The most wonderful time of the year

Glastonbury, Tolpuddle, new EP, 6music, new videos and lots more adventures…

Hello! First of all, sorry it’s taken me so long to sit still long enough to update you on my gig-filled summer of adventures. Since June life has gone insane and I have been all over the country spreading the GPmusic message and loving every minute of it.

First and foremost, GLASTONBURY!!!

This year I returned to the Leftfield stage on Sunday night to do a full set, with my band in tow. Thank you to everyone who made this Glastonbury something I never thought possible: better than last year. As well as enjoying playing, I managed to see some of my favourite bands including Bragg, Noah and the Whale and the incredible Jimmy Eat World, to whom I rocked out while re-living some fogettable teenage years. A pleasant surprise was Kate Tempest who I hadn’t heard before - if, like me, you are late to that party then you should check her out, she’s wonderful.

The best thing about Glastonbury 2011 for me was the people who strayed into the dark Leftfield tent on Sunday evening despite the blazing sunshine outside to sing along with me. To every single one of you, a sincere thank you.

I was propelled from the high of Glasto straight onto Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival 2011  which was one of the best weekends of my career and of my life! Great beer,  fantastic, inspirational artists and a general feeling of goodwill to all lefties made the whole weekend feel like living in a socialist utopia with wood-fired pizzas. I would recommend it to anyone, and I will definitely be booking my tickets for next year. On top of all that, the crowd at Tolpuddle proved to be the best I have ever had the honour of playing to, and I can’t thank them enough for giving me the biggest boost of the year so far. 

New Stuff

E.P.

Just before Glasto, I finally managed (six months after writing it) to get my act together and record the Emily Davison Blues, my tribute to the protesters who marched against the rise of tuition fees last year. The song, along with 3 other brand new ones, forms my new E.P., When No One’s Listening.

You can download it for a mere £3 at the Shop as there are now no physical copies left - the very lovely audience at Tolpudle cleaned me out! If anyone is interested in more hard copies then let me know.

Video

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few weeks you’ve probably heard that Rupert Murdoch seems to be losing his grip on British media. A combination of this, and the truly shocking reaction that the teachers’ strike gleaned from the country in general got me thinking about the damage the propaganda can do to us all in this crucial time. The myth that we are in competition with each other because there’s not enough to go around seems to be cutting deep into peoples’ consciousness, and I wanted to voice another side of the argument.

The song, called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, can be found here.

The title and, I guess, the sentiment are respectfully pinched from the genius Gil Scott-Heron, who died earlier this year.

Finally…

Last but not least, a massive THANK YOU each to Sam Duckworth and to Josie Long for each making one of my actual dreams come true this week. Sam kindly asked me to support him earlier this week in London for his solo gig. I’ve been a huge fan of him and of Get Cape since I was at school and sharing a stage with him and the wonderful Chris TT was just awesome, made all the more special when put to the soundtrack of his new songs, which are simply beautiful.

At Tolpuddle I got to see the amazing Josie Long, and I got to have a beer with her too - it’s hard to say which I enjoyed more. When on BBC 6Music yesterday, Josie was kind enough to play my song Tonne of Bricks and say some lovely things about me too. (You can find it here for a few days - I’m on at about 2:45mins) I happened to be listening to 6Music at the time and I think my heart stopped for a moment when I heard myself blasting out - thanks a million to Josie for making it happen. If you are at Edinburgh Fringe at all this month you should DEFINITELY check out her phenomenal show. Yours truly might even pop up somewhere around the festival - follow me on Twitter to keep up with my movements!

Thank you to everyone who has made the summer so far so incredible. Looking forward in August to Leicester’s Summer Sundae Fringe Festival and GlastonTree and, of course, my main stage debut at Greenbelt festival. Hope to see you all there!

Cheers! GP x