20 Feb 2012
Almost a year ago now I (Liesl) was asked by a very kind woman who writes a blog to write a contribution about performing at festivals. Specifically, she wanted a blog about Palm Creek Folk Festival in Townsville which we performed at in June, and she wanted me to capture that euphoric feeling we’d written about in our newsletter. Well, that festival came and went, and I wrote no blog. Woodford came and went, no blog. Illawarra came and went, still no blog. Now I’m sitting here with a spare hour and a dire need to write and so I guess it will have to be a nostalgic kind of post rather than a euphoria-driven one. And there’s nothing wrong with that, I won’t be filling the blog with lots of scatty and over-excited ‘amazings’ and ‘greats’ but rather a mellowed excitement that sees the experiences for what they really were.
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10 Nov 2011
We just wanted to write a few lines to share with you the lovely time we’re having at the moment in Sweden. We have just over a month here to spend time with family and concentrate on songwriting before heading back to Australia for Woodford Folk Festival. And we’ve been lucky enough to have been offered a room at a family friend’s place out in the country, in Skane where my (Liesl’s) family live.
In the week that we’ve been here so far we’ve been driving across the countryside to have dinner with my mum and brother, or lunch with my nan, or going on outings like the ‘torch walk’ we did on the weekend where all the local villages were lit up with candles and torches and chapels were filled with music to celebrate the light in the midst of the winter darkness on the weekend of the All Saints holiday.
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12 Oct 2011
Bonjour!
We are writing from our friends’ place in a little ol’ village called Feluy in Belgium. It is grey, windy and wet outside and we are quite content to sit at our computers for a day after a 6 day stint across three countries.
Full house at Pferdestall in Bremerhaven – great start to the tour!
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02 Aug 2011
August Newsletter
Hello from the Goldfields,
We are writing from the warm and cosy library in Bendigo on our way from Port MacDonnell in South Australia to Falls Creek in the Victorian Alps. We’ve had a lovely time in South Australia doing intimate and cosy shows in some very special venues in Auburn, Adelaide, Willunga and Mt Gambier. En route to these shows we’ve seen beautiful places and spent a healthy dose of time simply relaxing and enjoying good company, which has been welcome as well as necessary for recharging our batteries before heading to Europe. A big and warm thank you to the people who have generously put us up and spent time with us these last couple of weeks, we feel very fortunate to have met you.
The Trinity Sessions, Adelaide
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30 Jun 2011
The Rhythm Hut’s lovely review of our album launch
Erin from the Rhythm Hut wrote this lovely blog after our album launch there last month. It was our home launch and by definition the scariest of them all, but it also turned out to be one of the best! Thanks to everyone who came, we never realised we had such great support at home till we had you all gathered in the one place!
‘The Warm and Fuzzies’
30 Jun 2011
Good morning!
Just sharing with the German speakers among you a blog about us by Southern Cross Sounds Club in Germany ahead of our performance at Reeperbahnfestival in September where Cloud Control and The Jezabels will also be playing. This blog is all about Australian music in Germany, and they do a great job!
Southern Cross Sounds Club
23 Jun 2011
Country Update‘s review of Feather, June 2011
Nick and Liesl
Feather
Well it’s 2011 and we are once again awash with young new folk singer/songwriters; there are probably more poetic acoustic balladeers around right now than in the great 60’s folk boom that gave us Dylan, Seeger and Baez. As always there are a few acts that can’t find a genre to fit into and are happy to land anywhere there’s a willing audience.
Talented duo from the NSW Central Coast Nick and Liesl are one such act – not folk, country, R&B or pop, yet touching base with all of them at some point, while playing their own distinct brand meticulously crafted acoustic based music. Feather the debut album from this pair follows their 2008 EP Wyong River and shows them to be both very capable poetic and melodic songwriters and captivating vocalists with a sibling like capacity for natural harmony.
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22 Jun 2011
thedwarf.com.au’s review of Feather, May 2011
Nick and Liesl – Feather (Album)
by Lucinda Goodwin | Monday, May 23
WOW! That’s how I felt when I started this review, and that’s definitely how Feather will leave you feeling. Feather is the alternative/folk duo Nick and Liesl’s debut album.
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21 Jun 2011
Hello from home…
We have a dear friend (hi John!) who’s travel emails always contain a healthy dose of figures, and we can’t help but feel the need to start off this tour wrap-up with some interesting, and some not so interesting, numbers. Maybe because so many of the things we do are ultimately immeasurable it is really exciting when something comes along that you can stick a number on!
In 82 days of touring we’ve travelled over 20,000 kms, done 34 gigs and 1 workshop, 3 oil changes and slept 43 nights in the van. We’ve had way fewer showers than we’d like to admit, got almost 200 new newsletter subscribers, met 5 Louises in 2 days, called home to Sweden 0 times (oh the shame), received 3 album reviews and 17 articles that we know of, done 11 radio performances including 1 statewide in Queensland. We are 100% satisfied with the trip, 200% positive that we now need some rest, and have made a COUNTLESS number of new friends.
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07 Jun 2011
Reverb’s review of ‘Feather’, June 2011
NICK AND LIESL
Feather
Independent
4/5
This debut album from central coast folk duo Nick and Liesl
is a classy follow-up to their 2008 EP Wyong River. On first listen,
it’s a tough choice as to which is the standout: the gobsmackingly
powerful and melodic vocals – think Angus Stone/Katie Noonan –
or the first-class sound production, topped off with thoughtful lyrics,
fine musicianship and the album’s wonderfully eclectic folk/pop/soul style.
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03 Jun 2011
| Hello from sunny Gladstone!
Things are starting to slowly unwind as we’ve hit relaxed Queensland and some much needed warm rays of sunshine. It’s over two weeks now since our album launches at home (and what amazing launches they were!) and we have since taken the album to the Blue Mountains, the NSW North Coast, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, and tomorrow night we are launching it in Gladstone! It will be our first show in Gladstone, an oft forgotten place by both musicians and The Lonely Planet guide it turns out, and we can’t wait to meet the locals! After this we have only two stops left, but we intend on finishing in style with a show with our good friends from Swoon in Mackay on June 9th, and the Palm Creek Folk Festival in Townsville from June 10th.
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23 May 2011
Rhythms review of Feather May 2011
I listened to it a countless number of times, and every time I found myself looking forward to hearing the first track ‘Most of My Life’ over and over. Actually sometimes I’d just skip back to it, it’s really that good. The lyrics are light and carefree while the tune is uplifting and catchy. All you want to do is sing. Feather swings back and forth from toe-tapping acoustic to slower full band songs throughout the 13 tracks of amazing lyrics and sound. Honestly Feather is one of the best albums I’ve heard in forever, from this genre.
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29 Apr 2011
Hello from Port Fairy!
The Naming of the Van
Thanks to everyone who sent in their name suggestions. There were many options that we have carefully weighed up, trying them out as we’ve got to know our beloved van better. David Wildey from Newcastle suggested very early on that we call her Betsey. At first we didn’t think much of it, but now that we know her, Betsey seems very befitting. Only we felt something was missing. She’s an older lady but she runs smooth as a girl, and she doesn’t run so much as trot along. Back in 2007 we did our first official show as a duo at the Betsey Trotwood in London. But as neither of us have read David Copperfield and aren’t sure she is much like the original Betsey Trotwood, our Betsey is a Trotwell, as she does indeed trot very well. So there we have it: our roadie, our home on wheels, our ‘wizbang’ (can you guess it? Stay one night next to one and you’ll know. You’ll be lying in bed trying to sleep hearing a wizzzzzzz and then BANG as the sliding door is shut!) has a name: Betsey Trotwell. And Dave has an album heading his way!
Trot along Betsey, trot along.
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07 Apr 2011
5000 kilometres, 4 shows and 2 live radio performances into the tour and we are really starting to get warmed up! We are so happy that our little newly-acquired van (who still needs a name, we’ve been taking suggestions but haven’t decided on a final name yet – feel free to keep sending them!) went the distance, she didn’t skip a bit across the Nullarbor! Feeling safe in our little home on wheels, with all our gear, a bed and food, we know we can achieve anything!
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