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!

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

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!

Down for the Count at Wembley Stadium

On Wednesday 1^st 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!

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.

Review: www.hireaband.co.uk/down-for-the-count-gig-review

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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.

A Down for the Count Road Trip!

In September 2011, we had three gigs, in three days, in opposite corners of the country – the perfect excuse to hire a van for a long roadtrip!

The long weekend started, as ever, at Tesco (if you're ever at a loose end on a Saturday afternoon, come along to Colney Hatch Tesco, as there's a good chance you'll find us there...!)  We loaded up the van with food - some healthy, some less so - before hitting the road.

The first gig was a wedding in Somerset.  We had been looking forward to this gig for ages, because we were being joined by Simon Selmon from Swing Dance UK, who took the guests for a swing/jive lesson (we couldn't resist joining in!) before we started our first set.

At the end of the night we were swung out, so it was off to Leigh Delemere Travelodge for a snooze, followed by brunch....

...before driving to the next wedding in Buckinghamshire.  As we were early we took the opportunity to have a pub lunch before heading to the venue to set up.

The wedding was for a couple who had seen the band at Down for the Count Live - and they insisted we had a glass of champagne whilst they were finishing dinner - we were only too happy to oblige!

After we had performed it was back to London for a sleepover at Mike's before driving to the final gig in Suffolk.

By this time the travelling was taking its toll - with some people needing a 'disco nap' in the van:

The event was a 40th wedding anniversary party in a beautiful house on the seafront - before we set-up we had 30 minutes to enjoy the views - and for Steve to do a spot of birdwatching.

It was then time for the final two sets of a fantastic weekend.  There was still one more surprise in store as we were joined by a relative, who gave an absolutely fantastic rendition of three Frank Sinatra numbers.

Our three-day, 508-mile road trip was a fantastic experience - one we hope to repeat several times in 2012!