The Juice ‘Contemporary Media E-Zine’

musictube June 14th, 2008

Ethan Thomas, twelve year-old Appleby Grammar School student and talented musician, took the stage first, with a set that for one of his age can only be described as excellent.  With great potential for the future, Ethan is definitely somebody to look out for.  Ethan’s set was pleasant with some Classic Blues, very capably performed, alongside some of his own songs which are well written and with some tweaks have the potential to make great chill-out tracks.  Ethan’s guitar playing was good and his only hitch, a time-out for guitar tuning, gave the audience time to talk. Ethan’s vocal performance was strong with a fine melodic quality.  Ethan is a young lad with a future; once he finds his direction, as singer songwriter, a guitarist like Clive Carroll or a session musician, he will do well in his field. You can check out more of Ethan Thomas at his web site or check out his youtube

After Ethan had finished his set, Jon Astral joined him to do a 12 bar Blues jam, with Ethan on the guitar and Jon on piano. This really showed off the performer’s ability to improvise.  Considering it was an on the spot and spur of the moment decision, the performance was good and the audience seemed to enjoy the jam. This gave Jon Astral a good solid lead into his set.  Jon’s second song “Your Hero” had a very controlled vocal and the audience responded well to the lyrics. The piano was tight and accompanied the vocal well. Another good song was “Bittersweetheart” which was one of Jon’s slower songs of the set - it was good to see some variety in set. “Bittersweetheart” had some good strong lyrics which had been well laid out and structured and I could see this working well with some soft strings and acoustic guitar. One song called the “Feeling” captured my ear with its powerful lyrics and strong chords, the song having really good dynamics which complimented the structure of the song. At the start of the second half, Jon borrowed Ethan’s guitar and played “Trapped”. You could tell this was one of Jon’s favourite songs as the vocals had real passion. To finish the night Jon played some instrumentals on the piano which rounded off the night well and really suited the venue and mood of the audience.  Jon really captured the audience, with his silky vocals and heart felt lyrics.  Keep checking Jon’s web site for upcoming shows and the latest news.  www.jonastral.co.uk  Jon’s site will be launched in the next coming weeks.  

On the whole, the night was a success with some audience members saying it was the best they’d yet experienced.  The audience responded well to Ethan’s and Jon’s performance, the whole night was slick with no hick-ups. The acts were very professional and knew how to move a crowd. I saw Jon at no 15 last week and this performance was even better with Jon showing mor confidence and giving a greater insight into the meanings behind his songs, which are obviously a great labour of love for him.

More videos can be found on PTV.  Look forward to seeing you all at the next one on the 27th of July with Fiona Clayton.  A good night is anticipated.

Some useful links:
www.bojangles.co.uk
www.phasinghz.co.uk
www.jonastral.co.uk
www.ethanthomasmusic.co.uk

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Charles Paxton March 31st, 2008

Chris James, versatile blues artist plays us some of his

“rough nasty blues with a touch of sophistication”

He followed this with Old Time Religion, a great song with fast tempo and at times his voice was very reminiscent of Elvis. So by now, we’d seen both his guitar play and vocals evincing considerable talent.

Finishing off with Irene, Goodnight, a song often used to terminate a musical evening, Chris quipped that we shouldn’t go home after this as Laura would be a tad disappointed.

I’ve never heard conversation die down so fast in a cafe live show. Laura James had us all hooked and rooted to our seats mid sound check! I’ve never heard a voice so sweet! She has the looks to go with her sound too - somewhere along the lines of Bridget Bardot and Raquel Welch in their respective primes. There’s not a trace of arrogance or hubris on stage or off either. In interview the hyper-talented seventeen year-old from Scotby, near Carlisle is delightfully easy-going and normal. On stage, however, she slips into the role of professional musician as you and I might pull on a sock. She enjoys live performance, especially in intimate venues and if she could have anybody of her choice present in her audience tonight, she’d want Leonardo DiCaprio to see her play. She particularly enjoyed playing in a Plug & Play event in London and at a flower festival in a church in Wreay. Laura James is already world class - she plans to apply to LIPA to complete her musical training.

Inspired by her love of the artist Klimt’s works, flowers and her father, music is fundamentally important to her life. “It’s the soundtrack to my life”, she explains, “I listen to it all the time, when I’m not playing it myself.” She’s been a musician for five years now, beginning at thirteen and her Dad’s immersion in music has been a powerful formative influence. She has also been influenced by Regina Spektor, Joni Mitchell, Bright eyes, John Martyn, Two Gallants, Damien Rice, Alison Krauss, Radiohead, bjork, Tegan & sara and Tracy Chapman.

Does she have a particular overarching style per se? “I don’t think so really,” she dodges my attempt to classify her music, “I try not to have a style. Each song speaks for itself and is a result of how I feel at the time.” Then she makes things tough for me and says, perhaps you can let me know what you think?” Hmmm. Perhaps it’s time for a good old fashioned opinion poll here folks.

Can you help me out, here. Check out the videos and let us know how you would describe Laura’s musical style. I’d say it’s emotive and in the popular vein with streaks of folk. She’s been likened to Alanis Morisette, Joni Mitchell, Michelle Branch and Lilly Allen She describes the ambience as hippy and that ties in with her love of floral motifs and flowers generally. Let us know what you think.

She writes her own songs, preferably in her old room as the light and ambience are conducive to the creative flow. “It takes time to write about what’s happened to me,” she continues, “as Wordsworth suggested, you don’t tend to write about something until you’re over it.”

At first the writing came very easily to her; her earlier songs were easier to write as she had a lot of thoughts and feelings just waiting to be expressed. Her later compositions took longer, perhaps also because the material had become more complex.

Laura performing ‘The Postman’

Here’s a superficial overview of her set. She played eight fabulous songs before the break and five after. The PA didn’t give much trouble until the last song - and then we witnessed something rather magical - Laura unplugged for a lucky number 13! There was something of a campfire atmosphere - very sweet, very hippy and very … Laura. Such a hush came over the audience that we could hear cutlery being sorted in the kitchen.

Kimmie and I were in complete agreement that Laura has the sweetest voice we’ve ever heard live.

In Circles she demonstrates great strength and flexibility with her notes - with fine control over her clear, strong voice; she has no difficulty with falsetto; her voice is soft, gentle but strong.

In All that I Ask her music demonstrates a maturity and thoughtfulness beyond that which you’d expect from her years; she shows wonderful control over her voice — with steady highs and solid lows.

The Postman has a faster tempo, with fast yodels, there’s a touch of country music here, also a reminder that there’s perhaps more in her lyrics than meets the eye.

She followed with Sunsets and tears (one of my favourites) and At the bottom of everything (a very fine Bright Eye cover) then returned to her own compositions with Do you know, one of the first she ever wrote; it sounds more pop-y, has a faster beat with a 90s sound.

Then she gave us a sweet cover of a cover, Such Great Heights by The Postal Service followed by Walk me Home, the first song she wrote, another effervescent poppy number that was reminiscent of Fiona Clayton.

The break positively buzzed with conversation about Laura - with compliments flying thick and fast. After the break we were treated to five more songs, What I Would Say is her most recent composition; a difficult one with “nonsense cords”, also her Mom’s favourite, with energizing, pulsing picking.

Then Give it all up which her best friends described as a “feel-good song” did just that, made us feel good.

For a change of mood we then heard This Town; about being stuck in a small town, before being picked up again in a superb cover of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman.

It was then that technical difficulties struck - the PA began to squawk as if it was picking up messages from Mars and Laura’s mother joked about an “Alien Invasion”. Chris Archer on sound, managed to subdue the little green men for a while, but eventually had to turn off the juice.

We then discovered that Laura sounded better without the speakers in her final song; unplugged it had more of a hippie feel, was more natural. The amps didn’t get in the way of her beautiful voice; the crowd were in awe. Some artists may need the aid of the amps, but thanks to a wee technical glitch Laura proved that she doesn’t.

‘God willing and the creek don’t rise’, there’s a very bright future ahead of Laura. She will play the dry stone stage at Solfest this year - and that would be reason enough to go there. She aims to study at LIPA in Liverpool for three years and then, if there’s any justice, the world will be her oyster.

You can buy some of her music on iTunes, see below, and watch her Myspace for her latest news.

Just in case you think that the PA was singled out by the Gremlins/ Martians, my video editing software has been behaving extremely strangely recentlybut now you can see the benefit of PhasingHz TV’s new Brightcove platform which gives us an outstanding clarity-to-speed of download ratio!

Enjoy!

Large Poster of Laura

Chris James links

http://www.fylde-folk-festival.com/artists/chris-james.html http://www.myspace.com/chrisjamesblues Laura James Myspace

Check this out

What I Would Say Laura James Release Date: 26 Jan 2007 Genre: Alternative ℗ 2007 Laura James

The next musical treat at Bojangles will be Rory Connor, Indie Music Awards 2008 nominee, on April 25th. Food served from 6 p.m., music starts at 8 p.m.

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admin January 16th, 2008

Just a quick update on the gig, we now have limited tickets left please phone Bojangles to reserve your tickets on 01768353113. Tickets are £5

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admin January 10th, 2008

2008 kicked off in fine style at the Plug and Play gathering in Penrith on Sunday. Billed as a singers night, with Alston based Rory Connor as the highlight of the evening, the slightly smaller than usual crowd enjoyed a variety of songs and music from both Rory and the open mic’ers.

First up in the open slot was Ken Wilcock and his trusty Fylde guitar, fingerpicking his way through the slightly ragtime-ish “Buckdance”, followed by “Windy and warm” and finally “Rosalee”. All three tunes allowing Ken to show his artistry on the fingerboard. Phil Caton was next up, and in a change to the normal ukulele antics, decided to play keyboards and treat us to “Constant Alibi” a song co-written by Phil with Bill Turner and reminding me of a Hall & Oates style 80’s rock hit.Chris Walker then joined him on guitar for, initially, a Roberta Flack number. However after Phil completely blanked and forgot the tune, much to the crowds amusement, they decided to cover The Rolling Stones’ “High-Heel Sneakers” (Higgenbotham) allowing Chris to improvise nicely whilst Phil held down the tune.

12 year old Ethan Thomas then took to the stage to give us a great version of “Little Wing”, followed by the Rolling Stones “Streets of Love”. Finishing his stint off with “Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday” was a nice touch, letting his warmed up voice power through the song.

Jonathan Trengrove (aka Dr Glam) then took to the keyboards with Chris Walker and Andy Johnson on guitar and bass respectively, treating us to three songs from Jonathans ever expanding portfolio. “Letting go” and “The feeling” showed some nice interaction between Jonathan and Chris, each allowing the other space to develop the tune. “Sunshine Blues” was an unashamedly foot-tapping 12 bar which allowed Chris and Jonathan to take solos with Andy underpinning the beat throughout. Jonathan then finished off the open mic slot with a solo piece “All we love”, again the warmed up voice adding to the passionate keyboard phrasing.

Dr. Glam, Chris and Andy perform ‘The Feeling’.

Jonathan Trengrove (A.K.A. Dr. Glam) performing “All we love”

Jonathan Trengrove (A.K.A. Dr. Glam), a passionate vocalist

Rory Connor has been writing and performing for 9 years throughout Northern England and having just recorded his debut EP, was an eagerly anticipated attraction at tonight’s show. With a great melodic voice that, for me sounds like an English Ronan Keating he launched into his set with “Won’t stay for long” closely followed by “Ozzie” about the delights of Australian wine. The underlying Calypso feel to “Waiting” showed his talents as a song-writer and versatility as a guitarist off excellently and the powerful “Butterfly” about changes and discovery, with its haunting “Tell me what you found!” refrain at the end was for me one of the highlights of the evening.

Chatting to the audience throughout, Rory lapped up the appreciation of the PnP crowd, who were applauding and cheering the songs, all of which were played with feeling and enjoyment. “For the last time” and “She looks good in yellow” had the crowd in silent appreciation and the beautifully played “Don’t think twice” by Bob Dylan received an especially enthusiastic round of applause. Finishing off the set with “Half full glass” from his new CD he was called back to the stage amidst cheers and clapping for an encore.

Rory Connor playing Australian Wine

Initially playing “Falling from trees”, he succumbed to the curse of that nights PnP and completely forgot the song, again much to the crowds amusement. Not wanting to disappoint, he jumped onto the piano and showed off his keyboard skills and another side to his musical abilities with “Jolene” – his own composition and not the Dolly Parton song! Look out for Rory and go and see him, either as a solo performer, or with his band…you won’t be disappointed!

Rory Connor performing “Won’t Stay”

Due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. Christmas!), Decembers PnP review of Dr Glam missed the press. Sorry about that! For all of you who played, or wish to read what happened, this can be viewed at http://www.plug-play.co.uk/reviews/

Don’t forget, the open mic set is for you! Want to play? Come along! All styles, instruments, abilities are welcome. Plug and Play is about live music…YOUR live music!

See you all on the 3^rd February when the fantastic Chris James will be taking to the stage.

Happy New Year!! “Open Mike”

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Charles Paxton November 23rd, 2007

Rob Heron On Guitar At Centre 67 again, it’s March 30 and PhasingHz have laid on a great show, Rob Heron is going to open for Blackheart. The array of guitars and Chris Archer’s professional lighting set-up look extremely promising. Every table’s taken by the time they start.Rob opens and his set is all original and earns loud applause. His pleasant fusion of folk and indie has an upbeat tempo that carries the audience along and sets feet thumping. He’s an accomplished guitarist having played in several bands, but now he’s proving himself a capable soloist with a style of his own that puts me in mind of a British Tom Petty. His main influences are The Waterboys, Bob Dylan and Jackson Brown.Rob Heron lays down some fine indie blues and sets feet thumping at Center 67Music is his passion, and he’s planning to study it at university and make it a career. It should be a good one. His Cafe No.15 events have been consistently packed, he’s good on the promotion side too.Blackheart live at Center 67, passionate, polished and professional.Richard Pilkington and Chrisy Mostyn of Blackheart follow Rob with a performance that was extremely polished and professional. In no time at all we know that we’re in the company of great Troubadors. Richard’s guitar work is exquisite, his picking is simply awesome (I should say awesome in its flawless complexity) and both artists prove themselves very fine vocalists, achieving stirring harmonies interspersed with excellent solo vocals in turn.WonderlandChrisy’s voice is lovely. Both voices perfectly suit their material and there seems nothing forced about this music that is so powerfully forceful. By the second half they are fully warmed up and it flows naturally and with a passion that thrills, sometimes uplifting, sometimes tragic, but all intensely entertaining.With a powerful array of Americana, folk and rock, Blackheart are very versatile, live at Center 67I love Blackheart’s Wendy O’Connor’s DeadThe Blackheart set is a powerful array of Americana, folk and rock, demonstrating the versatility of the band along with their broad musical interests. They have strong mojo and perform with folk greats like The Straubs. Their voices serve as the common thread that provides cohesion to this diversity of style. All songs were original bar their magnificent rendition of Led Zepelin’s Rain song. The other songs are from their debut album, Indigo, this includes their ballad Unlike Water which is put to such influential effect in the Moben TV commercial.Unlike Water, a stirring balladMy other favorites included Indigo, Flowers for tomorrow, Somewhere in a dream, Wonderland, and 01204, a very catchy song about the decay of Richard’s hometown, with clever lyrics and saturated with a powerful bathos.Richard Pilkington of Blackheart, has a great voice and magic fingers, live at Center 67This is clever stuff as well as exceptionally good music. Undoubtedly it derives its power from the real experiences that forged it. There’s no pseudo-passion here.Chrisy Mostyn of Blackheart live at Center 67Amazingly, Richard and Chrisy had only been performing together for nine months - they are a superbly matched duo and where-ever they play the audience will be touched with grace. With music this intense its no wonder that their voices were strained by the end of the evening! I bought a Morning Has Come CD from Rob, I look forward to the final finished product in due course when it’s rerecorded, and I bought the Blackheart’s indigo album, published by Sugar Tree Records. It’s a superb recording and does full justice to their honey-voiced harmonies and Richard’s magical guitar.For more on Rob HeronFor more on Blackheart

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Charles Paxton October 29th, 2007

The Juice is posting this review as a tribute to the late Sue Bennett, principal organizer at Appleby’s Centre 67 Youth Centre, a lady who gave much for the Youth of Cumbria.Ben Mattinson in full swing at Avenue 67It’s March 9, 2007 and I’m kicking back and relaxing down at Appleby’s Avenue 67 again. This new youth club is in for a treat tonight - another debut. Ben Mattinson and Joe Mason are tuning up in preparation for their first double-act together against a comfortable background murmur of conversation. I’m enjoying the growing sense of expectation along with some really tasty pizza and rosemary fried potatoes. The venue looks great, candle-lit diners at every table; it’s very mellow. I know some of Ben’s music from his debut album Rooms (available for sale at Music Horizon), and I know we’re in for a good show.I didn’t realize then just how good it was going to be. Simply put, it’s one of the best live performances I’ve yet seen - Ben is one of those rare and wonderful musicians who sound as good live as they do in the recording studio. Joe Mason’s backing was spirited and flawless and the pair interacted with a natural grace and fluidity that made the synchronicity look deceptively easy. The music was punctuated with amusing commentary that counterbalanced the serious nature of many of the songs and lent the whole musical experience a valuable intimacy. Ben Mattinson and Joe Mason play with natural grace and fluidity at Avenue 67Both lads are from Carlisle, Ben started out on drums at 13 and moved on to guitar at 15 and then to singing his own songs at 16. Formal musical training and Church involvements have nurtured and polished his talents. The Ben & Joe hook-up was due to a Church connection - proof if anyone still needs it that the Good Lord does perform wonders.Joe Mason shaking it up!Though just 17, Joe is professionally trained and already becoming a well experienced and versatile public performer. He supported really well and his career will be worth watching.Joe Mason on guitarBen identifies Duncan Sheik as his main musical influence and stresses the importance of alternative melodies, originality and uniqueness in his own music. All but two of the songs in the set are originals penned by himself and in my opinion they were better than the covers. Though Ben’s rendition of Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby really made it his own - and as he pointed out with a disarming wink, she probably didn’t write that one.Ben’s guitar work complements his voice brilliantly - the whole effect is complex and intelligent, sensitive and forceful.It was a very powerful set, but I have favorites, the following songs are outstanding:Sunrise Town - a delightful song inspired by The O.C. TV show’s theme tuneBreathe Your Fire In - a passionate and gnostic hymn, and beautiful music in its own rightandThe Monkey Song - a glorious, joyously playful and very catchy exploration of the simian conditionThis brief favorites list gives some idea of the range of expression and variety of Ben’s musical themes. If you missed this concert - and too many people did, don’t worry there’ll be more where this came from. He plays at Leonardo’s in Carlisle every alternative Friday and Saturday Night From 7pm. For Up to Date Gigs and News Sign Up to the benmattinson.co.uk Mailing List.On one level Ben provides excellent entertainment value and if you care to look deeper then you’ll find treasure in the lyrics. It takes courage to bare your soul this way, and as religious awe is contagious, Ben’s music may be more powerfully persuasive in its subtlety than an army of fire and brimstone preachers or vociferous muazzins.Hear songs from Ben Mattinson’s debut album Rooms at Music HorizonFor More On Ben See His Website

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Charles Paxton October 21st, 2007

“Carry Me On Your Wings” - Andy Halsey Inspires Avenue 67

They say good things come to those who wait, and Andy Halsey’s headlining gig for the plug and play at Avenue 67 Friday 12 was no exception. It was an inspiring evening, and one of considerable intimacy. Yet again, I ended the evening with the eerie feeling of having been unnaturally privileged to be so close to a musician of distinction. If you’ve ever been to an art gallery and stood face to face with an Old Master - you’ll know the feeling that I’m talking about here. Its the feeling you get when your face is just a few feet from the textured oil/tempura/whatever, of a Rembrandt or Da Vinci with nothing but air in between to separate you from the geat work.

Andy regaled us with a superb acoustic set of 8 songs that briefly encapsulated the accumulated experience of his lifetime in the music business so far - a wild roller coaster ride that at one time saw him signed with RCA and published on labels such as Beggars’ Banquet and touring widely supporting a number of successful artists and at others serving as an inspiration and musical mentor in inner city schools and now as Director of the Cumbrian based Music Links Charity. He doesn’t just talk about charity either, I saw him giving his evening’s earnings right back to the youth centre. He walks the walk.

It was a fine set, and all original bar Mike Nesmith’s Monkees’ song A different drumwhich is one of his all time favourites and was also performed extremely well. He opened with Give The Game Away, a somewhat wistful and thought-provoking song, partially autobiographical, about a musician asking a girl to give up her world to join his life of rich experience and financial uncertainty.Then he followed with a song for this age - Twenty-One Visions, a better than average anti-war song in that it doesn’t merely oppose war without proposal of alternatives. In fact it is all about alternatives.

Wistful and thought provoking, Andy Halsey performing ‘Give the game away’ at Appleby’s Centre 67 youth club

Skillful fingerwork
Next, The Need To Know Song, which he described as “a country, gospel thing” was a beautiful insight into his experience and values as a student and musical educator. Andy has seen education from both sides and this song is educational as well as beautiful in its own right, musically and in terms of lyrical content.

Andy Halsey, pleasing and thought provoking at Avenue 67

Then followed one of his favorite songs, Listen To The Rain, a beautiful song and something of a landmark in his life. Andy explains “I learned the pitch when I was 18 or 19 from a bloke called Steve Tilston, but it took me fifteen years to actually meet him, and play him this riff. Thank God he likes it. I’d be gutted if he didn’t.” After hearing it myself, I don’t see how he could fail to like it. I loved the fifth song, Beautiful Thing, which Andy wrote and performed for inner city kids one Christmas time to cheer them. It is about recapturing, as an adult, the sense of wonder experienced in childhood. It is a gentle, beautiful song that shows off his versatile vocal range well and carries you along on waves of sweet music and reflection.

Andy Halsey plays ‘Beautiful Things’ Live at Avenue 67

His next song, a reworked version of a song that he had published through A&M records, In The Middle Of The Ocean was also quite brilliant. This one is very vibrant and gets your pulse racing.Then followed Automobile, the song that got him signed with RCA records and so “brought me some money… and some exasperation” - he had performed this one, just like a busker, in the center of a broad circle of record executives. They liked it. The modified version went down well at Avenue 67, too.

Andy Halsey, a Song writer-singer of outstanding talent and amiable personality performing ‘Listen to the rain’

Penultimately he played a haunting ballad entitled The New Day and then finished off with an excellent new song, proof that this songwriter-singer is still producing the good stuff.

It’s an exciting funky-bluesy piece called The Fugitive, and its about the feeling that a move from one environment to another is fragile, could be undone and you could find yourself dragged back to a place that you hoped you’d successfully escaped from.

Andrew Halsey plays his new song ‘The Fugitive’ at Avenue 67 youth club
It was a fun show, with good music punctuated with warm repartee and explanation of each song. This man is a practiced educator, he meets his audience eye-to-eye and respecting their intelligence, shares his own. I feel he would be equally at home busking to a small audience or centre stage in some enormous stadium. Either way, it would be an intimate experience. Andy opens himself up to his audience and an evening with him provides insights into his own life journey and also perhaps pause and cause to reflect on ones’ own.

Andy Halsey, seen here live at Avenue 67, is a driving force behind music development in Cumbria
There’s no question that Andy is one of the finest musicians in Cumbria and watching him perform is a real treat. He’s a great guitarist and versatile vocalist. He lists The Beatles and Miles Davis among his influences and describes himself in lyrical terms as sharing anti-establishment affinities with John Lennon to a certain extent.
“I have no loyalties to any particular genre” he explains “My music is an open book, it has integrity, that’s what I’m driving for.”

On that subject, he is also the driving force behind The Music Bus, a community music project that seems ideally suited to meeting the geographical challenges of Cumbria. This mobile venue brings musical events to any part of the region. It’s a great idea and gives further weight to my suspicion that this dynamic and acomplished performer has some of his best work ahead of him.

Fancy a good evening out in Camden? Andy will be performing in Camden’s The World’s End pub on November 25th.For more on Andy and his work as Director of Music Link, Cumbria’s music development charity, check out his Music Links page and his Myspace site.

Also watch this space for a forthcoming Artist profile of this man of depth and broad vision.

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Charles Paxton October 7th, 2007

Jenanella - melodies and words intertwinedJenanella playing beautiful harmonies @ Avenue 67If you ever get the chance to see Jenanella perform live, then do so, for they are one of Cumbria’s finest acts. The pretty female duo specializes in acoustic guitar and beautiful harmonies that will set your soul soaring. Theirs is a beautiful and very healthy, heady sort of music. It defies any categorization that might, by attempting to encompass it, instead diminish it. It is however, safe to describe it as the kind of music I’d hope to hear in heaven; very choral, crafted to capitalize upon the familiarity and strengths of the performers and perfectly executed, it will certainly find favor with a broad section of the wider public.We interviewed them for The Juice at Appleby’s Avenue 67 recording studio prior to their participation as feature artists in an excellent open mic evening. They explained that the band’s name is a contracted conjunction of their first names Jenny and Ella, they’ve been playing together as Jenanella for three and a half years. They aren’t particularly sure about taking their project much further, as they only get to play together about once a year now. It’s getting more difficult to get together now that they’re heading off on their own separate ways  - as further education pulls them apart. Ella is going on to train at London’s Guildhall and Jenny is now studying at Leeds University.   

Jenanella wake up Appleby with ‘Wake-up Call’

Both girls have some musical deep back-ground. Jenny’s originally from Manchester but has lived in Skirwith near Penrith for just over 9 years. She started learning the piano at the age of six and started the clarinet when she was nine. She also taught herself to play the guitar from the age of 14. She challenged herself to play news things, listening to music around her and picking out chord progressions from what she heard and combining them with guitar tips she’d picked up by watching her brother play.Jenny sings like an Angel and plays guitar

Ella sings like an Angel and composes beautiful music

Ella was born in London and moved to Penrith when she was 9. She has been nurtured amongst musicians since she was a baby. Her step-father is a musician and her mother is one of Cumbria’s best known musician/ composers and a noted mentor having formed the Blue Jam community music project in Penrith. Ella says, “Music’s been part of my life for as long as I can remember”. She is an accomplished composer, she has played violin since she was nine and is a self-taught pianist and guitarist who took singing lessons and is going on to London’s Guildhall. The girls met up when they were 15 and got on very well together. They both wrote their songs; their first composition was ‘Wonderful feeling’ and some of their songs were written in just the last few weeks. The songs are written to make the most of the interaction of their voices, Jenny explains “it’s all about creating intricate harmonies and composing songs with words that really mean something.”Traditionally Jenanella’s acts are all about variety, “We’re always bringing in new stuff, new styles” Ella explains. About a third of their set is brand new and another third very early stuff. It’s all about the interplay of sound in acoustic songs.  If there is ever any difference of opinion about a composition, they just leave it for a while, step back and come back to it later. It seems a very civilized and democratic approach.When asked about the creative process itself, they enthuse about how song themes have tended to evolve from ideas and feelings, not just personal experiences. “Broken inside”, a sad and beautiful song about reaction to loss is one of their early ones and inspired by archetypical feelings rather than first-hand experience, yet it rings very true. This song is so exemplary of the Jenanella project that they often play that song first, to start their gig as they mean to go on. 

I need to change

The girls stress how much emotion they put into their music - Jenny tends to write the lyrics, drawing upon her feelings, Ella composes the music adding a very rootsy folk element. They sometimes write at home or hang out by one of the lakes. It’s a very cooperative process and their music really draws a lot of strength from the combination of their musical strengths and the harmonies of their voices. They sometimes find that the music’s driving the song, and the music is too good for the words. “Words can alter the melody.” Jenny explains. Ella confesses that now and then she sometimes has had difficulties remembering some of the lyrics, she tries not to listen to the lyrics, but what the music tells her. Such is their familiarity with each other and confidence in each other that when Jenny has occasionally stepped in ad lib to save the day, no one in the audience has been any the wiser.As an example of how the girls come across their lyrics, Jenny tells us about the meaning behind “Broken Inside”. “It’s about someone who’s been hurt, not in romantic love necessarily, its very sad, but there’s a lot of anger too, mostly vulnerability. They can’t understand why this person’s done what they’ve done.” Ella adds “It takes an emotion and blows it up”, out of proportion. The creation of another one of their songs “Separate Verses” was very interesting and experimental. They went their separate ways and each composed two verses and melodies on the same theme apart, and then they came back together and put together a song that really conveys the emotional turmoil and internal confusion.Jenanella play ‘Broken Inside’ at Avenue 67Are they interested in projecting a particular image? They say not really, but the music conveys the image that they are doing what they want. Ella explains “it’s not rebellious, nor is it indie, but it is independent. It’s strong and independent, serious and fun. It’s easy to get along with.” Jenny elaborates “It’s not childish, but it is fun. It’s complicated. I mean the guitar work isn’t particularly complex, but the lyrics are. Variety is a strong element.” How would they describe their live performance? Ella describes their act as “quiet, impromptu, not over-rehearsed.” Jenny adds “In the past it has been described as ‘innocent’ in the sense that It’s unpretentious,” it is true that there isn’t a lot of artist/audience interaction. “It’s about playing the music.”Yes, and as Ella explains the music is “about making two become one.” The two singers in harmony, “… the music and the lyrics, the melodies and the words go together. The melodies and words intertwine”.  That’s Jenanella!

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admin September 23rd, 2007

Fiona Clayton and Rob HeronI felt fortunate to be there. September 14, the Open Mic event at Appleby’s Avenue 67 was an evening of fantastic music from some of Cumbria’s best young musicians. Any one of the three acts would have had sufficient stand-alone value for an event, but following one after another I felt totally spoiled by the end of the evening. You can’t get better value for four quid.Fiona Clayton was unphased to open the entertainments and she performed with elan, playing a varied set that allowed her to show off her considerable talents. The vocals were sweet, the lyrics sweet and sour, and the guitar highly polished. It was a lively set in which her own compositions compared very favorably with some high quality covers. Fiona’s music seems to have lost the rough edges and I sense the development of greater poise and precision. While her beauty and stage presence are self evident from the pictures and video, I find that they now complement rather than eclipse her music, which now comes across as well rounded. If she hadn’t looked so green for most of her performance, it would have been a very hard act to follow.Fiona opens with a well polished actRob Heron followed very well and well lit, with some old favorites and some feisty new stuff. As usual, his live performance was great, very bluesy; his music packs a lot of punch. Rob’s songs are inspired by real life events and have a a no-nonsense gritty power derived from first and second-hand experience. All his songs were well played and with his customary high energy, but I particularly liked his new song about being hit by a bus. Assuming that he doesn’t get squished in the interim we’ll look forward to seeing him playing again at Avenue 67 on Friday September 28.Check out the video below, in which, not unlike a certain (saintly, yet very human) Jude, he took a sad song and made it better.The crowd loved the first two acts and just as we were feeling quite spoiled, we becamevery spoiled. The final act by Jenanella was superb. Their music is all about harmonies, it transports the listener on waves of delight to places of inner space and beauty within their own souls - or is it shared soul? The listener’s soul? The world soul?Jenanella Whatever. Theirs is a beautiful and very healthy, heady sort of music. It defies any categorization that might, by attempting to encompass it, instead diminish it. It is however, safe to describe it as the kind of music I’d hope to hear in heaven; very choral, crafted to capitalize upon the familiarity and strengths of the performers and perfectly executed, it will certainly find favor with a broad section of the wider public.I hope that they’ll be able to handle the fame, because there’s an innocence about the performance between songs that contrasts starkly with the professional finesse of the music itself. Frankly speaking, if there has to be a weakness in an act, I think it is far, farbetter for it to be in the banter rather than the music itself, so I’m not complaining. On the contrary, I think it was wonderful to hear song after brilliant song without much small talk in between, and when a mic blew and the artists were forced to talk during the remedial action, they handled it pretty well. I didn’t detect the slightest hint of impatience from the audience.Rich variety characterized their set. All their songs were original, derived from real experience in some cases, vivid imagination in others, and composed to emphasize the highly complementary qualities of their voices. I liked the whole set, there are several albums worth of songs ready for recording here. It was lovely to hear harmonies that have emerged through long years of warm friendship. There’s a lot of mutual trust in their performance. The songs derived power from this and in some fashion conferred it upon us in the crowd. Artist interview with Jenanella coming up soon!Thank you to all concerned, to all the artists, to the venue and to PhasingHz the organizer. We saw some swift and efficient troubleshooting there, it was a privilege to see such a great variety of local talent and so vividly lit. It’s really nice to be in the right place at the right time. Really, if you miss the next open mic - with Rob Heron as main act on September 28, it will be entirely your loss. These young people are too good to miss.

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