Brent  at  Mangawhai  Tavern  March  2017

Playing  our twice-yearly  gig  at  the  Bohemian  Puhoi Market

                                                            June  2018

                                                                     

Brent  at  The  Mason Gallery 

Mangawhai   August  2017

Two good  friend's recently  took the  plunge  to   fulfill their dream of  owning  an  Art Gallery when Geoff and Chris Mason  opened  their  doors at Bennett's  Mangawhai  last month 

After  a  lifelong career  of  professional  photography Geoff  is  exhibiting his  own  works  as  well as  a  variety  of  other  well known  painters and  sculptors.

The  opening  was a lot of  fun  and  a  real pleasure for me  to  play  a couple  of  hours of  background   music for the  event 

Playing The Live Music Scene In England and  Ireland

In  2015 I went for an extended visit to friends living in the UK. I had been there for the summer of  2014 and played a  couple of   Folk Festivals  - one at  Broadstairs in Kent and the  St  Albans  Folk  Festival in  Hertfordshire as well as some opportunistic pub gigs including a few jam nights at an  Irish  Pub in  Chiswick High St in  London. The result  was that  I  was able  to " sus out" how the live  music scene  works in  England.  In  2015  I  got organized and  made a determined effort   to play as many folk clubs and  open mikes as  I  could find . Like the  local muso's I  got most of  my gigs from  the  ' Lemon -Rock ' website. LR has up to date information on pretty much every live gig venue in the country  and is  a must if  you want to hit the incredible UK live music trail. 

The Chemic Leeds

One of these  gigs  was the  live  night  at the  Chemic Tavern again in Leeds  where  I  stayed  for  a couple  of weeks . It w as  a great  night  and  I  got  to  play  a crazy New  Zealand  railway song "Taumaranui ' One  of the  guys in the  fantastic resident  band  the  Cardinals was  from NZ and  had been living in Yorkshire  for  years  so he  had  a ball playing  it  . Also  the  guy playing the  dobro  was  also  a brilliant guitarist  and  once  played   rhythm  guitarist in Dire  Straits .

Touring New Zealand musician Brent Morrissey joined Eric Pope & The Cardinals for a night at The Chemic Tavern, Leeds.  (you - tube)

Jamming with Irish musicians Cobblestone Inn Dublin 2015

Cobblestone  Pub  Dublin  2015

Brilliant to  jam with  really good Irish musicians  in  Dublin. They dont  seem to have many  singers at these gigs  - mainly  instrumental jams  so  I  was a  lucky to get a couple of  bluegrass songs  in and gave  the banjo players and  fiddlers a bit of variety . 

Unless you are a local its a bit difficult to  find places like this in  Dublin. Most pub owners pre-book musicians and advertise  " live  Irish music "  outside their pubs to attract tourists so there's no place for casual jamming.Although it was easier to  find open jams in western  Ireland and  in the  south.

But  Ireland is  great to tour and  the  Irish sure  do love their music.

                         Great  jam session at the  Cobblestone   - and the only  Mandolin ! 

At the Grove Folk Club in Leeds

Playing   'The Grove "

I played the Grove  on  my  2015  trip after   hearing  from  a local Leeds music  store  owner that  it  was the  oldest  Folk Club in England  and  had  been  at  the  same  site  fro over fifty  years . The  Grove  is  a great  music  and  dance  room in  an  very old  downtown  Leeds pub . After  hearing  some  very  high quality   English folk song performances I  decided  to play  for my  designated  songs  two  from my  New Zealand  music  repertoire . I  did  one  of my own  compositions  "Rakaia " a   song about the Rakaia  river  in  Canterbury -  and  a musical  version  of  James  K  Baxters  poem  " Cardrona " which  was  partly filmed  and  included is here . New  Zealand  music  is  virtually un -heard  of  in  British  folk  clubs so   audiences  like  that  night  at the  Globe  were   very interested in  what  I  was able to play  for them .





In  all  I  performed    thirty two  gigs  while  I  was  in the UK in 2015 . Some  of the  venues I  played  were  ;

CLUBS n FESTIVALS                                                           PUBS

Sharps  Folk  Club Primrose Lane  London                White  Swan   St  Albans
Watford  Folk Club London                                         The  Cock St  Albans
St  Albans  Folk Club Herts                                          The  Farmers  Boy  St  Albans
 Harpenden  Folk  Club  Herts                                      Hare  and  Hounds  Leeds
St  Albans  Folk  Festival                                              Connolly's  Irish  Chiswick  London
Broadstairs  Folk Festival Kent                                    The  Rose  and  Crown  Hers
Myrtle  Meanwood  Music  Festival                             The  King  Harry  Herts
Grove  Folk Club Leeds                                                The Horn    Herts
Skipton Folk Club  Yorkshire                                        Portland  Arms Herts
                                                                         

Pics  in  London 

                                                   

                   Tate  Modern                                                                         Hammersmith Bridge

                                                                 Turnham Green

Brent plays on the street in Chile

PICTURES

Pictures

                                      .

 Peter  Neumegen - Linda Hefford - 

 RED WITCH   2009

Revamped  Otherwise Fine

2018

Photo Shop B/Day card

Cahors France  2016

Review by Bing Turkby

West Coast Farewell

This is a great song about gold mining on the West Coast. We wanted to convey the harshness of life for miners and the loneliness of the miner - through the sound of Irish Pipes and Whistles. Enjoy...



This audio track is available at CD Baby here.

Add caption

Two Jovial Fellows

This song is a variant on an old Irish song that found its way to the colonies in the 1800's. This version is written in a New Zealand context.


You can get this track from CD Baby here.