Fusebox Mini-Festival ft. Beats and Pieces, Metamorphic and Royst

The Wardrobe in Leeds is hosting a Fusebox mini-festival tonight and tickets are going fast so be quick if you want to attend!

Fusebox and Efpi are delighted to present a one night mini festival featuring Manchester’s Beats & Pieces Big Band and a collaboration between Metamorphic (led by Leeds pianist/composer Laura Cole) and Norwegian vocal trio Røyst.

With the release earlier this year of their second album All In, Beats & Pieces have firmly established themselves as one of the leading ensembles of its kind in Europe. Led by Ben Cottrell and bringing together 14 incredibly creative musicians, their energetic performances are influenced as much by Michael Jackson, Björk or Radiohead as by Duke Ellington, Gil Evans or Loose Tubes.

Metamorphic and Røyst Trio will debut brand new material developed especially for this collaborative tour, fusing elements from contemporary jazz, folk and world music in song-based compositions that challenge the traditional role of the singing voice. Both Metamorphic and Røyst will also present music from their own critically acclaimed albums alongside the joint material.

Tickets cost £12 on the door.


Click these links for more information about the bands perfoming and the organisations hosting the event -



www.beatsnpieces.net
www.metamorphic.org.uk
www.roystrio.com

www.fuseboxleeds.org.uk
www.efpirecords.com

Metamorphic & Royst Kickstarter Campaign

Following on from a successful collaborative tour in 2013, Laura Cole's Metamorphic and Royst Trio led by Kari Bleivik have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to produce an album together.

The 2013 tour coincided with the release of Metamorphic's second album, Coalescence (which received a 4-star review from John Fordham) and was supported by the PRS foundation. The two groups performed together to critical acclaim and now wish to bring the musicians back together to made a studio album of original music.

With Metamorphic bandleader Laura Cole knowing the members of Norwegian vocal trio Royst (www.roystrio.com) from her time in Leeds, they decided to create a tour where both groups would come together, writing new material and rearranging previous work. The lineup was made complete with very special guests Seth Bennett (www.sethbennett.com) on double bass and Ollie Dover (www.shatnersbassoonband.com) on bass clarinet. The result of this collaboration was a special musical chemistry, leaving a profound mark on all involved (as you can see from the photo). Here's a great review of the Royst/Metamorphic gig at the Vortex on 25/06/13, which was the official album launch gig for Coalescence (http://blueflamingo.eu/music/reviewmetamorphicroysttriovortex/).

The Kickstarter fund would allow the musicians to pay for studio and rehearsal time, sound engineer and mixing/mastering amongst other things. Their target is £2,000 and the campaign ends on 24th October.

More information can be found on the Metamorphic & Royst trio Kickstarter page.

The Friday Interview: Laura Cole

                                Laura with band Metamorphic (photo by Alex Bonney)

A graduate of Middlesex University's jazz degree, pianist and composer Laura Cole is now based in the North. Her work with Metamorphic is recognised nationally, with the group releasing albums on F-IRE label and touring throughout the UK. As well as Metamorphic, Laura also co-leads a large ensemble with bassist Seth Bennett and is the pianist with Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites, one of the 12 bands selected to take part in Jazz North's Northern Line scheme.

Metamorphic & Royst UK Tour

Pianist and composer Laura Cole has been in touch to spread the word about her upcoming tour with band Metamorphic and vocal trio Røyst.

Laura says 

I would just like to invite you to a very exciting series of gigs throughout the UK in June that my contemporary jazz folk sextet Metamorphic have coming up alongside the fantastic vocal trio Røyst. The tour is in support of the new Metamorphic album, Coalescence, out on the F-ire label on June 17 2013. These double bill gigs with Røyst will also feature three collaborative pieces involving both groups written specially for this tour. Special guests Seth Bennett on bass (IDST) and Oliver Dover on bass clarinet (Shatner's Bassoon) will also be joining us for the tour.