Taphouse Burnout'25 feat. Phil Hooley, Ellen Smith, Gary Stewart and Simon Snaize - The Milton Rooms

Taphouse Burnout are back for 2025!

Graeme Hargreaves has put together a fantastic line up of talented musicians for a night of great live music!

Gary Stewart is a singer/songwriter from Perthshire who cut his teeth performing on the Leeds Music Scene for 15 years before moving to York where he currently resides. Stewart writes songs in the Folk/Pop vein and is influenced by the Folk Artists of the '60's and '70's (Paul Simon/James Taylor/The Eagles/Joni Mitchell/Carole King).
The Scottish Songsmith has released four Albums to date, his latest, 'Lost, Now Found', self-recorded, produced and released in June 2021. The debut single, 'Leopard' received steady A-List radio play on YO1 Radio, BBC Radio Scotland and Amazing Radio and the second single, 'Hot To Trot', features backing vocals from Rosie Doonan (Birdy/Peter Gabriel). His debut record, 'Boy Cries Wolf', garnered much praise from Janice Long and was played on Radio 2 courtesy of Steve Lamacq. The left-hander is also no stranger to the Festival circuit, having played Kendal Calling, Green Man and Larmer Tree Festivals to name but a few.
When not performing his own music, the multi-instrumentalist busies himself playing drums for Hope & Social and bass for Leeds-based Fleetwood Mac Tribute, Weetwood Mac(ex-Ellen & The Escapades). He also fronts his own reworking of Paul Simon's Classic Album, 'Graceland', with a seven-piece band who have played many a Theatre and Festival, including Shrewsbury, Towersey, Costa Del Folk, Moonbeams and Underneath The Stars.

Simon Snaize is an accomplished singer songwriter guitarist and producer, performing solo, and in duos as well as fronting the popular York based Y Street Band.
His solo set is a mix of classics, blues, and Americana, delivered with strong vocals and explosive guitar playing.

Ellen Smith is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Leeds, UK. In 2010 Ellen won Q Magazines Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition with her band Ellen & the Escapades and has since gone on to make main stage appearances at the festival a further two times.

Having spent the following years writing and touring, in 2018 Ellen signed a publishing deal with 13 Artists / Warner Chappell UK, after releasing music with dark-electro pop band Shadowlark, produced by Dan Austin (Massive Attack, Doves, Biffy Clyro.)
She also featured on ilan Bluestones Beatport chart-topping debut album Scars (Anjunabeats) with their track Rival.

2020 saw Ellen release her first solo material, having been commissioned to write the eponymous soundtrack to Take Us Home, an Amazon Prime docu-series following Leeds United during their momentous 2019/2020 promotion winning season.

After the widespread success of Scars, Ellen wrote and recorded a further two tracks (Stranger To Your Love and Love Not Lust) with ilan Bluestone for his second LP Impulse (May 2021) featuring Brit nominated Alex Clare. Stranger To Your Love would be the fourth single from the record, receiving worldwide acclaim and support from artists such as Grammy nominated DJ and producer Armin van Buuren.

In late 2021 Ellen was commissioned to arrange and record some compositions for a BBC Radio 4 programme about a British Nigerian man called David Oluwale, who was hounded by the police for many years and subsequently died from their actions. This led to the first successful prosecutions of police officers for the involvement in the death of a black person. The compositions were based on songs sung by Leeds Utd fans in the 70s in support of David after his death.
In April 2022, Ellen formed and led the David Oluwale choir who performed at the unveiling of a Blue Plaque which was installed in memory of David on Leeds Bridge.
Ellen is currently writing and recording solo material among other projects, set for release in 2025.

Phil Hooley - as a singer songwriter and founder of the alt country band The Woolgatherers, Scarborough based Phil is also busy as a solo performer. Citing Guy Clarke, John Prine and Nick Lowe among his many influences, Phil's songs are lyrically driven and always thought provoking. Describing himself as 'late to the party' having worked the pubs and clubs for many years, and with an easy stage presence, Phil has received many plaudits for his live shows, and is a favourite on the festival circuit. He has released two albums to date 'Songs From the Back Room' and 'Provenance' in April this year, both receiving critical acclaim from the reviewers.