Cranking things back into action with a vengeance!

Listen up!  Lots to let you know about, so we will be brief, if not a little terse.

This Thursday 15th August 2013 we will be holding a special gathering in The White Hart, Ashton Keynes, from 19:30 which will cover:

- a welcome back to our Choirmeister Chris Samuel from the land of the Spooky Men's Chorale

- a mini workshop to try to remember a few old pieces and start re-learning the new ones from BlokeFest

- a mini launch of our CD "A Taste of The Magnificent AK47"

- an interview and photo shoot with a French journalist!

All part of the (ir)regular goings on in the the wonderful world of The Magnificent AK47 . . .

Info about Practice pieces can be found on our Links page.

If you want to order some food then contact The White Hart directly to book. Click here to visit their website for details

Yet more excitement on the Radio

And in another exciting moment, this week's wonderful BBC Radio 2 Folk show also featured another group to which The Magnificent AK47 have a link, namely The Ballina Whalers.

Our major link is that the dearly departed and much lamented Ken Brookes is the dear old dad of one of their number, the exceptionally talented and hard working songster Sam Brookes.

The second link that only those of us in the know know (!) is that they were very close to being lured along to BlokeFest 2013 to run a workshop but calendars did not quite coincide, more's the pity.  

So, shuffle your browser along to their website and enjoy their music and catch them on the BBC iPlayer recording of the show whilst you can.

Exciting Spooky News

Exciting news on the Spooky Men's Chorale front with the announcement on tonight's Mark Radcliffe Folk Show that our big mates would be performing on next week's show, then he actually played their weird and wonderful "Baron of Beef" off the quite superlative "Spook Men of History" album.

What with a couple of other tracks he played from people with a Magnificent AK47 connection (more very soon) it has been quite a night.

If you haven't seen the Spookys in action this year, then more fool you!  Get on with it or you will regret it.

Summer Holiday Homework

It maybe holiday season for many but it is also the "Spooky Summer of Love", full of singing low and high jinks to inspire the most laggard of blokes into thinking that perhaps they should stir from their deck-chair and rouse themselves to a bit of singing, especially some new stuff!

To this end a batch of new "Help-you-Rehearse-in-the comfort-of-your-own-home/car/shed/etc" has been released.  After the wild successes of BlokeFest 2013 we have THREE new pieces ready in the usual easy to digest formats:  Low + Mid + Top + All and various other combinations.  

The pieces are

• A Gringo Like Me by Roger Jackson
  (opening plenty of cowboy / Indian hat opportunities)
• Myfanwy arranged by Dave Stewart
  (no hat opportunities immediately spring to mind but there will be something!)
• Norwegian Sailors Song arranged by sadly missed new Spooky Daddy, aka Ryan
  (sou'westers??)

Anyway, they can now be found on a newly updated Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/the-magnificent-ak47/sets/summer-2013-newies.

Have a listen and familiarize yourself with them and we will see what develops post the Summer recess.

Spooky Men's Chorale in town

The Spooky Men's Chorale, very much the inspiration for starting The Magnificent AK47 and fundamentally a fabulous bunch of Top Blokes who just happen to be brilliantly funny and brilliant singers at the same time, whistled by on their monster tour of the UK gracing us with their special magic recently.

They headlined a gig in our local town of Cirencester at the lovely Sundial Theatre and permitted our blokes the honour of being their warm up act and hosts.  A great time was had by the sell out gig and at the after show knees up back in The White Hart in Ashton Keynes.  A few postings can be found on the Spooky Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-spooky-mens-chorale/spooky-days-5-6-every-man-for-himself-/688400541176667 where you can read about their stay in the village in their very own words.

In case you didn't catch them then you must make every effort to see them at some point during this year's tour and also get their superb new album, The Spooky Man in History.  Your loyal correspondent was privileged enough to see them the other day at the Village Pump festival and they were quite breathtakingly brilliant.  Much more information can be found at http://www.spookymen.com/ 

Whilst the Spooky's are very much an inspiration, we would like to think that The Magnificent AK47 are developing their own style and ploughing their own metaphorical furrow.  More evidence will be emerging very soon with more information about our very own piece of audio artefacts and gig at the Sundial Theatre, soon(ish).

A Taste of The Magnificent AK47

The Magnificent AK47 is proud to announce its first CD, "A Taste of The Magnificent AK47". Recorded at the wonderful Mooncalf Studios in rural Wiltshire, this short taster gives a flavour of why this iconic group of men has rapidly become one of Ashton Keynes' finest all male a Capella singing combos.

The mysterious cover, taken from prehistoric local cave paintings shows the mythological 'riding of the white horse' - a ritual where ancient man, often in small groups, would ride the now extinct giant white horses that are still remembered on the Wiltshire hills.

Minimal in cover design but maximal in manly machismo, "A Taste of The Magnificent AK47" will undoubtedly keep our legions of fans hungry for more. It can be found at our next gig at The Sundial Theatre in Cirencester on Sunday 21st July and can also be ordered online at MakingMusicMix.

Men at work

Sunday 30th July was a very long and busy day for the Blokes with our first proper recording session in a proper recording studio at Mooncalf Studios.  

It kind of took everyone by surprise just what hard work it was to get 20+ blokes to avoid making different mistakes at different times so we could at least manage to cobble together a whole song from the various fragments that were any good!

Having said that we nailed one or two pieces in one take but with some others the intentionally tricky harmonies took a little longer to get right.  Still, overall, some very pleasing results and a great learning experience.

The final versions will be making themselves onto a CD entitled "A Taste of The Magnificent AK47" very soon ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public at our gig with The Spooky Men's Chorale in just over a week's time.  Which reminds us, we better get on and do some tuning up before the "Spooky Summer of Love" starts rolling through the countryside.

More soon.