HooraH WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY PROUD MEMBERS OF THE DREAM TEAM!
The Akibas are a band from the South West of England.
We are currently writing our album and plan to record it and tour the UK in the Autumn of 2009.We are very optimistic !
Two of the three songs above are from the current album "Queen of the South" which we recorded and self-released in 2007.
The band are excited to meet "believers" and think the sellaband concept is fantastic.
We have have played a flurry of shows this year sharing the stage with the hilarious Newton Faulkner and the spellbinding Kate Walsh, also an intimate show with Mark Eitzel from Americana legends American Music Club and most recently we shared a fantastic evening of music with Sellaband favourite, beautiful songstress Ellie Williams.
In fact it was Ellies suggestion that inspired us to sign up to Sellaband.
More Akibas details etc are available from the website
www.myspace.com/akibas
We look forward to meeting you and thank you (in advance)for your support. xxx
LINEUP
Melodie Jones- Voice and acoustic guitar
Huw Jones- Guitar
Joe Holroyd- Guitar and harmony voice
Maria Heard- Keyboards and occasional acoustic guitar
Mark Brind- Drums
Steve Chapman- Bass
We are also lucky enough to enjoy the occasional company of Andrew "Clanger" Claridge who plays all instruments depending on whats needed.
Hello lovelies,Today we are very honoured to be joining the Dream Team which consists of some of the best artists on sellaband.We are re-envigourated with fresh enthusiasm and will be pushing hard to reach our 50k by Dec 09 so, first things first, lets hit the 2k and move ahead faster.We have some incentives planned and we will be back gigging soon and so can form an AKIBAS GIG CASH believer account into which we will pour the revenue from our shows.WE ARE AS EVER HUGELY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR MASSIVE SUPPORT, BELIEVE IN US, AND WE ARE ALL GOING TO THE TOP.xxxxxx
23/11/08 Goodevening, well that was fun, we have just spent the evening recording "Hard times Again" .THANKYOU Douwe and Tomppa and Ed for your votes on Talentcast, you are very kind.Lots of love to you all,very tired now its time for bed.xx15/11/08 Just a quick update to let you know that our album is either turning into a double album or we have some serious editing to do! there are 4 songwriters in the band and at the moment the songs are coming thick and fast.we have 15 tracks that are all strong enough to make the list.THANKYOU all for your continued support and encouragement,we feel very lucky that you guys are all aboard the good ship AKIBAS .Our eternal gratitude and Much Love Maria,Joe,Mel,Huw,Steve,Markxxxxxx
03/11/08Hello lovelies, A quick update to let you know that the songs are coming on very well for the album and Melodie is coming to her first rehearsal this thursday since giving birth!!! theres dedication for you.Maria and I had the pleasure of meeting little Jack Ireland on Sunday and what a handsome fella he is-He has inherited his mothers singing voice and treated us to a few verses of song during our visit.
We are planning a low key acoustic show in Exeter during December (watch this space)It is likely to be at Oddfellows bar on a "Herbaceous perrenials"evening (see myspace and facebook "herbaceous perrenials")This will be a nice gentle introduction back into performance for us all.
Once again ,as always THANKYOU to all you new and very kind believers, we feel very honoured by your faith in us-we are also very honoured by those who have been kind enough to listen to our musicand become "fans".Keep warm all, Much Love Joe and the Akibas xxxxxx
19/10/08 Goodmorning and what a great day, last night we hit our first K thanks to Phil Sommersby and Phill Ireland-A BIG THANKYOU BOTH.It feels like we are really on our way and meeting so many interesting friends along the way.The new song on the player is Baltimore Harbour written by Huw.We will change the songs around a bit every now and then to give you some variety.Onward and upward gunning for 2k now! x
12/10/08 Hello all-Thankyou to the new believers!!much appreciated, The big news is out already-yes Melodie has given birth to a healthy baby boy weighing in at 8lbs8oz-blimey! more news as it arrives.x
10/10/08 We all got together for our regular Thusday rehearsal last night and played through all of the potential songs for the new album.We surprised ourselves upon counting them up that there are 13 solid songs with a few loose ideas too-we will have to consider which make it onto the album.No news from Melodie yet re birth-she is now a week overdue and is booked to have the mini Jones next week.Thankyou and welcome to all our new believers-I have put a couple of different songs on the player-again these are from the last album Queen of the South.Sick and Tired is by Huw and is about a dissatisfied love while Destroyer is also a Huw number and is about consumerism.We will change the songs every few weeks to give you a variety to listen to.Lots of Love -Akibas xxxxxx
4/10/08 Well we had a lovely time in France,Maria and I returned from our adventures laden with red wine and french coffee beans last night-VERY nice surprise to see we were still in the top 10 on the weekly chart.Thankyou to the lovely believers who have joined us.The new pic is the Album cover for "Queen of the South" (FREE WITH 5 OR MORE PARTS)and features one of our cats-she is a Devon Rex called Hunnybunny and is extremely naughty,our other cat is called Dingo and spends all his time catching rats in Exeter Prison.We like our critters in the Akibas, Huw has two border collies and the album we did before QOTS features a painting of his dog Lovely Aichan who died last year and is missed by us all.
By the way, you can see more photos videos and hear more music if you go to
www.myspace.com/akibas also you are more than welcome to join the Akibas group on facebook.
"29/09/08 THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU-wow we are chuffed with your generosity-Me and Maria are off to france til Friday-Huw will try to update you all in the meantime.-Joe
29/09/08 We have decided to give 50 copies of previous album Queen of the South away to the next 50 Believers who buy 5 parts or more!!
28/09/08
Hello, Joe here (Jolyon) wow, thankyou to our frst believers! we are thrilled that you are all aboard the good ship "Akibas".
We are taking a bit of a break from gigging at the moment as Melodie is going to have her first baby any day now-she has had a happy pregnancy and at the last rehearsal (last week)the little Jones was moving around so much Mel was finding it impossible to play the guitar -in fact had she turned the guitar around miniMel the bump would have played it.Her voice was a giggling wobble.
We have given her a few weeks off to complete her childbirth commitments but then its back to the real work (hehe)of finishing the writing of the album.
Its looking likely that we will record the album at Valvetastic Studios in Exeter simply because it means we have unlimited time to record (the studio belongs to me) and I have installed some very high end equipment (Avalon class A valve preamps/compressors) recently which get great results.
This also frees up a huge portion of the budget to be used on promotion and marketing.
To visit my studio site go to www.myspace.com/valvetastic
The last album (Queen Of The South)was recorded at Valvetastic before I upgraded the equipment.
Here is some info so you are a bit more familiar with us all;
Maria and I , (Keyboards and Guitar) are engaged (I proposed onstage at a gig in Exeters Havana club,this was a trick I used so she couldnt say no!-see pics in pic section)we live in Exeter,Melodie(singer acoustic guitar)lives in Exmouth as do Huw (guitar) and Mark (drums).Steve (bass)lives in Honiton and is the most recent member.
The band has been going for over 10 years and the members have numbered a dozen or so over the years.
Huw and Melodie have been the constant members.
Huw writes a little over half of the material and Melodie and I the other half between us.
There have been 3 studio albums over the years all available through most major download sites including www.cdbaby.com
We rehearse once or twice a week in Exeter (at Valvetastic)
We really love the music we do and we want to be able to devote all of our time to making a success of the Akibas for ourselves and our believers.
Maria and I are off to France on Tuesday for 3 days of tootling around and buying some nice wine.
I will blog on our return with all the latest news.
Once again thankyou so much for your kind belief in us and the mission we are now all on!
Joe x
