Acoustic Special at GROW

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Acoustic Special is the second evening of AirDraft's epic journey traveling along the Regents Canal from Hackney Wick to King's Cross at GROW Hackney.

Come down from 1-6pm when on the hour, performances will take place on the pavilion stage. Hosted by local musician Joel Smith you'll enjoy a range of musicians from across London who span genres with soul-baring music, insightful lyrics, epic stories, great banter and the warm Grow vibes we've all come to know.

The capacity of the AirDraft is limited so we recommend getting down early as entry for performances will be on a first come, first served basis. The indoor and outside bars will be serving a range of organic and draft drinks with a BBQ & Meze menu by Slow Fire London from the kitchen.

About the host

Host of the event Joel Smith, is an Australian-born, London-based musician, singer, songwriter, writer, sound engineer and DJ.

Having led bands from Brisbane, Australia before moving to London to pursue new directions, he now performs with multi-national Ambient/Dream/Psych Rock group Los Capivaras, with a debut release due 2018.

Since arriving to his adopted base in Hackney Wick in early 2013, Smith has developed a rich performance vocabulary, performing solo acoustic alongside shifting experimental ensembles. Constant collaboration with a multitude of international artists, designers, DJ’s and musicians have allowed Smith to hone his experimental, effects-laden guitar and soaring falsetto vocals through many improvised and one-off performances.

2017 and 2018 have seen Smith turn his focus towards live, improvised film score collaborations, giving inspired performances, recently extending to France.

You can also catch him regularly singing Jazz standards, acoustic shows, playlisting rare gems from Punk, Folk, Disco, Afro-beat, Turkish to Latin American Folk-tronica, and also running the monthly Open Mic night at Grow, Hackney.

He will be airing some of his written work from his residency at THE LAB.

About Grow, Hackney

We are an independently run space and an experiment in ethical business, which includes working with local artists, musicians on collaborative projects to host free events where everyone is welcome. We pay London Living Wage and partner with community projects to share and nurture local talent. Grow has no investment and is built by local Hackney Wickers and relies on the sharing economy of the area. Profits go back into the community.

This event is part of the AirDraft Festival, a programme of events curated by Thomas Randall-Page and Benedetta Rogers as part of their winning 2018 Antepavilion commissionn.