Hilltown Studios is a recording studio located in Colne, Lancashire staffed by Mat Arnold (Ex in-house engineer at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios) and Keiron Melling (The Fall).

email - Blantymusic@gmail.com

BLANTY is a well travelled musician (singer/songwriter) currently spending some time in the UK. 
He is always looking for gigs & interesting places to visit.

Born & bred in Rossendale, Lancashire, Blanty set off travelling with his guitar aprox 20 years ago & has become (in my opinion) one of the best entertainers around.      He is available for festivals/ pubs/ house parties/ stand in guitarist/ stand in artist/ support act, etc etc. He can often be seen playing around East Lancashire (check out his event page on facebook for gigs near you)  He can easily play for 5+ hrs & was recently called "Unbreakable Blanty" (due to him never taking a break) he was also called "the human jukebox", he's a good egg! He has lots of his own songs & also plays Spanish & Celtic songs & music as well as a never ending stream of ad lib lyric, music and covers when needed,...............Money is the preferred method of payment, but festival tickets in exchange for a good set would be fantastic for Blanty (he will keep your customers happy doing random performances around the festival site if required). He will also consider any charity events & is certainly up for any work overseas.

Very briefly.... Blanty set off travelling half his life ago & spent some time in Greece, he soon found his way to India where he stayed for 3 or 4 years (living among locals, learning lots, sharing himself & his music, extending his musical knowledge). He next ended up in Ireland (He served a 2yr apprenticeship with All Ireland Champion Piper-'Con Durham' of Kerry  (http://youtu.be/tv6Rv1BPgOA) 
Whilst in Ireland, Blanty also played with 'Groove Machine' & 'Blasket Case', made various TV appearances on RTE television & played hundreds of gigs incl. The Heineken Festival - Dingle.......
       He next ended up in The Canary Islands for a while, (he continued making music & performing in bars etc) where he became intrigued with the displaced people arriving from the West African coast, and off he went to live at the exit point of Cape Juby,in the occupied Western Sahara. He then became involved in travelling to & fro with much needed and useful goods from Lanzarote to Africa, as a gift. This work continued for months, during this time he continued playing gigs, meeting musicians & writing songs and creating music.
  Communicating by music and smiles, principally, Blanty met Khomeini El Qadi, a gifted and reknowned Saharaui musician 24 years old. Together they played at a host of gigs, cultural events, performed in schools and communities, created music for and coached a childrens choir, a local TV appearance and the Blue Man festival at Tan-Tan.  They wrote songs & preformed together whenever possible...luckily, the following recording was made....    (https://soundcloud.com/betty-beckett/blanty-khomeni-el-qadi)
 
     Blanty then traveled to Casablanca & continued to Spain, where he toured around for years, preforming & entertaining whilst embracing the culture, language & music. He played lots of venues in the Bask country, appeared on TV there & played at The Dragon Festival.......He formed two bands, 'The Rolling Gnomes' & 'The Stolen Gnomes', they toured all around Spain & Portugal, they also played at Randal Roots festival UK twice, 2009/10    -  www.myspace.com/thestolengnomes
As soon as he returned to the UK, he performed with Mim Suleimans 'la Tungi' show @  Penelopes Sheffield http://t.co/aoBZYI5db8 The show was amazing! Abass Dodoo (Ginger Baker band) was playing percussion.

Before travelling, Blanty played with lots of local bands, 'Radio Bacup Danz Band' ,'5 Pink Mammals' as well as other projects & hundreds of gigs. He often travels back to guest in or be backed by our local band 'PIE' -
Brain Eastwood -  http://youtu.be/2GpHvsSSPZs http:    www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk/
Boo Long -  www.reverbnation.com/boolong     www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyr5sguZKFw
Tom Winstanley aka Mrs Cakehead -  www.myspace.com/mrscakehead                                                                   www.reverbnation.com/mrscakehead      http://youtu.be/gfhem2_NorQ

Brian, Tom & Boo (above) are 'PIE' a long established local band, who Blanty has played with numerous times..........to see    Blanty backed by Pie go to................
  The Great British Folk Festival (you tube link underneath) ....... enjoy......
.All songs written by Blanty ..                                                        .http://youtu.be/CJflMolEArE     http://youtu.be/-eOQJ6mzO3s 

Blanty also has a myspace page, it is a bit dated now, but fans still use regularly.... http://www.myspace.com/blant72/music

As you can see, I could go on & on. Please contact me for further info/bookings..; Betty 07792964149
northerncockerknee@hotmail.com
or contact Blanty direct - Blantmusic@gmail.com
YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!

1 last note, Blanty returned to Lancashire Nov 2012 after a 2yr residency in a bar/local town square in Montenegro, where he performed 6hr sets every day. He is such an amazing performer, it is hard to put into words, but I have seen the most cynical people end up saying how good he is. He has a brilliant sense of humour & fully involves his audience. FESTIVALS  WANTED ASAP  PLEASE! 

I am in the process of updating Soundcloud/myspace etc for Blanty, (due to him being overseas, he didn't realise the relivance in the UK music scene). We are also in the process of recording & re-recording his own songs..

Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you need any footage etc, or for bookings please don't hesitate to contact me, anytime.... Betty 0779 296 4149

Karl Adam Francis began his songwriting career under the "Fruitless Forest" moniker in 2010. Fruitless Forest was originally intended as a solo recording project in Karls bedroom in his hometown of Colne, Lancashire but quickly blossomed in to a live 5 piece outfit once Karl signed his first record deal in 2012. Today, Karl showcases his music as a solo performer, dropping jaws at shows with his colorfully charming, upbeat yet haunting melodic nu-folk style. 

In a similar vein to the ever-growing bands such as Bon Iver, The National, S. Carey and Daughter, Fruitless Forest appeals greatly to most music lovers.

Followers of -Sentimentalists-