AND THEN THERE WERE THREE 2012-2015

Photo Shoot with Scott Choucino 2015

Between 2011-early 2012 I spent most my time focusing on duo gigs with Mark Gill and setting up Wildfire Sessions which kept me very busy running open mics, showcases, gigs, all day music events or operating as a music agent. One of the most popular acoutsic nights I ran was at the Rowell Charter Inn in Rothwell - alongisde Mark as a co-host initally. We attracted a boad range of players from the Northants area and beyond . One of the regular faces was an old mate way back the Kettering music scene  - Lou Short. Lou had played with some great acts including Curtis E Johnson, Mr P and Martin Stephenson and The Daintees. At that time he was also doing some feature sets with us with his own projects Lou Short and The Girls Who Love Sci Fi and latterly the trio B.R.O.N.S.O.N. 

Lou started jamming on some of my songs and suggested i would be good to try and get a band behind them. I was a bit retisent as I knew how much hard work it is to keep a band project going but I also knew that many of my songs now required it live or in the studio. Out of the blue I got a message from an old mate from Geddington Russ Peace who asked if I was interested in jamming with his stepson - a talented young drummer who he felt could benefit from broadening his playing experience beyond the tech-metal scene he was acustomed to. So early summer 2012 Jake Patrick started coming down to the Rowell Charter nights and we started playing as a trio which gelled well lead to rehearsing. 

So the first gig with this new line up was in August 2012 supporting Matt Woosey at The Soundhouse Leicester. Even though we had rehearsed as a trio we drafted in Kev Lee on guitar for most of the set. The hot summer night clashed with the opening ceremony of the Olympics  and the sum total of the audience consisted of Lou's then girlfriend Nicola and Fran Taylor who was the opening support! 

Pomfret Arms 01-05-2015

Soundhouse Leicester August 2012 with Kev Lee on guitar

As 2012-2013 continued we didn't gig too much as I was very busy running my Wildfire Sessions events. We were rehearsing fairly regularly and writing though and if you check out the bootleg of a gig we did at The Musician in Leicester in June 2013 you will hear versions of some of the songs which ended up on the debut album taking shape. In summer 2014 we did a trio set on the bandstand acoustic stage at Simon Says Festival which took over from Summer Sundae at Leicester De Montfort Hall and Gardens, focusing more on local acts. We then struck up a good working relationship with Monster Jaw and The Simpletone who accompanied us on plenty of shared gigs into 2015. The sound of the band was changing a little as realised my influences were veering away from the country rock type vibe which often dominated my work with Mark Gill. I was now recognising the sound of some of the 90s artists I loved were now coming out in some of the songs. In honour of this I put together a New Wave Of British Grunge event at The Zombie Hut in Corby with a whole line up of acts also influenced by that era. 

Tour dates in 2015 with The Simpletone and Monster Jaw

Kontra Roots Club, Kennedy's, Finedon

Performomg with Marshall Gill at our all day album launch for Stratigraphic Heart Autumn 2015

We started work on the debut album in Spring 2015. I chose Parlour Studios in Kettering as we were aleady using the rehearsal space there and I knew Russ Russell from way back - my sister had gone to school with him. Russ had established himself as a top producer working with alot of metal bands  - Napalm Death was his main baby but he was spot on with lots of genres and had also mixed New Model Army's Carnival album. In the end halfway through the sessions due to illness he handed over the reigns to Neil Haynes who also ran the studio. I knew Neil too from the local band scene and it was great to have him on board. The sessions worked welll. Guests include Mark Gill, Stuart O'Connor, Rob Matheson, Kev Clayton, James Sexton,  Lucy Tipler and Krzysztof Strzelczyk. The NMA connection continued as by then we had also played a couple of shows with Blackballed featuring Marshall who at that stage was playing guitar for them. Blackballed did a gig in Northampton, I put them up at my house and first thing in the morning I dragged a very hungover Marshall and Leon to the studio and they put down percussion, guitars and harmonies on the title track ‘Stratigraphic Heart’ - a homage to my day job in archaeology. A great touch to the album.

We ran an album launch pledge campaign whereby if fans donated the received different levels of bonuses including a copy of the soon to be deleted ‘Timeline’ double CD anthology of my duo era with Mark Gill, free album launch entry and their name on the new album sleeve. The ‘hard copy’ release was held at The Zombie Hut Corby in October 2015 and we made it an all dayer playing two sets with a large roster of guests including most of the participants on the album. 

We finished off the year with a few more gigs including the charity all dayer A Day Of Rock at The Athletic Club in Kettering, headlined by Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P, which became the final appearances as the trio line up.