Posts
A big thank you to everyone who came to our CD launch last night. Always a treat to play in the Holywell, to see so many friendly faces and to hear people singing along. Thanks for making it a special event.
I'm currently suffering myspace issues (my ratchety old mac can't access it anymore) so haven't been able to update our gig list.
But we're playing at the Isis pub this coming Saturday 5th December. I think tickets are £7/6 but that's pretty much all the info I have (don't even know who else is playing). But do come down. It'll be a corker.
Andy xxx
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Kit Williams documentary
The Kit Williams documentary, The Man Behind the Masquerade, will be shown on BBC4 on Dec 2nd at 9.00pm. I don't think I made the final cut, though you get to see (ahem!) lots of Nomi, who guests on backing vocals on 'An English Arcanum'. Not to be missed.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Album launch!
Tickets are selling fast for our album launch, this coming friday 27th November, at the Queen of Clubs cabaret, Holywell Music Rooms, Oxford. Get yours quick from Wegottickets.
Excited? You bet.
Excited? You bet.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Glastonbury tonight
We're getting excited about playing Glastonbury again tonight - always a great vibe. Do come down if you're in the hood.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Nightshift Review
Got the following review in Oxford's long-running music zine, Nightshift.
Last time Telling the Bees sent us an album to
review, they were thoughtful enough to enclose a
false beard for us to wear while listening, worried
that they might be too beardy for us. Not that
they should have been overly concerned. We’ve
long been enthralled by Oxfordshire’s rich folk
music scene, particularly those acts, like Telling
The Bees and Sharron Kraus, who come steeped
in the earthy pagan traditions of English folk
with its gothic storytelling and darkly
psychedelic edge.
Telling The Bees are made up of four local folk
scene stalwarts: singer and multi-instrumentalist
Andy Letcher, bassist and guitarist Colin
Fletcher and string players Jane Griffiths and
Josie Webber. They take their band name from
the ancient custom of telling the family beehive
of any notable goings-on lest they get upset and
fly away and, as you’d expect, they’re in that
solid tradition of native folk that has passed
from minstrels into the modern age via Fairport
Convention and more recently singers such as
Seth Lakeman and Kris Drever. In fact one of
‘An English Arcanum”s highlights, the rousing
‘Otmoor Forever’, echoes Drever’s
interpretation of Boo Herwerdine’s ‘Harvest
Gypsies’, with its tale of displaced working men.
Equally, there is a tendency to romanticise a
transient lifestyle, as on the sorrowful love
ballad that is ‘Playing At Gypsies’, but while
some might balk at the rustic storytelling style,
Letcher’s warm, rich voice is as welcoming and
captivating as a roaring hearth in a country inn.
Here he’s superbly backed up by Griffiths’ and
Webber’s sumptuous string arrangements which,
while playing safer than they did on the band’s
debut, ‘Untie The Wind’, add texture and
atmosphere to the songs. Never more so than on
this album’s high point, the closing ‘Apple’,
where they circle ominously round an haunting
lament that would sit well on the best of
Fairport’s catalogue.
Amid the songs there are a handful of
instrumental tracks here to fill out the album,
played on border pipes or fiddle and guitar and
given weight by Webber’s harsh cello thrum, and
it’s an album that rewards repeated visits, much
like a favoured country inn. Sup long and
heartily, good friends.
Dale Kattack
Last time Telling the Bees sent us an album to
review, they were thoughtful enough to enclose a
false beard for us to wear while listening, worried
that they might be too beardy for us. Not that
they should have been overly concerned. We’ve
long been enthralled by Oxfordshire’s rich folk
music scene, particularly those acts, like Telling
The Bees and Sharron Kraus, who come steeped
in the earthy pagan traditions of English folk
with its gothic storytelling and darkly
psychedelic edge.
Telling The Bees are made up of four local folk
scene stalwarts: singer and multi-instrumentalist
Andy Letcher, bassist and guitarist Colin
Fletcher and string players Jane Griffiths and
Josie Webber. They take their band name from
the ancient custom of telling the family beehive
of any notable goings-on lest they get upset and
fly away and, as you’d expect, they’re in that
solid tradition of native folk that has passed
from minstrels into the modern age via Fairport
Convention and more recently singers such as
Seth Lakeman and Kris Drever. In fact one of
‘An English Arcanum”s highlights, the rousing
‘Otmoor Forever’, echoes Drever’s
interpretation of Boo Herwerdine’s ‘Harvest
Gypsies’, with its tale of displaced working men.
Equally, there is a tendency to romanticise a
transient lifestyle, as on the sorrowful love
ballad that is ‘Playing At Gypsies’, but while
some might balk at the rustic storytelling style,
Letcher’s warm, rich voice is as welcoming and
captivating as a roaring hearth in a country inn.
Here he’s superbly backed up by Griffiths’ and
Webber’s sumptuous string arrangements which,
while playing safer than they did on the band’s
debut, ‘Untie The Wind’, add texture and
atmosphere to the songs. Never more so than on
this album’s high point, the closing ‘Apple’,
where they circle ominously round an haunting
lament that would sit well on the best of
Fairport’s catalogue.
Amid the songs there are a handful of
instrumental tracks here to fill out the album,
played on border pipes or fiddle and guitar and
given weight by Webber’s harsh cello thrum, and
it’s an album that rewards repeated visits, much
like a favoured country inn. Sup long and
heartily, good friends.
Dale Kattack
Website update
Hiya,
Rima has been busy updating the Telling the Bees website. The new album is being released on November 26th and we're hoping that it will be available from CDBaby by then - if it ain't, please be patient and keep trying!
A x
Rima has been busy updating the Telling the Bees website. The new album is being released on November 26th and we're hoping that it will be available from CDBaby by then - if it ain't, please be patient and keep trying!
A x
Monday, 2 November 2009
Common Dance
Here's a couple of links to the show, Common Dance, I was involved with last week. It was as beautiful and as inspiring as it looks:
Photos
Guardian podcast
Andy xxx
Photos
Guardian podcast
Andy xxx
Sideways through Sound
Hello Peeps,
The new album is going to featured on the ever wonderful Sideways Through Sound radio show, broadcast in Australia. Here's the details:
"You will be on the Sideways Through Sound radio show next week, that’s Wednesday 4th November, so shout it from the rooftops!! Tell your friends, post it on your website or MySpace site, Facebook, Twitter, blog it, text it... etc etc etc...
You can listen at 107.3FM (in Sydney) or stream at: www.2ser.com/stream, at 9PM (21:00) hours, Sydney, Australia time.
The show will also be available as a free download to you after transmission only from the Sideways Through Sound website."
The new album is going to featured on the ever wonderful Sideways Through Sound radio show, broadcast in Australia. Here's the details:
"You will be on the Sideways Through Sound radio show next week, that’s Wednesday 4th November, so shout it from the rooftops!! Tell your friends, post it on your website or MySpace site, Facebook, Twitter, blog it, text it... etc etc etc...
You can listen at 107.3FM (in Sydney) or stream at: www.2ser.com/stream, at 9PM (21:00) hours, Sydney, Australia time.
The show will also be available as a free download to you after transmission only from the Sideways Through Sound website."
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