Happy Bank Holiday Everybody, I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your well deserved time off. I have just the thing to help you relax on this fine Saturday evening… …may I present to you the first song available from my second album! “The Lake” is out online to download and stream at your leisure. I’m really proud of the this track, how immersive it is and the strength of the image it conjures in my mind of Lake Garda in Italy. I really hope that it transports you somewhere or makes you feel something you weren’t expecting to feel. Here it is on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-lake/id1109003523?i=1109004661 and Spotify - https://play.spotify.com/album/3Eqgvj2D8YDT6iWwcieMh2. The full album is now available to preorder as well - not long to go til it’s out! I have also added “The Lake” to my recent Spotify playlist, full of wonderful singer-songwriters you may not have previously heard of - https://open.spotify.com/user/hattiebriggs/playlist/0rZBKPIKaICzN6yxM1OjKV. Some fantastic discoveries to be made here! Even more excitement for those who can’t wait for the album - the taster 4 track EP, “Here’s to Hoping”, is now available to buy on CD via my website as well as at gigs for just £5 - https://www.musicglue.com/hattie-briggs/shop/. Thanks very much to everybody who came and packed out the Green Note in Camden on Thursday night. It was a joy to play there again as the headline act this time and as a trio. It was a squeeze to get Hen, Jas and I on the stage, but I was assured that 7 people had squished onto it at a previous gig so maybe we’ll try that next time (or maybe not). My brunch gig in Nailsworth tomorrow is sold out, but there are plenty of others on the way if you were too late for that one. Here are the next few for you: 5th May, 7:30 - Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/344325 I’ll be playing as a trio at this with 2 cellists and support comes from Esther Turner. 6th May - 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-reign-tour-cardiff-tickets-21233597261?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing I’m sharing this gig with Harpers Ferry who are in the middle of their “Free Reign Tour”. I’ll be playing as a trio with cello and guitar. 14th May - The Drawing Room, Chesham - http://the-drawingroom.co.uk/gigsparties-temp/ Henry and I return to one of my favourite venues for round 3. Fingers crossed it’s good weather and we’ll be performing for you outside. 15th May - Harpenden Tennis Club - http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs Ticket link is at the very top of my gigs page and tickets include dinner. Henry and I will be playing as a duo for this chilled out gig. I hope you can make it along to a gig soon. For the full list visit http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs. Pic by Ian Wallman - IW Photographic Did you know I’m on Instagram? I can assure you that your daily lives won’t be complete without seeing my interesting, amusing and possibly informative updates - https://www.instagram.com/hattiepbriggs/. My next offering is a live video taken at Sofar Sounds Oxford a few months ago. This song, “You Only Live Once”, will be on my new album as a fully produced track but here is a chilled out solo/acoustic version to give you a taster - https://youtu.be/zp7RX4Emwmw - enjoy! Lastly, I’d like to make a shout out to all my American and Canadian fans. I’m hoping to do a Living Room Tour across the pond from end of September to early November this year. Areas we’re currently looking into are Toronto, California, Massachusetts and Florida, but we’re open to any suggestions. Please get in contact if you might be interested in hosting a Living Room gig or have friends/family who would. Let’s make this thing happen!
Holiday lurve, H xxx Dear All, I’m so sorry it’s been a few weeks since my last news letter, things have been a little busy at Team Briggs. I’m not quite sure how we have already got to April, but this can only be a good thing as I was pretty bored with Winter and in need of some vitamin D. It was also my birthday yesterday, which means that I’m now 23 and undeniably well into my twenties, which is quite alright I’ve decided - in fact I wrote a song about it yesterday. As many of you will have seen on Facebook, the first single from my new album has been chosen! It’s called “Here’s to Hoping”, and I did a little live recording of it with Asha and Barns that you can listen to here (https://youtu.be/QQzvT_m_KbI) or by clicking the link at the top. I do hope you enjoy it and would be extremely grateful if you were to share it around with friends/whoever is sitting/standing anywhere near you at this precise moment/your whole floor at the office/the entire building/random people who you happen to pass walking down the street/the poor soul in the next door cubicle. Thanks! At this moment I am down in Sussex and would be grateful for your company at one of these two gigs if you happen to be around: TONIGHT - The Maltings, Farnham, 8 o’clock doors. I’ll be playing as a four piece with 2 cellos and a guitarist + 3 part harmonies. Support comes from local singer-songwriter Martha Paton, who has supported me before and is genuinely excellent! Tickets here - https://farnhammaltings.com/events/music-maltings-hattie-briggs/ TOMORROW (Saturday) - The Marwood, Brighton, 7:30 doors. I’ll have support from folky friends Hickory Signals, who will also be my band for the night and accompany me on most of my songs. It’s a very intimate venue so make sure to book your tickets in advance! Ticket link - https://tigmus.com/hattie-briggs/the-marwood/224 Facebook Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/971942286228402/ In other news, my album tour is officially launched! What a night we had on Easter Saturday in Stroud playing to 350 people as a 7 piece band. I hope you liked my new songs and are enjoying the taster EP that you either picked up on the night or received in the post if you pre-ordered the album. “Young Runaway” will be wending it’s way to you in the next 3 weeks or so on the same basis. You can check out a few pics of the night via my website http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/gallery-2016 or the whole lot via my Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/HattieBriggsMusic It took us a few days to recover having had an after-party at the venue, followed by an after after- party at our house, followed by an after after after-party Easter Brunch the next morning. Plus the clocks went back so we didn’t get to bed til about 4 that night - rock-n-roll (I’m not sure I’m cut out for it)! Mention must go a particular cupcake-making fan, who made sure that our sugar levels were kept suitably high to last out the evening, and the next week and a half. Last weekend I had a fabulous time up North on a mini tour with my cellist Jasmine. As ever we were blown away by the warmth and hospitality (and the food!). Thank you all for restoring my faith in humanity by being genuinely lovely people. And thanks for introducing us to “Fat Rascals” (a huge and very delicious type of scone, not any of the hosts or guests). It looks like I’ll be up your way again in January - I’m already excited!
Loads more gigs coming up so check out when I’m in your direction here - http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs See you on the road soon! H xxx Evening All! A few important bits of info to share with you, the first of which you may have guessed from the picture above; “Here’s to Hoping” EP will be out and available at gigs from this Thursday! Therefore if you are coming to St Pancras Old Church, you’ll be the first to get your hands on one! Everybody who has pre-ordered “Young Runaway” album will be getting their copy of the EP in the post some time next week so watch this space! If you have already pre-ordered and you are coming along to a gig in the next 10 days you can pick up your copy for free at the gig (we’ll have you on our list). Tracks on the EP are: Here’s to Hoping Tilly’s Song Have We Met Before? On Your Way (Live Demo) The next thing to mention is that your time window to pre-order “Young Runaway”, meaning that you receive your copy early and get the EP for free in the meantime, will come to an end on March 26th after the launch gig, so get in there quick! We’re nearly up to 200 pre-orders, which is totally amazing, thank you! Here’s the link if you haven’t yet checked it out - http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/young-runaway “Here’s to Hoping” EP will only be available at gigs after album pre-orders close. Therefore you’d better get yourself along to one as there are only a limited number being printed and once they’re gone, they’re gone! My next 2 gigs are going to be smashing I reckon: Thursday March 17th - St Pancras Old Church, London (supporting The Willows) - less than 5 tickets left for this one last time I checked - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/338329 Saturday March 26th - Stroud Subscription Rooms - “Young Runaway” Official Launch Gig! Support from the Black Feathers and I’ll be performing as a 7 piece band, don’t miss it! Over 250 tickets gone already - http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/whats-on/hattie-briggs/ I did some busking at the Farmer’s Market in Stroud on Saturday to promote the launch show and we had some interesting audience members. First a giraffe and then a kid who decided to nap on the giraffe. You get all sorts in Stroud. I’ll be back at the market this Saturday so do pop along if you’re nearby. For my full gigs list head over to http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs and I’ll see you along the road soon I hope.
Mixing of the new album is going very well indeed! If you’d like to read about the recording process from the point of view of a producer, then you need look no further - http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/8223. Peter Waterman (the young one, who’s not into trains) did this interview for PennyBlackMusic, and it’s part one of a three part series about the making of my album, so much more to come if you’re interested in how the whole thing works. Lastly, I’ve got a new swanky shop page, which you can browse at your leisure here - https://www.musicglue.com/hattie-briggs/shop/ Spring love to you all! H xxx Good evening to you, and you, and you, Apologies for my lack of updates in the last few weeks. In my defence, I have been working very hard (I use the term “working” very loosely) in the studio(s), to bring you some fabulous (though I do say so myself) new music! To be a little more precise, we (myself, Pete and 7 musicians/band members) spent a total of 6 days at Monnow Valley Studio in Wales and 4 days at Yellow Shark Studio in Cheltenham. We have recorded 10.5 out of 11 songs, high-fived 72.8 times, applauded for a total of 23 minuets, drunk 11.2 pints of smoothie, played 19 games of pool and most importantly, laughed and cried (mainly in Pete’s case (out of happiness)) our faces off. Now time for the real work to begin - good luck to Pete and Warren with the mixing! Here are some photos, taken by Kate Southall (except for the last one), of us doing our thang at Monnow Valley. I can’t quite believe it’s nearly March already! Only a month to go before the release of my limited edition EP! You can get your hands on one of these either by pre-ordering my album (http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/young-runaway) or by coming to one of my gigs from March 26th onwards - it won’t be available as a digital download. It’s important to note that not only will album pre-orderers get the EP for free at the end of March, they will also receive their copy of the album before it’s available to everybody else! I’d like to thank the 160 people who have pre-preordered “Young Runaway” so far as your donations have made a big difference with funding this project. Your last chance to pre-order the new album will be on March 26th, either via my website or at the launch gig so don’t miss out. Speaking of the launch gig, we’ve already sold over well over a hundred tickets so it looks like it’s going to be fantastic evening! In case this is the first you’ve heard about it, here are a few details: Venue: Stroud Subscription Rooms Date: March 26th Doors: 7:30pm Band: 7 piece (whoop whoop) Support: The Black Feathers (https://youtu.be/FiF1vMt3DG4) Ticket link: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=SUBSCRIPTION&organ_val=org_id&pid=8127868 Phone: 01453 760900 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/events/1040492162675017/ Other gigs coming up in the next few weeks include: February 26th - Southbank Centre, London - duo, lunchtime performance (1pm), FREE ENTRY March 17th - St Pancras Old Church, London - trio, supporting The Willows, 7:30pm. Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/338329 (only 19 left!) In other news, I had a fantastic house gig near Hemel Hempstead with this bunch of lovelies. Do pop me an email on info@hattiebriggs.co.uk if you’re interested in hosting a show in your living room. Finally, thank you to all those who came along to the Mayor’s Charity Dinner/Gig at Princess Hall in Cheltenham last week. We raised £1500 for Maggie’s Cancer Centre and Riding for the Disabled charities. It was one of the most spectacular venues I’ve played. Thanks to Eric Hobson for the pics. See you all soon!
Love, Hattie xxx Just a quick one tonight folks as War & Peace has started.
First if all I’d like to say a huge thank you to everybody who voted for me in the Laurel Canyon Music Award for best new artist 2015. I ended up winning, so high fives all round!! Next, I’d love to come and perform for you in your LIVING ROOM in April, May or June. Whether it’s solo, duo, trio, seven piece, I don’t mind! There are so many options and fun ways to make this happen - even if it’s you and five friends sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea while I serenade you over your brunch, that’s cool. Pop me an email if you’re at all interested - hattiebriggsmusic@gmail.com. Also, you may have noticed lots of new tour dates going up on my website (http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs) and Facebook - mightily exciting! I’d particularly like to draw your attention to the following: February 12th - BBC 6 Music Festival in Bristol. I’m so chuffed to be asked to play on the BBC introducing stage at this festival. 6:30pm, St Nick’s Market - see ya there! February 18th - the Daffodil in Cheltenham. This gig will be hosted by the mayor of Cheltenham and is a charity gig for Maggie’s Cancer Charity and Riding for the Disabled. Lots of tickets already sold for this but it would be awesome if we could sell the place out and raise a bundle for some great causes. To make a ticket reservation, please give Jennie Ingram a call on 01242 264108. February 26th - Southbank Centre in London. This is a lunchtime gig and it’s FREE ENTRY!! March 26th - Stroud Subscription Rooms. This launch gig is going to be huge! I’m playing as a SEVEN PIECE BAND for the first time ever and tickets are selling really fast. Make sure you get in there quick - http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/event_view.asp?pid=12&pgid=337&eid=10499. I’ll leave you with Pete and Jack modelling some rather fetching head gear at preproduction #WorkingHard. Evening Team! Loads of important news to tell you right now so get comfortable. Firstly, I had a wonderful day getting a whole load of amazing new photographs done in Oxford by the multi-talented Ian Wallman - IWPhotographic, a couple of which you may have seen already on Facebook or on my website. Keep your eyes peeled for tour posters and album artwork coming out in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here I am being pampered at the shoot…a little sprinkle of fairy dust. Pic Ian Wallman - IWPhotographic. Secondly, I have been entered into a competition for “Favourite new artist of 2015 award” by Laurel Canyon Music on Facebook, which now comes down to a public vote. As well as the glory of winning this competition there is also a monetary reward and the chance to play a headline show promoted by LCM. Therefore I would be hugely grateful for your votes! You can find the post pinned to the top of my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HattieBriggsMusic/. All you need to do is join the group “Laurel Canyon Music”, then you’ll be accepted and you can click on my name to vote for me. The voting closes at 9pm on Sunday (tomorrow) and I am currently in the lead, but only just, so every vote and share counts. Thank you so much if you’ve already done some clicking on my behalf! Next on the agenda is to let you know that I’ll be releasing a new EP at my launch gig at the Stroud Sub Rooms on March 26th. Don’t worry if you have already preordered the album as you will receive a copy of the EP for free as well as the album (not long after and earlier than everyone else). You can still preorder the album (http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album), and if you do you will get this EP for free. The EP will only be available as a physical CD, so you’ll have to either come to a gig or preorder the album to get your paws on it. Pic Ian Wallman - IWPhotographic. Tickets are selling fast for the launch gig at Stroud Sub Rooms on March 26th (details and phone number above, ticket link below). I’ll be performing with the full band and support will come from my wonderful friends the Black Feathers. The band and I will be performing songs from the new album for the first time as well as some golden oldies. This is the first time I’ll have performed with the full band since Cheltenham Jazz Festival and it’s gonna be awesome! Launch gig tix - http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/event_view.asp?pid=12&pgid=337&eid=10499 Now, you all know what an amazing time I had in September and October gigging in peoples living rooms - mainly cos I wouldn’t shut up about it! Well, I loved the whole thing so much that I’ve decided to do it all again! I’m hoping to fill the gaps in the spring tour with as many house gigs as possible. So if you fancy booking me to play a concert in your living room, please pop me an email on hattiebriggsmusic@gmail.com and we can make a plan! Photo by Ian Wallman - IWPhotographic
If you’ve been keeping an eye on my website, you may have noticed that I have some rather special gigs coming up in the next couple of months. Here are a few details about them: Feb 18th - The Daffodil, Cheltenham. This is a charity gig being organised by the mayor's office, but anyone can buy tickets. You need to call or email: Jennie Ingram on 01242 264108 or jennie.ingram@cheltenham.gov.uk to reserve your's. Feb 21st - Forest of Dean Folk Club, Lydney. Feb 26th - Southbank Centre, London. This is a lunchtime gig starting at 1pm in the cafe/foyer and it’s FREE ENTRY, so come and grab a bite while I serenade you of an afternoon. I’ll be performing as a duo with one of my wonderful cellists. March 17th - St Pancras Old Church, London. Not to be missed! This venue’s reputation precedes it and I’ll be performing as a trio, supporting up-and-coming band, The Willows. I know that tickets are selling mighty fast for this one, so get in there early to avoid disappointment - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/338329. The rest of my tour dates are coming along nicely and I’ll be announcing the first batch officially in the next couple of weeks. For now, you can check out the list so far on my spruced-up website - http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/current-gigs. Finally, I’d like to give you all a celebratory high five as this week has been the 2nd anniversary of me becoming a full time musician as well as starting work with the legend that is my producer Peter Waterman! Thank you all for your amazing support so far and I can’t wait to see you all on the tour! So much love xxx Happy Christmas Everybody! I hope that you are happily guzzling mince pies and cream as you read this - remember that the mince pie is just an instrument for the cream. I’ll give you some exciting news and a bit of a roundup to complete your Sunday evening. First of all, wow, what a year it’s been! I’d like to thank every single one of you for supporting me on this crazy journey so far. If you’ve been to a gig, bought a CD or download, followed me on Facebook/Twitter, showed a friend my YouTube video, liked/shared/commented on a post, hosted a house concert, helped me organise a tour, had me to stay while on tour, streamed my music…I could go on - you’ve all been doing your bit to help me move forward and reach more people with my music and I’m incredibly grateful! Here are just a few things we have achieved together in 2015: A successful debut album release. No.1 on Amazon Folk Chart. 4 singles in iTunes singer-songwriter top 100. 104 gigs including 3 tours - two in the UK, one in Holland. From 1000 - 3500 likes on Facebook. A mailing list of over 800 people. £3000 of crowd funding towards my second album… …once again I could go on…you guys are awesome and I couldn’t have done any of this stuff without you!! THANK YOU!!! Now for my exciting news - I have decided to name my second album “Young Runaway”. Tickets are now on sale for the mega launch gig I’m playing with the band on March 26th at Stroud Subscription Rooms. Support will come from the wonderful Black Feathers and tickets are available here http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase or via 01453 760900. Pre-production is now well underway as are plans for the album artwork, whoop whoop! As I mentioned above, preorders (well over 100 of them) have now brought the total crowdfunding to over £3000, which is absolutely fantastic! If you haven’t yet checked out what’s on offer, head over to http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album for full details and info on how you can get involved.
We’re busy booking the Young Runaway tour at the moment and will be filling in the gaps with house gigs. Please get in touch if you’d be interested in having me to perform in your living room - info@hattiebriggs.co.uk. The last Living Room Tour was such a success and I’ve already got some repeat bookings - can’t wait to get on the road again! My music video for Christmas single “Turn On The Lights” has reached 2000 views in 2 weeks! In case you missed it - https://youtu.be/6wa0QA-Ie-8. My final 2 gigs of December in Cheltenham and Bristol were both wonderful. Maggie’s Christmas Concert was particularly special and the perfect way to end the year. Here is a video of me performing “Turn On The Lights” live with the Maggie’s Choir and The Flowers Band at Christ Church in Cheltenham - an emotional experience all round, grab the tissues - https://www.facebook.com/HattieBriggsMusic/videos/1097511763658164/?l=1840808484534015924 So I think that’s a wrap (see what I did there)! All that’s left to say is have a wondifulous Christmas and a marviscellent New Year. Hug everybody for longer than you need to, and even if the turkey is overdone, the dog gets at the trifle and granny eats too many Brussels sprouts, keep on laughing with those you love and enjoy every moment of being together. I’m off to see the new Star Wars movie with the mothership and the brothership (see what I did there as well, hehe). I’ll catch you again in the New Year. May 2016 be the best year yet! Yours, Hattie xxx Good evening You, I hope you’re snuggled up in front of the fire with glass of wine in hand, the better to enjoy my ramblings. You’d better get comfy as I’ve got loads to tell you. I’m now back in the UK and have had time to reflect on the Netherlands tour - and what a tour it was! I’ll start by filling you in with the last half of the tour after we visited Hoge Veluwe National Park. To cut a very long story short: We headed to Amsterdam, visited the Rijks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum (my favourite), and saw the new James Bond movie (enjoyable but my eyes physically hurt afterwards from taking in all the action). I had 2 gigs in the big city - Checkpoint Charlie (intimate but great sound and lovely people), and Cafe Soundgarden (friendly pub atmosphere). Then it was onto a house concert in Rotterdam, shared with Dutch/Polish Duo Teddy Jr - another packed living room and amazing hospitality! Next was a quick stopover in Leiden where I played a cheeky instore at Velvet Music Records then drove south to Middelburg for house gig number 4. This was a corker of a gig in a beautiful part of the world - I hope I get to go back! On the Monday I snuck in an extra gig in Amsterdam at The Waterhole before popping down the road to Haarlem, where I gigged at Café Briljant, met the most friendly lovebird called Fritz at the B&B, and also caught up on all the Downton Abbey I’d missed. Fritz wasn’t at all shy as you can see. My last 3 gigs were back in Amsterdam (I know the place pretty well by now). First was a packed out house gig, then the best instore ever at Concerto Records Store, and then… ...we were robbed. Yes you did read correctly - robbed. We got back to our car on the last day of the tour, and the back right window was smashed in, glass everywhere and nothing in the car except my old walking boots. I was due to play a gig that evening, so I'd had all of my musical kit in the car - keyboard, guitar, ukulele, 2 amps - you get the idea, even our passports were gone from the glove compartment, and my beautiful new trainers. In hindsight I guess it was foolish to leave the stuff in the car, but we were parked on a main street in the middle of the day and most things in there were pretty heavy and awkward for a thief to carry off (or so we thought). So anyway, after talking to the cafe next door to find out what happened (they didn’t really know much except that the police had been there earlier in the day), and sitting in shocked silence for a few minutes, we realised that before heading to the police station we needed to go to the venue (500 yards down the road) and tell them that I couldn’t play the gig. At that point there was a large hollow area where my heart had been and I was feeling like the whole tour had been ruined. It was a huge shock therefore when we arrived at the venue, Pompstation, and having seen us, the venue manager handed over our passports and pointed to the stage in the corner of the room. Everything that had been in the car was piled up on the stage, including my beautiful red trainers. Confused.com! How had all of our stuff miraculously appeared at the venue? Well, it turned out that while the car was being broken into, a heroic neighbour had called the police and gone out to the street to chase off the robbers. The police then arrived and didn’t want to leave all the expensive equipment in the car when the window was smashed, but they didn’t have our contact details to call us. Luckily they had found some of my CDs in the car, looked me up online, and found out that I was playing a gig in Amsterdam that night. Therefore after emptying the car of all valuables (why my walking boots weren’t important to them I couldn’t say), they drove the whole lot to the venue and left it there for safe keeping! How unbelievable helpful and above the call of duty was that! You can imagine my relief - I actually broke down and sobbed for a couple of minutes (very unlike me), before pulling myself together, having a cup of tea (obviously), and setting up for the gig. It was an eventful final day for sure, and for the first time I was really looking forward to getting home. We got home without a hitch and after one day of recovering I headed down to Cardiff to shoot the music video for my Christmas single “Turn On the Lights”. This will be the first time that I’m not actually in my own music video. Instead we have 2 fantastic actresses playing a mother and daughter separated by thousands of miles around Christmas time. Sharon Morgan is a Welsh BAFTA winner and Hollie Burrows is an up-and-coming star of the future. I’m so chuffed that they wanted to get involved and I can’t wait to show you the video, which will be out in the fist week of December - watch this space! My last bits of news concern my final few gigs of the year and the 2nd album campaign. This weekend will be a busy one!
Friday 27th Nov - I’m supporting Stornoway at Gloucester Guildhall. I’ll have Asha with me on cello and backing vocals and will also be joined by Stornaway’s bassist Oli Steadman for a couple of tunes. Can’t wait! Tickets here - http://venues.gloucester.gov.uk/Freetime/Guildhall/listings/music/Stornoway2015.aspx Sunday 29th Nov - Folk at the Froize, Chillesford, Suffolk. I’ll be accompanied by Asha on cello and backing vocals. Tickets include a whole load of delicious Tapas! 01394 450282 :-) Monday 30th Nov - The Bicycle Shop Cafe, Norwich. Duo with Asha for this one too. Last few tickets - https://ueatickets.ticketabc.com/events/hattie-briggs/ Thursday 17th Dec - Maggie’s Christmas Carol Concert, Christ Church, Cheltenham. I’ll be performing my Christmas single with the Maggie’s choir and trumpets from the Flower’s Band. Don’t miss it - https://regonline.activeeurope.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1645878 Saturday 19th Dec - I’ll be supporting "Said The Maiden" at Bristol Folk House - 0117 926 2987. Before I go, I’d like to say thank you again to those who have helped crowd-fund my 2nd album so far. We’re up to 92 pre-orderers! To find out what’s on offer head over to http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album - every little helps! I think that’s enough excitement for one sitting. You’ll hear from me again next week :-) H xxx So where was I? Oh yes, I'd just done a gig in Alkmaar - it feels like so long ago! The next day we explored Schoorl (very difficult to pronounce) and Groet - both very pretty seaside villages, so more walking and beautiful scenery. That night we drove to Bodegraven for my first Living Room concert of the tour. What a gorgeous house it was, and full to bursting with friendly people (37 people to be precise). Our hosts were incredibly welcoming and did an awesome job of organising their first house gig - may it lead to many more fantastic evenings! Then it was back to Rotterdam for an instore followed by house gig number 2. The instore was at Velvet Music in the centre of town and there were lots of people wandering around so I set up just outside the record store on the street. It was all going very smoothly until a clonking great street organ began to approach and got steadily louder and louder until I couldn’t hear anything I was doing. When a friend went to tell the man that we had a scheduled gig he didn’t seem to care and just carried on. Therefore we moved all of my stuff inside the shop and I continued to play…for about ten seconds, as by that time the organ had moved to practically right outside the shop. By this time the record store owner was so annoyed that he stormed outside saying he was going to kill the man (who apparently turns up there all the time). Quite frankly I wouldn’t have minded, the racket coming from that machine was doing my head in. But he didn’t actually kill the guy. After a firm talking to, the dreaded organ minder moved off and I headed back outside to finish my set. That evening’s house gig was a blast! Another packed room and so much warmth and enthusiasm. I feel very lucky to be doing this. Thanks to Marlike for the fantastic pic. After a late start the next morning (pretty much like most mornings), we headed off to Breda where I had a pretty successful busk. Then we headed back to Rotterdam to cook our lovely host some dinner :-) followed by a lot of ice-cream, yum. Our next stop was Arnhem and Hoge Veluwe National Park. I can honestly say that it was one of the most strange and beautiful places I have ever seen. What a crazy mix of landscapes. One moment we were cycling through a pine forest, then through fields of gold (wild grasses and heather) which stretched on as far as the eye could see, then we were surrounded by sand and I was reminded of the desert scenes from The Lion King, then finally we came to a lake with still water and Autumn leaves reflected on its surface. It was almost too much to take in, a fairy land/dream world - go there if you ever get the the chance! Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered my album so far in one form or another. More than 80 people have contributed so far to funding the recording and it means a great deal. If you'd like to get involved head over to http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album.
More news to come in the in the next few days! Hattie x Waaaaaaaa, so much news, where to start? With some general snippets of good news I think! First of all I had another play on Radio 2 this weekend - my single "Tilly’s Song" on Clare Balding’s “Good Morning Sunday show”. I also had a couple of tracks from “Red & Gold" featured on a Dutch Radio Show thanks to Peter Hodzelmans. Then I found out the 2 songs I entered into the UK Songwriting Contest both made the semi-finals - a good way to start a Sunday morning! The next thing to say is thank you so much to everybody who has already got involved in my crowd-funding project for album number 2 - we’re almost at a hundred preorders so far which is fantastic. If you haven’t yet had a look at what’s on offer, head over to http://www.hattiebriggs.co.uk/2nd-album for the full list. It’s suddenly November, what?! I swear it was Summer last time I looked. And it’s been really warm the whole time we’ve been in Holland, which has been fantastic for sight-seeing. I hope you have been sunning yourselves wherever you are. Since you last heard from me I’ve been all over the place gigging and seeing some new and amazing places. The first of the second batch of gigs was at Cafe Swaf in beautiful Hoorn in the North West of Holland. This gig was honestly hilarious. Despite being called a “Café” the venue was most certainly a bar. On arriving I was more than a little worried about how the gig was going to go I must admit. A noisy bar, an ancient sound system, a tiny stage right next to the loos… you can understand why I had doubts. Thank goodness Dan Cassidy was there to help me get the sound to a bearable mix, I would have been lost without him! There is much more to tell of this story. I should mention that it was the bar owner’s birthday that night, so most of the punters were his friends and family who pretty much filled the place. Add to that the fact that they were all mourning the death of the bar owner’s brother in law, and you get a pretty confusing mix of emotions for a party. And I was the entertainment, no pressure! And it gets weirder. You can imagine my surprise when the guy working behind the bar comes up to the stage before the start of the gig and removes the doors from the loos so that they won’t bang during the performance. After that I had to make sure I didn’t look to my right straight into the men's room, which people were still using during the gig (they had to walk past me on the stage to go in there)! As often happens, when you are prepared for the worst, things actually turn out better than you could have ever hoped. Despite all of the strange things I have described the gig turned out to be a success. The audience were respectful, enthusiastic, and joined in with covers and original songs alike! They even bought a whole load of CDs and vinyl from me at the end. The highlight of the evening had to be when a fairly drunk Nico, the bar owner, joined me on stage for a tearful (on his part) rendition of Elton John’s “Your Song”. After the gig we headed off to our B&B just a few miles from Hoorn. The lovely couple who owned the place had three beautiful Leonburgers and as you know I love dogs so I was in heaven. We took them for a walk the next morning and then went for a long bicycle ride around the coast in the sunshine. It was so glorious that we stayed an extra night and headed back into the Hoorn the next day for more of an explore. A beautiful city with lots of old architecture, a lovely square and walks along the water. Working holidays are the best! Then it was back to Zoetermeer for a last minute extra gig, but on our way south we stopped off in beautiful Utrecht for a night. We did a most enjoyable canal tour as recommended and wandered through the winding back streets with all the lovely shops. My next gig was back up north in Alkmaar and as we had most of the day free we visited the beach at Bergen an Zee (basically the West Wittering of the Netherlands), which was stunning. Huge dunes and proper sand (not that pebbly rubbish) stretching for miles into the distance - wonderful! After having a picnic and stretching our legs we made the short car journey to Alkmaar and I found some awesome shoes before we set up at the venue. The venue was called Koffehuis and was a very cosy café/restaurant as you’d expect. The food was delicious, the sound was great and the audience was warm and smiley. All good! Crikey there’s so much to say! I have loads more news from the past week, but this update is already so long that I think I’d better do Volume 2 in a couple of days time, by which time there’ll be even more news!
Until then! H xxx |
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February 2019
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