Sunday 2 December 2012

It's Christmas!! (well...almost)


A popular function band like Down for the Count has two busy periods- the summer and Christmas. The summer is spent playing first dances for excited (and sometimes nervous) brides and grooms, and enticing wedding guests up on the dance floor to dance the night away to swing and soul music.
As soon as the nights start drawing in- our thoughts turn to Christmas! Most of you out there will probably start embracing that good old Christmas spirit around the start of December- but at Down for the Count Towers, the Christmas spirit is normally upon us in September!

Down for the Count is always in demand for Christmas parties and events- and we endeavor to seamlessly incorporate Christmas hits into our swing and soul sets.  Mike goes to great lengths to arrange popular Christmas songs that suit the whole 9-piece, and one of our favourite tunes to play is Andy Williams’ “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. We often use it to open our sets and it always goes down extremely well! When we want to slow a set down and give the guests a break from dancing to energetic swing and jazz, another firm favourite is Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby”.
Rich practices the good old swing rhythms we are so well known for!

A lot of preparation and work goes into getting the band Christmas-ready, after Mike’s spent far too many festive hours arranging new tunes for the band, we all come together for a fun day of rehearsing to drink too much tea, eat too many pastries, and to put the tunes together.
In rehearsals we cover issues such as where Kate can add some sleigh bell accompaniment to tunes, adding backing vocals to “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, and where in a set is it appropriate to put on the Santa hats…

We love doing public gigs at Christmas time. They’re a rarity, so it’s especially great when our friends and family can watch us play. Last year we put on A Very Down For The Count Christmas in Winslow, which was a New York-inspired glamorous evening. 
Christmas Down for the Count...

This year we are delighted to be returning to Bucks- but this time to Wingrave as the DFTC Swing Orchestra where we will be playing at ‘the UK’s hottest tea dance’ for the Swingrave Christmas Special on 2nd December. So come and join us as we dig out our 50’s outfits and provide the music for a real swing party. Find out more at www.swingrave.co.uk.
Swing Down for the Count!


We can’t wait to start performing for all these Christmas functions, so pop along to our public performance if you can, or who knows- we may be playing at your work’s Christmas party!

Wednesday 28 November 2012

The Enigma Ball

Our lead trumpeter Max Fagandini provides a blog post this afternoon, reviewing our most recent weekend of musical shenanigans.

Let me tell you about the Enigma Ball.

No, wait, hang on. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with our big rehearsal the following day, then we can back up a bit for the juicy stuff.

Christmas is coming, and we at DftC Towers are oh-so-ready for it. A knackering day in the rehearsal studios at Audio Underground in Stoke Newington saw us running through not just our old festive favourites like All I Want For Christmas Is You and Santa Baby, but also allowed us to work on some great new soul repertoire (including a cracking medley of several tunes that won’t let you off the dance floor for a second) and a lot of our recently-added swing numbers (including Trumpet Blues and Cantabile, a favourite – if very formally named – tune of mine) for some exciting upcoming gigs. This stuff is sounding red hot, so if you’re lucky enough to be at one of our gigs next month…well, you’ll be the envy of all of your less-fortunate friends.

The trumpet section gears up for Christmas
The rehearsal was, as always, great fun and full of delightful and inappropriate bandter™, but it was our gig at Bletchley Park on the 24th November that was the real highlight of the weekend. The Enigma Ball is an event put on by the transgender community around Milton Keynes and masterminded by the wonderfully personable and organised Kathy. The band’s played at two previous Balls for them and has found it hugely enjoyable both times, but this time we rolled out the full 9-piece band for our friends at Bletchley Park. For 4 of us (myself, Kate, Kate and Katie – confusing, right?) that meant our first experience of the Ball, and, well, I for one wasn’t even quite sure what to expect.


I needn’t have worried. The Enigma Ball was genuinely one of the most fun gigs we’ve had, with a bubbly and animated crowd who rarely left the dance floor as we ran through classics like Finally and I’m Every Woman along with the specially-requested I Will Survive and that Shania Twain song that everybody secretly enjoys, Man, I Feel Like A Woman. The energy in the ballroom was immense and even by the time the end of the night rolled around it showed no signs of ebbing.

However, it wasn’t really until we got back to the band room after our final set and we had the chance to sit down and chat with Kathy for a bit that we started to really understand the significance of the evening, and what life is like for a lot of people who identify as trans. The Enigma Ball provides an event, a place, a sanctuary of sorts where people can come and be themselves, without a shred of judgement in anyone’s eyes, in the company of friends, partners, and others. One attendee, Kathy told us, was out ‘dressed’ in public with his wife for the first time. The Ball gave him the chance to do that, and offers a fantastically fun night for a lot of people for whom this sort of opportunity perhaps doesn’t come around as often as it should.

There are far too many stories about discrimination and unreasonable animosity from other people against the trans community. From subtly condemning looks in the street to a fear of reprisal upon being ‘outed’, it’s sadly hard to deny that there’s a lot of hate still out there in the world. But Kathy and the team behind the Enigma Ball deliver an evening set apart from that, where people from all walks of life can gather for a fun and relaxed evening among friends. Next time, they’re aiming for upwards of 600 guests. I say they should aim for the thousands.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Down for the Count - Christmas Party Band


As another fantastic summer of weddings and events draws to a close, we've started to think about our Christmas repertoire.  It's probably fair to say that Down for the Count love Christmas - and we believe that we are the ultimate band for any classy Christmas party or Christmas-themed wedding.

We try and make our Christmas music as tasteful as possible - we perform only the best Christmas hits, ones that fit into the sets of swing and soul music that we already perform.  If you're anything like us, you probably can't stand the majority of Christmas songs that get played on the radio, which is why we've gone to great lengths to choose our Christmas repertoire carefully.

One of our favourite songs is this Frank Sinatra version of "Let It Snow".  We haven't been able to find out who the original arranger was, but we love it all the same - especially as we all get to do a bit of singing in the middle!



We often use Andy Williams' "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" to open our Christmas performances.  It's a fast jazz waltz with a fantastic opening section - and we can't think of a better opening number!



Another of our favourites is Eartha Kitt's classic "Santa Baby".  It's a slower song, but always goes down a storm.




Also on the set lists will be everyone's favourite Christmas Song - Maria Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You".  We've made a habit out of re-creating scenes from Love Actually in the past and can't wait to play this for you - Amelia is particularly excited about the tubular bells part!




Of course we're also planning lots of other Christmas songs - but we don't want to spoil all the surprises just yet...

Head over to our website today to enquire about having the band perform for your Christmas party - and if you don't have an excuse to book the band for a party, come and listen to us perform our Christmas repertoire and have a dance on Saturday 15th December, when we are performing a Christmas Swing Night at The Olde Watermill, Bedfordshire - see here for more information!

Wednesday 15 August 2012

A Very Special Wedding


On Saturday 21st July we were delighted to be invited to perform at Jonathan and Paulette's wedding reception in Ashley Green, a beautiful village in south Buckinghamshire.

There were several reasons we were particularly looking forward to this wedding; in our email dealings with Jonathan and Paulette it quickly became apparent that they were real enthusiasts of the swing and jive music that we love to perform, and they seemed like jolly nice people too.  And they had also booked a jive dancing lesson for their guests to enjoy before the swing set - always great fun!

Our suspicions that it would be a great day were confirmed when we arrived at the village hall to be treated by the smells of delicious home-cooked Carribbean food - and with the reception being held in a village hall rather than the grander venues that, rightly or wrongly, seem to be "expected" of wedding couples these days, the wedding had a unmistakably friendlier, more welcoming feel.




However, there was one particular reason that set this wedding apart from all others. Jonathan and Paulette had chosen as their first dance an arrangement of "All the Things You Are". This song is a jazz "standard", performed and recorded hundreds if not thousands of times by just about every jazz musician you could care to think of. The arrangement they had picked was written for their favourite singer Ella Fitzgerald by Nelson Riddle, the great American arranger who was a significant reason behind the success of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and many other singers we now recognise as the "greats".


There was just one problem - only a tiny proportion of the music arranged by Nelson Riddle is commercially available, meaning that we were faced with the task of transcribing the notes, without music, from the record (a process that we've done many times before but which is very time-consuming nevertheless!)

However, an off-the-cuff remark to Jonathan that the music might be available in the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington DC set in to motion an incredible chain of events.

An email to the Senior Music Specialist at the library quickly established that indeed the music did exist in their Ella Fitzgerald archive (when we've saved up enough pennies, we'll be there in a flash!). However, to get permission to take copies and perform the piece of music, the groom had to contact the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation. Again, a quick reply from the Foundation followed giving us permission to perform the song for their first dance.

There was one more obstacle to surmount - how to get the music from the archives? Obviously Mike was willing to travel to Washington DC (a day spent rummaging in the archives would be rather fun, after all!) but with the gig fee covering perhaps a tenth of the seat on the plane, we needed to come up with another idea.

Which is how Jonathan ended up contacting the Director of Jazz at George Washington University, asking if he wouldn't awfully mind heading to the archive to get us copies. Never in a million years did we expect such a quick "yes" - but a few weeks later we had in our possession copies of both Nelson Riddle's original hand-written score and orchestral parts for the song.




A snapshot of the opening page of Nelson's score
I then had the pleasure of spending a whole day pouring over Nelson's scores and was struck by just how simple, but how fantastic, the arrangement was. The 60s studio recordings don't quite demonstrate just how lush Nelsons string writing was, with over 8 lines of harmony at a time, or how the age old trick of a simple musical line repeated throughout the sections of the big band can be so effective at driving the arrangement to a rousing finale. It was also amazing how few dynamic markings and directions were either printed or handwritten on the parts (these were the actual parts used in the recording studio) - proof that Nelson's "regulars" (the nickname for his faithful, long-serving session musicians) either had a telepathic relationship or simply just instinctively knew how the arrangement should sound.

Our arrangement stayed as faithful as possible to the original Nelson version, adding an extra trombonist to our band to play the opening section, and keeping the structure and harmonies the same. The result was a fantastic, special and very memorable moment for us and the bridal party.

So a massive thanks to Mark Horowitz at the Library of Congress, Fran Rosman at the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation, Peter Fraize at the George Washington University, and most importantly to Jonathan and Paulette for all their help in making a small, personal dream a reality!




Friday 29 June 2012

DFTC In the Recording Studio

We've spent this week at The Limehouse Studio in East London recording a brand new demo CD.  In this blog article Simon takes a quick peek behind the scenes!





On Wednesday 27th June, Kate, Claire, Max Mike and I (Simon) hit the studio to record the horn parts for our brand new new demo CD! Great fun was had by all, and thanks to strawberries, wasabi peanuts, a good deal of terrible humour and seemingly infinite energy and patience(!), we powered through from 9:15am to 6pm and layed down some serious trumpaxophone. It really was amazing, listening to the playback, to hear how much the band has come on in the past couple of years, since we were last in the comfortable and classy technical wonder-house that is The Limehouse Studios! We have re-recorded a couple of the same classic tunes as on our previous demos, and the difference in the sound of the band in groove, style and musicality is truly unrecognisable. Seriously exciting.


The rhythm clan (Mike, Amelia, Steve and Rich) had been in on Tuesday and worked wonders (Rich's drum solo in Sing Sing Sing is something sweet to anticipate, folks!) and Nicky's smokey, sultry and soulful vocal offerings distracted the less business-minded of the brass on the odd take (!) - but with such a tight base I think we've given Katie, plus Kate, Claire and Steve (now doing backing vocals) something tasty to work with.


Joel Davies our technician was a total star, brilliantly efficient and creative with all the (frighteningly expensive) gear - it's baffling how he got it all done, finding space between the ruinous 'gangster' banter and fits of inconsolable giggles at our childish pranks. Thanks Joel.


So, take a peek at these exclusive behind-the-scenes studio snaps, and wait with baited breath for the finished result - I know I will!










Thursday 19 April 2012

The DFTC Soul Experience

We're delighted to announce news of our brand-new line-up: The DFTC Soul Band

If you're a fan of DFTC and have visited our website recently, you will have noticed our fantastic new photos, taken by our favourite photographer Declan Fleming.


What you may not have noticed is that we've started to offer a brand-new line-up: The DFTC Soul Band.

Essentially, this band is the same as the 9-piece DFTC line-up that you've (hopefully) grown to know and love; however instead of performing such a wide range of music, it concentrates specifically on Soul, Motown, Disco and Pop repertoire for a fantastic and unforgettable party.

We've created this line-up for clients who want funky and energetic dancing music, but who aren't so keen on the swing and big band repertoire - perhaps because it doesn't fit in with the theme of their event. We expect that this line-up will be particularly popular for corporate events, but there is no reason why it shouldn't be perfect for wedding receptions and indeed any other party.

There are a few differences between the Soul Band and the 'regular' DFTC line-up - for starters, we've left the trusty dinner jackets on their hangers and have instead gone for the classy suit and tie look, and the girls have given themselves licence to glam up with colourful dresses!


This band will also feature backing vocals, provided by the instrumentalists in the band.  This gives a fantastic, 'authentic' sound and feel to the Soul and Motown repertoire we perform and is already proving very popular.

Finally, we can also offer The DFTC Soul Band as a 10-piece line-up, with two lead singers - delivering even more energy and impact than the regular 9-piece band!


To find out how our Soul Band can transform your event or party, get in touch today!


Wednesday 4 April 2012

Swinging in the Snow

A few weeks ago, we blogged about a wedding in the snow at Eynsham Hall, Oxford.  Below is a lovely letter we received from the wedding couple along with photos of their special day!


Dear Mike & The Band,

We just wanted to say how grateful we are that we booked you for our wedding in Oxfordshire on 04 February.

To be honest it didn’t take a lot of effort to choose Down For The Count to play at our wedding… after listening to some of your tracks on the website it was an easy decision. You were just what we were looking for; a great mix of music, played incredibly well, by a professional, enthusiastic and charismatic band.


Mike, you were so helpful in making the arrangements. We obviously had so many things to worry about in the run up to the wedding, and so much to organise, but you made our arrangements for the band really easy. On the day, despite the distance you had to travel, you were on time and we never had to worry about you – your arrangements with the reception venue staff went perfectly (I’m just sorry that your journey home wasn’t quite so easy – although the heavy snow that night was perfect for us, it must have been a real pain for you and I’m so sorry it took you so long to get back!)

We’re very grateful that you were able to play our song for the first dance – although it wasn’t in your repertoire, you never made us feel like it would be a problem, and in the end it was played beautifully. 



As for the rest of the evening’s music, the full 9-piece function band were really fantastic and many people commented on how the music really topped off an amazing day. I certainly noticed how the dance floor was full throughout your entire set, which is testament to how fantastic you are.


Often the band at an event like a wedding can slip into the background, but you certainly made yourselves very memorable and your performance really impressed us as one of the key things that made our day such a success. 


A couple of our guests asked for your details, to play at their own events – hopefully you’ve had some more bookings through us, and that really is the least we could do to say thank you. I really have no hesitation in recommending Down For The Count to anyone.

Thanks again!

Kind Regards,

Jenny and Dan Thomson



Saturday 24 March 2012

Arrangements and orchestrations


Following an article last month about Down for the Count’s unique line-up, Mike tells us about the process of taking a song from a recording to the live stage.

One of the things that we take pride in as a function band is the quality of our arrangements and orchestrations – in other words, the way our songs are written for the musicians in our band.  We are one of the few function bands who perform only our own arrangements.  Every single song that you hear us perform in concert has been arranged, by us, specifically for the instruments we have in our band, ensuring that all of the songs sound as good as they possibly can. We spend many hours on each song making sure it sounds just right before we perform it at gigs.


Most of our arrangements are orchestrated by Mike, who is only too happy to spend all day with his iMac and keyboard – although most of the other musicians have contributed songs or arrangements at one time or another.  We almost always adapt the ‘original’ arrangements of songs, which are well-known to most audiences and will get everyone up on their feet and dancing.  Although it can be great to hear your favourite song performed in a slightly different style, it is usually not the right thing to do at wedding receptions and corporate events, where we want everyone to be dancing to music that is familiar to them.



One of the most difficult parts of arranging the songs is actually choosing the song to start with.  This has to be done very carefully; we have to consider whether a song we would like to perform is well-known enough to be popular at events, the right speed and feel to get people dancing, and also whether it is possible to perform in a 9-piece swing and soul band.  However flexible we may be as a band, there are a few songs that will never be possible to perform with our line-up!  We also have to be careful not to let our own preferences take over – the songs we perform have to be ones that people of all generations will enjoy listening and dancing to, and not just songs that we like.

The next step is listening carefully to the song, and choosing how to orchestrate it for our band.  For some songs this is straightforward; for others, we have to be more creative.  This is where the two keyboards in our line-up come into their own as they can share a variety of sounds to make our songs sound as full as possible.



The process of listening to a song (and transcribing it, if we can’t find any sheet music) and then writing out the parts for each individual instrument takes anywhere between three and fifteen hours, depending on the complexity of the song.

However, it doesn’t finish there because then we have to practice it as a band before performing it at gigs!  We usually try out a song to see how the arrangement sounds in ‘real life’ (the computerised recordings never quite compare!) to see if any changes need to be made before we perform it at our next gigs.



Most of our ‘new’ arrangements are performed for the first time at one of our public events – and we have three coming up in the next few months.  We would love to see you at one of them!



Sunday 26 February 2012

Down for the Count at Wembley Stadium

On Wednesday 1st February 2012, we were invited to perform at one of the most iconic, instantly recognisable venues in the world – Wembley Stadium.


Some of us had been to see Take That at Wembley the year before… sadly we weren’t performing to 80,000 people (more like 80) but you’ve got to start somewhere!


The event was the European Annual Conference for D-Link.  The delegates had a large meeting in the daytime, before retiring to the hotel to prepare for the evening meal and party – at which time we arrived to set up.


When we arrived at the venue, we were guided through a very impressive security gate and then to the stadium’s internal perimeter road.  This meant driving extremely close to the pitch – the temptation to jump out of the van and run on to the pitch shouting ‘GOOOAL’ proved hard to resist!


Our route from the loading bay to the function room involved walking halfway around the stadium.  On the way, there were reminders of a few of the stars who had performed here before us...


Our home for the night was the Pitch View Restaurant – and the view from the balcony was amazing:




After we had set up and sound-checked, we were shown to our changing room.  We are used to all kinds of different changing rooms – sometimes we don’t have one, sometimes it’s far from glamorous – but this one was incredible, a corporate box with a spectacular view of the pitch and, waiting for us when we got there, a delicious hot lasagne and bread rolls.



Suitably fed, we sorted our music and got ready for the first of two sets.  Before our performance, a group of Brazilian dancers got the guests in the mood with a demonstration.  We then launched into two sets of swing and soul music – with the instrumental Glenn Miller music proving especially popular.




The dancefloor was full all evening, and we all had a fantastic time.  Sadly it was all over too soon – and all that remained was packing up, followed by the long push around the stadium with three trolleys worth of gear.


We all had a fantastic evening and hope to return to Wembley one day soon!



Friday 24 February 2012

A weekend in the life of Down for the Count

The weekend of the 3rd -5th of February was a busy one for Down For The Count, and definitely had its fair share of challenges and surprises! With swing, soul and lots and LOTS of snow on the agenda, here's a little snippet of what went down...

The 3rd of February 2012 meant one thing and one thing only for the folks here at DFTC: the eagerly-awaited Down For TheCount LIVE at Crouch End Music Palace, London!

The first of many public concerts in this stylish yet homely venue, the band swung the hall to the rafters with two sets of our finest, premium-quality jazz and soul. Set-up was a breeze, with everyone chipping in and knuckling down, and soon soundcheck was under way. This time we were polishing up our new addition of backing vocals by the very lovely Kate, Claire and Steve, and as a rare treat we had the stonkin' duo of BOTH of our premier singers, Katie and Nicky, who delivered a cracking duet of 'Me And My Shadow'!


Once we were finished, the venue looked a treat:


And the rest, as they say, is history - if you don't believe us, read a rave review from Hire-a-Band's Martin Kyprianides! A fantastic gig, and a tradition in the making: head on to our next performance here on the 4th of May, when we will be opening the very first Crouch End Festival.


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But the fun didn't stop there, oh dear me, no. After a well-earned rest at DFTC Towers (aka Mike and Amelia's flat), Rich and Simon nipped off to Budgens for what can only be described a a brunch fit for a Count (sigh), perfectly cooked by Claire:


After that it was straight off in the car, on our way to Eynsham Hall, West Oxfordshire - Simon was in the middle. Cue obligatory panoramic car photo:


As we approached Oxfordshire however, the snow began to fall… so much of it! So that by the time we arrived the beautiful venue looked like this:


A fantastic wedding was to follow, and such a success it was that the venue has asked us back for a charity ball in aid of Ovacome! Energetic as ever, we were still full of beans enough to have a little play in the snow afterwards:


Fortunately, high spirits were exactly what we needed next - as a long, LONG journey back along the M40, and a skillful but hazardous drive by Mike back to the unit, saw us arriving home at 5.30am (an average journey speed of 16 miles an hour) - but not a minute of it wasn't good, bandterous fun.  We even had our text message read out by Richard Allinson on early-morning BBC Radio 2!  Down For The Count's epic weekend in the snow was certainly one to remember.