I will be performing at Glastonbury. Let me know if you are going to be there.
Before that, I’ll be at Rock Oyster Festival, Cornwall, 21st – 23rd June.
Next gig: The Ritzy, with support from the wondrous Hugh John Noble (“Billy Bragg on downers”)
Wednesday 24th July @ The Ritzy, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, London SW2 1JG
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17.5.2013
I am putting out some demos while I write material for the next proper release.
Here is ‘Shouldn’t Be Here’.
22.4.2013
Made this at the weekend. Just got to figure a tasteful way to bring it into the set.
29.3.2013
Grace Electric is now performing occasional shows – rock/noise/beauty. The next Grace Electric show is on Thursday 18th April at The George Tavern.
Grace Electric is the all new rock/noise/beauty incarnation of Emmy the Great bandmate, Grace Banks. After touring solo in Brazil, New york and Europe, she bought a Telecaster to sound like Jeff Buckley, made some devices to get that nails-on-a-blackboard effect and found a loop pedal to make up for the fact that she has no friends who want to be in her band. Her music has been described as “mesmerising brilliance,” and a mixture of “beauty, innocent nostalgia and uplifting melancholy”.
26.3.2013
12.3.2013
Jaye Harrison interviewed me for Concrete Songsheet. Watch it here.
2.1.2013
I recorded Every Word at the Hope Workers Cafe in Islington, just before Christmas. I just want to say a little about the choice of venue. There’s a line in the song about someone imparting a sense of hope to the oppressed, so I liked the idea of playing it somewhere with apparently socialist roots. On my way there, I was reading a Polly Toynbee piece about the effects of the government spending cuts on the underemployed, so this sentiment felt particularly urgent. It’s a lovely cafe – I recommend it.
Thanks to Waterfront Studios.
4.12.2012
Blanks EP. Innocent When You Dream, Common Dreams and Every Word are available from iTunes.
The lyrics are here: Innocent When You Dream, Common Dreams and Every Word
26.11.2012
9.11.2012
28.10.2012
The Emily Hair Grace Banks EP can be viewed / listened to at this spangly new website. Everything can be downloaded free of charge.
www.emilyhairandgracebanks.com
2.10.2012
New York was a helluva lot of fun. Thanks to Pianos (twice), Rockwood, Sidewalk and Shrine for having me. And to everybody who came out to the shows. And to the angry ladies who bit me last time, for not biting me this time.
24.8.2012
I’m coming back to New York at the end of September to do shows at Pianos, Sidewalk Cafe and Rockwood Music Hall.
3.8.2012
Touring traditional English pubs of the West Country, next week, with the astonishingly good Lorna Rose and Leonie Evans.
1.7.2012
What a strange experience! Someone asked me to write out the lyrics to the album, Prologue. These are words I wrote years ago, most of them as a teenager. Delving into my teenage mind, sometimes I had to refigure what I’d meant, or accept a meaning eludes me now, like seeing something through frosted glass, only abstract shapes. Some lines reminded me of stuff I’d forgotten about, sung more recently on autopilot, a string of syllables semantically disengaged.
Anyway, in case anyone else is interested, here they are.
18.6.2012
My debut New York experience was awesome. Apart from getting bitten by two angsty women but we won’t go there… I’ve been offered several more gigs so hoping to go back soon. Since my return (last week), I was glad to have made herstory with Gash, the Ash covers band which formed, debuted and disbanded in a matter of 4 beautiful days. Also been recording with Alex Mattinson on the Death to Dreaming project. Check that out here: deathtodreaming.bandcamp.com.
28.5.2012
New York beckons. I’ll be playing there next week and the first show is Shrine World Music Venue on Tuesday 5th June. Keep an eye on the facebook page for more news.
18.4.2012
I am half way through the Brazil tour. It has been busy but so much fun – doing live shows, playing with local musicians, filming. I am in Rio now (amazing place), heading to São Paulo in a couple of days and I am looking forward to the next three weeks in Brazil.
26.3.2012
Just back from a UK tour with Emmy the Great, supporting Noah and the Whale.
Next stop: Brazil. If you would like to book me for a show in Brazil, please contact Hugo at hlimastering@gmail.com (48) 99469349.
16.3.2012
I have had to relinquish my residency at the Strongroom Bar due to other music projects. No Grace Banks shows but I’ll be playing UK shows in Emmy the Great. Here are the dates.
12.3.2012
Two tracks from the EP are finally on here. Sign up to my mailing list, below, to receive free downloads of these and the next tracks.
1.1.2012
2011: released first album; first Glastonbury; tour with Emmy The Great; festivals with Razorlight; new residency in London – and those are among other highlights. Still a lot to do – let’s hope 2012 will be even better. Thanks to everyone who’s helped and supported me along the way.
16.12.2011
The second track from the EP, Blanks, is on the secret website. Make sure you’re on the mailing list to get the link to it, where you can have exclusive free downloads. Now mixing the third track….
19.10.2011
25.9.2011
On tour with Emmy the Great. Come hear us. SHOW DATES
2.8.2011
Here is a link to some tracks from my freshly made album.
The full album is available on CD from Amazon.
20.7.2011
Currently recording an EP…
Those on the mailing list will get exclusive release of tracks, so get yourself on it! (You can get off anytime.)
2.6.2011
I am super excited to announce a residency at the Strongroom Bar in London. I will be joined by the amazingly talented Furnace Flowers, Lorna Rose and Rob Rorison. This delicious musical brew will be served up every last Sunday of the month, from 3pm. The venue offers good food so get down early to get some grub and then sink into the sofas for some soothing aural delights.
23.4.2011
I am now on Twitter!! Come and join me: www.twitter.com/gracebanksmusic
And here is a recent song sponsored by DeWalt:
Danny Payne: “Mesmerising brilliance”
Pineappletoast Blog: nice stuff
“She simply stunned the audience with husky, mellow-edged vocals that filled every nook of the auditorium. A faint tremolo conveyed pain, passion but never pity as she sang Know I Never Loved You and Yesterday’s Favourite Song and Sympathy, effortlessly mixing innocence and wisdom, naïveté and experience, regret, and humour, you couldn’t help but be aware that Grace Banks is something special.”
“Grace, who started writing songs after rescuing a guitar on its way to the dump, performed four of her own songs and immediately made her mark. Grace is clearly an artist for whom songwriting is a serious craft and who immerses herself in the songs she writes. Opener, Under a Blue Sky, is typical of her repertoire, a song full of warmth and wordplay, and a small story in its own right.”
“Made me sweat”
Donaghy’s Place: Interview with Andrew Donaghy
I Think I Caught A Glimpse Of God, performed at Pianos in New York, September 2012
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Hold On To Your Dreams
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So Hung Up, performed at Shrine in New York, September 2012
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Every Word, released in December 2012
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I Think I Caught A Glimpse Of God, released in September 2012
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Last Night, I Discovered I Could Fly, released in September 2012
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Common Dreams, released in December 2012
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You Shouldn’t Be Here, recorded live at Sidewalk Cafe in New York
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I’m Just A Lonely Head Of Wheat, released in September 2012
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Innocent When You Dream, released in December 2012
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You Can Tell Me That You Hate Me, released in September 2012
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Blanks EP (2012) – click here to buy
Track listings
Innocent When You Dream
Common Dreams
Every Word
Emily Hair EP (2012) – click here for free downloads
Track listings
Last Night, I Discovered I could Fly
I’m Just a Lonely Head Of Wheat
I Think I Caught A Glimpse Of God
You Can Tell Me That You Hate Me
Prologue (2011) – click here to buy
Track listings
Yesterday’s Favourite Song
Know I Never Loved You
Under A Blue Sky
Sympathy
America
You Don’t Understand Words
Opera
Call Off The Dogs Of War
Over
Would Not Do
My favorite tracks from Prologue are available through iTunes.
The full album is available on CD from Amazon (or me).
