All of you who come to our gigs have been so generous with your clothing and food donations. We’re really happy that at this gig on August 21st we’ll be collecting food for the Real Junk Food Project, specifically for their branch at Tiny Toes Play Centre in Horsforth (and any food they can’t use will be re-distributed to other local Pay As You Feel projects).
So…if you have any food that you’re not going to use, that perhaps is going out of date or that you just want to donate, then bring it along and we’ll make sure they receive it!
Here’s Deirdre from Tiny Toes to tell us a bit more about them:
Tiny Toes has been running for the past 4 years. It is run by Pete and Clare (Husband and Wife) Clare has the child background, working and managing Children’s Centres and Pete has the food background cooking amazing food – his stone-baked pizzas are amazing I have to say!!
How did you come to be involved with the Pay as You Feel project?
The guy Adam Smith that founded TRJFP approached Clare and Pete asking them to come on board, himself and his partner where regulars here at Tiny Toes and liked how we run.
How do you feel it’s going since its introduction at Tiny Toes?
It has been embraced really well by our customers as we are now a CIC company, and a non profit organisation – our customers are coming on board to the change with us.
For people coming along to the gig what would you like them to bring food wise as a donation?
We welcome any food donations as if we do not use the food in the kitchen to make the meals we can use it for the food boutique that our customers can take.
Cakes are a big part of our gigs (thanks to That Old Chestnut) and I know you always have a great selection on so what’s your personal favourite dessert?
Our customers here at Tiny Toes love our cakes, my personal favorite would have to be red velvet.
Sarah from Esper Scout pointed me in the direction of Jasmine and I’ve very glad she did! Jasmine is one of those musicians who you genuinely feel grateful to have heard, an absolute musical genius, combining folk, pop and indie in a magical way. You really are being treated at this gig!
Please introduce yourself!
I’m Jasmine Kennedy; you’re not supposed to have heard of me so don’t worry about it if you haven’t!
When did you first start playing music and what records were you listening to then?
I was probably 8ish when I started playing acoustic guitar and wrote my first song. It was about running away from home, of course. I don’t recall exactly what I was listening to aside from cassettes on rotation in my dad’s car. Deacon Blue, Prefab Sprout, Motörhead probably… I was also very in to stories on tape, I think my songwriting has always been influenced more by stories I’ve read and heard than music I’ve listened to. I moved on to electric guitar when I wanted to play a cover of I Believe in a Thing Called Love in my school leavers assembly. Now I happily switch between the two to avoid retuning.
What advice would you give to young people thinking about picking up an instrument or starting to play gigs?
Do it and do it the way you want to.
I’ve never been convinced there’s a universal approach to playing/writing music – the best way is the right way for you. You’re never too young (or too old) to give it a go. And try not to be disheartened if/when you’re not as good as you’d like to be right away. You’ll get there. And when you do get there, keep going.
Is it true that you stood as a candidate for the Green Party? If so what sparked that off for you and how did you find the whole process?
It is true, yes! I stood as candidate for councillor in Birstall & Birkenshaw. As I was a paper candidate in a ward with a very strong Tory majority it wasn’t quite as involved as you might expect… I was in my PJs on the doorstep when I agreed to do it; it was all very much out of the blue. I felt really out of place throughout most of the process, particularly at the count, the atmosphere was like nothing I’ve known before. I’m really grateful to have been part of it and to have had the chance to experience it but I don’t think you’ll be seeing Jasmine Kennedy MP anytime soon.
What’s your favourite fact?
I don’t know about favourite but my most used is definitely the fact that Batley is the home of Fox’s biscuits.
You’re playing our third Birthday Party, what was the best Birthday you’ve had?
I’m 94% sure it was my 16th. A group of us hired a YHA camping barn near Trawden. It was midwinter in the middle of nowhere. Entertainment consisted of ourselves, a rickety table football and DVDs with no sound. We ordered a lot of pizza and threw our sleeping mats as near as we safely could to the open fire and enjoyed Nosferatu as narrated by two friends. Some of us have returned a couple of times since, most recently to record a live music video! But I don’t reckon we’ll ever top the first visit.
Cake plays a fundamental role in all of our gigs, what’s your pudding of choice?
Now there’s a question! I’m going to have to wimp out and pick two. Favourite pudding changes so easily with circumstance. Summer: Lemon top ice cream in Scarborough.
Winter: Jam Roly Poly & Custard.
You’ve quite a wide range of cover versions online, how do you decide which ones to pick and are there any bands you’ve been considering recently?
I decided to get a free trial of Adobe Premiere Pro CC and spend the 30 days it lasted recording as many covers as I possibly could. It was a lonely summer. Hence the many covers I have online! I tend to just pick songs I like that I think I won’t ruin. There have been so many songs I love that I’ve tried and failed to do justice to. I sometimes get requests from people to cover songs too which I always take as a compliment and try my best, but the same rules apply if I ruin them they’re going nowhere!
I’ve a list as long as my arm of songs I want to cover! I might do a covers EP. I’m currently workingon Shepherd by Anaïs Mitchell which I’ll never actually record because it’s untouchable.
Your website mentions a love of Coronation Street. What’s been your favourite all time corrie storyline? Any other TV reccomendations for us?
It has to be Roy & Hayley’s wedding. It had the perfect balance of comedy and drama that Corrie does so well. So many perfect moments; group singalong on the coach, Fizz, Beccy and Hayley on the pump wagon, the big reveal of Sophie & Sian’s relationship, Roy’s incredible speech…
‘The world can change its rules, its laws and its opinions as frequently as it chooses but I will remain standing by you; that will not change.’
Any other business?
Brb going to rewatch the Roy & Hayley’s wedding episodes.
I really can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that Chrissy has agreed to play one of our gigs. If you’re a fan of James Yorkston, Bjork, Joanna Newsom or King Creosote then you are going to be a happy camper at our next gig! Perhaps those are lazy comparisons but I hope they give you a good idea of the level and type of musicianship to expect. That’s not to mention the fact that should Chrissy decide to stop playing music (and everyone who’s ever heard her hope’s she won’t!) then she’d have a fine career in stand up comedy with her entertaining between song chat (though it’ll be fair enough given the tough PG friendly crowd we have at Youth Anthems if she drops this a bit..!).
So have a listen to some of her music HERE and then whilst you’re enjoying that have a read about what she has to say below:
What’s the best Birthday present you’ve ever received?
In a very practical, Capricorn-esque sense – probably my first guitar and practice amp I received for my 13th birthday – which is still the electric guitar I use in my pop band Joyce Delaney! But equally it could be my polka-dot hot water bottle which has saved me and many other houseguests of mine from the brink of desperation / illness.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given that you’d like to pass on?
In the depths of misery last summer I got into a habit of buying and entirely demolishing, in single self-destructive sittings, whole boxes of Tesco free-from cornetto’s. During one of these particularly bleak cornetto sessions, while still wearing my gym clothes spotted with melting droplets of ice cream from cornetto’s 3 and 4, I began to feel a strange sense of purpose (v unusual at this point in my life) – and behind my eyes I saw and felt a vision – like a technicolour misery mirage – it was me on a ladder, eyes closed and contented, painting in huge lettering which I later circled – “When you are kind to yourself, you are more easy to be around”. Which, I think, is probably true. A couple other golden nuggets of advice I’ve been gifted by the universe include: “It is so nice to wake up in the morning and not to have to tell someone that you love them. When you do not love them anymore” Richard Brautigan, “Love Poem” “The theory that people are always searching for their other half is bullshit. Don’t let anyone. Not even a God. Tell you that you are anything less than whole.” Eros is Bullshit: a poem.
What’s the best thing for musicians about living in Scotland?
I can’t really speak with any authority for places outside the central belt but – the best thing for musicians living in Glasgow is the scene! There’s so much going on all the time, and a lot of it is really exciting and unusual – for example, there’s a lot of rly hardworking folk who put on touring bands, a lot of mixed performance / cabaret nights and so many inspirationally creative people making whatever art they want!
What’s the best thing for you about Leeds?
WHARF CHAMBERS. I’ve had some of my favourite nights ever there and I think they provide a rly vital space for the city (and cheap drinks!!!! YAS) But also, the veggie sausage rolls out of Poundbakery. It feels like a purposeful slight that we don’t have access to these North of the border, and I cannot WAIT for the day we get a Poundbakery in Glasgow
What are the best bands out there that we should be listening to?
HERE ARE MY FAVOURITES FROM GLASGOW – Breakfast Muff, Rapid Tan, Joyce Delaney (my band), Finn LeMarinel, Lawrence Made Me Cry!!
What is the best cake?
On the Biscuit-to-Cake spectrum I think my favourites tend to lie slightly to the North of centre – so cookies, rocky roads, millionaire shortbreads etc. would be my preference. But that being said a vanilla cake with Irn Bru icing never goes a miss!
What’s the best thing we should all do to prepare for a Chrissy Barnacle gig?
I’ve had a long think about it, and with some advice from my friends in Ay Carmela who I am staying with before we drive up to Indie Tracks we’ve come up with some suggestions. None of these suggestions are strictly necessary to enjoy the set – for that you only need an open mind, and to have felt a feeling. But if you’d like to prepare for any eventuality afterwards (as I do) you might want to follow these steps. Check that you’re home water pressure is adequate and plenty hot water is available to take a renewing and scorching/cleansing shower when you return. Find and place next to your bed a notebook and pen so may write unrestricted. (We must all remember our lore is our best and most important creation.) Finally, prepare to go out into the world and YOLO with new found passion.
Youth Anthems 