THE SUN AND DOVES

HEADHUNTERS ON COLDHARBOUR LANE

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John's Hoares - 12th August

Lama/Waage - 19th August

Chik Budo - 26th August

Rick Nixon Jazz Jam. - 2nd September

Rick's got himself to a Jam and he needs your help! Bring your instrument. Join in!

is simply the best musicians playing the most get into your core and gutsy electronicabreakbeatfunksoulchillspinetinglingnewajzz you can imagine.

It's a development of a live music programme we ran on Sunday nights for over two years called Bringing It All Back Home. The music's always improvised, always feels immediately contemporary, of the moment, of now and is evolving all the time. It's unclassifiable. It's not Jazz (we don't want to use that word) but it is. It resonates with vibes of Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Zappa, Hendrix, oh, the best and wildest but most plugged in and heart wrenching sounds you'll ever hear. And it's here in Camberwell, London's best kept secret, down the other end of Coldharbour Lane from Brixton.

The John Hoare Trio came to play one Sunday in early 2006. John liked playing here and the audience liked his vibe and we all got along great... John’s interest became regular appearances became ‘John Hoare and Friends’, and he began a monthly slot with a different line up of musicians each time he played.

Their amazing, almost indescribable, blends of improvised electronica break beat new jazz funk meets rock went down really well with the audience. One weekend his friends were Ben and Jamie Cullum. The music was amazing, the atmosphere even more so, the audience and band members clearly just loved getting off on each others’ energy and excitement. I saw things that made me think ‘this magic, more people really should get to see this magic and appreciate what’s going on down the edgier end of Coldharbour Lane from Brixton. We talked about the kind of reaction his music was getting from the audience and how to make this vibe a more embedded part of what we do at The Sun and Doves.

Bringing It All Back Home was begun and run by James Steel who was our front of house manager until April 2006. James is founder band member of The Low Sparks, recently renamed Brute Chorus after tussling with Almighty Gods of the Suns as a possible moniker. They are a group with a huge loyal following across the UK who have gigged and toured world wide striving to hit the big time. James carried on compeering Sun and Doves’ Sundays until March 2007 while working at the Hawley Arms in Camden and eventually the work load and travel burden became too much and as The Brute Chorus schedule became increasingly demanding James had to pass on the music mantle to me and John Hoare.

We are crazy. We pay the artists and the only thing we charge our customers is their pleasure and enjoyment. We do it for LOVE!

This sets us apart from most other London venues, we attract high quality acts from far and wide and get loads of offers of repeat performances. They play, we serve great food; overseen by Dan Szarocwicz our Top Chef from Greenwich and drink; cocktails, fab wines, fair trade hot drinks, smoothies, juices and, oh it goes on and on and on... Admans and Speckled Hen. When the weather's fine we go outdoors tropical al fresco in the fantastic south facing Mediterranean planted garden where we serve the best barbecues north of Durban. You'd never know you're in London

THE SUN AND DOVES is London's longest running bar, restaurant and gallery in one. We've been formally exhibiting high quality art by great artists for more than a decade. On a schedule of ten shows a year we've had the work of more than 400 artists on the walls. We show a mixture of established and emerging artists and have played host to work by Chris Ofili, Antony Gormley, Tom Phillips, Bill Woodrow, Anish Kapoor, Sarah Raphael and have even exhibited photographs by Mark Dodds. That's me, one of the bar owners. The other is Nicky Francey... she who makes it all happen and who oversees the boys on the bar with a rod of iron, a whip and high heels. Don't they wish

We have lots of people friend requests and Message Us every day. So don't fret. If you're really good, don't call us, we'll call you, we will find you, we will hunt you down.

Due to an excess of singer/songwriter/guitarists we're looking only for musicians who break the mold. Musical saws, barbershop quartets, tap dancers, harmonica players, one footed springboks are all welcome. Get in touch if you're different and better than the rest! I seem to have contradicted myself. Never mind