My new blog can be found on Tumblr, entitled BEGUILING TRANSMISSIONS.
MARCH 2013
BACK TO LIFE Well, it's been a long, hard winter, hasn't it? As planned, I had a busy autumn 2012 writing new arrangements of old songs for my piano trio project with cellist Tony Woollard and violinist Charlie Brown. We had a very successful and enjoyable first recording/filming session in late October, covering six of the tracks, mainly from the Ascendant period.
And then as unplanned, I went and stupidly broke my collarbone in November.
OUCH!
After much initial gnashing of teeth, I had an operation to insert a metal plate. Then came two grindingly slow months trying to regain use of my arm. This is still very much work in progress even now (I'm not back on the bike yet and movements still hurt plenty in certain directions...) but I am doing most of my dance class work again at least. And with the coming of spring, it's very much time to get moving with my own music again.
Videos of the six tracks from the October session will be posted over coming months, and we will be recording/filming our second session in the not too distant future. These will be collected together into an album later in the year. There should be some classical gigs to follow as this was always our intention.
THE COVERS ALBUM My other main project for this summer is recording an album of stripped down moody covers of Europop songs. Back in 2011 I covered ABBA's 'The Day Before You Came' for The Death Of Copyright EP and the very positive response it received set me thinking that I should do more in this vein.
Europop interests me particularly because it is often seen as being completely lacking in any artistic credibility, and like any good Englishman I do love an underdog! Of course, the truth is that any musical theme or set of chords can be expanded and developed, and sometimes what makes a cover work is knowing just what to leave out, as well as how much time to take.
I also think this is a very interesting decade for Europe, both socially and politically, and these melancholic songs serve as a curious homage to that era of optimism for the continent which now seems to have been lost in the financial depression of our times.
Another cover I recorded back in 2011 the same day as the ABBA one was Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own'. However, this never made it on to the Nothing Impossible EP owing to some ridiculous shenanigans with the publisher over my desire to incorporate the theme from a second unrequited love song (Electronic's 'Getting Away With It'). This piece has now been tweaked to turn it into a straightforward cover, albeit one with a strong hint of Electronic in the latter stages. As such it has now crept out of the shadows, and my intention is to include it on the album. You can hear it here on Soundcloud.
Other songs I have worked on for inclusion in this covers project so far are 'What Is Love', 'Self Control' and 'Ride On Time'. I'm mulling over 'Voyage Voyage' and 'No Limit', but I'm not sure about those yet. 'Rock Me Amadeus' is not on the agenda... :)
AUGUST 2012
EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL Music from Alterations forms the soundtrack to the documentary film I Am Orig by award winning writer and stand-up comic Nathan Cassidy. It's a film he has made together with his young son about a year spent giving away money. Appropriately enough, anyone who goes to see the film will be given 50p!
I Am Orig is being shown 4th-25th Aug at The Banshee Labyrinth on Niddry Street. 2.20pm.
Nathan is also doing a related stand-up show called Free Pound (yes, the clue is in the name...) at The Royal Mile Tavern. Amongst many other delightful things, the show features an excruciatingly exquisite re-appropriation of the song 'Drive' by The Cars (as famously used for Live Aid once upon a time).
Free Pound is happening 18th-25th Aug. 8.30pm.
Go and see both!
JULY 2012
NOW ON EARBITS There are various online radio services out there, but Earbits is one of the best I've come across, probably on a par with the Sixty-One. It features selected new artists with beautifully presented full-page photos, plenty of info, links, opportunities to join mailing lists etc. and no annoying commercial distractions! They added me to their list of artists this week, so that's pretty cool.
ALBUM RELEASED Alterations finally gets it's official release on July 2nd. It's fully previewable and available to buy from Bandcamp on CD (swish recycled card gatefold wallet thingy with full lyric booklet) for the very reasonable sum of £5 plus P&P, or as a DD for the quite outrageously bargainous sum of £2.50 (in just about any file format you care to name). Bandcamp really are rather marvellous, it cannot be said often enough.
The splendidly indie CD Baby will also be selling the CD (perhaps a better bet for US customers), and it will inevitably be available from various well-known online music purveyors should any of them float your particular boat (emusic, iTunes, Amazon etc). Just bear in mind that the artist always gets a better deal from sites like Bandcamp and CD Baby: they are the Fairtrade options of the music world!
JUNE 2012
ZOMBIE DRAG VIDEO OUT! The slightly sinister lip-synching video for The Up Shit Creek Blues has at last been unveiled, following some technical shenanigans (Vimeo 1, YouTube 0). See it on the Sound & Vision page of this website, or on Vimeo directly.
BBC INTRODUCING One of my songs will be on BBC Introducing in Berkshire (on BBC Radio Berkshire), Sunday 17th June, 7-8pm. The show contains a 'demo panel', where three songs are commented on by three judges and informally scored. Whilst my songs are far from being 'demos' (tell that to the mastering engineer at Fluid...) I'm pleased to have been picked.
GIG FOOTAGE The splendid Live Sessions gig on Fri 15th June was filmed and some excerpts should find their way online in due course. The gig included some live premieres for two of the tracks from Alterations. (Aurora and The Forecaster)
MAY 2012
INTERVIEW There's now an in-depth interview with me in Skope Mag (a splendid US online music magazine) for your reading pleasure. Some thought provoking questions with appropriately lengthy answers. Worth making a cuppa first, I'd say!
VIDEO NEWS The choreography collaboration with David Greenall from earlier this spring - featuring a whole bunch of extremely talented students from Arts Ed, London - is now up on this website (on the 'collaborations' page: see main menu on the left). You can find there the full 25 min piece plus info about both the choreography and the music. An excerpt from the piece is also up on YouTube.
The make-up video for 'The Up Shit Creek Blues' is nearly finished and is looking amazing. I am SO thrilled with it, and extremely grateful to those who have helped bring it to fruition. The song was already pretty bloody dark, but this video amplifies that considerably. Just a few tiny tweaks for the lovely editing chappy to see to, and it'll be ready to unleash...
ALBUM REVIEWS A whole bundle of reviews are popping up for Alterations, mostly very positive I'm pleased to say. A few I've seen go off at the deep end with sarcasm and narrow-mindedness, but clearly some people don't like being presented with anything 'clever' or, worse, 'clever and theatrical'. You can't please everyone, 'tis true.
I will quote the majority of good ones on the reviews page here in due course, but here are some links for now:
Get Ready to ROCK! (Me, rock? Yeah, funny.)