One of our Manchester favourites here. We met Denis at the Manchester Wheel and decided to take a ride. After posing for an awkward photo for the staff of the wheel, we boarded the carriage thinking we had all the time in the world, in reality we had completed one rotation before we even had the equipment unpacked. Luckily we had just enough time to get this awesome session from Denis.
Denis Jones is a self-taught guitarist and songwriter from Lancashire, UK. Having begun his musical life as a singer songwriter in the classic UK mould of the likes of John Martyn, he has over the last three years developed a show-stopping live performance based around the core of his exceptional and unique guitar-playing style and rich, soulful voice. Utilising a loop station and all manner of samplers and effects, Denis creates vast, complex orchestrations of beat-box rhythms, multi-layered vocals and other-wordly sounds which veer from subtle heart-wrenching folk and blues to heavy bass-driven electronica.
Denis has collaborated with many high profile artists from all over Europe, including a track with Dusseldorf artist Kemo which was included on Marcus Intelex’s Fabric Live 35 compilation. He has also worked with John Ellis and Luke Flowers (Cinematic Orchestra), Jon Thorne (Lamb), Sneaky (Fingathing) and Henry Da Massa (Micah P Hinson), all of whom appear on Denis’s recordings.
He has played all over Europe, as far afield as Lithuania, Georgia and Croatia, as well as festival shows in the UK including Secret Garden Party (after a personal invite from BBC Radio 1 DJ Eddy Temple-Morris), Glastonbury, End of The Road, Great Escape, Big Chill and Futuresonic. He has supported Amp Fiddler at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Efterklang at Bush Hall, Chris Corsano, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid and many more.
His performance at Futuresonic in May 2008 has resulted in an invitation for Denis to be one of only three musicians on the new Futuresonic artist development program, FuturesFamily, which will include a specially curated performance at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for 2009′s Futuresonic festival.
Denis’s debut album, Humdrum Virtue, was released in 2007 in a unique limited edition industrial packaging, designed by Denis himself, selling out rapidly and leading to the re-issue of the album in a slightly more conventional, but still striking packaging. Tracks from the album have been included on compilations in Europe and Canada.
A second album is almost complete and there are plans for more collaboration projects involving the musicians Denis has worked with from Manchester, Germany and Lithuania.
McrScenewipe: RT @CityReign: Good fun with @mcrscenewipe y'day in thelittleguitar shop in withington. cheers guys. 24 November 2010, 11:21 amMcrScenewipe: Three awesome local bands play FUEL THIS FRIDAY!!... http://fb.me/LyjA1j4c 24 November 2010, 11:19 am
TheRubyLounge: RT @McrScenewipe: http://twitvid.com/I0O3Y - sweet preview of @blitzentrapper backstage @therubylounge we should (cont) http://tl.gd/74n6os 24 November 2010, 10:10 am
has he got a picture of himself gaffered to his face, what the fuck. i think some one loves them self. silly..