So here I am in London, getting ready to embark on my biggest European tour to date. Strictly speaking we've already started with a few shows here in the big smoke, including this one (pictured) last Friday night in Fulham where someone decided to put a dog on my head. Why was there a dog in the bar...? How did it end up on my head...? Why did I keep playing the song...? How close exactly did it come to shitting on me....? These are questions I cannot answer.... But dogs aside, there's some part of me that won't feel completely 'on tour' until I'm hurtling down a German Auto-Bahn in the VondoMachine station wagon trying to avoid being hit by speeding Lamborghinis whilst simultaneously keeping my eyes peeled for the exit to.... check spelling... Monchengladbach! Where's that you ask? Well really I have no idea, except to say it' somewhere near Dusseldorf, its hard to pronounce and it's the first stop on the German leg of the tour... Tuesday 17th September if you fancy it.
As with all things acoustic and independent, you end up playing all sorts of places when you're on tour and the first show is actually a house concert. For those of you unfamiliar with the world of house concerts, basically the hosts for the evening set you up in their lounge/kitchen/backyard or wherever they might be able to accommodate you in such a way that their guests can take in a few tunes and form an opinion, favourable or otherwise... At best creating a new-found love of Australian singer-songwriters with a penchant for beaten-up touring tales and broken hearted love songs, at worst exposing a deep rift in musical tastes between once good friends who thought they knew each other better... Having been at this caper for a good few years now, I'm happy enough to fall somewhere in between the two extremes, possibly edging towards the better half, pending the guest consumption rate...
My introduction to house concerts came in the form of a big old backyard shindig organised by the 'K-team', some good friends of mine on the northern beaches in Sydney. Concert is a bit of an understatement in their case, what with the huge marquee in the back yard, a giant projector screen with a DVD of Woodstock ready to roll once we'd finished playing, and an audience of 70's fashion enthusiasts, or at the very least willing adherents to the Woodstock dress code... Heck it's a lot to live up to, but I'm sure my German friends will fill the K-team's shoes admirably! If you're over there somewhere and you'd like to give it a go, then feel free to contact my friends at the VondoMachine, I'm sure they'd be happy to give you a bit of info....
vondomachine@googlemail.com
So far we have around two dozen shows booked in 5 countries over the next two months, with more to be announced along the way and a London tour finale being planned for the end of November. As always, I'm really looking forward to getting out there and taking the songs on the road. However many years I've been doing this, I'm still constantly inspired by the people I meet and the places I visit on my travels. Not forgetting the amazing music (and musicians) I encounter, many of whom I've never heard of, many of whom have written some of my favourite music. People often ask who my influences are and in reality it's these people - they are the real heroes of the music industry. Not the hyped-up super-celebs but rather the relatively unknown singers/songwriters/producers making music in their own time for their own reasons, real music that comes from real life, real experiences and offers a genuine 'x-factor' that the TV shows will never come close to reproducing. Not in a million years. And that's one of the things I love about what I do.
For the current list of the tour dates, best to check in with the facebook event page HERE. Or my website - www.rennyfield.com
In other news, I've recently spent a few days recording some new tunes here in London with my good mate and producer/multi-instrumentalist extraodinaire Andy Schrav, who some of you will remember played keys with me for the Fieldnotes launch at The Bedford last year. Very fortunate to have met Schrav over here, and he's been a big part of my London musical journey these past few years so it's been great to have him on board in the producers seat. A big thanks also to Emily Dolan Davies, Raff and Amber Wilson for giving up some of their time to come and be a part of the project. All in all a wonderful opportunity for me to work with some pretty amazing local musicians. We're still a little ways off having anything ready to release, and I'll have more to announce on that front in the coming months, but if you'd like to check out some of Schrav's music in the mean time, then here would be a good place to start.... www.schrav.com
So that'll do me for now, I will be attempting to get this blog fired up on a regular basis as I'm rolling around Europe, and will post the links on the various social sites etc..... Likewise will keep the gigs updated as best I can along the way!
Keep in touch!
Cheers,
Renny
www.rennyfield.com
www.facebook.com/rennyfield
www.youtube.com/rennyfield
www.twitter.com/rennyfield
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