It's only me, Charlie Smith back again to do a little write-up about another open mic night at River Studios! Yes, another month has flown by and it's time to take a little recap. This month's article has been slightly delayed just because of how busy I have been in early April. I had the pleasure on Sunday the 2nd of April of hosting my first-ever gig outside of Southampton at the Rail Way Inn, Winchester. While I think it was a smashing gig I can't lie it has taken a lot out of me to put on the evening. I will have a full article coming out about that hopefully in the coming week. I also decided to have a break over the Easter period to try and relax somewhat. It's not always easy to switch off as an indie musician as there are always more gigs to play, practise to do and songs to write. Keeping on writing articles like this is also a challenge for me! Not really for any specific reason other than I am good at procrastinating. So now with having a few days off, I feel fresh and ready to get back to writing, music and gig planning. No maybe not quite fully refreshed, but it will do. I've still got a few chocolate eggs left to eat so that will give me a bit of energy to write the rest of this article…. I hope.
This month saw a few new faces but also some familiar ones. I was very happy to see a pair of musicians together. I'm not claiming to be a matchmaker but I suppose you could say I set them up together. So every successful thing they do in the future I will be taking all the credit of course. But I'll save that for a little later, first up we have a River Studios' regular accompanied by a new face.
You may remember Geoff from the last open mic, but this month he has another member with him. I also am reliably informed that there are more members coming to the next River Studios open mic! Geoff has been busy recruiting members and things look to be going along quite nicely. Keep up the good work and 'Taylor made band' is coming together quite nicely.
A brand new duo we have some great harmonies from 'The halliwell's'! Their first time at the River Studios was a real treat for the audience. They perform acoustic pop covers and also fabulous original tracks.
Another new act up and we have George! Unfortunately, I seemed to have taken down his email wrong so I cannot send him the photos as I promised. Hopefully, though I will catch him at the next open mic.
Next up we have a brand new duo that I am going to be taking all the credit for. It's the Guillotine Union boys. Here they are making their debut at The River Studios' open mic, at the venue they first performed solo on the same bill and met. They also made their debut gig at the Rail Way Inn on the 2nd of April. Looking forward to playing more gigs with this duo. Incredible foot stomping sounds.
It is what you think it is! A cigar box ukulele. Have you ever seen one before? I never have. What a treat it was. Thanks, Julian for coming down and sharing some tunes with us. Always find it fascinating when you find new instruments and new genre styles at open mics.
Now last but not least we have Simon. Unfortunately with open mics, someone has to go first and someone always has to go on stage last. Good job Simon for ending the night on a high.
That's it for this month but fear not! Because this article is late there is not so much time to wait for the next open mic! Returning on Thursday 27th April. Look forward to rounding off the month with another great night of local music. If you'd like to perform at the open mic or have any questions please do drop me a message on any of my social media ( https://linktr.ee/CharlieSmithMusic) See you all at the next one.
