John Fairhurst the Film Composer

21 April 2011

John Fairhurst has been commissioned to write the score for Glory Road, a documentary film scheduled for release after the London 2012 Olympics.

Watch the trailer here:

Some words about the project by director Steve Read:

Liverpool is a fighting town and boxing is its blood. It flows with a force through every Scouse lad’s veins, like the River Mersey flows through this great city. It is relentless. This a city of tension and hardship. You can’t avoid it — the harsh reality of life in Liverpool is evident. The front pages of The Liverpool Echo keep us abreast of such things on a daily basis. So too is the Scouse Humour™ , the Scouser’s unflinching desire to succeed and a point blank refusal to give in. All these elements inform the Scouser’s undying love of boxing. That spirit is evident in every man and woman I’ve come to interview for this documentary. Liverpool, I’ve come to understand, is the city that will never throw in the towel.

“Boxing is the world’s biggest drug, it’s an addiction no one can ever explain”. These are the words of 1984 Boxing Olympian John Hyland. His words resonate, they ring clear like the final bell of the 2010 ABA Championships, when Anthony Fowler taking the Senior Title home from the York Hall for the first time. It’s every young amateur boxer’s dream. Only one achievement in amateur boxing ranks higher.

John Hyland knows, he’s been there, just as he’s there every Thursday night at Liverpool’s beloved Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing Club in the South End of the city. He goes to watch future Olympians in the making, including his own son, Blane Hyland. He looks on with pride as they go through hours of rigorous exercise with unquestioned commitment, under the watchful eye of legendary trainer Georgie Treble. Meanwhile, his counterpart Mick McAllister, hones his considerable stable at the Rotunda ABC in the North End of the city.

Fowler’s boxing year ends in anguish as he loses the 2010 GB Championship’s gold medal prize to another Olympic hopeful, Callum Smith. In 2011 he’ll be back to challenge once more - he knows only one boxer can take that prestigious 69kg place on the GB squad. Callum’s convinced it’s his spot to take; Anthony’s got other ideas. Watch this space to see who gets the decision. Like the South and North Ends and Liverpool and Everton Football Clubs, expect this rivalry to run and run. Expect our documentary Glory Road to be there every step of the way.

Like John, Georgie and Mick we’ve also been there. For over a year now we’ve been following these exceptional athletes as they make their journey to London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Their goal is to stake their claim for Olympic boxing glory. We’ll be there also in July 2012, to show you how the story ends.

Along with Fowler and Smith, we’ve met and interviewed some of the leading amateur heroes of the past and present — the aforementioned John Hyland, Joey Frost, Robbie Davies, Roy Jones Jnr, Tom Stalker, James Degale and Jazza Dickens. Then there’s Natasha Jones, a history-maker in her own right as part of the first generation of women to compete for boxing gold at the Olympics.

But will she make it to London 2012? That’s just one of a thousand unanswered questions in this complex web of real life stories. In the merry-go-round of docu-soaps stars and disposal icons, this film represents the real lives of true athletes with exceptional stories, competing for something truly special, Amateur Boxing’s Olympic Glory.

‘Boxing never stops, it’s like religion and it will always be there.’

Follow the hopes, dreams and prayers of these exceptional sportsmen and women on their journey to London 2012 - The Glory Road.

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T.E Yates and John Fairhurst support Curtis Eller on UK tour

10 April 2011

T. E. Yates and John Fairhurst follow in the footsteps of The Bedlam Six and Al Baker as the latest Debt Records musicians to play with exceptional US writer-performer Curtis Eller.

CURTIS ELLER is North Carolina’s (formerly New York City’s) angriest yodelling banjo player. He sings about pigeon racing, performing elephants and Jesus, all of which he has seen with his own eyes. He started his show-business career at the age of seven as a juggler and acrobat in the Hiller Olde Tyme Circus in Detroit, but has since turned to the banjo because that’s where the money is. His biggest musical influences are Buster Keaton, Elvis Presley and Abraham Lincoln.

Mr. Eller and his band, The American Circus stubbornly perform and record in New York City. They have appeared at funerals, horse races, burlesque revues and punk rock dumps. Haunted by the ghosts of silent film and wearing a dead man’s clothes, Mr. Eller and the band have staggered their way into the hearts of audiences from London and Amsterdam to Los Angeles and Montreal. 2008 promises to see them touring extensively on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.

Along the way, they have shared the stage with strippers, contortionists, glass eaters and folksingers. They play more waltzes than any other band I know of, but nobody ever seems to feel like dancing.

On the lastest American Circus CD “Wirewakers & Assassins” Mr. Eller presents songs about John Wilkes Booth, Joe Louis, Fidel Castro, Jack Ruby and Richard Nixon (as well as the usual tales of Civil War generals and Elvis Presley). As always, sporadic yodeling and some strong language should be expected. Mr Eller’s tune “Alaska” was voted “2003’s most Popular” on NPR’s All Songs Considered. The music has the unmistakable sound of a pistol being fired in an abandoned salt mine: lonesome and violent.

The bands three previous CD’s, “Taking Up Serpents Again” (2004), “Banjo Music for Funerals” (2002), and “1890” (2000), prove The American Circus capable of being recorded magnetically. On them you will here true stories about snake handlers and Coney Island, lies about P.T. Barnum and Amelia Earhart, and all the banjo playing and yodeling anyone can reasonably expect in these dark times.

T. E. Yates is supporting Curtis at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester on 26th April and John Fairhurst will be in support the following month at Hoxton Grill in London on 6th May.

www.curtiseller.com
www.teyates.com
www.johnfairhurst.com

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Honeyfeet launch Friends Of Mine Festival Jazz Stage

04 April 2011

This Year Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club have been asked by Friends Of Mine Festival to curate their Bowl stage for Saturday 21st May

To mark the occasion, Manchester’s most famous jazz bar will be launching their Friends Of Mine Festival stage on Friday 8th April with the magnificent Honeyfeet!

Renowned for their guerilla gigs and energetic performances Honeyfeet manage to weave together so many influences it’s nigh on impossible to describe their sound, but to try and sum them up, they include influences from Irish Folk, Gypsy and Eastern European Folk, New Orleans Jazz, 60’s psychedelic, Delta Blues and even a touch of Pirate shanty music.

With this melting pot of sounds the atmosphere is always electric.

Honeyfeet will play three 45min sets from 9pm

£5 entry.

www.MattandPhreds.com
www.fomfest.com

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