“You want to get out there and have a laugh with your bandmates. It’s good fun, a hoot, it’s like being in the Boy Scouts again. It’s a massive school trip with nobody in charge.”

Nik Kershaw is no stranger to taking to the stage, his four decades long career and slate of global hit singles including, ‘Wouldn’t it Be Good’, ‘The Riddle’ and biggest hit, ‘I Won’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’. Has seen him perform around the globe, including an iconic performance at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium that attracted a global television audience of over 1 billion people.

Truly there have been few artists that have captured the imagination and burrowed in to the hearts of music lovers at the pace Nik did after signing his first record deal in 1983, “We were recording the first album in the summer of ’83 and by mid February of ’84 I couldn’t leave my house without a bodyguard.” He was living the dream, from being in a local professional band for three years, playing at weddings and bar mitzvahs, until the work eventually dried up, to going solo and spending 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart through 1984 and 1985. Beating every other solo artist in the same period in the process.

Yet he explains how the transition from being a starving artist to a global star in such a small window of time was a jarring one: “Most of the time you’re standing there going this is amazing and the rest of the time you go this is terrifying because you can’t get off. You’re on this ride and it’s going to take you with it.”

Fame often has its caveats, it is probably a tale as old as the music industry itself, Nik was no stranger to them, “I do remember occasionally it all getting to me, and me just sitting in the corner of a hotel room, rocking back and forwards, but that was pretty rare.” Just as quickly as he rose to fame it seemed like his spotlight was dimming, “I kind of got out of the business in ’89 for a bit because the fourth album didn’t go very well and it was kind of like, that was it, that was the only chance I was going to get.” Speaking candidly Nik explains how frustration affected him at the time, “When you spend a huge amount of time, energy, and love making something new, and then it’s overshadowed and obscured by what you’ve done before, you almost think, well, if this was my first album, it would be getting a lot more attention than it is.”

Looking back on this period now, Nik holds no ill feelings, “There’s a very small window of opportunity to show people what you’re made of and what you do, and most people don’t even get that, so I’m very grateful that I got that window.”

There has always been a quiet defiance from Nik, whether that be rebelling against following in his parents musical footsteps as a child, telling me, “When you’re young the last thing you want to do is what your parents did, I just wanted to be a footballer or racing driver until I was 14 or 15 when a mate of mine got himself an electric guitar.” Or dissociating with his hit songs when fans clamoured for them most, explaining that he went through a period of getting bored with playing those songs live and started changing their arrangements to make them sound different. Or returning to music with ’15 Minutes’ his fifth solo studio album a decade after retreating to the shadows to write for artists such as Cliff Richard, the late Bonnie Tyler and Gary Barlow. An album he closed with the title track, an exclamation that if it was to be the end of his time in the spotlight, his mic drop, then it was going to be on his terms. He wasn’t just going to own it, he was going to give it its own anthem, and he would sign off in a soaring crescendo.

Through this defiance, a deep understanding of himself, his artistry and his audience has developed. “Most people will associate me and my name with four or five songs and that’s fine, I’m comfortable with it. I wouldn’t want that 15 minutes again to be honest. I’m not prepared today to pay the price for that kind of fame. I’m very happy being able to walk around Tesco.”

Speaking on his hit songs he smiles “You realise that, mate, they’re not your songs, they don’t belong to you anymore, they’re the fans songs, they belong to them and how dare you change them.”

Of course now we know that this was only the beginning, his unprecedented run in the 80s, his complicated relationship with his work in the 90s and that chapter closure of an album in 1999, has been followed up with four more albums since the turn of the century. But it has been his non stop touring over the same period that really nurtured his longevity.

“I went back to the all the original versions of my hit songs, I love playing them now. They’re lovely moments during a set where there’s a connection with everybody there, where everybody in this room knows this song, it’s fantastic.”

In terms of what you can expect from his latest tour offering ‘Six in 26’, it wont just be the hits in their original glory, “It’s good to get out in front of your own audience and play some of the more obscure stuff. I’ve said to the band, what do you want to play? They’ve all got songs that they want, so there’ll be songs there that people haven’t heard for quite a while.”

“We haven’t got pyrotechnics, we haven’t got performing seals or anything, it’s just us really, having a laugh. So, if that’s what you’re in to, please come along.”

Nik Kershaw and his Band are at Warrington Parr Hall on 11 July and touring throughout July and August.

The post “Am I going to sit at home watching ‘Homes Under the Hammer’?”- Nik Kershaw on his latest Six in 26 tour appeared first on Quays Life.

“It’s dynamic, it takes you on a journey, we make you laugh, and we make you cry, then we make you shocked and have a moment of wonder.”

Carnesky is a pioneer in British performance art, her award winning career has spanned over two decades, her live performances have been appreciated and lauded by critics and audiences alike worldwide. As well as her live performances she has long been involved in the education and tutelage of young people who wish to be in the industry. She currently works as a Programme Director for a Contemporary and Popular Performance course at Rose Bruford College and is on the road with her latest production ‘SHOWWOMEN’ which sees her collaborate with Veronica Thompson (Fancy Chance), Livia Kojo Alour and Lucifire.

“We’re not making a play with characters where we’re playing other people. We’re playing ourselves, and then exploring through our skills, and through the stories of people in the past themes about what it is to be a woman,” Marisa tells me. Her work has long centred around themes of womanhood, from her first full-length solo show, ‘Jewess Tattooess’ to her more recent offering ‘Dr Carnesky’s Incredible Bleeding Woman’ but this looks to be the jewel in her crown as she tackles the subject in the very industry she had such a hand in growing.

“We kind of created this culture, the whole generation of us coming out of the 90’s brought this kind of visual cabaret and movement based cabaret into the mainstream.

“When I graduated, there wasn’t really much of a cabaret scene in the UK at the time, there wasn’t the culture that we have now, the burlesque and circus culture. There wasn’t a lot of places where you could do visual performing if you weren’t a stand-up comic. Trying to make a living was really hard, I was performing in nightclubs and then working a little bit in theatre freelancing.”

These times speak to a true passion for her craft as she persevered without the promise of a stable income in a market that was small at best, the familiar tale of the artist struggling to stay afloat doing what they truly love is as relevant as ever and as with many of these stories, adaptability is paramount. Marisa tells me this a trait that she shares with most of her counterparts, “I think people don’t realise that we all move between genres. We all kind of found our way doing a bit of theatre, doing a bit cabaret, doing a bit of Burlesque, a bit of comedy, a bit of teaching. It all crosses over, you have to be a jack of many trades.”

As well as adaptability this is a culture that promotes diversity, camaraderie and community and this is reflected in the team that has helped SHOWWOMEN come to life, “I have my biological family, but my circus family, my performance family are also really important to me. In a way they’re family too, the women in this show, we’ve been working together for nearly 20 years in festivals and different shows, we didn’t meet yesterday, we have shared stories, and we look out for each other.” Marisa believes that this level of collaboration between women could be a reflection of something much bigger. “Under patriarchy, traditionally we’re lead in a culture which is often about division. And perhaps matriarchy would be more about inclusion, a more collaborative sense of spectacle.

“If P.T. Barnum was a spectacular patriarch, then what would a spectacular matriarch be? Who would she be and what would she bring to the culture and to the community?”

The idea behind SHOWWOMEN seems to be about controlling the narrative, asking questions, and trying to come up with answers for them. There is a desire to flip the script, it is that sentiment that the name for the show itself is derived from. “We’re kind of saying that that nobody is a show girl if they’re over 18. The phrase is used to sexualise women into this identity of the girl, and I mean a lot of performers love it, there’s a kind of romance to the show girl, but we’re saying as we move into our 40s and 50s, we might need to change the script,” Marisa tells me passionately. “We’re show women, we’re actually now the ones running the businesses, we can do all these extraordinary skills and performances for as long as we want to. And yes, we might still be sexual, but in a more self-possessed way, where it’s less about us being in a line-up of identical bodies and It’s more about us having a voice, being great theatre makers or having great abilities to make spectacular performances.”

This piece looks to serve as more than mere entertainment and this shouldn’t come as a surprise as the brainchild of someone who is not a mere entertainer. The show has its inspirations in Marisa’s punk, anarchic spirit, and political performance art of the past. So often in her work the questions arise of why couldn’t I and why shouldn’t I marry, under the umbrella of what if I do? There’s the hope that the answer points to a level of social change and the questions raised in this piece are no different. “In my mother’s generation you kind of disappeared as you got older,” Marisa adds. “This is about saying, what is the midlife woman? What does she do on stage and what does she represent? I think it’s really important that women with physicality are still out there being physical in midlife. Let’s find out what that’s like, let’s give it a go, because I’m not getting off the stage. Why should I?”

Showwomen is at The Lowry on 16 March 2024. Age guidance 16+

The post “It’s really important that women with physicality are still out there being physical in midlife” – Marisa Carnesky appeared first on Quays Life.

Playing the audience like a drum or a sampling pad, Cleveland directs the right and left sides to harmonise at different tempos and pitches with just the movement of his hand, like he is the conductor and we are his orchestra. Nervous mutters turn into a chorus of confidence as a wave of collective comfortability spreads throughout the space. It is a masterclass in audience engagement.

The space, Carole Nash Hall, provides the perfect setting for this performance, it is intimate, five rows of seats split down the middle creating a runway to where Cleveland has set up his trusted looping device on a table draped in black, flanked by two elevated speakers. The hall is almost church-like in its imitation and acoustics; sounds bounce around until they surrounded you. So, when Cleveland flexes his vocal range it is easy to get swept up in the moment. At times it feels like a thousand angels are singing but it is simply Cleveland’s talent and expert use of his musical equipment.

For an hour straight there is a pretty unrelenting cycle of high-level musical expression. At one stage Cleveland pauses to take aim at those who rely too heavily on sheet music, “You’ve got musicians today who can’t play music without a piece of paper, I just think that’s ridiculous myself,” he states to an audience almost stunned to silence. “The fact that if I take the paper away you can’t play it, you can’t sing, you can’t do anything, what is that? The music should be inside you. The music could never be on the paper.” There is no doubt that this is the most uncomfortable moment of the performance, but it is also one that offers an insight into Cleveland’s psyche and ultimately provides context for the VocalSuite performance we are there to see.

Cleveland finishes the performance with a repeat after me style rendition of an original reggae song he made about his old record box. He encourages the audience to sing in Jamaican patois as he has. This could’ve gone either way, the breaking down of the lines could’ve been perceived as patronising but the crowd is really engaged, and it makes for an enjoyable closing to the show.

Cleveland does not disappoint in his headline show, the highs are really high, his talent dictates that, but more importantly just seeing a great artist go through such a free-flowing creative process live is something unique and that alone should be appreciated.

Cleveland Watkiss was at Carole Nash Hall on 1 March as the headline performance of Manchester Song Festival 2024.

Read our interview with Cleveland Watkiss.

The post Cleveland Watkiss at Manchester Song Festival: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

“I’m sharing my gift and I’m trying to do it in in the most pure and honest way that I can in the moment.”

Cleveland Watkiss is undeniably one of Britain’s best vocalists, his award-winning career which has spanned over three decades, has taken him around the world. He has worked with some of the biggest names in jazz, soul, rock and drum and bass; notably Stevie Wonder, The Who and Goldie to name just a few. He has endless expertise and experience to supplement his natural talent, something that he today shares with students at Trinity Laban through his role as a vocal professor. In 2021 he won the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation and in 2018 he was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He also won Best Vocalist at the Guardian Jazz Awards for three consecutive years, and the 64-year-old shows no signs of slowing down.

“It’s something I want to focus on,” Cleveland explains in regard to his VocalSuite concept, “In 2020, you know pre-pandemic, it was something that I was going to jump back in to, I wanted to focus on my solo voice performances and I’m just kind of getting back into it now.” There is a feeling that this gig couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for Cleveland, having his desires, like so many of ours, derailed by the global pandemic, the upcoming headlining of the Manchester Song Festival offers a remedy to that. “I’m excited about what’s going to happen, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it will find its way. It always does.”

The nature of VocalSuite lends itself to experimentation and improvisation, “It’s like splashing paint on the wall and saying okay where’s this going? Where’s the blue going, where’s the red going, what is it saying, how is it speaking to me?” He feels that half of the battle is getting out of his own way, “It’s frightening at times, but you’ve just got to let go and trust it, trust the moment, trust your musicality. There’s the other side as well of course, we’re soundboards, that’s what I believe anyway, the music is coming through us. We’re able to pull it from the clouds or heaven or God or from ancestors or past experiences, we’ve just got to catch it.”

VocalSuite as we see it today was born of the same trust in self. “The first gig that I did doing it kind of happened haphazardly,” he laughs, “I was supposed to do a gig with my good friend, Tunde Jegede, who plays Kora masterfully, but he had double booked himself, so he had to pull out. I said, I’ll do it myself, I hadn’t done any VocalSuite by myself, but I said it and I did it.” Cleveland sang for 90 minutes straight that night, his only friend his looping device. It was a leap of faith but one that paid off. He had reached a point where all he needed to create the soundscapes he desired was his own voice. In reality it was a long time coming.

“It was at that moment that I realised, right, now’s the time that I can do this”

Cleveland had long been fascinated by artists doing similar, particularly soloist Bobby McFerrin, who he admiringly described as having a wonder voice. “He’s one of the first singers that I saw on stage by themselves creating music in the moment. Just one man standing on the stage, and you heard, almost like a whole orchestra.” This was the 80s and it wasn’t just singers that were the subjects of Cleveland’s study, all soloists, no matter their instrument of choice, were of interest. He also took time to study orchestration, listening to Baroque and Atonal music, and trying to figure out how he could recreate what he had heard using his own voice. It wouldn’t be until the arrival of the tech of the mid 90s that Cleveland really began to explore what could now be described as the foundations for his VocalSuite performances, “I started to play around with looping devices where I could capture ideas, layer them and orchestrate them in the moment.” There was a new tool in his toolbox, and he would use it to great effect.

In a career that has long had a theme of collaboration, Cleveland was better equipped than most to contort his voice to create the illusion of collaboration in his VocalSuite performances, “I’ve always been interested in using my voice in different ways, it has such a vast scope and ability to attach itself to different aspects of music and sound. I love the exploration, whether I’m working with DJs or working with an orchestra, working by myself, or working with a choir, they all require different things. And it’s been an honour and a blessing to be able to do that.”

VocalSuite seems to be the culmination of all the work that has come prior, as a multidisciplinary artist who has always expressed creative freedom, effortlessly genre hopping for decades, VocalSuite is the perfect showcase for Cleveland to flaunt the musical fruits of his labour. It is a reflection of himself, free flowing and accomplished.

“I’m not bound by anything. The only thing I’m bound by is my own imagination.”

Cleveland Watkiss is at Stoller Hall on Friday 1 March as part of Manchester Song Festival 2024.

Manchester Song Festival is a three day event of concerts and workshops for all singing abilities, including introductions to folk and musical theatre, acting through song and vocal health. Family activities over the weekend include interactive storytelling sessions with live music for youngsters aged 3-5.

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