Founded in early 2006, Refuge launched their demo EP 'White Breeze' later that same year, introducing Leicester to their subtly poetic acoustic based sound. With their musical roots firmly based in a bittersweet alchemy of rich warm guitars, and honest, heartfelt vocals, the band draw on many world influences, producing a sound which is both accessible and varied.
Following an interesting and exciting musical progression, which has seen minor changes to the band line up, and an accomplished growth and maturity in their individual abilities and style, Refuge released their debut album ‘Etched in Blue’ in 2009, to great acclaim from fans and the local musical press. Fusing harp and tabla, the album focused on personal journeys and emotional exploration, resulting in a melodic offering that was well received and musically mature.
'Allowed a Voice'
Album Released October 10th 2010
Having been featured live on BBC radio, and with a grounded dedication to the local music scene, the band have built up and retained their local fan base, whilst at the same time staying true to their original ideal of maintaining full creative control over their work and releases. Now on the cusp of their latest project, Refuge have fully embraced their passionate sponsorship of supporting Mental Health issues, and are working in association with SISO, to bring "Allowed a Voice" to creative fruition
Due for release in October 2010, this new album challenges negative perceptions of mental illness, and features the singles ‘Recovery’ and ‘In the Black of my Mind,’ both of which showcase lyrics written by mental health service users that are involved in the Leicester SISO (Safe inside safe outside) project. Leicester based organisation Soft Touch (whose mission is to use the arts to offer people with limited opportunities the chance to work together to effect positive change for themselves and their communities) will be producing the artwork for the project, ensuring that the entire process is inclusive of both individuals and groups who have experience and interest in the fields of mental health, exclusion and the negative effects of stigmatism.
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The singles from this album will additionally feature original poems as the B sides, and are available for download from ITunes and Amazon from June 2010. Costs for download are not fixed, and are available free of charge to those who are not able to donate to this charitable cause.All money raised from the release of the singles and the donations on this site will be donated to charity. Everything is to be divided equally between SISO and Mind. The headline release at the Musician on the 14th of October 2010 will be a charity fundraiser and again all money raised will be split 50/50 between Mind and SISO
Etched in Blue
During 2008, Peter Hirst continued to front the band with his uniquely rich and poignant vocals. As Jacob Soden contributed guitar, keyboards and glockenspiel, while Miranda Booth brought the gift of classical harp to the Refuge sound, the band benefited from the unique talents of all three individuals, and the progression felt in the melodies and musical development of the band were apparent to all. As Jacob added his inimitable songwriting contributions to their well defined direction, they were joined by Liam McGarry on lead guitar in the later part of the year. Liam added a complexity to the intricate workings of the instrumental partnerships that took the sound to new levels, whilst staying firmly based in the melodic richness and soul searching compositions previously benchmarked by the group. Jesse Wright completed the current line up as the summer of 2008 drew to a close, bringing passionate female vocals and heart wrenching harmonies from her classically trained experience in Spain, and completing the already multifaceted and accomplished personality of the band. It soon became apparent to all that the time was right to finally embark on the production of their debut album, and as 2008 drew to a close, Refuge began the next step in their musical exploration.
Etched In Blue
With a dedicated fan base several years in the making, comprising both local music lovers from their Leicester gigs, and a good degree of professional interest, the mutual decision to record `Etched in Blue` at studio level was a natural conclusion. Refuge undertook the recording of their debut album in December 2008, and the next two months provided the machinations by which to showcase the dedication, talents, progression and musical evolution that had been the culmination of two years hard work and commitment to their sound. Knowing that they had an audience who were ready to hear their offering presented in a professional format, and both commercial and national radio stations requesting airplay-quality tracks, it was an obvious succession to amalgamate their skills and solidarity as a band, and take what had consistently been a well-received sound beyond the local gigs, in order to present the Refuge sound to a wider audience and community. With all this positive backing, and the band keen to showcase their combined love of music and natural talent, only one small question remained: How to organise, fund, and produce a studio quality album, whilst masterminding a successful local launch platform!
As a naturally progressive band with forward thinking members, Refuge knew that with a difficult economic climate, and a traditionally overwhelming field of competition for funding, financial backing would be better sought from alternative sources to the traditional banks and recording companies. As a Leicester band, Refuge had always been proud of their local roots, and decided to dedicate the entire process, from fiscal assistance right through to bespoke artwork and professional recording services, to being entirely based in the community from which their music and direction had been conceived.
Leicester Hospitals mixed hockey club, for whom Pete is a regular player, had followed the band from its early stages, and suggested that many of the members would be keen to invest by pre-ordering an album. This proved to be a popular source of revenue, and as the band began to collect pre-orders from other and varied sources, the project was off the ground. Knowing that it was of paramount importance to raise the profile of Refuge as high as possible at this crucial time, Pete set off on a one-man mission around the city, promoting, cajoling, endorsing and building support: no-one was safe!
Ensuring that their was a real visual presence for the Refuge and its branding, Pete worked closely alongside Stoneygate company Banned Graphics, headed by Ken Huggett. Together, they developed a strong image for the promotion of the tour and of the album release. This image not only conveyed the clarity and acoustic magic that the band were gaining a well received reputation for, but also promoted the charity MIND, who were both previous and future beneficiaries of the band financial successes so far. The flyers were collected from their central Leicester printing company, and were enthusiastically distributed around the city
Radio Play
Not one to shy away from multi-promotions, Pete was keen to also reach new audiences through local radio airplay. Having given out many of the flyers around the city, Pete rang in to the Richard Bacon Show on Five Live, and managed to sneak in a bit of free promotion!
LINK TO FIVE LIVE
Not wishing to favour any one radio show over another...
Chris Highton of BBC Radio Leicester had featured Refuge in the beginnings of their project on his afternoon show in 2008, during which Jacob, Liam and Pete went in for an interview and to play selected tracks. Such was the success of this show, the band were invited back to promote the launch of the album, and in early 2009 Pete and Miranda continued the tireless promotion of the stunning new album, during which tracks from the new recording were played, and the band were once again well received on this established and popular show
LINK TO LATEST BBC INTERVIEW
Finally, having contacted all stations in the interests of fairness (!), Refuge were also featured on commercial radio Leicester Sound, after Damien St John of the drive-time show friended Refuge on MySpace, and introduced their tracks on his show as `The Next Big Thing`
Making the album
Stuck on a name studios in Nottingham sorted out the recording for the band. Pete spent along time talking with Ian describing what they were after from the sessions. The band booked 7 days recording over a long period
The Early Days Of Refuge
2006
Ola and Pete met in maiyango in the cold early months of 2006. After talking for a few hours they had come up with a massive list of music that they both enjoyed. Ola's polish background meant that she brought many interesting artists to the table and Pete showed her lots of the english and american artists that had influenced him over the years. Both were very keen musicians and in the weeks that followed Ola and Peter met up and began jamming and eventually working on material. The songs that came from these early sessions focused mainly on vocal harmonies and guitar.
Both Ola and Pete were very keen to develop the sound, Manesh had been a friend of Ola's for a long while, Manesh is a very experienced precussionist and after a few jams he decided to join the band bringing with him the wonderful and warm sound of the tabla. By now some of the early tracks had been written with 'Sometimes', 'Bye Bye' and 'Betterways' all featuring. The name of the band took a while to develop and many names were thrown around. Refuge was the name that seemed to bring over the essence of the band. It was a great friend of Petes who took on board the ideas from the songs and began to develop the logo and the artwork for the band, 'A Man Called Dave' began to develop the bands Myspace page and helped them to promote their music both locally and nationally. Refuge Began to play venues all over leicester being warmly accepted around the city firstly in open mics before branching out to their own gigs at The Shed, the criterion, the Phoenix, and the Musician
Refuge had written a good ammount of material and felt it was time to get recorded Their first demo E.P. 'White Breeze' was recorded with Mike Sole of Q4 studios in a live setup in summer 2006.
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