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About us
Kamakura is the project name for British songwriter Nick Calvert and the friends he writes and performs with. Often this is internet based collaboration, which is not only HUGE fun, but also the future of the 'Music Business'. One day the behemoth record companies will truly embrace this... One day.
NEWS... NEWS... NEWS...
17th June 2006
Wordpress upgrade is just peachy now, though I'm not as keen as I thought I'd be.
Anyhow, in honor of it finally working we (that's both Mick and I - not the royal we) are going to be taking part in Tapegerm's 'A Midsummer Nights Germination. A 24 hour on-line festival on the 17th... which is now!
Click on the stellar poster below (designed by J$) to be whisked to the site.
2nd June 2006
OK. So I've buggered up the wordpress upgrade... It was working perfectly for a day or two, so I thought I'd get arty. Fool. Now I have to work out what I did and undo it... which is going to be harder than re-installing it again. Hmm, there's an idea.
28th May 2006
I'm finally updating the blog to Wordpress 2. So if it's down for a couple of
days please panic not... Yes. Well there it is. Email if you want.
10th April 2006
After a lot of rehearsing (too much) we are starting
to get gigs... The first of which is at 'THE ROOMS' Nr.
Warrior Square Station in St.Leonards on Saturday 6th May.
Of course we should have booked the gigs and then rehearsed, but silly
me, how was I to know gigs are booked three months in advance? Hmm? I
ask you.
4th September 2005
I'm translating the site for Wordpress. I was going
to use MovableType, but it costs wonga, and it uses perl, neither of which
I'm very good at dealing with. Originally I was going to be way flash
and use a cms, but at present there's no point.
1st September 2005
I'm really chuffed with the track I've put together
with Don
Campau's loops at Tapegerm
It's called 'World', and it's the first time I've attempted five part
harmonies. I also got to discover the poetry of Wallace
Stevens, an American poet of the 19th and 20th centuries that I had
never heard of. A tip regarding Tapegerm: If you want to download rather
than stream you can, but only from the artists page. So if you want to
download my stuff go here.
If you enjoy anything you hear here, please drop me a line. Feedback is
what all impecunious artists live for. If you hate it, same thing... But
say why!
31st August 2005
So a bit of catching up. We have been rehearsing heavily
for gigging, and for recording an album (there, I've finally said it).
Holding a four piece to-gether with no imminent work is a nightmare, so
we have drifted apart. Mick and I however obviously haven't. We have been
recording most rehearsals on cassette, and truthfully some of the performances
have been good (be positive!), Damn good. Infact some have even been shiver
making.
Here's Sincerity
Machine. Originally written for a Songfight
and played live. Here it's again performed live: This time by Mick and
I. Be warned it's without drums, but worth listening to... More news soon!
23rd July 2005
I'm performing at the last 'Glass Eye' at 9.00pm tonight.
'Glass Eye' is a mini festival of performers/songwriters and takes place
at 'The Smugglers', a pub on the seafront in Hastings, East Sussex, UK.
I think this is the 7th or 8th, and is the last because Pete, the chap
who organises them, has finally got his own pub.
22nd July
I received an email from a re-mix artist called Optronix
who wants to re-mix 'You say I'm wrong'! Chuffed? I should say so. Gonna
do it? Why the hell not?
21st July 2005
In for songfight 'Obey all the laws' which is the second tapegerm track
I've written. This one uses the 24hr flu loops from Hebrephretic and Cystem.
9th July 2005
Big fun over at www.tapegerm.com.
They had a 24 hour 'Flu' competition which meant downloading a bunch of
prepared loops and using them for whatever. This is the first time I've
ever worked with loops before and it was both amazingly stimulating and
rather frightening too. I used loops created by an artist called Cystem,
and wrote a song called 'You
Say I'm Wrong'. God know what they'll think of it.
17th June 2005
The 'thing' that is Kamakura came to life for an
hours set on the 17th June. We opened the 'Global
Fusion' festival at the Pestalozzi International Village. This was
a shock on several fronts. Firstly that we were offered the gig. I have
no idea how this came about, The last time the promoter saw us live it
was in a '2 in a bar' gig in Hastings Old Town... That was over two years
ago.
Still I wasn't complaining! After casting the runes and several panic attacks I got a lot of support. Mick Dorey played keyboards, David Loach played Bass and Guitar, and Peter White played drums.
Kapitano and I
were also going to play a short set as the K-Twins, however it was hard
enough putting one band together, so unfortunately that wasn't to be.