The bright lights beckon
Comments |
Folk-rock is reaching out to the masses thanks to
Kent-rabble rousers Fate the Juggler. Chris Price caught up with
the band everyone on the London-scene is talking
about.
With their debut album about to drop and a string of
high-profile London shows under their belt, you really should have
heard about Fate the Juggler.
The folk-rock six-piece are marking themselves out as one of the
brightest musical prospects to emerge from Kent in recent
times.
The band have played top small venues in London like the Dublin
Castle in Camden, The Troubadour in Earls Court and the 100 Club on
Oxford Street, which has hosted everyone from the Sex Pistols, to
the White Stripes over the years. They have also been asked to play
a show at the O2 Academy in Islington.
“We had 52 people come from Kent on a coach and by train to see
us at the 100 Club,” said Rob Spiers, the band’s founder and
frontman.
“We are trying to up the ante with every show. We need to see if
we can get into the London scene. We headlined at the Troubadour
and have been asked to headline at Dublin Castle. We are turning
gigs away at the moment as we have got so many. We want to become
bigger and better.”
The new album, The Ghost of Beauty Lost, is available on iTunes
and Spotify from Monday, February 6. It will be available to buy in
HMV and Tesco four weeks later. Released through Folkestone-based
Red Admiral Records, the album took about four months to make and
was recorded in Rob’s studio at his house in Boxley Road,
Maidstone.
Formed in the summer of 2010, the band quickly built up a
following on the local music scene and then started touring all
over Kent. Rob has been in several bands, most notably classic rock
tribute band Learning Curve, where he played Eagles and Beatles
songs around the county for 16 years.
However, there’s only so many times you can play Hotel
California and eventually Rob decided he wanted to devote his time
to original material and advertised for folk musicians.
“We did open mic nights and they went so well the pubs said,
'Can you do a full gig?’ We went down a storm,” recalled Rob.
“We try to increase what we are doing each time. We played local
gigs first and now we are getting booked in London.”
Rob is the main creative force of the band, who play tunes on
instruments as diverse as the djembe, mandolin, bouzuki and
harmonica. All their songs were written by Rob but the band has
started co-writing songs as a whole for the next album, which they
feel they could start recording right away.
“I have written a lot of stuff specifically for this project and
some of it is some old stuff I had,” said Rob, 57.
“We are tapping into a young and old audience. There seems to be
a wide age range at the shows. Lots of people like the music.
“I think it is the mix of our set up. When people see Kirsteen
[Bristow] playing the djembe, they say 'what’s that?’ It is unique.
You hear the bouzuki, mandolin, cajon – it all just fits.
“It seems like we may just have hit on something. On Facebook we
are up to 5,000 friends. We seem to have caught the
imagination.”
Fate the Juggler’s next Kent show is at The Barge in
Gillingham on Saturday, February 4. Admission free. Call 01634
850485. The band’s new album, The Ghost of Beauty Lost, is
available on iTunes and Spotify from Monday, February 6. Details
at www.fatethejuggler.com
Friday, February 03 2012
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.