Biography

"Electrifyingly arousing, sharply perceptive, and all round outstanding material from this fresh new talent. Hotly tipped singer songwriter ‘October’ shows a musical depth and maturity beyond her years". (Glastonbury Festival)

October is currently captivating audiences with her "well crafted poetry, excellent guitar and distinctive vocals". She's already played to massive crowds at Birmingham's Symphony Hall, London Guitar Show at Excel, The BBC’s Maida Vale Studios, The Acoustic Festival of Britain, and of course Glastonbury Festival. Dubbed by the press as a "Melodic Rock Lady with a big future", October played Glastonbury Festival for the third time in a row this year. Although unsigned and self-managed, October has already played live on BBC Radio One at Bridgewater Hall, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Wales.

"Within minutes this talented lady had the audience eating out of her hand…. She somehow has the rare ability to reach inside and touch feelings that are deeply personal and mostly lay dormant….Her lyrics are complimented by guitar playing that most male guitarists would be jealous of. She can rock out one moment and then in the next song play such sensitive fingerstyle guitar that you are drawn into her world of passion and intimacy." (Guitarist Magazine).

October's love for music truly ignited when she was in her early teens. Wanting to do anything but go home, she would hide after school until she knew she could "go wild on the drum kit and not get found out!". As well as teaching herself the drums, she also began teaching herself the piano shortly after. “The only lessons I have ever had were four of them on the double bass! The teacher and I didn’t get on though. She wanted me to sit and play with a bow. I wanted to stand up and swing it round and play filthy jazz! She wasn’t at all impressed!”.
“Instead of encouraging my creativity, my stuck-up, uninspiring all girls school told me that I was ‘ridiculous’ for wanting to play the electric guitar. It actually just made me more determined, and I immediately began to embark on washing every car I could get my hands on until I had enough money to buy a guitar to teach myself on”.
Sadly the love affair with her precious red guitar lasted no more than about 18 months though, due to being continuously discouraged. To her devastation, her mother even smashed it up. For the next few years October explored many other avenues, even trying out Sports Science and Law, but mostly what she calls “generally mis-spending my youth!”. When asked why, she said she felt a lot of it had to do with the effects of being taken into foster care at such a difficult age. It was more than five years before October even thought about playing again.

"I had to call a plumber one day. Having been left gobsmacked by the amount I had to part with for not a lot, I literally thought ‘I'm in the wrong job’! Thinking I could earn a bit of extra pocket money, I went for an interview for a plumbing course at my closest reputable college. It was whilst I was sitting in the waiting room wasting time before my interview browsing the prospectus that I noticed a new music course. It boasted that it taught everything from studio recording, live engineering, promotion, management, music law and filming for music videos. I was called into my plumbing interview and announced my uncontrollable urge to pursue my true dream! They looked at me like I was a complete fruit loop, but I could tell they knew I meant it. The interviewer took me straight to the music course leader, as he knew that all the places on that course had already gone. I chatted with the tutor. He asked me my name. ‘Oh my God’ he said. ‘With a name like that you were meant to be a rock star!’. He somehow managed to pull a few strings and enrolled me on to the course. I literally started playing the guitar again that day (after locating and dusting it off of course). So, with that happening at 20, I've only been playing for about five years in total now and singing for three".

This critical change in direction and subsequent move to the music college in Surrey reignited her enthusiasm for music and began her career. Just as naturally as she did when she wrote her first song at the age of five, October began again to write songs that reflected her life and experiences. Staying hours after everyone else had left the new music college for the day, she took advantage of the facilities and self recorded her first demo, playing all the instruments. She sent out three copies. Less than 24 hours after finishing the 3 track EP, October received several phone calls and was subsequently booked for her first festival, along with four live appearances on the Musicians Channel.

"The next massive turning point for me was accidentally buying my first proper guitar! After becoming a complete guitar nerd, I spotted a 1972 Gibson SG going for a pretty darn good price. Totally unable to afford it but equally unable to pass it by, I nabbed it. I was so over excited about it I remember it even lay on the bed beside me for several nights! One day, unable to wait, I hopped out of the bath to try to play the riff I was hearing in my head. Slowly, the guitar turned white! After exhausting all the local luthiers, my music college tutor once again changed my life by giving me his ticket to a prestigious guitar surgery that was on tour in the area. At this, I was told it was the fact that I had got out of the bath and played the guitar naked, not even having the patience to dry off with a towel that had had that bizarre effect on the 30 plus year old lacquer! I travelled over a hundred miles to take it to the guitar surgery workshop in Suffolk to get it restored, and well, never came back!".

It was then that October began to train and work as a Luthier, also ghost writing for Guitarist Magazine. She began playing gigs up to 8 times a week, steadily gaining more live experience. She developed many close working relationships with other musicians that she met during her time in East Anglia. Her dearest mentors were from the likes of Frank Zappa's band, Steve Harley's 'Cockney Rebel' and Suzi Quatro's band. They played festivals and recorded together several times. October's best known song 'Ulterior Motives' was recorded with Cockney Rebel at a studio in Ipswich. Her playing style and live performances matured and developed greatly during this period, and October went on to travel around the UK performing solo, and in the summer playing some of the UK's most popular festivals. Since then she has played to crowds in many parts of the world, including Cuba, India, France, Italy and Sweden, with an Australian tour planned for December and January 2009.

October is now based in south west London, often playing all the popular music haunts including The Clapham Grand, Chinawhite, The Bedford, Cobden Club and Hackney Empire, along with some of the UK’s favourite festivals. Check the 'gigs' page on her website for details of upcoming shows and performances near you.

People I want to say a big thanx too!

Email me @:
october@octoberrocks.com

myspace
www.myspace.com/octoberacoustic