We had a fantastic night on Friday, 22nd Nov 2024, playing at The Players Theatre in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex for HURSTfolk 2024 Festival.

Here’s a clip of us playing ‘Living in Sound’, which is one of the singles we released this year. More videos from the night are up on my YouTube channel.

Next gigs coming up are:

Fri 6th Dec 2024 (doors 7pm) Arundel Folk Club, The Victoria Institute, 10 Tarrant Street, Arundel BN18 9DG

Thurs 12th Dec 2024 (7.30pm) The Princess Royal, Guildford Road, Runfold, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 1NX

Sat 21st Dec 2024 (5pm) St Cosmas & St Damian Church, 119 Keymer Rd, Keymer, Hassocks BN6 8QL – part of a Xmas Concert with Poni Mitchell

And the next one as a trio, with James Chapman on drums, is…

Sun 19th Jan 2025 (4pm) Sunday Sessions at The Neptune Inn, 10 Victoria Terrace, Hove BN3 2WB

Thank you, Andrew Frolish, of Americana UK, for premiering the video for ‘The Beacon’…https://americana-uk.com/video-premiere-ian-roland-the-beacon

“Check out Ian Roland’s third single of 2024.  ‘The Beacon’ is another beautiful tune, mirroring the gorgeous landscapes of which Roland sings.  His words show a real connection between Roland and the natural world, an affinity and respect that he transmits effectively to the listener.  Roland’s pure singing voice is central to ‘The Beacon’ and his range and melody are particularly impressive when he hits the high notes in the chorus.  There are subtle changes of pace and a full sound, thanks to Roland’s gifted collaborators, particularly Simon Yapp on violin and viola and Mishkin Fitzgerald, who delivers piano, keyboards and backing vocals.  Dave Coomber on bass and James Chapman on drums complete the line-up and add compelling rhythms.”

‘The Beacon’ is my third single release this year.  Download/Stream now on Bandcamp: https://ianroland.bandcamp.com/track/the-beacon
Digital Stores Release Date: Thursday 31st October 2024

About ‘The Beacon’
A homage to the Adonis Blue Butterfly and the landscape of the South Downs National Park, near Hassocks, UK, this song celebrates the essential beauty of nature, the web of which sustains all life, including our own. We need to preserve it. It was way back in 1970 when Joni Mitchell sang, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”, and since then we have had 50+ years of scientific evidence highlighting the destruction the fossil-fuel industry causes. It takes a huge amount of money to try to divert our attention away from this issue, but it is inescapable and will affect us all, no matter how many billions of dollars may have been invested in media disinformation, political influence, division and unrest, to try to muddy the waters.

Credits
Ian Roland – vocals, guitar
Dave Coomber – bass
James Chapman – drums
Mishkin Fitzgerald – piano, backing vocals
Simon Yapp – violin, viola

Song by Ian Roland
Recorded at Brighton Road Recording Studios by Jake Skinner
Mastered at Subvert Central Mastering by Bob Macciochi

Thank you to Rebecca Valentine, who wrote this article about me and my music for Brighton Blog ‘The First Scoop Is The Finest’ . The blog includes some rare photos of me as a teenager playing some of my first gigs when I had massive hair, back in the 80’s : D
https://thefirstscoopisthefinest.squarespace.com/blog-2-1/introducing-ian-roland-jayx9-x4dxr

‘Lodestone’ is my second single release this year.  Download/Stream now on Bandcamp: https://ianroland.bandcamp.com/track/lodestone
Digital Stores Release Date: Friday 26th July 2024

About ‘Lodestone’
Inspired by the sound of local church bells heard echoing across a Sussex village, this song points to the enduring purity of music as a uniting force that rings true in all of us. Music helps grow and sustain us. It helps grow and sustain communities. Music helps form shared identities and helps us appreciate difference. Music accompanies us through all the distinct stages of our lives. The sound of church bells rolling across the South Downs on a Sunday morning transcends the restrictive, the prescriptive, the contained, and allows our hearts to beat free for a moment.

In memory of Gavin Macleod, founder of the Greyhound Acoustic Gathering at the Greyhound Pub, Keymer.

Credits
Ian Roland – vocals, guitar
Dave Coomber – bass
James Chapman – drums
Mishkin Fitzgerald – piano, backing vocals
Simon Yapp – violin, viola

Song by Ian Roland
Recorded at Brighton Road Recording Studios by Jake Skinner
Mastered at Subvert Central Mastering by Bob Macciochi

Thank you FATEA Magazine for this feature for the “Listen Up” series. https://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/news/ianrolandint.php

Thank you Neil King for including and Graham Steel for the article

I had a fantastic time playing at St Ediths Folk in Cranbrook last night supporting the brilliant Sam Brothers and his special guest, the legendary, Dick Taylor, guitarist and founding member of The Pretty Things and one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones!
Thank you to the St Ediths Folk community for another superb night.

‘Living in Sound’ is my first single release of 2024. Music creates communities and lifts us above the grind and toil. With evermore grassroots music venues closing due to the current economic crisis for small businesses, and yet more stadium music concerts generating huge revenues, this song speaks for a re-distribution of profits so that the UK music industry becomes sustainable and has a future. A general re-evaluation of what is truly valuable and sustaining for the world, would be good too. Music and the Arts are important. They question and challenge the status quo. We are all ‘Living In Sound’, wanting the chance to not only just exist but to live equally valued lives, in tune with our environment. This song is about still having “the strength to believe”. It is about singing in chorus with our natural environment and each other and in so doing, forming a new reality.

Digital Store releases April 26, 2024 Pre-save here!
Ian Roland – vocals, guitar
Dave Coomber – bass
James Chapman – drums
Mishkin Fitzgerald – piano, keyboards, backing vocals
Simon Yapp – violin, viola, backing vocals

Song by Ian Roland
Recorded at Brighton Road Recording Studios by Jake Skinner
Mastered at Subvert Central Mastering by Bob Macciochi
© 2024 Ian Roland

Wick Street Festival finalised line-up. Over 50 acts. 3 tents of music. Graffiti, rap and cocktail classes, dog shows, bloody mary wagons. Free camping. We will be playing on Saturday 31st Aug 2024 6pm-ish in the Rabbit Hole Acoustic Tent. See you there!
Tickets available from https://www.wickstfestivals.co.uk/

Such a fantastic gig tonight at Mid Sussex Music Hall in Hassocks, supporting the fabulous Robert Vincent band. Thank you, Brighthelmstone Promotions and Robert Vincent, for the opportunity.