CELTIC CONNECTIONS: Jamie is heading up to Glasgow this week to play at Celtic Connections Festival in a collaborative concert with musicians and friends from the Isle of Man (the band King Chiaullee & singer Greg Joughin) and Scotland (guitarist Malcolm Stitt & harpist Rachel Hair). The concert takes place at the Old Fruitmarket on Wednesday 20th January. Jamie will also be performing a song with Greg and Malcolm for the BBC coverage of the festival. Find out more and book tickets here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nqh1c

TOUR NEWS: Well the OK UK Autumn Tour was a huge success, so much so that we are pleased to announce a shorter follow-up tour taking place in February 2010. The details of the seven date mini-tour, including a rare Mabon London gig, are online now in the concerts section.

PHOTO GALLERY UPDATE: The OK UK Tour galleries are now complete, documenting a fun-packed month on the road. Check them out now! Also recently added, an amazing collection of photos taken by photographer Chris Bates at our concert at the South Street Centre in Reading. These are some of the best live photos of Mabon we have ever seen. Thanks Chris!




MABON AT THE MILLENNIUM CENTRE: Mabon are headlining a concert of contemporary folk music at Cardiff Bay's premier venue, Wales Millennium Centre on the 25th November 2009. Also on the bill are One String Loose and Ginge & Cello Boi. Tickets are £10, doors open 7.30pm.

MORE MEDIA FOR MABON!



04/11/09 - Jamie, Calum and Ruth visited BBC Radio Nottingham for a chat with presenter Alan Clifford, and played an acoustic version of 'The Buck Rarebit' live in the studio. Listen again here (about 2 hrs 5 mins in on iPlayer):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p004x3j3/Alan_Clifford_04_11_2009/



04/11/09 - Jamie had a good chat with Stuart Cable on BBC Radio Wales' Alan Thompson Show today. Listen again here (about 2 hrs 9 mins in on iPlayer):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nqh1c

The Mike Harding Show

Mabon got their first ever airplay on Mike Harding's BBC Radio 2 folk and roots show this week - when he played The Hustler from OK Pewter. You can listen again on BBC iPlayer and it's the second track played.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nh54w

Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering

Also this week Mary Ann Kennedy opened her BBC Radio Scotland "Global Gathering" show with Shindig from the same album and followed this with band member Calum Stewart's Etoiles dans la nuit bretonne from his own album, Earlywood. Listen again here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nh56c



On Tuesday night (27th) Jamie was interviewed on John Barnes late show on BBC Radio Lancashire, ahead of the band's gigs in Bury and Blackburn, and John played both Shindig and The Hustler.



Ali O'Brien interviewed Jamie and Iolo before the gig at Bury's The Met and this will be transmitted on her show on Monday (November 2nd) between 7-8pm along with some track play. You can listen online at
http://www.oldhamcommunityradio.com/index.html



And although Funeral for a Friend get the honour of being first band on stage at Cardiff's reopened Coal Exchange on November 3, Mabon were actually there before them! The band filmed a session at the venue with ITV Wales on October 26 for The Wales Show, which is due to be transmitted in December.



As if that weren't enough. Mabon will play on S4C's Wedi 7 evening magazine programme next Monday (Nov 2nd) at 7pm and our drummer Iolo Whelan will be interviewed.

TOUR NEWS: To celebrate the end of a fantastically successful Autumn Tour (thank you all in advance for turning up in droves to see us play all over the country in October and November!) we are planning an after show party for the final concert at the Grand Pavilion Theatre, 7th Nov, at the Brentwood hotel in Porthcawl. Anyone who buys a ticket for the show that night is welcome to join the band at the hotel afterwards for a knees up. We'll even throw in some nibbles! Accommodation is available at the hotel, get in touch for more details.

TOUR UPDATE: 28/10/09 Great gig in the Quay Arts Centre last night, Isle of Wight. The concert was filmed by the UK Entertainment Channel for high quality internet streaming on their website www.ukentertainmentchannel.com. Mabon was also filmed for ITV's The Wales Show on Monday at The Coal Exchange, Cardiff. Broadcast date tbc.

Thanks to everyone who's come along to the shows so far, we're having a ball! Check out the photo diary in the gallery section for on and off stage tour antics!

OK UK TOUR SUPPORTING ARTISTS:
We are pleased to announce the following special guests and support acts joining us on the tour:
07/10/09 - The Globe, Cardiff - BRIGYN
22/10/09 - Peel Centenary Centre, Isle of Man - Special guests Adam Rhodes (bouzouki) & Tom Callister (fiddle)
23/10/09 - Theatr Harlech - GWYNETH GLYN
31/10/09 - The Sage Gateshead - Special guests CITY OF NEWCASTLE PIPE BAND
07/11/09 - Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl - COLUM REGAN
If you'd like to find out more about these artists you can visit their websites via our links page.


TOUR UPDATE: Tickets are still available for all concerts on the OK UK Tour, but if you're planning to come then we advise you to book in advance because we anticipate some concerts selling out. At certain venues seats are allocated at the time of booking, so book early for a better seating position.

TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER RADIO SPOTS: Jamie and Derek talk live to Sue Marchant on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this evening. The show starts at 7pm, but the interview will be on at about 8.20pm. The show goes out on all BBC East stations, but will not be available to listen again online.

Also on the airwaves today, Jamie chats to Elise Rayner on BBC Somerset's Drive show, on from 5-7pm.

CELTIC MUSIC RADIO: Jamie will be having a long chat to Paul Hughes from Glasgow's Celtic Music Radio this Wednesday evening (14th October), interspersed with tracks from OK Pewter. Show details: Celtic Music Radio 1530 MW in the West of Scotland but more widely listened to around the globe on www.celticmusicradio.net. The show will be repeated Thursday 12-2pm.

SITE UPDATE: Photos from our first tour date at The Globe, Cardiff are now in the online gallery. Thanks to Robin Lewis for taking the pics and thanks to everyone who attended. Special thanks to Brigyn for playing a fantastic set.


LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW WITH ANNIE OTHEN: On Friday 2nd October, Jamie and Derek were guests on Annie Othen's show for BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire. To listen again copy and paste the following link into your browser's address bar (the interview starts at 2hrs 17mins into the programme):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p004jgzz/Annie_Othen_02_10_2009

CELTIC HEARTBEAT: On Saturday 26th Sept, Mabon featured on Frank Hennessey's popular radio show, Celtic Heartbeat, on BBC Radio Wales. Frank played no less than 5 tracks from our last 2 albums and chatted live with Jamie and Derek in the studio. You can listen to a recording of the whole programme using iPlayer. Copy & paste the following URL into your web browser, click and enjoy:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/celticheartbeat

JAMIE: In September Jamie is taking part in Distil Cymru, a week of music and learning taking place at Trigonos residential centre in Snowdonia National Park. For more information visit http://www.distil.org.uk.

TOUR NEWS: To celebrate the end of a fantastically successful Autumn Tour (thank you all in advance for turning up in droves to see us play all over the country in October and November!) we are planning an after show party for the final concert at the Grand Pavilion Theatre, 7th Nov, at the Brentwood hotel in Porthcawl. Anyone who buys a ticket for the show that night is welcome to join the band at the hotel afterwards for a knees up. We'll even throw in some nibbles! Accommodation is available at the hotel, get in touch for more details.

FYLDE FOLK FESTIVAL: Mabon had a fantastic weekend at Fylde Festival - 4-6 Sept - which must be one of the friendliest festivals we've ever played at. Special thanks to director Alan Bell for inviting us, MC Dave Jones for introducing us so enthusiastically and Phil Brown for asking us to play on his show 'The Drift' in the BBC Radio Lancashire live lounge. Mabon opened the show, which was broadcast live from Fylde Folk Festival, with unplugged renditions of Schindig and The Buck Rarebit. To listen again copy and paste the following link into your browser's address bar:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0046tsl/The_Drift_04_09_2009

NEW MABON BABY: A huge congratulations to our drummer Iolo and his wife Rachel on the birth of their little girl Catrin Elizabeth Pressley, born 4th June, weighing 8 Ibs 1oz. All are happy and well.

DEREK: Derek is this month's 'Out of the Question' interviewee in Taplas magazine.

T-SHIRTS/HOODIES: Mabon t-shirts and hoodies are now available to buy from our online store. Follow the shop link on the homepage to see pictures of our fabulous clothing models, featuring our webmaster Adam Rhodes and harpist Rachel Hair!

Old news that helps to keep the news section looking full...

Thanks to all at Shepley Spring Festival in Yorkshire & The Berwyn Festival in North Wales for a great time. We really enjoyed playing for you.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our gig on Sat 28th March at the great festival Cwlwm Celtaidd - The Celtic Festival of Wales, in Porthcawl, South Wales. We had a great time, especially when a few hundred of you formed an amazing Celtic mosh pit! Even our old man Derek nearly jumped in and surfed you!
We noticed that loads of you were taking pics of us and saving some video footage of our performance. Now, we would like to turn that footage into a video, so please send us your stills and upload all the video stuff to Youtube. We've got someone ready to search for it and put it in one place to be turned into a video. We'll then post it here for all to see. Go on, you can do it!

BREAKING NEWS - Mabon's accordianist Jamie & his wife Grainne have a new baby! Their first child Frank Eddie was born on Tuesday 17th February, weighing 7lb13oz. We're all delighted - especially grandparents Derek(Mabon's guitarist) & Sarah.


Some really good news from the Mabon newsdesk:-

1. Mabon are delighted to announce that JOHN EELES, the band's amazing sound engineer, has received a free upgrade!!! John has also taken on the role of Facilitator, which basically means he will be doing everything we hate, like organising us, contracting, liaising with Booking agents & PR agents,etc., etc.. John has an unrivalled background in the Folk Roots Music business, being a highly successful major event organiser, major festival sound engineer, tour manager to international artists like Richard Thompson and a self-confessed all round good-egg and know-it-all. We are very lucky to have attracted the services of John.

2. John and our guitarist Derek are off to Seville, Spain, from October 29th to November 3rd, for WOMEX, the world's biggest World Music Trade Expo. They will be on the Wales stand, L.11. If you're an interested booking agent, festival director, music distributor or licenser, they want to speak to you.

3. Mabon's "The Hustler" set, from the cd "OK Pewter" has been selected as Track 1 on the "Wales at Womex" compilation cd, alongside such great musicians as harpist Catrin Finch. In fact, no less than 5 of the tracks feature artists appearing at next year's Celtic Festival of Wales, CWLWM CELTAIDD, on March 26th/29th, namely Calan, Brigyn, Allan Yn Y Fan, Colum Regan and Mabon , of course!

4. Mabon are to receive some prestigious worldwide publicity from Wales Arts International and The British Council. The band has been selected to be one of only 12 of the best artists from Wales to be included in a promo-pack(USB Stick and Booklet) to be distributed worldwide. The track "Schindig", also from the cd "OK Pewter", along with photos, a biography and contact info will all be included in the pack. Considering we're in such good company as Cerys Matthews in this pack, this is great news for the band. Read the full story at the WAI website by copying the following link into your browser - www.wai.org.uk/news286