BBC Radio Ulster Single of the Week
Following our recent success achieving B List on BBC Radio 2 (yeay!) we are also being championed, over in Northern Ireland, by Alan Simpson on BBC Radio Ulster!
This is great news – and then it gets better when he requests that we do an interview with him! This aired on his afternoon show on Wednesday 15th Feb. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007cpty
To make things easy a live stream was set up locally (for us) from the BBC Studio in Birmingham’s Mailbox.
We arrived on Valentine’s Day afternoon, dressed in new clothes! It was just me (Lesley-Marie) and Matthew as all four of us wouldn’t fit in the studio.
Following a short wait at reception we were taken upstairs to the smallest tiniest box room we have ever seen. Myself and Matthew are both pretty tall, so we quickly understood why only the two of us were asked to go along.
With a microphone, two sets of headphones and some wires to accompany us, we were left alone. We waited with anticipation for BBC Ulster to dial in at 13:30. It got to 13:35 and still nothing…………. Then, the phone rings…
I answered, “Hello, the Musgraves speaking how can I help?”
It was the producer of the Alan Simpson show, who was surprised to be speaking direct to the band! Something had gone wrong and the studio live link wasn’t working. We desperately called various numbers listed on the phone as “technical help”, trying to get on air!
After 5 or 10 minutes we looked at each other as it dawned on us that there were no lights on. Surely a live link to a studio across the Irish Sea wouldn’t work without lights on any of the equipment?! In fact, none of the equipment was even switched on.
A ‘technical’ man lurking around the door said – “Hello, can I help?”
“We don’t think it’s turned on…………..”
“Oh yeah, you’re right!”, says the man. He flicks a switch right near the door and BOOM. Lights, camera (although it’s the radio), action.
“Ring ring!” It’s Alan Simpson! FINALLY!!!
We had a great giggle with the Alan, who was so welcoming and really friendly! We discussed our music, our influences, Cara Dillon, The Graham Norton Show and the stolen Glockenspiel. Overall the interview went really well.
Thank you BBC Radio Ulster and Alan Simpson for all the support, we hope to meet you in person sometime soon.
The show link won’t last for long so check it out now!
Much love, Lesley-Marie xx
The Musgraves – Radio 2 Playlist!
At the moment each new day throws up another life goal achieved. We got the news last week that our new single ‘Last of Me’ would be on Radio 2′s playlist from today. So many people have been involved in us reaching this stage and we thank you all.
Let us give you some names that the little ol’ Musgraves are sharing this list with: Paul McCartney, Nerina Pallot and Lady Antebellum. Pretty good company for our first release!
Paul McCartney especially is an amazing honour to be next to. He is, along with Bob Dylan, the only person Matthew would be nervous in meeting – being a songwriter Matthew knows how hard it is to achieve what Sir Paul has.
So tune that dial to Radio 2. Wind down your windows to let the beat of ‘Last Of Me’ ring around the UK. (Warning, don’t do this if it’s raining, snowing or freezing cold!)
The Musgraves x
The A&B venue – Birmingham, Friday 3 February 2012
The Musgraves @ The Actress and Bishop
We woke up on the morning of our show to find out we were heading down to the venue early for a BBC Midlands Today news piece about the theft of our equipment (and the van), and our appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
We scrambled together old and borrowed/hired instruments! Arthur Tapp, the promoter, showed up with a bass, an amp, a synth and guitar tuners – he was great.
The show kicked off at about 9pm with great support acts (The Picture / Jezabellezza / Jack Davis)
who loaned us their drum kit amongst other things, and Jack lending Matt his guitar.
At 10:35pm there was a mass exodus from the bar area – we all wondered what was happening, and then realised that the venue was screening The Graham Norton Show on the TV in the downstairs bar!
We felt overwhelmed with the support we got from old and new fans and the excitement kicked in.
After our performance of our debut single ‘Last of Me’ had finished on the show, a huge round of applause and lots
of “cheering” erupted – it was amazing and we thank everyone for their support. We then headed upstairs to perform.
The gig was fantastic, even though it was strange not being on our own instruments. There was a big crowd with lots of new faces as well as our loyal fans!
It was a great way to end a manic week!
No sign of the van or our beloved instruments yet, but with “Last of Me” climbing up the iTunes and Amazon charts – we are feeling positive.
Check out the photos from our A&B show courtesy of Dave Suth (legend).
Much love,
The MUSGRAVES xx
The Graham Norton Show
Well, we made it!
This week without doubt has been the most unbelievable week in the history of The Musgraves.
A little over a week ago, (Sunday 29th Jan) we were right smack bang in the middle of shooting the new music video for ‘Last of Me’. We were buzzing like a flock of bees about appearing on The Graham Norton Show the following day. We had all our clothes pressed, back up clothes in case something was spilt or went wrong, instruments with extra strings and batteries, capo, bows and sticks. We were ready. Little did we know that as we slept that night the evil side of human nature was prowling around waiting for its chance to pounce and boy did it pounce.
I was awoken at the unholy time of 6:30am by a phone call. I picked it up and before I could speak Tom said “this is not a joke…the van has been stolen. Everything is gone”. Silence. It took a good minute to register what had been said. “Everything is gone”. Sometimes it takes a situation like this to show how much you believe and want something. We could have just given in then. One too many knock backs to put up with. However, just like the squirrel type creature in Ice Age, who is forever chasing that lovely nut, we were never going to give in or give up.
Between us and our wonderful management we stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park. We arranged to hire all the equipment we had lost, down to the last drum stick. We had to work fast as time was running out to get the gear to the studios for 11am. We did it.
With the hired equipment loaded in at London Studios we set off for London. “All trains to London are cancelled for up to 3 hours” the tiny voice of the invisible train God told us as we reached Birmingham New Street. WHAT?.Well, we had not come this far to give up, so with a bit of negotiation with London Midland Trains we managed to get on the next train to London Marylebone with only an hour lost. Phew.We got to the London studios and found all the hired instruments set up and ready to go. It was going to be OK, we could relax.
It was an unbelievable day. Unbelievable that we were going to be on The Graham Norton Show and unbelievable that we had lost all our stuff. One moment we were sound checking with cameras zooming in and around, feeling amazing, then the next we would look down and instantly remember that our instruments had gone.
Our performance time came, we all took a deep breath and played like we have never done before. When you have played with the same people for a long time it does not matter if you cannot see them. You can feel it in the air, that certain energy – it felt right, it felt good, and the audience were fantastic!
When the show ended we all got together in a group and congratulated each other on pulling off something that only a few hours earlier we thought was impossible.
The guests on the show were all lovely, especially Alex Kingston and Reginald D Hunter who we meet in the green room after the show. Very down to earth, beautiful people!
Graham came in afterwards and was amazing as ever. He has done so much for us, we are lost for words as to how great he has been. Thanks again Graham.
Matthew Bennett.
Last of Me – OUT NOW
Our debut single, “Last of Me” is OUT NOW, click the image to download!!
The Musgraves on Graham Norton
We are very very excited to announce that we will be performing on the Graham Norton show tonight on BBC1 at 10.35pm, make sure you tune in to check it out!
