The Ballad of Jack Leslie – OUT NOW

This song was written soon after I heard the story of Jack Leslie, who should have been England’s first black footballer in 1925. It lead to me setting up The Jack Leslie Campaign with my friend and fan Greg Foxsmith. We want to build a statue of Jack and tell his story which has, for many terrible reasons, become very timely.

We are crowdfunding and doing great but need your help to hit our £100K target so please do check it out and donate if you can.

All proceeds from the song will go to the campaign so please buy it, share it, request it on your favourite radio shows etc…. !

The Ballad of Jack Leslie is out now on all digital platforms but you can buy it and pay more if you like (all for the campaign!) here…

On Spotify…..

And it’s on iTunes

Thanks for listening.

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The Jack Leslie Campaign

This is a massive undertaking and a hugely worthy cause that a great group of people (and me) are launching soon, so let me be serious for a second. Jack Leslie was a Plymouth Argyle player who in 1925 was told he’d been selected for England. But FA officials apparently then came to have a closer look at him and when they found out he was black his name mysteriously disappeared from the team sheet.

Please do check out our website and join the mailing list for updates when they come.

I have written a song to support the campaign, of course. I’ve played it live and people seem to like it even though it is, like the cause, entirely serious. It will be unintentionally hilarious if this is the song that gains wider attention than any of my attempts at comedy. But I’ll be happy if it helps raise a few extra quid.

Live and Unleashed

The end of 2019 was pretty nuts for me in mostly good ways but meant I did have to cancel the final gig of my little autumn tour in Nottingham. My sincere apologies to that fair city. It’s somewhere I’ve always enjoyed gigging and I knew there were some lovely people coming but sometimes life decides that you cannot go to Nottingham and must reschedule. I’ve not yet rescheduled but I promise you Nottingham, as The Terminator once said, ‘I shall be back.’

But I did manage a few other gigs; two private parties and a corporate appearance at a healthcare conference. These bookings kinda came by chance and through recommendations, which was lovely, and definitely helped my Christmas fund. They were really good fun — even the one the day after the election for a group of left-wing lawyers. We all needed cheering up and, while I’m not saying I planted a seed of eternal optimism in their hearts, I think I helped.

One thing I love doing is writing a song for an event and people seem to really enjoy them. So, if you have an event coming up and want something funny, occasionally poignant, heartfelt and bespoke then give me a shout

And if you are in London on February 16th then I’m doing a gentle, acoustic gig at the very sensible time of 5.30pm (for a Sunday) in Camden. It’s free but you can RSVP for some kind of enticing discount, I believe, by clicking this link.

May you be blessed with 2020 perception.

Cheers

Matt

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And here’s a pic of me playing in a room above a pub last year. (The final performance of my very enjoyable tour with the brilliant MJ Hibbett at the home of his Totally Acoustic gigs, The King and Queen in London).

On Tour…

I’m out and about doing a bunch of gigs where I’ll be playing all the ridiculous love songs I’ve written recently (including this and more to come if I get my act together). The tour starts in London at The Lucky Pig in Fitzrovia on 17th September and all the details are on my gigs page. I’ve got some great people joining me – the brilliant Gavin Osborn and Simon Allen in Bath on 9th October and Phil Davies in Manchester on 19th. Hope to see you at one of the shows…

Tour Shenanigans…

I’m having such a brilliant time on tour with MJ Hibbett, I thought I’d best write about it. Maybe the fact that he’s done a blog about every gig so far (actually nothing’s appeared about last night in Leicester yet but I’m sure it will and it was, to probably quote his forthcoming post… GRATE!) has spurred me on. Read his blog here.

I don’t think either of us were expecting much apart from a bunch of nice gigs playing to a few people in pubs and bars, but so far it’s been.. well it has sort of been that, but we’ve had more people than we expected and it’s been a huge amount of fun. Croydon was the first stop and we had a fine attentive crowd and it was brilliant to hear MJ’s songs again. In fact, he’s got so many, he’s been switching it up a lot and playing totally different sets which I am thoroughly appreciating. Not because I don’t want to hear any of the songs again but because it’s wonderful to hear different ones. They’re bloody good. I’m sticking to similar, though certainly not identical, sets as I have new songs I am keen to bust out at any cost. Last night in Leicester I chucked in a few different tunes which was fun, although I did forget the end to Ed Sheeran’s Number One. I think I got away with it, essentially by descending into a flurry of swearing which seemed to go down well.

I think this must have been particularly appreciated by Jan of PASALB (Plymouth Argyle Supporters Association London Branch) who has been to all three shows so far. That’s commitment. It’s been a joy to have a regular gig attendee although I am worried we may need to stage an intervention.

The Leicester audience was a gathering of delightful people. A couple said they’d decided to go for us over some better known names in the sense that they had actually heard of them. Maybe the lower price point was an incentive, but they said they were glad they chose to see us. And thus, we won the Leicester Comedy Festival. Also, Sue was a French teacher – something that was revealed in the middle of her impressive Henri Le Chauffeur de Camion Amoureux translation efforts.

Camberwell at The Joiners last Sunday was a total joy. I’ve been playing the open mic there a lot recently and it’s a lovely room run by lovely people, so I’m glad we managed to fill it as a load of MJ fans turned out and the gentle pressure I applied on all my SE5 friends and acquaintances seemed to work. We had a blast. As MJ mentions in his blog we have different styles but they do compliment each other which is definitely making for great shows.

Next up it’s Sheffield, then Manchester followed by Bristol (at my friends’ Maria and Noel’s brewery which will be extra fun because they do incredible beer) and finally back to the home of MJ’s Totally Acoustic gigs which I’ve enjoyed playing at and attending on many occasions, The King & Queen in Fitzrovia where excellent beer is also available (but not as good as Maria and Noel’s unless we can persuade them to get some New Bristol beers on tap there…)

Come along to one of the shows. Now we are nearly half way through, I can absolutely 100% guarantee fun. All the details are here.

What Happens On Tour…

 

… won’t be interesting enough to stay on tour, thankfully. Except the gigs, which will be 100% guaranteed mayhem.

In the new year of 2019 I am playing a few shows around the country with the brilliant MJ Hibbett with whom I have gigged many times and who is delightful company on and off stage. We’re calling the tour ‘No Headliner’ to make it clear we are absolutely equal as humans and also so we can finish early, have a drink and a chat after the gig before going to bed at a sensible hour. Let’s Rock.

We shall be adding a couple of London dates to the tour and I’ll update details for tickets etc. as they come in, but for now here’s the dates…

Sunday 17th February 2019: The Joiners Arms, Camberwell, London

Wednesday 20 February: The Globe, Leicester  (part of the Comedy Festival and tickets are already on sale here)

Thursday 28 February: The Green Room, Sheffield 

Thursday 7 March: Gullivers, Manchester 

Thursday 14 March: New Bristol Brewery, Bristol 

Here’s the pic we put together hastily for the Leicester Comedy Festival programme which illustrates how serious we both are about creating absolute mayhem on stage…

 

Look forward to seeing each and every one of you at one of these places.

Matt

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