Hannah hits high note at Leeds Oxjam 2016 on Beastie Boys Cover with BBC Introducing’s Alex Hulme

Hannah certainly hit all the right notes with her audience at Leeds Oxjam 2016 with the Beatie Boys Cover “Fight for the Right Your Right to Party” alongside BBC Introducing’s Alex Hulme.

Hannah Clive, Alex Hulme, Jon Lander. Leeds Oxjam 2016. Via Alex Hulme.

In what was her first foray to music audiences in the north of England Hannah fulfilled a lifelong ambition and played to a packed venue at Leeds Crowd of Favours bar as part of the charity Oxjam Leeds event, which saw multiple music venues taken over for one day throughout the city to raise funds for Oxfam. Hannah has been an active supporter of many of the new young bands and music coming out of the area, whom she came across via her new music explorations on Twitter over the preceding nine months. Consequently it was through these connections that she was asked if she herself would like to perform. Many of the bands whom she supports were in attendance if not on stage with her! Hence how the streamlined, acoustic duet of ‘Fight for your right to party” with Liverpool’s Alex Hulme came about, along with Jon Lander of Leeds own ‘Red Light Revival’ band on guitar.

“I knew we were hitting the right notes when I looked up to a sea of iPhones and flashes going off. That was just the best feeling. Then when I saw some of the footage I had a smile from ear to ear. I really wanted to get it right and make it an enjoyable gig for everyone, not least because some of my supporters had flown all the way from Pittsburgh, USA – no pressure! Hence why I wanted to do a gig in different sections – my new material to back track without me on a guitar, then bring in Jon where we both picked up guitars on some of the fan’s favourites, culminating in bringing on Alex and doing the Beastie Boys duet – on acoustic. It was huge fun and a bit seat of the pants i.e. we hadn’t rehearsed together at all, just discussed it via Whatsapp!

Those gigs on the fly are always the best though I find and I was hugely confident in both Jon and Alex from what I’d heard of them already….and Janis Long’s description of Alex being “a rising star” is not misplaced. All in all it was just fantastic to be able to meet with my Twitter buddies and to perform either with or to those who have supported me and my music. People like indie reviewer Rebecca Singer, EGH Radio’s Anne and Stephen Lambert, Red Light Revival and their brilliant gang including Music Metropolis and Gareth who took some brilliant shots/footage and Dangerhounds, they were all there smiling back at me, it felt like family. So too it was bloody marvellous to hear other bands play – such incredible energy coming out of the north musically  – bands like MINT, Dangerhounds, Brazen, then there’s the ones I caught bits of or wanted to as I raced around the city whilst preparing for my own gig – Erica who came all the way up from the south west to be there, then there was The Floodhounds, Partisan (excellent post-gig buds), Apollo Junction

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