The Magpie Arc at Sage Gateshead

About

The Magpie Arc is a new cross-Border band out of Sheffield and Edinburgh featuring the muli- award-winning talents and wide musical influences of Nancy Kerr, Marin Simpson, Adam Holmes, Tom A Wright (The Albion Band and Ashley Hutchings Morris-On Show) and Alex Hunter (Adam Holmes and The Embers).

Formed as an idea, then some phone calls, then a get together for a discussion, and finally the obligatory studio jam, the musical possibilities of this band being something special and unique in today’s UK folk scene became obvious very quickly.

And “a band” it is! It’s not a project, there’s not a theme and there’s not a commission. It’s five musicians in a room making an enthusiastic noise. Sometimes very loudly. There will be new songs. There will be some great (and maybe unusual) covers and there will be reworked traditional songs. There will be folk, and there will very likely be blues. A bit of country, there may even be some rock ‘n’ roll.

Whatever happens, it will be a musical mix of everything you could expect from such a line-up, from lush harmonies to intricate electric guitars, gorgeous fiddle lines and rock solid bass and drums.