For Folk's Sake » Blue Roses

Deer Shed to host Alessi’s Ark & Blue Roses

Helen True — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:19:55 +0000

Fancy some Gothic Morris dancing? Of COURSE you do.

If you’re on the look for a laid-back festival with a bit of class, look no further than the intriguingly named Deer Shed Festival, a one day festival (camping’s an optional extra) taking place at Baldersley Park, North Yorkshire on 17th July. It’s one for all the family, but they’ve not compromised on quality when it comes to booking super bands.

You won’t have to compromise on what you see though, as with 13 acts on two stages, you’re unlikely to need a clashfinder or make any heart-rending choices. Alessi’s Ark, Blue Roses, Lone Wolf, and headliners The Wedding Present will entertain a select crowd of just 1,200 guests.

Children can indulge in mosaic workshops, a deer treasure hunt where specially commissioned model deer will be hidden across the festival site, or learn to make a freedom boot: “a marvelous percussion instrument made out of a stick, a boot, some beer tops and various other bits and pieces”.

Grown-ups can dabble in a bit of yoga, do a spot of vintage shopping or catch some live comedy, and all the family can marvel at the (probable) brilliance of the Jet Set Gothic Morris Dancers.

Tickets are a snip at £35 for adults, and this is guaranteed to be a small, intimate affair all round. Get your mits on them here.

Words: Helen True

Blog: Songs’ best bits

Lynn Roberts — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:58:19 +0000

FFS asked you for your #bestbits of songs on twitter today — your favourite couple of seconds of music, one that makes you swoon, cry or nigh-on burst with joy. You came up with so many good suggestions that we couldn’t stop ourselves from sharing them with the world at large. Here they are on a Spotify playlist: FFS #bestbits

Mumford & Sons – I Gave You All “And you rip it from my hands, and you swear it’s all gone”.I bloody love that bit - matthewkingdon
Clint Mansell – Death Is The Road To Awe the big, dramatic pause – ardvarc
The Mountain Goats – Going To Georgia where John’s voice cracks as he sings “The world shiiiines…” – roastfacedkilla
Band – The Weight “To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she’s the only one” a gutsy line – carol_crawford
The Mountain Goats – Dilaudid “And take your foot off of the brake, for christs sake!” 1:46. I got Goosebumps. – jonoganz
Neutral Milk Hotel – Two-Headed Boy when the sound goes a bit weird cause he sings “catching signals” so loud. 1:09 :’) – jonoganz
Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Heart Like A Wheel the harmony bit from 1:48- 2:10ish – francopopfille
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps the spine-tingly intro – ardvarc
Rilo Kiley – Spectacular Views When Jenny Lewis shouts “It’s so f–king beautiful” – arteeeee
Neko Case – Star Witness there is a moment when she holds a note on the word “Clean” that is so crystal clear It’s unreal – PeskyRattigan
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Open All Night “I remember Wanda up on scrap metal hill and them big brown eyes make your heart stand still” – Alicemcsage
Tom Waits – Martha 2:04 to 2:34. Beautiful. Could make me cry any time. – Rob_Hurst
She & Him – Home Zooey singing “…and i can be sweeter” – dan_corfield
Kirsty MacColl – They Don’t Know The “Ba-aaaaay-bee” bit – Duchamps_Brides
Blue Roses — Greatest Thoughts ‘I know you’d never change a thing, not for anyone or anything’ WoodlandBear
Tom McRae – I Ain’t Scared Of Lightning “I was born in a summer storm…I live there still”. Amazing. – rory1070
The Mountain Goats – No Children “You are coming down with me HAND IN UNLOVABLE HAND” – forfolkssake
Belle and Sebastian – Don’t Leave The Light On Baby the key change – helentrue
Stars – Your Ex Lover Is Dead When Amy Millan comes in singing “This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin” – forfolkssake

And it’s not on Spotify, but we’ll leave you with this rather excellent double name drop by our very own Stephen (WoodlandBear): “Once I was with Stephen Fretwell and Guy Garvey texted him: ‘I love the way Dylan sings ‘the silent type’ in Tangled Up In Blue.’”

Guy Garvey said it’s good. So it’s good.

Live: FFS at Leeds Live

FFS writers — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:50:17 +0000

Ali Mason tastes the wonders of Leeds Live for the first time, and describes the experience for FFS’s readers. Bask in the glow of this wonderful May Bank Holiday weekend.

Laura Groves, of Blue Roses

On a bright, sunny, May Day morning, I set out for my first experience the rapidly expanding Live At Leeds festival. Held this year at 17 venues across the city, it was headlined by Wild Beasts, but my gig buddy Jo and I kept away from the crowds and sought out some folk in all corners of the city.

Melodica, Melody and Me were such a lovely way to start. The band name tells you what you’re gonna get: plenty of melodica, plenty of melody and, on this occasion, me – though I can’t promise to be at all future gigs. I’m a sucker for band members swapping instruments on stage – it always seems impressive and slightly exciting; it also added to a feeling of togetherness in the band’s performance of their whimsical and urgent songs, like standout effort ‘Runaway’. I loved their throwaway harmonies, ukulele and driving folk rhythms.

From the Well we hotfooted it to the packed, sweaty, tiny upstairs Cockpit 3 venue, in the hope of catching the end of Sam Airey’s set. We got one song. I have no idea what it was but it was tremendous. After a wasted trip to the Faversham (Goldheart Assembly cancelled), we headed to the Holy Trinity church for Blue Roses. I’m physically incapable of not seeing Blue Roses when the opportunity arises, but this was particularly special. It was my first experience of a gig in a church (though I’m sure drinking beer in God’s house never gets old), but it made so much sense, particularly with Laura Groves’ sweetly stunning vocals. Doubtful Comforts, as ever, was spine-tingling. Laura professed to being overwhelmed by the reception she got from the size of congregation normally only seen for weddings – indeed, the whole festival seemed to have a warm glow about it long after the morning sunshine had disappeared.

The Good Natured at Leeds College of Music were a sort of rockier Ladyhawke, or a more electro Florence and the Machine, with a Karen O-alike frontwoman, Sarah McIntosh, who totally owned a wholly inappropriate space, then we slipped over to the Wardrobe to catch some jazz in the form of Matthew Halsall. It’s fair to say I don’t know a lot about jazz, but we clapped, whooped and went ‘yeah!’ in all the right places before skulking off to find some food.

Our day ended at the Brudenell Social Club with a folk double-header. Fran Rodgers delivered her elegant, traditional-sounding folk to a rapt audience, taking her set largely from last year’s Green Room EP, before Leeds darlings Ellen and the Escapades closed out the day – for us at least – as it began, with lilting, summery strings. I enjoyed their single Without You, but they are a different proposition live, altogether more exciting with an edge that’s slightly lacking in their recordings. They’ll be a perfect fit for Glastonbury, where they’re heading after winning an emerging talent competition.

Leeds is a perfect city for an event like this – small enough to be easily navigable, with enough great venues to offer more choice than you could ever need. The queues of people waiting outside the Brude to see Mariachi El Bronx as we left suggested the overselling of previous years may have been repeated, but by mining the impressive programme it was possible to have all the fun of the festival, without the chemical toilets.

Words: Ali Mason

The Folk Artist Twitter Directory

Stephen W Thomas — Thu, 06 May 2010 08:30:09 +0000

Below is our attempt at a comprehensive directory of folk artists currently on Twitter – of course, we aren’t Twitter deities and as such will almost certainly have missed out on certain artists. Let us know if you can think of any tweeting folk musicians in the comments below.

Akron/Family

Angus and Julia Stone

Asthmatic Kitty (Label)

Brian: FFS’s Mixtape-Making Owl

Broadcast 2000

Caitlin Rose

Cherbourg

Colin Meloy (Decemberists)

Damien Rice (PR Account)

Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion)

Divine Comedy (PR account)

Efterklang

Emmy the Great

Fanfarlo

FFS (Official Account)

Kurran & the Wolfnotes

Laura Marling (PR account)

Lisa Hannigan (PR account)

Lisa Mitchell

Lissie

The Living Sisters (PR account)

Local Natives

The Low Anthem

Midlake

Monsters of Folk (PR account)

The New Pornographers

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)

Peggy Sue

Rebecca Taylor (Slow Club)

Rufus Wainwright (PR account)

She & Him (PR account)

St. Vincent

Sweet Billy Pilgrim

The Swell Season (PR account)

The Swell Season (Glen Hansard)

Owl Parliament 2010 line-up announced

Helen True — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:02:04 +0000

Last year, the first Owl Parliament was a wonder of a day: Mechanical Bride, Jeff Lewis, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling were a few of the stellar acts who performed to a Union Chapel auditorium packed full of numb-bummed music fans.

Owl Parliament 2010 has now confirmed a line-up to rival last year’s, which will feature, among others, Aidan Moffat, Darren Hayman, Emmy The Great, Blue Roses, and Jeremy Warmsley.

The venue’s still the immense Union Chapel, which will be filled to the brims on 27th February with discerning musicistas of all ages (NO limits, which is nice).

From lunchtime until the dark hours of the night, a procession of brilliance will amaze and delight. Be sure to bring a cushion, a thermos, and snacks. Preparation is all.

Tickets are £26, which works out at something like £3 a band. That’s free maths right there. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Words: Helen True

Great Escape confirm NATW, Peggy Sue and Sky Larkin

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:28:16 +0000

Noah and the Whale, Peggy Sue and Sky Larkin have been added to the bill for Brighton’s Spring festival The Great Escape.

They join an already stellar line-up for the three-day festival, which includes Mechanical Bride, Slow Club, Lights and It Hugs Back.

The event takes place from 14th-16th May and over 300 acts will perform at 34 venues across the seaside town.

You can see the full line-up here. FFS’s picks include

Ben Kweller
Beth Jeans Houghton
Blue Roses
The Balky Mule
Exlovers
Fanfarlo
It Hugs Back
James Yuill
Lights
Mechanical Bride
The Miserable Rich
Meme Love
Noah and the Whale
Peggy Sue
Slow Club
Sky Larkin
Woodpigeon

A three-day gig pass will set you back £45. They’re available from ticketmaster.

Words: Lynn Roberts

Blue Roses

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:51:33 +0000

Bradford’s Laura Groves has renamed herself under the moniker of the rarest of flowers. Possessing a haunting voice and flawless musicianship, she’s no shrinking violet, describing her music as “textured, emotive, eclectic, personal, delicate.”

FFS Ones to watch: Blue Roses

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:51:01 +0000

Groves says, “When I record, it’s generally just me playing lots of things with varying degrees of success and skill.” For live shows she recreates her layered sound with the help of multi-instrumentalist Sadie Anderson, who turns her hand to anything from violin to glockenspiel. Crowd reaction has been good; Laura beguiled Emmy the Great’s audience when she joined her on tour last year.

From her appearance on Jeremy Warmsley and Fay Buzzard’s Welcome To Our TV Show, it’s clear that Laura’s forte is the piano, which she began playing when she was just seven. After giving up for a few years Laura says she turned her hand to composition simply to avoid “toiling for hours and getting frustrated when I couldn’t learn other people’s songs”.

The turbulence of relationships that provides much of the inspiration for Groves’ lyrics. Does Anyone Love Me Now? tumbles and darts through poetic thoughts of fleeting eyes meeting in windowpanes. Groves says of her writing process, “I don’t like to try too hard to force myself to write lyric. I like letting things just come out of my subconscious from the melody.”

Listen: Doubtful Comforts – it’s as if Blue Roses have conjured up what a bed would sound like, adding an extra blanket of loveliness just to be safe.

Words: Mary Machin

Doubtful Comforts was released on March 2nd, and will be followed by an album in late April and plenty of touring action, see listings for more details.

For Folk's Sake » Blue Roses

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Blue Roses

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