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’ – New single release – July 2024
‘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
FATEA’s Listen Up series
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
Dick Taylor, Sam Brothers, Ian Roland – St Ediths Folk 12th April 2024
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’ – New single release – April 2024
‘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 – AUGUST 29 / SEPTEMBER 1 2024
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/
Support slot, opening for Robert Vincent at Mid Sussex Music Hall…
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.
I am opening for Robert Vincent at Mid Sussex Music Hall!
I am very excited to be supporting Robert Vincent, one of my favourite contemporary Americana artists, on Friday 16th Feb 2024 (doors 8pm) at Mid Sussex Music Hall, Hassocks Hotel, Hassocks BN6 8HN Tickets available here
Recording at Brighton Road Recording Studios
I am excited to be back in the studio this week, recording some new songs, at Brighton Road Recording Studios, with Jake Skinner engineering and the following fantastic musicians featuring on the tracks:
James Chapman – drums
Dave Coomber – bass
Mishkin Fitzgerald – piano
Simon Yapp – violin, viola
January 2024 gigs, including Sydenham!
- Thurs 18th Jan 2024 (from 8pm) Beluga Promotions at The Southern Belle, 3 Waterloo Street, Hove, BN3 1AQ
- Fri 19th Jan 2024 (doors 7.30pm) Colindale Barnet Folk Club, Bull Theatre, 68 High Street, Barnet EN5 5SJ
- Sat 27th Jan 2024 (7pm) Ignition Brewery, The Sydenham Centre, 44A Sydenham Rd, London SE26 5QX
I am really excited to be playing these fantastic gigs in January to kick off 2024, including a gig in Sydenham, South London, where I lived up until the age of 11. I remember the day I was walking to the Bakery, at the bottom of Sydenham High Street, when I was about 4, with my Mum. Just as we were about to go in and get iced buns, my best cowboy hat got blown off by the wind and disappeared down the road. We couldn’t run after it and I was mortified. My Mum did her best to cheer me up with the promise of an iced bun and I stood in the queue in a mix of emotions. Just as we were leaving the shop with our buns, a man, resembling Dick Van Dyck, burst through the Bakery door with my cowboy hat in his hand. He had run about a half mile, he said, down the road and had rescued my cowboy hat. I was so happy and walked back home holding tight to my hat and iced bun, eyes full of tears. So on Saturday evening 27th January 2024 at Ignition Brewery in Sydenham, anyone who comes up to me and says “I was that window cleaner who saved your cowboy hat” will get a free CD and a heartfelt hug