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!

On the first day of Christmas...

Can you believe it is that time of year again? I have decided I am going to end this year in style! I can only say that 2014 has been a fantastic year and I promise more great things are coming your way from me in 2015! I cannot wait!

So on the second day of Christmas, I will be supporting the fantastic Nicholas Stevenson at the Hope from 8pm. The Hope has has always been one of my favourite venues to play in, this is sure to be a great night!

On the 5th day of Christmas I will be playing a very special set for quite a special event. It is an event for Hush Hush's 3rd Birthday and it will be held at the Brunswick! They will celebrating with many of their favourite artists, I am really thrilled to be a part of the event and what a lovely line up of artists I will be joining. The idea of the night is that everyone swaps songs and covers each others work, at this moment in time I am not able to say who's song I am covering as we have all been told to keep it a secret but all will be revealed at the show! Please don't miss out on this one!

And on the 11th Day of Christmas I will be returning to Hush Hush at the Hope downstairs once again, hush hush have been incredibly good to me over the past couple of years so Ioit will be great to end this year's gig in style with them especially as I love the hope!

Then on the 12th day of Christmas I will be ending my season of Christmas gigs with a special charity gig at the Iron Duke that I will be hosting! All proceeds made from this event will go towards the charity BHT, please check them out at http://www.bht.org.uk they are a lovely charity so please grab your best Christmas jumper, relax with a mould wine and enjoy the jingles from these great Brighton based artists!

What a way to end 2014!! Come join me at any one of these events! I look forward to seeing you all there! Here's to a happy new 2015!

The End of 2014 is nigh...

A new entry from me has been well overdue but now I am back on track so let's get back to speed, first of all..a huge thanks to Chris T-T who played my Pete Townshend cover of "Let My Love Open The Door" on his Midnight Campfire show on Juice FM a few weeks ago (this is how long it has taken me to update this blog!) If you didn't get to hear it then please listen to the show in the following link below!

https://totallyradio.com/shows/chris-t-t-s-midnight-campfire/episodes/chris-t-ts-midnight-campfire-29-oct-2014#_

As it so happens, his show is at Midnight every Tuesday from Midnight on Juice FM 107.2, make sure you catch his show tonight at midnight on the below link!

http://www.juicebrighton.com/radioplayer/

This year has certainly been a bit crazy! I have a feeling that 2015 is going to get even better. What is next? I still need to catch up with my old buddy Matt Bonner to complete our split EP and I am in very early stages working on my forthcoming Third EP with Chris Myatt and I am currently dabbling with many ideas at the moment as we speak...it's early days but I am thinking a duet EP could be on the cards and possibly Something Borrowed Volume 2?? I am also thinking a live album is possible? Who knows, let's see what 2015 will bring us!
For now, this year is not over! Some pretty amazing gig announcements will be coming up in the next week or so...watch this space!

Finally I just want to say a huge thank you to those of you who came to the John Power gig at Sticky Mikes two weeks ago! It was certainly great to meet some new faces and it was a pleasure to play alongside the legend himself! He even threw in some Cast during his set which really made my day, it took me back to my youth (I'm not even that old!), a lot of his songs during the Cast era remind me of simpler times! I managed to catch up with him after his sound check, really nice bloke too! It was also great to meet Jay Lewis who is also in The La's and was also fantastic to meet and play alongside Alex Lipinski! I say it very very often but that gig was definitely one of my favourites!

End of October updates!

Firstly, I am in preparation of my Halloween costume for this event! I won't ruin the surprise but let's just say that I am currently trying to figure out exactly how I will be able to play guitar and sing at the same time...this should be quite interesting?? If you want to find out how exactly I will achieve this, please come down the Hampton this Thursday!

Secondly, if you didn't get a chance to hear my appearance on Juice FM on Chris T-T's Midnight Campfire show, please check out the Soundcloud link below to hear it again!

It was such a big pleasure to have been played on Chris's show, I am particularly a big fan of his and it's really great to hear he enjoyed my covers EP!
Please also make sure you tune into Chris T-T's show every Tuesday from 12am - 2am on Juice FM 107.2. It's a great show and if you enjoy good folk music then I highly recommend! http://www.facebook.com/midnightcampfire

Thirdly, we are only over a week away until my support slot with the one and only John Power from Cast and The La's! I am very excited about opening the show and especially playing along Alex Lipinski! Please click on the image below if you want a ticket, it is at Sticky Mikes in Brighton next Thursday at 8pm on 06/11/14. Please don't miss out!

Lastly, there will be more big announcements towards the end of the year. 2014 has been a very special year for me but it doesn't end here! I will end this year with a bang!

A special thanks to my friend Carol on this one, I didn't have many pictures from the Komedia gig a few weeks ago but here is one she captured below! Enjoy!

New Photoshoot and Oxjam take 2!

A few weeks ago my good friend Mr Pat Blann of dayinthecity.co.uk took some excellent photos of me around Brighton. Below is just a select few pictures. Please check out the full shoot on the following link on my facebook.

I just want to say a big sorry to anyone I have let down in the past week or so for having to cancel gigs due to feeling poorly and having to give my voice a rest! It's rare I cancel gigs and when it's had to happen, I really hate it! I've had to cancel some great gigs and unfortunately had to very recently turn down a last minute slot with a very special unnamed artist who I admire dearly, turning down that opportunity almost killed me! But hopefully I will get a chance to play alongside that artist in the near future....watch this space *SNIFF*

However, I am now on the mend and almost back to normal! I am very pleased to announce that I will be having another shot at Oxjam on 26th October from 2pm at Thieves Kitchen in Worthing! I will be fully recovered and better than ever for this one! This Oxjam is taking place in Worthing across many different venues! Please do not miss out!

The end of a busy week...and the start of a busy year!

I do try to be as snap happy with my camera as possible but unfortunately my night was a bit crazy but I did manage to take one snap and if you take a look at the above photo, I can tell you is that my gig with Nell Bryden and Lotte Mullan the Komedia in Brighton was indeed incredible! So incredible...Nell's dog even made news in our local Argus!http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11511972.Singer_s_dog_barred_from_venue_before_her_performance/

Thanks to everyone that came and to those who were involved with such a great night! It was a real pleasure! It was also an honour to have been on the line up with Lotte and Nell who are so lovely and very talented, it was also really lovely to meet them!

So after a crazy week of supporting Nell Bryden at the Komedia, I then hosted Hush Hush at The Hope the next day, I managed to catch up with my buddy Edd Mann and also made some new friends too, Cuba and Magpie and saying farewell to Emma Plunkett who is going back to Australia who will be missed by many here in Brighton. Then the following Saturday, I lost my voice at Oxjam, a great gig and being a part of Oxjam has always been on my to do list. It was a totla shame that my voice didn't hold out for it but it's okay as I will be returning to Oxjam in late October!

So after that crazy old week, I am now enjoying a week off...well sort of anyway! In my week off I have been working with my buddy Nathan Brown, recording guitars for me and Matt Bonner's forthcoming split EP. But of course strictly only guitar parts for me at this moment in time as I am giving my voice a rest and dosing myself up on honey and lemon.

In other news, I have been officially announced to open for John Power at Sticky Mikes in Brighton. I am way too excited about this, if only I could travel back in time to meet my 10 year old self...

In the meantine, I will be making my grand return (from one whole week off!) next Tuesday 7th October at 8pm at The Hope, Brighton. FREE ENTRY! See you there x

GIGS GALORE! And my appearance on Juice FM!

So I am pretty ecstatic right now because last night I was featured on Chris T-T's Midnight Campfire Playlist on Juice FM! What a show it was too, check out the full line up here, http://christt.com/words/midnight-campfire-playlist-17-sep/

 Chris played my cover of Goodbye Girl by Squeeze from my new covers EP. (Which you can download here I might add http://www.lewismckale.bandcamp.com)

It is an absolute honour and a pleasure to have had the track played on his show, many thanks Chris and I do hope we bump into each other at the supermarket again soon if you are reading this!
Please make sure you tune in every Tuesday night from 12am - 2am, Chris plays a fine selection of underground folk music, he has been doing this show for the past few weeks and I have really enjoyed it a lot and it is such a pleasure to be part of it.
Make sure you check out the show if you missed it, here's a link to last nights episode, http://player.juicebrighton.com/?odCat=84&odItem=latest

The next week is certainly looking like a busy one indeed! I have a full list of gigs which I am excited about and I of course look forward to seeing you there, I will be kicking things of this week in Horsham at The Tanners Arms and then the Charles Dickens in Worthing and this will be my preparation before I make my appearance supporting Nell Bryden at the Komedia and my Oxjam 2014 Buskathon apperance at the Brighthelm Gardens!

Thurs 18th September, The Tanners Arms, HORSHAM
Sun 21st September, The Charles Dickens, WORTHING
Weds 24th September, The Komedia, BRIGHTON (supporting Nell Bryden)
Thurs 25th September, The Hope, BRIGHTON
Sat 27th September, Brighthelm Gardens, BRIGHTON (Oxjam Buskathon 2014)

Something Borrowed EP Now available! FREE DOWNLOAD

Over the past few months I have been working with my good friend, Mr Pat Blann, he recorded my first EP, My Father's Son and has taken many photographs for me and booked me my first appearance at The Hope back in 2011. I even said one day he could become my manager! We decided it would be a good idea for old times sake to record some covers and here is the result! Please visit my bandcamp to download the entire EP for free at http://www.lewismckale.bandcamp.com

Something Borrowed EP

1. Goodbye Girl (Squeeze cover)

2. Seven Hearts (Chris T-T cover)

3. Let My Love Open the Door (Pete Townshend Cover)

Just to shed some light on why I chose these particular songs. Firstly, I chose Goodbye Girl by Squeeze taken from their album, Cool For Cats, because I remember as a young boy, my parents raised me on their music. The Beatles were the first ever band I ever listened to and their music made such an impact on me, their sound was like nothing I ever heard. I remember my Dad telling me about how Squeeze were like, "The next Beatles" and to be honest, I remember listening to Squeeze, I believe this was the first time I had ever listened to songs where a story was being told in the lyrics! I also believe this was the first time I had listened to anything from the 80's! My parents hated 80's music but they made such an exception for Squeeze!

I had the pleasure of meeting Glenn Tilbrook at the Shoreham Ropetackle centre a couple of months ago after he played a phenomenal solo show. I unfortunately didn't get a picture with him but what a lovely bloke he was!

My second choice was Chris T-T's Seven Hearts taken from the album, London Is Sinking. This was a difficult choice to make as I am a huge fan of his work and funnily enough we both live in Brighton and I have had the pleasure of meeting him many times..to the point where he knows my name now and now I feel like some sort of crazy stalker! He is a great guy who I have learnt a lot from listening to his music and from seeing his live performances.

Choosing the right song was difficult for me as I love all his music and there were particular tracks I wanted to cover from an album he made based on AA Milne poems but I felt I would rather sing a song of his that he wrote as I love the humour in his words. After much thinking, I went with this track because I liked this song a lot and it was the only track by Chris T-T where I felt I could do something a little different to the original by incorporating a small harmonica part in there. Originally I wanted to interoperate a kazoo in there but it felt way too comical so in the end I passed on that idea.

My third choice was a song by The Who's Pete Townshend called, Let My Love Open The Door, taken from the album, Empty Glass. This album this song is from is one of my all time favourites! I remember watching the movie, Look Who's Talking and this movie appearing in the end credits. For years, I had no idea this song was even by Pete Townshend. When I started getting into The Who, my dad told me about this particular solo album and I remember listening to it and it left such an impression on me and it is a very personal album for me. I especially love how simple this song is and if there is anything I have learnt about song writing, is that writing a hit isn't about trying to cram as many chords into a song as possible. 

I originally recorded this track on a ukulele which I am sure it will surface the internet one day but Pat felt it was quite weak without a guitar so that's what we went with in the end and it was a blessing in disguise because it actually did work a lot better that way.

And lastly, just a quick plug, I will be playing a load of shows over the next couple of months. I am very excited about supporting Nell Bryden and Lotte Mullan at the Komedia in Brighton on 24th September. Please follow the ticket link for more information on the show. Please don't miss! http://www.seetickets.com/event/nell-bryden/komedia/786957

And just one more quick plug, I will be taking part in the Oxjam Brighton Buskathon this year on Saturday 27th at the Brighthelm Gardens in Brighton at around 13:00, please visit my Oxjam page if you wish to pledge a donation. https://oxjam.everydayhero.com/uk/lewis

The Charles Dickens, Worthing, 31/08/2014

I had an awesome night last night at The Brunswick, I've always wanted to play down there and finally got my chance at the End Of The Trail Records showcase, many thanks to them for having me in the last minute.

Today I will be playing for the lovely people at Overhead Wires at the Charles Dickens in Worthing. I'll be at 2pm, please be there!

Many many updates coming very soon, my good pal Pat Blann is making finishing touches on my next release which is a covers EP entitled, "Something Borrowed...EP" Very excited about getting that out there to you lovely people. I also have some other major announcements to make very soon too, please don't go away...

One last thing, my very good friend Chuck SJ Hay who I have played with many times and is always a great pleasure too. She is the one that books me and if it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd be where I am right now. So it is my great pleasure...to announce that Chuck is set to record her long awaited debut album through kickstarter! She needs your help to reach her target. I'm making my donation, please check out the link below and please pledge. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chucksjhay/chuck-sj-hay-time-for-an-album-mood-swings

Andd one more thing...Ice Bucket video coming soon...yes I've been nominated twice! haha watch this space..

Summer Update!

Good morning, Good evening, Good night!

Apologies for thee lack of updates, where do I begin? 

Things have been pretty busy lately, I have just finished making finishing touches to my Covers EP which will be revealed very soon and I will reveal which mystery covers I have decided to give a go in thee next couple of weeks. I recorded this EP with my good friend Pat Blann. Recording with him has been fun as always, a lot of good memories from recording the first EP came back to us.

Meanwhile, whilst I've been away from Pat's home studio, I have been working on pre-production stuff with a friend of mine, Chris Myatt, who will be working on my third EP. We have been running through my latest tracks, it's in early stages at the moment and I've got to say that I am very excited about recording this and letting everyone hear it. I can honestly say that this EP will be quite different and hopefully aa real progression from my previous work. I am very excited indeed!

And last but by no means least, I will be set to get into the studio with my buddies Matt Bonner and Nathan Brown from The Consoles to record our split EP. So as a lot of you may already know, me and Matt decided to collaborate by covering two of each others songs. I am a big fan of Matt's songs so picking two has been a tough decision and so far, hearing Matt covering my work is so surreal! And of course very satisfying, I am pleased that someone very talented is doing a good job of my tracks. More updates to come on that soon...

Plus I have played some excellent shows so far this summer, thanks very much to Chuck SJ Hay for putting me on and thanks once again to Matt and Gazz Marlow and Joey Fincham for an awesome show down the World's End last Sunday!

And lastly, me and Rhys Bendix Lewis will be making another video! More will be revealed on this but we had such an overwhelming responses from the music video and enjoyed making it so much that another one is on it's way!

Please check below the video for Prove You Wrong in case you didn't get to see it! You won't regret it!

Please also check out the awesome Instagram pictures I took whilst we were filming it at http://instagram.com/lewis_mckale

Prove You Wrong, The Music Video!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure unveil the long awaited music video for Prove You Wrong which is taken from my second EP, The Bigger Picture.

The response received so far has been overwhelming. I am so thrilled that people love it so much. It's been a lot of hard work filming this and trying to get everybody in the same room at the same time but everybody involved has done an amazing job and put so much into it. 

I would like to say a big thank you to Badland Guitars for letting us use their shop for one scene. The staff there are very helpful and friendly and from videos I've seen in the past by Dry Rise and Bad Bad Whiskey, they are a shop that have gained a reputation for having music videos filmed there. They are the best guitar shop in Brighton so I highly recommend them!

I would also like to thank everyone involved and putting in their time and effort, Matt Bonner, Tom Clear, Toby Moore, Nathan Marshall, Kirst Jeffery and Amy Crosby.

And finally a massive thank you to Rhys Bendix Lewis for his amazing directing, I have worked with Rhys many times and he is such a hard working director with a huge passion for film making. This will of course, not be the last time me and Rhys work together...watch this space...we have already been talking about the next video we're going to make. Watch this space...

More news to come, as always but until then here's a list of upcoming shows you can catch me at,

6th Jul Sunday - The World' End, Brighton
8th Jul Tues - The Hope, Brighton
3rd Aug Sunday - The White Rabbit, Brighton
31st Aug Sunday - Charles Dickens, Worthing

RAISE.TEACH.ROCK @ Alley Cat, London 26th June and RAISE.TEACH.CHILL @ The Iron Duke, Brighton 27th June Friday!!

Firstly many apologies for my lack of updates lately, things have been pretty busy but I have big gig updates for you...here's my London debut at the Alley Cat in Tottenham Court Road on Thursday, June 26th. I will be kicking the night off from 7.30 and then followed by an evening of awesome music from Zoe Hazel, Snake and Waco!!

And then to conclude the week on Friday 27th June. RAISE.TEACH.CHILL at the Iron Duke, Brighton I will be kicking things off again from 7.30 supporting a line of Bella Kardasis, Rachel Hawker, Chuck SJ Hay and Gazz Marlow of InMe.

I cannot wait for these two nights! Going to be such a blast performing alongside all these lovely performers. Come join us for good music, good company and to raise money for charity!

I will also be selling a handful of The Bigger Picture DVD's too! £2 each, all proceeds for charity! Doesn't get any better than this!

The long awaited music video for Prove You Wrong and more updates coming soon, exciting stuff to announce very shortly!

Vinny Peculiar with Support from Lewis Mckale & Matt Bonner @ The Hope, Brighton. Wednesday 14th May 2014

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to announce that myself and my good friend, Matt Bonner will be sharing a stage with Vinny Peculiar of the band Parlour Flames featuring Ex-guitarist of Oasis, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs.
I think this is going to be a really exciting gig! You can purchase your tickets here, http://www.seetickets.com/event/vinny-peculiar-special-guests/the-hope/771048

More dates to be announced over June and July. Keep your eyes peeled!

In other news, my Covers EP is coming along very nicely! I am currently laying vocals down at the moment and from what I have heard so far, it seems that Mr Pat Blann is doing some fine work!

Demos have been submitted for the Third EP and I am currently working on a secret project with another unamed artist I dare announce at this moment in time! You will just have to wait...

Lots of new material coming soon, we're in for a busy summer....