Cosgrave & Banks at Cheriton Fitzpaine, June 2017
5 June 2017
We’ve had a delightful run of gigs to lead us in to a brief summer break. Topsham Folk Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine, and Chudleigh’s ‘Chudfest’ last night. We’ll be working up some new repertoire over the summer and into the Autumn. And looking forward to our tour with Arts Out West in West Cumbria in November. Giles Scroggins is proving a riot of fun (see below)!
6 Feb 2017
Engraving of G Scroggins (well, his ghost actually) from an 1805 ballad sheet
We’re really Looking forward to our next Villages In Action and other gigs: this Friday 10/2 Lydford. Sunday 12/2 at the fantastic Folk On The Moor folk club, at Lee Mill, near Ivybridge. www.moorfolk.co.uk. Will be introducing Giles Scroggins for the first time…!
7 Jan 2017
Happy New Year! We’re looking forward to kicking off our 2017 gigs with a Villages In Action concert at Lydford on 10th Feb, and the fantastic Folk on the Moor folk club on Sunday 12th Feb. More gigs to follow them into the spring.
22 November 2016
Lovely gigs at Brixham Library & Milton Combe last week. Bigbury Memorial Hall, this Friday, is our last Villages In Action gig, indeed our last gig, until 2017. Details on gigs page.
Cosgrave & Banks, Brixham Library
Brixham News article
1 November 2016
We have 5 more Devon gigs in November, mostly with Villages in Action. We’ve been enjoying them so much, we don’t want them to end! See gigs page for details. There will be a few more early next year.
photo of Bratton Clovelly concert by Adrian Wallwork
11 October 2016
Some lovely comments on recent gigs:
“Brilliant Villages in Action gig last Thursday in Coronation Hall, Mary Tavy. Great turnout. Everyone enjoyed it. Thanks to Steve and Mike.” – Margaret Aston, ViA promoter, Mary Tavy
“Cosgrave and Banks produce an intricately textured sound which is all at once familiar, and unpredictably and intensely satisfying. Music for the brain as well as the soul. The way they talked, explained and bantered let the audience relax into the performance and really enjoy it.” – Joanna Wallwork, Chair, Bratton Clovelly Festival (www.brattonclovellyfestival.com)
“Masterful variety and depth of feeling. It’s really wonderful to see instruments played with such subtlety and verve. A great night!” – Ron Pyatt, audience member at Villages in Action gig, Mary Tavy
Next up: Clyst Hydon Village Hall, Thursday 13th October; Stockleigh Pomeroy Village Hall, Friday 14th October – see gigs page.
3 October 2016
Our first two Villages in Action concerts have gone really well, and we are really looking forward to the coming ones: on Thursday 6th October we’re at Mary Tavy; and 8th Sept at Bratton Clovelly. Details of these and our other Autumn gigs on the gigs page. Mike is working on his tan in Portugal with Jackie Oates, but looking forward to returning to the cool crisp English autumn.
15 July 2016
Mike and Steve are appearing on Radio Devon’s Michael Chequer show, Sat 16th July, 9-10am. BBC Radio Devon is available live on 103.4FM in much of the county, and you can listen online for a month after transmission on the iplayer via bbc.co.uk/radiodevon.
13 July 2016
More great reviews of Warp & Weft coming in. Brill ! Looks like about 15 gigs in the diary for Villages in Action, starting in September. Brill ! (Dates and venues will be available soon). Appearing on the Michael Chequer show, Radio Devon, this Saturday, 9-10am. Brill !
15 June 2016
A very nice advance review of Warp & Weft by Fatea magazine. “A delightfully eclectic album” (from their tweet). “Two incredible musicians, weaving threads of music together to create material that is greater than the sum of its parts…” – click here for full review. Pete Bradley really got the “Warp & Weft” concept, and appreciated the artwork as well as the music!
Our 20 minute set at the Villages in Action menu launch went down really well (you can see the video on the Audio/Video page), and we are really looking forward to our Devon village gigs starting in the Autumn.
12 May 2016
warp & weft, our first CD, is now available. Official release 12.8.16, but you you can buy a copy now from our online shop. We are very much looking forward to playing this evening for the Villages in Action Autumn 2016 menu launch.
20 April 2016
Our first CD, warp & weft, is at the printers. Official release date 12.8.16. You can pre-order copies from the shop on this website. We are delighted with how it is sounding. You can listen to all the tracks here. And there are notes about the album here.
11 Feb 2016
Villages in Action
We are delighted to have been chosen for the Villages in Action Autumn 2016 programme. www.villagesinaction.co.uk. ViA is a fantastic organisation, bringing top quality music and theatre to rural communities in Devon. I (Steve) have done many concerts with the Carnival Band with similar schemes in other counties, and they have been among the best and most memorable of my career.
11 Jan 2016
Happy New Year! We all well on the way with recording our first CD, for release in May. Our next gig is at Totnes Folk Club, 10th March 2016 – see Gigs page. We hope to see you at a gig in 2016…
11 November 2015
Recording going well… Making plans for 2016… We played a couple of numbers at Folk on the Moor on Sunday. A thriving folk club, meeting every Sunday near Ivybridge. I’ve seen Tom McConville there a couple of times. What a musician! What a great guy! On Sunday we had the pleasure of seeing Davey and Hunt, with their unique mix, from Cornish tunes, old and freshly minted by Neil Davey, to Hank Marvin and beyond ! Andy Clarke of Totnes Folk Club played a couple of excellent songs too.
4 October 2015
We’re looking forward to starting recording tomorrow, for our first CD, to be released in late April next year. We’re planning a Kickstarter project in Jan 2016 to raise some funds towards mixing, mastering, artwork and printing. Also planning gigs from May onwards to launch the CD.