NEWS

August 2008

Well slap bang in the middle of wedding season. Atlantic Soul is fortunate in that, most of the time, the couples we play for have sussed us out and we have sussed them out and both knows what to expect and it's so good to have that personal contact well before the wedding so that the day itself goes like a dream. We've played for some really lovely people, have been challenged with some difficult 1st songs but have accepted that challenge and have risen to it.

Apart from the lovely weddings we have been performing at, we've also been at some of our fab celeb charity balls again. At the most recent one, Dennis Waterman didn't make an appearance this year (he's still probably trying to remember the lyrics of the song from last year). But there were plenty of other well known (and in my case not so well known, not being a sports or soap buff). If the cast of River City walked by me (which they did) I wouldn't have a scooby who they are. Same goes for football, cycling, snooker but one I did recognise was Allan Wells the Olympic runner and Phil Daniels, who I remember from the Mod film Quadrophenia but who is apparently in Eastenders now (see told you I don't have a scooby about soaps) ... Phil took a shine to the lovely Pauline ... and she didn't have a scooby who he was either!! Just as well these celebs weren't on the "hey look who I am" bandwagon, as they would have a hard job with us when we don't know who they are in the first place. Apparently Pauline says it's easier to fob some guy off trying to chat you up, especially if you don't know he's "famous".

And now a story from the sublime (the celebs) to the ridiculous. This literally happened last weekend and isn't a joke (though we can laugh about it now).

It can only be another story of Life On The Road With Atlantic Soul. Up near Inverness last week in some wee village for a wedding, but apparently there was some kind of festival on too. So on checking the hotel booking was OK before travelling, found out they'd put us in for the week after (despite me sending a confirmation fax!). Anyway, didn't get the types of rooms we wanted, but got it sorted and at least we had somewhere to put our heads after the gig. Got there earlier than the other band members to find a notice on the hotel door saying "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the hotel is closed. Sorry for any inconvenience.". Ah, it must be a wind-up. Pushed the door and it was open. OK, let's go in and see. Nobody there. Shouted. Still nobody there. Rang the bell. Still nobody there. Then a couple appeared with a couple of kids saying are you booked in here. I said yes, 4 rooms. You'll be lucky - the manager has abandoned the place. It's deserted. There's not a soul here. The kids, all excited, took me to the kitchen to show me how the bacon, eggs, sausages from that morning's breakfast was abandoned as well. The kitchen was a state. Whoever it was had literally just thrown in the towel and said you're on your own here. Knowing all the other hotels & B&Bs were full because of the festival, I knew there was nowhere else to stay and it was a 6 hour drive back to Glasgow. So in we went to the abandoned office, rooting around for a phone number, anything. Ah, the computer's still on. So had a look and found a file with staff phone numbers. I delegated the task of phoning these to the guy while me and his wife got all the keys that were lying about for all the rooms in the hotel and went and tried them in all the doors to see if we could find our rooms. Lucky we're honest. Anybody could have done the same. And the rooms were full of stuff - laptops, cash, clothes - what you'd expect to find in an occupied room, but the occupants were out. Found a couple of rooms and decided we'd all need to "bunk in". Went back downstairs to the guy who was on the phone to the abandoned manager who told him on the phone "I'm in Glasgow and I'm not coming back". "Well there are people here to book into the hotel. Can you get somebody to help?". "Nah. Tough. You're on your own. I was the manager until this morning, but not any more" So literally that's what we had to do. This place WAS Fawlty Towers, but at least Fawlty Towers had Basil and Sybil running it. It was minging but we made do. In an abandoned hotel in the middle of nowhere. With crusty bacon and foosty eggs lying congealed in the frying pan. It was kinda creepy and like something out of some poor horror-comedy B-movie.

The wedding gig went well. And we made our own arrangements for breakfast in the morning. Luxury breakfast - out of the money saved on hotel bill.

Ah! Who says life on the road is dull. Until next time ..........

June 2008

What have we been up to? Well need you ask? Some of the weddings we have performed at over the last few months have been awesome and some have been a downright eye opener, naming no names. A first waltz without the bride and a last dance without the groom - all due to the demon firewater. Maybe it's because it's been so hot in these venues. Maybe they'll realise that global warming means it's roasting inside and if you and your guests think it's boiling and need to go outside for a breather, imagine what it's like for the band under those lights and performing. Come on venues - get some air conditioning installed. It's no fun being a blushing bride when actually the blusher's slid off your face along with the rest of your makeup and your groom's slid underneath a table Pie Eyed. And let's no go there with the corsetry ...

On a happy note the "master plan" is well underway and is being received fabulously well by the appreciative corporate and charity audiences. Tested out on weddings first unsuspectingly though, it was a huge thumbs up, so was unleashed on our first of many celeb functions this year last Saturday at the five star Sheraton Grand in Edinburgh. What a brilliant gig! Strictly Come Dancing affair with dancers and judges from the TV show on hand to demonstrate how it should be done and the biggest glitterball I've ever seen all lit up and rotating in the foyer of the ballroom (must've been 6 feet high!). And when did Sally Gray get all glam? She's looking better now than she ever did.

Haven't been doing much travelling this year up til now as most of our gigs have been in the central belt which is unusual for us, but the famous "away days" start this weekend. Canny wait! It's away in the wilds of Dumfries-shire towards Stranraer way and the organiser who is the bride's sister (as they live abroad) knows our drummer very well so they've promised to look after us in good stylee. It'll be great to get back to getting to the gig early to set up then the rest of the day is your own with just the performance to take care of and no long drive home in the middle of the night when you're knackered, and possibly a wee nightcap or three after the gig. Bring it on. Until the next time, take care.

PS. Not many dates left at all for summer 09, so if you're thinking ... don't think too long.

Wonder if it'll be a barbeque .......?

18 April 2008

We've been re-booked for the 3rd year running to perform at Kingdom FM's fabulous Christmas Party Nights in Rothes halls, Glenrothes. This year there are two party nights and we'll be performing at both. They are ticketed affairs and it's a great night with a fantastic meal, fun and games from the Kingdom FM DJs and live music from ourselves. It's always a sell out so get your tickets early.

29 February 2008

We're in the News! A leading newspaper wanted to know about bands who play at weddings who are different to the normal common or garden wedding bands out there. They asked us about some of the different styles of music we perform and we told them we like to be a bit different and but tailor our repertoire to accommodate slightly different tastes if that's is what's required, but still appealing to the wider audience. As one guests recently commented - "Brilliant band! Everybody loved them from the grannies to the scooter clubs". A good song is a good song and we know what get's people on the floor. Atlantic Soul fits that description exactly. Read our story.

14 February 2008

We have set a new record (not the musical kind!). This has been the busiest January and February since Atlantic Soul's inception. Enquiries and bookings flooding in the door and many of the bookings for 2010 - yes, TEN !!! Bearing in mind that the bulk of our bookings are direct (even though we are on all the major agencies books) this is proof that the hard work going into the band is paying major dividends.

Don't delay - check your date's availability TODAY.

Well the TV company came up trumps after all. Got the footage from the whole shebang. Unfortunately it has turned out that due to time restrictions on the day itself, the audio wasn't set up as it should have been and is not balanced correctly, but nevertheless the footage is fantastic. It's a sight to behold celebrities totally letting their hair down and shaking their shammy to the wonderful party sounds of Atlantic Soul - and we have the video evidence to prove it! Better not put it on the web or might get sued !!

The masterplan we have for this year (mentioned in previous Blog posting) is now well and truly underway and looking forward to testing it out very soon - can't wait!!

Got asked to do gigs in Dubai and India recently but unfortunately due to work commitments here in the UK (would never dream of letting all you lovely brides down now - NOT a good thing to do for either business or as a person whose word you have given) had to let them go. Oh well now the spring is starting to emerge from its slumber, maybe we'll get a good summer this year and thoughts of hot climes abroad won't seem so tempting.

But hear this ...Corporate Agencies In Hot Countries - don't let what I've said stop you trying. We just MIGHT be available for your date and it doesn't do any harm to ask now does it?

Keep blogged and c'mon the sunshine!

21 January 2008

Belated Happy New Year folks. Hope you had a good one. Busy time of year as always with enquiries pouring in and having to disappoint a lot of people already in that a lot of dates are already booked up. However, YOUR date may still be available so email us and check. Doesn't do any harm does it?

Came crashing into 2008 with a hogmanay hoolie in Edinburgh and back to the Exhibition Centre again in Aberdeen for a fabulous corporate party for MI Swaco, re-booked from previous year. Didn't quite manage to get the live-on-stage publicity pics I hoped for at this gig as, silly me, forgot to pass the camera to the soundman to do the honours before we went onstage. Never mind, there will be others. DID manage to get some more new publicity shots done, so that our 2008 publicity photos with the different line-ups of the band all back up to date since Pauline rejoined recently.

Managed to get the second set recorded onto camcorder at the AECC too, but haven't had a chance to look at this yet, so hopefully if it's not blurry or out of focus or whatever, will get some of that up on the website soon as well.

More corporate shenanigans coming up very soon this month and also another charity ball, with others to follow throughout the year and again the celebrity shindigs that we are becoming very well known at.

As ever, the bulk of our work is the fabulous weddings we are invited to perform at. The beginning of the year is always spent getting organised for these as there's always lots of new songs to learn for couples' first dances.

We've also got a masterplan this year also which I'm not revealing on the web, but anyone who books us will start feeling the early effects of it come Spring/early Summer. There's always a lot of bands out there who try to emulate in some small and sometimes very BIG way what Atlantic Soul does and plagiarism is rife, but we are and always have been trailblazers when it comes to our show and our performances and we're looking forward to this change enormously which will I am sure be embraced wholeheartedly by all who witness our live shows.

Further new stagewear has been organised, funky and comfortable, as our energetic shows do have a very ouchy impact on the poor tootsies I'm afraid.

And a valuable lesson has been learned by the ladies fronting the band as well. Our performance involves choreography and a lot of energy goes into each performance by the ladies out front. Having had one fainting incident over Christmas and one near-fainting incident at the AECC recently due to heat exhaustion, a good old bottle of Lucozade comes onstage with us now and let me tell you it saved the 2nd fainting incident from actually happening recently. So we have learned that we MUST eat to get the necessary salts and minerals into the body and Lucozade plus comfy but funky flats onstage for set 2 and/or 3 from now on are necessary. Believe me, glamorous it is not when you're feeling that ill and hanging over a toilet bowl in a strange venue. But as the saying goes, the show must go on and it did.

That's about it for now folks. Keep blogged for the latest on the band and keep checking the website as there's always updates ongoing all the time.

All the best for 2008 xxxx

28 December 2007

Lots and lots happening but please excuse the Blog being so short this time as just sooooo busy!

After a year away in the south of England, the gorgeous Pauline has re-joined the band and we're all absolutely over the moon to have her back. It's as though she's never been away and it's great to have the full gang back together. This has resulted in a wee re-vamp of the website with some new pics and new costumes (as ever).

Another couple of additions to our setlist incorporated in time for the Xmas gigs and the songs will be gigged throughout 2008. New material keeps the band members excited about what we play and challenges us and the audience like to hear new stuff from us.

Thanks to all the Charity Ball and Christmas Party organisers. Each and every one was fabulous and a great success in their own right. Lots of money was raised and it was a pleasure to help raise funds for such worthy causes and especially the cancer charities which is close to my heart.

Well we did end up on TV after all. Quite exciting seeing yourself in full swing on telly for the first time. Am still hoping to get a copy of the footage from the TV company - they have promised so let's hope they keep their promise.

Next gig is Hogmanay in Edinburgh then a couple of weeks off before we do another big extravaganza at Aberdeen Exhibition Centre once again in January. That place is becoming our second home!

Have a wonderful 2008 folks and if you see us at a gig, come and say hi.

18 November 2007

Just back from performing at the North of Scotland's most prestigious charity ball of the year - The Touch of Tartan Ball 2007 - in the Ball's 20th year. The Touch of Tartan is Aberdeen’s most prestigious Ball and is run annually to raise funds for CHILDREN 1ST, which is a leading charity which supports families under stress, protects children from harm and neglect, helps them recover from abuse and promotes children's rights and interests. Mr & Mrs Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen were again this year's Guests of Honour at the Ball. A jazz band played through pre-dinner canapes and a rat pack vocal group sang through the sumptious 7 course dinner. Atlantic Soul Showband headlined the entertainment, interspersed by a small ceilidh band who provided some Scottish dancing.

Atlantic Soul put on a blistering show for the 600 strong audience, made up mostly of the corporate sector and Aberdeen's most prestigious companies. Right from the off, the dancefloor was packed and stayed like that throughout both sets. Atlantic Soul excels in front of large audiences on a big stage and The Beach Ballroom is probably our favourite big venue in the north of Scotland. The high-impact performance, the choreography and spectacle comes to life in these types of settings and did absolutely that on Friday.

We kicked off in style and took the audience on a rollercoaster ride of party hits from the 1950s to right bang up to date songs from the charts. After the first set, we were actually mobbed by the throng when making our way to try and get a listen at the back of the room to catch a bit of the ceilidh band's set. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. It really made our day to know that our hard work to perfect our polished show paid off. Thanks also to my new found fan Laurence. Your enthusiasm for what we did really did make a girl happy. Sorry I didn't get that chance for a dance but thanks to your lovely wife Jackie for the helping hand onstage during an Abba number. She was fab and a true blonde bombshell. What a really nice down-to-earth couple they were. Will hopefully get that dance next time I see you!

"Your band is absolutely fantastic! I LOVE your show" - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Since the running theme of the Ball obviously celebrates Scotland, the culture and TARTAN, unbeknownst to each other, some of the band members pulled it out of the bag and unleashed some surprises on each other and the unsuspecting audience. Our drummer Martin unveiled a brand spanking new huge ddrums acoustic drum kit - totally covered in Royal Stewart tartan! Our guitarist stepped up to the mark in his fantastic tartan suit and shades and I did ... well Scotland were playing Italy on Saturday and couldn't let the atmosphere go by unchecked. Came onstage for the last couple of numbers (which were obviously Scottish songs) bedecked in tartan shorts, saltire shirt and flag and fitba' boots. Did my best Rod Stewart impersonation by kicking the football into the audience who promply kicked it back up. Oh it was fun and they did get the joke - as did the band as they knew nothing about it until I came out! Brilliant vibe and brilliant fun audience.

At these type of events, I normally get as much media footage as possible - photos, video, recordings but unfortunately due to the time constraints on the actual day and night, only managed to get a photo of me with Laurence. But all is not lost. There was a camera crew there and the whole performance was recorded and projected onto the big screens all round the room. I believe that it was being filmed for a TV show to be shown sometime soon in the future. So hopefully when I get in touch with the media company, may be able to get a copy of our performance. There was also professional photographers at the event. Check our Band Pics Page for these photos.

So all in all, another fantastically successful charity ball. Our next one is next month in the huge arena of the AECC, this time again for CLAN (Cancer Link Aberdeen and North). We performed at this event last year so are privileged to be returning to help this fantastic charity who are also linked with Children 1st.

1 November 2007

Public gig just announced. It's very very rare that Atlantic Soul performs at public gigs, however, due to the fact that the next few months the band won't be in the central Scotland area, a public gig to be used as a showcase for wedding clients has been arranged for Saturday 24 November. Please email for details.

15 August 2007

Well, what can I say? When you're booked for one of these celebrity charity bashes, anything can happen. If you can, you can be prepared, but sometimes stuff's just thrown at you at the last minute and you either rise to the challenge and conquer or ... don't and look a fool. It was one of the biggest celeb bashes in Scotland this year, for charity, raising money for needy children (SPARKS, Cash for Kids and I think also Children 1st). A luxurious marquee crammed sparkly canvas to sparkly canvas with the top movers and shakers of the business world and a few celebs thrown in. A few games of golf, a few whiskys and then down to the serious business of raising money for the worthy causes and dancing the night away. Who would have imagined 6 tickets for Take That would have auctioned off for ... now what was it 3 and a half Grand or 36 and a half Grand - the latter I think as it was serious money being banded about - and that's without Robbie! And stars of stage, screen and the world of pop asking to sing with the band!! Of course we said yes. Two hours to learn "I Could Be So Good for You" which was done in front of a mad up-for-it audience, and "It's Alright" (the latest theme song from New Tricks), yes Dennis Waterman you weren't kidding when you asked if I had the words as you couldn't remember them - even though you said you wrote them!!! And when I turned to Robert Powell (who used to play Jesus of Nazareth in the hit series of the 1970s, who we already met the last time we did the same gig) when HE asked ME if I wanted HIM to sing, I said "no I just want to take you onstage and nail you to the cross". Maybe a slight bit in bad taste in hindsight, but everyone burst out laughing and were in a jolly mood - and he took it in good spirit thank goodness! You gotta go for the laughs when you can folks. Don't know the final total raised yet, but it was a great night even though it started late, we didn't get onstage until midnight, were supposed to finish at 1am and didn't get off until after 2am. Well, we were enjoying ourselves, so we just kept going until the buses came and took the bulk of the guests away to their hotels!

17 July 2007

Firstly - S.O.R.R.Y.!!! The news page hasn't been updated for AGES and why I hear you asking. Well what do you think? Busy isn't the word for it. Wedding season it certainly is. The weather's been cr*p this year but the fabulous weddings we're performed at certainly haven't. And a good few new venues, one being The People's Palace is Glasgow. What a fab venue (but absolutely roasting under all that glass). Needed the full bifter PA system as it's a huge place with really high glass ceilings but the people were lovely and the wedding was fab. So too was the same-sex wedding - naw that was actually way better - in the Montgreenan Mansionhouse. Marion & Fiona you guys are brilliant, what an outstanding wedding. So great when it's real gigging musicians as well as they know the script - your bridal suite and champagne were lovely - thanks for looking after us so well!! Back again in Drumtochty as well. It's still our No 1 favourite venue. These guys really know how to look after folks at a wedding. And see Mrs Francey, told you everything would be great! One downside recently spoiled one of the top two greatest weddings of the year for us so far. Don't book Balbirnie House!! Imagine turning away INVITED GUESTS to a wedding! That's exactly what the reception staff did that day. I would not recommend this hotel as the customer "service" is appalling. The May tour we did was fantastic, although exhausting playing night after night in a different place. I think it took us about 2 weeks to actually catch up on our sleep and get back into a pattern (no mention of the copious amounts of "nightcaps" we all partook of) - Gav, thought PIMS was meant to be a wee summer aperetif - not something you mix with vodka or whatever else is lying about. A few sair heids, but the aftershow parties were awesome (sorry for phoning you Pauline - ex-band member singer - at 4.30 in the morning singing at the top of our heads and drummer giving the best Denis Law and Frank Macavenny impersonations in the world!!). Right, gotta go - never any time for writing this so don't know when the next one will be. Have a great summer all!!!

23 April 2007

A one song Preview of our new Promo Showreel has now been put up on our You Tube site, but you can access it directly from this website on our "See Us Live" page.

20 March 2007

An awful lot's been happening. All good I may add. We've been very busy beavers of late, moreso than normal, getting new costumes made, then subsequently getting a whole host of new promo materials done - live & studio photos, new live audio, some new camcorder live video and the most exciting thing of all - a brand new professional showreel DVD. After 7 years, we decided it was about time we had a DVD of a professional standard that we could send to both direct bookers and agents alike. We had a professional London videographer come to one of our recent gigs and he spent the whole day filming the band live from different angles. He's now at this moment editing the whole shebang. I'll have a sneak peak at the very first trial of the showreel at the end of this week. Then the tweaking will begin, so I don't expect it will be ready for several weeks until it's all edited properly and I'm happy with the finished result.

We had to wait until now for it all to come together as we have other big news. The lovely Pauline, 2nd female singer in Atlantic Soul Showband, dropped the bombshell at Christmas that she was leaving the band, leaving her job, her family and her life here in Glasgow as she was starting a new life down in the south of England. We were all devastated that she decided to leave but wish her all the very best and hope that she's happy in her new surroundings. We have a farewell do and gave her a DVD of her time in the band with live footage, audio and photo montages with farewell messages from everyone. We're very sad she's gone but the good news is that we have somewhere warm to go now for our holidays!

So that left us with a very prominent position to fill. It's a difficult enough task in Scotland finding girls who can actually sing, never mind do all the things that Atlantic Soul requires of them - be a fabulous lead singer, sing and construct harmonies at the drop of a hat, learn choreographed dance routines and perform them whilst remembering to sing the lead and harmony parts. And all at the same time, they had to have an outstanding personality as it's not easy fitting in with an established group of people who all get on so well. Have own transport and be willing to travel the length and breadth of the country to our gigs, and command an audience whilst maintaining an air of dignity. Do all that and be gorgeous as well. We were at our wits end until the fabulous Louise walked into that audition. She measures up to all of the criteria and then some. So Louise, together with our "new" guitarist of 7 months Gavin, we thought it was time for some new publicity materials.

A lot of the new photos are actually on the front page of this website in a little slideshow. Some are on the What We Do page.

You'll find some new LIVE audio on the LIVE Audio Demos pagepage. And I'll eventually get round to putting on the new live camcorder recordings on the See Us LIVE page as soon as I have the time.

If you require one of our new professional promo DVDs, please contact the Band Manager.

As you can see, Atlantic Soul Showband - being the only showband in Scotland in the true sense of the word - is always striving to better the already excellent standard that we set ourselves, the standard that other bands continue to try to emulate.