YC Olie - TBWTHSS

Wow, I can't believe that musically, 2011 is over! We had Madcap on Friday, The White Horse in Bedford on Saturday, and I went to the open mic at SnoBar last night (Sunday) and that is it for the year. In a way I'm glad to have a break and soak up all my other interests in life, but there's a part of me which is sad at the concept of the year thats been and gone.

In relation to the tour, the gigs were fun as always, but nothing out of the ordinary. No rollocking drum solo at the end of Phils set, no mis-printed tour posters. It was everything we'd come to expect after the previous few nights on the tour. I think Scott was the stand-out act in Bedford, playing his best set of the tour; and I think MadCap should have been busier...

But thats not what I want to reflect on in this post. I could repeat myself and mention Seeking Salvation Through Love's 'pop balladry', or talk about the newly claimed 'Phil-Sky-Vision' about how no matter where Phil is, he will always see a stadium full of screaming fans in his head whenever he takes the stage...

About a year ago, I had a self-realisation and wrote a song, and subsequent EP called 'The Boy With The Heart Shaped Sleeve' (TBWTHSS...). As far as I'm concerned, that boy is me. Anyone who's listened to the song enough times to figure out the lyrics will know, the song was written at the end of 2010, which for me was quite a rough year. The most significant line(s), with relevence to this blog post at least, are:

Now 2010 [or, 'the year'] has been and gone
And another chapter can end
I nearly lost my sanity
Along with all my friends

Now when I was singing this song at this time last year, it was a very relevent topic. The year had thrown many distractions at me, and through no fault but my own, I had lost touch with many people I consider to be my nearest and dearest.

It struck me whilst singing this song at the White Horse, that 2011 has been a far better year. Far from perfect, but in comparison I am ending it stronger, happier and better off than when it started. And looking round the bar at the acts on tour, made me realise that this year, instead of risking loosing all my friends, I have spent the vast majority of it surrounded by some amazing people, whether it be at the Slug & Lettuce, the OU, at Phil's house for various celebrations, or on the Six String Theory Tour.

And although it makes me happy to know that the next few weekends can be spent with my feet up not worrying about set lists or directions to new venues...

It makes me a little sad to think that I won't be spending my weekends with Vodka Boy, Phil Sky and Seeking Salvation. It makes me a little sad that although there will be music in my house, it won't be the live versions of 'Drunk Poet Blues', 'Hey Dude', or 'It Was Always You'.

So, to all those reading this, whether you're on the tour or not, I wish you all the happiest of Christmases, and I thank you all for giving me some amazing memories throughout 2011 which have helped erase all the crap from the year before.

Rick (Stein) Sky - Fish On Tour

As the tour bus rumbled quietly through the darkness after the Bedford gig, all tired and on our way home for Christmas before heading back on the road in January, I sat with my girlfriend and we asked the ever important question, if each of the acts on tour where fish dishes, which ones would they be? We concluded after much debate that YC Olie is a tasty battered cod from a proper fish & chip shop, Seeking Salvation Through Love is Scampi of the bar menu in a nice pub, Vodka Boy are a nice fish pie, the sort that’s topped with mashed potato, and Phil Sky is anchovies. I’ll leave our blog readers to decide why we came to these conclusions…. Merry Christmas dudes!!! ;-)

Phil Sky - Bedford

Bedford is a baffling place to try to drive a tour bus around. It’s got a road system known locally as a “one way system” but as a Milton Keynesian, it made no sense at all though somehow Olie managed to direct us through the maze of tangled streets and houses all the way to the White Horse and the third stop on the Six String Theory Tour. This is closer to home turf for Scott AKA Seeking Salvation Through Love, but for the rest of us Kansas has never seemed so far away.

Last night’s headliners The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy opened the evening with a dependable set of originals and covers that would hopefully help ease us into the hearts of the local Bedford pub goers - I’m sure the covers went down well enough but for me the set was all about their performance of Humanist Love Song from the new album. I played second again for another solo performance without the band and it seemed to go down well enough with the guys and girls on the front row. Then third up was our first special guest on tour - Bedford local Darcy (though she’s actually from Scotland confusingly) who performed a lovely set of ethereal folk songs on guitar and vocals while a guy from Newcastle played the fiddle. Their set was full of songs named after birds, jigs and Celtic vibes and I really enjoyed her original song Shetland Boy.

YC Olie was fourth on stage with a genuinely rocking set that finished with an epic performance of new song Wake Up from the forthcoming CD currently entitled Flying High when it comes out next year. I’d recommend for everyone to look out for it. Then Scott AKA Seeking Salvation Through Love headlined with one of his strongest performances to date. Opening with Destined To Fail and featuring such highlights as It Was Always You, Take Me Away, The Finger Song and Crush On You, it was just awesome.

And now we’re all heading home for Christmas and a well earned break before heading to Buckingham in January to continue the tour. Outside the pub, the tour bus was thick in ice and winter had definitely set in and as the lights of Bedford faded behind us and thoughts of home began to creep in, I found I was already looking forward to the cold, dark days of January when the tour would begin again….

Phil Sky - The Madcap Theatre, Wolverton

The Madcap Theater in Wolverton is arguably my true home turf - I played my first ever solo gig here in 2007 in the main theatre upstairs where there’s a wonderful old stage from the turn of the (last) century. In grunge rock band Stone Circle, which also contained two members of Vodka Boy, we played our final public gig here, also in 2007, and MMT of Vodka Boy and myself played the only public Road To Corm gig here in 2008 to a truly baffled audience. This is the second time I’ve played the Madcap this year in fact but tonight’s tour date was held in the more intimate gallery space downstairs. As we arrived, the space was beautifully set up with a corner performance space surrounded in flashing strip lights and the whole space had the air of a dark, intimate jazz club and perfect for my first solo performance without any of the members of The Experience since September.

YC Olie boldly opened the evening and turned out another great performance. All the songs where great, but every time I see these tour sets again there’s one song I’m bowled over by and tonight it was his closing performance of Green Day song Time Of Your Life – not the first time its appeared on the tour but it really was a great performance. I played second, running through my ten songs as a solo artist and with the temporary loss of the band I suddenly found I’d got all that stage space back and I couldn’t stop walking all around the stage whenever I had the chance. Seeking Salvation Through Love was on third and he created a lovely, chilled out vibe with his pop balladry. I sat back in the darkened auditorium and ate mince pies and dug the vibe of the place. Then Vodka Boy closed the evening – they are another act who’s roots are firmly entwined with The Madcap Theatre and they turned out an epic headline performance that closed with a rare treat when they pulled out fan favorite Drink More Water in the encore – a song they play so little and yet is so brilliant, not only has it been months and months since it was played last (if not years!) but their isn’t even a recorded release out there (dudes, what’s up with that? ;-) It was truly one of the highlights of the tour so far and was met with rapturous applause from the small but very high quality audience.

Next stop, Bedford tomorrow…

Scott - Playing guitar with cold fingers while Elves Attack

This Saturday sees the Six String Theory Tour leave the confines of Milton Keynes and set sail for uncharted territory - Bedford! As I organised the first Bedford gig of the tour, at The White Horse, I felt the need to ensure that the tour had an audience to greet the traditionally Milton Keynesian Troubadours. Not an easy task to say the least; I have played the White Horse before and while there are regulars, and passing trade, they can easily disappear up the other end of the pub leaving the artist to play to an empty room. Well, not on my watch matey!

I did the usual fair of creating a Facebook event and inviting the thousands (and thousands?) of friends, fans, acquaintances and people I might have met once. However, I wasn't sure that this would be enough! I sat at my computer thinking what I could do to ensure that the first Bedford date would be a success. Then, the answer came to me. MKFM's Lunchtime Show was needing live acts and surely the traditionally nepotistic show would want me to play?

They did - sort of.

Apparently the show was struggling to get artists prepared to play for them live and so I jumped in and picked the only pre-show date I could. This would be plane sailing, right? Erm, no.

Firstly, the show's host sent me to the wrong place. In fact the show was being broadcast live from Midsummer Place in conditions that can only be described as 'Bloody Freezing'. This was not helped by my lack of winter attire. How was I going to play well enough to get people to come down to our gigs when I couldn't feel my fingers?

I was briefed before my interview and asked if I had anything to talk about. I mentioned the current tour and the upcoming dates this weekend. The plan was coming together like an episode of the A Team...... until the interview took place! The tour was ignored in favour of talking about some certain MK Open Mic nights (I haven't been to one in about a year) and my Brit Writers Award nomination (which I confess is still pretty cool and is something I am proud of). What about the shows? And why did they refuse to call me 'Seeking Salvation Through Love'? And why did they continually get my last name wrong! ARGH!

I played my BWA song 'It Was Always You' and think it went really well. Sure my fingers were icicles but given the circumstances it sounded good. I asked if I could mention the tour and casually dropped YC Olie's name into the mix (surely they would help a fellow MKFMer) only to be told that the interview section was done!

What to do? There was nothing I could do except get ready to play my next song and so I sat in front of the mic to give MKFM a taste of Crush. Just before I started, the DJ announced that they were leaving as they had pre-recorded their 'live' links and it was too cold to sit outside (then why select this location? Surely top DJs have some clout?). They left. I played the intro to my song and said, "If you want to hear this in person, come down to the Madcap Theatre on Friday or the White Horse in Bedford on Saturday."

I was beaming at my genius, knowing I had managed to get in a good plug for the shows. So happy was I that I failed to notice three people dressed as elves approach the desk. Before I knew it, they were shouting that they were the 'Health & Safety Elves' and the recording had to be stopped! I was fuming. These Elves had risked their own Elf & Safety by ruining my recording. To make matters worse, before starting to record again, the sound guy said I couldn't have the long pre-amble about gigs this time. I negotiated and was allowed to mention one gig. I knew that Vodka Boy had the Madcap venue in hand (and could probably fill it without really trying) so I opted for the White Horse and belted out Crush (which actually when down well with shoppers nearby and the sound engineer).

Now, one could question the wisdom of promoting a Bedford venue on a Milton Keynes radio show, but that can be justified another time as I have already gone on too long. I did however want to share one more thing. As I walked back to my car through Milton Keynes Shopping Centre I found out that MKFM was being played to the thousands (and thousands!) of Christmas shoppers. How did I discover this fact? Simple, my recently recorded version of 'It Was Always You' was being played out for the world to hear. To borrow a phrase from the lexicon of Phil Sky, Awesome!

YC Olie - Feeling Festive

As i'm sure you are all well aware, this Friday see's the tour bus pulling up outside the Madcap Theatre in the heart of Wolverton. The Madcap has been a firm supporter of all things Monkey Kettle for a while now, and I have to say I'm excited to be going back there, especially as it's a venue soley focused on performance, theatrics and anything artistic. Not to belittle the pub venues we'll be playing... but Madcap is definately a 'venue' rather than a 'pub with live music'.

The main reason you should check out Fridays date, is that it marks the release of this years Monkey Kettle christmas CD - featuring all 4 acts on the Six String Theory Tour.

1. Snow Came Down - YC Olie
2. I Love You Snow Much - Seeking Salvation Through Love
3. Christmas Where You Are - Grahame Sinclair & Genevieve Spalding
4. Christmas Will Be Awesome - The Phil Sky Experience
5. Snowmen and Sandcastles - Ellie Walsh
6. Blue Haired Girl On Christmas Day - The Further Adventures of Vodka Boy
7. New Orleans Christmas Day - Grahame Sinclair

Come down and grab a copy on the night!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Grahame and Genevieve for organising and producing the CD, and i'm sure there were loads of people behind the scenes that made it possible, so thank you all who helped contribute to the CD ^_^

YC Olie - Village Life

Saturday night saw the Six String Theory Tour role into the sleepy village of Cranfield. Scott is the only act on the tour never to have graced The Carpenters Arms with his presence, whereas the rest of us knew what to expect.

Or, we thought we did...

In reality, the night went better than expected, with the pub looking its fullest I've ever seen it (after attending numerous music nights that local band The Fruitflies organise), the atmosphere was as good as it'll ever get on a Saturday night at The Carps.

So, it was down to new boy Scott to open the night with his pop balladry. I have to agree with Rick, it really is nice to be hearing Seeking Salvation Through Love on a more regular basis than we;ve been used to - being limited to once a month at the Slug. 'Crush' is certainly becoming a firm fan favourite, and old classics like 'Letter' and 'Destined to Fail' are proof that the Brit Writers Nomination was no fluke.

2nd up was the pre-billed 'Rick Sky' complete with full band for a special set of originals. The more time the three of us get on stage, the more the songs grow into themselves. Potentially because the more time I play the songs, the more time I have to discover funky new bass lines... but growth nonetheless. it seems like Phil is aiming on finding 101 ways to finish a set. wednesdays watershed appearance saw the punk-rock "get loads of noise and feedback from the guitar then leave it on stage whilst walking off" routine. Saturday saw the one-the-knees, frantic-rapid-strumming approach, merged with the falling-over style which ended up with Phil on his back on the pub floor. Enigmatic and energetic - but we've come to expect nothing less.

After 2 sets of original material, it was time for local favourites Vodka Boy to lay on some familiar covers alongside their unique style of original material. Personally, Bright Eyes' 'First Day of My Life' is a rare cover song that always captures my attention no matter what, and landlord James would have thrown us all out if Miss Gaga wasn't played en masse. At the end of the set, as they hadn't played my all time favourite Vodka Boy track, I called for an ENCORE! And thus, Drunk Poet Blues was kicked out the speakers, paying homage to local landmarks and venues. Without a doubt my all time Vodka Boy Fave!

I guess you could call the Carps my local gig. Being slap-bang in the middle of Newport and Cranfield, the opening 2 nights have worked in my favour as far as travel time goes.  I've played the Carps numerous times in my musical career, and it genuinely is a pleasure to see the difference in crowds since I started playing a few years ago. I won't tell you the story about the time I played to an entirely empty bar, but you get the idea...
I'm really liking the Frank Turner-double to open up with. 'Eulogy' gives a nice gentle opening melody to alert the crowd that the set has begun, then after 2 short verses, rolling into 'I Still Believe' sums up the idea behind the tour. The line 'Who'd have thought, after all, something as simple as rock n roll could save us all' is a perfect way of describing music's impact on all our lives. After numerous calls for various covers, I stood my ground and stuck to my game plan of getting my original music out to the masses, however old favourites like Johnny B Goode, and Cannonball made their way onto the set list.

The next 2 dates see's the 6 String Theory Tour role into Madcap for a festive party on Friday, then onto Bedford on Saturday for another venture into the unknown...

Safe to say, I can't wait!

Phil Sky - Cranfield

The moon was high, a large white orb that hung in the heavens and lit up the frozen landscape and the icy road shone like a white river that carved its way through the fields past tiny cottages that huddled together for warmth and occasional seasonal decorations radiated like beacons out from cottage windows and into the cold December night. As we neared Cranfield, the red runway lights poked up out of the fields and sporadic cottages broke into streets and houses and shops and finally The Carpenters Arms and our second stop on the Six String Theory Tour.

Once inside, the pub was warm and welcoming and adorned with Christmas decorations. A big, scary animated Father Christmas and a rotund Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer occupied the back room where a Christmas party was in progress but in the front room where we would be playing there was a large Christmas tree, streamers on ceilings, a seasonal window scene diorama on the bar and an open fire burning over the hearth. Our tour poster was pinned up on the wall along with the pubs own, bizarre interpretation of the tour printed on bright red paper (The Saving Salvation Tour?? With Rick Sky??) but either way it was exciting to see the tour poster up when we arrived.

Scott opened the evening and it was another great set. His new songs Crush On You and The Finger Song sound better and better every time I hear them while classic Destined To Fail remains one of my all time favorite Seeking Salvation Through Love songs. My own set, this time with a full lineup with Olie on bass and Mickey on the cajon, felt fantastic and seemed to go down well enough with the local audience. There is something really magical that happens, at least for me, when all three of us play a set together on stage. I introduced myself as Rick Stein before running through the tour set - 10 songs in half an hour including México Viejo which just feels better and better live. The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy turned out a predictably awesome set of unpredictability, sticking to an original and then a cover format and starting and finishing with songs by pop artist diva Lady Gaga. Then YC Olie, playing to his home crowd, headlined the evening. Opening with Frank Turner, playing through some of his best originals including Boy With The Heart Shaped Sleeve, Weak Knees (One Night Stand) and his brilliant new Christmas song Snow Came Down which really does set the bar very high for the soon to be released A Very Monkey Kettle Christmas, it was another awesome set.

It’s a real honor to be on tour with three such brilliant acts in fact and one of my best highlights of the night was getting to watch everyone’s sets again. If anything, second night of the tour, I enjoyed everyone’s sets more a second time round and can’t wait to see all the sets again. Next stop, Wolverton….

MMT - Watershed & Photos

The first gig suffered a little from audience paucity – possibly understandable given that it was a cold dark Wednesday night in Newport Pagnell – but what it lacked in bodies it more than made up for with the excitement of visiting the Watershed (http://watershedmk.com/) for the first time!  Although we’re coming to it months after the rest of MK has cottoned on, it’s a smashing little venue!  A friendly atmosphere, brilliantly bohemian décor, and a fantastic stage area upstairs too. All in all like a kind of cross between the back room of the Cannon and MADCAP. Definitely somewhere we’ll be checking out with gusto in 2012 – especially their Tuesday night Open Mic Poetry Art & Music nights!

The highlight of the Watershed gig was probably the ‘headline’ slot from the Phil Sky Experience. Because the Watershed guys had set us up a drumkit before they realised it was an acoustic tour, Olie couldn’t resist using it – so the set was a classic “acoustic guitar and drums” combo!

 

YC Olie - The Show Must Go On

What a first night that was!!! I was expecting more of a crowd, but if one thing the local music scene has taught me, it's to play music for yourself - if anyone else digs it and jumps on board then that's a bonus!  As the start of the gig drew nearer there were questions of 'should we still play', but as the old saying goes... THE SHOW MUST GO ON! So it did, and I'm ruddy glad it did too ^_^

I will look back on the open night of the Six String Theory Tour as potentially the most fun gig of the year (and as you may know - I am keeping a very good account of this years gigs :p).

First off, I should mention that the Watershed truly is a diamond in the rough. It is far from a squeaky clean venue with post-modern decorative design and a feng-shui furniture plan but in my eyes thats what makes it the diamond. At first glance there's unique artwork all over the walls, guitars and amplifiers lying around as decoration and a piano sat in the corner. In MonkeyKettle terms, it's a long way from the Slug & Lettuce and I can honestly say I'm happy to swap the middle-class theatre going crowds for a small back-alley bar with crazy decor and a rock n roll venue feel. After all - this is a classic rock n roll tour as far as I'm concerned. Not a trip round faceless establishments with set menu's and strict business strategies.

There were a number of highlights in my eyes. I gotta say it's great to be gigging again with Seeking Scott. After the demise of the Slug open mics, his music is a rarity in my open mic schedule so it was a pleasure to hear some old favourites again. Saying that, his new song 'Crush On You' (I hope thats whta its called anyway) proved to be an Instant Classic. Let's just say that you'll soon understand why when you hear it ^_^

The main talking point in my mind however, was the fact that the Watershed provided not only the PA system, but also a rather shiny looking drum kit in the corner of the stage. It is a little known fact in the MonkeyKettle circles that I am a secret drummer. Or should I say a secret competent drummer. My only downfall is that I've never actually owned a drum kit and have learned the rhythms in my head tapping on desks. Luckily for me I find it easily translates to a real kit.

I don't know everyone elses feeling going into the gig. I wouldn't be suprised if they were slightly concerned that my child-like enthusiasm for the use of the kit would result in a monkey bashing on frying pans. I'd like to think I did a pretty good job throughout Phil's set though, and I'm hoping that everyone was pleasently suprised to discover my drumming talents.

For my set, I was pleased with the way it went. I tried 2 new songs (both by Frank Turner) and I feel they went down quite well. I unearthed 'Boy With The Heart Shaped Sleeve' for the first time in 11 months and was rather pleased I remembered it well.

Next up is the Carpenters Arms in Cranfield. Almost booked entirely on the behalf of the landlord for his love of Vodka Boy, I'm confident that this will be a fun night for all in attendence ^_^

Phil Sky - Watershed Part 2

It’s fair to say, the audience was a little thin on the ground, though what it lacked in size it made up for in love, enthusiasm and general awesomeness. And it’s also safe to say all four acts played truly legendary sets – The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy opening up the evening, then YC Olie, Scott Blackledge AKA Seeking Salvation Through Love and finally my own act, The Phil Sky Experience. Sadly our cajon player Mickey couldn’t be there but Olie jumped off bass and onto the drums and we pulled off what felt like one of the truly greatest sets of our career. Incendiary was the word I kept telling myself as we left the venue. Of the other details, well I guess you had to be there man. It was just that legendary. One date down, many more to go….

Phil Sky - 08/12/2011

Phil Sky - Start Of The Tour/Watershed Part 1

It all starts with a shiny silver tour bus that sleekly parks up outside your house, ready to whisk you away from mundane suburban obscurity and take you on a magical mystery journey to far of places to play incendiary shows to packed out venues in places you’ve barely even heard of but where everyone already knows your name. That’s what it’s like to go on tour. I know, I’ve seen it in movies. Even the knackered old tour bus in Almost Famous seems glamorous and exotic. It’s the reason I love 2008’s The Rocker with Rainn Wilson - it’s all about wish fulfillment. There’s a big, wide, mysterious world out there and its waiting to be rocked and why shouldn’t we be the ones to do this? And this why, on a cold evening in early December, I found myself huddled on a roadside curb, guitar on my back and a satchel over my shoulder full of cables and pedals as Scott Blackledge waved to me out of his car window and pulled up his big, green 4x4 behind my car. “Dude, I totally have no idea where we’re going!” he says as he jumps out the car and pulls open the rear door to retrieve his own guitar. This is where it all started for me - The Six-String Theory Tour - my first true experience of being out on the road. For the next two months we’d be heading out to far of venues in places some of us have never heard of to play venues most of us have never stepped inside and it all started with The Watershed in Newport Pagnel, where Scott had evidently never been to.

The Watershed turned out to be one of the coolest venues any of us had ever been to. Hidden down an allyway and sprinkled with Christmas lights - dudes with beards and dreadlocks behind the bar and vinyl records stuck on ceilings. There where paintings by locals artists on the walls and a big screen hung in the bar that projected all the action going on upstairs where we would be playing. Most exciting of all, there was a large, red drum-kit on the stage which Olie would be jumping behind for The Phil Sky Experience’s headline set...

Phil Sky – 07/11/2011