Burlesque in Blues

Last saturday we played at the Blues Rock Club, inspired by a fantastic audience, gorgeous Foo Foo la belle, Cherie Amour, Violet Noir and Sandy Shaw. These goddesses loved dancing to the blues. We look forward to bringing our live sound to a new Burlesque Cardiff show planned for the 26th March 2009 at the The Point. Full audio clips are hosted on the Blues Rock Club site. Please enjoy a taste of the bands sound on the night including a great vocal on Heart of Stone with compare Jules Mallory Skinner.

Au Revoir Baby!

Its been emotional, the foundation of SHM's guitar sound has sold on Ebay. Only right though that a lady of her tanned good looks and desire to be held, should now share her Loverdrive in the city of Rome. Federico, her new owner is in for a voyage of tone discovery. In tribute, enjoy one of her most engaging moments, played centre pos, pups out of phase(BBking style) She will be missed , A new lady has entered my life, equally curvaceous,very attractive and with so many pickup,6-way varitone moods is proving to be quite a handful,so lets just Take our Time ( sample coming) to get to know each other. Chrs Shm

Blues Rockin - Brothers in Arms

Grt to play the Patriots MC again, thks 4 wanting us back. Gary Moore covered this Hendrix song, so for the GM fans. A cheesy shot of the band just before the gig with Ben explaining how a drum riser was now essential to improve the bands sound.

Cross keys - Hot Spot

We played recently at what is a very hot Live Music bar. The Cross Keys Hotel has much more than special acoustic glass, a great landlady who makes sure the live music played is hot and a great community of real music fans. Congrats to Lisa who is creating a super vibe. It is so hot she's even installed industrial size fans to keep the bands cool. Were looking fwd to coming back 25th Oct. Tears of a woman , Cheers SHM

GTFM plays SHM

radio station featured SHM on BOB AND NORM'S BLUES SHOW 10-12pm every Monday. Norm flying solo, featured SHM's version of Stormy Monday along with Eva Cassidy, Gary Moore's in their track back feature. Stormy Monday influenced BBKing to play guitar. How cool that Norm saw it as "a sign" for SHM too. The sample played was performed live at the Dolls House Mar08. Big Big thanks to Norm for some air time and also the invite to record a live session for GTFM in the not too distant future , enjoy Stormy Monday Blues - Tbone Walker.Cheers SHM

Bluesdragon warmth 2

Playing at the Blues Dragon club has been an aspiration for SHM for a while, if you've been keepin tabs you'll know we felt the Mr Green style was us, but really going for it caused change in line up. Its been hard work but Ben and Nick are on it and the feel with these songs is great. To hear the appreciation from the discerning Blues Dragon audience was fantastic! and still plenty to improve on though, meanwhile here's the self penned / interpreted tunes, we slotted in between the Greeny/T bone Walker/Allman Bros and BBking inc Heartbreak HotelTears of a Woman Take my Timeand a fave song which with Nicks bass line well, av a listen, Soul Connection makes you wanna write some more for next time! Cheers SHM

Bluesdragon warmth

About to play our first gig at Bluesdragon club, nerves were tingling. We brought our splendid 4x12 cabs, along with Bens drums miked up into the PA cabs, I think the audience were worried it was going to be high volume. So what better way to sooth those worries away than with the opening bars to Stormy Monday. Swiftly followed by a juicy addition to our set by the only man who made BBKing sweatReal World by Peter Green. Then it was time to get serious with a rendition of Little Wing.By request enjoy! Then we had the pleasure of being joined by the foxy vocals of Jane Williams, which was some kind of wonderful! Big,Big thank you to those who keep this Blues heartland going, hope to see you many of you again 1st Aug at CAFE JAZZ. ps if the nice lady taking photos would send us some well put them up here with the audio, thank you in advance Cheers SHM

Cwmdu fun

It was great to kick off a run of gigs with a fab birthday celebration in Cwmdu. Congratulations Jean. Lovely to meet you and all your friends.

Joined by a certain ex dual lead TS Blues guitarist, there was the odd bit of guitar sparring, which as you can see got Jamie swept away by the sounds. Thanks Jamie for coming to play, only wish we had recorded it. Oh well, we will have to do it again sometime.


Cheers SHM

Bentro

Looking fwd to gettin out for a good run of gigs including a slot at the famous Blues Dragon Club in June 12th. Meanwhile, we are delighted to be joined on drums by Mr Ben Tipler who brings real youth, energy and class to SHM's sound. Originally from Blackpool, cabaret capital of the UK, Ben took in orchestras, brass bands, the drumcorp in the cadet force, end of the pier shows (bitch of a load-in), and getting together with friends in the garage and knockin' out Hendrix/Beatles/Stones covers. Inevitably there were pantomimes too and one memorable job as drum roadie for Sir Norman Wisdom. Ben moved to London and gained a Bachelor of Music in performance and has over 500 gigs under his young belt along with a spell with the Worried Men . Wedlock brought a move to south wales in 2003 along with a son (Liam) and in March 08 this year a daughter (Caitlin). Rosie and Ben run a childcare setting in Cardiff so its kids, kids, kids all week long, which brings Ben to SHM for some escapism and what a fine way to spend a few hours a week, playing the finest blues compositions. Ben's set up is a Pearl Session Select kit 10" 12" 14" toms, 22" kick and a standard size Premier maple snare drum.
Cymbals are a mixture of Zildjian As Ks and a Sabian AAX ride. We are very lucky to have Ben escaping with us, hears why.Cheers SHM.

Mr Green, one of his best songs!

Yep we are big fans of Mr Green, all of his songs are so so sweet to play and seem to fit our sound. So grab your loved one cos here is a bit of the most classic, Need your love so bad performed during our last gig with Dave(we miss your ride cymbal so bad)Hall, live at the Dolls House in March. we hope that hasn't put you off enjoying the original via you tube, Cheers SHM

Au Revoir to Dave's signature

We are very sad to say Au revoir to Dave Hall who has brought a real Buddy richness on drums to SHM. Dave's off to Switzerland for a few months and we will miss him. We certainly wouldn't have created the sound without Dave.

This is the song he enjoyed most, eyes closed and flowing, It was Daves signature, a very Allman Bros version of the Tbone classic Stormy Monday. Cheers SHM

Manalishi at the Engineers

I heard that Jamie and Nick's ( from Jack the Biscuit) new band Manalishi were playing at the Engineers so thought I would bob in and have a listen. Jamie is a fellow Gibson fan and appears to have slotted a fat humbucker into an early 70's mini humbucker goldtop. The result is an unmistakable vintage tone. Nice !!!!! Have a listen to it doin what it does best on this classic. Cheers SHM

Little Wing

Always hoped one day we might graduate to a bit of Hendrix. Having said that I think it may take some time to get to know this gorgeous song and work out how SHM can do it justice. I think we just need to get out there and play it live, gauge reaction a few times to work this out.

So its going to get some airing,starting with a return trip to the Dolls House on the 8th March . Hoping to see some familiar faces there as we also have a couple of other surprises up our sleeve.

Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix. Cheers SHM

2008 a year of new sounds, friends

We kicked off 2008 in style at the Park Hotel. This is a beautiful building and with new stage a great gig. We are touched that so many familiar faces came to see us play.Cheers to new friends who are helping to organise gigs to look forward to this year. A party over in Bleanavon sounds like it will be great fun. We gave Need Your Love So Bad a run out, so far so good, but forgot to record the second set, so a sample will have to wait. Meanwhile Di has been tweeking the live sound and Colin's added some edge to his Bass, have a listen with a brief mix of Soul Connection, live at the Park Hotel. Cheers SHM

LIVE 2007 for 2008 New amp groove

2007 saw us play 30 gigs which is a record for SHM and we would like to say big thanks to all those who came to hear the sounds. Here is a selection of a few live bits we got to share with you.
Were back into gear at the Park Hotel, Ebbw Vale this Friday 18th Jan, Marks got a JCM900 and here is the kind of groove for 2008 were set to give these babies plenty to throb about. cheers SHM.