Key Projects

My Granny's House

My Granny’s House Songs and Stories by Seamas Carey. Francis Hewlett was an artist, sculptor and lecturer. He was born in Bristol in 1930. He studied at the West of England College of Art until 1953, when he went on to attend the Slade School of Art under the teaching of Claude Rogers and William Coldstream. In 1958, Francis was appointed the head of painting at Falmouth Art School and held this position until 1981. During this time, Falmouth gained a worldwide reputation for its high standards, and is now recognised as a leading university. Upon retiring from teaching, he was able to focus solely on painting, his family life blossomed and he exhibited work throughout the UK. On the 4th of April 2009 Francis Hewlett had a stroke. He had been suffering from Vascular Dementia for some time, and is now in a nursing home. That’s the end of the story. OR IS IT ? Seamas Carey is a musician. He sings songs and plays the accordion. He has worked with the likes of Rogue and Kneehigh Theatre, Underdog and The Busketeers. He is the second of Francis’five grandchildren. Seamas has written a selection of songs about the house that now only his granny lives in. These songs are a heartfelt yet funny account of how a house can change, and if needs be; a precautionary life raft when dealing with Alzheimers and Dementia…With the aid of a slide projector and screen (oh and his accordion), Seamas will sing his songs in cafés, art galleries, lecture theatres, day care centres, village halls and music venues, throughout the UK. Helping us to remember how lucky we all are to have a granny! The act will last 30 mins. Contact: seamascarey@googlemail.com New album “My Granny’s House” coming soon.

UNDERDOG

Press Release Underdog is writer and poet Callum Mitchell and musician and singer Seamas Carey, a contemporary beat poetry duo from Cornwall, UK. Having met while collaborating on a theatre project at the tail end of 2010, the pair soon became friends and began working together; enthused by the idea of combining Callum’s eloquent yet slang-riddled verse with Seamas’ whimsical folk compositions. They began recording in the run up to Christmas, resulting in the release of their first demo, due for release in early 2011. Taking in a number of diverse inspirations ranging from the likes of Jack Kerouac to John Coltrane, Beirut to Tom Waits, Charles Mingus to Nick Cave and Django Reinhardt to Jamie T, Underdog possess a unique and indefinable sound that doesn’t sit easily in any one particular genre, switching from the witty and observational to the outrageous and, at times, heartbreaking. Check out Friday Night at Penzance Grill where Carey’s sumptuous double bass jazz riff provides the bizarre but fitting backdrop for Mitchell’s sinister tales of the goings on outside a small town kebab emporium at the weekend; or, from the complete opposite end of the scale, Camping In The Gorges Du Tarn, an autobiographical tale of love lost set to a beautiful but haunting piano arrangement. With plans to record a full-length album as well as working on an original stage show for which they’ll be joining forces with fellow musicians, performers, filmmakers and dancers, 2011 is set to be a busy year for the duo, who despite their young age can already boast experience of playing the likes of Glastonbury and Port Eliot festivals and venues as prestigious as the Manchester Lowry and the Eden Project between themselves, performing alongside such acclaimed acts as Murray Lachlan Young, Johnny Flynn, Dizraeli and John Osborne, as well as working alongside companies such as Apples & Snakes, Rogue Theatre & Kneehigh along the way.