I definitely like the look of a gig on this Thursday Dec 2nd at The Miller in Snowfields road in the back-streets of Borough SE1, very near Guys Hospital.
Here's the blurb off The Miller's website
FURNITURE and MATT STEVENS
A superb double header featuring Jazz/funk/avant trio Furniture and renowned guitarist Matt Stevens.
Furniture plays originals, contemporary interpretations and a few classic tunes. Sometimes its funky, sometimes it swings and sometimes it just mellows out.
Matt plays solo acoustic guitar/post-rock instrumentals using loop pedals and other electronics. Acoustic Magazine UK calls him a "one man guitar orchestra."
But I've been researching, and there are all sorts of back-stories here.
-Both Philip Wain, the bassist of Furniture, and Matt Stevens, are making returns from painful illness. Maybe those are the gigs which musicians really look forward to. The discovery, the re-discovery that one can still get out there and make it happen.
-The pianist of Furniture Rob Grundel wrote to me: "We are not trying to be the next big thing - we are just trying to be. Rob Grundel likes funk and Monk and plays keyboards. Tadas Petrikas likes The Bad Plus and plays drums. Phil Wain likes Mingus and Frisell and plays bass."
-Why "Furniture?" "The music is half original and the standards we play have had their upholstery replaced."
-Rob is a Tasmanian, has been in London since 2009. His story (worth a read, quite instructive as to how to get up and running as a musician in London) is on his well-written blog Dimaug. The tale of how this band got together is definiely worth a read.
They'll be starting quite early, 7 30. Admission is a fiver. Twenty-five folk have signed up for it on Facebook. I hope I get to hear some. See you there?
