folk
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The Threechurches take Shoreham
A lovely gig at a friendly open mic in Shoreham. The Welly is a pub that quite clearly plays a crucial role in the town’s music ecosystem – here you find local teens (underage, but allowed to play), wizened singer-songwriter hobos, and a backbone of regulars who add percussion, piano, and even flute to anyone… Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Jack In The Green 2025
A wonderful day of glorious nonsense. I “tour managed” this one, to allow Jo to focus on the music. This was a very fancy way of saying I got to repeat things Jo said in a loud, commanding voice, and got to tell people when we were due onstage if such a piece of information… Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Apple Blossom Day, Stanmer Orchard
Mainly notable, in my mind, for the photos of Ruth’s terrifying puppet, which cursed the villagers and turned the apples to dust. Nevertheless I’m sure a good time was had by all. Read more
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Martha Casey Day / The Launch of Once&Future Festival
I’m currently reading Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein, a very interesting deep dive into paranoia, conspiracy, and the sinister nature of modern online existence, sparked by her being continually mistaken for Naomi Woolf during the pandemic. I knew exactly how she felt when walking into Presuming Ed’s on Friday night and finding Brighton comic Simon Harriyot… Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at the Toad Lickers Collective Folklore Exhibition, Newhaven
It was glorious to return to the world of folklore and strangeness, as the Brighton Folk Choir found ourselves in an artistic studio looming above the port of Newhaven. The only time I’d previously been here was to take the ferry to Dieppe, and my train today was full of French families readying themselves for… Read more
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The Halfchurches Take Shoreham
Due to various types of exhaustion, only two of the band made it to Shoreham this evening for a mooted open mic gig. Thus The Halfchurches was born, to go alongside our other doppelgängers, The Girlchurches (the rest of the band without me), and The Burnchurches (our Norwegian Black Metal side project). [1] The Duke… Read more
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This Machine Kills Wasps with Lachlan Werner, Charlie Vero-Martin, Leslie Bloom, JoJo Maberly, Queen Mab and The Highchurches
I struggle the day after shows. After the high, and the interacting with many wonderful people, comes the low, and the barely being able to get out of bed or leave the flat. I finally made it out just after seven pm yesterday evening, and something very lovely indeed happened. I walked straight into Queen… Read more
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Singing at Sharp’s Folk Club, Cecil Sharp House, for the first time
I used to be a regular at Sharp’s. Heck, I even wrote about it, when one of the legendary folk club’s legendary performers died. My friend Anna has been trying to get me to sing there for at least fifteen years, but I was always too shy. No excuse this time: with her up from… Read more
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The Highchurches at The Court, Sweet @ The Yellow Book, Brighton
Our fifth gig as a four piece, and our third venturing beyond our spiritual and (kind of) actual home of The Folklore Rooms. The Court is a monthly celebration of folklore, produced by the marvellous Hattie Snooks and JD Henshaw. This was an imbolc special, for which we were treated to tales of the Celtic… Read more
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