Hot City Knights...

Escort Knights play host to 'Hot City Knights'... 

\\ Middleman & Escort Knights play live, plus DJ sets from Felix Leiter (Digital/Ministry of Sound) & Lance Lewis (Uber/Anaglogue) //

\\ £5 OTD or Text names to 07825 779 732 for LIMITED £3 GUEST-LIST //

Thursday 19th May, Leeds Uni Mine (Inside Leeds Uni Student Union), 9:30pm - Late
www.escortknightsmusic.com

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On Thursday 19th May 2011 - For one night only Escort Knights are proud to play host to their first club night, a huge event that will see some of Leeds best live acts and DJs play Mine @ Leeds Uni. Located inside the Union mine is a hidden gem of a venue, done out completely with wood floor walls and ceiling and the longest benches you have ever seen in your life... not that you will want to sit down. 


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155106697882837

Eiger Music School Launched!

Steely Dan Big Band

Here are some pictures of a recent rehearsal/recording with Katie Patterson's Steely Dan Big Band. 

We have been playing a few fantastic Steely Dan charts, originally played by the Frankfurt Radio Big Band & HR-Big Band, and with a big of luck and funding we should be able to get hold of the rest of the charts. Can't wait to start gigging with this!

The Band:

The Rhythm Section:

The Drummer (haha!):

Primary School, Sambuca and Jerk Chicken.

It seems to have taken me quite a while to get over the events of last week...

During the week was fairly uneventful, School of Rock & Pop and rehearsals as per normal. We started rehearsals with Hassan Erraji again, which was great. Dates are rolling in so keep checking the tour dates section for more details if you fancy coming along!

Now, Thursday night begins to get interesting. Escort Knights pile into the band Passat (Ok fine, Ewan's Passat) as per the usual routine and drive into the early hours down to Bristol. We were up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning (I don't think we even knew that time existed... unless it was part of the previous night!) to go to school. Yes, we were going to school in Bristol to teach a day workshop on being in a band and songwriting.

We had around 12 kids in our group who all came up with some fantastic song ideas, which we performed at the end of the day as part of a performance called Sing Up! which celebrates singing in schools. What a fantastic initiative! 

Once all the performers had sung, Escort Knights got up and presented some awards for the best in each school section and then played a few tracks. A big well done to everyone involved!

Back to Leeds on Friday night and Saturday saw a mammoth shift at the VOX Warehouse (9pm - 7am), which practically wrote off Sunday. What a night, who would have thought shots of Sambuca would go so well with Jerk Chicken?!

Until next time...

London, Otley and 100 Space Hoppers.

Right, so I have decided to keep this blog as a weekly diary of my goings on. This way I should never get writers block, unless I decide to give up on life and watch ITV all day.


I had the absolute pleasure to spend Monday listening to You Me At Six's Underdog so I could teach it to my School of Rock & Pop students that week, I can feel your envy. The blow was lightened somewhat when I was sent a link to download Dustin O'Halloran's latest album Lumiere which is absolutely fantastic, I will definitely be following his work from now on! (You can read my review of it in the Journalism section of my website)


Wednesday was a rehearsal day, a couple of hours with my quintet and another couple with my trio. Both went very well, although they were undertaken at the expense of missing a meeting with videographers 3B Media, who Escort Knights are working with to produce our next single's video.


Good news: Space Hopper video idea is a goer. I now have 100 space hoppers boarding with Olivia and Me in our flat. They are very good house mates, always cleaning up after themselves and they don't eat much. Only issue is their energy levels, they are practically bouncing off the ceiling and they can be full of hot air sometimes.


Thursday brought a trip to The Monarch in Camden with Escort Knights. The gig was excellent, very receptive audience and bumped into a worker for Gaymer's Camden Crawl Festival who asked for a demo, fingers crossed eh?


Friday was a jaunt back up the M1 for a gig at Otley's Courthouse Rocks with Fauns and Richard Dutton. Mr Dutton is a crazy, crazy man. A pleasure to watch, and tickled me pink with his stage banter - but then who wouldn't after necking the majority of the beer rider!


6 Nations was the order of the day on Saturday, with the afternoon spent down the pub with mates before having a lovely dinner at La Bella Vita in Garforth (always a lovely dinner) with family. 


Following more recovery from the obligatory Sunday hangover we headed to the gym for a nice run and swim. 


Bad News: My muscles had forgotten what the gym was and failed to remind me that I would feel like this two days later. I have written myself a note now to remind me never to go back to the gym again.


Until next week...

Spongey Goodness

So we left a couple of our new tracks in the extremely capable hands of Mr Jam Sponge so he could wave his magic wand over them and make them sound like songs. After severely distressing the drums, turning the bass into CamelPhat (that's phat, spelled P-H-A-T), debating over 2db of synth pads, honing in one rogue guitar note and Daft Punk-ifying it up we were happy that the tracks sounded... incredible. 

The man is a genius. Check him out here: http://www.myspace.com/jamsponge

Scream if you want to go faster...