QOH 2: Glory Box in the Basement lool...

Part 1 of my Live-r Than Ever project has been making the rounds...and I'm sooo grateful for all the lurrrrvve/support thats come back! It seems I'm not the only one who has a few vices to be Giving Up hehe! Inevitably, Part 2 is complete and here are a few behind the scenes snaps from the Glory Box perfomance.
This is my favourite Portishead song of ALL time, but like all their tracks it's a real mood setter with a haunting energy thats irresistably seductive!! The boys slung on their smart threads while I...well lets just say this is a song I could really get my ClaWs into :P I hope it puts you in the mood to share ...



Thanx to everyone who helped out!!!
@sh.x

Popping ma Radio Cherry - BANG FM 103.6

I met Denise a.k.a D-Nyce at a live London event called Soul-D Out on Oct 1st 2010! I'd heard about the night through a friend and I really wanted a chance to perform to this finger-licking audience! It took abit of convincing because Denise has seen a huge amount of talent pass through Cottons doors, but a phone call and a few emails later Denise eventually offered me a 2 track acoustic set! I performed that snowy Octoer evening and thankfully it went down a treat! Here's a vid from that night :D

Amazingly D-Nyce is not only the promoter of Soul-D Out, she also happens to be a club DJ with Rampage and a radio personality with BANG FM - the UK's biggest COMMUNITY radio station!!

I performed a full set for Soul-d Out on Dec 3rd 2010! It was a big night...with loads of familiar faces like blessed wordsmith G.R.E.E.D.S and amazing artist Dionne Reid and the house band were fab!! Just as I was saying my goodbyes and heading off for the evening Denise caught up with me...would I like come down to BANG sometime for my first radio interview??! YES PLEASE! As recorded on 6th Jan 2011 - Ashleigh Ashley does Bang FM:[Listen out for a pre-release taste of my first single..."Shades of BLUE" (twice lol)


Bang FM Interview_060111 by AshleighAshley

Thanx Denise! We LUV you BANG FM!!
@sh.x

QOH 1: Giving Up Acoustic (on a roof lol)

A couple of posts ago I was telling ya'll about a little project called Ashleigh Ashley Live-r Than Ever! It's been interesting juggling edit sessions with studio and the gigs I've had over the past few months but the times finally arrived to reveal the first (of 3) videos from my Queen of Hoxton Showdown lol! Here are some pictures to remind you:


Hope you enjoy the sentiment for the new year - here's an old Ashleigh Ashley favourite narrative:

GIVING UP - Rooftop Acoustic

Special thanks again to Gibbi for strumming for me! Tomo @ Random for bossing me around lol, Zee and Jon on camera, Jason. Sound, Amber. Photography my Mum for helping get dressed (even though I'm 24 now :D)!
Queen of Hoxton, Braver Darker...and of course Mr Jack for putting up with our edit marathons lol - Just one more to go my dear :D!!

@sh.x

Ashleigh Ashley Flavoured: -

Right, so I've given you a little snap-shot of November, but I think it's about time we got to the nitty gritty! As you've probably guessed from the title, in this post we're going to cover the when Ashleigh Ashley met FLAVOUR MAGAZINE. Looking back through my emails I realised it had been over a year since I first tried to make contact with Flavour. But it was a lucky encounter at RAWW rehearsals (Brixton based soul/jazz band), that finally led to me being officially introduced! This encounter was with a chrasmatic young man named Mr Midas - Dancehall MC, face of Boom TV - and close friend of Flavour...he made the introductions. I'd heard good things about Flavour Live as a must perform/must see live music event and with artists like Loick Essien and Scorcher having graced the stage at previous shows, I was thrilled find out that I had a slot at CARGO for Flavour Live, Nov 2010!!

So, gig secured the obvious dilema became WhaT to WeaR lol. If I was going to do Cargo I had to make an effort right!? Well I took a trip down to Felicities ... and with the fashion season shifting from Winter to Spring/Summer 2011 the show room was full of new and wonderful creations :D Check out these EPIC trousers by Lall London...a personal favorite of mine this guy has an amazing eye for texture!


And these space age accessories are courtesy of another fab designer, Jacob Kimmie. As beautiful as they look they were a bit of a stylists nightmare to attach (oh and don't watch the hair lol):

And check out these beautiful shosies! From budding shoe designer Dionne Gooding (I went to school with her younger sister). I had a look at several of her designs and though I didn't get the chance to rock them this time,I cant wait to test drive these hot wings hehe: Well, other than a minor wardrobe mal-function during my end of night interview, the night went swimingly...the band really delivered the icing on the performance. Check out some of the pictures taken by DJ Chef and Jr.JK! And check out my end of night interview with DJ Longers...talking Swag hehe:






Thank you FLAVOUR MAGAZINE!! And massive thanx to the BAND and Felicities for helping to make this night possible!!
@sh.x
P.S. Happy Birthday to ME hehe

FLASH Nov-Dec 2010:

Its been an intense 6 weeks people!
3 gigs, 4 rehearsals and a funeral, 2 new costume designs, (1 week on the poverty line lol), 2 new songs and a freestyle, 1 top secret photoshoot, and a handful of new friendships :)...
On top of that I've somehow blown up my laptop charger and have resorted to typing out this post on my BB lol!
(Thumb cramps to ensue :D)

It was touch and go for a second there I must admit! Being busy is never a bad thing, but working your way through a long-ass to do list makes it hard to remember how much FUN this journey should be! Now that I've had time to sit and reflect I feel confident to say that these last few weeks have been the pinnacle of my year in music!!

With all the pictures and video's still trickling in from various sources the time line is still a little sketchy but all should become clear in my next two blog posts:
Ashleigh Ashley FLAVOUR-ed and Angel Nights :D!!

@.x

A Taste of Ashleigh Ashley Live-r than EVER...

How many of you have seen my YouTube channel: TheAshleighAshley?? Other than my demo-shoot film and one crazy Stereo Addict all the recordings are from gigs I've done around London! For me, these videos are not only personal memento's from each event but also an important way for me to share my journey with you! I'm so grateful for all the positive feedback and encouragement I've recieved...but a lot of you have said how frustrating it is to watch these video's because of bad sound quality! The ineffieciency of in-camera mics mixed with crowd noise mean that you find it hard to get a real taste of Ashleigh Ashley :( This influenced me to get plotting *mwahahaa*...and hopefully my most recent project will put an end to all that ear ache! :D

THE CONCEPT:
Don't be fooled...this is not a music video! Drawing inspiration from operations like The Cordless Show and SBTV I wanted to put together an extra special set...raw...intimate and REAL! With a dash of our trusty Ashleigh Ashley eccentricity lol

LOCATION:
Queen of Hoxton (c/o Tomo @ Random Magazine)
This club in the heart of Shoreditch is one of my favorite London haunts! So you can imagine how amazing it was to have the place to ourselves for a whole day!
The Rooftop Garden


The Basement



STYLING:
I planned the first part of the shoot to take place acoustically on the roof, so I kept it simple to start off with. I had 2 more costume changes in mind so I had plenty of time to get real you know...ExpressivE lol:

(Ignore the look of angst on my face lol...no Ashleigh's were hurt in the making of this video lol)

The second out fit took a little more planning! I wore a little black dress from our favorite urban outfitters FLY 53 and I dressed it up with some home made accessories. See what FLY had to say about this here :
Shoulder Pads

Faux Nails (of sorts):



The final set was dedicated to Metal Man lol! I really let my hair down for this one. But there wasn't a circuit board in sight :o. My make up girl Prisca had her work cut out though because I handed her these pics as references:



The acoustic set will be hitting your screens first. And soon after you'll have some quality Ashleigh Ashley on the netwaves...singing out 2010 in style ;D
Massive thank you to everyone who helped out...I will name and shame you all in due course lol!!

Check out TheAshleighAshley youtube channel for the final VIDS.

@sh.x

REALISM from the depths of the Underground...

I was lucky enough to meet Kasha and team Vivid Imagery at the beginning of 2009! Kasha (who featured on my track Stereo Addict) is a dope rapper/wordsmith from the Southeast. He's been on the scene for years having started out on D'n'B circuit and I was honored when he entrusted me with the task of styling the leading ladies in his new music video!

(The VI crew)

Having listened to the track 'Realism' like a million times (it's kinda addictive like that lol) I was ready to get researching the brief I was given! Kasha wanted a tribal/Mad Max feel for the video...with a hint of glamour! HOW EXCITING!!

The VI boys found the most AMAZING location to set the scene for this music video...




Life being as crazy as it is I was really pushed for time to get all the 'tribe-glam' accessories ready for the shoot...so I enlisted the help of my trusty mum :D. These are a couple of snap-shots of the results:




Obviously the beautiful ladies I had to dress: Carmen and Carmel (you can imagine how confusing that was lol) made these pieces look a damn sight better!! This is just one set of costumes, you'll have to wait to see the other outfits in the video!





Jonathon from VI rocking his mask to the strings of his violin :D


The final cut of the video out NOW...click here! So you should be seeing it on a TV/Laptop near you very soon! Til then though here are a couple pics from behind the scenes! Well done Kasha & crew ... I have no doubt this vid is going to bring a bit of Realism to the masses!!





@sh.x