Calmer* Old Shows


Intimate, articulate, experimental, beautiful performances at (usually) Slak and (sometimes) The Exmouth Arms in Cheltenham. The best new artists, the best new songs, the best voices at the best venues in the area. You can contact Calmer by emailing calmercheltenham@googlemail.com, visting us at www.myspace.com/calmermusic or go and be our friend on Facebook.
OLD SHOWS
Thur 6 Mar 2008 Slak Cheltenham Doors 8pm Admission £6 on the door £5 advance from Badlands		Red Deer Club Featuring Liz Green + George Thomas
		Liz Green Liz Green spent last year collecting accolades and making friends wherever she played: from winning the Glastonbury New Talent competition and playing on the Pyramid stage to being awarded BBC Manchester’s Single of the Year for her debut Bad Medicine, Liz has been compared to everyone from Judy Garland and Peggy Lee to Karen Dalton and Jolie Holland... “…a musician with a finger-pickin' guitar technique and haunting vibrato from another time, another place, capable of summoning up at will the ‘real’ spirit of folk, acoustic blues and bluegrass…” The Guardian www.myspace.com/lizgreenmusic George Thomas George Thomas is a pretty unique character. His voice ranges around his tunes like a lost sheep, while he writhes and curls himself slowly behind the microphone, as if a trip to the little boys’ room ahead of the show would have helped. His songs don’t so much ring out, as drift away into the ether, offering no insistence to be heard and happily settling for the mere possibility of stumbling into your ears unexpectedly. “…heart-wrenching songs, a self effacing maverick…” The Guardian www.myspace.com/georgethomasandtheowls

Tues 19 Feb 2008 Slak Cheltenham Doors 8pm Admission £6 on the door £5 advance from Badlands		Vialka + Safetyword
		Vialka The dynamic duo of Marylise Frecheville and Eric Boros have been lugging their nomadic turbo folk sound and modus vivendi all over the planet since the turn of the century. Vialka's music is based on the frenetic interaction between Marylise's syncopated drumming and singing and Eric's orchestral guitar playing - and is delivered with ecstatic energy, humor and an all consuming lust for life... '…fiddly European folk band at high volume and velocity in a White Stripes sort of way…' Stewart Lee (Sunday Times) www.myspace.com/vialka Safetyword Safetyword, four Manx swains who write songs about medieval torture devices and the common handshake... Need we say more? 'Safetyword are a band that defy classification...' www.myspace.com/safetywordmusic

Mon 10 Dec 2007 Exmouth Arms Cheltenham Doors 8pm Admission £5 on the door		Curtis Eller + Men Diamler
		Curtis Eller + Men Diamler Calmer* will be hosting a pre-Christmas special featuring the return of the wonderful Curtis Eller, ably supported by the mercurial Men Diamler on Monday 10th December 2007, upstairs at the excellent Exmouth Arms on Bath Road, Cheltenham. Doors at 8pm with tickets a festive £5. Be there! More on Curtis at www.myspace.com/curtiseller More on Men D at www.myspace.com/mendiamler ...And you can find more info on the acts and the evening here.

Wed 22 Aug 2007 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 on the door		Diane Cluck Barry Bliss
		Diane Cluck New York based singer/songwriter affiliated with the anti-folk scene back home but, arguably, more sophisticated than many artists of the genre. Contagiously introspective, joyfully declarative with bewitching harmonies, she sings the kind of songs that make you want to fall to your knees. Influenced by Kate Bush, Chopin and Satie, Diane's album 'Oh Vanille / ova nil' ended up #2 underground album of the year in Mojo 2005, 'Just a voice, a guitar, and some of the most spellbinding words you’ll hear anywhere' – Mojo ‘I’m so happy to be alive at the same time she is because I get to see her perform’ Devendra Bahnhart www.myspace.com/dianecluck Barry Bliss He was born in the '60s to a woman that sang a lot and a man that fished and climbed water towers. He never wanted for anything and was much loved. His mother later bought him his first 12-string. He later quit music and lived hiding in the woods and getting his food out of grocery store dumpsters. He then stopped doing that, returned to music, and became the living legend that he is today. Hey-Ho. www.myspace.com/barrynowbliss

Thurs 7 Sep 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £6 in advance £7 on the door Buy online here		Scott Matthews + Edd Donovan
		Scott Matthews We heard Scott Matthews earlier this year and couldn’t believe he wasn’t incredibly famous. Well, he practically is now, but we persuaded him to come back for a one-off special Calmer* A blinding musical hybrid of bottleneck blues, a sprinkling of Shankar-esque sounds and implausibly soulful lyrics. The best thing to come out of Wolverhampton, well, ever. Scott’s much anticipated debut album ‘Passing Stranger’ was released on 17th April. Since then, Scott has had a wealth of radio play, including five different tracks played on national radio, including BBC Radio 1 (Zane Lowe/Jo Whiley), Radio 2 (Mark Radcliffe/Bob Harris/Janice Long), XFM and BBC 6 Music. Scott’s debut single ‘Elusive’ was single of the week on iTunes and appeared on BBC 6 Music and XFM playlists. Elusive is being re-released in late August. Chances are you'll be buying his album sometime soon. And this will be the VERY last time you get to see him in such an intimate venue. www.scottmatthewsmusic.co.uk www.myspace.com/scottmatthewsmusic Edd Donovan Calmer* favourite and local folk shakespearo. He has a big bag full of heart warming, belly tingling, soul touching songs. Enchantingly intimate performances. "Tunes that will touch your soul" say the BBC, "We just love him and he makes us cry" we say. www.edddonovan.co.uk www.myspace.com/edddonovan

Thurs 14 Sep 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Charlie Parr + My Two Toms
		Charlie Parr One man, one guitar and a heap of songs songs about drinkin’ and killin’. This ain’t no retro rehash – this is honest blood and guts - country blues straight from Austin, Minnesota. ‘Charlie Parr is one of the greatest musicians and human beings I know’ - Alan Sparhawk, Low His albums received critical acclaim and have sold well into the thousands. He’s toured the UK and Ireland twice to sell-out shows. ‘In an age of commercialism and celebrity and the turn of a quick buck, the soul saving melodies of Parr are like a breath of fresh air, timeless and majestic, princely and magnificent’ Losing Today Don’t take our word for it, come and see him play. You’ll be glad you did. We promise. www.charlieparr.com My Two Toms Tom Cops and Tom Stubbs play purty banjo, guitar and ukulele instrumentals. If you like your Bonnie Prince and your O Brother, you're going to love this. Bristol based duo, their first two albums are being re-released in October 2006. Charlie Parr, Herman Dune and Phillip Roebuck LOVE them, you should too. www.mytwotoms.com www.myspace.com/mytwotoms

Mon 9 Oct 2006 Festival Tent Cheltenham 10-11pm Admission FREE		at the Cheltenham Literature Festival joins forces with Calmer* to presents two shows featuring some of our favourite artists from the past year.... Thomas Truax He makes his own instruments. He’s the illegitimate son of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and a mad scientist. He’s from New York but claims to be from Wowtown, a place which exists only in his imagination. ‘Beguilingly bizarre’ Uncut Garage rock songs, cabaret show tunes, full of whistles, toy pianos, ice cream chimes and invented instruments. Shades of Tom Waits’ storytelling, Nick Cave’s theatricality and Lux Interior’s howling-at-the-moon-madness. Prepare to be introduced to the hornicator, “…more akin to a William Burroughs style hallucination than an instrument..." Propertop.com, sister spinster and the beatmaster. "...not of this earth...I still can't think of a single show I've seen that was as beguiling or as charming or as plain bananas as this one." Gigwise.com www.thomastruax.com

Fri 13 Oct 2006 Festival Tent Cheltenham 10-11pm Admission FREE		The Sam Beer Band Sam Beer Back by hugely popular demand and this time with a band. We are so excited to host this folk/blues legend to be. The word is spreading fast about Sam Beer. Inspiring energy and presence, melodic blues guitar and hard hitting poetic missiles. “He’ll knock you down then lift you back up again with music shimmering in sunshine” - Half Moon. Go and have a listen www.myspace.com/sambeer and then come and enjoy. www.sambeer.com

Sun 27th Aug 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		The Wiyos Phillip Roebuck It’s Bank Holiday Sunday so bring your shiny dancing shoes and prepare yourself for possibly the most joyous Calmer* ever...
		The Wiyos The Wiyos play and compose music inspired by the early American musical idioms of the 1920s and '30s. Gleefully subverting genre distinctions, their music comes from a time before commercial formatting separated blues from country, ragtime from gospel and swing from hillbilly. With washboard/harmonica/kazoo, resonator guitar/banjo, upright bass and three harmony vocals they create a visual spectacle in the tradition of vaudeville-esque performers such as Fats Waller, the Hoosier Hotshots and Uncle Dave Macon. Their on-stage physical comedy recalls the silent films of Laurel & Hardy, Keaton and Chaplin. They’ve shared the bill with Gillian Welch & David Rawlins, Foghorn Stringband, Woody Mann and the Old Crow Medicine Show amongst many, many others. The Wiyos charm everyone from urban hipsters to barefoot hillbillies to your sweet old grandma. See them here. www.thewiyos.com www.myspace.com/thewiyos Phillip Roebuck Following a now legendary performance at All Tomorrow's Parties in 2004 and Peel session, we are very excited to have Phillip Roebuck play Calmer* as part of his first full UK tour. A one man band for the modern age, armed with banjo, bass drum, incredible songs and a frenetic pace, he has entertained the world from the streets of New York City to huge stages sharing the bill with diverse acts such as Shellac, American Music Club , Nina Nastasia and Ralph Stanley. "He plucks that banjo like a madman, like the devil himself." *-New York Press* "Phillip Roebuck put an invigorating twist on the one-man-band set-up. With a mean banjo, and bass drum strapped to his back, he swept away any day-three cobwebs in a terrifically energetic punk-folk style." - The Independent See him here or here. www.philliproebuck.com www.myspace.com/philliproebuck

Thurs 10th Aug 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		A Hawk and A Hacksaw + Jonquil
		A Hawk and A Hacksaw This accordion-wielding, mariachi-loving, instrument-swapping act soundtracked last summer when everyone went gypsy, and is proving to be unmissable live. From New Mexico, USA, A Hawk And A Hacksaw is a hugely joyous and bewitching act who manages to meld traditional middle eastern with American folk and 21st Century atmospherics. Non-traditional world music for the digital age. "Superb..Darkness at Noon. displays an astonishingly diverse array of musical voices. Barnes's project boldly proposes a new art music for the 21st century." The Irish Times They’re only playing big festivals and very select one-off shows this summer so make sure you don’t miss out. www.brokenheartfoundation.org.uk/hawk www.myspace.com/ahawkandahacksaw Jonquil Jonquil is/are an Oxford bedroom recording project turned band, centered around Hugo Manuel. Their debut album, ‘Sunny Casinos’, released on 26^th June 2006 on Try Harder records, and started with a desire to use acoustic instruments. Influenced by the likes of Joan Baez, The Microphones, Akron/Family, Swans and Stars Of The Lid, Hugo spent a year collecting melodicas, reed organs, glockenspiels, dulcimers, whistles… The result is a late night listening album of beautiful & engrossing dark gentle songs, dense summer drones, fairground field recordings and creeped-out dusty attic music. They are at once fizzing & clattering & wheezy… and slowly blossoming & twinkling & gossamer-like. Think Animal Collective at their most sun-dappled, Hood at their most intimate and some stumbled-upon eerie eastern European folk www.myspace.com/jonquiluk

Thurs 20th July 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Flipron + Misterlee
		Flipron Imagine a man in a pink suit, sitting on a box, spluttering Neo-Dickensian rants about being chased by pensioners as he plays a cheap accordion to a band that sound like the Bad Seeds playing The Jungle Book. Or The Specials playing Jacques Brel. Or The Crazy World of Arthur Brown playing Western Swing on Waikiki Beach. Or the Kinks locked in the London Dungeon with a barrel of ale and Thomas De Quincey’s personal stash. Imagine all these things and more because once you have stepped into the mystical world of Flipron, you had better be ready for one or two surprises. ‘It’s a treat to encounter a genuinely uncategorisable group’ The Observer Music Monthly 4/5 www.flipron.co.uk www.myspace.com/flipron Misterlee Misterlee will lullaby and then petrify you. This is not a gig for the feint hearted. "Misterlee makes a fucking terrifying sound" Tastyzine Armed with a drumstick in one hand and a microphone in the other: Pinning you to the wall with giant lo-fi beats only to turn on a sixpence and absorb in unsettling almost-silence with lyrical snapshots of the human condition. Quintessentially English; Misterlee, both individually and severally, profess independence and originality. "I'm not sure exactly where he's coming from but it's definitely somewhere that Syd Barrett and Captain Beefheart have been; Tom Waits goes there on his holidays and The Beatles drove past there in the later years of their collective trip" Freqzine www.misterlee.co.uk www.myspace.com/leeallatson

Weds 17th May 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Jana Hunter Marissa Nadler Wooden Spoon
		Jana Hunter Texan singer/songwriter and rising star. A 40's blues diva trapped in the body of a slightly geeky indie girl full of soulful, intoxicating eeriness. She released a split LP with Devendra Bahnhart last year (she’s over in the UK to play on his day at All Tomorrow’s Parties). Deceptively simple and concise, a striking voice that traces smoke rings against her stark guitar playing. Music that’s slightly creepy, slightly menacing yet utterly magnetic. “I’d go and see her at the first chance you get” Space City Rock www.myspace.com/janahunter Marissa Nadler New York folk siren who recalls fading beauty queens and lost souls in dark nights. ‘Uncommonly lovely’ The Guardian Willowy, entrancing and faraway melancholic sounds. She brings the all-encompassing sense of winter; dense fog rolling off the moors, misty mornings in the forest. Imagine a young Stevie Nicks as Devendra Banhart’s geisha. Or Mazzy Star meets Leonard Cohen at their mostly hazily narcotic. Or maybe Neko Case swathed in black. 'Gorgeous…..A benchmark for the new psyche folk underground’ ** Uncut www.marissanadler.com www.myspace.com/songsoftheend Wooden Spoon** Wooden Spoon is Owen Hills. He produces the most beautiful, Basho tinged folk. Quite astonishing. They released a cd-r last year on Digitalis’ Foxglove imprint and feature on Bo’Weavil Recording’s ‘Free London’ compliation. ‘This is the kind of music you fear is not made anymore, if it ever was’ The Unbroken Circle www.myspace.com/blindspoon

Thurs 11th May 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Calmer* presents a triple headline bill: Sam Beer + James Blackshaw + John Smith
		Sam Beer Back by hugely popular demand and this time with a band. We are so excited to host this folk/blues legend to be. The word is spreading fast about Sam Beer. Inspiring energy and presence, melodic blues guitar and hard hitting poetic missiles. “He’ll knock you down then lift you back up again with music shimmering in sunshine” - Half Moon. Go and have a listen www.myspace.com/sambeer and then come and enjoy. www.sambeer.com John Smith Unremarkable name for a quite remarkable guitarist and singer/songwriter. “A singular talent” The Times You may have been lucky enough to catch him supporting John Martyn at Cheltenham Town Hall in April. He’s taking a night out of this tour to come and play for us at Calmer. His debut album, ‘The Fox and the Monk’ has just been released. “This young man is the future of acoustic guitar music” – John Renbourn www.myspace.com/johnacousticsmith www.acousticsmith James Blackshaw* He’s shared the stage with Josephine Foster, British Sea Power, Sir Richard Bishop and Jack Rose; this is a warm up to his US tour with British folk heroine, Sharron Kraus, in the summer. “When UK-native James Blackshaw plays guitar, something spiritual takes place…..This unassuming 24 year old is transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans and Glenn Jones” Foxy Digitalis He consistently breaks boundaries in what could be seen a limited medium (12 string). Inspired by free-jazz, drone, ethnic music; this is aural magic. Waves and waves of beautiful layers punctuated by raga like flurries. Close your eyes and prepare for a full on assault on the senses. www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw www.jamesblackshaw.com

Thurs 27th April 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Calmer* presents a remarkable show of sheer wonderment to celebrate May holiday weekend: Richard James (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci) Soft Hearted Scientists Andrew Hockey
		Richard James Songwriter and sometimes singer from long running, cult Welsh band, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, ‘one of the finest and most delightfully quirky bands in the business’. He goes solo with an exquisite debut album, 'The Seven Sleepers Den', released on Boobytrap records on April 24th. He's playing a selective tour and we're very, very excited to have the opportunity to welcome him to Calmer. www.richardjames.uk.net www.myspace.com/richardjamesband Soft Hearted Scientists* They say: 'WE WILL create music with a sense of wonder: like the sound of stars flying off the end of a wand or, if it were possible, the sound of plucking a spider's web encrusted with dew drops. Nothing less will do’ The press say: 'A new legal high is unleashed' 8/10 NME 'Deft, inspired storytelling…melodies that burrow into your brain like a caterpillar’ Uncut 'A magical little fairyland of a record' Mark Radcliffe, Radio 2 We say: We just fucking love them. And their video. Click here. www.softheartedscientists.com www.myspace.com/softheartedscientists Andrew Hockey Meditative, mantra-like loop-folk nodding to the Silver Apples, crafty, evocative instrumentals bearing the touch of John Fahey, blues-infused finger picking that stretches from Bert Jansch to T-Rex to M Ward. One of the highlights of last year's Greenman festival, 'Hockey's music stands out a mile; slightly off kilter folk, but so much more than your average singer songwriter. In fact, the words singer and songwriter shouldn't be inflicted upon his beautiful, other worldly music’ Huw Stephens, Radio 1. His album, 'Songs from the Dandelion Clock Vol. 1' was released late last year. www.slowgraffiti.com www.myspace.com/andrewhockey

Thurs 20th April 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £6 on the door Buy online here		Baby Dee Pantaleimon + James William Hindle
		Baby Dee Legendary transgender singer/songwriter from NYC, classically trained harpist, circus and street performer; Baby Dee is possibly the most curious musician in the world. One time member of Antony and the Johnsons and described by Antony as ‘the muse who helped realise much of the music performed by the Johnsons’. “One of the best and truest songwriters I have ever heard” David Tibet. Having spent time as musical director for the Catholic Church in the Bronx, in the circus as a bilateral hermaphrodite at Coney Island and in the Kamikaze Freak Show touring Europe , Baby Dee then became a familiar sight on the streets of New York riding a giant tricycle with harp attached. The Antony comparisons are easy to make, the songs are every bit as grandiose, the singing similarly sublime and the emotions expressed nothing short of devastating. Themes of love, nature and precious childhood expressed with a naked fragility which is enchanting and very slightly uncomfortable. “Truly gorgeous music” Foxy Digitalis For those who are fans of Antony & the Johnsons, attendance is absolutely compulsory. We are privileged to welcome her, and her harp, to Calmer* and to Cheltenham. Pantaleimon Pantaleimon is Andria Degens, a floating member of Current 93. After travelling through Asia for 2 years she returned to England in 1998 and formed Pantaleimon releasing her debut album ‘Trees Hold Time’ wholly inspired by her travels. Haunting, minimalistic, meditative and healing compositions driven by Appalachian dulcimer, Tibetan singing bowls, bouzouki and vocals. Drone based lullabies which sounds as ancient as the hills. Pure, beautiful and gently knowing in its simplicity, performed with “a contemplative grace” Wire She has performed with Will Oldham, Current 93, William Hindle amongst many, many others and features on the Médecins Sans Frontières CD 2006 along with Isobel Campbell, Devendra Bahnhart, Allen Ginsberg. www.pantaleimon.com Very special guest.... James William Hindle British singer/songwriter whose beautiful, beautiful, beautiful third folk-pop album, Town Feeling, was made with an array of the current folk hall of fame: Espers, Vetiver, Ladybug transistor, Currituck Co. Imagine Belle and Sebastian playing Simon and Garfunkel, with the introspective English sensibilities of Nick Drake but the American pastoralism of John Denver. ‘6/6’ – Babysue.com “Pure Americana ” Mojo http://jwh.hinah.com

Weds 15th March 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5 in advance £8 on the door Buy online here		Calmer* brings their warped imagination to race week with: Thomas Truax + Smokehand
		He makes his own instruments. He’s the illegitimate son of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and a mad scientist. He’s from New York but claims to be from Wowtown, a place which exists only in his imagination. ‘Beguilingly bizarre’ Uncut Garage rock songs, cabaret show tunes, full of whistles, toy pianos, ice cream chimes and invented instruments. Shades of Tom Waits’ storytelling, Nick Cave’s theatricality and Lux Interior’s howling-at-the-moon-madness. Prepare to be introduced to the hornicator, “…more akin to a William Burroughs style hallucination than an instrument..." Propertop.com, sister spinster and the beatmaster. "...not of this earth...I still can't think of a single show I've seen that was as beguiling or as charming or as plain bananas as this one." Gigwise.com www.thomastruax.com Smokehand ‘Dark Loungecore’ 4 piece from Cardiff . Eclectic exploits of jazz, Latino, classical and pop create a post-modern Film Noir soundtrack that is one minute sinister and the next, Sinatra. Dark, brooding and breathtaking. The voice of the real musical underground calling up from a Parisian cellar bar or seedy, city tenement block. See them here. www.myspace.com/smokehand

Thur 23rd Feb 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Devon Sproule Scott Matthews Jeff Martinez
		Devon Sproule Remarkable 23 year old Virginian singer/songwriter returns to Cheltenham and the UK following an outstanding Calmer* last March with now husband, Paul Curreri. The sweetest country blues. Increasingly jazz infused, folk-pop. She holds her own with anyone from Joni Mitchell to Gillian Welch and has shared the stage with the likes of David Gray and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her live concerts capture her at her best; candid, poetic and youthfully charming. She releases her fourth album, 'Keep your silver shined' in summer 2006. www.devonsproule.com www.myspace.com/devonsproule Scott Matthews A blinding musical hybrid of bottleneck blues, a sprinkling of Shankar-esque sounds and implausibly soulful lyrics. The best thing to come out of Wolverhampton, well,ever. His debut album has been mastered by the same team as Ziggy Stardust and is released on March 13th. Catch him now while you can, he's incredible. We mean that. Incredible. Take a look here www.scottmatthewsmusic.co.uk www.myspace.com/scottmatthewsmusic Jeff Martinez An honorary Cheltonian but a native New Yorker. He's 26 years old, a street-scene voice and a heart full of yellow-taxi songs straight out of Brooklyn. With hooks themed in rich, classic melody, expansive, sky-scraping tales of love, life and longing, Martinez evokes a twisted Paul Simon, a straight Evan Dando. His fantastic debut album, 'Can I Get a Line' is being released in February 2006. www.myspace.com/jeffmartinez

Thur 2nd Feb 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Calmer* presents a night of mayhem: Curtis Eller's American Circus Filthy Pedro Mr Bliss and Nelly warning: strong language and yodelling can be expected
		Curtis Eller New York's angriest yodelling banjo player. He sings about pigeon racing, performing elephants and Jesus, all of which he has seen with his own eyes. He started his show-business career at the age of seven as a juggler and acrobat in the Hiller Olde Tyme Circus in Detroit , but has since turned to the banjo because that’s where the money is. His biggest musical influences are Buster Keaton, Al Jolson and Abraham Lincoln. www.curtiseller.com Filthy Pedro The dirtiest lo-fi-diy-punk-folk artist. Originating from an unprounouceable rural out back of Angelesey and rumoured to possess mysterious druid-like powers. An imp of the perverse and pioneer of the UK anti-folk scene. Filthy can regularly be seen on the Antifolk scene in London, and has played at the New York Antifolk Festival in 2005 as well as in Toyko. Filthy has recently been joined by the multi-talented ‘Thee Intolerable Kidd’ on bass and saw. With subject matters ranging from Lancaster Bombers to kinky tales of antiquity, he explores these obsessions with wit, humour and surprising poignancy. www.filthypedro.com Brendan Bayliss and Nelly An entertaining introduction to harmonica playing by a Pie and Mash regular. Amazingly talented, he'll brings sounds of morris dancers, steam trains and some dirty ole blues. If we're lucky, he'll be joined by Nelly, his singing dog. Yes. Really.
Ca
Wed 18th Jan 2006 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		In association with Men Diamler... Simon Finn + special guests
		Simon Finn The guy is simply a legend. His 1970 album “Pass The Distance” is considered a classic in the “psychedelic-folk” genre – sweet poetic love songs sit next to intense, lysergic visions of the crucifixion and dialogues with the devil. After many years out of music, Simon has thankfully returned with a wonderful new album of spre, heartfelt folk called Magic Moments. Incendiary, spiritual, humorous and refreshingly human, this show (his first UK gigs in 30 years!) will be an unforgettable treat. Accompanied by Joolie Wood (Current 93) **/5 - Uncut "Brilliant is the understatement of the year….it will blow your mind" -Digitalis Zine "a black magical Devendra Banhart" - Pitchfork 'Authentic ''lost'' psyche folk legend... Slightly too dark to be pure hippy, slightly too thunderous to be pure folk, this is truly a rediscovery to look into'- Melting Vinyl. http://www.simonfinn.co.uk/ Men Diamler (formerly Mario Vendredi)** Cheltenham’s unpredictable Enfant Terrible returns, a warm up for his first UK tour in March. A Calmer* regular, you may hear his delicate requiems to departed pets, walking trees and starving horses, or pounding blues spirituals. Oh, and a spot of unrequited love in there somewhere. A larger than life voice accompanied by his unique “John Fahey with broken fingers” guitar style. “an enlightening experience” - Nham magazine. + a special guest Shhh. It’s a surprise.

Sun 18th Dec 2005 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Christmas Calmer* Carolina Herrera The Alex Ward and Chris Cundy Show James Blackshaw
		Carolina Herrera Following a now legendary mid-summer show, she returns for an extravagent Christmas Calmer* performance. Discovered on Charlie Gillett's Saturday night BBS show last year, she was a surpirse hit at last years's WOMAD. She's now a well recognised rising star in world music. Darkest Columbian folk-flamenco. Provocative, powerful and utterly engaging. A sensory indulgence is guaranteed. Alex Ward and Chris Cundy Alex Ward and Chris Cundy make up the typically unconventional and often unfashionable saxophone section of emerging pop phenomenon, Guillemots. The six piece tour with Rufus Wainwright in December playing their gleeful pop banter. It may, then, come as some surprise when you learn that they both have long established musical roots in experimental electro-acoustic music and the British free improvisation scene. But just as Sun Ra once said '"this is music of the cosmos disguised as jazz". Together they play a more unruly take on the music of the spheres with a raw and gutteral approach to improvisation. If you listen carefully enough to this chorus of saxophones, hooters and bendy clarinets you may even be lucky enough to hear the sound of a bird's beak opening. www.alexward.org www.guillemots.com www.ochre.co.uk James Blackshaw An acoustic folk guitarist who takes his primary cues from the holy trinity of the near mythical - John Fahey, Robbie Basho and - along with recent adherents to the weird Americana/new folk sound, Jack Rose. Blackshaw's twelve-string guitar resonates to produce unbridled raga-like flurries, bursting with energy yet harnessed with enough melodic definition to their fluid motions. Bo'Weavil (Shirley Collins, Sir Richard Bishop) have just released his LP on vinyl. He spent a few months touring the world with Josephine Foster this year and is touring the US with Jack Rose next year. This will be something very, very special. http://shoryobuni.f2g.net/sunshrine
Thurs 8th Dec 2005 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Marissa Nadler, John Harris, Men Diamler
		Marissa Nadler New York folk siren who recalls fading beauty queens and lost souls in dark nights 'Uncommonly lovely' The Guardian. Willowy, entrancing and faraway melancholic sounds. She brings the all-encompassing sense of winter; dense fog rolling off the moors, misty mornings in the forest. Imagine a young Steve Nicks as Devendra Banhart's geisha. Or Mazzy Star meets Leonard Cohen at their most hazily narcotic. Or maybe Neko Case swarthed in black. 'Gorgeous...A benchmark for the new psyche folk generation' ** Uncut John Harris** A wonderful harpist and a very rare treat. Folk music re-defined. He tours the world playing harp in one of the 'finest contemporary folk bands around' and is coming to Cheltenham all the way from Stonehouse to play a one-off for Calmer. Men Diamler* A fiercly unpredictable, emotionally exhausting yet wholly enchanting set from Cheltenham's finest. A man with split personalities and possessed by a huge, operatic voice sings chants, lullabies, blues and spirituals in jaw dropping sytle. Naked soul giving and strange stories; you will never forget the first time you saw him live. 'An enlightening experience' Jem Cox, 'Nham Magazine

Sun 13th Nov 2005 Slak Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Paul Curreri, Rachael Dadd, Sam Beer
		Paul Curreri A ruffled gypsy cowboy. He returns from Charlottesville, Virginia with the most incredible country blues and lazy back porch drawl. Tales of trains and tumbleweeds and rivers and love. Spontaneous live performances, spirited wordplay and stunningly expressive guitar work. ‘Exquisite’ The New Yorker Magazine . You really, really, REALLY cannot miss this. www.paulcurreri.com Rachael Dadd An absolute beauty. One third of Glastonbury ’s runaway acoustic heroes, Whalebone Polly, she’s the author of a deft and charismatic brand of folk. Making “extraordinary observations of extra ordinary human life' Decode. Quiet understatement and poetry from a subtle web of freshly formed emotions. Beauty has not sounded so good in a very, very long time. www.rachaeldadd.co.uk Sam Beer Astonishing and timeless songwriting from one of London’s best folk-blues performers. Melodic blues guitar, a bit of double bass and hard hitting poetic missiles. He plays for today’s youth in the same vein as Davy Graham and Dylan and will ‘knock you down flat, and then lift you right back up with music shimmering in sunshine.” – Half Moon. www.sambeer.co.uk

Sat 22nd Oct 2005 The Hub (map) Cheltenham Doors 7.30 Admission £5		Danny Schmidt, Pellumair, Rose Kemp Danny Schmidt - Virginia’s finest and an emerging folk-blues legend. ‘Astounding guitar player. Monumental blues man and a true poet’ (Paul Curreri) The intensity of a solo Neil Young, the subtle songwriting craftsmanship of Leonard Cohen. He reduces grown men to tears. www.dannyschmidt.com Pellumair - Sparkling folk-pop. Two young men from Southhampton producing heady, swirling MBV and Simon & Garfunkel infused melodies. All set to ‘woo the nation into a state of dreamy happiness." – Glasswer. Following a year touring supporting the likes of Kasabian, the Delays & HAL their debut album is released on Rough Trade’s Tugboat label on 3rd October. Tipped by the Fly as ‘One of the best finds of 2005’.