Gareth Howells's Page

I have been writing songs seriously since 1989 - having dabbled for a few years before that with school friends.
My first experience on stage was in an acoustic duo where, from 1990-1992 we performed at many folk clubs and even at the Gosport Folk Festival in 1992 as "Before and After". We had the privilege of playing and getting crucial encouragement from artists like Show of Hands, John Renbourn, Roy Bailey, Martin Carthy, Whippersnapper, Artisan and Chris While at this time.

After my partner in the duo decided it was getting too serious for him in 1992, I concentrated on solo writing and performing.

After a period of instrumental improvising in The Mod Con Trio between 2001 and 2005, I found a new partner in Richard Leo and formed Bemis in 2006.

Since then we have gone from strength to strength, playing at events such as the Stokes Bay Festival in Gosport , the Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire, at the Southsea Folk and Roots Festival in Southsea, the Longest Day Festival in Lewes, the Secret Garden Festival in Farnham and the Hampshire Green Fair near Petersfield.

We have had recurring appearances in venues such as the Brook in Southampton , the 100 Club in Oxford Street , the Halfmoon in Putney, the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth , the Cyder House Inn near Guildford and the Brunswick in Brighton . Our reputation has grown from great headlining shows as well as support sets for artists such as The Men They Couldn't Hang, Phil Beer, Megson, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Ella Edmondson and Kirsty McGee.

We won last years "Portsmouth Guide" award for Folk/Roots artist and have won the July "Breakthrough" award this year issued by Forest FM for the reputation gained in the Dorset area.

We also recently were given a 4 and a half stars out of 5 review for our album "Time Enough At Last" by Maverick Magazine in December last year.

We released a live album late in 2009, "It's a Good Lie", that was recorded in Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Guildford.

Now we gig as a three piece, sometimes as a four piece - with Jeff Radford on bass and vocals and Gavin Jones on drums.

We are releasing our second studio album on March 14th.