Another week, another extensive trawl through the virtual pubs, clubs, corporates and back-alleys that constitute the ever expanding UK music scene. I’ve not been doing this that long really but predictably, I’m starting to see patterns emerging. For example, the Midlands is a hot bed of great party and function bands whereas Devon and Cornwall would appear to be knee-deep in String Quartets. Who knew?
Anyway, my weekly top tips are thus. To be honest, all the bands on the roster are good, I mean why would we sign up rubbish? But these are this week’s stand outs based on nothing more than what my brain tells me.
Embarrassingly, Naomi got in touch with us about getting on to the roster. Quite how I missed her is beyond me. Armed with an instrument so futuristic it wouldn’t look out of place in Bladerunner aligned with old fashioned, raw talent she has played in front of Royalty, both the Arabian and pop variety and has performed all over the planet. A few weeks back I sent her a reminder that her profile was missing a few elements and was there anything I could do to help her out. She politely informed me she was busy performing at Wimbledon and would get on to it after that. Apparently she played for the duration of the tournament which is longer than a certain Scotsman I could mention…
All girl string quartets are quite common but as the name would suggest, this is a quartet of Cellos. This is not so common. What is even less common is an all cello rendering of Billie Jean (have a listen on their profile), an arrangement which brilliantly pares down the classic slick production of the original but manages to maintain the four-on-the-floor disco beat and great melody of Michael Jackson at his brilliant best. Their client list reads a little like a who’s who of London big business and society but they also happily play weddings and smaller events.
Elaine Binney and the Jazz Rascals
Newcastle based Elaine Binney described her band as having “an unusual violin led” set up. Unusual is fine, we like unusual. I then listened/watched their take on the Dave Brubeck classic, Take Five, with her violin taking the place of Paul Desmond’s sax (viewable on their Freak profile). I was setting up their profile before I got two minutes in to the song. Not your normal fayre for a wedding say, but they play with such verve and passion that even non-jazz lovers (weirdos) find themselves up dancing at their events.
The Flying Ties (or Flaming Ties as I initially addressed them) are another act the Freak office unanimously okayed after hearing less than one song, given that the song was the White Stripes 7 Nation Army played with a kind of Latin/Jazz twist, it’s unsurprising. The clincher for me was the replacement of Jack White’s inter-verse power chords with a sort of Cleo Laine-esque ‘barrum-be-barrum-dum’. If you see what I mean. Glorious. Watch the video now on their profile. Vastly experienced and well travelled, this London based quartet will travel all over the UK to entertain.
Chris MacKinnon, Chief Band Recruiter & Urban Spy
