I’m a Birmingham Rep Theatre Foundry Artist!

Foundry is the Rep’s artist development programme, it started in April and continues for the rest of the year leading up to a 12 week co-creation project in a community setting. It’s been fascinating and pretty full on and is already giving me a lot to think about in terms of my practice, why I do what I do and how I could develop things. It’s wonderful to have a bit of validation from an organisation like the Rep and encouragement that what I do is interesting and of value. My fellow foundry artists are a massively talented and supportive bunch and the guests we’ve had in to work with us have all been superb. Can’t wait for more!

Improv Wolves have had quite a few shows recently.  Here’s a lesson in things working out but not quite in the way I expected… Improv Wolves did a show for Birmingham Comedy Festival last year. A woman who was running sessions about group facilitation for DWP saw that advertised and wanted to bring her students. The timings didn’t work out so instead she booked us to do a workshop and mini show for her before our evening gig. She lives in Deddington in Oxfordshire and booked me to do a workshop and the Improv Wolves to do a show there recently as well as a second workshop for her DWP project which all went very well. The interesting thing is that had we not done the gig for Birmingham Comedy Fest she would never heard of us and those 4 other bookings wouldn’t have happened.

Talking of improv comedy, here’s the debut of a new group I’m part of. The video and sound here is pretty appalling but you might find the group interesting…

Music wise I had a good time on the mini tour I did recently and I saw The Staves perform as they happened to be playing a show at a record store on a day I wasn’t gigging. I’m trying to get some nice opening slots/tour supports at the moment, but pretty much everyone is saying how hard it is to get people out to shows and there’s not much risk taking happening. I’m playing less music shows than I’m used to, which is some ways makes me feel uncomfortable but on the other hand all the shows I have played in the last year or so have been a lot of fun and given me an interesting perspective on my stuff. A few times mid set I’ve found myself thinking “this song is really good.” I never thought that way very much when I was playing shows all the time, it’s almost as if being a little less familiar with my songs has allowed me to see them in a different way.

I’m very excited to announce a Christmas show!

It will be my first hometown headline gig since before the pandemic. I’ll be playing songs from Homeworking plus a few of my favourite Christmas tunes. I also want to mark a fantastic year with my Improv Wolves friends and they have agreed to join in too. Profits going to British Heart Foundation. Join us!

Tickets available here

Tom has worked on English Folk Expo since its inception in 2012. In January 2018 he took on the newly created role of Chief Executive. During this time, Tom has overseen the expansion of the organisation, creating the artist mentoring programmes, developing industry training activity, launching the Official Folk Albums Chart, creating EFEx Digital and Folk Talk Academy, joining Manchester Folk Festival with EFEx, starting Rochdale Folk Festival, producing newly commissioned touring work, applying for charitable status, recruiting a first board and building the team.

Oliver Senton is an actor who has appeared in most forms of live and recorded work, from the mainstream (RSC, Chichester, Mamma Mia!, BBC Radio, TV staples like EastEnders, Casualty and Hollyoaks) to the highly alternative (work with Helen Chadwick, Nigel Charnock and the KLF; as a founder member of performance trio IROQIM; with Ken Campbell – from the 24-hour play cycle The Warp to esoteric impro troupe The School Of Night; and most extensively in recent years with Alan Lane and Slung Low). He is a founder member of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, teaches and leads workshops, directs, translates and improvises.

Gina Lyons is a producer with more than 18 years’ experience working in British comedy entertainment and scripted comedy. In 2018, she produced the pilot for In My Skin, which won a BAFTA Cymru award for Television Drama. More recently, she produced the BBC3 pilot for Dreaming Whilst Black (2021), which won creator Adjani Salmon a BAFTA for Emerging Talent: Fiction at the Television Craft Awards 2022.

Matt Lipsey is a TV director who has worked on such fantastic comedy shows as Ted Lasso, Inside No. 9, Intelligence, Saxondale, Little Britain, Psychoville and Upstart Crow.

He chats to Robert about collaboration, building a career in TV and working with writers and actors including Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Steve Coogan. He also discusses the importance of having a life outside of work.

Improv Wolves have been chatting to some radio people about their upcoming performances.

Paris Troy, BBC Bristol

Paul Shuttleworth, BBC Shropshire

Pat Marsh, BBC Kent

Jason Forrest, The Milk Bar Podcast

Dr. Randal Pinkett is an entrepreneur, innovator, and DEI expert. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of BCT Partners, a global research, training, and data analytics firm whose mission is to provide insights about diverse people that lead to equity.

An international public speaker, Dr. Pinkett is the author or co-author of Black Faces in High Places, Black Faces in White Places, Campus CEO, and No-Money Down CEO. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rutgers University; an M.S. in computer science from the University of Oxford; and an M.S in electrical engineering, plus an MBA and Ph.D. from MIT. The first African American to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University, he was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame as a high jumper, long jumper, sprinter, and captain of the Rutgers men’s track and field team. Dr. Pinkett was also the Season 4 winner of the reality television show, The Apprentice.

New podcast episode! It was a real thrill to talk to Kevin Kelly about creativity, AIs, 1000 true fans and his latest book Excellent Advice for Living which is a collection of 450 modern proverbs for a pretty good life.

Last week I won the Improv Maestro at Birmingham Improv at 1000 trades.

Excellent performers, lovely crowd!

Photo by Louise Stringer

Robert chats to actor, writer, singer and improviser Lucy Trodd about her work with Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, a baptism of fire with Ken Campbell, writing with Susan Harrison and parenting as a creative.

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I’m excited to share my latest post on ko-fi where I explore the relationship between failure and creativity. Failure can be discouraging, but it's a result of us being creative and vulnerable and should be welcomed. Check out the post and let me know your thoughts!

“Suffice to say I can accept it’s just an opinion, a matter of taste with no right or wrong answer. Maybe it’s justified, maybe not. I’m being vulnerable and presenting my honest self and I’m not that bothered if people don’t get it or like it. Save it for the people who do.”

Read the full post on ko-fi

I wrote an article about building a career in music. Read it on my ko-fi page

On the 1st of February I won the Birmingham Improv Maestro at 1000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter. It was a fantastic night with some very talented improvisers and a wonderful audience.

Thanks for having me!

The show happens on the first Wednesday of every month, I highly recommend going along.

Photo by Jon Trevor

3/4 of Improv Wolves chatted to Jason Forrest on The Milk Bar Podcast to promote their show at The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton on the 3rd of March 2023. Mentions of Birmingham Improv, Wolverhampton Film Festival, The Light House Wolverhampton and discussion about the ethereal nature of improvised performances.
Tickets to the show at The Arena Theatre 3rd of March 2023
The Milk Bar Podcast

I’ve been sharing some reflections and thought pieces on my Ko-fi page recently. Here’s a bit from one about my worries that I’m trying to do too many things at once. To read the full thing please visit the page and send over a tip/donation…

I think my music has been hard for people to categorise. I’ve got a foot a bit in the folk world, but I’m not really wedded to it enough to be one of those names that a true folk fan knows about and sees on all the gig listings. People might like a particular thing I do or song I’ve written and then be surprised or even disappointed that an album I’ve made isn’t 12 songs in the same vein. I could have chosen one thing and gone with it, maybe I’d be an easier sell for festivals and radio shows. On the other hand, one of my favourite things people say to me after gigs or when they’ve listened to an album is how much they like the variety. Most of the bands and artists I like played around with styles and moods, and it’s just how I’ve experienced music as I’ve grown up and that comes out in my writing.

Here’s the link to the whole thing on Ko-fi

Midnight Ashes

A new project from Robert Lane and Emily Ewing.

First song is out this Friday, 6th of January.

It’s called Life is for Living and you can pre-save it… now!

Thanks to Ross Muir for reviewing Homeworking.}

Read the review on his site here

Of British singer-songwriter Robert Lane and his 2018 album Only a Flight Away, FabricationsHQ said:
"When you listen to, and appreciate, the quality of Lane’s third offering you wonder how and why he’s not a bigger proposition in the great musical scheme of singer-songwriter things."

That still stands (although extensive support gigs, headline touring in the UK and tours in Germany and other parts of Europe point to an artist who’s doing OK, thank you), but you also have to consider music is but one string to Robert Lane's bow, sorry, guitar.

The multi-disciplined Lane is also a theatre and film actor, founding member of comedy improvisation group Improv Wolves and host of The Robert Lane Creative Careers Podcast.
Those acting and comedic skills can be seen in Sam and Dan Get Lost, a partly improvised comedy drama that Lane also wrote the music for (the film won Best Midlands Feature Film at the 2021 Midlands Movies Awards).

He's also found time to move and get work done in his house ("from wreck to home" as Lane describes it), including a "creative room" where most of the new solo album, fittingly called Homeworking, was recorded. (One of the many two-years-in-the-making-through-lockdowns-and-lack-of-gigs albums that surfaced in 2022).

While this fourth offering from Robert Lane (following two previous solo albums and an extended EP) is not as immediately accessible as Only a Flight Away, it’s sits upon a wider singer-songwriter canvas and benefits from multiple plays; there’s also a discernible, quirky charm threaded through many of the twelve tracks, along with the more reflective, introspective and soul-baring pieces that the best singer-songwriter albums should not be without.
 
Opener 'Somewhere in the Dark' has a mellotron (or mellotron effect) sharing space with guitars, bass and drums, giving it a 60s psychedelic charm, while the quirkier nature of the album can be heard on following number 'Pass The Day,' which has an early 70s/ post-Beatles McCartney vibe.

Indeed there’s a light and airy 70s pop sensibility about much of this album – to the degree that you wouldn’t be surprised to have heard the likes of the aforementioned Macca, Ray Davies, Gilbert O’Sullivan or a softer sounding Pilot delivering some of these songs back in the more intelligent and cerebral pop day.

The more plaintive or downtempo side of Robert Lane can be heard on songs such as 'So Many Songs,' the acoustic based melancholy of 'Sick Of Me' and the singer-songwriter blues of 'Wait So Long,' while interlude contrast is supplied by short & dreamy instrumental piece 'Clean Echoes.'     

The acoustically delicate title track isn’t, as one might expect, a lyrical diary of the house moves and alterations but a comforting love song; a reflection on being thankful for what we have "in the here and now" and being with the one you love ("all I am, all that I am for, is to try and love you a little more… the life I build along with you").

The album closes out on another acoustic number, the lyrically humorous 'Christmas 2020 This Year is Absurd,' which it certainly was for many a family restricted and/ or house-bound by lockdown ("Santa is on furlough and the elves are all working from home").

Robert Lane wrote and performed every song other than alt-folk/ light-rock number 'Listen In,' co-written with Matthew Pinfield, who features on guitar, drums and backing vocals (Pinfield also features on impressive ballad 'A Lover or a Friend').
It's also an album that helps define the musical and emotional character of Rober Lane – if only all homeworking was this productive and positive.
 
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ

Purchase CD or download Homeworking from: https://robertlane.bandcamp.com/album/homeworking
Merch and previous releases: https://www.robertlanemusic.co.uk/shop

Thanks to Fatea for reviewing Homeworking. Read the review by Adam Jenkins here.

Robert Lane has many strings to his bow. It wouldn't be inaccurate to call him a triple threat... he's a musician, an actor, and an improv comedian. With his latest album, he's added a fourth talent, as the entire thing was self-produced as well. Homeworking, with its very apt title, has been two years in the making, and those two have been among the most turbulent in recent memory for pretty much everyone. For Lane that period included cancelling a tour, moving house (with an unforeseen extended period living with his wife's parents), and completely renovating the property they eventually moved into. I'm not sure where he gets his energy from, but if he could bottle it up and sell it he'd be richer than Bezos and Musk.

DIY albums have been around for some time, or course, though they have increased exponentially since the dark times of the pandemic when there was little other choice. There was a time when the quality differential was noticeable, especially given the challenges around soundproofing, but it's become harder and harder to tell the difference. With Homeworking, it's nigh on impossible to tell this was largely conceived and produced in various bedrooms and spare rooms across several houses. It's quite staggering what can be achieved without the increased expense of heading to a studio.

One of the advantages to homeworking is the lack of time pressures to finish the track without incurring either additional expense or lost time. Whether or not that has fed into the new album, each song feels like they were carefully crafted with maximum love and attention. These are not the pared back songs you may expect given the circumstances. There's a hell of a lot going here, with layers and layers of sound and vocals that enshroud the listener and make for a wondrous sonic experience. Crucially though, there isn't too much going on, and each song gets what it needs to really shine.

Something Lane excels in is creating accessible and enjoyable music, and there is absolutely nothing dismissive in the use of those terms. These are songs created to be heard and enjoyed, and while Lane is clearly a very talented guitarist, these aren't necessarily showcases for that talent. Having said that, perhaps the superb Clean Echoes comes closest to highlighting those skills, given it is the sole instrumental on the album. What we get with Homeworking are twelve songs that delight without coming close to over-staying their welcome (only two of them break the four-minute mark).

If you're not a stranger to Lane's music, some of these tracks may be somewhat familiar to you. Listen In was released as a single back in 2020, as a co-write with Matthew Pinfield. Christmas 2020 (This Year Is Absurd) was his Christmas song from the same year, and there have been two or three singles since. These include the standout track A Lover of a Friend which was released as a Bandcamp exclusive in March 2021, which is one of his finest songs to date.

Overall though, rather than being an album containing some standout tracks and some filler to make up the time, every track hits home and fits in perfectly with what's around it. Take for example the three-song run on the second half of the album - Kidding Myself, Your Baby's Changed Her Mind, Wait So Long - which may not be obvious singles but are amongst the most interesting and enjoyable tracks on the album. It's an atrociously lazy comparison to make, but in that way Homeworking is reminiscent of some of the Beatles' albums. I suspect many reviews of the album may end up using the word Beatlesesque, but even while that has been a lofty goal for some musicians, few earn the term as Robert Lane does.

While there are advantages of Homeworking an album, there is perhaps one major pitfall. It could be easy for doubt to creep in when there's nobody else to work with. While there's little evidence of that here, Lane's use of crowdfunding/pre-ordering near the end of the process was in part to help feel like he had a commission, which helped push it over the line to get it finished. If there was any doubt at play while recording it, thank goodness it didn't derail the process at all, because this is one of the best, and certainly most enjoyable, albums of the year. With so many different creative endeavours going on, it's a relief that the musical side isn't getting sidelined

Adam Jenkins

Thanks to Folking for reviewing Homeworking. Read Bill Golembeski’s review here.

Robert Lane’s Homeworking is yet another example of the Spirit of Humanity finding someone willing to sing its songs.

My friend, Kilda Defnut, said of this record, “Fans of my beloved Big Star and Badfinger will love this music”.

I simply say, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, because this is a brilliant folk-pop-rock with a bit of everything else album.

The songs have a lovey Sir Paul McCarney flow: ‘Somewhere In The Dark’ pulses a delightful verse melody, with a throbbing bass, piano, strings, a pop-song perfect guitar solo, and an explosive chorus. The tune sets the template for the rest of the record. Then, the music hall piano of ‘Pass The Day’ reminds us all that Sir Paul had a dear dog named Martha once upon a White Album. This is just a nice rock ‘n’ roll tune. And ‘A Lover To A Friend’ is yet another piano-graced song about being “amazed” to the nth degree of love.

Ahh – The brief ‘Clean Echoes’ begins with an acoustic guitar, which gives way to an electric solo that cuts nice sonic grooves.

That interlude paves the way for more impressive music. ‘Sick Of Me’ is piano-voiced confessional stuff. It’s the hidden corner of this album. The introspection is followed by the absolutely wonderful folky ‘Listen In’, a song that builds in choral drama, yet delivers a quiet glen strummed infectious (almost) singalong joy. There’s more acoustic 60’s folk with ‘Kidding Myself’, which conjures the vibe of (the great) Phil Ochs. And there’s a welcome shimmering keyboard to grace the passion of the tune. Then, the bluesy ‘Your Baby’s Changed Her Mind’ whistles in that 60’s folk tradition.

Just so you know, the various allusions to The Beatles’ legacy are made as a sincere compliment. Good music is good music. And it’s just a suggestion, but Beatles fans should check out Fickle Pickle’s Sinful Skinful and The Aerovons’ Resurrection. Nice stuff all around!

Now, to be fair, RL certainly puts his individual spin on the classic folk-pop-rock with a bit of everything else music.

Case in point: ‘Wait So Long’ emerges from that Big Star/Badfinger chrysalis and delivers an acoustically plucked fully butterfly winged song that wobbles with deep electric guitar energy, and then it just flits out of its momentary melody into an autumnal memory. As said, sometimes the Spirit of Humanity finds someone willing to sing its lovely songs.

Ditto for ‘So Many Songs’ which stretches that pop template as a slow-paced ephemeral song with quiet backing and strident lead and backing vocals. It’s a nice change.

Ahh (again!) — The title song, ‘Homeworking’, is pure acoustic joy that echoes the weary wisdom of (the great) Bert Jansch. Wow!

And finally, ‘Christmas 2020’ is a brisk after thought with a humorous “yeah, yeah, yeah,” chorus that works as a really nice featherbed landing because, well sure, we all know that “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl”, and (singularly speaking) “I want to tell that I love her a lot”; but we all, from time to time, just “gotta get a belly full of wine”, this time, to punctuate yet another album that is a brilliant concoction of folk-pop-rock music–with a bit of everything else mixed into the magic of these “Home worked” songs.

Bill Golembeski