The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 17th March 2010

The Varlies are a homegrown Tunbridge Wells rock band. Formed back in the
early 90s by guitarist, Kev Amos and singer, John Whitehorn, they have
been delighting audiences and listeners alike ever since with their own
blend of music and infectious live performances. The Trinity show is set
to offer a chance to catch the full band in one of their now rare
performances together where they will be performing songs from their last
four albums. With Paul May on drums and Steve Mealing on bass completing
this fantastic line up, this really be one not to be missed. Paul Dunton
Says... "The Varlies are quite simply one of the best bands I have ever
seen live. Their sublime musicianship and infectious melodies underpin
their undoubted ability to create fantastic music. This is band that takes
you on a rollercoaster of emotions! Expect everything from high energy
foot stomping rockin' tunes, funky grooves and hire wire guitar riff's to
beautifully crafted acoustic ballads. John Whitehorne is an exceptional
vocalist, with an incredible range and tone that reminds me of Neil Finn, with shades of Bon Iver's falsetto at times. The band's
live sound is hard to pigeon hole as they have their own swagger and
style, however if you said names such as The Dave Matthew's Band or a
rockier version of Crowded House that would give you an idea!"

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Emotive songstress, Jennifer Lee Ridley passionately uses influences of a Romantic folk nature to create poignant and touching music. She has studied in depth the poetic nature of song and has a strong affinity with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Keats and William Blake. More recently she has combined these influences with her own song-writing to create more modern fusions whilst carefully retaining the purity of the lyrical content. Her dark warm vocals combined with her individual folk sound mirrors the poetic lyrics which explore the many facets of emotions.

This has had a profound effect on her own songs which she continues to develop and enhance through working with other composers, musicians and writers locally and in London. She feels strongly that collaborating is an important part of growing and building an understanding of the nature and the impact of poetry and prose on music.

She is currently working on and arranging an album which she is hopes to bring out in 2014.

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With no love for the traditional trappings and clichés that pollute the world of acoustic music, Mechanical Sunrise is a two-piece band from the Southeast who deliver a raw, uncompromising sound. Musically, their influences range from Nick Cave and early New Model Army to Israeli trance act Infected Mushroom. Lyrically inspired by everything from universal entropy to the works of avant-garde occult writer Grant Morrison, the duo deliver an acerbic, yet playful commentary on the counterfeit culture that pervades Britain in the 21st Century. Between them, bassist Craig Burton and guitarist Ed Hammond had burnt through a flurry of bands before forming their current project, including local goth-rock legends Purity of Decadence and Stable award winning indie band Zoë From London. However, it is with the Mechanical Sunrise that the two have at last found their voice -and with an almost fetish-like obsession with the apocalypse, the only thing burning this time will be the world as it prepares for the dawn of the Mechanical Sun.

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Tom McHugh was born in the early sixties in a house on a road near a canal in the midlands black country. After school he went to London. Then he got work in the steel industry. Tom started to write songs about twenty years after Lowell George died (in 1979) and then played some of them live about five years after that. He was in a band for a while. Tom has a way of saying things, like most people do, and spends time in whimsy, folksy alt and thrash soft rock. He says he likes the Beatles, Mark Hollis, Donald Fagan and Gustaffer Yellowgold, but mainly local artists and friends who play their own instruments and write their own songs.

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