The Black Atlantic / Chris Tye & Band / Ben Calvert
The Black Atlantic is the Groningen (The Netherlands) based acoustic pop band formed around singer and songwriter Geert van der Velde, former frontman for American metalcore group Shai Hulud. The Black Atlantic released their debut album “Reverence for Fallen Trees” digitally for free (worldwide) as part of the In A Cabin With international recording series on August 21st, 2009. It has already been downloaded over 50.000 times since then…
Chris is currently putting the finishing to his second studio album; ‘Matchbox Stand’ due to be released in the summer of 2010. The new disc is something of a departure from Chris’s stripped back debut LP ‘Somewhere Down The Line’ with a full band and string arrangements. Due to a busy recording schedule 2009 has been a quieter gigging year, making the November 30th show a very special gig for Chris and his band, it will be your last chance to see Chris play in Birmingham before the new album is born!
In the last couple of years Ben Calvert has played over 60 gigs all around the country, playing his individual Lo-Fi Post-Folk musings at venues such as City Folk at The Heavenly Social, (supporting Radio 2 Award Winner Kris Drever), Anti-Folk night ‘blang!’ at 12 Bar, and Bohemian Jukebox in Birmingham.
There are energetic songs sung over power chords, with an unconventional double bass and lively drums. In the new LP The Broken Family DaySaver these two sounds meet in an album where unashamedly happy songs of seaside jaunts, day trips, and amyl nitrate sniffin’ sit next to reflections on impossible summers, crippling jealousy and the single parent conundrum.
