Hello and welcome to my shiny new blog!... Or what I like to call, 'Ramblings On My Amblings'. Having just got back from a week away performing in Thailand with Entourage, I couldn't resist indulging in a good blog post, which I will try to keep updated with my future violin travels!
I absolutely love performing with Entourage, especially when we get to travel all over the world playing electric violin at epic weddings and parties I could never hope to be invited to. We regularly get bookings to perform at Indian weddings in Thailand, and having been out there lots over the last few years, I was really excited to go back. This time the line-up was me, André Saxman Brown, Deji Carr on percussion and Lily Carassik on trumpet - a cracking group of musicians to play with.
On arrival in Bangkok, we grabbed a bit of sleep before a little gig we managed to squeeze in before the main wedding, at Havana Social. Last year we played at the Cuban club's 1st birthday party, and were invited back to celebrate its 2nd anniversary too! I absolutely love the vibe of this place, and the decor is incredible. Even just the entrance is cool, which is by a secret, hidden phone booth down the side of the street. You really do feel like you're stepping into 1950s' Havana. Here's a little snippet of the party we performed there a year ago:
After recovering from a night of partying and extreme jet-lag, there was no rest for the wicked, as André and I went back to Havana Social the next day to use it as the setting for our new music video, which is due to be released very soon. It was great to meet Max, our cameraman for the day, who did an amazing job as we were so pressed for time. Here is a picture of us looking relieved after the final take:
We also received a couple of still photos from the shoot, which have made us very excited for the end result... watch this space!
The next day we headed to Hua Hin, a 3-hour drive from Bangkok, to perform for the #lovebudhs wedding - check out the hashtag on Instagram for the definition of high-fashion. The celebrations lasted 3 days with non-stop partying and events. We performed at the Mexican-themed pool party, the Sangeet, and the final day's evening wedding reception. As you can see from the photos below, we had absolutely no fun whatsoever...
It was a privilege to perform for such a lovely couple and all their friends and family, with some familiar faces in the crowd too; in the first photo above, we're posing with a couple whose wedding we performed at in Kota Kinabulu, Malaysia back in 2015 - small world!
I'm looking forward to some more destination weddings with Entourage in 2018; with violin performances in Bali, Sicily, and Mykonos in the diary. We're off to Bangalore first though in a fortnight, and I can't wait to visit India for the first time. Check back in a couple of weeks to hear how that goes! x