I'm at Dot to Dot!

Good evening everyone!

So clearly I forgot to write a blog this week however, I have a totally legit response; Dot to Dot festival! All day this Sunday I've been out at the festival enjoying some fantastic music, as I'm writing this now I'm sat in the Alley Cafe listening to the fantastic Beth Frisby play for the Under the Tree stage of D2D (I love technology, iPhones rule!) I'm going to do more of a festival review next Sunday as there's still loads more to see today...

As for the rest of this week, it's been a bit of a quiet one in all fairness. It all began at the Maze last Sunday with a gig. i went to see New Orleans band, Hurray for the Riff Raff and they were amazing! I mentioned them in a blog a few weeks ago after tracking down their song Young Blood Blues and I was super excited to see them. Then of course there was the Golden Fleece open mic night which eventually turned into an impromptu jam night at the Lacehouse.

Seeing as I was gig-less for the rest of the week I took two days out to get in the studio and record my EP which has been a very exciting experience.  I've got 4 tracks done now it's just a case of getting them mixed down nicely and adding in some other random stuff (banjo update to follow no doubt!) 

So short and sweet this week, Beth has just finished her set beautifully and now we're on to the next! Yay Under the Tree and Dot to Dot! 

Love y'all!

Anwyn :) x

I've Finished Uni!

Hello there!

This week has been a very busy one on the gigging front.  Starting off on Monday as the NTU Music Society took over Spanky van Dykes for the last acoustic night of this academic year.  This month we had fantastic music from Will Wilson, Izzie Marie Hill, Agnes Bella and Yasmin Issaka.  I kicked off the night with a little help from Will on a cover of Noel Gallagher's If I Had a Gun which is one of my favourite songs so was pretty happy to perform it! I also busted out a ukelele for one of my songs which was a lot of fun as I haven't played ukelele on stage in a very long time...

Tuesday was a pretty important day for me, my final piece of uni work was submitted and I am now no longer a student (we'll make it official when I graduate....) To celebrate I spent the entire day in bed catching up on some TV, then eventually ventured out to watch the super talented Ryan Thomas play at Tilt. 

On Wednesday I traveled to Sheffield for NA Music's 5th Birthday celebrations.  I was joined at the Bowery by my tour friends Simon Roe, Eve May Rowlands and Dougie Francis as well as NA Music bands The Retrospectives and Twin Bears.  It was a really enjoyable evening... HAPPY BIRTHDAY NA MUSIC! :)

I made a return to Leamington Spa on Friday to perform at the opening of my friends' new studio.  Sound Anchor Studios is a new business in Leamington based in one of the creative arches underneath the railway bridge that offers rehearsal space, PA hire, CD printing and eventually recording.  It's a very exciting development and I feel really lucky to have been a part of it's opening.

I was straight back to Nottingham on Saturday to play Kerblammo! at the Maze for Under the Tree which was a lot of fun.  With three stages and loads of different acts it was a great night.  I managed to catch music from Mikie Howard and Proper English Gentlemen before playing my acoustic set in the Forest Tavern at the front of the Maze.

So Sunday is my first proper day off in a little while and I've enjoyed it with some unhealthy takeaway and gossiping with friends.  We're going to watch Harry Potter now so I'll have to leave it here!

Enjoy the next week...

Love y'all 

Anwyn :) x

LINKS

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Twitter: www.twitter.com/anwyn_williams

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Hello readers!

Where did all that sunshine disappear to?!  I already miss it...  Is that Summer 2013 done and dusted?  We'll see I suppose.

Last Sunday while the weather was still lovely I got to play a nice set at the Anchor's beer festival to help raise some money for charity.  It was a fantastic day and as the sun was out we were lucky enough to perform our sets in the Hartshill pub's beautiful beer garden.  I felt so summery!  The fantastic weather continued into Bank Holiday Monday but I unfortunately had to spend 2hours on a train to Nottingham, when I did get back it was straight to the Golden Fleece for some open mic love (in between sitting up on the roof terrace of course!).

After spending a lot of time on Tuesday making a fantastic (in my humble opinion) Summer playlist on Spotify of nearly 500 tracks I was disappointed to say the least when I woke up to the miserable grey day that was Wednesday...  My spirits were lifted later in the evening by going to the amazing Rescue Rooms Quiz and Kareoke for the very first time!  Seriously, it was sooo much fun... we didn't win but it's all about the taking part right?!  The kareoke was fab, I haven't done it in such a long time, it was nice to just have a bit of a mess about while singing instead of taking it seriously all the time...

That said, I was back to seriousness on Thursday night as the Music Society did an Under the Tree takeover at Brewdog.  Big thanks to Kim Winter for pulling all of it together, it was a brilliant night with many, many, many very talented Music Society performers who I love a lot.  We had beautiful music from: Mikie Howard, Will Wilson, George and Jess, Yasmin Issaka, Michael Stott, Miles Hornsby, Agnes Bella, Matt Gold, Izzy Marie Hill, Adam Peter Smith, The Long Intros and a special guest appearance from  Marc Reeves who was kind enough to do sound for us (thank you!).  It was so nice to have a night like that before a lot of our members graduate and disappear so a big thank you to everyone who came down to play and support :)

On Friday I submitted my last university essay, all that's left to do now is a piece of group work and then (hopefully...) graduation!  I feel very strange at the minute, these last three years have been mad and I'm so close to the finish line now.  I'm sure to dwell on this even more next week when it'll finally all be over.

Saturday night gave me my first experience of drinking in Beeston!  I played at the White Lion for the Next Step Network music night.  The charity deals with people with mental health problems and helps them with their recoveries, it's a really fantastic charity that's run entirely by volunteers so I was glad to be able to help out even just a little by playing the gig for them.  I was also joined by several other artists and managed to catch sets by Adam Peter Smith, always a pleasure to watch, and the lovely Becky Syson who was kind enough to offer me another gig! yay!  Oh, and Beeston is cool, I like it.

I think that's just about it for this week, let's hope the sun comes back out and I can enjoy my playlist in style...  And finally, before I go, I'm delighted to announce that on the 26th May I'll be playing the Under the Tree stage in Alley Cafe at the Dot to Dot fringe festival! 

Love y'all!

Anwyn :) x

PS - Spotify adverts keep telling me about their 'play button' feature so I've decided to utilise it and share my summer love with you, voila!

LINKS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/anwynwilliamsmusic

YouTube: www.youtube.com/anwynwilliams

Twitter: www.twitter.com/anwyn_williams

The Sun is Out!

Happy Sunday!

Hope everyone has enjoyed the lovely weather we've had this week!  Let's hope it sticks around a little while longer....

Last Sunday evening I went to The Queens Social Club in Sheffield to watch Lucy Rose, she was so good!  I actually think it might've been one of the best gigs I've been to in a while, she was fantastic!  And afterwards she sold me some tea... Lucy Rose makes tea!  How cool is that?  I really enjoyed watching her perform, I've been a big fan of her for quite a while.

Monday was the standard Golden Fleece open mic night which was brilliant as always, I will be sad when all the final year students in the Music Society graduate and disappear, I'm hoping to stick around!

This week the Music Society were invited to perform at Nottingham Trent Student's Union Awards (NTSU Awards).  For any of you that follow me on Twitter will be fully aware of this after my explosion of tweets on Wednesday night. Let me explain, we were sat next to a TV screen that was displaying tweets with #ntsuawards, Music Society kinda just ran with it...  It was a lovely evening with free food and wine (hence all the tweets).  Myself, Matt Gold and the Long Intros all got to perform one song each in front of a very suave looking audience.  The NTU Drama Society also performed songs from their rendition of Fame and dance group, Funky Fresh Collective did an incredible routine.

This weekend I've come back home again, which is always a nice treat and this afternoon I'll be travelling to the The Anchor in Hartshill to perform at a Beer Festival with my good friends Benjamin Penrose and Samuel Hayler!  I'll let you know how we get on next week...

Love y'all

Anwyn :) x

LINKS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/anwynwilliamsmusic

YouTube: www.youtube.com/anwynwilliams

Twitter: www.twitter.com/anwyn_williams