Three In A Bar

It’s a right old festive shindig this week! In this episode we revisit our live-streamed Xmas party, recorded on Sunday 13 December at Phil Donnelly’s Arnos Groove Studios. It was a brilliant evening with performances from Irwin Sparkes - AKA White Tail Falls, Jonny Abraham and the Hot Pops, The Estilo String Quartet and Phil Donnelly and Amy Bird. We were also lucky enough to have the incredible...

This week Seb and Verity have revisited the joys of zoom to catch up with friend of the pod and their very first guest, Phil Donnelly. Phil chats about branching out into production, live-streaming and mixing during covid times. He also explains his beef with Jamie Oliver, embarrassing technical hitches - as they encounter an embarrassing technical hitch and Verity’s pro plus fulled past. BIG NEWS...

It’s episode 33 and Seb and Verity head south of the river to chat to trombonist, co founder of the Old Dirty Brasstards and all round top bloke, Chris Smith. We don’t like favouritism here at Three In A Bar but boy, what a great host Chris was! In what felt as close to a social event as you get these days the wine was flowing and conversation covered Glastonbury - it may be the first time ever th...

We’re back with this week’s episode in 3, 2, 1 ......... and our guest is Heart DJ, journalist, author, podcaster, campaigner and influencer, Anna Whitehouse. Seb and Verity drop in to Anna’s East London offices, lukewarm cava in hand, for a chat about the various strands of her eclectic career. She talks them through her journey from Practical Caravan magazine (tow bar specialist) to becomin...

It’s all about that bass, ‘bout that bass (you get the picture) with this week’s guest, Alice Kent. Seb and Verity chat to Alice in early November as she’s putting the final touches to the latest video in her YouTube series Alice’s Musical Galaxy. She talks about becoming tech savvy, green screen issues and how she’s making string teaching exciting and vibrant for players of all ages and abilities...

SOUND THE ALARMS, IT’S A NATIONAL TREASURE ALERT! This week Seb and Verity are joined by comedian, singer and actor Rob Brydon, who invited them into his beautiful garden for a hilarious and frank conversation. Rob regales them them with such tales as filming in Las Vegas with Tom Jones, receiving wise words from a Bee Gee, battling Steve Coogan on a lilo and the pain of unrequited love in school...

Hot on the heels of part 1, our second episode with Jessie Grimes largely addresses social media and its relationship with mental well-being. Find out what Verity says that leads to Jessie unleashing a passionate use of the f-bomb at the start of the pod......then discover how karma takes its course at the very end! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a Three In A Bar double whammy this week with clarinettist, presenter, workshop leader and teacher Jessie Grimes. Seb and Verity visit Jessie in her South London flat - also home to her hugely popular Homemade Garden Jam series. In the first episode, Jessie chats about her lockdown project which involved chamber music, audience participation and tomato juggling. They also discuss her early ye...

Joining us in the bar - or rather Seb’s living room this week - is trombone Adonis, Christopher Augustine. Chris is currently based in Cardiff where he is sub principal trombonist with WNO. Seb and Verity catch up with him as a small window appears in his busy schedule whilst he is briefly in London for a Chineke! project. They chat about early inspirations, Chris’ unlikely transition from soprano...

This week’s guest is half viola player/half anaesthetist, Dr Arun Menon - the most niche superhero the world has ever seen...... Having suffered kidney failure in 2005, Arun made the difficult decision to put his hugely successful freelance career on hold and go back into education to begin the epic journey into medicine - his training began in 2006 and he is still three and a half years away from...

This week we go off piste (that’s right, p-i-s-t-e) with a visit from wine aficionado and co-owner of Yardarm Leyton, Eliza Parkes. Eliza selects four fantastic wines to compliment Seb and Verity’s four music choices and they spend a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon tasting the wine and discussing the music. Sometimes work is so trying eh? Be reassured in the knowledge that the spittoon is used libe...

In the second of our bonus Let Music Live episodes, Seb and Verity report from the protest at Parliament Square on Tuesday 6 October 2020. They chat to a number of the 400 players who turned up to perform the opening of Mars by Holst, followed by a two minute silence - the aim being to shine a light on the current plight of freelance musicians who have been largely overlooked throughout the Covid...

This week’s guest is the marvellous, exhilarating and captivating cellist, Gabriella Swallow. Seb and Verity took a trip to her fabulous North London apartment on a rainy September day for a chat ranging from bowling with Hugh Jackman in Lederhosen to taking John Adams for lunch in Manchester. Gabi initially made a name for herself specialising in contemporary music - At the age of 22 she made her...

This is the first of two special episodes charting the Let Music Live events in London and Birmingham on 6 October 2020, highlighting the current threat to thousands of jobs in the freelance music industry. Seb and Verity have an exclusive chat to event founder, violinist and superwoman, Jessie Murphy. Jessie discusses her inspiration for creating this protest, how it’s grown into such a huge move...

Drum roll please.....this week’s episode features West End giant, musical director, arranger and orchestrator, Alan Williams. Lets rewind a moment to Manchester in the early ‘90s....A young, enthusiastic pianist heads to the theatre with his parents, little does he know it’ll be the moment that starts his fabulous journey into musical theatre - that’s right, Copacabana the stage show was where the...

It’s episode 23 and we are back in South London chatting to the go to guy for soloists, conductors and errant orchestral players who can’t find the toilets in any given venue....it’s senior artist manager at Askonas Holt, Ed Pascall. This is the second outing Seb and Verity have made to meet Ed after a failed attempt in a Wetherspoons in December 2019. Delighted that he’d humour them again, conver...

It’s a momentous week at Three In a Bar......not only is this the first episode recorded where all parties are in the same space since February but it is also our first musical dynasty. Violinist Laura Melhuish, horn player Ric Ashton and their daughter, Millie Ashton (wunderkind violinist) invite Seb and Verity into their fabulous home for a chat, great snacks and much hilarity. The scene is set...

C’est un invité magnifique! This week Seb and Verity are joined by violinist and broadcaster, Rachel Rowntree. Be honest, who hasn’t thought to themselves maybe now’s the time to up sticks and start again somewhere glamorous and exciting abroad? Well, rather than giving in after numerous failed attempts at Duolingo and booking a holiday, Rachel actually made the move to Paris ten years ago and has...

This week Seb and Verity depart from usual service to reflect on the first twenty episodes of Three In A Bar in a loosely structured waffle - see intro and outro sections of all twenty episodes so far. Along with their own favourite moments, they hear from a number of the listeners about their own personal highlights. It won’t surprise you that Seb and Verity deviate from the course throughout, di...

As Three In A Bar hits it’s twenties now seemed like a good time to try out a spot of blind dating. Introduced to us by the fabulous Michelle Taylor-Cohen (see episode 8), this week’s guest is composer, arranger and lyricist Shane Cullinan. Shane chats about his ensemble Tonic Fold and some of their early gigs, including the first Nottingham Pride - entitled Pink Lace, a show following a naked man...

It’s episode 19 and who better to complement a hot summer’s day than the perennially radiant, Laura Bangay. Musical director/keyboard whiz/accordion hater Laura chats to Seb and Verity having had an extended period of Covid-19 lockdown isolation. They find out what she’s been doing to combat boredom, including a new found passion for kickboxing. Laura talks about her extensive work as a children’s...

Warning, this episode contains unprecedented levels of Sid James style cackling emanating from Verity...brace yourselves. It’s episode 18 and look who’s dropped in to welcome them to the age of maturity....it’s none other than Hoosiers front man, Irwin Sparkes. Irwin also wears a magnificent new metaphorical hat for his solo alter ego White Tail Falls, releasing his album Age of Entitlement back i...

We interrupt our regular broadcasts for a round the table chat with violinist and yoga guru Cat Parker. Think of this as interval drinks or a post concert catch up if you will..... Recorded back in January in a bustling kitchen in East Dulwich, Cat talks to Seb and Verity about a whole host of things including her experiences living in Paris and what led her there, future plans to potentially set...

It’s episode 16 and it sure is a sweet one as today’s guest is trombone behemoth and recently appointed head of brass at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Amos Miller. Amos chats to Seb and Verity about online final recitals and his huge respect and excitement for the next generation of brass players passing through the conservatoire. He also tells them about his former lives as a psychology student...

This week Seb and Verity are joined by freelance cellist, Rachael Lander. Rachael discusses her battles with alcohol addiction and anxiety, which led to an extended break from playing and consequently entering recovery - all whilst in her early twenties. Since then, Rachael has returned to playing and has an extremely successful career working extensively in the West End, orchestral freelancing an...