The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 22nd November 2017

Throughout the last 2 years ‘I Am Aquitaine’ have developed a reputation as a formidable live act through extensive gigging; the band continue to work hard, travelling across the UK to convert new supporters to their brand of sultry blues laden pop and dancey grooves.

2016 has seen the group play numerous seminal venues in London and across the South of the UK including Barfly Camden, The Monarch Camden, The Forum in Tunbridge Wells and most recently a capacity headline show on bonfire night at The Dublin Castle Camden. Choice festival dates included ‘Aberjazz’ in Wales, two consecutive years at ‘Mudfest’ supporting Toploader, Goldie Lookin’ Chain and Scouting for Girls, as well as a prominent slot playing the Bimble Inn stage at Beautiful Days.

In early Summer 2017 their debut single ‘Find Me’ will be released alongside some of their other upbeat party tracks, which were recorded at Park Studio Wembley with Tobin Jones (The Pearl Harts, Powell). Demos of these forthcoming tracks were pre-tracked at DOZ studio in preparation for these sessions; these demos are currently streaming from their Soundcloud page. Prior to that there will be a vinyl-only release of a live session tracked in the Granary Studios for a special collaborative project, which saw the band revisiting the use of analogue desks and tape. This session was raw and incorporated full live takes; they sought to capture the essence of I Am Aquitaine’s live performances.

'I Am Aquitaine are a good time rock band encompassing the best of Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac and Blondie…. However don’t be fooled by the nods to the past, with front woman Elle at the helm and a tight band behind her, they are original and look firmly to the future. Go see them live.’ - Phil Harrison, BBC Radio 

‘There’s a bit of Jimmy Hendrix on lead guitar…She reminds me of Stevie Nicks.’ - James Whale, BBC Radio 

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Fred Clark is an exciting acoustic singer/songwriter from Maidstone, Kent who performs with incredible energy and writes with an upbeat, vibrant style.

The last 8 years have seen Fred play over 500 gigs including at Maidstone Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone Pizza Express (Headline Self-Run Shows), Chatham Central Theatre, Manchester Hard Rock Café, Lounge on the Farm, Guilfest and many more pubs, churches, theatres, festivals, weddings and other events.

Since the release of his self-produced debut album ‘Open Road’ in 2009 Fred has gone on to release a further 4 albums, various EP’s and T-shirts. The latest release ‘Long Walk Home' came out in June 2014 and showcased a great maturity in both songwiriting and production. Following a successful launch and fantastic reviews including a 9/10 write up from Cross Rhythms Fred has set about gigging extensively around the county at a great array of venues and events, spreading his infectious songs and memorable melodies along the way.

With a path set out in front of him of continued musical exploration and a focus set firmly on gigging as much as possible, the months and years ahead are sure to hold an great deal of memories waiting to be made.

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Emanuel Fanthome-Hodgson is a 17 year old singer songwriter from Maidstone. Starting at a young age, Emanuel has written songs with varying genre styles, ranging from indie rock to blues. Still in his teen years, Emanuel has been expanding his live performances, playing in local venues around the Tonbridge and Maidstone areas, as well as playing at the 2017 Hastings festival.

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The Wonderists are an acoustic singer songwriter duo specialising in intricate melody and poetic lyric. Lithuanian born Tom Povilaitis who been a professional musician for 23 years and has a passion for stringed instruments, production and knowledge. Michelle Watson, the other half of this musical duo just has a passion, but especially for lyrics, theatre and art, expressed through two decades of creative capering. Her greatest skill however is free-styling, and this is how the duo met, jamming round a pot of winter tonic at a mutual friend’s house. A cord was struck and numbers exchanged and at their second organised jam, they pressed record and alchemy occurred. Tom’s intricate guitar rifts perfectly complement Michelle’s dulcet tones and their mutual understanding of what it is to be a wonderist, to choose magic over terror, makes the collaboration inspired. Both work with vulnerable people on the the peripheries of society, either through learning disabilities or mental health issues and both say they love their jobs because of the love and laughter to be found there.

The word wonderist was a phrase coined by the brilliant counter culture author John Higgs, inspired by another brilliant brain, magician Cat Vincent, who suggested the need for a word in society to counter the word terrorist. A way to describe those who spread positivity and choose a different version of reality to the one enforced by the media. Michelle’s powerful voice and lyrics juxtaposed against the beautifully sweet melodies of their songs embody this perfectly. If you enjoy wonderfully constructed acoustic music with intelligent lyrics, this is for you.

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