It's a long road into November...

The Ivy crawling through the windowpane clutches to the glass frames that rattle in the howling wind, weather warnings for dark stormy night...
If it stays like this, someone's bin's going to blow over.

Aside from playing local shows and rehearsing, the band is part way through booking a tour and we are up to our pyjamas with phone calls in broken french, travelling Europe (via Google Maps) and consuming lots of hot broth.
It feels like being deep in a pile of plans.
I've also been thinking about my Grandfather and listening to coal miner songs.

A Bust that my mother made of my Grandad.
Illustration by Robert Jackson

We are proud to announce we will be supporting Moulettes at the Guild Hall on wed 13th Dec on behalf of Lichfield Arts!
(We have a few FREE TICKETS up for grabs, we can get you in if you get in touch!)
Facebook event page
Listen to Moulettes below:

With a name longer than ours, "Echo Wants her Voice Back" is launching a new single featuring our very own Isaac on cello!
 

Facebook event page

We're playing an intimate Christmas show with some of Bristol's nautical musicians and Jabba on Tuesday Dec 5th

Tickets

Facebook event page

We also have another Bristol show on the 22nd Dec with Moody Will and the Roll

Amsterdam is on the horizon for Alicia and Robert and with Isaac joining in for a March tour of France leading up to the US trip in May, next year is already looking good for ADT!

Thank you for reading and for sharing this journey with us.

Happy Thanks-Giving,
your fan,

ADT

Upcoming shows:

Upcoming shows

Falling Forward

"I've never heard music like that before", said one of the judges, "What would you even call that? British-Americana?"

Actually, yes, that's exactly what we call it!

We managed to make a good impression at our audition for the nationwide SoundWaves music competition in Birmingham on Sunday and we await the results of our heat.

We might even have landed a booking at the venue where our audition was held (The Victoria near New Street station) thanks to the resident sound engineer who was behind the desk.

In the midst of all these drying leaves, we have been working hard on booking ourselves up for next year. It's strange to be thinking so far ahead in the future after living the last few years on the fly, it kind of feels like falling forward... but it's nice to know that we have some exciting things in the pipe line!

Oh and we've also been making these bad boys!

This friday (tomorrow) we will be playing an intimate show in the back room at George IV Lichfield with support from Chris Elliott of Bric-a-Brac!

Check out this cracking tune below!

Upcoming shows:

Fri 10th Nov
George IV (back room)
Lichfield

Sat 11th Nov
The Shire Oak
Walsall

Fri 17th Nov
The Greyhound
Lichfield

Thu 30th Nov
Luna Lounge
London

Fri 1st Dec
The George Tavern
London
(With Echo wants her voice back)

Tues 5th Dec
The Lansdown
Bristol

Your fan,
ADT

Practice makes perfect

"Let's run through that one more time"

We were practicing for our upcoming audition for Soundwaves competition.
10 minutes to showcase what we can do...
10 minutes to make an impression

10 minutes to squeeze 3 songs into, just

"I think Cherry Tree is still a little slow..." 

Practice makes perfect

On sunday the 5th November we will be performing in Birmingham to a panel of judges. They will be marking us on our audience participation as well as overall sound and stage presence and we have just a few tickets available!

We don't always know what we are getting ourselves into when we say "yes" to the opportunities that come our way, but we leap joyfully into the unknown!  

In the wise words of Robert Jackson, "I play every gig as if it's the most important gig of our lives"

Please get in touch if you would like to come and hang out with us for the day and show your support!

Tomorrow we are in the BBC studio with Dr. Phil Hammond for BBC Radio Bristol,
tune in from 11.10am to hear us play live on air!

Upcoming shows:

Fri 3rd Nov
The Crown
Lichfield

Fri 17th Nov
The Greyhound
Lichfield

Thu 30th Nov
Luna Lounge
London

Fri 1st Dec
The George Tavern
London
(With Echo wants her voice back)

Tues 5th Dec
The Lansdown
Bristol

Your fan,
ADT

A fine time to be a musician

I licked the brown manilla envelope, sealing the last CD inside, tasting the faint sweetness of the glue...

it tasted of hope

(there is no way of knowing if they will even read the letter, let alone write a reply)

it tasted like determination

(or if they will run their fingernail down the spine of the CD sleeve, breaking the tight cellophane)

it tasted of ambition

(or if the lyrics and melodies will sink in, or if the disc will even get to spin)

it tasted like fingers crossed...

Luckily I managed to write the last letter before the typewriter jammed again

Our second EP 'High Time' is now available for purchase worldwide!

This week, the track: Cherry Tree was featured on Folk Radio UK's weekly show and we also landed a review from Listen with Monger! 

"Lichfield. Not necessarily the hot bed of musical talent you might expect the sound of delicate genius to come from but then I heard A Different Thread and my perceptions of Lichfield changed".

Click here to read the full review 

Speaking of Lichfield, this weekend we are looking forward to playing at the Lichfield Festival of Folk (L2F) on Saturday at the Guildhall. Other artists include Jon Boden, Sheelanagig and Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin.

Click here for tickets.

After a roller coaster of a summer, it feels good have had some time to take stock and reflect

It can be challenging when things don't work out exactly how you expected

but then expectation is a dangerous thing

I will finish with this motivational quote from Jane Siberry:

"Since the music industry cracked and fell apart, gasping for the cash flow it had come to expect, much re-thinking has been the order of the day. It is a fine time to be a musician. Like walking through Sodom and Gomorrah while it is still smoking, on your way to the next gig."

Upcoming shows: 

Sat 14th Oct
(1.30pm)
Lichfield Folk Festival (L2F)
Guildhall, Lichfield

Thu 2nd Nov
The Venue, Derby
(With Kerri Watt)

Fri 3rd Nov
The Crown, Lichfield

Fri 10th Nov
George IV, Lichfield

Fri 17th Nov
The Greyhound, Lichfield

Wed 29th Nov
Sofar sounds concert
London

Thu 30th Nov
Luna Lounge
London

Fri 1st Dec
The George Tavern
London

Tue 5th Dec
The Lansdown
Bristol


Your fan,

ADT

Top photo by Rich Spencer

New EP now available for pre-order

Our second record is nearly out!
 Official release date 29th Sept
Stream the album now through our website

or click the links below to pre-order

Your fan,

ADT

They say there's no place like home (if you have one)

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all those who came out to our pre-release show. It was a very special evening and you all really made it feel... well, like home.
We hope you are enjoying the limited edition CD's and if you missed the show, Jamie managed to catch a few clips on his phone, check out the video below!
 

The new EP will go on sale to the rest of the world on the 1st October (look out for the pre-order link coming soon).

Until then you can listen to the 5 tracks online through our Reverb-Nation page or through our Facebook page... or catch one of our upcoming shows.

We would also like to thank Bric-a-brac for putting on a tremendous performance at the start of the evening and what a joy it was to hear your music again!

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When I travel, there's nothing quite like like being a stranger, that feeling of anonymity that can make you act on impulse and force you to think outside the box. Often, when Alicia is asked "Where's home for you?" her proud reply is "I don't really have one of those, I've been travelling for two years now".  Isaac will tell you that he has a 'home' and then he has a 'home home'. (His childhood home in Yorkshire) Me, I guess I'm somewhere in between.

When I returned to Lichfield in January after travelling, I felt a bit like a stranger in my hometown.  

I had been welcomed into other people's communities on my travels and it was time to see if I could create a community from my music back on familiar ground.

It is wonderful to see our following grow in Lichfield. It keeps us creating and It keeps us on our toes. Seeing both new and familiar faces come again and again to our shows makes me feel like we could grow from here, like a ripple.

That spontaneous travelling lifestyle can really feed the imagination.

Even so...

"There have never been so many polkadots in my calendar as there are now." Alicia said to me at the start of the summer.

I guess it's all about balance.

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We still have a lot of planning to do (so for those of you who are considering booking us for a house concert, now's the time) as well as working on material for the album that's due next year.

For the next few months we will be somewhat scattered about but I endeavour to push and develop this project, thanks to the support of our fans and followers. Thank you <3

Your fan,

ADT

ADT wins competition at Shrewsbury Folk Fest 2017

Photo by Rich Spencer 

It's funny how things weave together.

When I started working the Tipis it was something different, some variety to help with developing new skills and to get some fast cash. I never thought it could lead to me playing at Glastonbury 2016 or to ADT winning the open mic competition at Shrewsbury folk festival this year!

Black Dog Tipi's are a 'glamping' company based in Devon and they operate all over the UK.
I remember when I got the phone call from Tom: I had just returned from my spring trip to europe in 2014 and was on a coach to Bristol, contemplating my life options.  
"Rob, it's Tom. Hannah told me that you might be kind of in-between things at the moment and...well we could use an extra pair of hands".

For the next three summers, I got used to living mostly outdoors (or in a tent/van), lifting canvas and hammering pegs, then sitting by the fire in the evenings and enjoying the warmth. It was great fun, not to mention the festivals!

Shrewsbury was the last Tipi gig of this season and just as I was turning my thoughts away from tents and back to my music career, the two things seem to have gone and wound together...

The rope is tight around the wooden pegs as we heave them from the hard dirt ground. It's humbling to feel the rain on the back of our necks and to see the almost pitiful looks from strangers as they leave the festival gates...if only they knew.
(The prestigious festival holds an open mic competition each year and the winner is invited back the following year for an official slot)
See you next year Shrewsbury!

In other news, we have a new record launching on 1st October (officially) but there will be a special Lichfield EP release show on the 1st September (This Friday) where 50 copies of the EP will be for sale in person. First come, first served. We are delighted to announce that 'Bric-a-Brac' will also be performing alongside us (we saw these guys play at Shrewsbury and couldn't get enough of their infectious folk sound).

This month we also did some recording at the new 'Ivy Lane studios' in Dartmouth and thanks to our good friend Alfi Romeo, we now have two new singles waiting to be mixed. They already sound fantastic!

One more day of Tipi's to go and as we fall asleep, we hear the distant sound of fiddles and a hundred voices singing in harmony as the festival gates close for the night.

Upcoming shows:

Friday Sept 1st
Exclusive EP launch show
Lichfield
Brewhouse & Kitchen

Sunday Sept 10th
Balstock Festival
Hertfordshire
The White Lion

Sat October 14th
Lichfield Festival of Folk
Lichfield Guild Hall
(early show 1.30pm)

Your fan,

ADT