mostlyautumn-live
mostlyautumn-zoetermeer
Mostly Autumn has launched their new CD Storms Over Still Water and their new record label Mostly Autumn Records:

June the 4th
London Astoria!

Special guests appearences by friends of Mostly Autumn:

Rachel Jones - ex Karnataka / ProgAID Ben Matthews - Thunder
Troy Donockley- Iona / ProgAID
Olivia "Lizzy" Sparman
Launch Party.
A word of Bryan.
Tour Dates.
A word of Bob.
Sound Samples.

Live Reviews.
CD Review.
Interview with Heather Findlay.


Rachel Jones – ex Karnataka

Rachel Jones has become renowned as one of the finest female vocalists of her time. In both the spirit of her captivatingly sensual live performance and her spell weaving vocal delivery, Rachel’s presence on the stage has been sorely missed since the sad demise of her former band Karnataka. Together with Heather she also present at the ProgAID single "All around the World".
Over the past few years Rachel’s affiliation with Mostly Autumn has come in many different guises from guesting on their debut live DVD release ‘The Story So Far’; sharing USA festival bills; inviting Heather Findlay to guest on Karnataka’s final studio opus ‘Delicate Flame of Desire’ to both Rachel and Heather as contemporaries, making occasional guest appearances in each others respective live sets.
Rachel Jones has become a close friend and is with great pleasure that Mostly Autumn invite her to take up the stage with them once more. This appearance at the Astoria not only marks the launch of ‘Storms Over Still Water’ but, also Rachel's return to the stage after a 12 month break pursuing other interests. News of forthcoming musical projects will be announced in the near future.
More info here.
A new era indeed…

Ben Matthews – Thunder

Ben Matthews, keyboard player and guitarist with awesome UK rock band Thunder, recently became a friend of Mostly Autumn when they made a chance meeting in the studio earlier this year.
Ben’s engineering skills were called upon for the final recording and mixing sessions of ‘Storms Over Still Water’ when their original engineer, Ewan Davies, became ill.
Ben worked as engineer for; Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Cozy Powell, Duran Duran, to name a few.
Serendipitous indeed as Mostly Autumn loved working with Ben who made a splendid job of engineering the rest of the album and brought with him some quintessentially excellent vibes and a lot of humour!
Ben will be joining Mostly Autumn for the premier live airing of some of those very tunes…
Interview with Ben.
Accompanied by a new scoop of studio photo’s form Chris Walkden.

Troy Donockley

Troy Donockley, long time friend of Bryan Josh and Mostly Autumn is becoming perhaps the most predicted of guests invited to the Mostly Autumn stage. Troy has woven his multi - instrumental magic into almost every Mostly Autumn studio release so far and has been involved in most events of prestige in Mostly Autumns history to date, thus making him an almost staple member of the group in some people’s eyes. Troy has once again accepted the invitation to join Mostly Autumn on stage for a performance that simply wouldn’t be the same without him.
Here’s to music, magic and laughter!

And!

More info here.

Introducing….

Olivia "Livvy" Sparnenn

Livvy will join Rachel Jones in augmenting the Mostly Autumn sound to the full by providing a rich audio landscape of vocal bliss. Both of which will make guest lead vocal appearances also.
Livvy is a great friend of Mostly Autumn is currently in the studio working with a certain member the band on their forthcoming solo project. Read on to learn more!

Biography:

From a very early age Livvy knew that she wanted to be a singer. She has been lucky enough to be surrounded by music for as long as she can remember - her father being an accomplished drummer being in various bands over the years one of which in the 70’s gathered much acclaim from the likes of Noel Edmonds and David Lee Travis. Livvy’s uncle is also a vocalist - music and even more music... Her first live performances began when she was the tender age of just thirteen and has since continued to captivate audiences with her stunning voice. The age of thirteen also opened the door to Livvy’s debut studio performances. At fifteen Livvy went on to join an already established well-respected pop/rock band from York singing both original material and an array of vocally demanding tracks from the likes of Heart and Guns and Roses. Currently fronting a soul band playing 60’s and 70’s classics, Livvy also performs as part of an acoustic duo throughout Britain – Some performances with which have been charity shows with ‘Fame Academy’s’ Alistair Griffin. Livvy also makes guest appearances with her father’s band where you’re likely to hear her powering out the likes of Led Zeppelins ‘Rock and Roll’ in a style not too dissimilar from Anne Wilson’s own tribute. In amongst all of this Livvy is has developed an impressive portfolio as accomplished session vocalist working for various Producers and BBC Radio stations nationwide.
After a period of intense French and German studies at college Livvy decided to dedicate even more time to her voice, song writing and playing the guitar and so began working with various new musicians and songwriters in broadening her own skills therein.
On an international scale, Livvy last year worked with Danish songsmith, Soeren Itenov whose group successfully charted in Denmark. On returning to the UK last year, she then based herself in the south of England for some months collaborating and refining songs with a writer who has worked with artists such as Bonnie Rait and the Eagles.
Livvy has an on going passion for music and singing and has recently accepted the offer to work with Mostly Autumn’s Iain Jennings on his forthcoming solo project which is due for release in the late summer of this year.
All this at the still tender age of just twenty, Olivia Sparnenn’s future as a singer looks very bright indeed!
‘’I love everything about being a singer – the live work and being in a studio. If you were to ask me why I get a kick out of singing, it is because my voice seems to give people real pleasure - it is as simple as that’’. Olivia Sparnenn
‘’Livvy is an incredibly dynamic vocalist. She has a very powerful voice with a lot of emotive warmth and delicacy. She also has an incredible range to boot that stops nothing short of a cross between say, Robert Plant and Eva Cassidy! I can’t wait to work with her…’’ Heather Findlay

ticketts

Title:
Date:
Venue:
Address:
Time:
Price:
Phone:
Description:

MOSTLY AUTUMN
Saturday 4th June 2005
London Astoria
157 Charing Cross Road, London
18.00
£20.00, fee: £4.60.
0870 060 3777
Folk, Progressive & Symphonic

 

Here are two reviews taken from

www.mostlyautumn.co.uk .

A fan site of Ed, please give it a try, he has a great interview with Heather and Bryan (May 2005).


David Meadows
Registered user
Global user

Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 211
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Astoria Review


I'm usually singing one of the gig highlights to myself as I walk home from. This time it's Broken Glass. Interesting...

Despite my misgivings about the new album, I expected the new songs would be great live. And they were.

This was the best concert I've ever been to.

The show started with Out of the Green Sky, then straight into Broken Glass. I thought they might be going to play the whole of the Storms over Still Water album straight through, as they did with Passengers last year. But no, they mixed a lot material throughout the show. In the end they played eight songs from Storms; everything except The End of the World (shame!) and the two instrumentals.

And the old songs? Of course, not everything I wanted to hear, but in a set that includes Shrinking Violet, The Dark Before the Dawn (yay!!!), The Spirit of Autumn Past part one (yes!!!) and We Come and We Go (!!!!!), as well as all the usual suspects, it seems petty to complain about things being missed out. I loved this set. It was far better than I could have expected. And did I mention Shrinking Violet?

They played for about two hours without a break, then came back for an encore that must have lasted about 40 minutes.

What else? I don’t need to tell you that the performances were flawless, the band seemed proud and happy, and that the crowd atmosphere was fantastic. Mostly Autumn always surpass themselves on a big stage. Yes the intimacy of a tiny pub gig is nice, but the band make up for it by making the big shows... different. This time it was multi-screen projections (interesting but not too obtrusive) and a bunch of guest musicians. The guests all performed well, and while Mostly Autumn's songs are perfectly capable of standing alone, without the gimmick of extra guitar players and singers, it does allow some interesting new arrangements and helps make the gig a bit special.

I can't think of a single negative thing to say, I really can't. Well, ok, I'll say that I still hate the Astoria as a venue and the show would have been much better if held in somewhere like... oh, Newcastle, to pick a random example. But I got a great position, right at the front and to the right, exactly as I was aiming for. (Just slightly too far right, but nothing's perfect...)

Actually, yes, tonight's gig was perfect. Or, at least, was impossible to criticise. The technical perfection was there, but so too was the emotion I've come to expect – even in the new songs, which I honestly wasn't expecting as I initially thought that "Storms" was lacking that quality.

My faith is restored. (Not that it had ever really wavered.)

I have to see this again.

I think I'll go to Middlewich.

Where the heck is Middlewich???



---
"Nothing is too wonderful to be true." -- Michael Faraday
6/5/2005, 2:46 pm Send Email to David Meadows  Send PM to David Meadows
 
Roger N
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Registered: 10-2004
Posts: 390
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Re: Astoria Review


Good review Dave. Sorry I didn't manage to catch up with you much, so I'm afraid you'll just have to come to Middlewich - which I regard as "oop north" but will "daan sarf" for you.

Anyway, re last night, here' my two-pennyworth.


"Wow! What a simply incredible night!

Firstly, apologies for the length of this review. If you were there you of course saw it but really this is for those fans who couldn’t be there.

The evening started with a huge queue round the Astoria and, get this folks, tickets touts. At an MA gig!

But to the gig itself.

MA hit the stage after some atmospheric sound effects and launched into “Out of the Green Sky”. It has to be said the Heather looked absolutely breathtaking in a red outfit that had to be seen to be believed. Fortunately for the health of the male audience members she later changed into a kind of rock chick look before finally donning an elegant black dress for the final part of the show.

More importantly though she pulled off the demanding vocals of the opening track with consummate ease, even exceeding the studio version. “Broken Glass” followed and I wondered if they were going to play the whole album in sequence. As it happened they wisely chose to mix and match the Storms material with older songs. The incredible thing was that the new material welded in so perfectly with the older - a really natural fit.

Highlights were too numerous to mention but I shall name a few.

The unusual sound of a Gibson Les Paul in the band as Ben Matthews joined them for Black Rain. Ben stayed on for “Never The Rainbow” in which Heather shared vocals with Olivia Sparnenn, who sounded great (which bodes well for Iain’s solo album, on which she will be doing vocals).

Bryan’s permanent grin throughout the whole gig. He was having a wail of a time!

Troy’s evocative solo piece, backed by Iain and Angela.

The amazing sequence of “Candle to the Sky”, “Carpe Diem” and “Storms Over Still Water”. “Carpe Diem” was as stunning live as on record, and enhanced by great lighting and back projections.. For the title track Heather shared vocal with Rachel Jones, who was also on good form.

After what seems only minutes (but was in fact well over two and a half hours without a break) the band finished with the customary Mother Nature and a great event drew to a close.

Afterwards the whole band were grinning like Cheshire cats. They knew they had put in an outstanding performance (although were all far too modest to admit it) and pulled off something truly magnificent. The night drew on and at one stage I found myself in the surreal situation of drinking Troy’s beer for him while he performed some of the most impressive card and conjuring tricks I have ever seen – even DT was lost for words!

It was good too to meet so many forum members, some who I’d met before and others who I hadn’t. The only regret I had was not having chance to spend more time with some of them. Still there’s Blakey yet to come! Great too to see so many Dutch fans who had made the trip – a really dedicated bunch!

The whole thing finished at about 1 am with Bryan finding out that a band leader’s work is never done as he tried to round up the band and entourage to get on the coach to go back to York!

All in all, an evening that I will remember for a very long time. Magical!"

Roger

 

---
http://www.riffman.co.uk/

"these days are a privilege
they must be seized"
6/5/2005, 2:58 pm Send Email to Roger N  Send PM to Roger N

For this moment I only got a few remarks, think that RogerN and Dave M. have done a wonderful review. Thanks for their contribution at the forum at www.mostlyautumn.co.uk (a fan site).
For us Dutchies the show started at 07:30 hours in the morning, my dear friends Hanneke, Piet & Thijs leaving from the West and I from the lovely South to Brussels, by train. There we catched up and the party begun.
In London there was a friend of Thijs who was so friendly to give us a sleeping place, thanks Corne!

All together we left to the Astoria, but first we hopped in at King Georges. All the Mostlies where there (not the band). Was good to meet my friend Troy Donockley before the show. ( A promise is promise Troy ;-).

The Gig.
An almost sold house! Great!
I was very pleased that they had choosen to play RPWL's new album, "World Through My Eyes", before the gig started.
A very great start with the first two tracks of the new album.
Ben Matthews stepped on the stage when the first tunes of "Blackrain" came in. Wonderful soundeffects, and Ben playing as thunder, great. And what a fun on the stage, good to see. The show got in a 7th gear with that song.
Lizzy told us "That it 's was time to rock"!; so she did the lead vocals with Heather on "Never the Rainbow".
Rachel did a great job, specially when she took over Bryans first parts of the "Storms"... what a voice she has. I was charmed by Bryans voice too, this is how I like to hear him!
Wonderful projections on 4 screens, great soundeffects and played very well.

"Mother Nature" was again great, I loved it when a line of "Evergreen" was passing by and a real Floydish cq Meddlish end.... suberp!

King Georges again... had a lot of fun with Rachel and my, no her, dear friend Matthew Cohen (the bass player of Magenta). Phil Baker (bass in Iona), Troy the magician indeed, I love that guy, wish they, Iona, were more on the road. The band .. some guys from the forum, sorry I missed some. The time was too short... so many familiar faces... yeah we should plan a Mostly Day.

Thanks everyone, hope to see you again.
And for those who weren't there; go and see them, it's a hell of a show.

Playlist:-

Out of The Green Sky
Broken Glass
Caught In A Fold
Something In Between
Evergreen
Simple Ways
Distant Train
Answer The Question
Ghost In Dreamland
Heart Life
Dark Before The Dawn
Black Rain (with Ben "Thunder" Matthews)
Never The Rainbow (with Ivvy & Ben)
Shrinking Violet
Heroes Never Die
Finlandia - instrumental with Troy, Angela & Ian
Candle To The Sky
Carpe Diem
Storms Over Still Water (with Rachel)

Encore:-
Spirit Of 66 (Autumn Past)
Passengers
We Come And We Go
Mother Nature

Nick from the lovely South.

PS a Dutch review is placed at www.mostly-autumn.nl + more photos that Thijs was able to shoot; the security took his camera... what a shame... so this are the first try outs he shot.

Pictures by Thijs.

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Pluk de dag....


 


New Album of Mostly Autumn:
Storms Over Still Water. Pre-order here, still a few copies available!


The official release date is currently set for July 4th 2005.
The people who pre-ordered the album got their limit editions in the last week of April! This limited edition is a two disc set presented in a CD sized version of the V shows packaging. It makes a great addition to the collection of any Mostly Autumn fan.

A splendid rockin', dark, powerful and symphonic album, with a nice mix between the harder rockin' songs and the more symphonic epics.


Disc one features the new album.
Disc two is a full DVD on the Making of Storms Over Still Water.

Disc One

Disc Two

1. Out of the Green Sky
2. Broken Glass
3. Ghost in Dreamland
4. Heart Life
5. The End of the World
6. Black Rain
7. Coming to...
8. Candle to the Sky
9. Carpe Diem
10. Storms over Still Water
11. Tomorrow

1. Ghost in Dreamland promo
2. Broken Glass promo
3. Caught in fold - concert projection
4. Return of the King - concert projection
5. Mother Nature - The lost performance at the York Opera House
6. The Last Climb - from the Meanfidler
7. Shrinking Violet - from the Meanfidler

A review of the "Special limited Edition Storms Over Still Water".

 



Photo: Martin van Kessel.

The LowLands Tour 2005:
More live dates in the UK

15  juli  2005
16  juli  2005  Boerderij in Zoetermeer | NL

16 July Dutch Launch Party at Zoetermeer!
Full lights show, backing vocals and:

Troy Donockley,
Olivia "Livvy" Sparnenn and
Florence Millett-Sikking!

31 augustus 2005 Spirit of 66 Verviers | BE
1 september 2005 De Groene Engel OSS | NL
2 september 2005 Bluescafe Apeldoorn | NL
3 september 2005
4 september 2005 P60 Amstelveen | NL
   
 

 

16 July Dutch Launch Party at Zoetermeer!
Full lights show, backing vocals and Troy Donockley!
Go and see them!

Line-up Zoetermeer:

Mostly Autumn, with:
Troy Donockly,
Olivia "Livvy" Sparnenn and
Florence Millett-Sikking.

mostlyautumn-live

FREE TICKETS!
Sent an e-mail to win@prog-nose.org "Mostly Autumn Zoetermeer"and win
3 x 2 free tickets for Zoetermeer 16th July! Don't forget to mention your adres!
Stuur een email naar win@prog-nose.org onder vermelding van Mostly Autumn Zoetermeer.
3 x 2 gratis kaarten. Vergeet je adres niet te vermelden.

Date Country City Venue Info
May
29th UK Tonbridge Wells Kent Festival Details soon
June
4th UK London Astoria The Launch of
Storms Over Still Water
17th UK Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival www.middlewichfestival.org
Phone 0709 239 0501
boxoffice@middlewichfestival.org
24th UK Walton On Trent, Derbyshire
 
Bloodstock Open Air Festival http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/
25th UK Walton On Trent, Derbyshire
 
Bloodstock Open Air Festival http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/
July
15th Germany Burg Herzberg Festival   www.burgherzberg-festival.de
++49 (0)661 250 555 25
16th Netherlands Zoetermeer De Boerderij www.boerderij.org
23rd Scotland Solway Coast Wickerman Festival http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk
01738 449430
28th UK North York Moors Headlining the Blakey Ridge Festival www.blakeymusic.com

 

Ticket Information here
Enter Mostly Autumn.com Here

This will be the concert of the YEAR  - BE there with us to celebrate Storms Over Still Water

A message from Bryan:

Hi everybody, it is with great pleasure that I can officially announce the birth of "Mostly Autumn Records"

May I second that this is only made possible by the loyalty of all our listeners who have stayed with us through these recent years. The one real strength Mostly Autumn has is the solid and increasing fan base.

It is largely due to this fact that we can endeavour to stride foreword with a confidence that allows us to pursue the dream that was born 15 years ago when the "Night Sky" was written; to utterly press forward, to deliver concerts with stage shows that will totally marry theatre with light shows that can absolutely describe the deep feelings and power of the music which we share with you on every scale and to record to the highest quality, music that we can all enjoy as we pass through the years on this journey.

I honestly feel that we are only at the very beginning and I have an unwavering ambition to take this spirit that is Mostly Autumn to every possible level and on to more very exciting times.

In part I do believe we represent a torch burning brightly; with a sense of the old golden age of music that must not be lost but, also whatever drives this music is as "now" and the "future" as any other music on planet earth.

It also must not be forgotten that without Bob Carruthers and Classic Rock's support, vision, belief and agreement, we would definitely not be in the position of strength we are in now. It would be very difficult to describe all that goes on in the background concerning our relationship with the record company and from the outside it could be easy to judge this way and that and even criticise what goes on, this is only natural.

I can only assure you that the whole affair is firmly set on a deep-rooted friendship between Bob Carruthers, myself and the band. He is absolutely passionate about Mostly Autumn being as successful as it possibly can be and has along with Classic Rock, invested an incredible amount of money and time in us. There are several "ring bearers" if you like, that have played major roles in the adventures of Mostly Autumn. I know Bob is one of them and I still have a feeling he will play another part in the future.

Then there is the gesture of passing all the rights of all our material back to us free of charge! This act should definitely go down in the Guinness book of records as it is previously unheard of!!

The entire infrastructure that sends our CD's around the world etc has stayed fully in place and is still increasing. This is a movement forwards- not back, which is the reason Bob and co. agreed to let us go.

Funnily enough we have already been offered two record deals from huge international record companies and have had the pleasure of turning them down, because at present we feel that independence is the right decision for both you out there and us.

We are going to celebrate fully the beginning of "Mostly Autumn Records" and release "Storms Over Still Water" on the Saturday 4th June at the London Astoria with a very special show.

It is the beginning of a new era and we all hope to share it with you.

From the heart I thank you for all your support.

Clare, Nick, Gary, Martin and all at Classic Rock - it has been a pleasure,

May several pints of Hobbit Ale come your way Bob!

Cheers,
Bryan Josh.

All new and old titles available from www.mostlyautumnrecords.com
Official website

 

mostlyautumn-live

"Storms Over Still Water " Updates / read more at www.mostly-autumn.com

After the longest gestation period of any MA album to date the band are finally ensconced in the studio .

Two full writing sessions in the lakes during 2004 and into January 2005 provided the band with the time and space to concentrate fully on their new baby.

Bryan was very keen to upgrade the level of studio recording and production so Chapel recording studios in Linconshire were chosen as providing the right level of state of the art equipment .

Early signs are very encouraging and the enthusiasm is higher than I have ever seen it in the band . Drum tracks are almost complete and vocals /instruments are scheduled for next week. The "Making Of " documentary is progressing on schedule .

This time round the wider MA fraternity has had a chance to experience the album in the form of "Heartlife" Heather's power ballad which was performed on quite a few shows last year .

Inevitably the question is ; so what does it sound like ?...this is where it gets difficult .

There is definitely a gothic edge to the sound in the same way that say Court Of The Crimson King is described as Gothic . That's not to say the sound is retro , definitely not, but there is definitely a darker/harder edge in there so don't expect Passengers II the feeling in the band is very much about progressing the MA sound to the next level.

So when will everyone finally get to hear it ?

Current projections are that the DVD/CD special edition of Storms will be mailed to subscribers around the first week of April .

As regards the High the street release there are a number of exciting possibilities under discussion but September looks like being the most likely date , so if you want to get your hands on a copy earlier and see the DVD it's best to subscribe for the limited edition now .
More next week .

Cheers
Bob Carruthers

"Storms Over Still Water represents a distinct evolution in the Mostly Autumn sound "
Bob Carruthers Executive Producer



Here's a sketch of the tracks with a reasonable amount of flesh on the bones. Others are at various stages and more details will follow as it happens.

Here we go then..





THE GREEN SKY
is pretty much certain to be the album's opener. Bold and confident it has a great deal of the strident quality (and I don't mean it's similar in musical terms) to Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks; a great opener for what is shaping up to be the be the best one yet.

GHOST IN DREAMLAND looks set to be the second track. This is a real short sharp blast of energy which should help to cement the impression that this is a vibrant positive album

BROKEN GLASS could possibly be the third track , this is markedly more familiar MA territory ; still up tempo but with a gorgeous big rolling chorus.

or it could be ...

HEART LIFE already road tested on some dates , this big sounding Power ballad from Heather looks set to become an MA classic.

Next up may well be CARPE DIEM

A majestic piano led melodic work out with something of the flavour of The Gap Is Too Wide

STORMS OVER STILL WATER is the title track which builds from soft 12 string through to full electric maelstrom in the spirit of Evergreen.

That's it so far.More details on he remaining tracks next week.

Needless to say the band are hugely excited.

Subscribers will get to hear it in April .

Current plans are for an official release in September or October.

More news as we get it.

Bob Carruthers

Executive Producer

Storms Over Still Water

"Storms Over Still Water "will be mind blowing! " Bryan Josh, 18 January 2005.
The 3 guitarist of the Astoria: Liam, Bryan & Ben.

Mostly Autumn, congratulations with the new label and good luck!
Nick.

1) Out of the Green Sky 2) Broken Glass 3) Ghost in Dreamland
4) Heart Life 5) The End of the World 6) Black Rain
7) Coming to... 8) Candle to the Sky 9) Carpe Diem
10) Storms over Still Water 11) Tomorrow  

GHOST IN DREAMLAND - Video
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BROKEN GLASS - Video
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at Nick's site.

12-05-05

www.mostlypink.net