We had a very enjoyable evening at the Salisbury on Sunday. The jazz night there is always well attended so there was a nice crowd, and it was also the first Quadraceratops gig with an open fire. I might work on this as some kind of winter rider requirement: nothing like a fireside chat before going on stage. This gig was also probably our last one with Jason Simpson, who has been playing bass while Dave O’Brien is away travelling. Thanks Jason! And thanks to Jazz @ The Salisbury for having us.

I’m working on some new music for the band at the moment, and also getting into more gig promotion, of which there will be news soon…

On February 8th I ventured into the world of gig promoting and put on a double bill at the Hackney Cut. Quadraceratops were joined by The Button Band for a really nice evening of music, pizza, cake eating and general hanging out at a venue that boasts the address ‘Fish Island’. Sadly not open for public gigs any more (nothing to do with us!) the Hackney Cut is a great space and was also home to Dee Byrne’s ‘Jazz at the Hackney Cut’ weekly night.

We recorded and filmed the gig, and I’ll post some videos on here soon subject to the usual video-editing delay. Audio and I have a much better relationship though, so there are some recordings up on my Soundcloud page:

A big thanks to all the musicians, and also to Gideon Conn for producing the button/dinosaur flyer artwork that got so many compliments as I pushed it into people’s faces to promote the gig. The process of putting on a gig was moderately stressful but is definitely something I’d like to do more of. Plans are being hatched as you read this…

A freezing cold, snowy February day like today seems the perfect time to sift through the various photos, videos, and recordings I’ve amassed over the past three months. I’ve had a lot going on but not much time to write about it until now, so here goes.

Quadraceratops were lucky enough to play in the 2012 London Jazz Festival, which was the highlight of my Autumn. We supported Get The Blessing at the Jazz Cafe in Camden on the 17th November, playing to our biggest audience so far. It was also the biggest venue we’ve played, so the whole evening was slightly surreal and a lot of fun. Ricky Day kindly took on audience-eye-view photography duty on the night, and I’ve put up an album of his shots of the Quadraceratops FB page, plus the couple in this post. A big thanks to Dom Servini, who DJed at the gig, for booking us to come and play.

The following week we had a gig at ‘Jazz at the Waterline’ in Dalston. This is a night run by my friend Dee Byrne (although she has subsequently moved it to the Hackney Cut, due to what is hopefully the Waterline’s temporary closure). The back room of the Waterline is a cosy, intimate space and it was a nice gig for trying out some new music. I had recently finished a composition called ‘Flying South’, so it got its first outing on that night.

The Waterline gig was possibly also the first time that the band name has appeared on a blackboard (above) which I enjoyed. In addition, Dee took some photos on her phone including this one, below, and the trippy one on my ‘Gigs‘ page. Someone was clearly enjoying adding weird effects…hopefully inspired by the music!

I’d like to say a massive thanks to the ‘November lineup’, who put in a lot of work, switched around instruments a bit and played great on both gigs. They were (and indeed are):

Tom Ward – baritone sax (in role as a trombone while Magnus was away)

Andrew Woolf – tenor sax (in role as Tom Ward)

Chris Snead and Dave Orchant – trumpet (one on each gig)

Jason Simpson – bass

Kit Massey – keyboards

Luke Christie – drums