Indie Showcase @ The Royal Oak Harlesden

Hello London! Join us on Friday, 16th of May, for an independent musician showcase at The Royal Oak in Harlesden. We have five fabulous acts for your listening pleasure.

Doors 6 pm

Standard admission: £5

Optional MVT levy of £1, including a digital download of my latest single as a thank you

Thanks in advance for your support of live music.

Charlie Smith

My name might be common, but my style is alternative. I'm Charlie Smith a raw, honest, singer-songwriter from Hampshire, UK. I host and perform at my own shows at venues such as the Railway Inn, The Attic, and Crosfield Hall. In October 2023, I embarked on my first solo tour of northern England, performing in Leicester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Stockton. My most recent 'DIY Tour 24' was built around showcasing local musicians and took me along the south of England (Brighton, Portsmouth, London, and Southampton). The 3-track single 'God Doesn't Hate You' Recorded on a Zoom R8 is my first release of 2025 marking an adventure back into lo-fi recording. Using nothing but a portable recorder, its microphones & effects, proved a welcome challenge. What the three tracks lack in polish they make up with creativity. It proves that even with limited studio equipment you can make music.

Eleanor Collides

Eleanor Collides is the solo project of London based singer-songwriter Nick Ranga. Falling somewhere between goth, shoegaze and folk, Nick combines these colours into a unique blend of dreamy indie rock. Eleanor Collides draws on a disparate range of influences, including Hozier, The Cure, Low, REM, and Depeche Mode.
Named after Nick's childhood imaginary friend, Eleanor Collides started life as a lockdown project in 2021. Nick has since gathered a small but dedicated following and his music continues to receive critical acclaim. His songs have been played on BBC radio, and breakthrough hit 'Lifeboats' spent over a year on Spotify's 'Spooky' editorial playlist.
The 2022 debut album 'People Are Taller In Real Life' was followed up by the album 'Exit Strategies' in 2024. The third full-length Eleanor Collides release - a live album - will follow in 2025.

Cat Elliott

According to reliable sources (one being her mum) Cat began making a lot of noise at a very early age. However she probably really only made any remotely tuneful sounds when she started singing along to Annie at around the age of 8. Sensing a latent talent, her parents encouraged her to play piano. She took to music like a pig to a pool of mud, but the formal lessons were short lived. The theory of music was unfathomable. Discovering another passion - for travel & adventure - Cat flew the nest at 16 and embarked upon an unconventional life, moving from place to place, living in all manner of unusual abodes and meeting all manner of eccentric folk. During this period she absorbed many life lessons, and when she began clumsily to learn guitar (alone, as ever!), it was almost as a means to an end. The creativity, the songs, were bubbling underneath the surface. They needed an outlet. Cat has come a long way since those first few unexpected songs burst messily out. She rediscovered the piano (literally - it had been in storage gathering dust for years, waiting) and re-taught herself, adding classical compositions to her catalogue of original material.

Still Traffico

Mancunian school friends Cam McColl (lead vocals/guitar), Dan Carabine (lead guitar), and Connor Lilley (drums), along with London resident, Dan Arthur (bass) formed Still Traffico (formerly known as Peach) in London in 2023.
Influenced by everything from Chanson Française storytelling to Michael Head to African desert blues to contemporary house to post-rock, post-punk and more, Still Traffico make a fine blend of indie pop. They call it “Railway Pop”, referring to it as a sound that clanks and shunts…but soothes. At the close of 2024, Still Traffico played a headline show at Paper Dress Vintage and opened 24:1900 virtual music festival. You can find a review of their headline set at Paper Dress Vintage below. Still Traffico released their fourth single, ‘Who’s a fraud?' on 10 January 2025. Further singles are scheduled for release through 2025, in what promises to be an exciting year for the band.

Lottie Zara

Lottie Zara is an indie acoustic musician who weaves poetic lyricism and haunting melodies into songs full of emotion and balanced with an upbeat, irreverent tone. Inspired by artists like The Crane Wives and Tracy Chapman, her music drifts between tenderness and power with a dynamic flair. Her magnetic presence on stage and knack for witty wordplay and storytelling inevitably draws you into her world.