Upcoming solo gigs:
- 21st March 2014 – The Nerve Centre, Derry.
- 10th April 2014 – The Grand Central, Derry.
Alone you stand with nobody near
15 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in Gigs
Sound and Vision
18 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Photograph: Jonny Delaney
Thanks to Jonny for the ace photography – click on photos for epic bigness.
And ace audio (thanks Stephen) of an interview with me and a song recorded live at the 8th February Invaderband gig at Echo Echo for Other Voices.
https://soundcloud.com/themessagetapes/invaderband-on-the-bbc
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
17 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in Releases
Alan Davidson photograped by Will Leatherbarrow
Reviews for the Kitchen Cynics tribute album, ‘Yesterday, Perhaps’:
- “This is an internet-defyingly brilliant album, which I can’t find to buy anywhere, and I can’t find any digital samples of to share with you to convince you just how fucking ace it is. But honestly, it’s incredible. It is in fact one of those albums I first heard, thought what on earth is going on here, and then proceeded to play it again and again for hours … Adam Leonard and Sharron Kraus may be more famous in the folk world than they are in mine, but I’d not heard of them before, and their contributions to this album are absolutely fantastic …” – Matthew Young @ Song By Toad
- “The LP is a hell of a starter to get to know the talent and songs of Kitchen Cynics” – Psychedelic Folk
- “I have loved the songs of Alan Davidson ever since I first heard him on a CD compilation that arrived with an edition of the wonderful Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine, and when you read the list of artists willing to contribute a track to this tribute album it seems that I am not the only one, the list containing some of the best current artists working in the loose genre of folk music … to end side one Adam Leonard treats us to a rendition of “The Place You Hid” a great version and the perfect way to reach half-time … A perfect package” – Terrascope
- “A fantastic celebration of one of the last bastions of home-grown DIY psych in Scotland, highly recommended” – Volcanic Tongue
- “… Pearls Before Swine’s Tom Rapp turns in a memorable version of “Richard in Bedlam” early on, only to be outdone on the very next track by Alasdair Roberts and friends’ sinisterly percussive “The Horseman’s Word”. Impressively, the standard doesn’t drop at any point thereafter with Adam Leonard transforming “The Place You Hid” into an unlikely anthem with (gadzooks!) commercial appeal” – The Active Listener
- “This album makes the case for The Kitchen Cynics’ work as a songbook of folk’s universal themes” – The Wire magazine
You can buy the album direct from me using PayPal (to adamleonard@hotmail.com) for £8 + £2 P&P for UK.
If you’re outside of the UK, send me an email and we can sort something out. Cheers, Adam.
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
02 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in Gigs Tags: derry walls, echo echo, Invaderband, other voices, Our Krypton Son, overhead the albatross
“The Other Voices Music Trail will return to Derry~Londonderry from Feb 7th to 9th. We had more than 450 entries from bands and singer-songwriters all over Ireland and the UK and we’ve picked the best 60 to perform in the city’s venues, bars, cafes and cultural venues throughout the Other Voices weekend”.
We’ll play on Saturday 8th at about 5pm, sandwiched between Our Krypton Son and Overhead, The Albatross.
Echo Echo is a truly beautiful venue, and it’s free. Get on it!
Invaderband’s Xmas Landing
30 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Gigs Tags: Christmas, Crackers, Freelance Cartel, Hats, Invaderband, Sean Pemberton, Xmas
The King of Sandinos (Photo: J Cunningham)
Many thanks to the 70 (I know your names) brave souls who ignored the awful weather and came to witness Invaderband’s Xmas Landing on Friday. It was a cracker. (See what I did there? No? Look at my hat, doofus). Thanks also for robust support on the night from the alarmingly young Freelance Cartel, and the fascinating one-man-rock-and-droll-band Sean Pemberton A.K.A. Mars Field. Truly excellent.
By Invadergigging during the year, we now have enough money to spend some time in a recording studio, so 2014 should see an Invaderband (deep breath…) RECORD.
Poster by END BOSS.
City Of Culture ‘Resonate’ award
23 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in General, Videos Tags: Derry Journal, National Lottery, nerve centre, Resonate, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, UK City Of Culture 2013
I’m rather surprised to report that the song ‘My Love’ has been voted the best track in the UK City Of Culture 2013 (Derry~Londonderry) ‘Resonate’ competition, organised by The Nerve Centre in association with Blast Furnace, funded by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to capture the musical talent, energy and spirit of Derry during the UK City of Culture 2013 (to quote the blurb!).
For the full story, and some quotes attributed to me which I never said(!), read this article from The Derry Journal.
Here’s me getting one of those cool oversized cheques as a prize. I also get to re-record the track in a proper studio, which will then be released on the ‘Resonate Album Of The Year’. All good. And thanks to the judges. You’re all extremely good looking and have great taste.
Joe Carlin (Nerve Centre), Me, Ruairi O’Kane (National Lottery).
And here’s me with the lady who inspired the song, my love and my wife Blathnaid Leonard. Warm like the rain and I’m glad.
Photographs by Lorcan Doherty.
A 4-track EP containing the track ‘My Love’ is available HERE.
‘Yesterday, Perhaps’ LP
28 Nov 2013 2 Comments
in Releases Tags: Adrian Crowley, Alasdair Roberts, Electroscope, ENF100, Jeffrey Alexander, Josephine Foster, Kathleen Baird, Kitchen Cynics, Major Matt Mason USA, P.G. Six, Pearls Before Swine, Rory McIntyre, Sharron Krauss, Tom Rapp
I’m thrilled to have a new recording released on this tribute album to The Kitchen Cynics, alongside some impressive names from the current “alt-folk” scene such as Josephine Foster, Tom Rapp (of Pearls Before Swine), Alasdair Roberts, P.G. Six, and Sharron Kraus. I have covered the song ‘The Place You Hid’ – the original of which can be heard right here. A special mention too for Conor Mason for taking my tracks and doing his secret audio voodoo to end up with the finished track. Thanks Conor. This (vinyl) LP will be the 100th release on Alan Davidson’s Les Enfants Du Paradiddle label.
Sleevenotes for ‘Yesterday, Perhaps’.
In a world that is changing with increasing speed, it is up to the individual to find sanctuary and contentment in the small things, the pleasure of a summers day, tea and toast, a favourite toy, or, just maybe, the songs of Alan Davidson, their focus on local history, a sense of place and life’s small pleasures the perfect antidote for the chaos and confusion of modern day living.
For over a quarter of a century, Alan has recorded a wealth of classic tunes under the guise of The Kitchen Cynics, every album containing more than its fair share of gems, his work ethic summed up with 2007’s “Tune-A-Day” project, 365 songs/musical pieces that maintained the quality throughout, each month bringing fresh happiness to those that subscribed to the series.
Now the songs of The Kitchen Cynics are celebrated and shared by some of the finest artists working in the, loosely connected and ever expanding, Folk genre, the quality of the musicians involved a testament to the regard that Alan is held in by his peers.
Voted as gig of the year (2006) by Josephine Foster, in The Wire magazine, Alan has also been described thus “Kitchen Cynics makes me think of a meeting of Anne Briggs and Robert Fripp” by Dylan Carlson (Earth), and this seems to neatly sum up the range of sounds found on Kitchen Cynic records, quiet and loud, humour and regret, living side by side perfectly reconciled by songwriting skills of Mr Davidson, the musical landscape would be a sadder place without him (Simon Lewis ~ editor of the legendary Terrascope).
—
Available from kitchencynics@googlemail.com
‘The Greasy Apple’
31 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Radio Tags: Derry, Endboss, Radio, Resonance, Resonance FM, Thran, Void Gallery
From EndBoss: “Tune in tomorrow (Friday) to hear ‘THE GREASY APPLE’ on Resonance FM radio – a fantastical underground history of the Derry music scene from the brains behind EndBoss. Broadcasting on both 106.4 FM (across the airwaves of Derry) and 104.4 FM (across London). Starts @11am…”
I was asked to provide music for fictional Krautrock band THRAN within this original radio faux-documentary. THRAN can be heard at the very beginning, and there are more bits and bobs of mine (I mean, THRAN’s) throughout. If it sounds Krautish, it’s probably me (I mean THRAN).
If you missed the broadcast live, you can now catch up via the wonders of SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/resonance-fm/resonance-at-void-the-greasy-apple
They’ll stone you when you’re playing your guitar
05 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Gigs Tags: Derry, Nick Harper, Sandinos
Opening for Nick Harper at Sandinos, Derry, 2/10/2013
Attack Of The Pod People
Nurse Trapped Inside A Patient’s Body
About Much Else
The Eighth Tower pt. 4
Napoleon
Beware The Catman!
Spirit Photography
The Carrion Herd
My Love
These Times And These Tunnels Are Haunted
20 Sep 2013 Leave a comment
in Releases
New music from myself, Ashley Cooke and Stephen McLeod Blythe.
Now available to order. 30 x C30 tapes released on 30th September.
‘Songs For Abandoned Tube Stations’ is an EP of songs by RELYCS (Ashley Cooke, Adam Leonard & Stephen McLeod Blythe) inspired by the sights, sounds and ghosts of the dozens of closed, unused, or only-travelled-through-at-speed Underground tube stations beneath the streets of London. The EP contains 3 tracks – ‘Aldwych Branch Line’, ‘Lord’s Station’ and ‘Down Street’, recorded by Ashley Cooke (AKA Pulco), Adam Leonard and Stephen McLeod Blythe (AKA Unexpected Bowtie) respectively. The music literally travels from Cooke’s complex and highly evocative subterranean soundscape, past Leonard’s dark, dripping platform of ominous organ music, terminating at Blythe’s wonderfully simple yet effective chip tune Nintendo Gameboy programming, like the music from some uncreated ‘Super Mario London Underground’ game. Mind the gap and enjoy your journey…
Format: Magnetic tape, each with 3 full colour postcards, credit sheet and a high quality digital download via Bandcamp. The tapes come in stickered slip cases, in an edition of 30 numbered copies.
Price is £5 + postage to your location (£1 UK, £2 EUROPE, £3 R.O.W). PayPal to adamleonard@hotmail.com [Oyster cards not accepted].
KEEP MUSIC PHYSICAL
The Message Tapes 