Half Moon presents:

James Walsh (Starsailor) Solo Acoustic

James Walsh + Tom Sail

Half Moon - Putney, London

£15 Adv / £18 Door (subject to availability)
Entry Requirements: 18+ after 7pm

James Walsh, lead singer of Starsailor, will be performing a solo acoustic set. Expect to hear Starsailor classics, solo songs and the odd cover.

Line Up

Front man of multi-million selling band Starsailor, James Walsh has proven his own worth as a singer-songwriter in his own right. He’s written songs with Eliza Doolittle, Melanie C, Suzanne Vega, and Professor Green – to name a few; as well as writing movie soundtracks.

Starsailor’s initial run of success saw both their ‘Love is Here’ debut album and the 2003 follow-up ‘Silence is Easy’ hit #2 on the UK charts as they raced to a total of 3 million sales. The band also enjoyed more than their fair share of prestigious gigs, supporting the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Police, The Killers, and U2.

This return was swiftly followed by the release of their biggest hits through ‘Good Souls: The Greatest Hits’ which included two brand new tracks ‘Give Up the Ghost’ and ‘Hold On’ (released in September 2015 on Parlophone).

James along with his band, Starsailor, released their 5th studio album ‘All This Life’ in September 2017 (Cooking Vinyl), which charted at #23 in the UK album charts.

James released in his debut solo album ‘Turning Point’ back in 2014.

Turning Point was very much a coming of age album, full of wonderful examples of James’s ability to weave inspiring melodies round simple chords, creating timeless and classic songs.

James recorded his latest album ‘Tiger On The Bridge’ in front of an audience of fans at RAK Studios in London, there was even a successful marriage proposal during the recording which James orchestrated on behalf of the groom-to-be. The album will be released on Friday 31st May and James will be heading out on the road to showcase the album and some Starsailor favourites in May and June this year.

James said; ‘I’ve been lucky enough to have had some amazing moments creating music over the years that I’m immensely proud of. But there was something particularly special about this experience. Writing these songs has helped me through a turbulent time in my life & recording it in front of the fans & people I work with who’ve been so supportive over the years felt like the perfect way to do it’

www.jameswalshmusic.com

www.starsailorband.co.uk

The voice is new, yet it’s familiar – like the voice of someone you were close to long ago but exposing a new urgency and shades of longing.

This is Tom Sail, Manchester-bred, London-transplanted singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who releases his second single, “Wounded”, on 31st May 2019. A howling chorus and driving beat propel “Wounded” through a tight three minutes of what Sail calls his “retro-indie pop” with heavy rock and a touch of pop at the core.

Listen close for echoes of The Beatles, The War on Drugs, Oasis and Motown in Sail’s music, of which a 12-song album will be released later in 2019. The product of two years’ work by “scraping together” one or two days in RAK Studios, the as-yet untitled album will showcase his talents by playing every instrument .

“I come from a very musical family, and taught myself to play since I was 10 years old,” Sail explains. What’s the root of his musical passion?.

Some of the ideas he explores musically were generated during a six-month sojourn through South-East Asia, Australia and America and written “in the back of a camper van on a tiny guitar I bought in Vietnam”.

When he’s writing a song, he says that the process starts with “a mix” of any or four ingredients: melody, the story, lyrics and a riff. “Sometimes I will start playing the guitar and the song will just start with a melody, or other times I will pick up a phrase from a book or (something) written on the back of a bus seat which will inspire me to create a lyric idea around,” he says.

Perhaps with a nod to his Beatles and Motown influences, Sail turns to the melancholy of their early works. “I like how all the Motown and early Beatles are always about heartbreak,” he says. “I like to feel melancholic hopefulness in my songs – they are usually sad to a point but not depressing.” “Wounded” and its haunting predecessor single, “Two Weeks”, both deliver riveting musical introductions to this new talent. And what five words would Tom Sail use to describe his upcoming album? “Retro. Melancholic. Hopeful. Dreamy. Pensive.”

Listen to Wounded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1vmc1CJe7s

Stream Two Weeks: http://ampl.ink/glo4W

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