 I'm an Evans artist! Photo - Pete Gavin I'm thrilled to announce that I have become an Evans artist! I've been playing Evans drum heads since my very first kit so I'm very excited about this. Special thanks to Elaine Smith at D'Addario for sorting it out. In other news, I've had a fantastic summer filled with great gigs including getting my hard hitting klezmer on at Audio Farm Festival in Wales with Tantz (filling in for Matt Davies)  Tantz! The Allsorts Band had a great few gigs - pictured below is with special guests Riley Stone - Lonergan and Alex Munk at The Bull's Head, London. Also we were in Leeds at Wharf Chambers and back with the original lineup at at Glyde House in Bradford and at The Lescar in Sheffield.  The Allsorts Band I've had a few dandy gigs with Up All Night Party Band, and I've depped in a few new bands and met some lovely people. Most recently I've joined Louise Gibbs new project - Seven Deadly Sings. Looking forward to upcoming gigs in Scotland in November.
On the educational side of things, I've been doing my training in Makaton which will be a blast to incorporate into my workshops, and I'll be heading down to London a few times in the upcoming months to do some workshop training with Spitalfields Music. I'm looking ahead to a cosy, musical winter full of drumming and composing (long overdue!!)  Aeroplanes at Brescia - Adam Taylor (gtr) Sam Dutton Taylor (bs) and me! I've recently joined a new hard hitting guitar led trio called Aeroplanes at Brescia. The music is heavily influenced by Allan Holdsworth and also features some more laid back, folky inspired music. We recently travelled to Bagnoregio in Italy to perform our first gig together as finalists in the Tuscia Jazz Festival European Jazz Award competition. It was a fantastic week of checking out some great music, meeting new friends, eating great food and enjoying the sun! Check out this live recording of a groovy Holdsworth tune from the semifinal:  Tuscia in Jazz European Jazz Award Winners 2014! It was such an honour to play our music for the judges - Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kevin Hays, Scott Colley, Eric Harland, Donnie McCaslin, Giorgio Rosciglione, Gegè Munari, Aldo Bassi, Elisabetta Antonini and Italo Leali - the director of the festival. What a lovely surprise to win! Above is Kurt and Italo presenting us with the beautifully painted plate with a portrait of Ray Charles. We will be coming back to Tuscia in Jazz 2015 to perform a gig that will be recorded and released. We are looking forward to that already!  Pasta + Limoncello w/ The Carla Restivo 5tet We made some lovely friends along the way - check out 2nd place winners Carla Restivo 5tet from Palermo, Italy and 3rd place winners Acquaphonica. It would be great to collaborate with these folks in the future (hint hint!)
I'm also thrilled and proud to have won the 'Best New Talent' Award in the competition. Wow! Still blown away by that.. Here's a new tune that we debuted in the semi-final:  What a great start to the summer! And with a view like this who could go wrong? Special thanks to Pop Teodor from JazzyBIT who took this lovely photograph. A very inspiring week indeed.
I'm very excited about this new drum kit!! Special thanks to the guys at Manchester Drum Centre who were extremely helpful and knowledgable. The Yamaha Live Custom kit is similar to the Oak Customs but the shells are 10% thicker which means I get a huge, powerful sound!
I took them out on their maiden voyage to The Netherlands for a month in April/May for Icon Theatrical's brand new show 'Somebody to Love' featuring the Bohemian Rhapsody Band. It was such a blast rockin' out every night to packed out theatres playing such well loved music. Long live Queen! Up All Night Band recently recorded some promotional videos and we are thrilled with the results. Visit our website to see the other tunes we did! Special thanks to Alex Hemingway for his great filming and editing, and Tim Thomas for his mixing skills.
In other news, I'll be heading off to Holland soon to being touring with Icon Theatrical's production The Sopranos versus The Tenors - The Battle of the Voices. It will be great to be on the road again. I won't be away too long though!
Sci-Fi Cantina Quartet Looking for something different for your upcoming event? Well head on over to check out the Sci-Fi Cantina Quartet (watch the video!)- playing a selection of your old favourite TV and movie themes including crazy sound effects and samples of the original programs. Quirky, groovy and fun, you won't be disappointed! Up All Night Function Band Specialising in guitar driven pop & rock covers from the 60s to present day. Whether it be a splash of motown, 80's rock, 70's disco or a bit of 90's pop, Up All Night will have you up on the dance floor - all night long!
In other news, I'm finally getting used to driving (thanks to Steve Pullan - a fantastic teacher!) and all of my private students are improving and growing each time I see them. I still have a few slots available so do Contact me if you are interested. Likewise, if you need a drummer for anything, I'm your gal!
 My jazz just got way jazzier!!!! That's right folks - I've finally got wheels! I can drive to gigs, and drive people to gigs. I've got a Full UK Automatic Licence along with an International Driving Permit and I've got my Canadian passport and valid 2 year UK Residence Leave to Remain Permit. All work is permitted, all systems GO! Recently, The Allsorts Band got some great videos back from a recent gig @ Splinter at The Bridge Hotel in Newcastle, check out this crazy video game console original tune by our sax man, Russ...
 Don't worry Mom & Dad, my glasses have no lenses! It's the latest in hip stage wear... Check out my slick new case for my Yamaha Hip Gig. Custom made in California by the folks at Beato Bags, it's made to measure for my odd shaped bass drum. It's waterproof, extremely heavy duty and makes carrying my 25kg of drums much easier (handy side handles). It had it's first wedding gig last night, and I'm a very happy gal. After searching high and low for a company that would make a case to suit my 18'' by 22'' bass drum, I've finally come across a great company with excellent customer service and flexibility (they even made me a secret compartment for sheet music at my request!) Even with the exchange rate, shipping and import tax, it's still an affordable case. They've got an extensive range of all sorts of cases, it's worth having a little gander on their site. Click on the photos below to expand them and see the finer details.
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