Exciting stuff

It has been a long time from November 2022, when we encamped at Real World studios near Bath to record tracks for the new album; until now. Our patience has been rewarded, due to George Shilling's hard work we now have rough mixes of all the tracks. To say we are excited is somewhat of an understatement, even in rough form the tracks sound amazing. The next step is to add the sonic seasoning and extras to them  at George's studio, we are so eager to get the finish product out to share with the world. This album is the next phase of Love Street and different from the first album we think you will love it.

Recording News - Alchemist's Daughter

So after a crazy long time we are three weeks away from going back into Real World to start the process of recording our second album "The  Alchemist's Daughter".  Be ready for some surprises with a series of guest musicians and 10 new tracks all co written by Love Street. Once again George Shilling will be producing. Also look out for a new gallery of pictures from the sessions. This album sees Love Street making a transition from Folk Rock to full on Prog. Described by Paul (lead guitar) as Marillion meets Clannad meets Pink Floyd - not bad say I. And we will also be releasing this album on vinyl with special art work, and a great accompanying booklet explaining the mythology and meaning behind the tracks. Lots to collect for all you Love Street fans out there.

 

Phew What a Scorcher

Home again, knackered, cooked (well  it was 31 degrees C ) but elated.

What a fantastic time we had at the Fantasy Forest Festival catching up with old friends and making new ones. The new line up is such a talented bunch and good fun play with. Gold Stars are awarded to Kev the drummer for travelling up from Cornwall to the Cotswolds to play then returning the same day.

As I looked around the stage there were grins from ear to ear all round as the audience obviously got more and more into the music, our performance was filmed by one of the Festival's videographers , so hopefully we will be able to share the footage with you all soon.

A huge thank you to Meri, Adam and Ellie for all their hard work helping , fetching and carrying for us. Further thanks to the Fantasy Forest Festival team  who's enthusiasm made the whole event enjoyable.

As ever with Love Street the weekend wasn't without incident......... no names, no packdrill sort of thing..... but how's the ankle Jules?. Oh yeh one final thought , please keep hydrated and drink lots of water in this heatwave , heat exhaustion is not at all fun....I should know :( .

Fantastical Fantasy Forest Festival

Enough with the alliteration !!  We are sooo excited to be playing our first gig  ( and festival come to that  ) after so long and  with the new line up. We had an all day rehearsal last Sunday to run through the set , if you are going you will hear songs old and new and possibly a couple of surprises like........... well that would be telling and wouldnt be a surprise would it !!  We were completely knocked out by how it was all sounding , in fact Jules reckons it was the best we have ever sounded but we will let you be the judge of that. Looking forward to seeing you all.

Oh!, there you are

Sorry , it's been a while since we last communicated. As some of you know there has been a lot happening in the background, some of it good, some of it not so good. The not so good is the line up of the band is in a state of flux. For personal reasons Cat, John and Chris have decided that their journey down Love Street has come to an end. (we wish them all well). Jules and Andy are determined to continue navigating that route; given the restrictions caused by the pandemic, hope to recruit other fellow travellers soon.

The good is we are pressing ahead with second album (present working title 'The Alchemist's Daughter') we have the majority of the tracks 'in the can' and once restictions are lifted we are hoping to work with George Shilling again to craft the album into a final release. What this space!!!!!!

Next weekend (30th Jan 2021 from 18:30 GMT), we are thrilled to be invited to take part in a Livestream event for the Fantasy Forest Festival. The plan is for Jules and Andy to have a chat with the lovely folk organising the Livestream and possibly a couple of extra bits to add to the mix,search 'fantasy forest livestream' on facebook for further details and access.

The year so far 

So people, after a few months off from band stuff while Jules wasin Singapore, Love Street is finally back together for our first run of gigs this year. 

We spent a few days rehearsing the set to make sure we hadn't forgotten too much, added a couple of new things and then set off for the first gig of 2016: Elfia. Our favourite festival in the Netherlands which we were headlining this year (having opened it for the last two years!). It was so, so lovely to see all our old friends there again and as usual we spent the week after it feeling very depressed and missing everyone…Post Elfia Depression? Something like that. But we're hoping to see at least some of our Elfia family again soon in June when we're back in the Netherlands again. Yay!

When we got back from Elfia we received the very sad news that Brian Lee (who provided artwork for Susanna and Both Sides of the Door) had passed away. He was such a talented artist and staunch believer in Love Street, we were truly blessed to have known him for the short while that we did and all so sad to lose him, such a free, beautiful, generous soul…even if he was constantly trying to get in my knickers at every given opportunity! 

And continuing with the theme of death (cheerful, I know!) we had a blast playing to the fantastic crowd at the Steve Smith Memorial Weekend. It was nice to give John's dear friend, talented musician and guitar luthier the send off any musician would have wanted.

And in other news, we've finally booked in some more studio time so I might be able to get some fiddle parts down to some of the track on the new album. Almost a year later! Watch this space for more updates!

What a year…and it's not over yet! 

59 gigs down, 5 to go and 2015 is nearly over for Love Street. What a crazy year it has been! So much has happened both for the band and all its members and 2016 looks like it's going to be even more insane, not least because Jules will be living in Singapore. Yes Singapore. When the leas singer of most bands has to move half way round the world most bands just call it a day, but not Love Street, no, we're actually crazy (or stupid) enough to think that we can make it work. We will make it work. Band time is just going to have to be condensed into blocks of several weeks of extensive touring, writing, recording etc throughout the year. It'll be fine. 

That's the big news. In other news we seems to have started creeping up the bill most places we're playing and appear to be headlining all the next festivals we have coming up in the next few months (including one of our all time favourites, Elfia, in the Netherlands) which is great news for us, we're really excited and hope that 2016 will bring more great things….including the second album which is still lacking fiddle parts as there simply hasn't been the time!

Spring and the first week of summer, 2015 

Well, I'm sitting in bed, arm strung up in a sling with a broken collar bone trying to kill time. I figured writing a band blog entry one-handed would probably do the trick for a bit.

Looking back on the last few months everything has been a blur…I have no idea where the time's gone but lots seems to have happened. We've already started on the festivals with a long awaited return to the Netherlands to play Elfia again. It was great seeing all our old friends again, even if Jules's drunken antics nearly saw us banned from ever returning and somewhere there is some highly embarrassing footage of one of those very rare occasions where I let my hair down and get drunk. Oops. We've also played some other great festivals and venues over the past few months and have met lots of lovely people in the process. 

Tomorrow sees us going back into the studio with our producer, this time at local Cornish studio- Sawmills, to start working on album number 2. Unfortunately I had a slight mishap with one of my horses yesterday which left be with a collarbone broken in two places, unable to move let alone play the fiddle waiting to hear the verdict from the hospital when I go back in on Tuesday as to weather or not they're going to cut me open and stick a metal plate along my collar bone. 

Hopefully the rest of the band will be able to keep playing without me so we don't have to cancel any more gigs although I'm gutted to miss some of the up and coming shows! Lets hope they can find a dep at such short notice! 

February, bit of snow, bit of ice and lots of things nice 

Well, well, well...it's not over yet, but February so far has been another great month. We've played some of the venues we gigged last year and it was great seeing familiar faces, and people wearing our t-shirts and singing along to our songs. It shows that all the breaking new ground we did last year has paid off! Here's to more of that!

Also this month we've had some more festival bookings come in. Lechlade festival where Status Quo will be headlining and Looe Music Festival. Can't wait! Sure there'll be more coming in as the year goes on.

And in other news, we've had a very, very busy and productive weekend which kicked off with a gig at the Keystone, Guildford, followed by a long drive back to Cornwall which saw us arriving at 5.30 am in the driving snow (during which journey Spirit, band security, decided that one of the mediaeval drums we use was actually a tasty treat and ate the skin off it. Yay. I'll add that to the ever growing pile of wolf damaged items which includes several crates, seat belts, duvets, blankets, beds, braces, belts, bridles, saddles and probably a lot more that I have forgotten over the years!) Despite severe sleep deprivation, Saturday was then spent writing and working on new material for the second album. We actually managed to do 2 new songs and worked up another one that has been in the pipeline for a while. Look out for these at our next gigs!

As for the promised GoPro footage, well, we've got some, but it requires a fair bit of editing so that we don't offend pretty much everybody that could ever take offence at anything. But it is coming!

Snowdrops appear in Cornwall - that must be a good sign 

On one of those days when life decides to throw a number of curved balls at you someone just said to me, "well at least then you will know you sacrificed everything for the band" - it wasn't a positive statement. Life hurts sometimes. But then the next email was from a dear friend and supporter of the band with the possibility of a string of new gigs. Balance. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but to take part you have to be in the game. Even when you're winning there will be times you feel the cuts and bruises of what it has taken to get there but isn't that what life is all about ? So let's see what this year will bring. Funny how sometimes on reflection a bitter disappointment at the time, actually opens the way to a better future. I guess it all comes down to trust, love and belief. It's times like these when you need to reach out to certain and sure hand holds. For me the best hand holds I have are Love Street, its lovely and dedicated members and you out there who follow and support our journey. Bless you for that. As Bon Scott once said, "I'm gonna ride on". Love xx

1 month down... 

So it's almost the end of January...where did that go? We've had a great start to the year gigging in some fantastic venues and meeting lots of new Love Streeters, and some of the old ones too! 

But enough with that, the really exciting news is that we've got a date set in June for recording album number 2! And this time we'll be recording it in our home county of Cornwall at the famous Sawmills studios, where a whole host of well known artists such as Robert Plant, Muse, Oasis, the Stone Roses, the Verve, Supergrass have worked before us. So now the real work begins as we have to write, rehearse and gig the tracks for the new album, and all this before June. I know June seems like ages away but trying to fit in writing and rehearsals around an already packed gig schedule and a 12 day tour of Ireland and Holland suddenly it doesn't seem like very far off at all! And of course in that time we will also be working on videos for several tracks from Both Sides of the Door. Safe to say this year we've shot straight into a high gear that looks set to stick for the next couple of months at least. 

And in other exciting news, we've also bought a GoPro which we plan on using to treat you all to live footage from our perspective on the stage at gigs...and that will also doubtless be used to allow our followers some sneaky little insights into what we're like off stage and all the riveting things we like to talk about on those long journeys to and from gigs.

So many things already happening and it's only the end of January! Let's see what next month brings.

Cold night in January but the nights are getting shorter 

So sat in a hotel room in Exeter before flying to Newcastle in the morning. Feeling a little worse for wear after a great night with dear friends in the village. Someone mentioned 6 bottles of champagne, two bottles of Gin, and three quarter of a bottle of Chivas between 4 - surely not !!!

It's amazing how listening to ACDC after Chopin's funeral march can have such an emotional effect on you, or maybe that was the 6 bottles of ..... etc.

Busy making plans for the official country wide release of the album and reviewing treatments for videos thanks to the hugely talented Hugh of Let There Be Light Productions in Sheffield. Some great ideas. Cat also busy writing our application for Glastonbury Festival - how great would that be ? Also - thanks to Chris and Andy - just discovered Show of Hands - how did I miss that ? Roots is such a fantastic song and one whose sentiment I completely support. It's daunting and yet inspiring to listen to such fantastic lyrics. I have again been listening to my favourite song writer Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, if you don't know Counting Crows give them a listen. Their treatment of songs is simply amazing - especially check out how they take Springsteins Thunder Road out of Rain King on the Live From Soho album. Then there is the re-working of Madonna's Borderline - simply beautiful. It was in fact a Counting Crows song that inspired me to write Susanna after visiting the Somme last year.

So more non music work in order to support the band and our next project. It's so hard to be away from the tribe but only Friday until we are at Barnstable and then Cornwall with a weekend of working on new material for album two.

Catch you all soon. Love xxxx

And so it begins! 

Hello and welcome! As a New Year's resolution Love Street have decided to start keeping a blog where we'll be able to keep you up to date with all the exciting band news as and when it happens so watch this space, you'll read it here first!

Well first and foremost, 2015 is off and running and we're all wondering what it's got in store for us! This time last year we were telling ourselves that if we managed to get 12 gigs in 2014 we'd be happy with that as a first year gigging. We ended up playing over 40 gigs, almost quadruple the number we set ourselves as a target. In that time we also recorded and released 2 singles (which were played on over 20 radio stations across the U.K. and on 4 BBC regional stations) and our first album. What with the gigs, festivals, recording sessions, writing sessions, radio sessions, and even a tour of Ireland we'd say that all in all 2014 was not a bad year...actually it was a brilliant year for us, made all the more wonderful by some of the truly amazing people we've had the honour to meet and work with. But..this does leave us wondering what exciting things are going to happen in 2015!

So after a short but much needed break over Christmas and the New Year, Love Street is back, gearing up for 2015, whatever it may bring! We spent a few days last week working on some new material for all of you which will hopefully feature on album number 2 that we're planning to record and release later on this year and we kicked off the fun and games with a great gig at the Blue Man in Brighton where we were joined by the lovely and talented Ziggy standing in on the bass for Andy. He did an absolutely cracking job especially considering we only managed to get the material to him a few days before the gig! We'll be back playing at the Blue Man again later on this month, and while it's a good 5 or so hours' drive away, and the parking in Brighton is a nightmare, and we didn't get home until 4am, it's all worth it for the great people we get to meet, the lovely venue, and not to mention the amazing kebab shop we found at 11pm that not only did what according to Chris and Jules was one of the best kebabs ever, but also managed to rustle up an amazing vegan wrap full of humus and salad for me. So here's a plug for Mac Doner kebab shop somewhere in Brighton (we're not really sure where it was). 

Anyway, that's enough from me today, I've got band security asking to go for a walk!