Me For Queen

JAEVA & Lloyd Jerwood

Presented by: Laurel Canyon Music

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0	LONDON: The Sound Lounge
P	Wednesday 6th September, 2017
N	7:00pm

Event information

LCM are proud to present an evening of great music at one of South West London's premier music venues. We are thrilled to invite the excellent Me For Queen and her band to play the venue for the first time as the London date of their UK Tour.

Me for Queen aka Mary Erskine is inspired by people and their stories. Growing up feral in rural Fife/Scotland in a big old house near the sea, she started writing songs when she was 13, around the same time that she started dressing herself. At this time music was her method of making her mark against four older siblings, and getting out of the washing up.

Years of classical training together with a Blues guitarist for a father make for an interesting mix of Soul and Folk. Me For Queen’s piano-based songs draw obvious comparisons to Regina Spektor and Carol King but manage to fuse hints of Kate Bush and Laura J Martin. Mary cites Judee Sill & This is the Kit as a few of her favourites and says Me For Queen is “a sort of sketchpad for whatever’s happening in my head. I just try to write songs that talk to people.”

Slow Train, the first single from her EP “Who I am and What I am For” is about being present in the moment and taking things as they come. It was included in Tom Robinson’s personal top 5 Fresh Faves and been played on BBC 6 Music, BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Tees.

With a pure love of cycling and the outdoors, in 2015 she decided to honour the relationship with her bike by writing an album about cycling which the Guardian picked up on writing:

“She voices the frustration and the sensations of danger many of us face. White Bike is a gentle, folk-like ballad with Erskine's beautiful, soaring vocals chronicling a cycling fatality from three perspectives – 'when you rush on by that corner where a ghost is chained with flowers, you need to know that we still see you and the fate that could be ours.”

Mary Erskine is nothing if not imaginative. Where else do you hold the official launch show of a cycling concept album but a velodrome.? Leo Valley Velo Park at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to be exact, with the electricity needs for the show powered by cyclists. The lead single, White Bike enjoyed radio play on BBC Scotland and Amazing Radio.

www.meforqueen.com

JAEVA: Beginning in early 2016 as an outlet following the end of a long distance relationship between London and New York, and the unravelling of his band, Mike Evans retreated to the West coast of Scotland where he started JAEVA with only his family upright and the brooding skies.

Having spent the last few years working with the likes of Klaxons keyboardist James Righton, Franz Ferdinand’s front man Alex Kapranos, and producer Liam Howe (Marina & The Diamonds) as well as previously touring the world and clocking up millions of streams on Spotify in his previous band 'Citizens!', Evans knows how to build a unique and modern sound whilst delivering captivating live performances.

After being approached by producer Adam Lunn (The Noisettes, Seth Lakemen, Eliza and the Bear) at a show last year, Lunn and Evans buried themselves away in the studio, crafting tunes that draw on the classic song writing of the 1970s; Elton John, Supertramp, 10cc, while melding them with the more modern idiosyncratic sounds of artists such as Matt Maltese, The Lemon Twigs and Rufus Wainwright.

Having sold out Dalston’s Servant Jazz Quarters proves JAEVA as one to keep an ear or two on in 2017.

https://www.jaevamusic.com/

Lloyd Jerwood: Lloyd combines a vocal ability and tone that have been compared to Ben Howard and Ed Sheeran, with his songwriting and guitar to a young John Mayer and The Tallest Man On Earth.

Through a combination of his musical influences and expertly crafted, heartfelt songs, a unique sound is woven. The diversity of Lloyd’s musical tastes shines through when he performs and his switching of styles keeps his audiences locked in the performance.

Young hearts and old shoulders will all find something of themselves in Lloyd's music, with his Welsh roots and Kiwi heritage drawing a perspective beyond his years.
In 2012, Lloyd was invited by Wales’ own Sian Evans (Louder ft. DJ Fresh and co-writer of Rita Ora’s 'Hot Right Now') to support Kosheen's European tour.

Now in 2017, five years and a degree later, Lloyd will be releasing his debut EP and embarking on his first UK tour. Recent support from BBC Radio Wales saw Lloyd perform a live session on Jamie Owen’s Sunday breakfast show. Lloyd released his first single ‘Grey Mind’ in May.

http://lloydjerwood.com

REVIEWS

"Erskine is blessed with a profound skill in the art of songwriting (not to mention a compelling voice) but also with a deft sense of storytelling..." (Edinburgh Metro)

“Me For Queen… delivers a solo performance of beauty and power. Shorn of her usual band, her exceptional piano skills take over and with the clarity of her voice, produce some breathtaking moments. “ (Tap the Feed, Bristol).

Iron Horse: Songs of Cycling

“ How an evening bike ride in Richmond Park inspired Mary Erskine to pen odes to cycling and set them to music “ (The Guardian)

“As the album, it is impossible not to be thoroughly captivated and mesmerised by it, every aspect from the breath-taking vocals of Erskine to the smouldering flame of trumpet (The Ringmaster review)

"Mary Erskine could sing words from a phone directory over the cheesiest Casiotone backing in the world and still win me over in a heartbeat.” (Tom Robinson, 6music)

"I was thinking about your song while I was brushing my teeth". - (Gretchen Peters)

“I’m greeted with the sound of Me For Queen. She sits in a t-shirt and shorts at a keyboard and transports the room to a world less worrisome. Her voice melts. She’s hot chocolate with a dash of golden rum. And when she pops off the stage, it’s as if she’s unaware that she’s just sung the most mellifluous and beautiful songs” - (GeegeesfreeLondon)