Hey

Well it has been a while since we wrote anything?

What have we been up to I hear you cry?

Finally finishing our album is the answer. We have spent considerable time writing and recording and our album is now at the mixing and mastering stage.

At the time of writing we don’t know when it will come out and in what way - a self release or a label. As soon as it is ready we will be sussing out all options.

It has been a long and at times very hard road to get to this stage, a bit of a rollercoaster, thanks for sharing it with us and we look forward to letting you hear the results.

In other news we have just confirmed a support slot with Mull Historical Society at King Tuts on Weds 30th May. Email sonnymarvello@hotmail.com for £8.50 tickets.

Thanks

Stephen, Mick, Craig, Walker and Bryans

Hello out there

Thanks very much to everyone who came down to see us at the G2 on Saturday night. For various reasons that was our first gig since Loch Lomond last October. We’ll not dwell on those for now, lets look forward instead.

Good news - our long awaited debut album is edging closer to completion. We are about to book two long weekends in Rocket Science studios with Ross Hamilton and Michael Bannister to complete and tidy up all the tracks we have been working on over the last year or so.

That sounds like we have spent a year in the studio! In reality we have maybe spent a week or two. It is a costly business!

We have to thank Ross and Michael for their time, support and skills.

Our next Glasgow show will be a good one. We are honoured to be playing the final Pinup Nights at the Flying Duck at the end of March (Friday 30th). John D and co have been very kind to us over the years and we will be playing our tiny little hearts out for them.

Keep up to date with us on facebook and twitter for updates, musings and all kinds of stuff.

Love to all

Stephen, Mick, Craig, Bryans and Walker

Happy New Year to one and all

2011 was a very positive year for us in Marvello land and we are looking forward to 2012. 

We are going into the studio very soon and we hope to finish our debut album. We are really pleased with how things have been going. We now just need to find a label that will put it out!

Our first gig of 2012 will be a big one - we’re headlining the G2 (Garage) on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow on Saturday 18th February. Good news for our younger fans - it is an over-14’s show! Tickets will be on sale soon.

2011 highlights - roughly in order

• Our ‘Charlie Sheen’ video demo trending in Glasgow on twitter
• The formation of the 100 club
• The recording of ‘Fire Went Out’ for the 100 club album
• The 100 club party in Fed’s Vintage Clothes Shop
• The Apple Store gig
• Playing King Tuts 3 times - supporting Florrie and Jon Fratelli and the headlining in the summer
• Tiny Little Sparks being played on Radio 1
• The Tiny Little Sparks video
• Getting out to play Perth, Inverness and Skye for the first time
• The mini-festival at Loch Lomond
• Almost finishing the album and working with Ross Hamilton and Michael Bannister at Rocket Science Studios
• Having fantastic support from family, friends and fans - THANKS

Hope to see you in February at the G2.

Love

Stephen, Mick, Craig, Walker and Bryans

xxx

Hi everyone

First off we would like to say a MASSIVE thanks to everyone that attended our bash at Loch Lomond in October. It was quite a party. We may well do it again sometime.

Thanks also to anyone who came to see us on our Tiny Little Sparks ‘tour’ (more a selection of dates) in Gourock, Stirling, Perth, Inverness and Skye. We had a blast, playing Inverness, Perth and Skye for the first time was amazing….we will be back. Will you have us?

You should know by now, but our Tiny Little Sparks EP is out NOW on Ignite Records. Order a very limited edition cd from their website or head ot itunes for an immediate download.

What are we up to now?

Our main priority now is to get back into the studio to finish our album. A few tracks need some work to complete them and we probably need to record 2 more songs to get the album as we want it.

We will be playing a wee Christmas date in Glasgow - keep checking facebook for details.

And we will shortly be announcing a big headline date in Glasgow for the New Year, it will be over 14’s. So we know a few of you youngsters out there will get to come and see us.

And now for something completely different

Also, Mick has laid his hands on a Mac Book so we may post wee ditties of songs here and there once we figure out how to use it ;-)

Lots of love

Stephen, Mick, Craig, Walker and Bryans

xxxxx

Tiny Little Sparks, directed by Joshua Porter, released via Ignite Records on 3rd October 2011

‘I can see that (Tiny Little Sparks) in a festival field with people bouncing and bouncing.’Ally McCrae, BBC Radio 1 Introducing, Detour

Our full band version of ‘Charlie Sheen (You’re Living My Dream)’ is now up on our soundcloud page at http://soundcloud.com/sonnymarvello/charlie-sheen-youre-living-my

The poster for our mini-festival at Loch Lomond

The Metro had this to say about us before our King Tuts gig;

Honest pop sensibilities seem to be a rare commodity amongst modern guitar bands these days. Most musicians concern themselves with rehashing folk standards or 1980’s post-punk classics. Thankfully there’s a five-piece residing in Glasgow prepared to ruffle the feathers of rock’n’roll and take up the baton from bands such as ELO and early Blur. 

Sonny Marvello haven’t had an easy ride in terms of their inception. They started out in 2007 - taking their name from a magician who found fame during the Russian Revolution by eating flaming pygmy heads and conjuring up live elephants on stage.

Obscure moniker decided, the quintet set their sights on the US without an inkling of what might happen. But after a successful show at New York’s Meany Fest they returned to Scotland and became disenchanted by the business. They opted for a year’s hiatus.

Now they’re back brandishing a brace of slickly recorded EP’s with a full album in the pipeline. The band’s flagship single, Pull Me Up, is a jaunty love song with flighty synth backing and soaring vocals that hit effortless heights during the chorus. The unabashed ba-ba-bas of the songs bridge are indicative of their approach to pop-rock, trying to capture the magic of a love band in full swing and likeable tweeness - similar to that of their Celtic counterparts Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura. 

Their well received first record features Easy Boys, another buoyant track, this time laden with heavier guitars and bass - worthy of any floor-filler by Franz Ferdinand. The lyrics have a more personal feel too, evidence that Sonny Marvello can produce contemplative anthems as well as light-hearted tunes.

King Tuts is an ideal setting for the boys to button their waistcoats, tilt their hats at an insouciant angle and take their brand of unapologetic pop to the people of Glasgow and beyond.

OK folks, you know how we like to be different, have fun, keep you entertained and put on a good party?

You do? Good!

Well we are putting on a rather special show, almost like a mini festival.

We’ve booked out Rowardennan Youth Hostel on the banks of Loch Lomond on Saturday 15th October to celebrate the release of Tiny Little Sparks.

Expect an acoustic gig outside if the weather allows, a big full on set, a covers set, loads of DJ’s, lots of drinking and dancing, fun, smiles, laughs, a magician and much, much more as the event takes shape.

The Hostel has 75 beds, with 15 allocated to the band and helpers. So that leaves 60 beds for you lot to fight over!

We are trying to do this at a cost that suits you all, so you can party all night long to great music AND get dinner, bed and breakfast for only £40!

This will be a great day and night.

It is an easy drive from Glasgow although we may run a bus if there is enough interest. This will be organised once tickets are sold.

Tickets will be available via our bandcamp page in the next couple of days.

In the meantime please email sonnymarvello@hotmail.com if you would like to reserve a place with a deposit, or pay the full amount just now.

Thanks and lots of love
Stephen, Mick, Craig, Bryans and Walker
xxx

Hello out there

Just a quick one to confirm that we headline the first of the Sailor Jerry’s sponsored run of Summer Nights shows at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut on Thursday 14th July. 

You can get tickets from our bandcamp page at http://sonnymarvello.bandcamp.com/ and even pick up a mysetry demo.

Also, you may have discovered it for yourself, but we do have a soundcloud page at www.soundcloud.com/sonnymarvello

Check it out.

Thanks

Sonny

xxx

We have a couple of outdoor gigs coming up in the next 2 weeks. 

We kick off with an event put on by Blackbird Rehearsals as part of the West End Festival. They have a stage at the park near the Lismore Bar/Cafe Rio on June 18th. Bands all afternoon and early evening, we should be on at 6/6.30pm if things are running to plan…you know how it goes after a few beers.

The Hidden Lane in Glasgow is…well it is hidden away just off the West End of Argyll Street. It is a lovely cobbled lane with artist and music studios and a nice cafe. Our friend Ronan organises a festival every year. It is FREE, but a donation for the organisers efforts is very welcome, you can even bring your own booze and there are some great bars round about. Click the link for the facebook page and times etc will be confirmed. 

Hope to see you at one or both.

Regular visitors to this website (hey Mum) and those who follow us on Facebook and Twitter will know that we are busy working on getting an album together from the dozens of songs that we have written over the last few years.

Things are going well and we decided to send ‘Tiny Little Sparks’ to a few people to see what the reaction was like. 

Within ten days it was being played on Ally McCrae’s BBC Radio 1 Introducing show in Scotland, thanks to Craig McGee who chose to play it in the A&R zone.

The show is online for a further 6 days, so be quick if you want to catch it, this is the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h8sb9

Thanks to Craig and Ally for the following comments;

‘I can see that (Tiny Little Sparks) in a festival field with people bouncing and bouncing.’

Ally McCrae, BBC Radio 1 Introducing, Detour
’Sonny Marvello’s songwriting keeps getting stronger and stronger. Tiny Little Sparks is glorious, joyous pop with lots of catchy hooks and harmonies.’Craig McGee, www.glasgowmusic.co.uk, Warner Chappell Scout

This captures a little bit of what went on at the first 100 club party, thanks again, it was a brilliant night

Hey all

We have just about recovered from last weeks Apple Store gig and the 100 club aftershow party at Ruby Tuesday’s Vintage Clothes Store. 

It was some party and we are still buzzin’ from it. Thanks to Federico and Lucy at Ruby Tuesday’s for allowing us to use their shop and letting people try on all the stuff, Kevin from Little Eskimo’s for playing a set and to everyone who partied hard.

Our next big gig is at King Tuts on 14th July, give us a shout on facebook if you would like a ticket as we have a bundle to sell.

Before then we have a few things coming up, including outdoor gigs at the West End Festival and the Hidden Lane Festival, so keep an eye on facebook for details.

Ater Tut’s we may have a rather cool announcement to make about an event later in the year that we are trying to piece together. You know how we like to be different and all that, well this could be amazing if we can do it.

Well, that’s all for now

Love

Sonny

One of our faves from the fab 4 - tremendous

We played the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow last night to help students of music at Strathclyde University highlight cuts to their music programme.

For a bit of fun, and as we are huge fans of Sir Paul McCartney, we ended with a cover version of the above classic.

‘Fire Went Out’ from our forthcoming 100 club mini-acoustic album. Details at www.sonnymarvello.net

Greeting to any Marvello followers out there

What the funk is happening I hear you cry?

Well we are pretty god damn busy.

1. 100 club - Thanks to everyone who has joined our 100 club. We still have 23 places left at the time of writing and membership will close on April 30th. You’ll get an exclusive mini acoustic album on strictly ltd to 100 cd, access to an exclusive gig and party, chance to appear in a video, badge, mention on our website, free download of ‘Who Needs Somebody’ and future exclusives. Go to the 100 club section of the website www.sonnymarvello.net
2. Album Recordings - We’ll be going back into the studio to record further tracks that are ear-marked for our debut album. ‘Whispering Song’ is an old fave, while ‘Wishlist’ is rather new and we love it. We already have ‘Tiny Little Sparks’ and ‘Paint The Sky’ nailed, with a bit of work still to do on ‘Don’t Wanna Be Held’. Our lovely friend Ross has added strings to it, making it sound pretty gorgeous. So we’re getting there. The money from the 100 club should help us finish our album, so please sign up!
3. Apple Store - We’re going to be playing a show at the Apple Store in Buchanan Street slap bang in the centre of Glasgow on Thursday May 19th. It is free and there are no age restrictions, so come on down and spread the word.

Our bedroom demo of Charlie Sheen

May 19th will see us take our Beatles fantasies to a new level by playing a gig on the rooftop of the Apple Store.

OK not THE Apple Store and OK not the rooftop.

However we will be playing a FREE gig in the Apple Store in Buchanan Street in Glasgow on the evening of May 19th. We’ll also be talking about Apple products such as the iphone and how they really help with Social Media.

For example; we wrote the song ‘Charlie Sheen (is living my dream)’ and then recorded it on iphone and posted it on YouTube all in the space of a few hours. We posted on facebook and twitter and before we knew it we had over 1,000 views (now approaching 2,000 in under a month) and a lot more people following us and adding us/liking us on twitter/facebook.

We then plan to do something pretty special after the Apple Store gig and then later on there will be an exclusive 100 club party.

So stay tuned for more info.

The facebook event for this is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177283152322424