The Anton Hunter Trio Album is released today.

Anton Hunter (guitar), James Adolpho (double bass), Johnny Hunter (drums).  Recorded on 20th February 2013 by Anton Hunter at the Music Place, Altrincham.  Mixed by Anton Hunter and Sam Andreae, and Mastered by Anton Hunter and Ben Cottrell, March 2013.

It’s available from his shop, and you can stream it all there for free so you can try-before-you-buy.  Fantastic (as usual) art work from the very talented Angela Guyton.  If you buy the CD, the cover will have been hand printed either Angela or Anton (if you can, ask for one that Angela did…).

There’s still chance to buy them in person too, the album launch gig is at Matt & Phred’s in Manchester tomorrow (Wednesday 1st May) and we’ll also be playing at The Oxford in London on Monday 6th.

Early last year, Martin Archer had the idea to form a quartet of himself on saxophones with three percussionists.  I then joined them as a fourth percussionist because, as the old saying goes, “four drummers are better than three”.  Here is an Archer’s-eye view of the recording session in June 2012 with (left to right) Walt Shaw, myself, Pete Fairclough and Steve Dinsdale.

Over the following 7 months, the group transformed into what you now hear, with the addition of the talented improvisers Mick Beck, Seth Bennett, Graham Clark, Laura Cole and Corey Mwamba.  Here is a promotional video shot at the Capstone Theatre, Liverpool, as part of a showcase for the new Jazz North scheme, the Northern Line.  You can buy the album direct from Discus Records – click here.

Engine Room Favourites v2 from digitalSTAGE on Vimeo.

The Pete Lyons: LX Project yesterday was a success. We’ve been rehearsing Pete’s compositions for septet and quintet for the past few months, building up towards an all day event.  It was really well attended and very well received.  Local bass legend, Rich Keates, recorded the whole thing so there will be something to hear soon.

On Friday 12th and Saturday 13th, the Dub Jazz Soundsystem were up in Barrow-in-Furness recording our first album.  We were well looked after at Sonic Zoo Industries; Rob Dunphy and Gripper Newby did a great job in getting our music down and I’m really looking forward to being able to share the results.

I was doing more recording today at the RNCM with Graham South, Ben Watte and Stewart Wilson.  Ben Cottrell recorded our 4-track EP which will hopefully be ready for the summer.  Here’s a picture…

All this whilst I’m technically on tour with the Anton Hunter Trio…  We had the first performance on Thursday 11th at Band on the Wall supporting Troyka (Chris Montague, Joshua Blackmore and Kit Downes – really great!) and are playing again on Wednesday 17th.  We’re touring his new album and will visit Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle, London and Manchester again.  Click here for details.

I’ve been really busy already this year with some great projects so I thought I’d share it all with you.

I had a couple of really nice gigs last week.  First, I was with Marley Chingus at the Davenham Players Theatre on Thursday.  It was a lovely gig.  There was a really appreciative audience and it was a fantastic sounding venue; my bass drum sounded amazing!  They’re really friendly people and we were looked after really well.  Second, I played at the first Liverpool International Jazz Festival with the Blind Monk Trio.  Again, there was a really appreciative audience, many of who had just sat through an intense hour and a half of piano-less trio (Denys Baptiste’s Triumviate – very enjoyable!) and seemed only too happy to sit through some more!  The festival seemed a great success and I hope it continues next year.

On Valentine’s day, I had a very romantic gig with the beginnings of a new project involving Seth Bennett and Sam Andreae under the name “BAH!”.  We then had the first meeting with Mick Beck to form a new quartet which hopes to mix Free Improvisation with compositions.  Here’s a video of the trio gig courtesy of Andy Newcombe; I’m sure you’ll agree how romantic it was.

Other gigs I enjoyed last month were my quartet playing at Freedom Principle and the Pete Lyons Septet at the Lescar, Sheffield.  Keep an eye out for the Pete Lyons LX project (an all day event in April).

I also had a recording session with the Anton Hunter Trio.  I don’t think I’ve ever played on a recording session that’s gone as smoothly as this one did.  The results will hopefully be available by April when we will be touring the country.

Let’s hope the rest of the year continues like this!

Here’s some footage of the trio performance with Mick Beck (tenor sax, recorder & bassoon) and my brother (guitar) at the “Mick Beck: Rather Different” film première.  We recorded the following day and got some great tunes which you’ll be able to hear very soon.

Thanks to Andy Newcombe for the footage, see more photos of this gig and many other gigs at his blog.

The official release date is Monday 29th October 2012 but if you can’t wait that long, you can pre-order a copy from here and you’ll get to listen to two of the tracks right now!  If that’s still not good enough, you can pick up a copy directly from us on our tour and you will get a FREE gift!

Come along to one of the following venues to say “hi” and join us for a good old skank.

Angela Guyton

To celebrate it’s release, Skamel will be touring at the end of October.  Also, they will be giving out a FREE GIFT!  Find out what it is by going along for a skank at one (or more) of these venues.

See you all there!