Ok festival season is here again and on July 4th I did three gigs in one day! I started off at the Dolphin Stage at 1030am in the morning outside the Dolphin Pub in Sydenham as part of the Sydenham Festival, then I played the Post Office stage further up the street at 1230pm and finished off with an acoustic set with the band at The Albany as part of the Today Deptford Festival in Deptford at 4pm.
It was hectic but fun and I saw Randolph Matthews at the Sydenham Festival who has a great voice. At the Albany I heard the dulcit tones and story-telling form Damien Renouf a popular local troubadour, Paintings of Ships and the Poetic Wizadry of Kate Tempest – that girl can slam.
The following Saturday it was our big festival slot at Lewisham People’s Day (25th anniversary) – it poured buckets – but we met some lovely people and we rocked out – We shared the bill on the Rocklands Stage headlined by the awesome Officer Kicks – another local band making big waves in the industry. Other bands we loved were Short Skirtz, Edit/Select, Jimmy and the Banned, Rawfox, End of Spectrum, The Kut and Sixty Second Silence. I have played with Short Skirtz before – they were finallists in the Surface Unsigned competition.
The local talent in the South East of London is amazing – so many talented and friendly bands and we are running into them at more and more gigs. Venues in the SouthEast include, The Albany, Bird’s Nest, Deptford Arms, Fox and Firkin, The Marlborough, The New Cross Inn. In fact the Music Tourist Board is a big collective of assorted music types based in the South East and the more I get to know them the more I love it. Propoganda Radio the local South East London radio station also featured Nobody’s Fool on their weekly Thursday night show.
Sydenham Festival called me back to end the festival in Mayow Park on Sunday and that was lovely – again met some lovely people there include festival organiser Juliette.
Maybe it’s because I’m a South Londoner – that I love London town doo do do do.
The Albany
Lewisham People's Day
Guitarist Matt Peyman