Friends

Laura Marling’s Band

This month in our Creatives section we decided to take a deeper look at the extremely talented folk who make up Laura Marling’s band…

First up, the most unique and wonderful Pete Roe. Pete has been playing with Laura for over 3 years now, mainly on keys and backing vocals, although he’s not adverse to a bit of banjo or guitar. Pete met Laura through mutual friend Jesse Quin (he of newly acquired Keane membership), who used to play bass for Laura. Last year Pete released The Merry Go Round EP which garnered some pretty lovely reviews. He’s working on something new as we speak. Find out more on his Facebook page.

Next up, Graham ‘Grazzly’ Brown. He’s on double bass. Before he began touring with Laura he played with her former label-mate Alessi’s Ark (whilst also completing a theology degree). Bit of a Jack-of-all-trades is Grazzly who, in previous years, has played a major role in Belfast’s Open House Festival, last year booking performances from Wilco, Mumford & Sons, Dave Rawlings Machine and more. Additionally, he’s just returned home from a stint as tour manager for rising Americana artiste Nathaniel Rateliff. Keep your eyes on this one. He is now working for Communion Music and, in fact, runs Communion Belfast.

Marcus Hamblett is a young man of just 23 years but a whole heap of talent. There’s pretty much no instrument he can’t play. Trumpet? Check. Banjo? Check. Piano? Check. Loads of other instruments with funny names? Check, check, check. Like Grazzly, he’s also got his fingers all sorts of pies, chiefly as a founding member of the Willkommen Collective, a promoter of all sorts of Brighton-based events (including Foxtrot at Stanmer House) and he has also, in the past, played regularly with Shoreline, Sons of Noel and Adrian and Broken Social Scene.

Onwards. As anybody who’s ever been in search of a drummer will surely attest to, it’s hard to find a good one - let alone an all round kick-ass multi-instrumentalist one too. Which is why we did some thanking of our lucky stars last summer with the discovery of Matt Ingram. Not only a musician, but also a producer and co-owner of East London’s Urchin Studios - he is one busy guy. Find out more about Urchin Recording Studios.

Last but by no means least, Ruth de Turberville. Classically trained on cello and as a singer, Ruth has been playing with Laura for coming up to 2 years now and is in fact an old time family friend, having attended the same school. They first played together as a duo supporting Andrew Bird on a spring time European tour. Whilst Laura’s been laying low working on her new album, Ruth has also been touring with Nathaniel Rateliff and before that lent her cello-ing skills to Ellie Goulding’s recent John Lewis commissioned, UK chart number 2 cover of Elton John’s ‘Your Song’.

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