Networking

 

Mack's Music Acoustic Music and Ale Festival

From emailing and calling to getting out there.

Monday evening saw Rob and me at the Delamere Park Folk club singing a couple for Rodders and his fine band of floor singers. And grateful we were for a warm welcome and the opportunity to announce our presence to the wider music community.

This weekend in the same mode I'm off to the Mack's Music event (above) with a view to checking out more of the 'local' music scene, saying hello to Claire and Jayne (the promoters) with a view to making more gig-procuring contacts.

It occurred to me today that having a blog, facebook account, website, etc., without gigs is a little like The Emperor's New Clothes.

Now, where can I buy some new togs?

A Gig, A Resolution, A Campaign

50% of The Simon Hopper Band at The Carlton Club 

Here's how it goes...

1) Singer-songwriter decides to record new collection.

2) Concludes, to his surprise, that the results are rather good.

3) Plays gig at Carlton Club, 5th June: successful. Thanks to all who came to support. 'A lovely crowd' said the organisers.

4) Singer-songwriter figures this is, after all, what he ought to be doing.

5) Quits work - finally and irrevocably.

6) Begins campaign to take The Simon Hopper Project (solo, various duos, various trios, four-piece) back on the road.

7) Updates publicity material.

8) Creates: Facebook page; Website.

9) Updates blog

10) Begins process of wholesale contacting of venues, promoters, festivals (in the face of the fact that there are seventy-seven acts for every stage hour) to convince them that TSHB and its variants is exactly what they need for their gig (as opposed to the other seventy-six).

11) Waits to see what happens next.

New Album, New band, New Gig...

We hereby announce a Music Gig 

Celebrating Simon Hopper's 23rd CD Survivor's Gratitude
 

Simon Hopper & the Carlton Band
Simon Hopper: Guitar, Vocals
Rob Knight: Guitar, Vocals
Pete Attwood: Bass, Vocals
Andy Marshall: Drums, Violin

They will play Songs from The New Album and Songs from the 60's
 

Thursday 5th June : 7.45 pm
The Carlton Club, 113 Carlton Road,
Whalley Range, M16 8BE
Entry Free with contribution (suggested £8.00)
 

Bring Friends!

And now...

SIMON HOPPER

Playing occasionally at Playfoots Cafe Bar In Monton: next gig; Sunday 23rd July, 17.30

 

NEW BAND

New band: A Certain Edge.

Playing at Edinburgh Fringe.

Warm-up Gig at Fuel, Manchester, 9th July, 19.30.

It's been a while...

Hello again

I've been travelling (you can find out more if you like) but I've returned.

The video above is by way of a greeting.

I've contrived to coincide coming back with both my retirement from the day job and the virus so things have been interesting. In the scheme of things I've been very fortunate. I hope you've been spared the worst that C-19 has wrought.

I'll be performing again as soon as possible and I have two recording projects in the offing*. The former will have to wait until virus-related restrictions are lifted, but as soon as they are, I'll be looking to get out and play.

(*It seems the writer may imagine he's quit, but the words continue to come...)

House Concerts

If you'd like some 'real music' in your own home, when I'm able, all we need is food, drink, beds and a sympathetic audience. Just say, and Leigh and I (as per the video) will be there. You can pay us whatever you think the gig is worth.

I'm looking forward to singing some songs and telling some stories to living, breathing humans.

New Songs

A new collection, Light as a Feather, came about in the meantime. Click to listen to it. These are the songs of my Bethnal Green time.

Get in touch

Please feel free to contact me if you want to. I'd like that.

Stuttgart, its environs and an afterthought

Leigh, my cousin Ian and I drove to Stuttgart to play a couple of gigs last weekend.

We played An Sibin and The Phoenix Folk Club. Both were great experiences. Thanks to Claudi and Thanassi (AS) and Klaus (TPFC) for warm welcomes and the use of their audiences. And to Corrinna and Edwin and Norma Huss who gave us places to sleep and fed us sumptuously.

On stage receiving very generous applause at the end of the Phoenix gig was very moving for me. This is the first time in 20 years that I haven't either had a gig (or more) in the diary or the immediate intention of booking some. I don't quite know what it means, but it may mean I've retired. Let's see.

If I have, thanks to all those I've played for - hosts and audiences both - and all I've played with. And thanks to those who have helped me make music. It's been a great thing to do.

S. x

Hopper vs Oktoberfest: the battle of the titans #13 (last)

You couldn't get a flight into Munich on the weekend of our final gig in Deisenhofen. The lederhosen-clad hoards weren't heading our way, however, they were off to the annual beer-fest that fills the capital of Bavaria at this time of the year. It was the reason I couldn't blag another gig hereabouts, bar-owners telling me that no one would show up since they were all getting pissed up town.

Well, the good folk of the Volkshochschule - who promoted this evening - triumphantly bucked the trend to fill the Wagnerhaus and provided us with an attentive, intelligent audience and a heart-warming final evening to the Two Duos Tour (gig 12). Many thanks to them.

And we played well. It was acoustic with all that that entails, I was on form and Norma provided her usual filigree array of embellishments to a set of songs that by now had all the burnished finish of a set oft-performed (that is the musician's joy of a tour).

Immense gratitude to the family Embacher, Hilde, m'lady Angelika (in whose home town this all happened) and her sister Christine (Kozak) who between them brokered the concert, gave us accommodation and their usual Bayerische welcome.

So, thirteen months in the making, the TDT is over. More thanks, then, to Norma and Filip for their Stirling support, to all the promoters who hosted us, all those who fed us and gave us beds and all the lovely people who validated our efforts by lending their ears and attention, for two spells of 40 minutes, to sixteen songs plus encores. In respect of my songs, that's a lot of (sometimes complex) words - that takes some listening to.

For me, it's the songs that are the heroes. Stalwart dependables like In Sympathy and Jeffrey and Robert and I, old songs given a new feel by the addition of Norma's harp like Rope Ladder and Trevor Square and songs I had to re-learn to play on the guitar (ex-mandolin) like Long Time Gone and I'll Settle For Today. The latter was my fave of the set.

As well as great audiences, friends and family jetting in to join us added a flattering frisson to the trip. Thanks to all who did.

I don't know what I'll do next with my music. One thing I realised was how long it is since I recorded a new collection...

I'm riding a motorbike to Switzerland with my sons and their mates now. Long Time Gone, eh?

Be happy!

x



(And no, I didn't do the gig in my shorts - sexy though they are - this was the set up...)