"The large ensemble of players from all different walks of life created a beautiful, chiming, ever-changing wall of sound" - Alexis Taylor, Hot Chip
The Messengers are a band of 30+ musicians. We have recorded for Luaka Bop, performed at Field Day Music Festival, Walthamstow Garden Party and filled the Jazz Cafe.
Here are some interesting facts about the band:
The band's membership is 50/50 split between music students and people with lived experience of homelessness.
We collaboratively write all our music from scratch (the band has set an unshakable rule which prevents anyone from bringing any of their pre-made material)
Member's age range is between 22-67 .
Since joining the band 80% of members from St Mungos have seen improvement in their housing situation and are now more active in their local communities, e.g. through volunteering. Our songs are hair-raisingly beautiful.
The recordings which were made in 2017, were part of a collaboration with Luaka Bop (David Byrne's record label in New York). The band built a pop=up studio in one of the large rehearsal studios in Milton Court (GSMD) and rehearsed and recorded all the songs live with Bruno Ellingham as the engineer and Alexis Taylor from HotChip as the producer. We finished recording the songs with Doug and still had a day left, so we recorded some more of our own songs as well. They make up the band's debut album, Bear Witness. To celebrate the release we are proud to present this limited edition 10" single release on vinyl. Join The Messengers in our journey.
The Messengers are a band of 30+ musicians. We have recorded for Luaka Bop, performed at Field Day Music Festival, Walthamstow Garden Party and filled the Jazz Cafe.
Here are some interesting facts about the band:
The band's membership is 50/50 split between music students and people with lived experience of homelessness.
We collaboratively write all our music from scratch (the band has set an unshakable rule which prevents anyone from bringing any of their pre-made material)
Member's age range is between 22-67 .
Since joining the band 80% of members from St Mungos have seen improvement in their housing situation and are now more active in their local communities, e.g. through volunteering. Our songs are hair-raisingly beautiful.
The recordings which were made in 2017, were part of a collaboration with Luaka Bop (David Byrne's record label in New York). The band built a pop=up studio in one of the large rehearsal studios in Milton Court (GSMD) and rehearsed and recorded all the songs live with Bruno Ellingham as the engineer and Alexis Taylor from HotChip as the producer. We finished recording the songs with Doug and still had a day left, so we recorded some more of our own songs as well. They make up the band's debut album, Bear Witness. To celebrate the release we are proud to present this limited edition 10" single release on vinyl. Join The Messengers in our journey.
equally diverse stories, find a common purpose in wri>ng and performing music together. Initially set up as a student placement in 2012, the band is made up of Masters students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and people with lived experiences of homelessness, who seek support from St Mungos Homeless Charity. The project is unique for its artistic quality, the unity of its members and the manner in which the music is generated collabora>vely, despite a large proportion of the group having no prior experience of composition, lyric writing or music-making in general.
The band has long moved beyond being a training project for conservatoire students or a socially engaged arts project. It is a band with a strong iden>ty, sophis>cated crea>ve process and cap>vates audiences anywhere with their vibrant and professional standard performances.
Bear Witness Single
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