FREE Peace, Love & Tea Party Live in Nottingham

Matt Henshaw & friends Live in Nottingham

The Peace, Love & Tea Tour Autumn 2014

The Peace, Love & Tea Tour Autumn 2014

The Peace, Love & Tea Tour Autumn 2014

The Peace, Love & Tea Tour Autumn 2014

Matt Henshaw Recommends ... Sky Valley Mistress

Feel like I've been a bit neglectful with the blog of late, and it feels like I've been neglecting a child. So, this week I think I'm gonna bring you a whole load of recommendations. And I hope you've seen I've been busy as a worker bee in the meantime. But let's get on with it, I hope you're ready to get some groovy rockin' on with ... Sky Valley Mistress.

These just might be the heaviest thing I've recommended, but I gotta tell ya, I saw them live and they blew me away. And they might just be the furthest afield band I've written about. Hailing from Lancashire this female fronted rockin' four-piece have been down the East Midlands a few times, and are seriously putting the work in getting around the country and spreading their wings, flying out of the little Northern town of Darwen, Blackburn's little sister.

Maximum respect to them for grafting, writing proper tunes, and packin' some groove in with rockin'. Talented musicians, and a vocal punch, and they're seriously cool. As anyone who might know me would tell you that when music gets any heavier than Led Zeppelin, I'm out. This lot get it just right, just for me and the competent nods towards Jack White's erstwhile output gives you an indicator of their musical influence, above all they're damn good.

I saw them first at The Shed in Leicester and drummer Max handed me a card with a kind of QR code on it that I took home, scanned and it linked me to their video, 'The Day of the Lion', and it is cool as the proverbial f-word, and stars, as it turned out my almost sister-in-law, just highlighting how serendpitously beautiful 2014 has been so far. We're all connected, us beautiful and positive people.

So, here you go, get some Dirty Blonde Blues down yer neck and enjoy ... talk tomorrow, Peace, Love & Tea, MHx



Jesse Wright
Siobhan Mazzei
Georgie Rose
Tapestry
The De Montfort University Gospel Choir
By The Rivers
Martin Luke Brown
Joy Mumford
Three Girl Rhumba
MotorMouf
Samuel Idwal
Abandon Her
Stef Baker
Emily Carr
Becky Edwards
Mahalia
Mia & The Moon
Rosa-Leigh
AJA
Kate Rendell
Esther Van Leuven
East Midlands Girls
Ones to Watch for 2014
The Bobcats
Savanna Bones
Mattayoux
Matt Zara
The Simpletones
Charlotte Carpenter
Leah Sinead
Matt Henshaw Recommends ...

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
DOWNLOAD & STREAM 'ALWAYS IN THE WAY' NOW !!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/always-in-the-way-ep/id875188981
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/always-in-the-way-ep
https://play.spotify.com/user/ilsonowl/playlist/2tHGjyz7EpEZpvgc8HpuRm
DEBUT 'IT AIN'T EASY/MY LIFE - EP' !!!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Thing I Like ... Leicester

First of all, straight off the bat, I'd just like to say a big "thank you" from the bottom of my heart to all the people and the city of Leicester ! I've been through Leicester a lot in my short life through work and study, and only being from Nottingham, it's just down the road, although some people in Nottingham and Derby talk about the place like it's a million miles away. It's a great city, and I've been massively humbled and overwhelmed by how warm and welcoming it has been, and how supportive certain quarters have been, over the last year, as we're coming up to just under one year since I decided to go out with my acoustic guitar and make a living making music.



So, in July of last year I had recently left my job at the University of Leicester, great place as it is feeling trapped in an office as a Computer Science Sustainability Research Assistant just didn't feel like the life for me, music had always been something in the back of my mind that I might return to, why not just go for it, still 5 years away from 30, step out into Leicester, Lesta, Les-tah, Leicestershire and embrace the music scene, or whatever scene it is that you might find out there.

I had already been in Leicester as a student, but never really ventured too much into town, staying in the student bubble out in Oadby, south of the city, or only ambling in in anonymity to get bits of fruit off the market, quiet, much quieter, and only too happy for no-one to know my name, why I was here or what on earth I was doing !



Now Leicester Market is one of my favourite places in the world, and I'll champion it until the day I die, and that's not forgetting the great little greengrocers up on Queens Road in the Clarendon Park area, and all the little independent shops in that area, and all the boutiques and great places to explore in the Lanes, Silver Arcade and St Martins Square side of town too. I love this way of life, existing and shopping(!?) so much so that I've quite vocally joined the campaign 'Tesco Queens Road Say No' to stop large supermarkets and retailers crushing the independent spirit of the city, and will quite happily sport an I heart CP badge in support of the people's charity 'Friends of Clarendon Park'.

Leicester has enabled, and even accelerated, my penchant for clean and healthy living, whilst Clarendon Park may seem the last bastion of Little Britain, the city has more diversity than you will ever willingly wish to shake a stick at ! The Caribbean, Asian, African, European and Latin flavours you encounter on a daily basis sends the positive energies and vibrations soaring, and everyone seems to be living so harmoniously. Not the only one, but a great example of metropolitan, cosmopolitan diversity, of which we should all be proud.



And on the music front, there is a lot going on, you might have to peer under a few rocks and make the right connections to find out where, but Leicester has a lot of talent on show and residing here. I won't mention any names, I think do enough to Spread The Love through my 'Matt Henshaw Recommends ...' blog, the Tea & Toast podcasts and inviting guests to play at my nights at the Cookie. And what a place full of, and run by wonderful people The Cookie is. I felt honoured and flattered that I was asked back in January that they asked me to put on a regular night there, I never intended to settle there, like Leicester itself, but I've found myself hosting some electric parties, with positive vibrations running through the whole building, from the basement to the top floor.

I'm throwing a birthday party this year, Saturday 20th September at The Cookie ! Be there, more info will follow shortly ...

Some of the other venues in Leicester I've enjoyed playing and meeting the people who run them, such great people at The Donkey and The Shed, you know why the likes of Tom and Serge of Kasabian hold a special place in their heart for these little places, and they might bring back memories of playing what are described as "toilet venues" up and down the country, but that's where the best memories are made, and they've had some great acts, and some great people through their doors. When I was last at the Donkey we ended up drinking with The Damned !! Small venues, big reputations ...



And the places I played in my first week out of the squares closet, I went down to open mic nights, I tried to do every night of the week. The first, on the Monday night, fittingly enough was the City Acoustic Club at The Musician, what fabulous people were there, and every week if it's on, the hosts, comperes, acts, atmosphere, I've met some really interesting, wonderful and talented people on these nights, and the same goes for The Soundhouse on a Tuesday night, I went there in my first week, and I've been back many times and ended up singing Kinks songs in the midnight hour.

I also ended up playing at The Marquis Wellington, The Exchange and The Barley Mow for a Wildfire Session. Then moved onto the Cradock, and my had I met some fantastic, fabulous and fantabulous people, all within the space of a couple of weeks or so, people I've worked with, done shows with, sang with, written songs with and recorded with, and greatest of all, to me, I've met a selection of families, whole families that feel now like part of my own, truly some of the best people, the kind of people that you only need think of and it brightens your day.

It's been a long old slog getting myself to when I want to be, in terms of being a professional, living, working, breathing musician and singer/songwriter, but we're getting there, even though there's a long way left to go, I'm so pleased considering that at Christmas I only had one show booked for the new year, and was anticipating a small article in a local magazine, by the end of January, following the OBSunplugged nights, which are a great showcase for new and up and coming acoustic acts in the city, and what turned out to be a double page spread with some excellent photographs in one of the most widely distributed editions of The Monograph magazine, gave me a great, great platform to go forth and spread the good gospel of Peace, Love & Tea through the rest of the year !



It would be a crime not to touch on some of the other massive things happening in the city right now, the City of Champions indeed ! I take full vicariously responsibility for Leicester City winning the Championship by the way, since my arrival, my blue and white scarf and love of big Nigel Pearson at the helm has been enough to spur them on to be crowned champions.

And then there's the snooker, basketball, TV talent shows and bloomin' King Dick III knocking about in a car park, fancy old King Richard, the King of York, buried under Greyfriars for hundreds of years. It pains me to say that, with my personal love of cricket, Leicester CCC are what can only be described as languishing in all competitions this season ... I'm still waiting for the phone call to get down there and give them a team talk !

Anyway, that's probably enough rambling from me, and what probably seems to read like "An Open Love Letter to a City", but it's all true and from the bottom of my heart, I love Leicester, the city and the people, and I'm happy to call it my home now, and for some time, in the hope it continues to be good to me and good for me.

The plan was, if there ever was one, to make myself self-sufficient in year, and get on at all the great little festivals in an round the city the following summer, and here we are, one year on, I'm playing at loads of great festivals including Strawberry Fields on the Friday and Simon Says in the great De Montfort Hall on the Sunday, so, if you've got tickets see you there, and you never know, I might pop up at some of the great open mic nights I went to last summer and have already mentioned, but I hope I'll see all of you at The Cookie for my birthday party on Saturday 20th September, it's gonna be great !!

And you might have seen some of the pictures in this blog from my travels around Leicester city with top cameraman, the Digital Mechanic, definitely hairier than a couple of the other lovely chaps I see around at a lot of gigs, amazing photographers in this city too, and all so wonderful and approachable. The venues give the artists somewhere to perform, the photographers give them an image and the memories, promoters work hard at spreading the word and the people, well, the people are just beautiful.


Goodnight Leicester, Peace, Love & Tea, MHx


PS. You may have noticed I haven't mentioned any names in this blog, but if you know who you are then you know who you are, you're great and I hope you stay that way !!



Some more Things I Like ...
Fire
Gardening
Film
Yorkshire Tea
LEGO
Tippy The Cat
Khan Academy
Apple Cider Vinegar
McVitie'sBiscuits
Cricket
Linked in

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Matt Henshaw Recommends ... Abandon Her

Abandon Her are amongst the local bands I have seen the most around Leicester in 2014, great band, great songs and, above all, lovely people ! Four of the loveliest you might ever meet. And they're playing for me at The Cookie for my next single launch in June, more on that later ...

The band invited me to play at their EP launch at The Musician in Leicester back in March and it was a wonderful spring day full of love and music, and free cake ! There's nothing better than sipping your favourite brand of tea, in my case Yorkshire, and being entranced by their glorious music.

Olivia has an effortlessly beautiful voice, Abby writes classic pop structured tunes, Sarah knows her way around a keyboard and if Giles doesn't make you laugh within minutes of meeting him then something must be amiss, and he's a great drummer to boot. Great, genuine advocates for Spreading The Love these folk !

My iTunes is currently pretty bare, composing of my two records plus Abandon Her's brilliant debut 'Principles', and Tapestry's free EP (maybe a clue as to who I might be recommending next).

Each track is a winner, but the song 'Witches Island', about a roundabout in Countesthorpe of all things, is definitely my favourite song currently of any local artist in the East Midlands, and there's some hearty strong competition, a lot of great music around at the minute ... but here's a quick top 5 of some of my favourites ...

1) Witches Island - Abandon Her
2) Whole - Charlotte Carpenter
3) Princess in a Paper Bag - Becky Edwards
4) Falling From Grace - Leah Sinead
5) We Are The Simpletones - The Simpletones

Just a quick Top 5, not a lot of thought gone into it, just a few that have cemented themselves into my psyche, search for them, have a listen for yourself and enjoy, next week I'll probably have some different favourites.

If you enjoyed this, why not check out another Matt Henshaw Recommends ... ?
Stef Baker
Emily Carr
Becky Edwards
Mahalia
Mia & The Moon
Rosa-Leigh
AJA
Kate Rendell
Esther Van Leuven
East Midlands Girls
Ones to Watch for 2014
The Bobcats
Savanna Bones
Mattayoux
Matt Zara
The Simpletones
Charlotte Carpenter
Leah Sinead
Matt Henshaw Recommends ...

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Matt Henshaw Recommends ... Mattayoux

Recommending again ... this week I'd like to draw your attention to my new favourite octet - Mattayoux. Quite a surprising and amazing little find, these guys and gals blew me away when I saw them a couple months back courtesy of one of my favourite little nights in Leicester, Charlotte Carpenter's Tea Party at The Cookie Jar in Leicester.

Front man Leo Stannard is blazing a trail as a solo artist but his college friends aid in creating a luscious landscape of free moving parts incorporating R&B, jazz, ambient, funk and electronic sounds that you can imagine resonating around any sized room. The sheer joy I encountered standing and listening to their noise hasn't been rivalled this year so far, and if any act wishes to better it they'd better be quick as 2013 is almost over.

Keyboard man, Matti Scott has garnered a place as one of my favourite musicians in the East Midlands, instantly turned on by his ability to play the organ like a young Booker T. Jones or Jimmy Smith, and then cementing his abilities in my mind programming sonic landscapes and switching between instruments with ease, and a modesty that is quite humbling. And if you've read my previous recommendations you'll know that I'm quite excited about another musician quite close to me with the moniker of Matt.

Another key factor is the presence of girls in the band, everyone knows the late great Lou Reed's theory openly adhered to by the likes of JArvis Cocker that any good band needs a bit of oestrogen, Irene and Isabel work in the strings and woodwind department, a huge compliment to the sound, and so refreshing to hear when seeing so many bands today relies on synthesized sounds, computers and/or effects to produce the noises you need to hear. Seeing and hearing Mattayoux is an absolute pleasure.

No discounting James, Phil and George are some of the nicest kids you might get the chance to meet, and Will may just sweet talk you enough to get you to go buy him a drink ! Just to re-iterate, an absolute pleasure, if you get the chance to go and catch, please do !

Peace, Love & Tea,
Matt Henshaw.

Coming Around on the road again ...

Afternoon folks,

Been giving you Twitter & facebook updates. Hope you've been enjoying them and not been aggrieved or annoyed by my online presence. My apologies. Just excited about the record, the sun and Sheffield Wednesday getting another year in the most exciting football league in the world.

The big news this week ... Matt Henshaw & MuthaFunk on tour ! Rehearsals have been a pleasure and a blessing, the band are sounding so good. Can't wait to let you in on my, until now, secret little funk soul world. Starting in Birmingham this Thursday then Sounddhism @ the Bodega Social Club in Nottingham on Saturday. Then we'll be in Sheffield, Coventry, London, Leicester and all over the bloomin' shop in the months that follow this one ...

Here's a poster for the Nottingham show ... tell a friend, tell and facebook friend and tweet till your fingers go sore ...

Matt Henshaw & MuthaFunk ...

Morning home boys and girls,

So, last night myself and ReggiiMental were in Birmingham rehearsing with our new group, Brummy soul and funksters, MuthaFunk ! And to say I'm excited like a boy at Christmas with the promise of his first brand new shiny bike would be an understatement !!! I can't wait to start performing live and kicking with these chaps. The new stuff and a bit of the old stuff sounds fantastic with the group.

Here's a little vid of footage from out rehearsal snapped up by BH Media who will be filming some of our live shows this summer for the Coming Around documentary ...


And one exciting show I'll tell you more about shortly is my first Nottingham show in 5 years ... brand new outfit, might even buy a new outfit and it's nice to see Reggii out and fit bouncing around the stage ... Peace & Love !!