I've got an exciting new system for this blog now. From now on it's going to be in 3 sections: Last Week, This Week, and A-Z of Music.
That's it! There may, in exceptional circumstances, be other special feature sections, we shall see.
Last Week
No gigs in the past 7 days. (or 8 actually, as I'm a day late). I'm loving my new keyboard though, and can't wait to get out and gig a bit more with it. I've been using it in more rehearsals lately, and the sounds and playing action are making it all the more fun. Come to think of it, this must be the first time in over a decade when rehearsals have outnumbered gigs! So there you have it, I do practice after all.
Speaking of gigs, the highlight of the week was on Monday night, going to see Chris Rea in Sheffield. Having travelled down the road to Hell, or the M1 as it's known, we reached our own Heaven in the shape of the Kellham Island Tavern in Sheffield, a lovely pub, and not five minutes from the stock car track, but that's another matter. The concert was very moving, every bit as good as the one 2 years ago in Newcastle, which must make this gig rank pretty high in my list of best gigs seen...
It takes a lot to move me at a concert these days. The years of cynicism and pressure (or clubland as it's also known) have left me almost as jaded as a major Record Label A&R man. But the amount of energy and passion in this performance had me hooked from the start. Brilliant band, awesome playing, and that voice... Funnily enough this time it was the blues numbers 'Easy Rider' and 'Dancing Down The Stoney Road' which got me the most. But everything about this man's music, especially played live, is perfect to me. I just love it.
Last weekend there was also a win for the Bulls, and a weekend trip to East Anglia for the stock cars, where it miraculously stayed dry again.
This Week
Tonight (Wed 31st) sees the return of the Paul Jeffery Band at Harrys Bar, Wakefield. This will feature the new keyboard so as far as I'm concerned, it's going to be great already. We start at 9 and it's a unique atmosphere in this tiny venue.
That's the only gig, as we're then into Easter which is always a breathlessly busy time for me. A simple diet of one Bulls match and 3 stock car meetings will pass the time very nicely thank you. I may well be away from my desk next Tuesday too as in Yorkshire we have this thing called Easter Tuesday, which doesn't really exist anywhere else I can think of, but most places take the day off, as is traditional in some quarters of the county. So I will most likely talk to you again later next week. Until then, have a Happy Easter!
A-Z of Music
OK, here we go....
AL STEWART (Best of): I know Al Stewart should technically be under 'S' but in the world of internet search engines he appears under 'A' as well. I picked this one out because over the years a few people have compared my sound to his. And having never listened to any of his music this was either mystical or a coincidence.
I'm a little perturbed to say I didn't really get into his music at this early stage. So I'm not sure where that leaves my 'sounds like' plaudits. It's middle of the road with a capital MOR, and on the bland side. I think 'Year Of The Cat' is his best known song, but it again failed to really move me. As usual, there was good musicianship throughout, but it didn't hit me very much.
ALMAN BROTHERS (Hits): Best known for Jessica (or Top Gear as we know it here), there was some good ol' southern rock mixed in with instrumentals. Not perhaps bang on my wavelength, but I enjoyed what I heard.
ANTHONY PHILLIPS (The Geese and The Ghost): As a big Genesis fan, I wanted to check out this lesser known solo work from their founder member. It's largely instrumental, very pastoral, and a bit strange at times. But there are some good moments and lots of sounds in common with early Genesis, particularly the 12-string acoustic guitars. Looking at a discography I notice that it was released in 1977 and features Mike Rutherford as co-producer and instrumentalist. It also features Phil Collins singing a couple of tracks, now I thought I recognised that voice!!
ALBERT COLLINS (Iceman): As a lover of Guitar Heroes Expo 92 from Seville, I've long known the hard attacking electric blues of Albert Collins. This is the first album I've heard on CD, and it doesn't disappoint. A lot of the songs are stock blues arrangements, 12-8 songs, fast shuffles etc.. but it's extremely well-played and the production is immense.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Firstly, the week's news: Last Thursday was a very exciting moment in the shape of the debut of the New Keyboard!! I've recently made a purchase after 11 years of venerable service by the old one...it has survived the rigours of clubland better than it's owner.
It was a double first as it was also the debut of a new project. The setting was an open mic at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds, with Katie singing and me playing and doing some harmonies. Me and Katie go back a very long way, and we're still performing some of the songs we did back then, but it was a great night, suffice to say that the magic is still there. I'll hopefully bring more news on this in the weeks to come.
The weekend was dedicated to my 2 favourite sports, with a trip to watch the Bulls in Hull on Friday (we lost, and it rained a lot), followed by stock cars in Birmingham Saturday and Belle Vue Sunday. The Brum trip set a new record for average speed cameras on the M6, with a total of 5 (!) between Manchester and the Second City...throw in a road closure on the way back, and it left me wondering how much more of the M6 it's possible to dig up.
This week:
I've no gigs this week but will be rehearsing and hopefully finding some time to write and record.
And now.....
It's time for.....My A to Z of music!!
Yes...you may remember my ramblings about curation of music last week, well it all starts here :) So stand by for more ramblings as I delve into the archive of music past and present, but mainly past, as I explained last week. To keep things organised, I'm starting at A, with Z scheduled to be reached in about 90 years' time.
1) A-HA: I remember A-Ha the first time around, when their posters covered teenage girls' walls and they were big, really big. As the years went on they were not so big, but then big again thanks to the old Slumdog do-da featuring their finest song.
They've also kept releasing new good quality material, no resorting to covers here. And whilst they'll probably never top the dizzy heights of 'Take On Me' and 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' (this being the finest song I was referring to) they do still have melody, atmosphere and falcettos in abundance.
In fact, it was their latest album 'Foot Of The Mountain' that got this project of mine underway. It got me thinking how I'd like to know more of their songs, as I only owned their first album. So, one double-CD greatest hits album later, I'm pleased to report I'm still hooked.
As a keyboard player with a love for the 80s that goes back, well, to the 80s, it's almost inevitable that I'm still drawn to this sound. It's like a thinking mans Duran Duran. The lyrics are often dark and subtle, they are Norwegian after all. It's hard to believe the band is around 25 years old now. That's a lot of albums under the bridge. From the brilliant opening album 'Hunting High And Low' there's then 'Scoundrel Days' which is less good but still contains 'Manhattan Skyline' which is powerful synth pop at it's best. Then there's the Bond theme 'Living Daylights', and then later stuff such as 'Summer Moved On' and the new album highlights 'Foot Of The Mountain' and 'Shadowside'. There's melodies that move me right through and even though I'd have to drop the keys a few octaves, there remains the possibility of cover versions in the future....
2) THE ANIMALS: Changing direction a little here, I listened to a 'best of' album and it confirmed one thing beyond any doubt: Eric Burdon has one of the best rock voices of all-time!
This is how a singer should sound, end of story. Then there's the organ playing. Actually Alan Price is appearing in Brighouse at Easter, I wish it was on a night I was free to go and watch. I discovered some real gems in this collection, aside from the very obvious ones. There's a narrative song about Bo Diddley that I think will end up on my mp3 player, and also some searing vocals on most of the tracks. Unlike virtually every other musician, I still have time for 'House Of The Rising Sun' too. I've never actually covered it, not over-heard it, and remain quite excited about it. Maybe now is the time to change that, maybe I should get out more. Either way I hope you'll join me next week for more classics, by artisits beginning with the letter A!!
1) A-HA: I remember A-Ha the first time around, when their posters covered teenage girls' walls and they were big, really big. As the years went on they were not so big, but then big again thanks to the old Slumdog do-da featuring their finest song.
They've also kept releasing new good quality material, no resorting to covers here. And whilst they'll probably never top the dizzy heights of 'Take On Me' and 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' (this being the finest song I was referring to) they do still have melody, atmosphere and falcettos in abundance.
In fact, it was their latest album 'Foot Of The Mountain' that got this project of mine underway. It got me thinking how I'd like to know more of their songs, as I only owned their first album. So, one double-CD greatest hits album later, I'm pleased to report I'm still hooked.
As a keyboard player with a love for the 80s that goes back, well, to the 80s, it's almost inevitable that I'm still drawn to this sound. It's like a thinking mans Duran Duran. The lyrics are often dark and subtle, they are Norwegian after all. It's hard to believe the band is around 25 years old now. That's a lot of albums under the bridge. From the brilliant opening album 'Hunting High And Low' there's then 'Scoundrel Days' which is less good but still contains 'Manhattan Skyline' which is powerful synth pop at it's best. Then there's the Bond theme 'Living Daylights', and then later stuff such as 'Summer Moved On' and the new album highlights 'Foot Of The Mountain' and 'Shadowside'. There's melodies that move me right through and even though I'd have to drop the keys a few octaves, there remains the possibility of cover versions in the future....
2) THE ANIMALS: Changing direction a little here, I listened to a 'best of' album and it confirmed one thing beyond any doubt: Eric Burdon has one of the best rock voices of all-time!
This is how a singer should sound, end of story. Then there's the organ playing. Actually Alan Price is appearing in Brighouse at Easter, I wish it was on a night I was free to go and watch. I discovered some real gems in this collection, aside from the very obvious ones. There's a narrative song about Bo Diddley that I think will end up on my mp3 player, and also some searing vocals on most of the tracks. Unlike virtually every other musician, I still have time for 'House Of The Rising Sun' too. I've never actually covered it, not over-heard it, and remain quite excited about it. Maybe now is the time to change that, maybe I should get out more. Either way I hope you'll join me next week for more classics, by artisits beginning with the letter A!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
I'm a Curator...
In a recent blog, I was talking about the results of a survey I'd read in which it was possible to categorise people into 4 broad groups when it comes to music. These range from the very enthusiastic to the not-at-all enthusiastic, with about 75% of the population more towards the latter.
The book I read this in, 'Nets, Blogs and Rock n Roll' by David Jennings, is proving to be a very interesting read. Further to the above I discovered that the survey had sub-groups for these categories too. One of these sub-groups at the top end (very enthusiastic music lovers) were called 'Curators'.
As I read the description of a Curator, I got this eary feeling that I recognised the person it was describing.... me! See what you think of this:
"They tend to rely on old trusted musical choices rather than engage with anything new or emerging- as a result, they now look backwards to fill the gaps in their collection rather than forwards to discover new music." "They sound like curmudgeonly-before-their-time men in middle youth...."
Well it's nice to know I'm not alone!!
It's true, I admit it, I find it hard to relate to new music, unless it's by an old artist releasing a new album, which I don't suppose really counts. I've never been one to follow fashions, in fact I react adversly to new trends and run in the opposite direction. At the height of the Brit-pop boom of the mid-90s I was in my late teens, peak age for following fashions. At this time my favourite group was Genesis.
You only need to take one look at my myspace page to see where I fit in, or don't fit, as the case may be. I don't care: my influences are my choice and I'm not going to compromise them to fit in. Sometimes it can be hard work though, especially in Britain. Touting for local gigs using myspace, I've occasionally come up against a promoter probably half my age, who clearly can't abide the idea of puttting an old fart like me on the bill. Venturing further around local band's myspace pages, I see long lists of influences I've never heard of, plus the obligatory mention of Nick Drake, or Johnny Cash.
Start mentioning Elton John and Phil Collins in that company and you're in big trouble! The North-West music scene has a big problem with these sort of names. I know from first-hand experience that it's probably better to keep quiet when they start on about musical tastes, or maybe mumble the name 'David Bowie' just to keep them off my back. Me and a music collegue call it 'Cheese Tolerance', in most cases there's is set way below mine.
When I was at Music College it was a similar tale. I remember once being scolded by a fellow-student for liking my 'dad's music'. What she didn't know is that my dad likes a lot more new acts than I do!
Also the occasion springs to mind when I did a gig in Leeds and I got talking to another act on the bill. I was waxing lyrical about Bryan Adams' music. Only later did I realise he'd said 'Ryan Adams'.
So there you have it. Old before my time in middle youth. I also prefer older women, but that's another matter.
The curating side of me involves seeking out lots of old releases. I'm trying to find out where it all came from. I'm also looking for songs to cover, or influences to include in future songwriting and producing. Next week I plan to start sharing some of my curating with you in this blog. A few notes about the albums I've been listening to of late, and I'll share a few songs you might like to check out. They'll all likely be crusty old artists who've sold a lot of records. People of North-West England, you have been warned!!
The book I read this in, 'Nets, Blogs and Rock n Roll' by David Jennings, is proving to be a very interesting read. Further to the above I discovered that the survey had sub-groups for these categories too. One of these sub-groups at the top end (very enthusiastic music lovers) were called 'Curators'.
As I read the description of a Curator, I got this eary feeling that I recognised the person it was describing.... me! See what you think of this:
"They tend to rely on old trusted musical choices rather than engage with anything new or emerging- as a result, they now look backwards to fill the gaps in their collection rather than forwards to discover new music." "They sound like curmudgeonly-before-their-time men in middle youth...."
Well it's nice to know I'm not alone!!
It's true, I admit it, I find it hard to relate to new music, unless it's by an old artist releasing a new album, which I don't suppose really counts. I've never been one to follow fashions, in fact I react adversly to new trends and run in the opposite direction. At the height of the Brit-pop boom of the mid-90s I was in my late teens, peak age for following fashions. At this time my favourite group was Genesis.
You only need to take one look at my myspace page to see where I fit in, or don't fit, as the case may be. I don't care: my influences are my choice and I'm not going to compromise them to fit in. Sometimes it can be hard work though, especially in Britain. Touting for local gigs using myspace, I've occasionally come up against a promoter probably half my age, who clearly can't abide the idea of puttting an old fart like me on the bill. Venturing further around local band's myspace pages, I see long lists of influences I've never heard of, plus the obligatory mention of Nick Drake, or Johnny Cash.
Start mentioning Elton John and Phil Collins in that company and you're in big trouble! The North-West music scene has a big problem with these sort of names. I know from first-hand experience that it's probably better to keep quiet when they start on about musical tastes, or maybe mumble the name 'David Bowie' just to keep them off my back. Me and a music collegue call it 'Cheese Tolerance', in most cases there's is set way below mine.
When I was at Music College it was a similar tale. I remember once being scolded by a fellow-student for liking my 'dad's music'. What she didn't know is that my dad likes a lot more new acts than I do!
Also the occasion springs to mind when I did a gig in Leeds and I got talking to another act on the bill. I was waxing lyrical about Bryan Adams' music. Only later did I realise he'd said 'Ryan Adams'.
So there you have it. Old before my time in middle youth. I also prefer older women, but that's another matter.
The curating side of me involves seeking out lots of old releases. I'm trying to find out where it all came from. I'm also looking for songs to cover, or influences to include in future songwriting and producing. Next week I plan to start sharing some of my curating with you in this blog. A few notes about the albums I've been listening to of late, and I'll share a few songs you might like to check out. They'll all likely be crusty old artists who've sold a lot of records. People of North-West England, you have been warned!!
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
So much to do, so little time!
After playing Mr Foleys (that's a bar in Leeds, not a person) last Monday I haven't done a gig since, but I've been so busy it's hardly been noticed. I've spent 10 years trying to do more gigs, then a few more, and if there was another day spare, maybe another one. I'm now enjoying the reverse process just as much!
I haven't been blogging all the evolutions of my career 'plan' but to summarise briefly I've arrived at the decision to do less gigs and to make live promotion more of a component of what I'm doing in total, rather than a whole issue on it's own. Moreover, it's about doing the right sort of gigs, the right ones for me. So if there were seven great gigs to be had every week I'd still be there. But I'm not so enthused these days about doing the wrong kind of gigs. You know, those where a few more brain cells get left behind each time!
The Stock Car season has started too. Which means I'm more inclined to pursue that particular hobby than do more gigs as well. This weekend just gone I was in Kings Lynn on Saturday and then overnighted there before moving on to Skegness on Sunday. I visit all the best places :) Especially in March when none too warm....bloody freezing in fact. I've always questioned the sanity of mountaineers, but standing out at the opening Skegness meeting of the season is probably quite similar! At least it didn't rain this time.
I've always enjoyed watching sport. I follow Rugby League too. And this weekend it fell that the Bulls played on Friday night, and that was a very exciting game! We won of course, which is why I can now call it 'exciting' instead of 'crap' (no matter how exciting) if we'd lost.
Anyway, I digress. This week I'm playing solo at The Hop in Wakefield on Thursday night (11th), which will be a full set of covers and originals. I'm also working on some exciting new projects which will come to fruition in the fullness of time...in between standing outside in Lincolnshire.
I haven't been blogging all the evolutions of my career 'plan' but to summarise briefly I've arrived at the decision to do less gigs and to make live promotion more of a component of what I'm doing in total, rather than a whole issue on it's own. Moreover, it's about doing the right sort of gigs, the right ones for me. So if there were seven great gigs to be had every week I'd still be there. But I'm not so enthused these days about doing the wrong kind of gigs. You know, those where a few more brain cells get left behind each time!
The Stock Car season has started too. Which means I'm more inclined to pursue that particular hobby than do more gigs as well. This weekend just gone I was in Kings Lynn on Saturday and then overnighted there before moving on to Skegness on Sunday. I visit all the best places :) Especially in March when none too warm....bloody freezing in fact. I've always questioned the sanity of mountaineers, but standing out at the opening Skegness meeting of the season is probably quite similar! At least it didn't rain this time.
I've always enjoyed watching sport. I follow Rugby League too. And this weekend it fell that the Bulls played on Friday night, and that was a very exciting game! We won of course, which is why I can now call it 'exciting' instead of 'crap' (no matter how exciting) if we'd lost.
Anyway, I digress. This week I'm playing solo at The Hop in Wakefield on Thursday night (11th), which will be a full set of covers and originals. I'm also working on some exciting new projects which will come to fruition in the fullness of time...in between standing outside in Lincolnshire.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
So we're finally into March. It seems to have been a terribly long time in coming this year, so thank Heavens it's not a leap year, or it would have been even longer. We've finally got a bit of sun even though it's still cold enough to snow at night. I'm just hoping it stays somewhere near fine for the all-important first Stock Car meetings of the new season this weekend! I don't mind wrapping up warm, but please: no snow, gales or floods or anything else that might lead to it being cancelled. So much has had to be re-scheduled due to weather this year already that I might just go spare if this goes the same way. I've been looking forward to it for a while you see :)
Speaking of adverse weather, my heart goes out to those in Chile and in France as yet again fate shits on the planet from a great height. I have a friend with family in Chile who remain uncontactable. It doesn't bare thinking about.
I was playing at Mr Foleys in Leeds last night, another new venue for me. It's located on the Headrow opposite the Town Hall, which means it's a bugger to even unload, let alone park. I took to driving down the pavement on the Headrow (a surreal experience) in order to pull up outside the front door and load in.
The gig is good for me though, there's virtually no paid work on a Monday night, or for that matter anywhere else in Leeds (!), and it's a nice relaxing bar. I played 2 sets mixing covers and originals as per usual and I was quite pleased with how it went. I'd also like to say a big thank you to the New Inn 'crew' who came along to support me, it means a great deal.
I hear that The Primrose is to close down. That's a real big loss to musicians everywhere, but especially locally at grass roots level. I was just planning on doing some more open mic stuff and the Primmy, with it's big PA, would have been one of my first ports of call. Now it seems it's gone the way of many other pubs, and alledgedly it's for the same stupid reason as why we now see so many derelict rotting pubs in the area.
More gig news to follow, if there's anywhere else left to play!!
Speaking of adverse weather, my heart goes out to those in Chile and in France as yet again fate shits on the planet from a great height. I have a friend with family in Chile who remain uncontactable. It doesn't bare thinking about.
I was playing at Mr Foleys in Leeds last night, another new venue for me. It's located on the Headrow opposite the Town Hall, which means it's a bugger to even unload, let alone park. I took to driving down the pavement on the Headrow (a surreal experience) in order to pull up outside the front door and load in.
The gig is good for me though, there's virtually no paid work on a Monday night, or for that matter anywhere else in Leeds (!), and it's a nice relaxing bar. I played 2 sets mixing covers and originals as per usual and I was quite pleased with how it went. I'd also like to say a big thank you to the New Inn 'crew' who came along to support me, it means a great deal.
I hear that The Primrose is to close down. That's a real big loss to musicians everywhere, but especially locally at grass roots level. I was just planning on doing some more open mic stuff and the Primmy, with it's big PA, would have been one of my first ports of call. Now it seems it's gone the way of many other pubs, and alledgedly it's for the same stupid reason as why we now see so many derelict rotting pubs in the area.
More gig news to follow, if there's anywhere else left to play!!
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