LATEST NEWS
Looking forwards to our next gig at The Topsham Brewery, Exeter, Sunday 1.0pm February 9th  August 2020
Set right beside a beautiful canal in Exeter, this is a lovely venue with lamplit performance space and a bar selling a full range of local brews.  Every Sunday they host musicians from across the city and we are returning for another set of songs in February.  A very appreciative and attentive audience and it will be a delight to return, alongside Evie's accapella singing group Tess & the d'Urbervilles who will be joining us for some songs.

Cafe Kino - December 2019
We really enjoyed our gig at the Cafe Kino last December 7th, and will be returning for another Xmas bash this year on December 5th 2020.  Here are a couple of videos made during the set.  Thanks to all the band and guest musicians Shaun McCrindle, James Anderson and Kevan Attridge.

New CD - Resilience
Last November, we spent a very happy and productive few weekends in J&J studios in Easton recording our Resiience CD - our engineer Patrick Phillips made it all go very smoothly and easily.  A real joy to be working with such pro musicians; Kate, Paul, Celia, Evie, Richard, Glyn and Jon. We recorded 11 songs, mostly songs never recorded before, but including some favourites from our live performances.  We had members of the amazing Brass Disciples, Lara, Rich and Kevan adding some lovely brass lines to two of the songs, Shaun Mcrindle from Rock and Roll Angels sang and played one of Barry's songs, and Bristol acoustic bass magus James Anderson adding his lovely playing to a song.  Especially great that we were able to record live nearly all of us in one room together, really helped get a live, band feel. Looking forward to 3 more songs on Sunday, then some added keyboard parts and maybe a bit of mixing! 

Thanks to you all for making this CD project happen!  Above is an image we are going to use as the front cover!  We are hoping Resilience will be out sometime in January/February 2020.

Watch!
Why not visit our new Watch section to see some more videos of the band performing at various festivals and clubs. Including, some older sessions of Barry performing with various retired members of the Fridge Mechanics at the now closed Valindra Open Mic in 2015.  Some great instrumental playing from Jamie Hill and James Anderson.  Also, videos of the band performing at Keynsham Music Festival 2019 and our Kino sessions Xmas Bash 2019.  

Gigs in 2019?
We look forward to some of our favourites, but especially an appearance at Bath Festival Party in the City on the 17th May and a booking for Keynsham Festival on July 6th - Several others in the pipeline, so watch this space as gigs unfold!

A new CD in 2019!
Creating music and lyrics is always an amazing experience and new songs have continued to arrive over the past few years.  .  Our last CD was Indian Ink, made in December 2014, and we have booked studio time in November 2019 to record another CD with our usual musical suspects, plus some special guests.  Really looking forward to it, and more news as it unfolds.  Watch this space!

Animations and Videos

 IF I HAD THAT SHIRT VIDEO - SONGSHEET #1

I have always been fascinated by the possibilities of integrating visual imagery with music and over the years have sometimes used films and slides when performing some of my songs.  Some of you will know The Shirt Song, a song I wrote about a tramp I used to see gazing longingly at a shirt in a shop window in Saville Row, London.  The song is all about dreaming and wishing and I always imagined a cartoon o r animation to bring this story to life.  In 2015, I hired an Australian animator Durand Greig http://is.gd/hG2KsV to interpret the song for us.  He did a wonderful job, there is a still from it on this page.  You can play it on this page, also here is a Youtube link to it if you want to view it full screen;  https://youtu.be/WJ8YlSxt-M8  Hope you enjoy it!  Let me know?  Leave some comments on YouTube!  I like the idea of sharing songs like this, with lyrics and images combined with a recording, so this will be Songsheet #1 of a series I will publish on Youtube this year.  I will be asking some other animators to produce some more interpretations of the songs we do.

NAILHOUSE - SONGSHEET #2
Some of you will have heard a new song, Nailhouse, we performed last December at the Cafe Kino and at the Square Club in Clifton.  This song is about Chinese people who refuse to move their homes when a motorway or office block is bu ilt, s o the authorities build them around their houses, until they eventually flamethrow or bully them out.  Their homes are called Nailhouses because they are 'nailed' to the ground.  I was moved and fascinated by the images of Nailhouses on Google, so I wrote a song about it.  A film maker called Diana Taylor, in Clifton, Bristol UK http://is.gd/0Lam7K heard us performing this song, and has made a film based on the song lyrics and story of Nailhouses.  The film is an apt and powerful interpretation of the lyrics and music.  We are proud to present this song, and Diana's moving film.

 

A CD of new and regular songs recorded with Dutch concert cellist Mieke de Laure in December 2014.  Sung and played by Barry Lane with guest appearances from the Fridge Mechanics band. Available as a CD or individual tracks via Paypal for £5 from the STORE (please have credit card ready)  listen to demo tracks from the CD HERE Cover artwork by Sarah Parkinson. Calligraphy Mollie Meagre www.molliemeagre.co.uk

DIDN'T WE DREAM Barry Lane and the Fridge Mechanics Available as a CD or individual tracks via Paypal for £5 from the STORE (please have credit card ready)  listen to demo tracks from the CD HERE    Cover artwork conceived and designed by Barry Lane and Sarah Parkinson.