On Saturday September 4th, musicmk held a fundraising event at Trekkers in Simpson, Milton Keynes. To see what happened go to Busking for Charity

Dan Plews has provided us with a useful article detailing what you should know about the Performing Rights Society - access it Here

Aqualung at the Stables, Milton Keynes on their new UK tour promoting their new album “Still Life”.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the band and considering the success of the “Strange and Beautiful” album they seemed to have a lot to live up to. They opened the evening with a light show and an overly long sample of a choral recording of kyrie eleson, seeming to set the scene for what would be quite a small and intimate affair. Matt and Ben then strolled out to play a mixture of re-worked songs from the last album and tracks from their new album. They were given rapturous applause when they played the runaway hit “Strange and Beautiful (I’ll Put a Spell on You)” from the last album and played their forthcoming single “Easier To Lie” setting the tone for the rest of the night.. They seem to have cultivated more of a rock feel on the current album being less piano based and introducing more guitar “You can’t be rock and roll playing piano” with the addition of what seems to be their current favourite instrument, the melodica. Musically it was a very good show, the boys had a great stage presence and are well worth seeing live.

However I did have problems with the lighting. The lights were obviously meant to create a mood and complement the songs that were being played, however the patterns used seemed amateurish and were distracting. All too often moving lights were shone directly at the audience in repetitive programmed patterns . Also the static blue lighting on the stage gave rise to poor views of the performers.

Support Acts
The first support act of the night was Belfast born “Duke Special” who played an interesting and rather memorable set playing piano with backing tracks played through an old wind-up gramophone giving the impression of a bygone era. He has been touring over the past year around the UK and Ireland as his reputation spreads with admirers such as Jack White (Of The White Stripes) and The Hives.
The widely acclaimed Bic Runga did a solo set but did not seem to be feeling very confident, it may have been due to technical difficulties or the intimacy of the venue but she did seem to make a slow start. Mojo Magazine has voted her album one of the best of the year and believes that she “should shortly explode in the way that Travis or David Gray did.” But from the live performance I saw I felt that although she writes pretty songs unless she gains more stage presence it seems unlikely.

It was more a case of curiosity rather then a burning need that led us to travel down to Luton on a Saturday morning to attend a song writing course hosted by themodestmusicgroup at the E-learning Centre in Sundon Park Road, Luton. The trip proved to be very worthwhile. The one day course running from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. is reasonably priced. It takes on a workshop format with a mix of presentations, discussions, and practical exercises, led by an experienced professional. The facilities in the newly opened e-learning centre were most impressive featuring a number of well appointed teaching rooms with IT suites plus a performance room and recording studio. The sessions themselves are tailored to suit everyone from teenagers to pensioners, whether they've written before or not, and aims to make sure that by the end of the day everyone has been able to write something. My bass playing friend and I completed the day , despite little previous experience, by having written songs individually and jointly. The input and help provided was "inspirational" - so much so that that in the days following we have continued to write songs for our band and others. I've no hesitation in recommending these sessions to anyone More sessions are scheduled later in the year For further information: e-mail: info@themodestmusicgroup.com or call: 07773 263918