London trip

In late May/ early June, I braved the 24 hours of travel to the city of red buses and phoneboxes. My purpose: songwriting, gigging, jamming, networking, learning, scouting. The perks: fun, friends and shopping.

Songwriting: this was the real stimulus for the trip. I’d been invited by James Bryan (who produced Nelly Furtado’s recent #1 album, “Mi Plan”) to do some co-writing with him. I spent 3 sessions with him at Kensaltown studios, during which time we wrote 2 songs… one gospel-ish number about world unity, and one more groovy neo-soul tune about the stress of the 21st century lifestyle. 

Having always written my own material by myself, it was a really different experience writing music with someone else, especially someone whose job it is to write music day in and day out! It required detachment and deep thought, but it also made me come up with things I normally wouldn’t have. James is originally Canadian – a friendly and interesting guy with many facets to his life (among them are yoga and capoeira). One of our sessions was spent with another writer, Nick Whitecross (from the British 80’s dance-pop/ synth group Kissing the Pink) who turned out to be a profound thinker… we often got sidetracked from writing, distracted by a D&M.

Gigging: I played a gig while in London, at the lovely intimate Spice of Life. Thanks to some very helpful contacts in the industry, I managed to pull together a band of London musicians – we had one rehearsal and hit the stage in fine form. It was great to see friends, old family friends and even friends of friends come down to check out the show 🙂

Jamming: London is rich with jam sessions and open mic nights with a house band. I had super fun sitting in at venues such as the Troy Bar (where I was one of the few non-black people there… awesome!) and Ronnie Scott’s. Wish we had more of this in Perth!

Networking/ learning/ scouting: I went to a different gig almost every night that I was in London. It was so refreshing to see a thriving scene for original soul/ urban music. A definite highlight was checking out FLOetic Lara at Plan B in Brixton – an amazing artist and performer, do check her out! It was great to meet and network with other musicians and industry people… I have a strong mind to go back in the near future and do some more shows.

The perks: I spent some time nourishing my spiritual being, taking time out to visit and pray at the Baha’i shrine (the resting place of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith) in Arnos Grove.  

I spent some time with relatives and old friends…

I shopped…

I went to see Wicked, an amazing musical!!

What did I learn?

London has stinky air… and cheap food… the underground is a sweat box and a violation of the personal space bubble… I shouldn’t ever walk into Joy (a UK clothing/ gift store) because I might buy the whole shop… people stay out until 1am on a weeknight to check out live music and culture… the night buses are regular but it’s near impossible to find the stop that you need to get on at… it took only a couple of days for me to start to pick up a British inflection to my accent (what a sheep am I!)…