Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer's Blog

Playing for George..

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:08:24 +0000

Hello!
Time has really flown, sorry for the lack of updates! Business back to normal now. We're nearly finished for the season and we've had a really great time! We'll put up a gallery soon from the year, but for the moment you can see the pictures of the major surgery that the double bass underwent in the summer. (If you can't see the pictures because you're not on FaceBook let me know and we'll put it on the website!) The bass has recovered very well and is fighting fit again ready for a new season. Plans are under way to bring the bass out far more often with George Papavgeris next year, so watch this space! Talking of George, having recorded on his brand new album we're playing at the CD launch this Sunday in London. We're really looking forward to this as the whole cast is performing, Paul Sartin, Pete Flood and the Tindalls. It'll be a totally awesome night!

We're playing for the Lewes Saturday Folk Club on the 14th November with a workshop in the day. We've expanded it from just Scottish Smallpipes to a day of playing together. Based on pipe music and style, it should be a fun day! Click here for details.

That's all the news for now, but we'll try to blog again very soon and even do a video diary from George's launch!
:))
Vicki & jonny

An Autumn Hello!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:43:45 +0100

Hello!
We hope that you've all had a most fantastic summer! It has felt like our feet haven't touched the ground! We have lots of photographs to sort through and add to our gallery, but for now we'd like to let everyone know about the gigs that we have left in the autumn.

02 - 04.10.09 Tenterden Folk Festival Tenterden, Kent
05.10.09 Folk on Monday, Islington, London
08.10.08 Maudslay Thursday, double bill with George Papavgeris, Coventry
17.10.09 Sutton Folk Club, Sutton
14.11.09 Scottish Smallpipes Workshop day in Lewes, Elephant and Castle, Lewes, Sussex
14.11.09 Lewes Saturday Folk Club, Elephant and Castle, Lewes, Sussex

Monday 4th October is the start of a new club in London: Folk on Monday so it would be great to see loads of people join us for that evening and Mark is joining us for Maudslay Thursday in Coventry on the 8th October. We are also playing as George Papavgeris' Los Marbles, so it should be a great evening!

Saturday 14th Novemeber is very exciting, we're running a day of Scottish Smallpipe Workshops before performing in the evening. Having run some workshops in the North for the Cumbria Pipers, it's time for the pipers in the South to have day! Book early as places are limited. Get in touch and let us know what you'd like us to do and we'll do our best in incorporate it!

Thank you to everyone who ever got in touch with Mike Harding we are very grateful for the radio play in July. Please keep mailing him and requesting our tracks ... a second play would be mighty!

We were played by Verity on BBC radio 3's Late Junction last week. You can catch this show until Wednesday.

That's all for todays rambling! Some photographs from the summer to follow soon!
:))
Vicki & Jonny

Radio, radio, radio!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:33:52 +0100

Hello!
It's a week of radio plays! We've been very excited as we've found out about each one. You can catch our tracks on:

° BBC Radio 2 - Mike Harding's Folk Roots and acoustic music show, available until Wednesday 22nd

° BBC radio Shropshire - Genevieve Tudor's Sunday Folk Show
available until Sunday 19th

° Radio Wales - Frank Hennessey's Celtic Heartbeat
available until Saturday 18th

° Mike Ganley's The Crooked Road, tonight on SwindonFM and also on the Music Well

We'll keep you up to date as more come in! Maybe see you at a gig soon:
17.07.09 Orpington Friday Folk, Orpington, Kent
19.07.09 FAB club, Greys, Essex
22.07.09 Hedingham Music Night, Hedingham, Essex
31.07 - 04.08.09 Sidmouth Folk Week, Devon
10 - 16.08.08 Bideford Folk Week, Bideford, Dorset
Have a great summer!
:))
Vicki & Jonny

Another Video...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:28:09 +0100

Hello!
Time for another video from the launch of Gleowien in June. We've also got a last minute gig at the High Barn in Great Bardfield this Friday. So if you're at a loose end, come on down for an amazing BBQ and candlelit gig! All for only £12! Tickets are going fast though, so if you missed us last month at the High Barn come along to see us this month!

We've got a couple of gigs in the South East coming up, Romford (Essex) on Wednesday 8th July, Great Bardfield (Essex) on Friday 10th July, Twickenham (um, London) on Sunday 12th, then next week, Orpington (Kent) on Friday 17th and Grays (Essex) Sunday 19th and Hedingham (Essex) on the 22nd July So if you're local come along, we look forward to seeing you!

In the meantime, here's the video for you!
Click here if you can't see the video. Another video and more news very soon!
:))
Vicki & Jonny

Video from the Launch

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:02:18 +0100

Hello!
We've been very busy since the launch, but we have posted up a video from the launch. We've got quite a few videos that we should blog about, so I'd better get blogging. This track is Time Out (from the album of course) with Pete on cajon and Mark on bass. (You can't see Mark because he's out of camera shot on the right, but he is there! (Sorry Mark!)

We're playing quite close to home in the next month, so if you're in and around Essex, make sure you pop in and see us!
08.07.09 Havering Folk Club, Romford, Essex
12.07.09 Twickfolk, Twickenham, London
17.07.09 Orpington Friday Folk, Orpington, Kent
19.07.09 FAB club, Greys, Essex
22.07.09 Hedingham Music Night, Hedingham, Essex

See you somewhere soon! Another video posting soon!
:)
Vicki and Jonny

The album is launched!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:13:56 +0100

Hello!
We had a fantastic time last night! Thank you to everyone that came out. We have photos and video, so over the weekend we'll post up a youtube clip or two! It was such a pleasure playing with Mark, Pete and Roy. We're still on a high from the whole evening!

We thanked Doug on stage for recording the album and making it so wonderful, but we forgot to thank Andy and Terry from The Long Drop for taking such awesome pictures and designing such a cool album cover and making our wonderful new postcards and flyers, so it's a bit late, but thank you Andy and Terry for doing such a great job!

Another blog at the weekend with pictures and video!
Hugs
Vicki & Jonny

The Vicki and Jonny Big Band

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:42:42 +0100

Hello!

Today is the day, the Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer Big Band. We've waited a long time to "Big Band" ourselves up and we are very, very excited. It's all very exciting and scary at the same time. We're rehearsing this afternoon, so fingers crossed it goes well. Next week we'll post up a proper video blog next week. We have some video footage from the launch at Chippenham, so we'll blog some of that too. So hope to see as many people as possible tonight. Full details can be found on our Gleowien page.

Doors open at 7:30pm, the address is:
High Barn Ltd. The Bardfield Centre Great Bardfield, Essex, CM7 4SL, UK

See you soon!
Hugs
Vicki & Jonny

Badges!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:18:18 +0100

Hello!
We got very excited about the new album and made some badges up! So come and see us at a gig (or buy an album) and claim your badge! Only a week to go to the launch gig at the High Barn, very exciting! We're rehearsing at the weekend and then if you're local to us we'll be playing with Mark at the Windmill Music Club at the White Swan in Bicknacre, so come along for little sneak preview!
:)
Vicki &Jonny