Tamara and the Martyrs first reveiw in Nightshift: Secret Sisters gig at the O2

We have had our first review and it ain't half bad. You can read it here: http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2011/jun.pdf

Thanks be to Nighshift Magazine.

Supporting the Secret Sisters in Oxford

So, last night we supported the Secret Sisters at the O2 Academy, Oxford. It was my first time at this venue, but the boys have rattled those walls many a time in their Sextodecimo days. I was quite nervous because the place was packed out, but after a few sonic gripes we settled nicely into our set, and Humphrey was grinning every time he picked up his bass. The crowd were great, so attentive and friendly despite the beer being £4 a can!



Backstage with the Secret Sisters

The Secret Sisters were really friendly, down to earth Southern girls. Their set was stunning, punctuated with funny anecdotes and sisterly jibes. It sounds like they've enjoyed the first leg of their UK tour, with crowds warming to them everywhere they go. After us came Simon Lynge, who announced that he'll soon be opening up for Emmylou Harris. He introduced himself as an Eskimo from Greenland and told other-worldly stories of a pastoral youth, watching the glacier fog roll in like a big slug, and mischievously robbing skulls from stone graves - apparently there's no topsoil in Greenland so you have to bury bodies under piles of stones.

Anyway, we're heading down to the Isis on Friday - so come and say hi: Mayhem.

Recording, Mayhem and "arrest those men"

"it was them, Officer"

A lot's been going on since I we last spoke. So listen up. The Martyrs and I have been gigging plenty and we had a great time in the borough of Witney, playing Witney Music Festival and Witney's Rapture records day. We also hot-tailed it to London - and Tommy's passion-wagon broke down on the way back (15 miles from Oxford). Maybe shrunken heads hanging from the rear-view mirror aren't so lucky after all..

We had a photo shoot with a mighty-fine photographer called Bruce Markos. It was all good clean fun until the boys turned on me having raided the props cupboard. When I was pressing charges at the local constabulary the policeman said it wasn't often a victim could produce such accurate evidence of an assault. I thanked him kindly, and that was last we heard of the matter.



Passion-wagon R.I.P

This weekend we've been holed up in the recording studio. Every time Humphrey picked up the guitar the song gradually morphed into 'Here comes the bride' (more than a little annoying) so we ended up letting him out to watch the royal wedding. He assured us that they were "happy tears" when we re-clothed him at the end of the ceremony. Tommy said he wouldn't mind doing this sort of thing for a living (recording music rather than dressing sobbing monarchists), but he was eating a big pink slice of French fancy cake at the time - so we could hardly take him seriously. It looks like we are going to have 4 kick-ass tracks by the end of the week. A massive bunch of thanks must go out to our loving Engineer and tea-matron, Mr Martin Newton of Studio 101 and our mixologist and drum-mic god, Jimmy Heatherington.

We're now looking forward to supporting the Secret Sisters next week on  11 May at the O2 Academy. This venue will be a first for us so we're excited. If you're around on Friday May 13th (lucky for some) come and enjoy some sunshine and fine tunes from us at our next event: Mayhem

Rocking Out Acoustic Style at The Cellar



Ju from Little Fish
http://www.brucemarkos.com/

Thanks to all of you who came along on Thursday for what turned out to be an awesome night of music. It was great to finally see Bethany Weimers on piano and I love her new songs - very dark, beautiful. She's recording at the moment and the album will follow soon so watch that space. Samuel Zasada have bulked up since I saw them last. It really suits their songs, with some incredible vocal harmonies still ringing in my head.
You can find out more about them and their next gigs here. Ju and Ben from Little Fish completely rocked the stage and got the audience singing sweetly along to their songs. I loved Ju's new beat song - especially the onstage self-lynching! Check out what's going on in the fish bowl here. We got a real buzz from our first Oxford show and can't wait to set up another Cellar show. There's talk about doing one that focuses solely on the local femmes fatales. [Better give Undersmile a call..] Celebrations spilt well into one of the darkest Fridays on record, but we're back on track and looking forward to this Thursday's gig at the Port Mahon. I leave you with a video of my song 'Billboards' recorded on Thursday night.

The Band's First Gig, BBC6 and Radio Cherwell



That red mic sure matches my arms

It has been a busy few weeks for me and the band. We had our first gig at Mr Wolf's in Bristol on Monday 14 March, and were supported by the awesome Mr Duke who had us laughing into our free noodles. The venue started to buzz by the time we hit the stage - quite lucky for a Monday night. It was ace to finally play out to a live audience and to catch up with our pals in Bristol. Even T-Lo's parking ticket couldn't bring the mood down.

The very same night in London my track 'Hang My Picture' was played on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music show "Fresh on The Net," which was pretty awesome. Big thanks to Ruth Barnes and Tom Robinson for that.



Huck and T-bone on Radio Cherwell



Last night Huck and I were interviewed for Radio Cherwell in Oxford which was quite an experience. The show is played to all the NHS Hospitals in Oxford, but before you start self-harming you can listen in online too. It was lots of fun watching Huck set the world to rights through a fluffy green mic. As soon as the show is up I shall let you know.

Now we're looking forward to our big Oxford debut at the end of the month with JuJu from Little Fish, Samuel Zasada and Bethany Weimers. After that it will be playing in the Regional Finals for the Live and Unsigned Competition.

 Hope to see you there at the Cellar on the 31st March.

Tamara Parsons-Baker on BBC6 Music

My track 'Hang My Picture' was played on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music show Fresh on The Net on the 14th March.  You can hear it again here on BBC iPlayer, I'm on from 1:32.

And read more here.

Oxford Mail Review

www.brucemarkos.com

'By the end of the first number, Tamara is sounding strong and confident, reminding me of a sort of “Siouxie Sioux, Unplugged”, while Bunny notes a brightness to her singing that has grown since we last heard her.'
Read the article in full here