Long time no speak!

Hi everyone! Apologies for being so quiet. A lot is going on at the moment, good things will happen in the new year...and of course some other good things will happen before 2016 comes to an end.

For now...I will be playing at the Underbelly in Hoxton, London at the end of November! See you then!

New track! Other Days with Ollie Dolling

My next record is coming along nicely...we had little help from JC himself, Happy Easter everyone!

Recently I met up with my friend Ollie Dolling, we shot a really awesome video of me performing a new track from the forthcoming EP in his studio. The track is called, Other Days. 

Enjoy the video! More news to come on the EP very soon...

With a little help from my friends...

I am currently underway in the studio at this moment in time! All is going very well so far with Mr producer Chris Myatt. The tracks are sounding very good so far, a lot of work is still needed but it is getting there, I am really excited about finishing it and getting it out there! Roughly we should be finished with recording in the next 2 weeks or so.
I realised I have been talking about it a lot for the past year or so but I am one of those artists that seems to have all their fingers in too many pies, (yummmmyy pie!!).

Speaking of pie, I also like to spend my spare time working on other projects...speaking of which...I have been doing a little bit of harmonica for my good friend, Bad Mother Folker! If you haven't heard him then I strongly recommend you check him out right now (but don't stop reading this blog of course!)

Please check out the Soundcloud link below, it's a new track by Bad Mother Folker called, Imaginary Girlfriend. I play harmonica on this one, I really hope you enjoy as much as I do!
More details are to come of his upcoming EP which I will be featuring on a couple more tracks, watch this space!

Another one to check out, a very dear friend of mine who is no stranger around here, Mr Rhys Bendix-Lewis has started working on a new project called the Blind Spot! Each episode tells very insightful stories shared from real people.
I lent two tracks of mine which you will hear through out the episodes which I am thrilled that he is using.
There have already been 3 episodes so I would recommend you give them a listen and there will be more episodes coming shortly!



And last but by no means least, I also would like to announce that a few weeks ago I got invited to Small Pond studios in Brighton where I contributed some of my Mandolin skills to Jake Martin's upcoming album!
For those of you who don't know him, Jake was the lead singer of Brighton punk band, The Junk, he has just finished working on his new album which is to be released very soon, I am really excited about hearing it in full, I will of course send out some links as soon as I can but for now here is a little teaser down below from his soundcloud, make sure you check it out! (I'm not on this track but check it out anyway as it sounds awesome!)



I would just like to lastly say at what an honour it is to currently be working with such talent and what a joy it is to have my work appreciated by others. Admittedly my confidence has dipped over the past few months or so but it's times like these that actually make realise just why exactly I do this and I just want to say a huge thank you and I do really hope I get to work with more talent very soon!

And also a big thank you for your patience, new record will be coming soon...more details to come!

Happy new 2016!

Firstly big apologies I have not updated in a while, I've been a busy bee and am currently on a train right now on my way to play a gig at The Islington tonight! Some pretty good bands on the line up too! I'm very excited to be in London again!

I also had the pleasure of playing my debut gig the beautiful city of Madrid! What a way to kick off 2016!

So what else is new?? Well, I'm currently in the studio! Working on my next record, not much to say other than it will be my best work to date and my noisiest for sure! So 2016 will see me coming back with a vengeance! 

As always, more to report from me very soon as I have almost approached London Victoria, please check out my tumblr page to keep up with what I'm doing when I can't be bothered to write words!

http://www.lewismckale.tumblr.com

Merry Christmas everyone!!

So the end of the year is almost upon us once again! Unfortunately 2015 hasn't been my best year but I am determined to make up for all this in 2016 somehow!

Much to look forward to in the new year, pre production is now being finalised on my next release as well as other projects being in the pipeline...so please watch this space.

To top off this year, I would just like to say a huge massive thank you to all my close friends and family who have looked out for me and of course to all my friends I have made along the way of endless gigging and everyone is Brighton, you have all saved my life and kept me going, I will end things here with a video of a new Christmas song I recorded with my good friends Bad Mother Folker and Vicky Gould entitled, Christmas Lights In September!

The track has also been featured on a Christmas charity album which can be downloaded from http://www.hadleighford.bandcamp.com

Enjoy and merry Christmas and a happy new 2016!

229 photos!

I feel like I keep repeating myself if I were to say things have been quiet from myself lately!

Every now and then we can have our confidence knocked, it can cause us to hide away for a little bit, to have some time out from life to think about what exactly what it is we are trying to achieve and what we stand for.

But I will be emerging from my hiding place, you will hear a bit more from me! I promise.

Every now and then we have our confidence restored, I received a very nice email from a gentleman who sent me some pictures from my performance at the 229 in London last month! Many thanks Andrey! (andrey@desert-plains.com)

Thanks London! See you tomorrow at the Greys!

Would just like to say thanks to Absent Kelly for putting me on at the 229 in London yesterday! Also a bigger thanks to Carpool Conversation and Breakfast for also having me, a pleasure to play with you guys!

Tomorrow I will be opening for the last day of an all weekend event, We Shall Overcome! at the Greys from 5pm! It is my great pleasure to be opening for the likes of The Bandana Collective, Pog, Atilla The Stockbroker and Chris T-T!

I am absolutley stoked to be part of a fantastic line up for such a fantastic event all for a great cause indeed!

I hope to see you there guys! More news to come from me very soon!

https://www.facebook.com/events/565167423632028/

Reflections EP Out now!

Firstly I would like to apologise for my lack of activity for a while! I'm now back, much has happened and much is about to happen...

Reflections EP

1. Prove You Wrong - Matt Bonner

2. Every Night - Lewis Mckale

3. The Bigger Picture - Matt Bonner

4. Goodbye - Lewis Mckale

So whilst things have been quiet, me and Matt Bonner finally released our much awaited split EP called, Reflections.
We are both proud of it, it was such a pleasure to work on this split with my friend Matt Bonner, we have gigged together many times around Brighton and quickly became fans of each other's work (as well as becoming good friends). We always wanted to work with each other and came to a mutual decision to collaborate on a split record together. Many thanks also to Nathan Brown and Mike Garrett for helping us with the recording, without you guys, none of this would be at all possible!

You can download the EP from my bandcamp, https://lewismckale.bandcamp.com/album/reflections

I am also delighted that Chris T-T played two tracks from the EP on his Midnight Campfire show on Juice FM last Tuesday, you can hear the whole show here, https://totallyradio.com/shows/chris-t-t-s-midnight-campfire/episodes/chris-t-ts-midnight-campfire-16-sep-2015#_

There is also a really kind review and a few words from myself and Matt regarding the EP on, please check out the link below,
http://myrandomjukebox.com/reflections-the-ep/

On another note, I went to Eastbourne to record a balcony session for Angle Magazine, it was a lot of fun and nice to be back in Eastbourne again. The video I did for them will be available sometime soon but please in the mean time check out their site below, they release a free online magazine on a weekly basis, I also featured on the front cover of one of their weekly editions a few weeks back! Fame at last! Never thought I'd see my mug on a magazine cover!
http://angle-magazine.co.uk/

I promise I won't go away! I'm back for good this time and there will be a lot more from me soon! Don't go away! X

Dave McPherson @ The World's End, Brighton FREE ENTRY!

Apologies things have been quiet from me lately! Updates will be coming soon from myself! Much to fill you in on too! But for now, I will be supporting Dave Mcpherson from the band, InMe!
I will be playing from 4pm! It's an all dayer! See you there!

The Show Must Go On...

Apologies it has been quiet from me. I am finding it difficult to piece words together at this moment in time. However, I am slowly but surely getting there and like a jigsaw puzzle, I am putting the pieces back together so you will hear from more from me shortly.

Thanks to everyone for their support and when I say everyone, I mean, EVERYONE! Friends and family and generally everybody I see! I can't find words to describe how genuinely grateful I am for your continued support.

I have had many cancelled gigs and have taken a bit of a break lately but that is soon to change! Tomorrow night! Please come to the Brunswick, I will be on stage from 8pm! It is sure to be a great night and I cannot wait to return, I have missed that stage, it has been a while!

Halfway through a busy week...

So after finishing off two gigs at the always brilliant Tanner Arms in Horsham and hosting a night at the White Rabbit in Brighton with some lovely fellow  Brighton artists, tonight I will be playing at The Greys in Brighton. I hear nothing but great things about their live nights and it is such a fantastic venue. I recently saw Atilla The Stockbroker there a few weeks ago as part of his anniversary of performing live for so many years and of course it was filmed as part of a live DVD which will be due out sometime soon.
Anyway...I got a little sidetracked there, please come along to this tonight!

This marks the halfway point of my busy week! This Friday, 10th of April I will be perofrming in London at The Surya in King Cross as part of a charity night in aid of the teenage Cancer Trust. So if you are up in London and free from 7.30 onwards then I suggest you come along and don't miss out! All for a good cause and I will be opening for the fantastic Carnivals, Diesel Drums, Breakfast and Justin O'Sullivan! See you there!

 

Komedia Tommorow Night!!!

Don't forget!! Tommorow night I will be playing at the Komedia supporting Lotte Mullan! I had the pleasure of supporting Lotte Mullan last time I played at the Komedia with Nell Bryden and I am so chuffed that I will be supporting her for a second time! It is also going to be the start of her new album tour so I really hope that it all kicks off nicely for her!
I also have the pleasure of being part of such a nice line up of artists including Tristan Wolf and Jazz Morley! Make sure you get there for 7.30pm! You won't want to miss this!

In other news... me and Matt Bonner have been making finishing touches to our Split EP, more updates to come up on that in the next upcoming weeks! Progress is being made on EP #3 and who knows....some other projects in the pipeline too....watch this space!

And finally, I have new range of badges! 3 different colours! Collect all 3!! Come to my gig at the Komedia and you can your hands on them all!

Brighton Half Marathon 2015 and BIG GIG ALERTS!

Thanks so much to all of you who have supported me through my last minute training, me and my lovely Marta successfully completed the Brighton Half Marathon 2015 in 2 hours 29 minutes!

A big thank you to those of you who have donated so far and of course the fundraising doesn't end here! Please click on the following link to pledge https://www.justgiving.com/lewis-mckale1  or https://www.justgiving.com/marta-arroyo-bello both of us have been raising money for Brighton Housing Trust, a fantastic charity who raise awareness and support homelessness across Sussex.
I would also like to once again thanks The Willing Gales, Edd Mann, Paul Murray and Dom Prag for helping with the fundraising for our Christmas show back in December! You giys are awesome and have made a big difference!

So the next couple of months is going to be a very busy and eventful couple of months! I will be kicking March off by playing at Lout Promotion's Brighton Rocks event at Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, Brighton on 6th March with a fantastic line up!

This is only just the beginning! More updates from myself coming soon...like I said...busy couple of months! Don't miss out, get your tickets here http://absoluteradio.gigantic.com/brighton-rocks/sticky-mikes-frog-bar/2015-03-06-19-00

Hello 2015!

I know it's February...but Happy New Year to you all! Apologies things have been somewhat quiet from me but rest assured, big things are going to be coming and 2015 is shaping up nicely! I m really looking forward to some big announcement coming up in the next few weeks!

Just so you all know that pre-prod stuff on my forthcoming third EP is coming along very nicely! I can honestly say I am quite proud of the 4 tracks that will be featured on it. My friend and producer, Chris Myatt is teaching me a lot in these sessions. I will like I have made a personal progression and I feel that this will be a very solid record, it's a calm process which is taking some time but I believe this will be all be worth it!

On that note, let's jump back to 2013! Here is a video from when I was recording The Bigger Picture EP with Mike Anderson and what a great experience that was. I love recording!

Some big gig announcements will be coming your way but for now, please come along to this tommorow night Brighton folk! A fantastic line up too featuring some good buddies of mine, Jack Evans and Dom Prag! I am very much looking forward to The Sway too! Your in for a treat!

Christmas related blog 2014!

Hola from Spain everyone!

I will be spending my Christmas, New Year and Birthday in Spain for the next couple of weeks, so I just thought I would squeeze in a festive blog before the fiestas commence!

2014 has been quite a year for me! I would just like to reflect quickly on this fantastic year and I have a feeling that this year is just the start of great things to come as we step into a brand new year of 2015!

The best moments of this year include getting played on Juice FM twice! After releasing my first ever covers EP, Something Borrowed, two tracks were played as part of the Midnight Campfire show on Juice FM which is hosted by Chris T-T who is one of my favourite songwriters, to have been played on his show was such an honour! Big thanks to Chris T-T for making me be a part of his show, make sure you tune in every Tuesday from Midnight especially if you´re a fan of good folk music.

Other highlights include supporting Nell Bryden, Nicholas Stevenson and John Power! Three great shows that I had so much fun being a part of. Many thanks to Scott from Sonic Agency and Andy from Good Lies for booking me! I hope to make other appearances at their shows in the near future!

Being a part of Oxjam and helping raise money for a great cause was also a big highlight! Many thanks to Jacqueline and everyone involved.

I did a video shoot for Lone Coyote TV which I haven´t had a chance to speak about much, big thanks to Sally and Andy for inviting me to be a part of a video shoot, please check out their site and the video below, http://www.lonecoyote.tv

Being a part of Hush Hush´s 3rd Birthday bash was a big highlight, I have been gigging for them for the past couple of years, I have enjoyed every show that I have been a part of and have made so many great friends through Hush Hush. Many thanks to Chuck SJ Hay for putting me on, she has released her debut album, Mood Swings which you must check out in this link, http://chucksjhay.bandcamp.com/releases

As part of the night we covered each others tracks and kept it a secret from each other, I had the pleasure of covering her track, Ticking Bomb, which is a fantastic yet very challenging song. A video will surface at some point in the future but I didn manage to post Paul Murray´s take on my track, Prove You Wrong, I love this version he did of my track and I am a fan of his so it was a highlight to hear him cover my track, please check it out!

Also to have been asked by my friend Matt Bonner to work on a split EP which I am very much looking forward to finishing and releasing in the new year! Both versions of this track are fantastic and I am thrilled that people like the track so much!

There are too many great moments to mention and apologies to anyone I haven´t mentioned but thanks to everybody who I have played with and hope to play alongside you again in the new year!

I must dash now but Feliz Navidad y Merry Christmas and a Happy new year! See you in 2015!