Hi my lovely friend, I hope this September is treating you well. I can’t believe summer is over – it was so HOT and then suddenly being plunged into cooler weather brings a mixture of feelings – some relief, and some grief – time seems to fly by too quickly, summer felt so long this year, and towards the end I found myself longing to need the comfort of snuggling up in a cosy cardigan with a hot cup of tea again and listening to the soothing sound of rain. And yet now, I am wishing to live through it all again – OK perhaps not the scorching 38 degree days or the crazy wildfires, but just that freeing feeling of summer itself, being able to enjoy the feeling of the wind whipping against my skin like a cool caress, being in warm fresh sea water, bobbing up and down with the waves, being outdoors and in communion with nature & soaking up enough vitamin D to keep me contented. It was a good summer for me, though I found myself indoors more than usual, keeping cool, curtains closed, fans on, I got out to enjoy it when I could.
It was also a working summer: if you have been following my progress, you will know that I recently launched my band, The Minatones – collectively, Mary & the Minatones. Based around my original soul songs, the band has proved so far to be a fantastic opportunity for me to be out there a lot more performing, I seem to be even more bookable with a band, and so far we have played at the Plough Inn, the Golden Lion, and headlined the Winscombe Festival as well as hosting a monthly jam night at the Departure Lounge where we play some of our original music, jam live on stage & invite other vocalists & musicians up to jam with us, on the first Thursday of every month.
Our next band gig is on the 9th October at Turners Bar, in Fishponds – a brand new venue which sprung up after the well known cafe Grounded closed down. It would be great to see you there – we have a lot of new material and will be splitting the night into 2 x 45 minute sets, so you can expect some brand new original songs on the night as well as some which are becoming firm favourites – the live versions of my solo releases as well as some recently written songs that we have been laying down in the studio…
Yes you heard that right! We have been busy in the studio recording our first EP. I have been using the fantastic St Dunstan’s house studio in Bristol to record, with some sterling contributors. It is so exciting to see my vision come to life! To be honest, I was getting lonely trying to produce music alone – after awhile I felt like I was just staring into a box, the sounds were not uplifting me the same way, I needed to connect with people again. And so I started collaborating with the immensely talented Paul Anders, an incredible writer, arranger and producer who studied music production at Surrey university on one of the top courses in the country. It has been a joy to work with Paul, who understands the importance of supporting the songwriters’ vision, by creating sounds that work around the vocal – a method that is recommended by the experts, as I learned on my own music production course with Mike Mangini. It honestly makes all the difference to the experience for me, I am enjoying creating music more than ever before. We are currently in the final stages of recording – one more vocal session, then bringing in a horn section for another session and then the 3 songs will be ready for mixing and mastering! If all goes well the EP will be with you before the year is out.
In case you were wondering, I took a little hiatus over the summer from my monthly vocal jazz jam, Jazz Gems, but we will be back next month and on the second Sunday of every month, so I hope to see you there or at one of my other events! I have also been having a hiatus from the radio show but I will be back in the next few weeks – I decided to fold my podcast, Meg my co-host had to leave due to time commitments, and I didn’t want to continue without her, so I put that chapter of my life on ice, as I was dealing with a family bereavement and couldn’t focus on it. I have some new ideas cooking though!
Lastly, I have started working as a music mentor for emerging artists! I am so excited about this as I love doing it so much and I am pleased to be offering affordable sessions to all, though if you are female and have ADHD like me then you would be particularly suited to these sessions. I can help with planning, getting motivated, staying on track & can also help with a range of skills such as developing your artist brand & identity, planning social media content, release rollouts, booking gigs and much more! You can find out more here: https://maryminamusic.com/mentoring
Photos in chronological order by Louis Veillon, RD Smith photography & Marcel Atteen