And five months later

Nothing has stopped apart from the blog: we're back in real time on here too now... things we've been too busy to add in here:
The gig at 'Summer of Lev Festival': a great night with sweaty alternative rock in the summer heat,
set list:

Love
I'm Real
opium Eyes
Tomorrow's World
Charlotte
Shadow Factory
Impossible Past
No Kicks
Last Orders
I Don't Want Your Attentions

Thanks to everyone that turned out for Levy Fest and to the other bands and of course to Jo and Les for organisational skills

 Recording: Loads of it. We're still at it and there is still a lot to do but we're getting there and are slightly ahead of schedule which is always nice and also not very rock-and-roll so quite on-brand.

30th Anniversary: Big news coming, the first EP was recorded on 17th September 1989 and we've got something interesting lined up for 30 years on.

Art work: A very exciting art collaboration starting with the30th Anniversary Thing mentioned above.

The Kite Collectors: AnnMarie and John are both providing guest vocals to different songs of the new The Kite Collectors album which is due for release in September, more on that still to come. We've gigged with them before and they are buddies so it is very nice to be on there. Look for it on Paisley Records.

Upcoming Gigs: Wigan, The Boulevard 20th September might also be linked to the 30th Anniversary Thing in some way, and
Manchester at The Peer Hat 16th November with Stephen's Ruin of Dusseldorf bringing their own brand of 60's infused power-pop to Manchester for the first time.

Recording: More of it. Lots more of it. Will update more when we can! mega busy!
Have fun out there!

acoustic and out of the ordinary

A gig with a difference - The Speed Of Sound and Turner are both playing an acoustic performance in the Drawing Room of Elizabeth Gaskell's House at 84 Plymouth Grove, Manchester M13 9LW on   Thursday 7th April 

Ticket link : https://www.quaytickets.com/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=E21164D6-A427-4CAC-8500-9DE8ED429030 A song so new that it is too late to be on the next album will be unveiled and new LP songs will make their live debut. The recently restored Victorian Villa has hosted contemporary music since the 1850's house guests include Charlotte Bronte and Charles Halle, marinaded in atmosphere, steeped in time. 

Be quick!

Whats The Alternative?... THIS IS! in the Manchester Evening News

The Manchester Evening News has a preview of February's What's The Alternative?... gig with Little Sparrow:

You can read it on their website here

Reject corporate pop and revel in true independence.

South Manchester's Little Sparrow has developed into a uniquely talented artist through her imaginative song writing and the captivating delivery demonstrated in her live performances.

The delicately crafted songs contained within her debut album ‘Wishing Tree’ and her new EP ’Struck Gold’ combine flawless vocals, angelic strings and tender harmonies, taking listeners on a journey from heart breaking sadness to uplifting joy.

And Manchester's The Speed Of Sound continue to ply their original music that manages to cross the Velvet Underground with The Jam and Neil Young with Siouxsie & The Banshees in their own idiosyncratic manner.

Both will play 40 minute sets.

Live from 9pm.

Little Sparrow is as captivating to watch as she is to listen to.
Her beautifully emotive use of expression mirrors the sincerity of her delivery, making her someone not to be missed.
Her delicately crafted songs are created with a combination of flawless vocals, strings, guitars, percussion and tender harmonies.

Singer-songwriter Katie Ware adopted the name Little Sparrow about four years ago as she felt it characteristic of the sound she was beginning to create and the direction in which she wished to travel.
Drawing upon influences as diverse as Kate Bush, All About Eve and PJ Harvey she creates songs that are filled with a blend of styles, woven into the colourful tapestry of her music, often with a mysterious fairy tale quality.

Her debut album ‘Wishing Tree’ features brand new tracks written for the album and also those which have become favourites through her live performances.

She recently released her new EP 'Struck Gold' which along with the title track (taken from her album) contains two previously unreleased tracks.

www.itunes.apple.com/gb/album/wishing-tree/id871212909
www.uklittlesparrow.bandcamp.com/album/struck-gold-ep

A growing amount of media attention and live appearances in 2014 culminated in her making an appearance at the beautiful Union Chapel in London.

2015 promises to be a very exciting year for Little Sparrow.
www.littlesparrow.org/
www.twitter.com/uklittlesparrow
www.facebook.com/singinglittlesparrow
www.youtube.com/user/uklittlesparrow

The Speed Of Sound

Purveyors of original independent Manchester music since 1989 with various lineup changes along the way but always retaining the same guitar/vocal combination of founder John Armstrong, Kevin Roache is the bands longest serving bass player and the pair are now joined by 18 year old powerhouse drummer Owen Deane.

"A cool mix of punk and The Byrds 5th Dimension LP" - LORD LITTER Radio DJ Berlin Germany

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear a merger between Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed?... The vocals are dark and melancholy - they have an intense quality that makes me stop everything I'm doing and just listen. The music surrounding the words pulls me along like a tide, making me drift away from reality without feeling that I have an option" MUSICVSTHEWORLD BLOG

"Quite a modern folk rock feel with a definite dash of 80's post punk/alt thrown in... vocally there is a hint of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, bit of Jagger, great sound. Musically the sound alternates between Rock; verging on heavy/psych to alt/punk with some great instrumentation along the way." MADFERRETS MUSICBLOG

http://thespeedofsounduk.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.reverbnation.com/thespeedofsound

http://thespeedofsound.bandcamp.com/

£7.00 (£4.00 concessions)

mono

Our last gig of 2014 is at Mono in Chorlton on 20 December, DJ from 8pm, Luke Gallagher is doing an acoustic set too, There are three albums to pick from and we like to change the set round a bit so we've been working on some new songs and some old ones Owen hasn't done before and its looking like a 60% different set to our last gig its going to be a good night. Get down there if you can, its free entry.

live photos

Thanks to the audience, here are some Photos from our gig on 7Nov 

Set List:

I See You Everywhere That I Go

Checkered Land

Uhrwerk

The Wargame

Girl On The Roof

Maid Of The Grey

I Can't Say

Love

Sit By The River

There's No One There

Post gig, outside the Kings Arms

The Transmitters also played an excellent high energy set, big thanks to them too

The Roadhouse

It was a top night at The Roadhouse on Bank Holiday Saturday                                                           

Waiting to soundcheck:
Pete slightly bothered by the dressing room mirror, Kevin photographing John and Pete.

Set List:

Girl On The Roof
Checkered Land
Uhrwerk
I Can't Say
I See You Everywhere That I Go
Love
Chalk Circle
There's No One There

Jimi Wade, Dead City Souls and Wilson shared the night.

  

Thanks to The Roadhouse and Soundman Rob, it sounded great through the monitors. Cheers to everyone that came to see us, but special thanks to Matt for coming from Burton-on-Trent, the furthest traveled gig-goer of the night (probably).  

Nice notice:

Gigging

Live again for the bank holiday weekend, we're playing an unsigned night at The Roadhouse Manchester, we're 4th on at 21:25, it might get noisy.
 
We'll have a few copies of the single with us if you fancy, if you can't make it there its still available by post on Bandcamp and the digital issue is everywhere you'd expect it to be, nab one.

Live and loud

15 Septermber 2013 Scootfest, Rossendale 60sFest; outdoor covered marquee gig. Double header. More details to follow.