Description

Heaven's Gate are delighted to present, for the music loving community of Liverpool & Merseyside, an evening of superlative songwriters and musical performances with, Songdog, Vinny Peculiar & Steve Roberts.

Songdog
I try to write as if it's forever, says Lyndon Morgans, alias Welsh singer-songwriter Songdog. The Blackwood native has certainly achieved this artistic objective on his seventh album, the sublime 'Joy Street' (2017).
While the album's eleven tracks retain what NME described as glacier-paced folk noir, the collection augments Songdog's melancholic majesty with a radio-friendly buoyancy, particularly on tracks like 'It's Not A Love Thing', which Lyndon calls Ray Davies' Terry and Julie on Waterloo Bridge updated for a less optimistic age, and 'Raise Your Glass In Praise', which finds him blowing a kiss to all those who find my stuff too bleak.
Other tracks, 'The Old Superhero', 'Amen, Baby, Amen' and the title track, as examples, contain the familiar plaintive melodies and profound poeticism that Songdog fans hold so dear. The whole thing is beautifully blended by renowned producer Nigel Stonier, who has previously worked with Fairport Convention, Joan Baez and Thea Gilmore.
Live Songdog are something to behold, regulars Karl 'Pod' Woodward and Dave Paterson - playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion and drums - with Jasper Salmon (violin) weave a cinematic soundtrack to which Morgans, acoustic guitar in hand, mesmerises the listener with his peotic songs. His lyricism is a sheer joy as he invokes characters and scenarios that you feel you know but have never envisioned with such heart-breaking or heart-warming drama.
Songdog's previous albums include 'Last Orders at Harry's Bar', 'A Life Eroding', 'A Wretched Sinner's Song', 'The Time Of Summer Lightning', 'Haiku' and 'The Way Of The World'. Their music has received praise from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Robert Wyatt.
There is truly no-one else like him, nobody who does what he does and precious few as good. Americana UK

Vinny Peculiar
Heaven's Gate were lucky enough to see Vinny recently supporting Wreckless Eric in Liverpool and it was a tremendous show. Vinny grew up in Worcestershire and trained as a nurse before signing to Manchester cult label Ugly Man records [former home to Elbow]. He's since put out twelve albums of literate autobiographical pop music over a twenty-year career touring band, solo and duo shows.
Variously described as 'an under sung national treasure' [UNCUT] 'a warm hearted Morrissey' [Q Magazine] and 'the missing link between Jarvis Cocker and Roger McGough' [Irish Times] past work associations include Bill Drummond [KLF], Luke Haines and Jah Wobble [PIL] and his various bands have included ex members of The Smiths, OASIS, Aztec Camera & The Fall.
Vinny's kitchen sink confessional style of writing is often described as quintessentially English homespun tunesmithery in the Robyn Hitchcock/Martin Newell vain wry nostalgia, witty wordplay Rolling Stone Magazine

Steve Roberts
Steve began his musical career in his hometown Liverpool achieving some prominence with his Jam & Kinks influenced band 16 Tambourines, signing to Arista to release their album 'How Green Is Your Valley?'. Since the breakup of that band he has largely concentrated on a long, varied and fruitful solo career albeit one that has often involved collaborations with other friends and musicians. But, whether with band or solo he is a natural performer with the ability to captivate an audience with his presence and his songs.
He has always written songs of great honesty be they personal reflections on life or cleverly constructed statements around social issues.
Having had an early solo album 'It Just Is' nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, Steve knows all about the pitfalls of flirting with success in the music business and, were this might make others cynical and jaded, he continues to write and perform with unwavering optimism, style and belief in the medium he has made his own.
His recent Cold Wars releases, provide intriguing sets of songs, inspired by his favourite books about spies, that consider issues such as dehumanisation and surveillance, placing them in a current context by relating them to the all-pervading influence of modern technologies such as the internet and social media.

Description

81 Renshaw Street,

Liverpool,

Merseyside,

England,

L1 2SJ.