I am very excited to announce Below Stairs victorian extravaganza happening this October 29th in Plymouth, Devon.
Tickets are available from http://belowstairs.brownpapertickets.com/ and I’m aware that the VIP tickets are selling very fast, so get in there quick if you want one!
Here’s the description from the Event Page:
Below Stairs – Victorian Fundraiser!
With headlines like ‘Children Living in Victorian Conditions’ and cuts to services leaving charities to pick up the slack, there’s never been a better time for giving. So join us in the mists of history for good old-fashioned music, magic, drink and dancing, all to raise money for local charities supporting vulnerable people in the present!
Whether you’re a humble servant, the Lady of the House in disguise, or an explorer stepping out of your Zeppelin from an alternate timeline, it’s guaranteed to be a party Below Stairs!
Costume is strongly encouraged, and please, no jeans or trainers. (Unless they’re an essential part of your spectacular Steampunk ensemble!)
Two floors of fun, music and revelry in a themed venue in Plymouth: Annabel’s Cabaret and Discotheque.
– 8 AMAZING ACTS
– TEA DUELLING
– CRAFT AND MERCH FOR SALE
– VICTORIAN-STYLE PHOTO BOOTH
– RAFFLE
This Saturday 26th April, I’m delighted to be performing with Ansa Back at Malborough Music Monster Mash to raise money for the Dave Sharp Young Musicians Fund. The fund does some brilliant work locally to ensure that teens from all backgrounds have a chance to enjoy learning and playing music and now that the project is a few years old it’s great to see some of the bands that have emerged and developed from it.
We had the fiddle/flute version of duelling banjos, rude jokes about chickens, bass ukelele envy and a kazoo-off! The audience seemed to really enjoy it (Becky even managed to be colour co-ordinated with some of the audience too) and we all had a lot of fun on stage!
I’ll be playing at B-Bar again in March, but this time with Hamer & Co, so that’s definitely something to look forward to!
Live music at Dartmouth Football Club from Ansa Back!
The Dartmouth Chronicle printed news about our performance at Dartmouth Football Club at 8:45pm tonight (Saturday 19th October)!
The article reads:
Rock on South Hams Newspapers.
The eight strong combo Ansa Back which boasts one South Hams newspaper reporter, a photographer and a production wizard, will be in concert at Dartmouth football club tomorrow.
The band, which has a repertoire spanning more than 20 years of rock classics, included reporter Amy McSweeny on vocals, photographer Greg Taylor on lead guitar and production expert Bryan Roberts on rhythm guitar.
With them will be the rest of the line up – father and daughter team Joe Sterry on sax and Hannah Sterry on flute and backing vocals and Paul Adams, also on sax, Clare Hannaford on drums and Wayne Neil on bass guitar.
The music kicks off at 8.45pm.
Lead singer, Amy McSweeny said: ‘It is our first gig in Dartmouth and we’re really excited to be performing there. Our music covers pretty much everything and hopefully we shall get people up and dancing and having a good time.’
Recently, I was lucky enough to perform with half of Hamer & Isaacs gypsy swing band at the Red Lion in Newquay and thought I’d share my favourite moments from the evening with you, so here goes…
5 favourite moments from The Red Lion gig:
Performing music with some wonderful people and smiling through every minute!
Howard Kahn‘s (bassist) brief moment of crazy dancing to club music in the interval. I’m sure he’ll demonstrate if you ask him *very* nicely. 😛
I am now “Plymouth’s top jazz flautist” according to twitter. I know this because I am probably the only jazz flautist in the whole of South Devon (with the exception of my dad, who often prefers to play saxophone).
This post is a bit of everything – music I’ve recorded, pictures from the past year’s worth of gigs and news of gigs to come and some lovely testimonials from people I’ve played for – I hope you’ll enjoy it and feel free to ask me anything you like in the comments!
Logo by Hannah Sterry.
Over the past year I’ve been lucky enough to play lots of gigs with a great little gypsy swing band called Hamer & Isaacs. I met them, by chance, at a blues night at a pub where a mutual friend had invited us both along. I thought they were pretty cool and took a particular liking to one of them (that’s a different story) and since then I’ve stood in whenever one of the others can’t make it!
After playing with the band a fair bit, a few of them spotted my Sterry Cartoons creations on facebook and asked whether I’d like to design them an ‘art deco’ logo. I thought it’d be good fun to have a go (having not attempted logo design before) and this is what I came up with (see right).
All of this led to some really wonderful testimonials from people I’ve met through the band:
“As a professional musician for nearly four decades, I have been very impressed by Hannah Sterry’s contribution to our gypsy swing band as a deputy flautist over the last few months. She has deputised at short notice for both our lead guitarist and swing violinist, not easy roles to fill, and I have been awed by her levels of competence and creativity. Her improvisational techniques display an intuitive flair and inspiration well beyond her years, and she exhibits the stage presence expected in a seasoned veteran. I would heartily endorse her as a flautist to any potential employers, whether in the fields of jazz, rock or classical music.” ~ Julian Isaacs of Hamer & Isaacs Gypsy Swing Band
“[Hannah] is a brilliant musician and I love working with her in the gypsy swing band. Her flute solos inspire me to up my game!” ~ Melanie Scullion B.A Hons.P.G Cert. P.G Dip.Perf. Professional violinist, violist and peripatetic music teacher.
I’ve haven’t been playing jazz and designing logos the entire time though. Whenever I’ve had a few hours free, I’ve been working on a few of my own musical side projects! Most recently I’ve been doing a bit of recording with my little sister (she’s ridiculously cool, but you can’t take her anywhere). 😛
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might have heard it before, but here’s a little bit of chilled out flute music I recorded as an earlier side project (it’s not jazz, but it’s cool and floaty)!
P.S. If you like any of my music, you can download it for FREE on bandcamp. Just click the link above. If you really like it and want me to make more music, you can donate however much or little as you like with the “name-your-price” button and you’ll get a gigantic smile and thanks from me!
Anyway, I’ve just been told that dinner’s on the table, so I’d better go, but I hope you’re enjoying the story so far and I’ll leave you with a few pictures from the last year and adates of my upcoming gigs! Hope to meet some of you at some point and as always, if you want to ask me anything, or have any great music recommendations, I’d love to hear from you in the comments! 😀
Flautist Hannah Sterry performing jazz flute for The Cottage Hotel’s Summer Music Nights in Hope Cove, Devon.
The Sterrys
Ansa Back playing at Morleigh Village Hall
Hamer & Isaacs live at the Millbrook Inn, South Pool. Photo Credit: timhirstphotography.com
BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY (27th May) Ansa Back will be playing at Bigbury Golf Club from 4pm.
JUNE-SEPTEMBER The Sterrys will be playing every Tuesday evening at The Cottage Hotel, Hope Cove for their Summer Music Nights. Feel free to come and join us, enjoy a cocktail on the terrace and take in one of the most Mediterranean views that the South Hams can offer!
Here’s a little video of Hamer & Isaacs gypsy swing band playing at the White Horse Inn in December! I was lucky enough to guest with them and Steve Jenner (guitarist) that evening and had a great evening of jazz, meeting new people and friendly banter! 🙂
At the time the landlord was running a 12 days of Christmas event which led to this brilliantly surreal image of inn, innkeeper and camel.
Anyway, Hamer & Isaacs have recently released their new live album “Live & Lovely” and you can listen to it all on bandcamp! Just click below to listen and download!
Open University coursework, music exams and life just carrying on as normal and have meant I’ve been desperately trying to meet deadlines (and not blogging much recently). This means that the cartoons have taken a bit of a hit, but the music keeps going!
Last Friday’s Gig with Hamer & Isaacs
We were playing at the Hermitage in Kingsbridge and at one point I found myself improvising hard-edged jazz flute to one of the fastest, liveliest (and most fun) renditions of “Summertime” I have ever played. Becky Brine was singing that night and her performances are always really good humoured, so we all had a brilliant night that only ended after not one… not two… but THREE encores.
Last Saturday we played a lovely birthday party for Greg’s (our lead guitarist’s) dad. Speaking to everyone after the gig it seemed like it went down really well and rumours of this crazy 8-piece spread as far and wide as East Allington pub, or so I’m told! 😛
There was a really touching moment when one of the guests discovered that the tenor sax player is my dad. He made us both realise how special it is to just be able to play music together as a family – it can be so easy to take it for granted, because I’ve grown up playing music with my dad and grandpa, but I really love that we can all just get together and play and I love that they gave me the opportunity to learn and never worried about my mistakes. I don’t know who I’d be without all of that.
This Saturday we’re gigging on a farm, so we’re packing tarpaulins, plenty of extension leads and wellies and looking forward to a friendly, relaxed evening (including crazy, lively music).
Sunday is recording day! Apparently we’ve got a band backdrop (photos to follow) and we’re being helped out by an amazing team of people who all deserve a huge THANK YOU and a good pub meal. There’s also a band website in the works, so I’ll post links to that when it’s ready.
Anyway, here we all are, looking very smiley (and slightly orange). More coming soon!
Resolutions aren’t something I usually bother with, but this year I want to start singing again. I used to have so much confidence – regularly singing Les Miserables tunes in the playground (mainly Castle on a Cloud) and, more embarrassingly, odd bits from S Club 7 (my friend knew all of the dance routines but didn’t like singing), and I was perfectly happy having various solo singing parts on stage at about age 7 – I’m not sure where that confidence went, but some of it’s started coming back already and it’s time to catch the rest before it decides to go on holiday for another decade!
This summer (maybe as early as easter) I’ll be singing and playing harp in the middle of Salcombe, for fun and confidence, and will make a real effort to play more solo gigs.
This year, most of my singing has been performing backing vocals for lively 8-piece band Ansa Back (when I’m not playing flute). I know it looks like there’s some sort of secret joke going on behind Amy’s back, but it actually Greg (lead guitarist) waiting for a cue from our drummer. Thanks to Mark Jones for the photo!
Hannah Sterry 
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