Check out our latest video...it's a very sweet animation which accomapanies our song 'Tree of Souls'. All drawings have been done by our good friend Rach Alana. Hope you enjoy it!

THE FRUIT TOUR
We are just back from a lovely trip away which we will always remember as The Fruit Tour. Not only did we see huge numbers of trees laden with autumn fruits but we managed to pick, cook and eat a fair few of them too! Apple, pear, blackberry and plum crumbles were in abundance....yum! Musically, we sampled some great new venues in the south of England and over in France. Our evening at the Cherrington Arms in Warwickshire was the perfect start and it was great to see and hear our good friends Generation Jones there too. Le Coquelicot in Fougeres (a popular touring venue), was particularly memorable for it's vibrant stage lighting (see photos from the gig) whilst our first visit to The Song Loft in Stony Stratford (at the famous Cock Hotel) was our best night for audience participation! (Those who were there will know know what we mean!) We hope to play at all the venues again

1000 VIEWS ON YOUTUBE!
Our first ever music video 'Hey! Mr Weatherman' (which features BBC North East weatherman Paul Mooney) has now had over 1000 views on youtube! It can also be viewed from the Homepage on this website. Oh and watch this space for another new video coming soon!

'SAXOPHONE JIG' REACHES FINALS OF 2011 UK SONGWRITING CONTEST!
We are pleased to announce that our composition 'Saxophone Jig' reached the Finals of the Instrumental Category in this years prestigious UK Songwriting Contest. With only one outright winner per category we have been assured by the judges that our score of 9/10 translates as 'runner up'...so we are feeling very pleased with ourselves!   

NEW LANDERMASON VIMEO CHANNEL & NEW VIDEOS!

We have just uploaded 2 music videos on our brand new VIMEO video channel. Out of My Head (a song we wrote and recorded a number of years ago but just released as a video) and a new instrumental track for ukelele and low whistle titled Riverdale. Go check them out now! 

NEW SCOTLAND GIGS JUST IN
We willl performing at the Marymass Folk Festival Fringe on August 12th and 13th in Irvine, Ayreshire. A programme of live music will be taking place both afternoons on the Harbourside and in the Continental Market. More details to follow of where and when be playing will follow shortly.

A RIGHT ROYAL AFFAIR!

On Thursday 21st July we were delighted to have peformed at the grand opening of the Forge Studios and Visitor Centre in Allendale, Northumberland. HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex was flown into to village by helicopter to officially open the building. Our job was to provide music outside the building as the guests and crowds assembled. Unfortunately HRH was 35 minutes late so it turned into quite a long session! Fortunately we had some brilliant young musicians from Hexham to break things up a bit. Thanks to Beth, Jonnie and Will for that...you were terrific! So between us, we entertained the crowds until he arrived and then afterwards too. The weather was kind to us and the whole event went without a hitch. We played our usual mix of songs and tunes plus a brand new saxophone piece written specially for the occasion titled The Forge.

HEY! MR WEATHERMAN VIDEO.... DONATIONS TO COMIC RELIEF
Check out our very first music video! It a bit of a departure from the normal Landermason sound but great fun to make. Most of the footage was taken by Gary Cole whilst the editing was done by ourselves. Special thanks must go to BBC North East and Cumbria weatherman PAUL MOONEY who agreed to feature in the video and also to the BBC for letting him do it!!! To watch the video click the link below. Hopefully it will make you laugh! If you enjoy what you see...please click on the link to make a small donation to Comic Relief.

Click here to view the video


BAAFEST 2011
Well what a weekend! Our 2nd BAAFest is now all over. After many months of planning and hours of preparation we are both now breathing a big sigh of relief! The weather was simply glorious (unlike last year!) the bands were terrific and the audience very appreciative indeed. Bellingham certainly had a buzz about the place. Highlights have to be our good friends Rag Mama Rag, The Churchfitters and Rod Clements whilst The Old Dance School, Clive Gregson and Patsy Matheson were fantastic. There are too many to name but a huge thanks to everyone who supported us in our big little venture! You can get a flavour of the whole event by watching this short film taken over the weekend by Neil Denham. Our own track 'Living on a Shoestring' accompanies the video.

www.youtube.com/watch

BACK TO SCHOOL...
On Friday April 1st we spent our first full day in school as Landermason...and what a great school it was too!! We arrived at John Bamford Primary School in Rugeley, Staffordshire at 8.45am ready for a 9.15am start!! Presentations to Nursery and Reception classes right through to Key Stage 2 filled our morning, followed by a couple of Question and Answer sessions about 'our lives as musicians'! Both staff and pupils were certainly well prepared for our visit as the whole school had learned to sing The Dark Island (a beautiful Scottish tune we normally include in our set) Even more impressive was the 25-strong school orchestra, who had learned to play the tune and accompaniment. We worked with the orchestra for 2 brief sessions (during which time we planned an arrangement together) then performed it as part of a concert to the whole school at the end of the day.... hearing 270 children singing this haunting song was quite something.
Another highlight has to be the children singing along in Tree of Souls and the specially designed back-drop with a fantastic hand made 'Tree of Souls' and an 'Angel of the North' attached! Thanks to all the children and staff for such a memorable day.

OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!
It's not every day you get the opportunity to perform in such an amazing venue as the Bowes Museum. We were invited to give a concert in the upstairs Music Room (just along from the Silver Swan, a Goya and a couple of Canalettos!) Our concer was the first in a series of 6 hosted by the Friends of the Bowes Museum. Thank you to everyone who came to listen and also to the organisers and staff at the museum for helping us carry all our gear! Thanks also to Terry Ferdinand from Bishop FM for taking photos and writing such a lovely review of the night. To read this click here.

QUEENS HALL GIG SOLD OUT
Thanks to everyone who came along and supported us for our 10th Anniversary gig at the Queens Hall in Hexham. We enjoyed singing songs from past to present to the sell out crowd.  Great singing, great atmosphere, great night!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR...IT'S OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY!
Warm wishes to you all for 2011. This year is particularly special for us as we are celebrating our 10th anniversary as Landermason! Although we won't have a new album out this year, we do have some exciting things in the pipeline so watch this space! We have lots of lovely gigs already in the diary and hopefully plenty more to come. Over the next 12 months, we will be travelling the length and breadth of the UK once again, visiting clubs, theatres, pubs and festivals...so keep checking the LIVE PAGE for updates as the year progresses. Alternatively, sign up to our mailing list to ensure you get any news hot off the press! 
Aswell as touring, we are looking forward to running our second BAAFEST as well as hosting our monthly Acoustic Music Club here in Bellingham. We have a terrific line up for both, so please do take a look. Have a happy and healthy year.

SEVERE GALE FORCE 9, SNOW, SAT NAV & A STEINWAY GRAND!
These are the 4 things we will probably remember most about our recent tour overseas! After surviving 20 hours on the North Sea with severe gale force winds, we were thankful for our 4-wheel drive and the all important sat nav! We played in 3 totally different venues...a house concert in the far north of the Netherlands, a state of the art concert hall in Bremen (Sendesaal) and a popular live music bar in Wuppertal (Domhan). Our music was well received in all 3 places and CD sales were healthy.
Thank you to all our hosts for your wonderful hospitality.We hope to return at some point!

Photos of the concert at Sendesaal (complete with Steinway Grand) can be viewed on our Gallery Page. Other photos and a full blog of the tour can be viewed here.

EUROPEAN MINI TOUR!
The ferry is now booked and we are getting excited about our very first trip to the Netherlands and Germany! Yes, 3 dates are confirmed for the beginning of December and all 3 look to be very different indeed! We have a house concert, a theatre performance and a cobbled stage gig to look forward to! Should a great way to end the year.

WOODWORKS VIDEO
Had another great time at WOODWORKS FESTIVAL down in Bedford again this year. Caught up with some other great acts including our friends from Brittany The Churchfitters and really enjoyed the haunting arrangements of Jack McNeill and Charlie Hayes. We're delighted to have been featured on this new video taken by the LOCAL-NEWS TV. Click here to see us live in action and also being intervieved

FULL HOUSE AT BAA CLUB

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate the 2nd Birthday of our very own 'Baa Club' last week. We still can't believe 2 year has gone by! There was a terrific atmosphere in the room with lots of singing along and even some cake eating at the interval. As well as performing ourselves, the audience were treated to performances by Newcastle duo Jinski and song-writer Jim Wigfield, who had us all in histerics with his sheep song. Photos (taken by Neil Denham) from the evening can be viewed here.

SUMMER 2010 - NEW SONGS & NEW STUDIO!
We may appear to have had a relatively quiet (and very local) summer on the gig front...but things have still been happening in the Landermason camp! The studio or 'shed down the garden' has been totally refurbished by Paul and new equipment has been installed. This has taken quite sometime to organise but we're almost there! We are nearly at the point where we can go in and record some new tracks! Oh, and that's the other thing we've been up to...writing some new material. So if you come along to one of our gigs over the next few weeks, you'll hear some new songs and tunes in the set. Each very different...but then that's what we like...lots of variety!   

NEW ALBUM REVIEW - LIVING TRADITION July 2010
Our latest album 'Tree of Souls' has just received an excellent review in the latest issue of Living Tradition magazine (Issue 85). The full review can be read on our REVIEWS PAGE or by visiting the reviews page of Living Tradition.

LAST MINUTE GIG IN GLASGOW July 2010
Following the unfortunate cancellation of Lyra Celtica, we are delighted to have been asked to play at The Star Folk Club in Glasgow on July 22nd. Please come along and support us. It's our first time at the venue!

A LOVELY WEE TOUR! June 2010
Just back from a lovely weekend in South Western Scotland. It's been while since we've been across the border and we chose a cracking weekend for it too...plenty of sunshine and barmy temperatures! Friday we played Girvan Folk Club for the 3rd time and decided to chose this friendly club to air some new material...an arrangement of Mike Bennett's Friday Jig and a song (still untitled) written as a direct result of the West Cumbrian shootings. Saturday we headed down to Scotland's smallest theatre...the Swallow Theatre tucked away in a pretty location near Whithorn. Although we like playing to large crowds, the initimacy of this charming 50 seater venue suited us down to the ground! Thanks to both venues for making us feel so welcome. We hope to be back.

SELL OUT CROWD IN PUPPET THEATRE! June 2010
We recently performed to a sell out crowd at the delightful Up-Front Gallery and Puppet Theatre in Unthank, nr Penrith, Cumbria. The small but cosy 100 seater theatre is a popular venue for touring musicians and offers a delicious home cooked meal beforehand, for those who wish to make an evening of it. We were warmly welcomed and very well looked after by John & Elaine Parkinson who run the place brilliantly. A really memorable evening and definately a place we hope to return to. Thanks for having us!    

BAAFEST HAILED A SUCCESS! May 2010
We've played at many festivals across the UK over the last 10 years but have never actually organised one ourselves...till now!

They say it takes over your life and it certainly did for several months of ours, but despite the hard work...we enjoyed the experience. Bellingham All Acoustic Festival or BAAFest was born on May 1st and 2nd 2010. Although essentially a 2 day weekend of live music, the event for some was actaully 4 days with our monthly BAA Club on the Thursday night and a Student Folk Concert in the Town Hall on the Friday. These pre-festival events were terrific and photos from both evenings together with a selection from the weekend can be viewed here. 

We have recieved lots of positive feedback since the event from visitors far and wide whilst a very favourable review has been written in the Hexham Courant. To read the article click here.

SPRING TOUR 2010
At last! It's Spring and we are hitting the road for a series of dates at venues around the UK throughout March and April. Check the LIVE PAGE for the full itinery. We'll also be posting updates on Twitter as we travel about. (Not forgetting Sweeps Blog of course...yes he'll be with us too!) 

AIRPLAY ON BBC RADIO WALES
Our track 'When the Boat Comes In' was played on the Frank Hennessey Show 'Celtic Heartbeat' on saturday 6th February. Listen again for one week on BBC Radio Wales.

EXCITING 'BAA' NEWS!
Following on from the success of the Baa Club (Bellingham All Acoustic Music Club) we are now busy organising a brand new 2 day music festival to held in May 2010! Bellingham All Acoustic Music Festival or BAAFEST will be held on May 1st and 2nd in the grounds of the Riverdale Hall Hotel, Bellingham in Northumberland. Aswell as a fantastic line up of quality acts (see website for details), there will be many other events going on around the village too (a student concert, farmers market, 'Sights and Sounds' exhibition, stalls, morris dancing and more). Tickets are now on sale!
We hope to see you there... 

NEW YEAR AIRPLAY ON BBC RADIO SCOTLAND
2 tracks from  our new album 'Tree of Souls' have been played on the Iain Anderson Show on BBC Radio Scotland over the last 2 weeks! The title track 'Tree of Souls' was included in the run up to Christmas whilst 'Shipbuilding' was played only yesterday!
Listen again until January 11th www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00pl8pl

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
After a lovely restful Christmas break and very 'local' New Year, we are looking forward to playing at lots of new venues in 2010. Following on from a most enjoyable 'Highlights' tour of village halls in the North East and Cumbria, we are pleased to be rural touring again...this time in East Anglia and North Lincolnshire during March and April. We've posted all our tour dates up until the Summer on the LIVE PAGE but keep checking back for updates as things are still coming in!

NEW COLLABORATIONS!
This weekend see's our first proper collaboration with the superb Gareth Davies-Jones. Well seasoned singer songwriter Gareth, is enjoying much airplay from both his brand new EP and recent album 'Water and Light'. The show promises to be a little bit different, taking on the slightly more informal 'Jools Holland' style approach!
So aswell as individual tracks from both Gareth and Landermason, there will be several joint numbers in each set. Hope you can make it along!  See LIVE for details.

SELL OUT GIGS!!!
As we near the end of our Highlights Rural Touring in the North East and Cumbria, we are delighted to have just played to 3 'sell out' audiences! Village halls in Boldron (Co Durham), Heads Nook and Bardesa (Cumbria) were all packed out! The tour concludes with gigs at Brampton Community Centre and Stainton and Streatlam Village Hall.

ONE VERY BUSY WEEK!
Just back after an exhausting but lovely week of gigs around the country. Had great fun in The Square & Compass, Worth Matravers, The Man of Kent, Rochester and also in the Barnaby Rudge, Broadstairs! In between these, Centre Stage (the home of Bournemouth Folk Club) impressed us in many ways and was a joy to perform at, whilst The Hoy at Anchor Folk Club, Leigh on Sea was probably Sweeps most memorable gig of the week! Our first visit to Masham Arts Festival was delightful and with a completeley sold out gig at The Hearth Centre, back in the Tyne Valley, we were both fairly satisfied with our lot! Thanks to everyone who came along or helped make us feel so welcome on our travels.

HIGHLIGHTS RURAL TOURING Oct/Nov 09
We are currently enjoyng a series of 10 village halls gigs across the North East & Cumbria. These are set up by 'Highlights' Rural Touring Scheme. www.highlightsnorth.co.uk 

AUTUMN TOUR CONTINUES Oct 09
We're back on the road over the next few weeks! Catch us at a gig in Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Essex, North Yorkshire or back up in North East. There's a wide range of different venues so it should be fun! See our LIVE PAGE for more details.

ALBUM LAUNCH THANKS!
A huge thanks to everybody who came along and supported us for our big gig! The launch took place in The Forum Cinema and was part of the 2009 Hexham Abbey Festival. Numbers are not definate at this stage but around 150 turned out. Thank you all so much. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!    

FIRST NATIONAL AIRPLAY for 'TREE OF SOULS' !
The title track from the new album received it's first national airplay on Frank Hennessey's Saturday night show 'Celtic Heartbeat'on BBC Radio Wales. Frank described Landermason as a fine duo and that the song told an interesting story!
You can listen again until Saturday 26th at Celtic Heartbeat.

UK SONG WRITING COMPETITION 2009 SEMI-FINALISTS!
The Landermason track 'Words Unsaid' featured on the album 'The Reason' made it through to the semi finals in the Jazz and Blues catagory. There were around 6000 entries in the various categories offered overall! To read about all the winners go to:
http://www.songwritingcontest.co.uk

SPIRAL EARTH BLOG SPOT
Follow the link below to read our Autumn Tour Blog posted on the excellent and informative Folk, Roots and Acoustic Music website.
www.spiralearth.co.uk

AUTUMN TOUR 2009
Landermason will be performing at a selection of venues around the UK over the next few weeks. Visit the LIVE page for further details.

LIVE AT CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL 2009
Landermason made their debut performance at this years Cambridge Folk Festival. Not only did they play a set in the Club Tent on Friday night as guests of Cambridge Folk Club but were also offered a short slot on Stage 2 on Saturday afternoon as part of Brian McNeils Afternoon Session. They played 'Saxophone Jig' and 'Drummer Man' to around 2000 people. The applause indicated they were well received!