Tessa Bickers

"Bickers's Tracy Chapman-inflected vocals are engaging enough, but it is her more understated material that is most striking" Venue Magazine "There are many singer songwriters that are highly entertaining, there are a good number that can move me. There are significantly less that are capable of doing both to a high degree. Tessa Bickers is in that small number" www.fatea.freeserve.co.uk In the Dark "would bring a tear to a glass eye" NME Magazine On Pot Luck: "This haunting, ethereal coll...

"Bickers's Tracy Chapman-inflected vocals are engaging enough, but it is her more understated material that is most striking" Venue Magazine "There are many singer songwriters that are highly entertaining, there are a good number that can move me. There are significantly less that are capable of doing both to a high degree. Tessa Bickers is in that small number" www.fatea.freeserve.co.uk In the Dark "would bring a tear to a glass eye" NME Magazine On Pot Luck: "This haunting, ethereal collection of songs with surprisingly mature, thoughtful lyrics is my favourite CD by a female singer/songwriter in many, many moons. Southwest England’s Tessa Bickers is the female Damien Rice and competition for Tori Amos." PartyinKingston.com "Pot Luck" shows an artist that is starting to fulfill her promise. Fatea Records On The Hangover Sessions: "Rather than face the world, Tessa sat down with her guitar, and a cider enduced headache, to write what I think is one of the finest songcycles I've heard in a while." Fatea Records. TESSA'S MUSIC: TO ORDER POT LUCK (£5 INCLUDING P & P) OR THE EP FOR TESSA BICKERS & AL O'KANE (£4 INCLUDING P & P) PLEASE MAKE A PAYPAL REQUEST TO TESSA.BICKERS@GOOGLEMAIL.COM Tessa Bickers interviews celebrities by day and tries to be one by night! Inspired by artists including Tracy Chapman and Eva Cassidy Tessa went out and bought a guitar between two lectures at Bournemouth University and taught herself to play. Now, at the age of 26, she’s decided to take it seriously. Signing up to indie record label Smalldog, owned by fellow singer/songwriter from Bristol, Caroline Martin, Tessa released her debut album Pot Luck, which has received rave reviews from fans and magazines alike. NME Magazine said it “would bring a tear to a glass eye”, while PartinKingston.com said it was their “favourite CD by a female singer/songwriter in many, many moons.” She’s also building up quite a following on the live music scene having spent the past year gigging in every available venue from churches to children’s parties, with a few festivals in between. Tessa’s already had the honour of supporting artists including Nick Harper, Judie Tsuke and The Inspiral Carpets and was one of a few UK artists to be flown out for Holland’s Acoustic Music Festival in April. She was voted one of the top 15 Unsigned Aritsts of 2006 by listeners of 'From the Underground' and her song 'Chasing Shadows' was one of the requested on their radio station. Her song 'Under the Skies' reached the final ten of the folk section in O2 Unsigned, and her anti war song 'In the Dark' was used by George Galloway’s political party, Respect, for its campaign. Tessa is the granddaughter of World War II Fighter Ace Sir Douglas Bader made infamous by the film based on his life, Reach For the Sky. When she’s not gigging you can normally find her at the bar drinking cider. The results of that can be heard on her self-released EP The Hangover Sessions. Tessa has now teamed up with the incrediby lovely, incredibly talented Mr Al O'Kane to perform and record a duo album. When they're not playing you can normally find them both at the bar drinking cider! UPDATE: I recently finished recording a three track EP with guitar legend Al O'Kane - which you can buy for £4 including p & p - just make a paypal request to tessa.bickers@googlemail.com. ABOUT TESSA: I love music, I like musicals, I like Amsterdam, I love cider, I like cats & dogs (people say you have to like one more but I like both equally), I like walking, I like taking pictures of the sky and the sea, I love my friends and family, I love my Fender guitar (she's called Adah and is the most beautiful guitar in the world), I hate changing the strings on my guitar, I love watching gigs, I dislike watching bad gigs and having to pretend to like them, I like chicken, I love writing songs, I like writing poetry, I prefer autumn and winter to spring and summer, I like the smell of fires burning (not ones I've started, I'm not an arsonist, I mean log fires), I love stripes, I love Dusty Springfield, I love Sylvia Plath, I love morris dancers, I love Converse trainers, I love my imac computer, I love my CD collection, I like buying presents for my dog and watching him play with them, I dislike giving humans presents and watching them pretend to like them, I love The Alchemist, I love The Little Prince, I dislike George Bush, I dislike seeing someone I care about upset, I like seeing someone I care about smile, I love toast, I love bed, I love afternoon naps, I love my hot water bottle, I love hot Ribena, I like orchids, I love Bob Geldof, I like Burberry perfume and I'm ashamed to admit I like Britney's too, I love all types of tea, I love The Notebook, I love Shadowlands, I love Memoirs of a Geisha , I love seeing old couples holding hands, I like meeting new people, I love the feeling of falling in love, I dislike having my heart broken, I like that having my heart broken makes me write more songs, I dislike that I can't write happy songs, I like that I surprise people because they always think I'm miserable because I write sad songs when I'm actually very happy, I love Ani DiFranco's lyrics, I love to laugh, I love to make people laugh, I love text messages, I especially love soppy text messages, I like watching people (not in a creepy way), I like sitting in cafe's on my own, I like watching people watch me sit on my own as they try to work out what's wrong with me and why I'm on my own, I like wearing rings and chunky bracelets, I like it when people make me friendship bracelets (yes that's a hint), I love being made mix cds, I dislike any type of discrimination, I love the innocence of children, I love cookies, I love driving, I love that my friends hate my driving, I liked my car (it was yellow and it was called Maisie), I dislike that I had to sell my car to move to London, I love The L Word, I like walking on beaches, I dislike getting sand in my eye, I love buying jackets, I love the book I'm reading right now 'Dalai Lama, An Open Heart' it's cool, I like walking down empty streets, I dislike being told something when I can tell the person saying it doesn't mean it, I love getting my haircut, I dislike it when hairdressers hands smell of cigarettes, I love the pub, if I'm drunk I will probably tell you I love you... that might not always be true.