Diary

16/7/13 : LeeFest 2013 main stage

I think we probably earned our spot this year on the LeeFest main stage! We've been at LeeFest every year for four years now - at first as wandering minstrals, then playing on the Wonderland stage, and this year we graduated to a slot opening the main stage on the Saturday - the first band on for most people at the festival. It was a gloriously sunny day and we were ready to entertain!

We were joined by Angie from the brilliant Patch And The Giant on trumpet, and by new Cavalry member Simon, playing ukulele and melodica, the biggest Cavalry lineup so far - 8 of us. We danced and we played for 30 mins, finishing with a triumphant version of 'The Flood'. It was the biggest buzz I've ever had, singing out to a sunny field of happy festival-goers... LeeFest is an amazing festival, run by a group of lovely people, we're really honoured to have been given our first main stage festival show by them, and we hope to be back again some time!


12/6/13 : Seven inch joint gig with the Cobblers

Last week we played one of the most fun gigs we've ever played - it was to celebrate the release of our first ever vinyl release - a joint single sith Keston Cobblers' Club. It's a split 7" vinyl, with one of their songs on one side and one of ours on the other.

Our track is the new single 'Stars Are Ripe', which as a happy tie-in also features Matt, Bethan and Tom's brass and backing vocals by Jules of Keston. It's a story about George Van Dyne - an empirical modelling scientist who lived in the US and who sadly died in 1981.

To launch the record we played a joint acoustic gig at the Queens Head for Folkroom Records - we didn't use any mics, we just stood around the piano and sang and played. To make it a proper joint-headline we took turns playing one of our songs each, and gradually joined in on each others' songs as much as we could - until by the end we were all playing together and raising the roof! Singing without a microphone is a lot of fun, you feel very unrestricted and free. For the last song we all played a cover of Brown Eyed Girl, with the audience singing along too with the lyrics sheets provided! It was a bit of a special atmosphere... I hope that anyone reading this who came along had as much fun as we did!


24/1/13 : Happy 2013

Hey there, I thought it was about time I wrote something on this diary page! 2013 is going to be an interesting year I think - lots going on with various musical projects, and the London folk scene is getting quite interesting too, loads of great bands and solo artists around it seems - they may have been around for a while but we're just discovering them all, due to being somehow new on the scene having suddenly met loads of great promoters via our friends Keston Cobblers' Club and Patch And The Giant (two bands who I think are going to have VERY interesting years by the way!).

I know we keep saying that our album is 'nearly ready' and have been sayng so for ages - but it really is, we just keep finding little bits to work on just that little bit more, and currently we're working on two older songs that we've decided to remix or re-record for the album versions to make them the best they can be. It all takes time but it'll be worth it. There's a few little bits of drums and things on some songs we want to change, so we're back in Soup studios week after next to do those last (definitely last!) bits.

Right now we have six new songs that are totally finished (apart from mastering), two new ones we're still tweaking and two old ones we're reworking. Add in two more tracks from our current two EPs and that makes up our album we think... 12 tracks. We think we have the name for the album too, but we'll keep that secret a bit longer I think. We're also likely to release one of the new tracks pretty soon with a video, to bridge the gap until we can get the album manufactured and distributed.

Today we took a break from the album and spent a day in the practice room going back over very new ideas for new songs and we came up with live demos of six new-new ones... destined for album number two I guess. It's frustrating not to be able to work on them more now - but we must concentrate on the first album first!

And lastly, I just wanted to say that our first gig of the year last week for Folkroom Records was so much fun - such nice guys too. We played the gig entirely unplugged, no vocal mics even, and it went down really well. Singing without a mic is a great experience, and instruments played acoustically and not through a PA system sound so much nicer I think - it was a great evening. More gigs like that in 2013 I think! Mark.x


8/11/12 : Brass and gigs

We were recording some brass last weekend for our new track 'Stars Are Ripe', with the help of Keston Cobblers' Club. It's sounding great... The album's finally all recorded now, just the finishing touches to a few tracks. It definitely will be out next year!

I was also lucky enough to be asked to play a guest spot with Keston Cobblers' Club at the Old Vic Tunnels for the Day Of The Dead festival, and a couple of songs at the London Roots and Folk Festival by Bob's Folk Show. I joined them on stage for seven songs, playing concertina and ukulele and plenty of backing vocals - it was a top night!

We're working on a Christmas cover too at the moment... lots going on in Cavalry HQ...


1/10/12 : Album update

I thought I'd write a little update on our album progress as it probably all seems quiet to the outside world - but I can assure you we're very busy!

We sat down last week as a band and listened through for the first time to all the tracks we have as album candidates, to see how they work together as an album. We were pretty pleased with the way things were sounding, it's looking like we'll have six or seven new songs and four of five tracks from the first two EPs on the album. Obviously we may change our mind as it's early days!

We'll probaby re-record bits of some of the very early tracks if we use them, and re-do the mixes. And some of the newer songs still need work to make them sound great in all the right places! I think we're going to have a nicely balanced album though with a strong set of tracks, and overall a more grown up sound than our first EPs.

So... more mixing to be done, a few little extra bits of backing vocals and guest instruments to be added in, and then we can start thinking about how to get it released... which will be next year of course, but hopefully near the start. We need a name for it too... time to start thinking...


20/8/12 : The Tripods Are Coming

Last weekend I was at Boomtown Fair festival and witnessed probably the coolest thing I have ever seen...


30/5/12 : Video Diary - Recording at Soup 2012

The Lost Cavalry in to record at the new location of Soup Studios in Limehouse. We've always been a fan of the studio in it's old location under the Duke Of Uke but the new studio is a different league - it feels like an established space that's been there for years, and Giles and Simon really know what they're doing.

In this video we're recording parts of new songs Telescope and King Of Kings, with another four new tracks also at various stages of recording. We're recording the drums, bass and electric guitar (with the bass DI'd and the electric's amp mic'd up in a different room, with the rest of us in the control room playing along as a guide for our bandmates. Then afterwards we overdub the cello, acoustic and vocals.


22/5/12 : Summer Soup

We're recording at the new Soup Studios tomorrow, I'm excited. We have 3 new tracks that are almost mixed now and we're hoping to get time to record 3 more at Soup. All this is in aid of us finally making an album this year.

Also, it's nice and sunny today which makes me wish I was outside - you can never see a laptop screen when out in the sun it seems. Also, I want to buy a boat to live on please. And finally, I finished (sort of) my home made Theremin last night - I'm going to post a little video diary about it I think. It essentially works though is a bit out of control to be honest... good for funny noises I guess...


12/4/12 : New keys to pimp on

I've treated myself to a new keyboard - a Nord Electro 3. I've been a fan of the Nord for a while and played a Studio one when we were recording with the band Knickers last month at OneCat Studios (which was a great studio by the way - recommended!). The Nord Electro 4 comes out in a few months which will have real draw bars, but I thought I'd just get this now so I can use it for Knickers gigs and recording. It's a beauty, nice and red of course and it sounds amazing.

We have agig with Knickers on Friday, first outing for the Nord! It's at Paper Dresses in Shoreditch and is free entry... Knickers stuff is all going really well, our first EP is out soon with a great video too for the lead track.


5/4/12 : RIP Jim Marshall

RIP Jim Marshall - my VS100R has served me well - 15 years and counting!



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Contact:

For any project, big or small - or to ask any questions at all, please contact me:

  mark@mixedcasesspaces.co.uk