Chris is a veteran English songwriter and musician from Leicestershire in the UK, working in the Indie Folky field. For many years he has played the clubs and pubs in the English midlands, and sometimes further afield. He plays acoustic and electric guitars, dobro, weissenborn, mandolin, and lap steel. His last song CD, “One Fine Morning”, received great reviews, and international radio play. “The Quiet Hour”, a collection of solo acoustic guitar instrumental pieces, was released in March 2019. Another similar album, “Between Two Worlds” was released in March 2020. In the last few years he’s also been one half of the now defunct Prog Folk duo ‘The Secret Magpies’. A new song single ‘Flight of the Swans’ was released on April 1, 2021, and a solo guitar instrumental album ‘Ammonite’ will be released on November 1st, 2021.
After nearly 40 years, the remaining members of Camarthenshire’s legendary Extras have reformed to support The Physiotherapy Unit, West Wales General Hospital, Glangwili, Carmarthen. Their new single,‘Cornerstone’, will be available digitally via SWND Records, with all download income donated to the Unit.
Backstory: March 2020 in Abergwili Village Hall, with the country about to go into Covid Lockdown, Martin Richards celebrates his 60th birthday – the hall was a rehearsal room 45 years before to a young, noisy, and inexperienced band – it was the height of the punk movement. The embryonic stage of a young band that became the rocking legend of the Carmarthen music scene.The surprise party brings old friends from all over the world. Martyn, leadsinger in the 1980’s, has suffered ill-health and his creativity has been sidelined.Scrapbooks of old are reminisced over and an old friend Stevie Stone, ex Extras drummer was inspired to take Martyn’s 40-year-old lyrics, get help from Scotland-based John Morgans, and Carmarthen-based Andy Edwards to create and record a new Extras song, the first of many more to come!
“One of the UK’s best and brightest new bands, Red Wine Talk has become a staple of Norwich’s indie scene ever since they first surfaced in 2018, but now, with the release of their hotly anticipated debut album, they’re about to become international names.” – Broken 8 Records (Australian Label)
After 20 years of sharing (and making!) music in San Diego, host/artist/photographer Cathryn Beeks now resides in the High Desert with her sound man hubby where she continues to support the San Diego music community (along with big bear and Joshua Tree and beyond!) with her Zoom song circles, web shows featuring artists and musicians, the monthly Listen Local Show podcast online, and the new radio show on 91.3FM Rez Radio. You can find Cathryn performing with her all female original folk rock band, Calamity (heycalamity.com), in San Diego and providing backing vocals and ukulele for The Desert Drama Club band in Joshua Tree. Cathryn and Jon have built a small campground for friends and family on their land in Lucerne Valley and are hosting intimate concerts and retreats, find information at HartAcres.info Visit Cathryn’s music catalog at CathrynBeeks.bandcamp.com.
Formed in late 2019 and as heard on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Cheltenham-based Neptune Rain spent 2020 putting together their debut EP and responding to lockdown the best way they know how – with entertaining online content including full socially-distanced band play-throughs from their respective homes, impressive vocal covers and their own internet chat show. Following the release of their debut single ‘If That Was Love’ in July 2020, and it subsequently being picked up by BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Neptune Rain released the follow up – ‘All Pain No Gain’ – a song about finding hope in the darkest of times, which led to a further four nights on the BBC Radio Gloucestershire evening show with Maddie Simpson. The band released their debut EP ‘Chaos & Light’ in November 2020, mixed and mastered by Christoph Wieczorek (Annisokay/Caskets). This release truly captured the band’s sound, which fuses raw emotion with authentic rapped and sung vocals, soaring synths and distorted guitars, whilst their captivating melodic hooks help to produce a stratospheric, modern rock sound.With a clear dynamic of light and shade in their writing style, the darker influences on their sound are evident, but the end products are a unique culmination of pain and hope expressed in a style that is unmistakably contemporary and undeniably their own. Next release ‘We Breathe the Same’ amassed over 1000 streams in less than 24 hours and was supported by numerous radio stations all over the world. The track was a number one daily single on Banks Radio Australia, stayed on Voice FMs playlist for 5 weeks going up to the B list and is still being played on the likes of ERB Radio and HRH Radio. Last single ‘Bitter Pill’ acheived even more success starting with the bands first play on Total Rock radio. The track has been played on 105 different stations worldwide and is still on heavy rotation nearly 2 months after release. Neptune Rain were hand picked to perform at BBC Gloucestershires ‘Airwaves’ festival over the May bank holiday, alongside the likes of Texas and Rag N Bone man. They were a popular choice with the station receiving many calls after the performance wanting to hear more. With another single scheduled for release this year and a new EP to follow 2021 is already looking busy for Neptune Rain and they show no signs of slowing down.It has been speculated that on our solar system’s most distant planet, the conditions may arise for diamonds to fall as rain. Yet closer to home Neptune Rain are proving to be an emerging gem on the UK’s music scene, winning the hearts and minds of those with a love of honesty, integrity and hardhitting energy in their playlists. Whatever the future holds for both the music industry and wider world, Neptune Rain will be there, bringing the anthems, the dreams and the creativity.
Whythouse was formed in 2000, starting out as a hip hop squad, following the battle culture in the City of Toronto, Canada. They quickly realized in order to get on the radio, live tours and shows, they had to be different. In 2002, The Whythouse rebranded as an Urban Pop group with the addition of two RnB vocalists (Steve McElrea and Shelly Ann Cowan). After a couple years of touring and performing at multiple events, The Whythouse was signed by Attack Records, owned and operated by world renowned producer Mark S Berry. Their debut album Brick by Brick was released in the summer of 2004, with the lead track Hold Tight and Summer Time Girls getting major radio play across Canada. After touring with such notables as De La Soul, Maestro Fresh Wes, Remy Shand, Melanie Durant, Shawn Desmond and Kiesha Chante, The Whythouse was coined as Canada’s Urban Pop Sensations. The Whythouse, with a full band, had a blend of rap, hip hop, pop, RnB and reggae, giving them the edge in acquiring a different genre of shows performing with Blue Rodeo, The Trews and Sam Roberts. In 2006, due to unforeseen circumstances, The Whythouse members went their separate ways. Fast forward to May 2021, The Whythouse original members Chris Hale and Kevin Perkins reconnected to finish what they started with the release of their first single Runnin’ With, a modern day pop rap track with their trademark hooks and hard hitting pop beats quickly proclaiming The Whythouse Canada’s Urban Pop Pioneers. In June of 2021 they released another single called Dream Away a catchy, melodic island pop track. In August 2021 The Whythouse released Slow Motion, a country pop crossover that has been making big waves collecting over a quarter million streams on Spotify and currently being featured on multiple radio stations in Canada and The United States. Look out for their upcoming EP “The Come Back” as Canada’s Urban Pop Pioneers are here again.
David E. Ballard aka New Dayve is an award-winning writer-producer-actor with over 200 hours of film and TV credits as a writer-producer for such networks as Bravo, Discovery, ESPN, History, LMN, Science Channel and TLC and over 60 film, TV and commercial credits as an actor. A UC Berkeley graduate, David also studied filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute and worked as a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle before getting into “the biz.” As a musician he has toured with various bands in the United States, Latin America and Europe and has licensed songs for use in TV, film and national advertising campaigns. He is currently putting together new alt-country band DESERT RAT RANGERS so if you live in the High Desert Area, love Gram Parsons and are looking for a new gig, please get in touch! NAMASTE.
Never quite a musician, never quite an artist, Mr. Kerosene has always treated one like the other. What makes music interesting is the unknown places it goes, and the stories it tells from the people that make it. Sure, Mr. Kerosene had timid beginnings… listening to the Space Jam soundtrack like any other 90’s kid, but from the moment he heard Chris Cornell’s voice (circa Superunknown, 1994), his life would never be the same. Music became a science where Soundgarden led to Stone Temple Pilots that led to Garbage that led to David Bowie that led to Adam and the Ants, and suddenly a full canvas of absurd rejects showed the power of the microphone. Mr. Kerosene began singing in bands when he was 15, and since then has been featured on Live105, 107.7 The Bone and KSJS 90.5, and has opened for Alice in Chains’ William DuVall. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a stadium or a backdoor barnyard, just give them something they haven’t heard.” – Mr. Kerosene. Born and raised in San Jose, California. Ezequiel’s love for music began at an early age, watching his father play guitar and his mother sing on Sunday mornings at their local Pentecostal church. Soon after his older brother came across a few dusty records at a garage sale. Records that introduced him to the sounds of Motown, The Beatles and Elvis Presley. It was during his teenage years, heavily Influenced by the music of the late 90’s, that he bought his first guitar and began writing songs. It was the start of his musical endeavors. Over the years Ezequiel, has sang and written for a few different bands. Bands such as the experimental Bluer-X, alt-rock Breaking Hour, and 2012’s goth drenched Her Ghost. Upon facing the burdens of adulthood, work life became more of a priority and he felt forced to walk off the stage, only to linger in the hopes of one day returning. Although, still writing songs and a stint as a keyboardist in 2015 for Skyway View, for the most he flew under the radar. Time spent reading and writing poetry, he still felt his artistic needs were not fully met and yearned to feel the heat of the stage lights again. To once again feel that nervous energy he’d get right before stepping out to preform in front of a crowd. A sense of mystery mixed with danger. As of 2020, Ezequiel was asked to join and play bass for the “dream rock” outfit, Frantic Romantic. A band that is armed with a captivating sound and known for rocking the music scene with a sense of style. A band that has spent time honing their craft and have started making waves in Northern California. Ezequiel, plans to utilize his song writing abilities and spirited energy to help push the band into new territories. He feels very honored to be part of the brotherhood that is Frantic Romantic. “There is a destiny that makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.” – Edwin Markham. Ruben Beltran Started playing Guitar in 1993, at 10 years old, during the Peak of the grunge movement. He fell in love with the songwriting of Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, which served as the catalyst for learning to play guitar, via their songbooks. He taught himself, with the help of tab books, and guitar magazines from the local drugstore, that he would memorize, then run home to quickly figure out on the guitar. A friend of his step dad gave him his first guitar, which was actually found in a heap at the junk yard. Ruben had humble beginnings, so his family didn’t have the means of buying him a guitar, to this day, it’s still in his possession. He later challenged himself with studying the works of Kirk Hammett, Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani. Towards the end of the 90’s, the music of the time period began to change, and He began to open himself to the sounds of Radiohead, and Bjork. The use of orchestration, harmonies, Electronic elements, and Ambient Effects. This, along with The melodic guitars, and interwoven synths of Amir Derakh, and Ryan Shucks work in the bands, Orgy, Julienne K, and Dead By Sunrise were pivotal in him finding his sound, the New wave kissed Delay tones, with the rich retro synths, and Crunching guitars. He credits artists like Juan Gabriel, Chris Martin, John Frusciante, Stevie Wonder, and Tegan and Sara for shaping him as a song writer, and lyricist, and furthering the development of what is his sound. This sound was the foundation of the 5 studio albums Ruben put out over the last decade, starting with Skyway Views debut album, 2009’s “Vanity Unveil Me”, 2012’s “Under the Digital sky”, however, once aligned with Joseph Medina after a line up change, the sound took on another essence, as we saw in 2014’s “The Good and The Beautiful “, and even more so with the addition of Mr. Kerosene on vocals starting on 2015’s “The Victoria Trap”. After some soul searching, the group launched a rebranding of the project into Frantic Romantic, as the sound had evolved into something that needed a fresh launching point, that is embodied by their debut album “Celestina “.
Douglas’ musical journey began in the fourth-grade,when his teacher noticed his affinity for singing. He stuck with choral programs for the remainder of his school years and was involved in both the large-group chamber and smaller swing choir groups during the final three years of high school. During that time he developed an affinity for working with synthesizers & MIDI programming software. In the mid 1990s he performed parody songs for the KWHL morning show in Anchorage, Alaska and was a member of the industrial project Suture alongside fellow musician Tyson Townsend. That project yielded three albums, a self-titled debut, 1998’s “Symboljism,” and the instrumental follow-up “Unfinished Business.” After years of gathering orchestral samples he produced his first album “Music for a Dark Film (That Hasn’t Been Filmed Yet)” in 2005. In 2008 he garnered a commission for instrumental pieces which were considered for use in a California Highway Patrol recruitment ad and in 2009 started developing instrumental scores for amateur short features and stock music tracks. Current IMDb credits at tinyurl.com/y595rb29.
Great Lumbering Beast is an indie pop grunge/alternative rock band based out of Denver, Colorado. Fronting the Band on vocals, lyrics and rhythm guitar is Charity Hendricks Rael, while shredding on lead guitar and backing vocals is Joe Ippolito. Currently drumming for the band is Fernando Fuentes De Santiago, and on the bass guitar and backing vocals is Matt Socha.
