Jon Allen to play Erics in Liverpool

JON ALLEN

 Eric's, Mathew St, Liverpool

Wednesday 19th October  

www.ticketweb.co.uk

Described in a Sunday Times feature as “One of 2009’s indie success Stories”; nearly two years on Devon’s finest troubadour Jon Allen returned with a brand new album “Sweet Defeat” released on June 20^th under independent label Monologue Records.

His debut album “Dead Man’s Suit” was funded purely from income generated by 20,000 downloads of his song “Going Home” which featured in a Landrover Ad. The album achieved a succession of highly acclaimed reviews, no less than five BBC Radio 2 playlists, a personal request from Jools Holland to have him appear on “Later with Jools” after he heard his song “In Your Light” on the radio, and an impressive 6 figure publishing deal.His success has not just been limited to the UK but has spread all over Europe, where he has been on tour constantly since ‘Dead Man’s Suit’s’ release.
Allen sees himself very much as a live performer and has remained true to the philosophy of old fashioned grafting which seems to be paying off as there is rarely a week when he doesn’t get a request to perform. He has even found himself with the odd celebrity admirer; Holland’s biggest film star Carice Van Houten discovered his music and began twittering his praises to her many followers helping make him a household name in the territory. British actor David Morrissey name checked ‘Dead Man’s Suit’ as a favourite record in a recent Q interview and James Morrison is also a fan who has been spotted at his shows.
Today’s big new pop stars seem to appear like white dwarves, burning fast and hot only to cool too soon to invisibility. In contrast, Allen, almost under the radar, orbits like a satellite of greater, older artists, bathing in the glow that they still radiate. Dylan, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Neil Young; Luminaries still shining brightly and casting long shadows. Pop music, as we know it, may be entering the evening of its years but like Jon Allen, can’t we all just bask in the twilight a little while longer?
Allen has toured with Damien Rice, KT Tunstall, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris and Jose Gonzalez among others. “Mark Knopfler has very kindly offered to play guitar on one of my tracks called Sarah” says Allen who describes his own sound as “soulful, slightly gravelly voice and I’m into roots, blues and folk music.”

“The first music that really captured my imagination was The Beatles. At a friend’s house I found a copy of Sgt. Peppers on cassette. After I’d stretched that tape playing it constantly I went in search of the rest of The Beatles back catalogue. From there my interest spun off onto Led Zeppelin, then onto singer songwriters like Dylan, Neil young and Tom Waits. My parents bought me a 4 track recorder for my birthday one year and that really turned my interest on to the way that songs and arrangements were constructed, and the way the different instruments interact with each other. I started experimenting with recording myself, layering vocal harmonies and generally exploring the multi-track recording process.”
“When I finished college I thought it would be a good idea to get out of Devon. It had become a claustrophobically sleepy place and I wanted to be somewhere where there were other musicians and some kind of scene. I applied for and got a place on a degree course at The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. During my time there I became a stronger and more focused songwriter. In my third year at LIPA one of my demos received a five star review in a magazine called ‘Making Music’. From that I got some offers of London Management so the decision to move there after graduation seemed natural.” Says Allen.