I'm pleased to announce that I've just assembled a four piece band, comprising of my brother Stuart Mitchell on drums, Tobie Carpenter on guitars, Philippe Clegg on bass and Imani on keyboards/lead vocals.
I've been gigging alone (on many occasions with Stu on bass also) for the past few years and in all honesty, I didn't see that changing for a while. However, I have recently been auditioning people with Stu. To cut a story short, having unsuccessfully tried a few musicians out, Stu put forward the idea of him going on the drums, and I would recruit a bassist and guitarist. Stu had been drumming recently with ska band Natural Riddim and I welcomed his suggestion.
Fortunately, I bumped into Tobie just after he finished Uni, who said that he and Philippe would be into getting together with me and playing at some point. I've acually played briefly with them back in 2005 on a project with poet Nick Toczek. Here is Phillipe's page, featuring some tracks with Tobie on guitar:
http://www.myspace.com/41125818We've had a few rehearsals together and it's sounding really good. I feel that presenting the songs with live musicians will really help to take this project forward.
Our first gig as a unit will be at
The Wardrobe, Leeds on Saturday Sept 5th, as part of the brand new
'EAST' monthly music night. Details @
http://www.thewardrobe.co.uk/event-detail.asp?index=0&view=day&date=2009%2D09%2D05