Accordionist wanted in Coventry UK

[Meanderthal]

Accordionist wanted in or around the Coventry area (in the UK) to form a band playing all original material.

I’m a songwriter who sings and plays various stringed instruments. I recently teamed up with a mandolinist/multi-instrumentalist and we’re now looking for an accordionist to form a band.

This band will have no hint of rock & roll to it. There will be no guitars and no drums. Ever. That restriction aside, I’m open to virtually any instruments being used. To start with, the band will consist of accordion, mandolin, ukulele, banjo and voice, but other instruments will be added later.

You may have been in bands previously in which accordion was occasionally used to add a little exotic colour, and the rest of the time was sidelined in favour of keyboards. Not in this band. Accordion is absolutely central to every song. Without accordion there is no band.

I’m looking for someone who’s interested in doing something different, who’s not content with simply doing a minor variation on something that’s gone before. Consequently, there is no genre that this music can be neatly slotted into. Despite the instruments listed, this will not be folk music. Owing to the instruments used, there may be the merest suggestion of the folk music of Italy, England, and France, but this will inevitably have been filtered through the popular/film/classical music of the last hundred years or so.

A list of influences won’t give you the faintest idea of what this band will actually sound like, but it may give you an impression of the general spirit:

Joanna Newsom
Loudon Wainwright III
The Smiths
Noël Coward
The Magnetic Fields
Philip Larkin
Ennio Morricone
John King
Ian Dury
John Cooper Clarke
Ivor Cutler
The Unthanks

Even if you’re not interested in joining the band yourself, any help or advice you can give to aid me in finding an accordionist would be greatly appreciated. I’ve tried the usual online musicians wanted sites, I’ve asked at both of the local accordion shops Accordions of Coventry and the Birmingham Accordion Centre, I’ve asked every friend and acquaintance I have who are in bands, but so far to no avail. I come from a guitar/bass/drums-type background, and have never had such trouble finding a musician. Either accordionists are rarer than hen’s milk teeth in this area, or I’m going about my search in the wrong way.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Matt Butcher]

This sounds like a very interesting project - now I certainly don't know all the accordion players in the West Midlands, but I know some of them. Compared to guitar/bass/drums etc., there are nowhere near as many, and of those who are capable of doing what you are looking for I would guess that many may not be familiar with many of those influences, and of those who are some may be playing out already quite a bit, and of any that are left, some might be very individualistic characters who might not sign up to the strong musical vision that you have obviously developed. It is possible that the person you're looking for might not exist. I hope I'm wrong.

If they do they may not be linked up to the band circuit at all and they probably won't be going to accordion clubs either. I would say one approach might be to try out some material round folk/acoustic/singer-songwriter venues and events in Moseley/Kings Heath or in Digbeth and when you get a favourable response to your music as I'm sure you would, let people know you're after an accordionist.

It may be that I am way off target with my comments and you obviously have got more experience with this sort of thing than I do.

Do you have any material you can share that might help to get people interested?

I know one young lad who would be capable of it, but I haven't seen him for a couple of years so I don't know where his head is at musically. I'll be catching up with his mum soon. I've got a feeling if you get someone it might be word of mouth / face to face. Different worlds etc. Again, please forgive me if Im talking rubbish.

 

[losthobos]

I wouldn'tve minded a pop at that....alas distance....and probably fact I'm more an accordion owner than I am a player....good luck

 

[Meanderthal]

Matt,

Thanks for your reply. I was aware from the start that it was always a serious possibility that this band may never get off the ground , but I managed to find a mandolinist, so that's given me some hope. Regarding the influences, it really is irrelevant whether a potential accordionist for this band is familiar with the influences, or if they are, it's irrelevant whether they much care for those influences or not, as the band isn't going to sound like them anyway. Of the influences listed that do use accordion, they only use it occasionally and it's never a major part of the song. As I mentioned in the original post, accordion will be absolutely central to the sound of the band I'm hoping to put together, but I haven't been directly influenced by anything that could be accurately described as 'accordion music' per se.

I've also been aware from the start that any available accordionists might be ''very individualistic characters'', as you put it, but there's still plenty of room for any interested party to stamp their mark on the songs that I've written. For starters, I wrote the songs using an accordion sound on a synth (I apologise to any purists who are now punching their computer screens in disgust). It would be impossible for an accordionist to replicate precisely what I recorded, so from day one they would be contriving their own versions of the songs. And I'm entirely open to any improvements they can make.

Yes, it's perfectly possible that the person I'm looking for might not exist, but I live in hope.

Losthobos, thanks for your best wishes. It appears that I might need all the luck I can get

If either of you do manage to unearth someone who you think may be interested, please direct them to this post.

Cheers
Eddy.

 

[Matt Butcher]

Eddy - will do, any material you can share might help to get someone interested.