The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Alisha's Attic, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Sam Cooke, Dusty Springfield, The Cranberries, Joan Osbourne, Alanis Morrisette, The Stones (of the Rolling variety), Skunk Anansie, Tracy Chapman, Joan Osbourne, The Feeling, Mark Knopfler, Lisa Loeb, Pink, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Stereophonics, The Beatles, Jack Savoretti, Meredith Brookes, Amy Winehouse, Snow Patrol, Eurythmics, 4 Non Blondes ('What's Up' - killer choon), Lightening Seeds, Space, Neil Young, Gordon Giltrap, Weezer, Eva Cassidy, Elton John, Paul Simon, Dr Hook, Fleetwood Mac (avec Peter Green of course!)
I walked up and down the street to warm up before my gig in Old Street. This is just a snippet, but look at all the random pedestrians joining in and singing lyrics to a song they don’t even know!
October Hamlyn-Wright (born 17 May 1983) is a British musician and recording artist. Known purely by her first name, October was born in Surrey, England. She showed aptitude in music from the early age of four, with the drums attracting her attention initially. She began her recording career as the Founder of Euphoria, a teenage all girl pop band, but after a long break from music, subsequently went on to perform solo acoustic from 2006 after discovering her distinctive contralto vocals.
She has gained international prominence since then, playing long tours in the likes of Australia and Europe.
Having embarked on a solo career, October produced her first music video with Whirlwind films, for her most popular song, "Ulterior Motives".
Famous for playing Glastonbury Festival three times in a row, October has been dubbed by the press as "Electrifyingly arousing" with BBC Radio describing her as "One hugely talented lady with a very very distinctive voice".
"Electrifyingly arousing, sharply perceptive, and all round outstanding material from this fresh new talent" - Glastonbury Festival
"Brilliant!" - BBC Radio One
"One hugely talented lady with a very very distinctive voice" - BBC Radio Wales
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Biography:
"Electrifyingly arousing, sharply perceptive, and all round outstanding material from this fresh new talent. Hotly tipped singer songwriter ‘October’ shows a musical depth and maturity beyond her years". (Glastonbury Festival).
October is currently captivating audiences all over the globe with her "well crafted poetry, excellent guitar and distinctive vocals". She's already played to massive crowds at The Acoustic Festival of Britain, London Guitar Show at Excel, Lisebergshallen Arena and Birmingham's Symphony Hall. Not to mention the infamous Glastonbury Festival, three years in a row! Dubbed by the press as a "Melodic Rock Lady with a big future", 2009 looks set to be a very exciting year for October. Although unsigned and self-managed, October has achieved an unprecedented amount in an incredibly short time. She has played live sets on BBC Radio One, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Wales, as well as a number of television shows.
"She somehow has the rare ability to reach inside and touch feelings that are deeply personal and mostly lie dormant. Her lyrics are complimented by guitar playing that most male guitarists would be jealous of. She can rock out one moment and then in the next song play such sensitive fingerstyle guitar that you are drawn into her world of passion and intimacy." (Guitarist Magazine).
October's ability to write music truly ignited as she hit her early teens. Wanting to do anything but go home, she would hide after school until she knew she could "go wild on the drum kit - and not get found out!". As well as teaching herself the drums, she began teaching herself the piano shortly afterwards. “I’ve only ever had four music lessons in my life and they were on the double bass! The teacher and I weren’t exactly suited. She wanted me to sit and play with a bow. I wanted to stand up, twirl it round and play filthy jazz! She wasn’t at all impressed”. The next instrument October set her sights on was the guitar.
October formed the first and only band at school after teaching her fellow class mates to play the likes of the bass and electric guitar. Sadly, despite becoming a pioneer to all the other children, the relationship with her precious red guitar lasted no more than about 18 months, thanks to being continuously discouraged by elders to pursue a career such as music. To her devastation, her mother even smashed it up. For the next few years October explored many other avenues, even trying out Sports Science and Law, but mostly what she calls “generally mis-spending my youth!”. When asked why, she said she felt a lot of it had to do with the effects of being taken into foster care at such a difficult age. It also lead her to leave school at only 15 and live on her own from 16. It was more than five years before October even thought about playing again.
Various arduous life experiences during this time ended up inspiring October greatly, in turn reigniting her love for writing music. Feeling back on track, she somehow managed to pull a few strings and enrolled herself onto a prestigious, already full music course! “I literally started playing the guitar again that afternoon (after locating and dusting it off of course!). So, with that happening at 20, I've been playing less than five years in total now and singing for three".
This critical change in direction and subsequent move to the music college in Surrey fuelled her innate enthusiasm for music and began her career. Just as naturally as she did when she wrote her first song at the age of five, October began again to write songs that reflected upon her life and experiences. Again staying hours after everyone else had left college for the day, she took advantage of the facilities and totally self recorded her first demo, playing all the instruments. She sent out three copies. Less than 24 hours after finishing the 3 track EP, October received several phone calls and was subsequently booked for her first festival, along with four live appearances on the Musicians Channel.
"The next massive turning point for me was accidentally buying my first proper guitar! After becoming a complete guitar nerd, I spotted a 1972 Gibson SG in a shop window going for a somewhat surprising price. Totally unable to afford it but equally unable to pass it by, I nabbed it. I was so over excited about it I remember it even lay on the bed beside me for several nights! One day, unable to wait, I hopped out of the bath to try to play the riff I was hearing in my head. Slowly, the guitar turned from brown to white! After exhausting all the local luthiers, my music college tutor gave me his ticket to a ‘Gibson guitar surgery’ that was on tour in the area. At this, I was told it was the fact that I had got out of the bath and played the guitar while naked, not even having the patience to dry off with a towel, that had had that bizarre effect on the 30 plus year old lacquer! I travelled over a hundred miles to take it to their guitar surgery workshop in Suffolk to get it restored, and well, didn’t come back for a year!".
It was there that October began to train and work as a Luthier, also ghost writing for Guitarist Magazine. She began playing gigs up to 8 times a week, steadily gaining more live experience. She developed many close working relationships with other musicians that she met during her time in East Anglia. Her dearest mentors were musicians from the likes of Frank Zappa's band, Steve Harley's 'Cockney Rebel' and Suzi Quatro's band. They played festivals and recorded together several times. October's best known song 'Ulterior Motives' was recorded with Cockney Rebel at a studio in Ipswich. Her playing style and live performances matured and developed greatly during this period, and October went on to travel around the UK performing solo, and in the summer playing some of the UK's most popular festivals. Since then she has played to crowds in many parts of the world, including Australia, Italy, France, Cuba and Sweden.
October is now based in southwest London, regularly playing all the popular music haunts including The Clapham Grand, Chinawhite and Ronnie Scott’s, touring regularly in between.
See her
website for music, videos, photos, blogs, competitions and details of all her upcoming shows.
Whenever you do a show in the Phoenix AZ Area you can put it up for free at www.ThePhxUG.com so everyone can see when it is! No sign up just post it! Hope to see you out doing your thing!
