On a barmy, summery, Saturday night the Keighley Cougars venue was lit up with some of Yorkshire’s best unsigned talent. The band headlined on a night which saw support acts ‘The Capo Amnesty’ and ‘Cotton Club’ impress the audience.

It was perhaps the perfect end to a perfectly beautiful day. Scorching temperatures gave way to soulful tunes as all three acts hit-the-spot for the discerning Keighley crowd. At the end of the night it was clear the crowd was ready for the headliners as they lapped up the band’s distinct and original tracks.

The night was sold out however those who couldn’t make it didn’t miss out. The set was streamed live to faithful fans via Ustream.

The increasingly popular ‘Superman Song’ [fast racking-up Youtube plays] brought the evening to a close and the crowd to their feet.

Next the band journey to the south of the county and bring soul back to Sheffield.

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The biggest news we’ve got is that we’re doing a gig in the capital on SATURDAY 5th May!! Its kind of a big deal – we’re being put on by FeedMe Music – who are an agency…so that means – if this gig goes well – then we should get even more gigs out of it!! But…we need a good crowd…

So what’s the deal? How do I get tickets? How much is it? It’s a bit expensive to go all the way to London for a gig!…

Well – we’ve got a coach going down – and we have a couple of spare seats remaining! £10 gets you your ticket into the venue (£7), a free HARD-copy of our latest EP – AND your seat on the coach (in both directions)!! How good is that?!
If you’re already in London – well, your ticket will still be the £7 – but we’ll also be throwing in the free hardcopy of the EP too!

So come drag your friends along – I’m sure you will be in for a very entertaining night!

But what else have we been doing?

Last weekend we gigged at the Old White Horse Inn, Bingley – to a very home crowd. And it was awesome! Seemed to go down a treat – and I’d like to just thank all of you who came down to make it such a good night!

We finally have our CDs of the EP to hand – and we’re passing those out ABSOLUTELY FREE (£0.00) at all of our next few gigs – so come down and get your copy!

Also, I had a fairly important ‘solo’ gig down at Keighley Cougars the other week – pre-match and post-match entertainment in the director’s suite. Unfortunately the whole band couldn’t make it – so I just played acoustic guitar – but nevertheless, it seemed to go down well, handing out over 60 CDs of the EP!

So…that’s about all of the latest news summarised…we’ve just rolled out of a rehearsal, ahead of next week’s gig – and the band are sounding super-tight! Last rehearsal will be on Friday – as a last blast through the set before we travel….CANNOT WAIT!

Get in touch if you’re interested in tickets for the London gig – and we will hope to see many of you there!

In the meantime,

Adios,

TG

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You see, although originally being called just ‘Tom Gee’ was never a contentious issue for any of us in the band, it seemed more of a problem for venues and new listeners to get a grasp of. We were being billed on acoustic sets – thinking Tom Gee was just one person…which although may make perfect sense to the untrained viewer, you don’t see the likes of John Mayer or Bon Jovi needing to add a suffix to their name. However, others do use them – such as Dave Matthews Band or the John Butler Trio. And so, we decided to change to it too.

But more than this, moving to the new band name also represents a progression in the way we work as a unit. Tom, naturally comes up with all of the new songs. They are his lyrics and his ideas. But when he brings them to the table, they get somewhat morphed when put in front of the rest of the band. Take the ‘Superman Song’ for example (which if you haven’t checked it out yet – you should, here! ) This song Tom first showed me on his acoustic guitar. No sooner was he into the first chorus and this piece just screamed gospel to me! We knocked it out in the next full rehearsal, where the horns came up with a stonking line for the chorus, and the girls made their stunning impact known in the middle breakdown section. Not to be over-looked – I should also point out Gav’s subtle but funky keys riffs over Jim Jamm’s swaggering bass line which just locks the whole thing down…Can you tell we like this tune?!

So there you have it – we’re now the Tom Gee BAND, and things are shaping up nicely! We’ve got a string of gig bookings – including one in London on 5th May where anyone who fancies a free trip down to the big smoke should let their voices be known on the facebook page! It would mean a great deal to us if you could lend us a day of your weekend…its quite simply an important gig, as we’re being scouted by an agency down there…

Finally, check out the second track of the Peak Sessions tracks, ‘On My Way’ – its being pre-released TONIGHT to anyone who’s already signed up for the free downloads – and it will be with the rest of you very soon!!

Anyway, m’off – stay sharp, stay cool – and keep listening to the Tom Gee Band

Thad

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Well, it’s afternoon technically but I don’t really care. I’m very pleased to announce that we are Tom Gee Band and we are 8 beautiful people strong; David Sudall, Jim Jamm, Gavin Stevenson, Joe Roughton, Matt Newby, Laura Popperwell and Bridie Burkinshaw. And me, but yeah. Sort of goes without saying doesn’t it?

We have a gig at the Library with our good friend Richard from the 360 Club. It’s 27th January a Friday night in Leeds. Get down for a chance to be on the Suzie’s Rendez-Vous video! AND our 2 new tracks will be available. AND it’s the first full band gig. AND it’s going to be awesome, fun-filled and groovy. One last plug, please please please like the fan page on facebook if you don’t already. If you do already muchas gracias. The new year looks exciting and hopefully we can make it as good as last year. Not much to follow is it really? UK & Ireland tour, 02 Arena, new EP….just casually. Crack that one out again? You bet. Here is a video of our misdeeds at the O2 last year. Thanks for your support from 2011 and as for 2012? (Cue cool sign off line in Lethal Weapon style) I’m gettin’ too old for this… doesn’t really work does it?

Schmeh (there’s an underrated word, yes it’s word) I’ll leave you with this gem, courtesy of Mr. Jamie Moore. Enjoy and See you soon.

Hasta luego

TG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZpEDKwPUQ0

The post TG: New Year, New Tracks, New Band! appeared first on Tom Gee Band.

We launched the new EP Roots on 26^th June at the 360 Club in Leeds (the EP was mixed by Roni Szpakowski of Peak USA…in Chicago) and then played a load of gigs around the UK over the next two weeks on our “Get Out of Bed” tour.  We then managed to sell over 250 EP’s (which certainly helped the finances…mixed in Chicago) We’ve since sold over 150 songs on itunes and had a couple of tracks played on a Canadian radio show. (Chicago…huh?)

Then, you know, casually, we went to the O2 for the Live & Unsigned Grand Final, didn’t win but had an amazing time.

The next Friday Dave, Jamie and me received our degrees, Jamie from Hull Uni, me and Dave from Leeds College of Music. Had lovely day with our families, not forgetting Dave (Thad), who is probably a better musician than the rest of us, or at least he thinks he is, who is still working towards his forthcoming engineering degree. Multi-talented ba*%&rd.

Starting to book gigs for September once the August holidays are over. So keep your eyes peeled for new songs, new gigs and new band members! That’s all I have for you now.

Love and thanks for all your support. Let’s keep it going.

TG

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So we rocked up on the day of the audition, cranked out What’s She Gonna Say and got told to stop playing half way through. Not the best of starts. We went to wait outside and watched the organisers come out one by one to explain that various bands hadn’t got through offering feedback on their performance, things they can change and improve on. To be fair we were relaxed, didn’t really expect anything to come of it. “Tom Gee?” We all looked up. “Yeah you guys are through well done.”

So 2 months later there we were in the Regional Final on the 27th March at Dewsbury Town Hall. Lots of fans turned up to support us, people were nervous, still practicing before they went on. We were relaxed. Again. It’s not that we didn’t care I guess we just didn’t expect anything to come of it. So you can imagine our surprise when our name was called out saying we were through. I think that’s when it hit me that we were one step from the O2. That was a good feeling.

Sunday 8th May arrives, The Willows in Manchester. Again a huge crowd there to support us. Cracked out a Beyonce cover before the opening track of the new EP Roots called Little Late. Video here! (http://youtu.be/LZ_2s-nlbY4) And the final act going through to the Grand Final of the Live & Unsigned competition 2011 at the O2 Arena is….Tom Gee. Get out. No it’s not. No it really is. Wow.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us along our journey and thanks to those who are coming down on Saturday to see us. For those of you that can’t make it you can still show your support by texting unsigned62 to 84222 or watching the youtube video! http://youtu.be/LZ_2s-nlbY4

It’s Wednesday for God’s sake, the gig is on Saturday and it really hasn’t hit me yet. One thing for certain though; I can not wait.

See you Saturday.

TG

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Everything’s hectic at the moment, been some fantastic performances by LCM students as part of the ensemble unit down at the Wardrobe all week, great to see the talent I’ve had the priveledge of performing and learning with for the last 3 years. Can’t believe it’s over to be honest. I’ll be doing my solo performance, joined by my 3 best friends (Dave, Dave and Jim), on 10th June playing a bluesy Clapton-Mayer-Me set, should be a good laugh. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in Bridie Burkinshaw’s performance and David Levi’s, both are sounding great.

So everybody’s busy rehearsing, revising, organising, breathing, the whole shebang and I heard in the news that Sean Kingston crashed his boat into a bridge, it was described as a watercraft accident. Not to be confused with a witchcraft accident as I thought it said at first sight. Obviously it’s terrible news and everyone wishes him a speedy recovery but somebody posed the question what would you do if you had as much money as Sean Kingston?

So what would I do? Well, it’s easier to say what I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t buy a boat, well I might but I wouldn’t buy a boat that I was going to control; I’m a nutcase. Don’t give me a high speed boat and a stretch of water, something’s going to go wrong. I think the main thing is that I’m a bit of a wimp, I’d be way too scared of damaging myself, pathetic I know. I think the fear stems from having to explain to my girlfriend/parents/sisters that I’ve hurt myself. Because even if I survived a tragic watercraft accident, I wouldn’t survive the absolute bollocking they’d give me!

Playing a gig tonight at The Fenton as part of Something In The Loft, a good night in Leeds supporting unsigned bands and artists. David Sudall is joining me on percussion so even if you don’t like me, it’s worth coming down to see a masterful musician at work! We’re on at 9pm.

There are a few exciting things in the pipeline, keep posted for all the updates, you’ll get them here first!

TG

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