You may remember we launched our fabulous Motown tribute, Motown Supreme, about a year ago. They have had a fantastic year, performing all over the country at festivals, corporate events, weddings and private parties, and I must say the feedback has been absolutely brilliant. We also had some fantastic comments about their performance last week at our showcase.

Due to popular demand, we have launched today a 3 piece vocal-trio line-up of the band, which clients can book as an option for smaller events or budgets. We’re hoping that this will broaded the type of events that the band can be booked for – lets spread the Motown love!

Give us a call (01483511500) or email if you’d like more information!

Today we have launched a very special 15% off offer for last minute bookings for MIB band  for events in February & March this year. This is always our slightly quieter time of year, and whilst we enjoy a bit of time off, its not long before we’re chomping at the bit to get out performing!

If you’re interested in booking us for a last minute booking, please get in touch

I must say though – what a great band, and its not just because we know and love them, but having seen these guys play live – they have such an amazing chemistry, fantastic songs and they obviously love what they do. Thats something I love to see, and I can’t wait to get the album!

Enjoy….

Hello!

Wowee – well we’ve just about recovered from the showcase on Monday (I felt a little bit like I’d been hit by a bus when I woke up yesterday!) What a great night, and by far the best turn out we’d ever had which was brilliant to see! I had a great time… it always makes me super proud to see all of our bands play on the same stage. Not that I ever forget, but it just reinforces just how talented our musicians are and reminds me how lucky I am to work with such fantastic talent! I would like to say a big official ‘THANK YOU’  and ‘YOU’RE AMAZING’ to all of them for consistantly doing such an amazing job, and for always being happy and lovely people to work with.

While I’m gushing I also must say a big thank you to Helen and Rachael too, who helped with answering your questions and stage managing. I remember the days when I used to try and do all that by myself – LOL – I can’t even imagine it now. These lovely ladies do such a great job and were just as exhausted as me at the end of the night!

The feedback has been outstanding from all of you, so thank you for your comments. There were tweets galore all through the evening, and we’ve had some lovely emails and calls in the last few days. Here’s a few pictures of the night.

I must give a big shout out to the venue, The Four Seasons, and of course Aron Schlagman, the events co-ordinator there. He is just lovely and has been so acommodating and wonderful to work with (in fact I highly reccomend following Aron on twitter because he’s got a fantastic events-based blog which is really interesting).  A lot of you said that you felt the style of the hotel was exceptional and loved how the vibe of the place matched our ‘edginess’ and perhaps more modern look at entertainment and events, and we totally agreed. The hotel is stunning, and its really lovely to work somewhere with such lovely and helpful staff.

Thanks also to Haydn and the team from Concept Events. These guys are the production team we always use because they are lovely people to work with and we’ve found really care about their clients as individuals, which I think is so important. And I think its safe to say the stage/dancefloor/backdrop etc looked just stunning!

Not to mention our amazing sound team from JB Sound. Working with these guys is like a dream come true. I searched for a long time for a sound company that understood who we are and what we care about the most, were super talented, and of course loved their job as much as we do! Eventually we found Joe and his company, and now there’s just no going back. They always do a fantastic job and we love working with them.

We’re hoping to get another night booked in as soon as possible, probably for around June/July time, so we’ll keep you posted on that.

Much love again to everyone who made it a fantastic night

Sera

P.S Thanks to the lovely musicians for my birthday prezzie too – it was my birthday on Monday and they all got together and got me an awesome make-up case! )

Happy New Year everyone!

What a crazy December we had…!

We’re excited to announce the final time-table for our showcase at the Four Seasons Hotel on Mon 23rd January – this is a rough idea and we usually run to time or within about 15minutes, bearing in mind there are a lot of acts to get on and organise

7p.m Doors Open (guests will arrive to our lovely pianist to set the tone for the evening)

7.15p.m Live Loungers (Setting the scene with some lush arrangements of well known pop tunes)

7.25p.m Buddha Bar Sax set (chilled vibe for over dinner or reception drinks)

7.35p.m Funkadelics (performing as the 4 piece band and ready to party!)

7.50p.m Cocktail Duo (Our gorgeous piano and vocal duo will perform some jazz classics)

8p.m MIB 6 piece band (Performing as our smaller 6 piece option)

8.15p.m Solo Singer Marianne (Our solo singer option is a fantastic idea for your cereomony, reception drinks or meal)

8.30p.m Buddha Bar Sax Set (Uptempo for transforming your event to a club vibe)

8.45p.m DJ (Our gorgeous DJ Pheobe will be spinning the decks and showing you what she can do)

8.55p.m Acoustic Duo (We’ll be bringing the vibe down a little with our acoustic guitar and vocal duo)

9.05p.m 21st Century Riot (Our legendry 4 piece indie rock band will take to the stage to play songs from Killers, Kings of Leon etc)

9.20p.m Cocktail Duo (Back to our beautiful piano and vocal duo while we change over the stage)

9.30p.m Motown Supreme (Our fab 7 piece Motown Tribute will be entertaining you with hits from the motown era)

9.45p.m Jazz Trio (A fab option for over dinner or earlier in the evening)

9.55p.m MIB 12 piece (Our ultimate 12 piece option will perform a fun party set to finish off the evening)

Timings subject to a little change but we’ll notify you of anything we can beforehand

Our fantastic friends Concept Events will be taking care of our staging, dancefloor and other production, the ‘sound-man-angel’ Joe from JB Sound will be providing sound, and of course the fantastic Four Seasons Hotel providing the venue (its just stunning since the rennovations!)

We can’t wait to see you there!

Sera

We will be releasing a timetable nearer the time, but the evening will feature performances from MIB, Funkadelics, 21st Century Riot, Motown Supreme, and will also be showing the optional extras that we offer within our ‘MIB Experience’ package such as our cocktail duo, dinner jazz and solo vocalists.

We popped over to do a site visit yesterday, and the venue is absolutely stunning! (In fact I shall do a venue write up blog-post very soon) We can’t wait – it should be a fantastic evening and we would love to see you there from 7p.m.

Thanks to GDYK photography for the pic above!

I’ll let you in on a little secret… the musicians in MIB are probably the biggest 80′s fans you will ever meet – if you were a fly on the wall of our van on the way to gigs you’d be subjected to a LOT of Prince, Chaka Kahn, Toto and…. ahem, Wham! (Don’t tell anyone!)

So… in the spirit of all things 80s, I thought it might be nice to put together our top 10 80′s tunes…

Any suggestions? This is very much personal opinion and we’d LOVE to hear what your faves are!

1. I’ll Be Ready – Baywatch Theme Tune – OK, call me sad, but I can’t help but proudly place a fist high in the air and sing along at the top of my voice to this tune…. so wrong, but so right hehe

2. Ride Like The Wind – Christopher Cross – as well as being big 80′s fans, its a well known fact that we are *somewhat* obsessed with Michael McDonald, who makes a fantastic appearance on backing vocals on this awesome tune!

3. My Perogative – Bobby Brown - hehe, I just re-discovered this one! I love the way the 80s musos used to dance…

4. Prince – Lets Go Crazy – very hard to choose a Prince song as they are all so fab, but this one just rocks… (you might want to wind on to about 2mins in when it actually starts!)

5. I Feel For You – Chaka Kahn - What a cool lady!!! We love Chaka!

6. Do I Do – Stevie Wonder – again, how do you choose just one Stevie song? We love chose this one as its FAB, but perhaps one you don’t hear so often…

7.  You’re the one for me – DTrain - whatta tune! Not one you hear very often, but great!

8. Edge of Heaven – Wham – My guilty Pleasure!

9. Cuddly Toy – Roachford - love this song! (And Beverley Knights new cover of it is also very cool!)

10. Let’s Dance – David Bowie - I really want to play this one! Great song certainly makes me dance…

So…there we go, there’s my top 10…. what are your fave 80′s tunes? Go on…indulge in a little bit of nostalgic guilty pleasure

Our fabulous vocalists Rachel and Kelly having been gigging with 80′s legends Heaven 17…check out this stunning clip of vocal gymnastics! The girls both sing with MIB, Funkadelics and Undercover Superstars…

Our lovely singer Tommy is still touring with Professor Green (see my last post for him on Jools Holland!)….check out this footage of him bouncing around doing backing vocals at the Radio 1 Big Weekend 2011 earlier this year! When Tommy isn’t touring the world with an international superstar, he sings with MIB and Undercover Superstars.

Our lovely John Roberts, who plays drums for MIB, is now full time member of the Blockheads… I had the pleasure of going to see them live a few weeks ago – what a fantastic band!

And…. we’re very happy to have the gorgeous Marco Bernardis back on sax with us! Marco was our first ever MIB saxophonist, who has been off doing all sorts but is now back gigging with us when he can. Here’s a very cool clip of him with Olly Murs live at V Fest…

And…I did post about this a few weeks ago…but its so good that its worth another post! This is Juan Zelada, and the video for his new single. The single has been A-listed on Radio 2, and apparently its Chris Evans’s favourite tune! All but 2 members of the band are MIB Musicians, and we are super proud – this is such a great song! What a fantastic vibe!

Our Motown Supreme bassist Ben Daniel is out in LA at the moment, with drummer Ben Mathews (who plays occasionally with MIB), with their originals band ‘Two Spot Gobi’. We hear the band are taking LA by storm – super exciting stuff! I’d highly reccomend checking out their album - fab sounds! (In fact I must have listened to it 100 times on holiday a few months ago! Great sunshine tunes!)

Tommy sings for MIB, The MIB Experience,  and Undercover Superstars, when he’s not off touring the world with international superstars

For your viewing pleasure, incase you missed it!:

Wedding – July 2013

We met up with this lovely couple a few weeks ago to come up with some ideas for their big day. The main focus for them was just the fact that they LOVED live music, and wanted it to play a real part in their day. They didn’t particularly want  anything too traditional or typical either – so rather than string quartets, jazz bands and classical singers, they were interested to hear some original ideas.

We’re very excited about the package they’ve gone for – its going to be absolutely unforgettable!

The Schedule

The Ceremony: They decided to go for a singer and acoustic guitarist here, which you don’t see that often in the ceremony but I find is just lovely. It definitely brings a less traditional feel to the ceremony. The duo will learn and perform the song of the couple’s choice – and this can take the place of a reading within the actual service.

The Drinks Reception: Our fabulous ‘buddha bar’ sax set will be played over the drinks reception… this is where our saxophonist will improvise over ibiza style ‘chill-out’ tracks. Its a fantastic alternative to jazz or classical music, and is totally modern and different which is the vibe that this lovely couple wanted to go for.

The Wedding Breakfast: They went for something a bit different here – adding in the Live Loungers to perform beautiful relaxed arrangements of well known pop tunes (Rhianna, Adele, Pixie Lott etc), but also arranging a surprise performance of our ‘Undercover Superstars’, who will be posing as a waiter and two guests throughout the meal, and will then burst into song and shock everyone! Great fun!

The Evening Reception: The MIB 12 piece hits the stage, with a selection of rock, pop, disco and motown hits which will keep everyone dancing til the early hours, and our DJ to fill in the gaps!

What they had to say:

‘Its such a relief to let you guys deal with the whole entertainment package – I had envisioned a complete nightmare trying to co-ordinate everything. Also, thank you so much for your fantastic input…you’ve introduced us to a whole load of  ideas that we didn’t even know existed for weddings!’

Corporate Event – December

These guys were really taken with the 12 piece MIB, and as they are holding a very large event for their christmas party (which has a conference earlier in the day and then the party during the evening), seemed to be keen to have one company who would take charge of all of the entertainment for the whole event.

The client started looking at the experience package options – however also came across our ‘Crazy Xmas Band’ and fell in love with them! So…we swapped into the package the Crazy Xmas band, rather than some of the earlier extra sets.

The Schedule

Drinks Reception: Live Loungers to perform lush background music to set a lovely atmosphere for guests as they chat.

Towards the end of the meal: The Crazy Christmas Band take to the stage, and start with some beautiful background traditional Christmas songs, and then work the guests onto the dancefloor for some festive fun!

Evening Reception: The MIB 12 piece perform 2 x 70mins of high impact party tunes – featuring 4 stunning lead vocalists, a 3 piece brass section, live percussion and a rhythm section that will get everyone throwing shapes on the dancefloor!

What they had to say….

‘We can’t wait to see the 12 piece band…its just going to be a fantastic evening, and the Crazy Christmas band look like such good fun!’

Jewish Wedding 

I love chatting to this couple about their wedding…in fact, its fantastic because their whole family has gotten involved in the planning stage which means we have got to know them all. Each of them has ideas, and the couple are keen to involve their close family members as much as they can with their big day, so we’ve put together a package that has brought in an element of them all! Its been an interesting one to plan, but I must say I think its going to be brilliant!

The Schedule

The Ceremony: They wanted to keep a sense of tradition here, so we’ve worked in our String Quartet to the package. They’ll be performing while guests arrive, and at points throughout the ceremony.

The Drinks Reception: This was a much debated topic, but in the end they went for the jazz trio here. The venue is very classic and traditional, and although the couple are relatively young, they’d like to keep a more traditional feel for this early on in the day.

Entrance Music: As the happy couple enter the wedding breakfast, they’d like to have the band play Bruno Mars’s song ‘I think I wanna marry you’.

Jewish Traditional Music: The band will then perform a 15-20minute Jewish medley, guaranteed to get everyone up on the dancefloor and kick off the wedding breakfast in full swing!

The Wedding Breakfast: This is where the whole family agreed perhaps things could get a little less traditional, so they chose to alternate between our buddha bar sax (which is very much a modern option), and a more classic piano and vocal duo. I think the mix of these two styles is going to be brilliant and will really keep the dynamics of the evening flowing brilliantly.

The Evening Reception: Keeping the ‘traditional vs modern’ themeing, the MIB 12 piece band will be joined by our string quartet, making the band into a mind-blowing 16 piece unit! The quartet will join for the party set and its going to be just stunning! Our DJ will be filling in on the band’s breaks and at the end of the night, then going for the club classics that the bride and groom know their friends will love.

What they have to say….

‘We are SO excited about our wedding now! We love the idea of the mix of tradition and a more modern take on things… our families are both relatively traditional and we wanted to encorporate that into our day, but with an essence of what we are personally into, as well as all our friends. Its going to be perfect!’