A Hull musician with an interesting style of playing is delighted to be releasing his first single.
Keir Lammas strums his guitar upside down. That is to say he plays a right-handed guitar, but is left-handed, so it may appear to be somewhat awkward from the audience perspective but feels completely natural to Keir, 29, of east Hull.
With a small but loyal following – and one that is growing the more Keir’s name pops up at venues in and around Hull – the acoustic guitarist and singer is looking forward to sharing in the release of his new single, Bittersweet, with a launch party at The People’s Republic, in Newland Avenue, on Wednesday, June 18, from 8pm.
“There’ll be three other local acts on the bill, and it’s going to be a great night,” said Liam, who first took up the guitar aged ten or 11. “I’m MC-ing as well, it’s a way of giving back to the community.”
He said: “Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money and the only guitar available to me was right-handed. Being left-handed, I taught myself how to play a right-handed guitar and that’s how I’ve continued – it’s now become a little USP – and people are always asking me about it.”
(Image: Keir Lammas)
Keir, an ex-Royal Navy submariner, said: “I’ve always been able to sing but was never confident enough to go out there or anything. I bought a house in east Hull, had some time on my hands and thought, ‘let’s try to do something with this’.
“I’ve always had an issue with anxiety, I wanted to combat that and get more confident in situations. I started doing open mic nights at the Adelphi, Hoi and Arthouse and it went down well.”
Keir said it was a “very, very welcoming scene” and he felt “very at home, performing”. His appearances have helped him make contacts in the industry and he has now recorded Bittersweet with Fairview Studios in East Yorkshire.
“It only took two takes,” said the singer, who writes all of his own work and describes his musical style as between folk and country. Keir will be one of the acts at Cottingham Springfest, on Friday, May 23, when he will perform a set at The Back Room, at 8.45pm.
He will be debuting at The Sesh, the regular live music night at The Polar Bear in Hull, on Tuesday, June 10. “It’s honestly unreal,” he said.
“It’s lovely, the fact I can sing about things that might have happened in my own life and other people can relate to that.” You can find out more about Keir on his Instagram page or on Facebook.