Last Week...
A quick blog this week, as I was out on business* on Tuesday and now it's getting towards the end of Friday afternoon...not a great time for doing anything productive! I don't think there's been any gigs since last Tuesday. No there weren't. I enjoyed the hot weekend and have generally been spending more time outdoors than usual recently. Yesterday I think I found a new potential favourite place in the country at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I tend to think of favourite places as needing to be further away but sometimes ones close to home are good too. There's something about this place, and it isnt't the free entry! I could go back and just wander round, planning things and suchlike, lovely place.
*Well, I spent all afternoon at a pub in Upper Mill (also very beautiful) and then went to see Mark Knopfler at MEN Arena, (See below).
This Week:
It gets a bit more exciting with a long-awaited Altanta Soul gig tonight at the Bakers Vaults in Stockport. Then tomorrow (Sat 29th) it's the first 30 minute appearance of the acousitc 3-piece at The Hole In T'Wall, as part of the Big Green Weekend in Hebden Bridge. Our slot is at 9pm.
A-Z of Music:
I've now watched all 4 hours of the Tom Petty documentary, and found out a great deal. I enjoyed it very much. There's more depth to the man than I'd previously thought of, but it inspired me to keep going and to stay true to my particular dreams, which I guess is the general idea!
Mark Knopfler has written one of my all-time favourite songs (Brothers In Arms) and has the sort of guitar sound and feel for melody that causes instant air-guitar moments. I remember once having one of those moments in a record shop when 'Boom Like That' came on. My biggest cause for concern here was that it was in the Arena and I don't have him down as being a big venue performer. Sure enough, with Mark sitting down for the whole show due to a back injury, it hardly rivalled Queen in those stakes. His mumbling vocal-style meant it was hard to hear the words at first, and I wondered how much patience the audience would have, given the way people are these days.
Luckily it improved as it went on and I think he just about got the show to carry. Certainly the response was much better than for others I've seen who were stood up! The band sounded superb, it's just a pity that it didn't rock a bit more. When I saw Chris Rea in March I was tired by the end as I fed off his energy and the effort he puts in.
Moan of the week:
A non-musical one this week, although it could apply to any situation. My question is this: Why do I always get stood next to the guy at Rugby League matches who feels the need to constantly slag off his own team from half an hour BEFORE kick-off, until the end of the match??
I mean, surely it would be better to save the £18 and stay at home and moan. That way they could avoid inflicting themselves on everybody else. I find myself often commenting on the need to stay away from negativity, but this was a whole tirade. Poor lads, everything our team did was wrong, why not support the opposition instead? Why not just shut the fuck up, as I said to him about 10 minutes into the match. It didn't work of course. But I'm glad I said it.
I've been in bands with people like that too. I'm sure I've done it myself. In fact I'm doing it now, a moan about moaners. But surely when it gets so bad it's time to think: What am I doing here, and how must I sound to other people, right: I'll shut the fuck up.
I'll be standing in a slightly different place this Sunday :)
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
New blog feature (see below!)
Last week...
A bumper week of gigs, albeit of the short, sharp open-mic variety. I played at the Abbey Inn on Tuesday night (11th) for the first time in about 2 years. It was nice to catch up with some familiar faces and to meet some new ones, but moreover it was good to see the night itself still going strong-such is the transient nature of live music.
The following night, and one coallition goverment later, I played at Verve's open mic night with Katie. Having played Verve many times solo this was the first time I'd done their Wednesday session. I have to say it sounded better than ever in the downstairs room, and my new(ish) keyboard sounded absolutely spot on through the PA system. After all the recent problems with my own system it was a relief to finally hear the instrument as nature (and Roland) intended!
On Thursday I opened the night at the Chemic Tavern, playing 3 of my own songs, and that was that for the week. That just left time for a Bulls win on Friday and 2 BRISCA meetings in Northampton and Buxton. Oh, and then last night I got to see Francis Rossi's solo project in Sheffield. As a lifelong Quo fan it was nice to hear some of the songs that don't fit into the band's set. Album tracks like 'Blessed Are The Meek' and 'Electric Arena' have long been personal favourites of mine so it was good to hear them live.
This week...
No gigs this time, but there will be rehearsals and a recording session to fit in. I also have a new PA amp for my solo shows and what's more it works!
A-Z of Music...
Not much listening time this week, but I will now need to find 4 hours to watch the Tom Petty documentary that was shown in full on Friday night!! I think originally in the States it was shown as a series, but here we got the whole job lot in one go. I've also been listening to a 'best of' Fleetwood Mac CD, which may sound a bit predictable but funnily enough I've never heard a lot of the songs on CD-warped now as my old cassette album of 'Rumours' has become, a bit like it's owner :)
Moan of the Week (*new feature*)
A special new feature for the UK edition*, seeing as we are a nation of grumblers. I don't like to talk negatively and far be it from me to offend anyone** but here goes...
I get annoyed with the submissions policy at some Music Review Blogs. They seem so uptight about the high volume of CDs and emails they get sent. So they take this out on us musicians in their submissions policies which basically amount to a rant about, well, musicians sending them stuff. There are so many 'don'ts'. 'Don't do this, we'll delete your email straight away'...'Don't do that, we'll shove your Cd up your arse'...'Do this and we'll hate you for evermore'...
I sometimes feel like they don't actually want to review any music at all, even though they say they review unsigned acts. I think I should have a submission policy for would-be bloggers and podcasters who want to use my music. But then that would assume any of them are going to contact me, so we'd best not go there.
*Ok, there is only one worldwide edition. **I've no-one left to offend.
A bumper week of gigs, albeit of the short, sharp open-mic variety. I played at the Abbey Inn on Tuesday night (11th) for the first time in about 2 years. It was nice to catch up with some familiar faces and to meet some new ones, but moreover it was good to see the night itself still going strong-such is the transient nature of live music.
The following night, and one coallition goverment later, I played at Verve's open mic night with Katie. Having played Verve many times solo this was the first time I'd done their Wednesday session. I have to say it sounded better than ever in the downstairs room, and my new(ish) keyboard sounded absolutely spot on through the PA system. After all the recent problems with my own system it was a relief to finally hear the instrument as nature (and Roland) intended!
On Thursday I opened the night at the Chemic Tavern, playing 3 of my own songs, and that was that for the week. That just left time for a Bulls win on Friday and 2 BRISCA meetings in Northampton and Buxton. Oh, and then last night I got to see Francis Rossi's solo project in Sheffield. As a lifelong Quo fan it was nice to hear some of the songs that don't fit into the band's set. Album tracks like 'Blessed Are The Meek' and 'Electric Arena' have long been personal favourites of mine so it was good to hear them live.
This week...
No gigs this time, but there will be rehearsals and a recording session to fit in. I also have a new PA amp for my solo shows and what's more it works!
A-Z of Music...
Not much listening time this week, but I will now need to find 4 hours to watch the Tom Petty documentary that was shown in full on Friday night!! I think originally in the States it was shown as a series, but here we got the whole job lot in one go. I've also been listening to a 'best of' Fleetwood Mac CD, which may sound a bit predictable but funnily enough I've never heard a lot of the songs on CD-warped now as my old cassette album of 'Rumours' has become, a bit like it's owner :)
Moan of the Week (*new feature*)
A special new feature for the UK edition*, seeing as we are a nation of grumblers. I don't like to talk negatively and far be it from me to offend anyone** but here goes...
I get annoyed with the submissions policy at some Music Review Blogs. They seem so uptight about the high volume of CDs and emails they get sent. So they take this out on us musicians in their submissions policies which basically amount to a rant about, well, musicians sending them stuff. There are so many 'don'ts'. 'Don't do this, we'll delete your email straight away'...'Don't do that, we'll shove your Cd up your arse'...'Do this and we'll hate you for evermore'...
I sometimes feel like they don't actually want to review any music at all, even though they say they review unsigned acts. I think I should have a submission policy for would-be bloggers and podcasters who want to use my music. But then that would assume any of them are going to contact me, so we'd best not go there.
*Ok, there is only one worldwide edition. **I've no-one left to offend.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Last Week:
My only gig of last week was at Hoagys Bar in Leeds on Friday night (7th). This is essentially a covers gig which is fine by me, as I've plenty of other nights to play my own material. Then it was off to Skegness for the weekend. Stock Cars of course, not for sightseeing, and I stayed in the beautiful town of Boston on Saturday night.
This week....
I'm doing 3 open mics this week, starting with a return to the Abbey Inn (Bramley) tonight (Tuesday). Then it's into Leeds with Katie on Wednesday to see what the open mic at Verve Bar is all about. On Thursday I'll be at the Chemic Tavern also in Leeds, solo this time. So that's some form of gigging for the next 3 nights. This is more the kind of schedule I've been seeking since the band packed up: A nice run of mid-week gigs, all connected in some way with my songwriting, then a clear weekend to fill with other things!!
A-Z of Music....
Still been listening to Don Henley this past week, and I've now finished the greatest hits album I mentioned briefly last week. The highlights are 'End Of Innocence' and 'New York Minute', but there are others I enjoyed too. Don has plenty of angry tracks and in a way I think these would influence me in the future, as it's a similar style to my own writing. The only downside here is that the songs are mainly long, and I don't mean the 4mins30seconds tracks I get critcised for length on... most of these are 5-6 minutes, so I hope any session musicians were well paid ;)
My only gig of last week was at Hoagys Bar in Leeds on Friday night (7th). This is essentially a covers gig which is fine by me, as I've plenty of other nights to play my own material. Then it was off to Skegness for the weekend. Stock Cars of course, not for sightseeing, and I stayed in the beautiful town of Boston on Saturday night.
This week....
I'm doing 3 open mics this week, starting with a return to the Abbey Inn (Bramley) tonight (Tuesday). Then it's into Leeds with Katie on Wednesday to see what the open mic at Verve Bar is all about. On Thursday I'll be at the Chemic Tavern also in Leeds, solo this time. So that's some form of gigging for the next 3 nights. This is more the kind of schedule I've been seeking since the band packed up: A nice run of mid-week gigs, all connected in some way with my songwriting, then a clear weekend to fill with other things!!
A-Z of Music....
Still been listening to Don Henley this past week, and I've now finished the greatest hits album I mentioned briefly last week. The highlights are 'End Of Innocence' and 'New York Minute', but there are others I enjoyed too. Don has plenty of angry tracks and in a way I think these would influence me in the future, as it's a similar style to my own writing. The only downside here is that the songs are mainly long, and I don't mean the 4mins30seconds tracks I get critcised for length on... most of these are 5-6 minutes, so I hope any session musicians were well paid ;)
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Last week:
Facebook...
I've finally taken the plunge and got a Facebook page. Here are the links:
Profile Page
I've been using Myspace as my 'hub' for around 3 years now but in that time things have changed, as they inevitably do. I've noticed that less and less people (as opposed to bands) are using Myspace these days and this means there are less opportunities to target new fans, meet new people and generally introduce my music to. There are of course pros and cons to both sites but at present the sheer volume of people on Facebook means I'm really missing an open goal not having at least some presence on there. So there it is! I'll be remaining on Myspace and also I have my Youtube channel, which is progressing quite nicely now I've got into it.
Gigs....
2 to report on from last week. I played solo at Verve bar on Thursday night. This went fairly well, I was on first and there was a decent crowd there. Going on first can mean 'breaking the ice' a bit, with people still sober (!) but I find the spin-off from that is that you have people's attention a little easier. I thought playing-wise it was ok so I'm happy with how things went.
Onto Sunday and I was playing with Dan & Ol at the Hole Note in Hebden Bridge. The sheer number of performers on this night make it a very popular night, with over 4 hours of live music it's tremendous value too!! We played after the main act and did 4 tunes. It sounds like a lot of hanging about, but it makes for a more focussed performance, and we did get a very good reception.
Throw in 2 stock car meetings and a trip to North Yorkshire and you have a typical bank holiday weekend!
This week...
Main event this week is Hoagys Bar on Friday night (May 7th). This is on Eastgate in Leeds which is central, and not far from the Headrow. I'm on at 9:00pm and am doing the full night solo, mainly covers but may sneek a few of my own in too.
A-Z of Music...
I had another listen to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album I mentioned last week. It's definetly whetted my appetite to hear more of their music, even though the album doesn't contain a stand-out track as such. But it's all good quality writing and recording.
My only other foray this week was to Don Henley's Greatest Hits which I am also re-listening to at the moment. With Don you get a very thorough product as he's well-known as a perfectionist. The early tracks, apart from Boys Of Summer, seem a bit bland but the album really came to life after the magical 'End Of Innocence', the later tracks were a lot better and I'm looking forward to seeing how they move me on a second listen, which is usually more so!
Throw in 2 stock car meetings and a trip to North Yorkshire and you have a typical bank holiday weekend!
This week...
Main event this week is Hoagys Bar on Friday night (May 7th). This is on Eastgate in Leeds which is central, and not far from the Headrow. I'm on at 9:00pm and am doing the full night solo, mainly covers but may sneek a few of my own in too.
A-Z of Music...
I had another listen to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album I mentioned last week. It's definetly whetted my appetite to hear more of their music, even though the album doesn't contain a stand-out track as such. But it's all good quality writing and recording.
My only other foray this week was to Don Henley's Greatest Hits which I am also re-listening to at the moment. With Don you get a very thorough product as he's well-known as a perfectionist. The early tracks, apart from Boys Of Summer, seem a bit bland but the album really came to life after the magical 'End Of Innocence', the later tracks were a lot better and I'm looking forward to seeing how they move me on a second listen, which is usually more so!
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