of love, her forebears and urban life with great lyrical control.
The host (me) sang a few of his own, doing his best to keep up and asked occasionally penetrative questions about the art and craft for the greater edification of the audience.
Americana and jazz; guitar and keyboards; confessional and narrative: a song-writing evening to treasure. These two writer/singers are to be sought out. They come SCE-recommended.
Join us on 12th May at SCE #9 with Catherine Ashby and Fabian Holland.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
14th April 2016 (SCE #8)
The Details
Date: Thursday, 14th April 2016
Venue: The Urban Bar, 176 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BJ
Time: 8.30pm
Entry: £5.00
Travel: Whitechapel Tube & London Overground, various buses
The Performers
 |
| Kitty Day |
Yorkshire
born and raised, Kitty’s musical education ranged from classical to
jazz and she is a multi-instrumentalist but she has only recently
found her singing voice, and for this an acoustic guitar is the
perfect accompaniment. Kitty grew in leafy West Yorkshire and has played in
many ensembles and bands. She made her debut covering Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan on the Ukeylove
scene and progressed to writing and performing her own songs on
guitar, releasing the debut album ‘Master & Pioneer’ in 2011.
She writes deeply personal and idiosyncratic songs from the heart.
 |
| Kirsty Merryn |
New
Forest born singer songwriter Kirsty Merryn tells stories of boxing
champions, forgotten heroines and frozen winters. She has become a
regular on London’s folk scene, delighting the crowds with her
delicately introspective piano based songs and sophisticated musical
style, which are balanced beautifully by an intimate and finely
observational lyrical content. Kirsty was recently listed in
Buzzfeed’s ’34 Brilliant British Songwriters To Discover’. In
2015 she completed her first UK tour and is working on her debut
album, produced by award-winning Gerry Diver (Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp,
The Speech Project), which will be released in 2016.
 |
| Mine Host |
Simon Hopper is the founder and host of Song Club East. See earlier posts in this blog.
Whistling, analysis-in-depth and fine, fine songwriting
We had another heartening display of song-writing/performing at SCE#7 on the second Thursday of March. It's a joy that we're able to entice such dedicated tellers-of-stories-in-song along to gritty Whitechapel for the celebration of life, love and all points poignant.
Jeremy Tuplin is a singer/writer with his own idiosyncratic take on both those trades. It's said to be a marker of a special talent that you couldn't mistake them for anyone else. Jeremy's debt to a variety of writers - especially one L Cohen to these ears - can be heard in his songs. But it couldn't be anyone else writing or singing them.
Jeremy gets under the skin of what it is to be. In Time's Essence he sings of '... a world we create', never feeling the need to resort to the dominant chord and thereby leaving both the melodic arc and the song's message hanging. It's waiting for something. The answer as to what is not imposed on the listener. His finest moment, though, came in a song that he had to persuaded to sing because it came from 'a dark place', he said. The Morning Sun is a special piece; 'But I chose to love and guard myself / Instead of being vulnerable to the love of someone else... / You don't love me any more / And the morning sun is just a little too bright'. Jeremy Tuplin will help you to understand. Just listen.
Our other artist's songs hit you directly. Boozer's Lament and It Hurts Me, Too get you first time, right in the gut. They are the kind of songs you feel you've heard before but they are very definitely the output of Rob Corcoran, a warm, open Irishman who shares his triumphs and disasters equally liberally. He forgot his Bob Dylan-style harmonica cradle so substituted for this with the most note-perfect whistling you've ever heard.
In All For The Sake Of A Song, addressed to one - perhaps to a former lover - who told him to 'accentuate the negative' he suggests 'Think of all the bridges you've burned / Champion cuddlers you've spurned'. In Boozer's Lament he asks his departing barmaid lover why she blamed his drinking for their breakup when she sold him the beer in the first place. It Hurts Me, Too reminds us that the instigator of an ending feels the pain of it as well.
Yours truly was the compère and question-master. We discussed writing influences, methods and preferences, the dangers of too much self-revelation - especially to a current lover, the reasons why we write and why we think an audience should listen - or not.
It was an illuminating evening. Join us for our next concert on 14th April - an all female guest list with Kitty Day and Kirsty Merryn.
Jeremy Tuplin is a singer/writer with his own idiosyncratic take on both those trades. It's said to be a marker of a special talent that you couldn't mistake them for anyone else. Jeremy's debt to a variety of writers - especially one L Cohen to these ears - can be heard in his songs. But it couldn't be anyone else writing or singing them.
Jeremy gets under the skin of what it is to be. In Time's Essence he sings of '... a world we create', never feeling the need to resort to the dominant chord and thereby leaving both the melodic arc and the song's message hanging. It's waiting for something. The answer as to what is not imposed on the listener. His finest moment, though, came in a song that he had to persuaded to sing because it came from 'a dark place', he said. The Morning Sun is a special piece; 'But I chose to love and guard myself / Instead of being vulnerable to the love of someone else... / You don't love me any more / And the morning sun is just a little too bright'. Jeremy Tuplin will help you to understand. Just listen.
Our other artist's songs hit you directly. Boozer's Lament and It Hurts Me, Too get you first time, right in the gut. They are the kind of songs you feel you've heard before but they are very definitely the output of Rob Corcoran, a warm, open Irishman who shares his triumphs and disasters equally liberally. He forgot his Bob Dylan-style harmonica cradle so substituted for this with the most note-perfect whistling you've ever heard.
In All For The Sake Of A Song, addressed to one - perhaps to a former lover - who told him to 'accentuate the negative' he suggests 'Think of all the bridges you've burned / Champion cuddlers you've spurned'. In Boozer's Lament he asks his departing barmaid lover why she blamed his drinking for their breakup when she sold him the beer in the first place. It Hurts Me, Too reminds us that the instigator of an ending feels the pain of it as well.
Yours truly was the compère and question-master. We discussed writing influences, methods and preferences, the dangers of too much self-revelation - especially to a current lover, the reasons why we write and why we think an audience should listen - or not.
It was an illuminating evening. Join us for our next concert on 14th April - an all female guest list with Kitty Day and Kirsty Merryn.
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
10th March 2016 (SCE #7)
The Details
Date:
Thursday, 10th, March 2016
Venue:
176 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BJ
Time:
8.30pm
Entry:
£5.00
Travel:
Whitechapel Tube & London Overground, various buses
The
Performers
 |
| Jeremy Tuplin |
A
singer-songwriter from the West Country where he cut his musical
teeth at intimate venues and folk clubs around Somerset. Now based in
London but gigging all around the UK, his songs explore themes of
romance, humour and adventure and more with soul-baring honesty. An
insightful lyricist whose truly original story songs are infused with
folk, indie and Americana influences to name a few, combining to
create a unique sound defined by a distinctive, deep vocal. His
debut EP 'Carry The Fire' was released in November 2014.
 |
| Rob Corcoran |
It’s
hard to categorize London based Dubliner Rob Corcoran’s music by
genre. He sings and he writes songs but he's not the
typical singer-songwriter. He is clearly influenced by vintage
American and Irish folk but he’s in no way a folk singer in the
traditional sense. He cites his father’s old vinyl collection
which included the likes of Bob Dylan, Makem and Clancy and Simon and
Garfunkel as the early gateway to a life long fascination with
songs, and his later obsession with the lyrics of people like Townes
Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen as providing him with the tools to
explore the inner, often shadowy core of things.
|
| Mine Host |
Simon
Hopper is
the founder and host of Song Club East. See earlier posts in this
blog.
Duets, solos and songs of love and sorrow
Ady Johnston's day-job is as a guitar teacher and listening to him perform reveals why. His playing provides the fullest accompaniment to his songs. He writes personal songs such as that of his relationship with his furniture-restorer grandfather who taught his grandson his craft.
Ady sings with warmth and conviction and betrays his 1960's song-writing reference-points in his harmonica playing. He has a pop sensibility that places some of his work outside of the pure singer-songwriter genre, but his set is richer for that. If you weren't with us at this gig, search him out. You'll be rewarded.
Blanche Ellis and Maya McCourt (AKA Various Guises) sport deft guitar and shoulder-strung cello, but, especially, stunning harmonies sung with voices whose timbres' sweetly complement each other.
Influenced, also, by writers from just after the middle of the last century, their mixture of English folk, bluegrass/Appalachian and pop-tinged songs is high-modernist in its array of styles, but it's their instrumental blend, their on-stage insouciance, and, especially, the deftness and richness of the harmonies that will stay with you.
The club host, Simon Hopper (me), as ever, did his best to perform up to the standard of the guests and ask interesting questions of them about their art and craft for the further elucidation of the audience.
Join us next month for Jeremy Tuplin and Rob Corcoran. March 10th.
Ady sings with warmth and conviction and betrays his 1960's song-writing reference-points in his harmonica playing. He has a pop sensibility that places some of his work outside of the pure singer-songwriter genre, but his set is richer for that. If you weren't with us at this gig, search him out. You'll be rewarded.
Blanche Ellis and Maya McCourt (AKA Various Guises) sport deft guitar and shoulder-strung cello, but, especially, stunning harmonies sung with voices whose timbres' sweetly complement each other.
Influenced, also, by writers from just after the middle of the last century, their mixture of English folk, bluegrass/Appalachian and pop-tinged songs is high-modernist in its array of styles, but it's their instrumental blend, their on-stage insouciance, and, especially, the deftness and richness of the harmonies that will stay with you.
The club host, Simon Hopper (me), as ever, did his best to perform up to the standard of the guests and ask interesting questions of them about their art and craft for the further elucidation of the audience.
Join us next month for Jeremy Tuplin and Rob Corcoran. March 10th.
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
11th February 2016 (SCE #6)
The Details
Date: Thursday, 11th February, 2016
Venue: 176 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BJ
Time: 8.30pm
Entry: £5.00
Travel: Whitechapel Tube & London Overground, various buses
The Performers
 |
| Various Guises |
Various Guises are the London-based expandable duo of Maya McCourt & Blanche Ellis on cello and guitar often joined by banjoist Dana Immanuel. Formed late one night around a bonfire in Brockley the girls have been stomping and swaying all over town ever since. Playing original music influenced by old New Orleans, Appalachia and English and European traditional tunes, the girls' close-knit harmonies weave a sense of timeless folk.
 |
| Ady Johnson |
Ady Johnson released his new EP Thank You For The Good Things on May 18th '15. The title track is an ode to his late grandfather under whom he received his antique restoration apprenticeship. Recorded with Mercury nominated producer Gerry Diver, the EP brings together the soulful delivery of Ady's live performances and has been selected for Tom Robinson's 6music show.
|
| Mine Host: Simon Hopper |
Simon Hopper is the founder and host of Song Club East. See earlier posts in this blog.
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