Voss Malone

As the the weather is warming up, TOTHAS returns to the Horse & Stables on Tuesday May 28th for the penultimate time with the perfect scorcher of a line-up to chase away any post bank holiday blues! Voss Malone make a welcome return after their epic TOTHAS debut almost 2 years ago when they played Magdalena. Kalimankou, Burn Everything, The Hunter, Doctor Lobo, Peculiar Pagoda, You Know, Seven Churches (probably their stand out track for me), No Lights For Landing and Bridges & Balloons. Chris Leeds & Alrick G, formed the duo in 2013 and the following year, released their debut eponymous album which featured the enchanting "Moon & Stars". I first saw them a few years ago at Kath Tait's excellent Gigaholics night. They blew me away with the combination of unusual instruments, ethereal melodies (Alrick's accompaniment is inspired) and Chris' hauntingly timeless voice (reminds me of Robert Wyatt). They do songs with Santour, African & Celtic Harps. They released their second album "Outrageous Courage" in 2017 which features the driving force of "Criminals". The discovery by Alryck of an ancient lyre in Morocco started them off doing songs based around modal scales. Chris restored some damage, and they got hooked on the sound - a simple six string harp made of leather and wood proved to be a great song-writing tool for them. There is an East European influence to their music which creates "Hypnotic acoustic rhythms" which tend to characterise their live sets. Other aspects of the set have an African, Kora style lilt, with the hint of an Irish slip jig, or waltz. There are songs about East London sights and sounds, childhood and living on the street, there are songs that are stories, devotional songs, angry songs and sad songs. Voss Malone are likely to let the music do the talking and tell the tales of their encounters. They may well be getting Ima Yoku Naru of Mimosa (dance/mime/musical collaboration project) to do some movement / mime with them such as this example here Amber Liadan makes her TOTHAS debut. Amber Liadan has a pure, authentic sound, rooted in the rock and holk heritage of her musical parents (Heather Mac and Tim Parr, from 80’s rock band - Ella Mental). Her main influences are rock, reggae, supported by open pentatonic guitar tunings and her powerful voice. Amber sings and plays acoustic six string guitar and has been living in London for the last 3 years, honing her craft as a musician and developing a strong fan base. She has supported Steve Newman, Bill Knight, Robin Auld, Ant Cawthorn-Blazeby, Kindred Spirit, Time Flies and Native Young. Amber released her debut album 'Warrior almost 2 years ago now. Here is a video for one of the tracks which she may well be peforming on the night.. Rabidwhelk also known as Joe Blackford makes his 4th TOTHAS appearance after a 2 year absence when he managed to battle through a lorry-fire on the M26, looking like he had just come from the beach! He appeared as chilled as ever as he rifled through a set, quite literally phoned in (i.e. it was on his phone!) - including some newbies - of Role Models (great to hear this live), Sad Taste, Little Things, Lumberjacks, Grazed Knees & Green Leaves, Costa Del Soul and Don't Care For Dollars... Rabidwhelk is the moniker for Joe Blackford has been using for about 8 years now. He delivers mail during the day to fund the urgent and vibrant tunes that he sends out via social mediums the rest of the time. Joe is based in South West London and is a young prolific songwriter. As well as Rabidwhelk, Joe has been involved with Three Word Poem and JSA to mention a couple. Joe currently plays bass and sings backing vocals in indie-rock band Bellevue Days and has started a side project called Swimtunes. Rabidwhelk's recordings are a mix of acoustic, electronic, guitar pop, piano ballads, vocal harmonising and electronic beats. I expect that Rabidwhelk will be playing solo acoustic for us again on the night. Joe's songs are always packed with reflective lyrics, brilliantly arranged and well executed tunes. The more souped up band versions remind me of The Libertines' swagger, whilst the stripped down acoustic numbers can be tender and moving. This charming video has been recently uploaded from JSA but is not a million miles away from what he might be doing on the night.. . Maayan Madar makes his TOTHAS debut. Maayan describes himself as "a troubadour singing a combination of blues, folk, rock, jazz" and I also think his music has great pop sensibility to it also. "I grew up listening to old Israeli songs (which, in many cases, are influenced by Russian folk). Let's just say, it's complicated." His songs are in his native tongue, Hebrew, but also in English, the language of my adopted home, London. For those who don't understand the Hebrew, I can give at least a small hint of what it is I sing about. My music encompasses the personal and the political, "from my own broken heart to the broken state of the world, people I have met to those I have imagined". Lyrics are very important in Maayan's music, "I have been writing songs for the best part of 20 years. From the first song I ever wrote aged 15 (with lyrics by one of my favorite poets) to when I recorded my first album in Matan Ben Zvi's Jaffa studio in 2014", This was Maayan's debut eponymous album my music which was in June of that year. It is a mix of him singing in English and Hebrew. Maayan's second album "Get Into My Life" was released in February last year and is entirely in English featuring songs written since since Mayaan's move to London. Maayan plays keyboards, acoustic guitar and sings. we will see what he does on the night but here is a clip of Maayan performing in Hebrew and English... Tony Boyce makes his 5th appearance and first in over 3 years. Tony has a strong expressive voice and puts great feeling into the songs he sings. He will be accompanied by The Boykes, who are Moykal O'Bui (backing vocals and acoustic guitar) and Mark Thorne (keyboards). Together they will be performing a mixture of Boyce and O'Bui originals in addition to a few covers, including a couple of songs from the "Days Of Yore" project which is adding music to vocal recordings of Tony and Moyk's Irish relatives, made by their father up to and over 40 years ago. Here is a brief clip from our first rehearsal before my phone ran out of space...!