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Ciarafest 7: The Saffs, Return of Id, Pony Colaboration and Ellie Walker

jazz

Saturday 7th October 2006

Venue: The Portland Arms
Category: Gigs & Live Music
One Liner: Nostalgiarama!
Price Info: £5 in advance
Time Info: 7pm

The Saffs and Return of Id, two of Cambridge's finest musical exports to the world over the past decade or so, are reforming and playing for us - hurrah! Return of Id have since become The Pony Collaboration, who'll be playing too - hurrah again! And Ellie Walker is a lovely singer-songwriter lady who you may have seen of late adding backing vocals for the fabulous Daniel Flay. More hurrahs! So that's lots of hurrahs, and its all for charity. Super.

Tickets are on sale now at http://www.wegottickets.com/event/12728 and wegottickets are donating half the little booking fee too, bless 'em. We hope for a sell out, as the Portland only holds 100ish, so we advise geting in there and getting some.

PRESS RELEASE

Four superb artists, three hours of music, £5, and it all goes to Premrose, the charity that funds The Rosie Maternity Ward at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

The Saffs are, quite literally, Cambridge legends. Glam and sawdust, dresses and testosterone, make up and macho, punk pop edge with soaring harmonies and catchy choruses. They were a mess of contradictions that caught the imagination of the Manics generation, got them drunk and dragged them down the alleyway for a good seeing to. After splitting to form Right Turn Clyde (now RTC) and Neo, they’re back to relive their nineties heyday for a few classic gigs, already taking in The Junction with The Corn Exchange to come – but this will be the sweatiest, most intimate of them all.

The Pony Collaboration are a Cambridge/London super-chilled indie collective. Drawing comparison to Cinerama, they employ an inventive array of instruments in their lo-fi indie sound that brims with honesty, charm and character. But all this gentle Americana grew from a much noisier college incarnation, Return of Id, who get their first outing for many a year this evening. Another old Cambridge favourite, a string of releases through local labels REPEAT and Vibrations saw them flirt with indie stardom before buggering off to uni. They’re vibrant, energetic, wonderfully scruffy and frankly unmissable.

Singer-songwriter Ellie Walker is currently lending her wonderful voice as backing vocals for the hugely talented Daniel Flay, but she is building up a formidable musical cannon of her own in her secret underground bunker. Folky and acoustic but more interesting than that sounds, she’ll lend the evening a touch of mellow class early on before the debauchery kicks in.

These people aren’t even playing for peanuts (I presume they're bringing their own), the sound and door people are doing it for free and the venue has let us have the room for zip, so the least you can do is turn up and give them a clap.

Here be The Saffs
http://www.myspace.com/thesaffs

Here be The Pony Collaboration/Return of Id
http://www.theponycollaboration.com
http://www.myspace.com/theponycollaboration

and here be Ellie Walker
http://www.myspace.com/eleanorwalker

What is Ciarafest?

When Ashley and Ashling Hinson had their first child, Ciara, back in 2001, things could have worked out so differently.

In addition to many complications during a traumatic birth, Ashling’s pre-eclampsia did not subside after the baby was induced, leaving both mother and daughter in serious danger. Baby Ciara suffered complete respiratory failure, and doctors did not think she would make it through the night, preparing the parents for the worst.

The family were taken care of at the Rosie at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, and Ashley is convinced that if it were not for the skill and commitment of its staff, and the equipment provided by the Premrose Neonatal Support Group, things could have gone tragically wrong. But four years on, Ciara is just starting her first year at school as a happy and healthy child.

Since then, the family have arranged a series of benefit shows at The Portland, Mitcham’s Corner, Cambridge, to help raise much-needed funds for the Premrose charity, so that other families can benefit form the expertise of The Rosie’s staff. The five shows to date have raised just under £2,000, and the seventh will be held in October 2006.

The line-ups have always been a showcase of Cambridge’s finest musical talent alongside some of the best underground artists from across the country. These have included Bomb Factory, The Broken Family Band, Chris TT, Conscious Pilot, Ellie Walker, Jazz (RTC), The Low Country, Paul Goodwin, The Pony Collaboration, Return of Id, Right Turn Clyde, The Saffs, The Singing Adams, The Singing Loins, Timothy Victor, and Um.

A compilation CD and website are also in the pipeline.

For more information, contact Ashley Hinson 07765 018247 or Chris Marling 07970 993973.

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