Been a while since I posted here and lots and lots has happened since my last message (see previous post) which was at the point at which we (myself and Gerry Diver) were about to close our Kickstarter, a fundraiser for our debut as a DUO’s brand new album, Hinterland. We were, are, both utterly overwhelmed not only with the amazingly supportive response from people via Kickstarter but also with the magnificent reception of our debut album, Hinterland, in the press, on radio, on internet radio, podcasts and blogospheres and amongst audiences at several live shows. It’s funny, every time you make something, a new album let’s say, you never really know what will happen at its release so it’s an immensely gratifying feeling to have such a warm hearted, genuinely positive reaction. I am, we are, truly grateful to all who have had input in that regard, friends, reviewers, writers, people in the folk community, radio broadcasters, all those who encouraged us, featured us, and of course all those who helped us raise funds to put together a small but brilliant team (thank you team!) and enabled us to put this album out into the world. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since my last instalment we’ve launched the album (with a brilliantly supportive and fun gig at World Heart Beat, Battersea, London), been played on and performed on a plethora of radio shows both online and at the BBC including BBC Radio 2 Folk Show LIVE with Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 4’s The Verb with Ian McMillan and Soho Radio’s Late Lunch with Max Reinhardt also Portobello Radio via Hammersmith Irish Cultural Ctr. We’ve received rave reviews across paper and digital press including 5*****’s (!!) from Neil Spencer at The Guardian AND 5***** (!!) from Tim Cumming at Songlines (who also did an in depth feature on our take of Long Lankin), plus a great feature from Ken Hunt at RnR. Some great reviews also came in from brilliant online folkists @KlofMag where we were also Album of The Month. MOJO ****, Morning Star, Fatea, Spiral Earth, Folking.com, Folk London Magazine… + more.
Since my last post we’ve released two singles, played at Liverpool Philharmonic Music rooms and had a brilliant gig at Manchester Folk Festival - we even got into the Folk Chart - Waaahey!
We have two beautiful videos for our two singles, both made by Marry Waterson (not only a supremely gifted singer and songwriter but also a fantastic visual artist) which I post here below. We’ve a plethora of gigs lined up for an autumn duo tour (to be announced imminently) as well as a visit to the Isle of Man to play Port Erin Mananan Festival in July and a trip South to the delightful Sidmouth Folk Festival in August.
All in all this project has kept us extremely busy and we are delighted. As we’re now reaching towards the end of our Kickstarter fulfilments and are in preparation for the next phase of gigs and activities I’m beginning to embark on a catch up of life and projects in other areas - including actually getting round to doing a post here. Ha! Our Knapp/Diver website is under construction but I will of course continue to post DUO news and gig info here also for the foreseeable. Hope to catch you somewhere along the line - do get in touch and leave comments if you wish. Thanks for reading and speak soon. Lisa x