#ginglik

Just two weeks to go until Ginglik Presents... Warehouse Werewolves, supported by London Bass Club. £25 tickets still available from: www.ginglik.co.uk

Time Out Critics Choice:

Written by: Jessie Shane

On Friday night our Songeist web designer Lucie and I headed to Shepherd's Bush for Pete Into Orbit's new gig night at Ginglik www.ginglik.co.uk, 'The Ace Time Continuum'. It was one of those exciting times where you have no idea what's in store and the evening holds an exhilarating sense of promise. The serendipitous nature of the evening was further heightened by the factors that had lead to our foray into the Ace Time Continuum.

Pete Into Orbit

At the very beginning of Songeist, when we were busily recruiting artists for what is now the pre-launch site at www.songeist.com, my dad ran into Pete at an English National Opera event. It was a 'mini opera' competition where writers were asked to produce the lyrics for a short opera and the winning words were put to music. John, my dad, being a passionate wordsmith, had furiously put pen to paper and produced about a dozen of these little operas. God knows where he found the time, but he started chatting to Pete who said he was a musician, which prompted the Songeistian referral.

"Whenever we need cheering up, Pete Into Orbit is there with his crooning voice and original lyrics to save the day..."

I had no idea this meeting had happened at all, and was therefore completely unaware of any personal connection with Pete Into Orbit. When he uploaded his song 'Ache In My Heart' into the unflatteringly titled 'backend' of our pre-launch site we all loved it.  To understand the next bit, you will need a bit of background into what goes in to starting a major website from scratch. You'd think you would just tell the designer what to do, they would design it and… VOILA! There's your website! But it's not that simple...

You have to figure out every single possibility/technicality in the way users will interact with your program before it even goes into the design stage. It can be pretty fiddly work.  Why am I mentioning this? One particularly stressful day, the web designer Lucie (who by the way I have known since I was 8 years old) and I were feeling a bit wired up and down in the dumps. So Lucie said, "Hey! I know something that will make us feel better!" and pulled up the Songeist pre-launch site to Pete Into Orbit's song.  We were soon singing along loudly to the chorus "WHY DONTCHA COME AROUND AND PICK ME UP, PICK ME U- UP? WHY DONTCHA COME AROUND AND PICK ME UP, PICK ME UP" and we started to feel miraculously better again. We were forced to stop, unfortunately, when someone from the adjacent office came in and said that they were having a meeting and could we keep it down a touch. The embarrassment we suffered was totally worth it. This started a tradition which continues to this day. Whenever we need cheering up, Pete Into Orbit is there with his crooning voice and original lyrics to save the day.  When Lucie spotted that he was going to be putting on a new gig night called the 'Ace Time Continuum' she bought us tickets on the spot and we were totally psyched, or 'stoked' as our US cousins would say. In preparation for the gig we listened to his whole album, to get to grips with songs other than 'Ache In My Heart', although this was obviously still our favourite. We were also excited to read that the night was going to be a new 'twist' on a traditional gig. Pete says he gets tired of events where people show up just to watch their friends and then slink off to the bar as soon as the next performer comes on. He wanted to create a night where every act was truly entertaining and watchable and people stay to the end.  The blurb on the ticket website was as follows: "A new performance art night featuring one of the world's leading beatboxers Grace Savage, quirky Singer/Songwriter Pete into Orbit and show choir The Starling Singers. There will also be some of the finest sketch comedy fresh from the Edinburgh Festival and a quiz to test your morals." 'What have we gotten ourselves into?' we said as we crossed the street towards Ginglik, a quirky underground venue that seems to have been built in a section of the tube subway. As we entered the place, though, we were pleasantly surprised by the shabby-chic style of the place. The stage was set in a big room with a few comfy chairs dotted around, and lots of fun looking people were excitedly readying themselves for the evening ahead. We shuffled over to the bar which had a great selection of cocktails (and food!) and grabbed ourselves a couple of Brambles - a kind of fruity gin & tonic.  The Starling singers, an awesome show choir, started off the proceedings. They looked like they were having such an awesome time it made me want to get up and join them. I'm now actually considering signing up! Check out their website www.starlingarts.com. 

Then there was a very difficult music quiz. I think we got 6/20 questions right - Lucie will probably be annoyed that I'm telling you that! The best thing about the quiz was the delivery which was done by a compere with a very posh voice. Maybe Pete can tell us where we can find out more about him - he was really good fun! There was some great sketch comedy by two girls that was very reminiscent of one of my old favourite 'Smack The Pony'. (I hope they won't mind that comparison!)… It was hilarious.  Another number from the Startling singers and a drink break later, the amazing Grace savage took to the stage with her awesome beatboxing. Pete said we were probably lucky to see her there as she is 'going to be BIG' and I agree. Not only can this girl beat box like a pro but she can also sing and she's gorgeous. I got a bit of a girl crush, which is a mixture of admiration and envy. 'Why can't I be the UK's leading female beatboxer..?!!" It was seriously awesome, though, and we loved every minute.

AND FINALLY on came the great PETE INTO ORBIT! We had been waiting for this moment all evening and obviously being the groupie gals that we are we started screaming 'ACHE IN MY HEART! ACHE IN MY HEART!' to which the bass player gestured that it was going to happen in 2 songs. When it was time for the big finale Pete gave us and songeist.com a major shootout which we LOVED and there was more shrieking from us followed by a lot of singing along (probably out of tune)… The other audience members thought we were a bit mad! Here's the evidence:

After sleepless nights, stressing and constant worrying, Oxjam at the Ginglik is finally over and I am happy to report it was a success!! I have so many people to thank for their overwhelming support including everyone who came and all the amazing artists that played. 

You may be wondering why it has taken me so long to get round to writing about the night but as it so happens that it was my 21st Birthday last week (Halloween to be specific!) so along with celebrating that it was also the boyf's graduation on the 1st of November, I was working at all the other University Graduations and I spent another day in A & E because of a drunken birthday fall...  but we won't talk about that. I have also just spent the weekend with my amazing family celebrating my birthday so I really have had an insanely busy week since Oxjam but now I'm ready to rave about how awesome it was! I can't wait to post pictures of the event but I need to get the photos from my designated photographers! 

First things first, I raised £400 which although wasn't as much as I had pledged to raise, I was extremely happy with it because I was genuinely worried that no-one would turn up! Along with the amount of tickets sold, I had some raffle prizes donated and had donation boxes around the venue. Admittedly, I didn't have much faith in the raffle prizes - not that I wasn't extremely grateful for the donations! I had a bottle of Champagne, a bottle of Red Wine, 2 boxes of Batman Lego and a 'Bay Tree' Food Hamper. People were buying extra tickets just to get their hands on the Batman Lego!! The most amusing thing was, my best friend picked out her own name from the bucket and scored herself the first box of lego. It wasn't a fix... I Promise!! A lovely man who I didn't know won the Champagne and gave it to me because I had organised everything - I was extremely touched at his kind gesture. I enjoyed a champagne breakfast on my birthday so I definitely have him to thank for that.

Ally Hamilton kicked off the night by warming up the crowd with his mellow sound and his witty personality. He eased everyone into the night by playing a lot of original songs but also some covers which everyone knew and loved. He really did a fantastic job considering he is just starting out on his solo stuff having broken away from his original band Clown Breakdown. He brought a lot of support along and even had his girlfriend delivering drinks to the stage. Anyone that would like to listen to any more of Ally's stuff - 'Like' him on Facebook, Follow him on Twitter and listen to his SoundCloud.

http://www.facebook.com/allyhamiltonmusic

http://soundcloud.com/allyhamilton24    

https://twitter.com/AllyHamilton24

Beeming with pride over Eroding Republic, who stepped up to the stage next as the lead singer of this band is my little brother. Having played with other people as he was growing up, Ben found his place within Eroding Republic as he was asked to play with some Sixth Form lads for an A-Level Music piece. From there they became a band - he even replaced the former lead singer! Fairly inexperienced when it comes to playing live gigs the Ginglik was considered a warm up for them for a local gig the following day at a venue at home called 'The Cheese and Grain', which has been written about in Q Magazine as a hidden gem of small, local, live music venues. So check it out if you're ever in the Frome, Somerset area - we've had some amazing artists stop by and play there. Considering how nervous they were, you would never have known from their amazing set. Having a lot of people there who have known my brother for years they couldn't believe the transformation from Ben to lead singer of Eroding Republic. Not forgetting the mention of the other two members, Ally and Tom who found themselves some new found fans in some of my closest friends. Both their original songs and their twist on some classics found them very popular with the Ginglik audience. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eroding-Republic/213165752047988 https://twitter.com/ErodingRepublic

It was an absolute privilege having Richard Allan II play within my gig as I didn't know them, like I know all the other bands. They aren't personal friends - in fact I had the pleasure of watching Richard Allan's first band Richie and the Runners at Secret Garden Party in 2011. I fell in love with 'City Lights' as it's got a Mumford and Sons feel to it when you just want to get up and have a hoe down! I was so close to even getting him to play it for me during his set but one of his band members wasn't so sure on how to play it... but I may have convinced him to put it back into his set?! Who knows, if you ever get to watch them and he plays it maybe it was because of me!?? Despite him not playing the song that made me fall in love with his music, him and his band played a fantastic set with real passion to their music. This was their second Oxjam appearance as I managed to set them up with the Cambridge Take-Over event too as their manager is local to Cambridge. So although my event and audience was a lot smaller, they still seemed to be oozing with excitement and enthusiasm to play.

http://www.facebook.com/richardallanII https://twitter.com/RichardAllanII http://www.youtube.com/user/RichardAllanIImusic http://soundcloud.com/richardallan_ii

Finally, my headliners The Doll Mechanics came with an army of followers and supporters which I was massively grateful for. By the time they were playing I was able to let loose and I was up dancing with my friends waving the Oxjam banner as a sign of relief and success. Both Lauren James and Daniel Jones I wish to personally thank for their help throughout the whole of my Oxjam experience.

Daniel I have known all my life due to our parents being old friends as both our Dad's worked together in the ambulance service in Ilfracombe, North Devon. We then moved to Frome in 1996 when my brother was born, so although our families have kept in contact me and Daniel haven't actually seen each other since my older sister's 18th birthday party... a long time ago! Daniel put me in contact with Lauren to play at my gig and then when it came down to it he just was my knight in shining armour when it came to all the technical requirements for the night. He helped set up and managed all the sound checks with the sound engineer and I really couldn't have done it without him. 

Lauren James is such a sweetheart whose enthusiasm right from the start shouldn't go a miss. She was always doing everything she could to help, constantly posting about the gig online and helping to drum up interest. As for her performance on the night, they were the perfect band to round off the night with their upbeat tracks and Lauren's audience interaction. 

http://www.thedollmechanics.com/ http://www.YouTube.com/TheDollMechanics http://www.facebook.com/TheDollMechanics http://www.Twitter.com/DollMechanics http://www.Twitter.com/LaurenJamesUK http://www.YouTube.com/LaurenJamesOfficial http://www.facebook.com/LaurenJamesOfficial

I couldn't have asked for a better line up or a more successful night. Hopefully the venue was happy with the amount of bar sales - there were plenty of drunk people to prove the people were buying drinks! I am humbled with how many people came and said they enjoyed themselves. 

Ok, so now for my Thank You's:

Thank you to everyone who came and supported or just bought a ticket because you wanted to donate. Especially those who came from all over just to be there, I know a lot of you travelled far just to support me.

Thank you to the artists, it was a pleasure to have you playing at my event. I hope to hear great things from you all so I can buy your music to add to my collection.

Thank you to the venue who gave me Ginglik for free and trusted me to bring the people in and get them the publicity.

Thank you to Cards Made Easy who made it possible for me to get most of my printing costs for free.

Thank you to everyone who 'liked' Cards Made Easy so I could get most of my printing costs for free.

Thank you to my friends and family who put up with me throughout all of this.

Thank you to my Mum who sat at the door for most of the night dealing with the money, guest list and selling raffle tickets.

Thank you to my Dad for fulfilling his duty to buy drinks from the bar so the venue would make money.

So here I am, the last week of September and Summer time is officially over. My last day of freedom before I embark on my last year of Uni and it's chucking it down with rain. Yep, it's official over. Now this may seem a strange time to start a blog about music and festivals when the festival season is over but for me it's all about to start all over again.  

First and foremost at 9am on the 7th of October... Glastonbury tickets go on sale!! But then of course there is practically a 9 months wait so I will obviously find some more things to talk about other than the Godfather of all festivals. 

Something that is going to take up a lot of my time this year is preparing for my dissertation, which i'm hoping that this blog will help me consolidate some of my research and thoughts. The focus of my thesis is on how the impact of the technology, as we as consumers use, to purchase and listen to music has changed how the industry produces and sells music. So throughout the ramblings of this blog I will be posting a lot about the process of how this thesis is coming together. 

However, my main focus for the next month is on the promotion of the gig i'm hosting as part of the Oxjam Festival on the 25th of October: Oxjam at the Ginglik. (You can purchase your tickets here for only £5!) 

Oxjam is Oxfam's month-long music festival that runs thoughout October with hudreds of events around the UK all in aid of Oxfam. Since the first Oxjam in 2006, more than 40,000 musicians have played to over 800,000 people at around 3,000 Oxjam events nationwide. Oxjam has raised more than £1.5 million in total for Oxfam: enough to buy 13,000 emergency shelters, 60,000 goats or 900 classrooms.

My aim to raise a minimum of only £500 but I hope I can exceed that through ticket sales and raffle tickets. I’m so excited to be putting on this event with the support of my friends and family. It’s just going to be about musicians doing what they love and giving everyone the opportunity to be a part of something special. Let’s just have a great time and raise some money for a fantastic cause.

This year is going to go so fast and I'm going to enjoy every last moment of being a student and Oxjam is just one way I'm trying to make the most of it. Not only to do something that I love to do but knowing i'm making just a little difference to a lot of people is an opportunity that does not come around very often.