Welcome to the next chapter of my incredible adventures in London and beyond. The last 9 months are filled with some of the brightest moments of my existence. I’m rich in happiness and friendship and life is full to the brim with music and love. It’s been a chaotic whirlwind of experiences and people that have touched my soul and helped me to grow, and so I’m very pleased to share a few memoirs with you. Enjoy!
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The Troubadour.
8th of May, 2012 I played a gig at the famous “Troubadour” with Ben Longman, Morrissey & Marshall and Paul Shine who joined me on keys. That night was something special. It was the night I met the delightful Mr Sam Coole who has become one of my best London mates.
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Paul Shine on Keys.
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Visits from old friends…
My good mate Dave from Ireland and Leif’s best mate Carlo from Italy came to visit. Brilliant week! My dear friend Jason also came for a brief visit bearing gifts and Tim Tams. Champion! I also got a visit later in the year from Tom’s friend Mich who stayed in the fort in my lounge for a week. :P
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THE HOUSE WARMING…
THE housewarming. We took a trip back to the late 60’s. It was glorious! Through the fog that’s Carlo, me, Leif, Paul and Sam. Ben, Nic, Elia and Clive were also in attendance. I do believe we “floated” down to the Blues Kitchen in Camden later that evening.
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SUMMER…
My best friend Leif went to Europe and left me to my own devices. Here begins the real chaos. Below is a photo of Highgate Woods. A delightful sanctuary.
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MORRISSEY & MARSHALL…
These two gentleman are more than mates. They are my brothers and two of the biggest influences on my life in the last 8 months. Darren Morrissey and Greg Marshall, better known as “Morrissey & Marshall.” My Irish kin. Absolute genius songwriters and musicians, mad as a box of frogs but two of the soundest blokes you’ll ever meet. Below is a photo of us in a park near my house recording their song “the Mantra.” Click on the link to see the video of the tune. More to come on Morrissey & Marshall and crew shortly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jInHcPG7Z0
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Lady Luck took a holiday…
… and left me in a bit of a stinking rut. In a very short time I had a terrible windfall of bad luck. It began with the night I played at the Bedford in Balham. It was stinking hot and muggy, Leif’s sister Natalia and I headed down to south London together and were pulled over by the Police for not having a current MOT on my car. They let me off a fine, but I couldn’t drive home. Tal and I managed a 1 hour cross town tube journey and a 3km walk home along the woods with a harp that night. A few days later my phone got stolen, my car cost me a fortune and gigs seemed to be drying up. Things looked pretty dire for a while there. Here Tal and I are catching the tube with my harp!
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Some special folk that deserve a mention…
Let me take a moment to introduce you to some important folk in my London life:
The delightful, eccentric and incredibly talented Tim Boniface. I learned jazz piano from him for a good 6 months and we have played countless gigs in London together over the course of a year. Here we are playing a wedding together.
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Melissa Kenny. Great harpist, wonderful friend and my french teacher! Tres bien!
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Russel Knight aka RJ Chevalier. The two of us have been collaborating on music together for the last year. Check out his and our work on soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/rjchevalier
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Nic and Aimee. The cutest couple in the world. Nic is one of my sister’s best friend’s from home and Aimee is from York. I love the both of them. Many night’s of fine food and wine together.
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Kasia - the sweetest Polish lady in the world! We met at my favorite coffee shop and meet up in Muswell Hill every couple weeks for a good old fashioned gossip! ;)
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The 2012 London Olympics…
The Summer of 2012 brought the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics! For me it just basically meant lot’s of random moments and encounters, like sharing a tube ride with a London phone box?
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Oh, and joining in with a Brazilian flash mob…
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…and eating “Olympic Cake.” :)
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The fort…
Leif and I made a fort in the lounge room and read “Peter Pan” to each other one night. :)
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…and I took my breakfast in there for a week or so. :P
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Encounters with incredible musicians…
I’ve had the in incredible fortune to meet and work with some seriously amazing musicians this year. I had the honor of attending a master class with Elizabeth Fontain Binoche, living french harp legend! She studied with Marcel Tournier. I performed “Play with me” for Elizabeth, Gabriella and the Trinity students. It’s the first time in ages I was nervous. More than nervous actually. I was shaking like a leaf!
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Anselmo Netto: Amazing Brazilian percussionist. He walked into a gig of mine the night before I flew to the USA and joined me in my set with a knife, fork and a paper bag - simply incredible! Here is a photo of me, Anselmo and his friend Alan in Edinburgh. Click the link below to watch our impromptu performance of Sting’s “Fragile.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyWqS_UvZ7A
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Adventures in Surrey with the boy from Fleet!
I took a day to go off-roading with Sam, his mate Tom and Mich. Great day! Country boys know how to have fun!
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We discovered a village fete and picked up a ‘friend.’
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The one and only Mr Sam Coole.
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The Boogaloo sessions…
The infamous BOOGALOO sessions with Morrissey & Marshall. This became a bit of a monthly institution. I played my first one in June and most gigs ended in delightful chaos. This is where I first met Sue - Darren’s fiance and a dear friend of mine. I often found myself getting up to serious mischief at these nights… ;)
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Bipolar Empire from Ireland also attended one of these gigs. They’ve visited London a few time and become mates of mine. Great musicians and certified crazy mofos. Here Callum is drumming on my harp. Later that night he dropped me down a flight of stairs and launched himself into a hedge!
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NORTH CAROLINA & VEGAS!
July I made a trip to America to visit my dear friend Leah and be a bridesmaid at her wedding. I was so excited to be a part of the celebrations and to visit my friend whom I hadn’t seen since 2009. I also made a short trip to Vegas to visit my dear friend, producer, partner in crime, Jack Leftley. Follows a montage of my USA visit…
The beautiful bride and I making the wedding favors.
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The 2nd time in my life I’ve got my nails done!
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Leah and I, sweltering hot!
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The bridesmaids.
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Mr and Mrs Patterson.
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erm…. that happened….
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Right so! Off to Vegas!
Me, Jack and Liz. Liz is a very special woman. She took me in for my stay in Vegas and looked after me like a daughter. So much love for this kind, beautiful woman. x
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Chris Hoffman. Another incredibly kind, generous man and a genius keyboardist. An honor to watch him work and enjoy his company for an evening. The twists and turns of fate and the fragile webs of how people are drawn together! Just before I left for Australia in April I had a gin and tonic with a fellow by the name of Nigel Fenton in a hotel in Regents Park where I was playing. We got talking and he learned of my plans to visit America. He contacted his friend Chris and as a result of a simple friendly drink one Sunday afternoon I enjoyed a wonderfully inspiring evening of mentorship in Vegas. Chance.
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Back to North Carolina for a few sneaky days with Leah before heading home. We went to see “Brave” but got completely drenched in a downpour on the way!
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Until we meet again. Love.
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Back home to London. Slightly relieved. Very broke.
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93 Feet East
When I landed back at Heathrow I met a lovely American girl called Erika who had come to translate for the Olympics. I gave her my number and we met up a few times while she was in London. This is a photo she took of me playing a wonderful gig at 93 Feet East in Shorditch. The sound was incredible that night!
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Leonardo Caltabiano…
August. Leonardo, my bass player from Australia arrived in London. His arrival marked the start of a very turbulent 3 months. You gotta give him points for insanity - moving to London with $500 and no plans. We locked horns on numerous occasions. Well, truth be told we fought like cat and dog. He lived on my couch for 3 months and shook my life upside down, but we played some great gigs together and shared some pretty rock n’ roll times. Below is a picture of Leif and Nardo in Oxford together. They developed an intense bromance. :p
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Cousin Michael’s Olympic BBQ.
This man knows how to put on a party!!!! I took a throw together band consisting of me, Paul, Nardo and Elias and we played a few sets. Here all the kids are about to beat the crap of a pinnate led by my little cousin Lizzy. Leif came along for the craic too.
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… after the sun went down things deteriorated quite dramatically into drunken debauchery! Here’s Paul the ghostly rock star under a tree. We drank countless bottles of wine and whiskey, played Zeppelin tunes by the fire and passed out in a tent in the forest… well, Leif, Paul and myself anyway. Nardo fell asleep by the fire with a whiskey in his hand and got rained on. The next morning I had the worst hang over I’ve ever had in my entire life!
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Anselmo was playing at the Edinburgh Fringe with Antonio Forcione and invited me up to see him. I was delighted to go! That trip was chaotic! I stayed with Eilidh - a friend of Aimee who had never ever met me, but gave me the keys to her apartment and let me stay with her and her sister for the weekend. Incredible lass! I gate crashed a baby shower in full swing upon arrival when I dropped off my bag. Explaining I was Eilidh’s friend’s boyfriend’s friend’s sister from Australia was kinda awkward and hilarious at the same time. I met up with Anselmo, Antonio and bassist Matheus, watched an incredible gig, snuck into the after party where Hugh Grant was doing shots at the bar and had some pretty wild conversations. I do believe that night ended with me storming the streets of Edinburgh drunk and ranting about the insanity of men! I was actually mighty glad to be staying with two lovely Scottish lassies. The next day Anselmo, Alan and I went to the Edinburgh Castle. Quite a magical place.
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Notting Hill Carnival
Notting Hill Carnival. I actually didn’t enjoy myself this year. Everything seemed a bit agro. I did get to catch up with Tom’s high school mates Angus and Jahan which was cool. I enjoyed seeing those two again :) I didn’t enjoy my hangover the next day. I awoke on top of my bed wearing nothing but a Brazilian Flag. Hmmm….?
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Water Rats gig
The Tara Minton Trio played at the Water Rats on the 29th of August. It was a great gig! We busted out some new arrangements and it was a nice little warm up for our Geneva concert in October.
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Life at Woodberry Crescent, Muswell Hill…
Well, life was a lot less peaceful than I’d hoped. I was living with a very messy bass player/ creature from the deep and a moody photographer who had become inseparable. I was skint as, despite working like a mofo and I missed my family back home. My dad sent me a care parcel with a pony in it to cheer me up!
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One drunken Ebay session with cousin Michael later and I have my very own turn table and sound system. Hell yeah!!!!!!
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We got a new washing machine over the summer. It was having an identity crisis and thought it was a rocket ship. The spin cycle was aggressive!
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Possessed!
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The Pride of Rotterdam!
Basically by September I was so broke I was forced to take a ferry boat contract playing piano to pay rent! What began as a desperate means to a desperate end turned out to be one of the greatest 3 weeks of my life! I met some amazing people who will be friends for life, had a secret fling, saw some beautiful sights and got up to serious mischief. I can’t divulge all the details of my time on board lest I get some people I love in trouble, but below follow some of the moments and people that made my 3 weeks on board such a joy.
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Harbor Day in Rotterdam! We sailed right into the heart of the city and the weather was divine!
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The Humber Bridge in Hull. I had an outing with Chris, one of the delightful security staff on board the ship and his wife Jill. Two of the loveliest people you will ever meet.
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Here they are with their son, Ayrton.
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Carlo of the Conti Cafe. My favorite.
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My posse! Carlo, Gillian - my crazy scouse boss, Jo Jo, Iceman and Jake after a biking outing in Holland.
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Me and Gillian after a dip in the North Sea. She convinced me to take a dive off a pier into near freezing water! Daft idea!
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Jo Jo in my jacket. Such a great character.
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The ‘bike club’ took me to Brielle for a picnic and to see the old Dutch windmill. Very long ride but it was worth it.
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Gillain and I being naughty. We snuck onto the car deck one night to check out the snazzy rides!
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Wijnand and I. The young apprentice officer with whom I became very close friends. So many rumors about us you would not believe - despite the 7 year age gap!
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5pm - table football with the Officers. It became somewhat of an institution. The Dutch are mad.
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Sneaking onto the helipad at 2am to sea the stars from the middle of the North Sea. AMAZING! FREEZING!
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My crib. Notice the clogs on my feet. A parting gift from Wijnand.
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Me and my Conti Cafe boys. Jo Jo, mas guapo se Earl, Charlie and Carlo. x
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The Sky Lounge Crew who looked after me every night. We had a sneaky party for my going away. I can’t give too many details lest I get the crew still on board into trouble, but it was a great night!
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Soul sisters.
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Gillian and Wijnand dropping me at the station on my last day. I felt very loved.
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Black London
When I got back to London I was feeling extremely sad and displaced. For reasons I don’t even know my relationship with my best friend had disintegrated to the point where we were mere strangers occupying the same space and I was beyond lonely. It was around this time that Darren, Greg, Sue, Darlene and the whole Finchley crew came to the rescue. What could have been a very bleak time turned into one of the brightest Autumns of my life.
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My Finchley Family
They deserve their own segment. Here is a tribute to my favorite folk in the northern hemisphere in a mish mash of shots taken from countless nights of madness. I love them all. To start off, Sue, Dar, Greg and A-Marsh of Ballards Lane!
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Sue face!
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Love birds <3
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Darby on a usual Wednesday night.
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The only man to beat me in a dance off, Greg Marshall. Loveliest bloke.
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A-Marsh et moi.
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The one and only Kev, me and the delightful miss Sarah. x
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Phil Jones. Took me a while to warm to this one but he’s a champ.
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This beautiful woman is Darlene. The angel of Finchley. She’s completely mad, but all the best folk are. We met at the Boogaloo and she replaced Penelope Cruise with me as her girl crush. Sound!
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The Gertie Browns crew!
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THAT Jamaican.
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Bipolar Empire. These lads have blown in from Dublin a few times and wrecked havoc. Callum, Mark, Joe, Shane, Darby and me. Always good fun. Here we are back at the Gaff at some unGodly hour having the craic.
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Sue Ryder
Don’t ask me how, but I’ve managed to be talked into some pretty mad gigs for Charity shop Sue Ryder this year. Here I am playing in the shop window with a glass of red.
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Darlene having a crack.
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Darren and I playing at some random Sue Ryder launch in Happerton on the coldest day imaginable! My feet were ice and my hands were blue!
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And last of all, dressing up as an angel and playing Christmas carols in the shop window. Darlene was Mrs Claus.
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Sunday in the Apartment
Sunday in the Apartment is a celebration of Australian talent in London spearheaded by Nick Hardcastle. Part talk show, part concert. I played the September concert which was AFL themed to coincide with the grand final in Aus. Here I’m being interviewed by Nick about my music and what I do in London.
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The big finale!
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You know, just casually chillin with Tanya Doko and Rachel Beck. :)
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Haylz was in town! Sunday roast! Delish!
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GENEVA
I had the incredible honor of being asked to perform at the 2012 CAMAC Harp festival in Geneva, Switzerland. Seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life and definitely one of the highlights of the year. Here Nardo and I are waiting for the bus to Heathrow at 6am. Neither one of us is a morning person.
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HARP HEAVEN!
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My stage. We owned it.
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Sound checking with the boys.
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Straight after the concert in the green room. Amazing buzz!
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Me and my hero, Jakez Francois.
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Recording at the Animal Farm
This year I teamed up with Ville, Matt and Jaime at the Animal Farm in Bermondsy to record a new EP. I can’t say a bad word about the whole experience. Everyone was incredibly easy to work with and the finished product sounds delish! Here is Elias, me and Matheus who sessioned on bass for the recordings.
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Jaime, my elfin producer.
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We worked bloody hard and long during these sessions. I didn’t drink alcohol or eat any gluten for 2 weeks leading up to the sessions so my voice was bang on. I was pretty shattered by the end but it was definitely worth the effort. The night I finished I went for a session at Gertie Browns with my Finchley crew. :)
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Trooper Fest.
I appeared on a T-shirt! That was a surprise! My mate Sunil asked me to play an event for his sister in support of Blind Veterans UK. Really nice concert.
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GALWAY!
I have the intense pleasure of introducing you to the incredibly talented Emmet Scanlan. Beautiful song writer and dear friend of mine. The two of us headed off on a mini tour to Galway in November. I had the time of my life! (Despite the fact that I had gastro the ENTIRE trip.)
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We left London at midnight, drove all through the night through the flooded countryside of England and Wales to arrive at the Port of Holyhead at 7am! Our ferry was at 8am. Emmet slept but I was too sick. After our 3 and a half hour crossing we drove to Naas to visit Emmet’s sister. I had a few hours blessed sleep before we continued on to Galway, via Tipperary because our sat nav gave us a bum steer. We arrived in Galway at 8ish, sound checked at the Crane Bar and then opened the house doors. I swear the entire population of Galway streamed into that little room! Amazing gig!
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My mate Dave came along for the sesh! Champion!
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After that gig we went out on the town and finally got to bed at 5am. I was more shattered than I’ve ever been in my life! The next day Pete, Juliana (who we stayed with), Emmet and I all with to Tig Neactains for a morning cuppa.
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Good ol’ Jerry serenaded us a few times over the weekend with poems and song. Amazing character!
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Meet Eabha, Emmet’s little niece. Her 1st birthday party didn’t finish till 5am!!!!!!! Emmet’s whole family are delightfully mad in the best way!
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FOOKING FREEZING!!!!!!!!!! Did not want to go home. I will definitely be returning again in 2013.
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CAT EMPIRE!
Sam, Paul and I went to see CAT EMPIRE at the Shepherds Bush O2. Definitely feeling the national pride that night! Most amazing concert of 2012.
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Me and my soul brother Paul Shine.
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Mr Coole/ Harry Styles :P
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Worst double date in the history of awkward.
:P Thank Jaysus for gin!
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The Morrissey & Marshall EP Launch!
The night of nights I’d been hanging out for for months! I had the incredible honor of playing support and also played a few tunes with Dar and Greg during their set. I can’t even begin to describe the love and support in the room that night. Powerful emotions and incredible memories. It turned into a bit of a mad one after the music finished. Gin fueled mayhem. One of the best nights of the year by a long shot!
Here is a photo of me and Elias at the start of the night (when my make up was still on my face.) This man has stuck by my side for the last year and a half. Through shitty pub gigs to recording and festivals abroad, he’s been there through all of it with me. So much love, respect and gratitude. Brilliant musician and the most genuine and generous man you could ever meet. Fucking solid!
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Playing “The Mantra” with the lads.
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Sparkles playing “I need you” on my keyboard with Darby. Slight rivalry there… :p
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Ken Mooney and Phil Jones spinning some tunes after the gig. Ken also played drums and Joe Leech played bass. Top blokes.
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Back at the Palace de Jones. Sparkles leading a jam.
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Yep…
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7am I finally got to bed. 11am Greg and I had the arduous task of collecting the gear from the venue. Urgh!
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The after session…
Everyone met up for one last sesh before we all parted ways. Ireland, Liverpool, Yorshire and me to Aus! Here’s Craig, Dar’s dad and Sue’s mum. Amazing people!
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Me, Sue, A-Marsh and Sue’s older sister.
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KasSOUNDra Marshall.
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The delightful Mr Ken Mooney. Smiliest bloke!
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Mark 2, Rocher, Sparkles and me.
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And that’s it! Thankyou to EVERYONE who made this year so magical! Bring on 2013! One love. x
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(Source: taramintonlondonadventures)
