Music teacher at Three Mills in Bromley-by-Bow on world tour with band

A music tutor is touring the world with his punk funk band and has played to audience in New York and at the Cannes Film Festival.

Luke Hannam teaches at Access to Music, part of the British Academy Of New Music, in Sugar House Lane at Three Mills in Bromley-by-Bow.

But he is also an established recording artist and has provided a distinctive bass sound for his pioneering four-piece band since 1996.

The band called Gramme is currently enjoying worldwide acclaim for their new album Fascination.

They recently played a sold out show at the 3,000 capacity La Machine du Moulin Rouge in Paris and appeared live on national French radio to 700,000 listeners.

They also played at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and are booked to play at the Calvi On The Rocks festival in Corsica in July.

Luke feels his experiences in the music industry and the wider arts have enhanced the Artist Development programme at the acamedy at Three Mills.

He said: “It has allowed me to explore the relationship between being a professional artist and education, and use this to create creative environments for developing artists. The Artist Development programme is intense, exciting and capable of generating exactly the right conditions for the serious creative musician - we introduce the intellect to the language of rock n roll.”

Gramme are signed up to the record label Tummy Touch in New York and recently featured in a double page spread in DJ magazine. Their track ‘Too High’, has been remixed by producers from London, Detroit, Los Angeles and Berlin, and is receiving strong support from Giles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music and John Kennedy on XFM.

Luke is also a painter with work in many collections around the around the world, including the Mabon Collection in New York, and is currently in negotiations with galleries in Paris to show new work.