Hi all

Hate to admit it, but at this time of year time just disappears. Christmas is shoved in your face at every turn, and it's cold, and I've got a cold, and it gets dark really early. Takes some adapting.

Luckily Neo Ferns is carrying on better than ever. Lots of hard work at the moment on the new songs with the band and also at the home recording studio. Had a very good day today and nearly finished a new 2-track E.P entitled 'The Scriptwriters', it should be out next week or the one after.

Got a nice little show coming up on Wednesday (7th Dec) that I'm playing with Theo Jackson on keys. It's at the Strongroom in Shoreditch and live music will start around 8pm. It's totally FREE and you can find out more here

Also, here's a little treat. We recently played at Brick Lane's Cafe 1001, here's a live version of Count To Sleep for those unlucky enough to miss the show.

Neo Ferns - Count To Sleep (Live @ Cafe 1001, 9th November 2011) by neoferns

That be all for now. Take care and I will report back with some proper news very soon. Keep warm, it's cold out there

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New shows and good times

Some newly announced shows coming up over the next few months

9th November
Cafe 1001
FREE Entry

16th November
The Luxe
FREE Entry

7th December
Strongroom
FREE Entry

Find out more details in the shows bit on this site. These are your chances to see the newly formed six piece Neo Ferns band. I'll post more in detail very soon.

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October

Afternoon all. Quick update.

Working on several different Neo Ferns projects at the moment, 3 to be exact. The first new recordings since Five Weeks are on the way. Recording with members of my old band Sons Of Beca, we're working on songs that should have been documented years ago when the band was still active. It's well underway now, and the project should be finished within the next month or so. The other projects are a bit of a secret at the moment, but are very exciting, will let you know soon as.

New shows will be booked for November time, by which point the full band line-up should be complete and we can start playing more regularly, in and out of London.

Will update more news very soon.

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Beirut Brixton Academy After Party

We're excited about this one. We're returning to Brixton's Jamm to play on the bill of Beirut's Official Afterparty after they are sure to amaze a sold out Academy.

Beirut are set to DJ, as well as performances from acts such as Molotov Jukebox.

Tickets are available here:

I also have some tickets to hand as well, so if you want to avoid the service charge just send me a message and I will get one over to you.

It should be a good one, starting proceedings at 9pm and ending sometime in the very early morning.

More information

Laters!

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LXV Books Instore Performance

Yes, I'll be doing a solo acoustic set at this small bookshop on Roman Road, close to Bethnal Green Tube Station, and this will happen on the Wednesday 31st August. It's going to be a nice and intimate performance, where I have plans to play several new numbers, as well as dig into my older material. I'll be joined by William George Kettle who will be playing keys and mandolin, and I may have another surprise planned also. Find out further details about the shop and the event here.

Obviously it will be free entry and there will be a bar. You get a free drink for every book you buy over £3, so it's a chance to claim some classics you've been meaning to get into, as well as have a merry time. Two birds!

The occasion will also mark my birthday, so I'm very happy to keep the drinking spirit up as we move onto a nearby drinking establishment.

Also coming up, the full Neo Ferns band will be making another appearance at Jamm to play at Beirut's Brixton Academy afterparty, which should be another smashing event.

You can get tickets here. Or just get in touch as I have to sell to hand also. Hope all is going well in your world, thank you for reading.

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Dead Space Sessions

So a couple of weeks ago I made my way over to Whitechapel to record a couple of songs on top of a roof on an afternoon that couldn't decide if it was going to sun, rain or hurricane. The set was part of the Dead Space Sessions, warming up for the festival this weekend just gone. I played Five Weeks, Solar Year and Count To Sleep. I was joined by Dominic Faber who played some great sax improv. Hope you enjoy.

You can see the performance here

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Crazy times

Strange, strange times in this country at the moment. The weekends events suggested even further unrest, but no one could have predicted Monday. I was on my way to work in the early afternoon through Lower Clapton and Hackney, and the atmosphere was bizarre. Hackney Central always has a slightly mad feeling about it, but with far more police on the beat than usual and Riot Vans parked up outside the town hall it gave a sense that something was about to happen. This was of course before anything did, everyone was going about their day to day business, but there was an air of unease. Me and Tim went to a cafe and talked further about the situation, not knowing which way it would go. It soon became clear which way it went.

We locked up early at work and I stayed out, Hackney was still a war zone approaching midnight.

Something is very wrong. You can blame individuals, or gangs. Say they're opportunists and thieves, which of course they are. But it can't be that simplistic. I am by no means on the side of those causing mayhem, just trying to understand it, there's no justification, but there must be a way to explain the events. I hope it calms down, and I equally hope the country changes for the better because of it. The gap between rich and poor should not be increasing in the dramatic way that it is. Hope that that isn't a naive closing statement, just think as history repeats itself, people are angry for a variety of complex reasons. Two cents over.

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Neo Ferns on NTS radio

Below you will find a recording of when I went in and performed on NTS radio earlier this month. I'm not used to early mornings, but did enjoy performing a few tunes, especially after the coffee had kicked in

Neo Ferns; Performing on the BPM Breakfast Show on NTS Radio w/ Paul Cross (7th July 2011) by neoferns

You can find out more about NTS here: http://ntslive.co.uk/

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The delights of British Summertime!

So so so, hello all. Hope you are all keeping well.

Neo Ferns has been busy lately. We've played a number of successful shows, some more successful than others it must be said, but none the less, all's going quite smoothly. The new material I keep talking about is coming along well, and there are plans to start playing it as a full band for the upcoming shows, including a return to Jamm to play a Beirut afterparty, after their much talked about show at the Academy. They'll also be DJing later in the evening, so that should be one to see.

We're also confirmed to play the Dead Space Music Festival off Brick Lane in August. The festival is donating all profits to the Alzheimer's Society, the UK's leading care and charity for people with the disease and other forms of dementia, so it sounds like a great day playing on the same bill as bands such as Cowbell. The Night Jars will also be performing at this event, so I'll be a busy bee that day.

I went on NTS radio, the new highly acclaimed Dalston based radio show, a couple of weeks ago to perform a short set and have a chat with my good friend and presenter Paul Cross, which was a lot of fun. I haven't got a recording but when I do will put it up on the Neo Ferns soundcloud, so look out for that one.

Things are moving at a steady pace, I'm planning a few low key acoustic sets amongst the full band shows to try out the new material, and also looking forward to unleashing these new songs on the world, as I believe they are the best yet (I always think that, but yes, I mean it).

Over and OUT.

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Not at Glastonbury, but not bitter about it

I hope everyone has a lot of fun. It's not like London's not having a good time, with added shelter.


Anyway, here are the next lot of Neo Ferns full banded shows:

Sunday 26th June: The Wheelbarrow, Camden - FREE entry. Link

Thursday 7th July: The Bowery, Central - £6. Link

Tuesday 16th August: Cafe 1001, Brick Lane - FREE entry. Link

I'm playing with The NightJars at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch tomorrow night (23rd) also.

I've been recording some new demos which I should have ready soon. Looking to expand the sound with other unusual instruments rather than the standard set-up, just to see what happens. I'll give you more details shortly. Looking to have a new 4 or 5 songs ready to show within the next month or so. Keep watching this space.

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Jamm and beyond

Hi there, the beginning of June has started brightly. Five Weeks was played on Tom Robinson's Introducing show on 6music on Monday morning (Sunday evening to me) and he was very kind about it. To hear the track on the show click here for the iPlayer, or alternatively you can download the free Podcast here.

Now with a full live band, with the help of Tim Smart, A.M Axel and Michael Boyle, Neo Ferns will be playing at Brixton's Jamm tomorrow evening for a full on show that lasts until 6am, with Hot Chip DJing way past everyone's bed time. It should be quite a show, a night of two halves with bands playing early on in preparation for some sophisticated carnage as the evening progresses.

Shows coming up afterwards include the Half Moon in Putney on Wednesday (15th), and The Bowery on June 30th.

Hope to see you soon.

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Rough Trade and BBC 6 Music

Hi all, very happy times here in the Neo Ferns camp at the moment. Recently a short E.P went on sale at Rough Trade East, on the shelves and online here. It's titled Televised E.P, and is a short but sweet example of the best songs Neo Ferns has done in the last year or so. Feel free to purchase, there's a very short supply and it's highly recommended by the store!

In other news, Tom Robinson has been in touch to let me know that he's going to play Five Weeks on one of his shows on BBC 6 on the wireless, within the next couple of weeks, which is just wonderful. So listen out for that one.

A couple of gigs coming up for you as well, one at the Half Moon is penned in and a couple more should be set up for June, obviously I'll update the website's 'show' site and tweet about anything else comes in. The shows in June will be the first Neo Ferns' shows to be full band, so expect lots more to come in the near future!

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New news

There's so much sunshine going on out there. It's unbelievable. Can't be sure of how long it will last for however, better make the most of it.

Anyway, I need to stop talking about the weather. The last few Neo Ferns show have gone very well. I'm happy to say the live band is expanding with the assistance of Tim Smart on guitar and samples and Andreas Axel Wallin Hageving on bass. Sounding a lot fuller and a new drummer will soon be added to make it even better, so make sure you make it down to future shows which I'll start booking for June time, so we have a little time to get it sounding nice and right!

In other music news, I've been playing drums for The Night Jars, and it's well and truly time to unleash the band upon the world. It's a mixture of garage, punk and surf, very exciting energetic stuff. We're playing this evening at The Lock Tavern in Camden, you're more than welcome to get yourself down to the all day FREE event. We're on stage at 7pm. If you're reading this after we've played then I'm 94% sure you missed out.

I'm still working on the Octopus Escape radio show which will be coming along shortly, want to make sure it's gone just right. And expect some new Neo Ferns soon, I started working on some demos the other day and it's sounding very nice! I'll check back in soon...

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April

The weather in London is amazing. Keep it coming. Anyway, just an update on Neo Ferns. A few more gigs are waiting to be confirmed for the summer, and hopefully a couple of festival appearances too. I B
began working on recording some new songs, hopefully going to work a little closer with Tim Smart as well as others this time round to get some extra dynamics involved with the songs.

I'm going to start presenting a radio show on Interobang radio (http://interobang.co.uk/) very soon, so I'll let you know more details when I know of them. The show's going to be an opportunity for me to geekily play songs I like at the moment. It's a slight step up from obsessively posting videos and Spotify links on Facebook, but condensed into an hour, on my own, in my room. Also, the album release of mine and W.G Kettle's side project of noise, The Kranks is out on Monday, so I've been spending a lot of time making sure that the album doesn't sound as well made as it should do. That's an Octopus Escape release also, so check out http://www.octopusescape.com for more details. Adios.

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Five Weeks out now via Digital Download!

I've been talking about it's arrival for weeks, and now I think it's time for you to hear it. Five Weeks released on Octopus Escape.

Click here to hear and download Five Weeks

1. Nervous Energy
2. Five Weeks
3. Dada
4. Lion Moniker 

I hope you enjoy it. Feedback me: info@neoferns.com. Love to hear your thoughts.

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New shows announced and new E.P very nearly ready

It's 10.45pm on Monday 14th March and I'm going to bed in a minute. That's unusual. Before I do, I thought I'd let you know of a few shows coming up. They're all posted on the left of this post, but I'll guide you through them in more detail.

I've been invited back to The Water Rats on the 22nd of this month to play with Bronze Medal and Anchor and The Wolf, two very good upcoming artists, so I'm excited as the last show at that venue went very well. I'm also playing The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, a very nice venue where lots of great bands have played before, that one's on the 3rd April. Later in that month I'm playing 93 Feet East, which is just marvelous. I probably didn't need to write a sentence for each venue as I've more or less said the same thing about each of them. They're all great. So take a pick of your favourite and come down, and I look forward to singing some emotional songs to you about my personal tragedies. Rock and Roll.

New E.P 'Five Weeks' will be with you soon, I promise. It's to be released on Octopus Escape, a new record label that's being launched by a close friend of mine shortly, so watch out, or as Charlie Sheen would say, winning.

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Neo Ferns supporting Wye Oak!

It's going to be a big one. It's the first show I'll have be playing under the name Neo Ferns, and what a way to start. I've known of Wye Oak for a few years and I'm amazed I'll be playing on the same bill. It's their first London headlining show also so make sure you catch it as it's going to be pretty special.

Hear what they're all about: http:www.myspace.con/wyeoak

The show's on the 22nd February at Monto Water Rats, Kings Cross, London. It's a good idea to give me a call regarding tickets as I can direct you to the best valued ones, and it's better to do so early because it looks like it's going to be a sell out! I saw the Water Rats empty today and it really does look so small, but it's a great Venue.

Stage times are unclear at the moment but I'll keep the Facebook event page updated every time there is something to update (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128266533908114&notif_t=event_wall#!/event.php?eid=128266533908114). I'd really appreciate the support from anyone and hope you can spread the word further than I can because it's going to be a big one!

Details

Venue
Monto Water Rats
328 Gray's Inn Rd
City of London
WC1X 8BZ
020 7837 7269

Ticket £8.50 in advance (call 07905723669 for best ticket option or message me)

Doors @ 7pm
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In other news my news, my new E.P is very nearly finished, just a few finishing touches, a bit of a mix and ready for the ears of the public I think. It's called Five Weeks and the tracklist is as follows:

1. Nervous Energy
2. Five Weeks
3. Dada
4. Lion Moniker

I'll preview one of the new songs before the end of the week!

Lots of love.

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Neo Fern's Blog Attack

So how many people are reading or will read this? Well I've spent the last few hours working on arranging and making this blog a little nicer on the eyes, and to be honest I'm quite proud of myself so I don't mind the hit counter. HTML coding is not easy. I don't know who said it was, but it isn't easy. I can understand simple enough once you get your head around it but easy it ain't. Anyway, this is the blog I've set up as a kind of HQ for my music project Neo Ferns. I've added extra stuff and will continue to maintain and update as much as I can about the ongoings of new tunes and such like. That is if there's anybody out there.

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