Arriving in Liverpool we parked up and headed across Liverpool One towards BBC Radio Merseyside, the city centre was very busy with people everywhere, apparently an important football match was taking place (we say this as we don’t watch football, when the last world cup final was on we were at the beach and it was deserted). As we arrived at the BBC Studio we were greeted by Spencer and a well spoken gentlemen from Bothy Folk Club Clive Pownceby who we would be backing up on the show. He informed us that he would require a guitar accompaniment for a song he was performing live on the show in 15 minutes (nothing quite like pressure for Andy who had never heard the song before, he listened through it once and picked the main chords up and was ready to go)
As we tuned up in the waiting area, we noticed a young girl tuning a guitar up who had an array of guitar effects pedals, she said her name was Natalie McCool, we later found out she was the love child of Johnny Marr. She was to appear on Dave Monks show tonight, so we wished her luck and took our gear into Spencers studio.
Over the next 2 hours we performed three live songs off our new album using a combination of Guitar, Ukelele and Cajon and discussed in depth our “Sing for Your Supper” busking challenge for Trussell Trust food banks with Spencer who as always; asked all the right questions. It’s always great when we get to share with an audience the current crisis and rising demand for food banks and help raise awareness for The Trussell Trust.
We were treated to live music and stories from Lightning Seeds Mike Campbell and Viper records owner Paul Hemmings. Mike and Paul performed some fantastic original tracks, we were blown away by Mikes voice and Pauls guitar performance and touched by their music.
After a quick one time practice Andy performed a song with Clive from Bothy Folk Club and managed to pull it off (well done Andy). Clive shared his stories of the folk scene and his experiences over the years.
We were also introduced to the beautiful and very talented Singer/Songwriter Emily Portman of BBC Folk Scene. Natalie performed some original tracks on her banjo and ukulele, one particular song Natalie performed in the style of a lullaby was so hypnotising and I think took everyone in the studio and no doubt the listeners into a trance. Her voice is so original and natural.
We also had the pleasure to listen to an extract from a play about Wilfred Owen by David Charters who is a former columnist at the Liverpool Daily Post and organises Wirral Festival of Firsts. David has written a play about Wilfred Owen which is about to be performed. David also brought in a recording of a band called The Cranberries who recorded way back in 1864. The recording was superb since technology as we know it today didn’t exist then.
Also present was Catherine Marcangeli who is the former partner of Adrian Henri. Catherine told us stories of Adrian and is currently promoting a new exhibition of his work. Overall the show was wonderful and had a mix of musical magic and discussions.
We always listen intently to Spencer as he is always very informative and has an encyclopedic knowledge of music to share among everyone present. Its amazing just how much stuff he knows about music, if we were on “Who wants to be a millionaire” Spencer would definitely be on our “phone a friend” list if we needed help with a music question.
Thank you again Spencer for your ongoing support, you truly are a gem and your support towards local musicians is really appreciated.