Web Sheldon

FAWM - Song 2 of 14.5

2012-02-08T15:50:00.002Z

Finished the second song of the month today!

Web Sheldon - Lie Detector

FAWM - Song 1 of 14.5

2012-02-06T14:18:00.001Z

Yay so today I managed to finish my fırst song for February Album Writing Month! I did most of it on 1st February but since then I have been travelling to and around Istanbul so managed to do the final tweeks today... I had best up the pace now ıf I want to reach 14.5 by the end of Feb!

Web Sheldon - Wild Applause

FAWM Starts Tomorrowwww!!! :-p

2012-01-31T15:24:00.000Z

That is all.

February Album Writing Month

2012-01-29T01:56:00.002Z

I saw this last year but didn't get involved... I saw it this year too but didn't rise to the challenge...until Geez (I used to be in a band with him in Mothership where he played Lead guitar) posted on my Facebook wall that I should do it... So I thought it was the perfect time to do it!

I'm finding more enjoyment covering other people's songs at the moment, learning new chord structures and patterns etc and consequently I haven't been writing much original stuff, so this is the perfect excuse to get me writing again! I remember when I was about 19/20 years old, I'd be writing several songs a week, and it's been a while now since I finished off a new song! Right now is a good time to write though... There's a lot of change in my life, leaving Ireland and then London, PwC, going back to live at my parents and also being about to turn 30 is probably going to hit me soon! lol

So any songwriters reading this, come and join me in February Album Writing Month!

As far as I know, you simply upload the songs to your profile as and when you record them... I was reading Geez's page and he seems to have a plan for what he wants to do - mainly stripped back music, vocal and guitar... I have no idea for mine in terms of that... but I guess its ok not to have a plan... well I'd like to experiment a bit if anything...

My Web Sheldon FAWM page: http://fawm.org/fawmers/websheldon/

Here are 3 FAWM pages of mates who are also doing it:

Geez's FAWM Page: http://fawm.org/fawmers/degausser/

Allan's (Ankara) FAWM page: http://fawm.org/fawmers/ankara/

Ad's FAWM page: http://fawm.org/fawmers/adforperu/

Farewell Camden

2012-01-29T01:33:00.001Z

I have to say goodbye to Camden tomorrow as I move the last things out of Murray Street and into storage and then I'm off up to my parent's for a week before going to Istanbul for 2 weeks!

I did well in the audition, I got through to the second stage, but they wanted money off me to put towards the recording costs and management for 18 months and since I'm jobless at the moment, I've decided not to go any further with it... Great boost though to know I did well though.

I did start recording an old song in more jazz kind of style, its a really old one called Kate Bush (used to be called In Need at one point too!) - its very chilled and laid back thus far!

Audition & Mini Sheffield Visit

2012-01-21T23:16:00.001Z

So it's been a rather busy week... in between half moving out of my current house, leaving my job at PwC and rehearsing for an audition ready for today... I've never had an audition before (apart from when I was a teenager playing violin in orchestras) and I was pretty nervous but it was an exhilarating experience and I got some positive feedback at the time which is a big boost to come from a professional :) I'll find out next week whether yay or nay...

Spent the rest of the day basking in the glory of le Megabus up to Sheffield and then drinking red wine at my parent's and starting to learn an Ella Fitzgerald song (It's Only a Paper Moon). Also I was having a chat with a new fan on my Facebook page the other day (Matthew Hyde) and he asked me to cover a Tegan and Sara song called 'Walking With a Ghost', so that's my plan for tomorrow!

One question that took me by surprise at the audition (although it really shouldn't have done!) is what direction I see my music as taking... I guess that has always been a good question with me cos I just love too many styles of music but most predominantly I really love singing jazz and I like the electronic style songs I've written on my iMac such as "Spirit Like You" and "Theories From Von Krahl" with the latter being a bit more experimental.

Perhaps I need to write a new song (or rework an old one as I love doing atm) and see how I can use my jazz vocals with an electronic arrangement & acoustic guitar... could be NICEPIES!

Challenge Accepted! :-p

Screenshots from YouTube Videos

2012-01-18T07:55:00.000Z

I took a few screenshots from YouTube Videos today...

Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (link to video)

Lucinda William's "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" (link to video)

Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" (link to video)

Suzanne Vega's "Luka" (link to video)

Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" (link to video)

Last Night

2012-01-17T07:14:00.000Z

Thanks to Claudia for taking the video last night and to Patri for making me laugh!

These were the songs I played:

Kate Bush
Summertime (cover of Billie Holiday)
Killing Me (used to play this in Mothership)

Aaaand here's the video of Summertime... :) Click on the YouTube logo at the bottom right of the video to open it in YouTube and make it bigger...

Screenshot from Vid!

Playing at Open Mic @ Earl Of Camden tonight

2012-01-16T18:00:00.000Z

Going to the Earl of Camden again tonight for the open mic session! Come along if you're free!!

With Pure Heart

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000Z

This is the song I played at the Earl Of Camden on Monday, I think it went down better than the covers I did so I might record this over the weekend! I'm still chasing up my video of Monday too...I haven't seen it myself yet...

So...With Pure Heart... The lyrics are quite negative but its good to embrace the mood you are feeling sometimes and let yourself feel certain things, then you can move on and leave it behind...

With Pure Heart

Words are only words
Words are only sounds
Words can feel so powerful
And mean nothing at all

It's foolish to hang on so close
To anything that's out of your control
It's foolish to believe that
Another soul will save your soul

I've had lovers that leave me
I've left other lovers bleeding
Learned too much to love completely
Have I ever loved at all?

It's not the final destination
It's the journey that I'm travelling
It's the steps I'm taking one by one by one

And each step may bring me closer
To some vision of perfection
But it's temporary, everything will change

Then you'll be back finding your own way
Just your own soul in your own skin
Stronger than ever standing on your own

Then you'll be back finding your own road
One direction paved for your soul
You know you can't rely on anything at all

You can't rely on anyone at all , but yourself

PA Hunting

2012-01-12T18:30:00.000Z

If it wasn't for the fact that I get to feel a *little* bit like Monica from "Friends", I think packing would be a task of terrible woe! Especially *this particular* packing! When I left Ireland, it was exciting because I knew I was coming to London but this packing is just something that has to be done so I'm having to find other amusement within it.

Once I've got all the packing out of the way, I need to go window shopping for a PA system - if anyone knows anything about PA's, drop me a line! I want to be be able to play my own gigs with a decent sound. I remember Lucy and I played a gig (when we were just starting Beyond Obsession) in a pub that didn't usually have bands on back in Sheffield in about 2002 and we got paid something for it but we were putting both the guitars and vocals through an amplifier so the sound quality was pretty dire... So I want to get playing some of my own gigs soon - with excellent sound! And hopefully excellent music :-p

websheldon.com

2012-01-11T15:34:00.000Z

I bought the domain websheldon.com a while ago but couldn't work out how to link it to this blog but I managed to do it today! Woot!

So now you can just type in this address ( www.websheldon.com ) and it will automatically redirect you to this blog!

Plus I had some spare time to make the blog look prettier yesterday so it's had a lil face lift too... :-D

Last Night @ le Earl

2012-01-10T06:33:00.000Z

It was only the second time I've played since I moved to London... the first night was with my mate Beth Swain at Camden Eye just before Christmas and I played You're So Vain (Carly Simon), You Know I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse) and an unusual choice of my own song which was called "Broken".

I did go to the Earl Of Camden open mic night in my first month here but I got there quite late and didn't get to play...apart from playing to another local artist outside the venue later on after he'd been rapping for me in the street...lol So I thoroughly enjoyed last night... it feels GOOD to be playing live again.

I decided to go with some older classics last night:
Waitin' Around To Die (Townes Van Zandt)
Without Pure Heart (my own song)
Where Do You Go To My Lovely (Peter Stadt)

There might be a video on its way for With Pure Heart that a friend recorded for me... will update this when it comes through...

Open Mic @ Earl of Camden

2012-01-09T16:47:00.000Z

Heading down to the Earl Of Camden tonight for this :)

Scrawlings of Monday Morning...

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000Z

Hmmm Monday morning... my last full week of work at PwC... I had a good weekend though, a musical weekend is always a good weekend.

I have stacks of unused lyrics - probably 2 or 3 carrier bags stuffed to the brim with sheets of paper with scribblings on, anything from a few lines to whole sets of verses... Many of them of are quite dark and are a result of break ups or just general bad times. Although I think it's important as an artist to embrace and explore these times, it can also be a strain on your state of mind if you get too involved with them... I think I have distanced myself from a lot of those times now and like to think I have learnt something from having passed through each experience... However it means that I don't often feel like using the lyrics from back then to write music to now... although every now and then I will dig something useful up :)

Last year, not longer after he died, I received a gift of Gil Scott-Heron poems. On Saturday night, I had the house to myself and started reciting his poems as melodies with accompanying chords - I know for definite that some of them are already part of a song so I chose the ones I didn't know the songs to. I remember Gil talking during a song on his final studio album in 2010 about how lyrics should fit with the feel of the chords so it almost felt like I was treading on delicate ground if I want to remain respectful of Gil and his work. There was one in particular I liked, so I'll continue to work on that this week and will post it if I like the results :)

On a slightly separate note, I was thinking how I could continue to update my YouTube Channel if I don't have access to a computer, my Mac will probably go into storage soon until I find new job and somewhere new to live but I realised my iPhone is excellent at recording video and might even sound better than my Mac (I have a problem with my Mac atm where it will only record in one speaker...gah...technology!!!). So anyway I can still record videos on my iPhone, wherever I am, which is excellent news as I want to go full speed ahead with my musical resolutions... :) I'm working on a fairly recent Tori song at the moment, a 60's pop tune and a cover of a song by The Beautiful South...even amongst the imminent threat of being homeless and jobless, I'm sure I will have a new video to post on YouTube soon!

What else matters; other than music and love?

You're So Vain (Carly Simon cover)

2012-01-05T15:34:00.000Z

Amongst the craziness of London life so far, I've managed to record a new cover:

Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"

Arrived in London

2012-01-05T15:30:00.000Z

So I'm in London now... I arrived on 10th October with 2 car loads full of stuff (not exactly the guitar & suitcase scenario!) and got myself settled into a room in a house at the bottom of Camden Square. I had a few days to settle in before starting work and so I got to explore Camden Town a little more than my brief visits as a tourist before.

It's been a rough a few months though as the job was much more demanding than I expected. At the worst, I was leaving the house at 7am and not getting home until 9pm and feeling exhausted most the time. I didn't even have time to pick up my guitar, let alone actually learn new covers or write new songs. I also wasn't enjoying the job at all and in the end, I decided to quit... It's thrown things into turmoil a little now as I need to find another job in order to stay in London although I've already decided I should leave my room to either live in a hostel for a bit or stay at friends' places.

Soooo, once I am back on track, the plans for this year include starting gigging again now that I'm in London and I want to cover a lot more songs and putting my own twist on them (and record for my YouTube channel) and I'd like to start working with other musicians again...

So Happy New Year to all! Let's see what this year will bring! :-D

You Know I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse cover)

2011-09-09T02:30:00.000+01:00

I was sat in the living room at home when my boyfriend ran in from the bedroom to tell me the awful news that Amy Winehouse had died. I didn't say a single word at first, hoping it would be a hoax and so we both went to the Mac to search for news on Google. As the whole world knows now, it was true. Over the last few months, I've downloaded many concert performances and it's been truly wonderful to listen how she changes and adapts the songs, bringing new life and feeling into them.

She was my favourite vocalist of all time. The feelings from her heart and her soul, she enveloped so effortlessly in that voice and sent it out into the world. How she sings those words, the timbre and tones of her voice, she was a true vocalist. The Billie Holiday, the Sarah Vaughn of our generation. And now she is lost. Her music will live on forever though. I know that her music will always be with me as it will for millions of people all over the world.

Sadly, there's a lot of hate out there though. A lot of people either bored, misguided or simply rude and inappropriate. I don't believe in spreading hate. When I look on YouTube or the Last.FM comments boards and I see the amount of hate some people have for her, I have to think about why they feel the need to tell people about their hate, especially in a place where fans will be visiting and paying their respects. I wonder what they are trying to achieve - whether it is simply an outlet for their own anger or whether they just enjoy the attention and reaction their callous comments will receive. Then I wonder if it is really Amy that they're angry at? Or are they angry at themselves for their own addicitions or maybe their parent's?

For someone so open, so honest, so down to earth, who laid their life out word by word for the world to see, how can people be so heartless? I guess it comes down to ignorance and simply not caring what they say or to who they say it, or who they might be hurting. Perhaps they are the only person that matters in their life. I know that is the way of the world, if you tell your truth, you are then open to both praise or criticism. I'm pretty open myself, so you make the choice and you deal with it. Even if you have to make excuses for, and rise above the ignorance of other people.

So I wanted to pay my own musical respects and cover an Amy Winehouse song and I decided to choose one of her singles from the Back To Black album, "You Know I'm No Good".

Thank you Amy. You rocked my world.

Londinium

2011-09-09T02:00:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday this week, it was exactly 3 years since I moved to Ireland. I arrived with my suitcase late on a Saturday evening, slightly hungover from my leaving party night out in Manchester. It was also on Tuesday this week that I accepted an offer to start a new job in London. I've been looking for a while now and I've had quite a few interviews on the way, but out of all of them, this is the one I would have picked if I'd been given the choice - so it's worked out well :)

Living in London has been my dream ever since I was 17 and I used to go down over the weekend to visit my sister in South Ealing. The mix of people from all over the world, the energy, the excitement, the fast paced life, the smell of the underground, the massive range of restaurants, the style and the city life. I'm sure it will be quite different living there, to actually visiting there. But it's nice to have one of my dreams come true. I've been lucky with the timing too - 2 of my best friends recently moved there along with having some existing friends there already so I'm not going to be all on my ownsome lonesome. In addition to this though, the other half of the musical duo I am in, also lives in London. Due to our distance, we've only written a couple of songs together so far but I think we're both really excited to start working together again. Our collective name is "Bilamie" and the name comes from 2 of our favourite artists: Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse - our music so far has been in a similar vein too - jazz/blues/funky soul. I have to admit, I'm terribly excited. I really miss being in a band and the buzz of playing live. I really feel alive when I'm singing.

So it's a big time of change in the next month.

But in addition to all this, I am going to be back in my home land, for Christmas :)

Glastonbury 2011 - The artists I saw

2011-06-28T17:02:00.000+01:00

I got back from Glastonbury at 2am this morning - I seem to have acquired some kind of illness in addition to the 6 days hangover...lol However, aside from that, I saw loads of fantastic gigs whilst there, including one of my favourite gigs of all time - a surprise appearance from PULP on The Park stage on Saturday. I'd never seen them before so it was like a dream come true to find out that they were playing - there was a lovely review of Pulp in the Guardian too.

Here's a quick list of the other artists I also saw:

Mista Verde - never seen this guy before but was very impressed! Great lyrics, music and engaging stage presence! I need to find somewhere to buy his music now...

My Tiger, My Timing
These guys kicked off the Sunday morning on the John Peel stage. I was kinda sad cos they didn't play the only song I knew by them (I Am The Sound) but aside from this, the songs were upbeat, a few synths and the lead singer had a charming quality.

Dylan Le Blanc
Started the festival off with this on the Friday morning. He was a little shy on stage but the songs came across well.

K T Tunstall
I thought she was ace! She had a little anecdote or story behind most of the songs and dedicated them to different groups of people based upon things like whether they'd recently broken up with someone or if it was their first Glastonbury. I'm not familiar with most of her back catalogue but the songs had me hooked!

Asian Dub Foundation
Headlining G-Stage (used to be The Glade) on Saturday night - great energy as always!

Erol Alkan
My second favourite artist of the festival - a true master of the decks and it was so nice to hear several other people in the audience commenting similarly too!

Annie Mac
Only saw the start of this after Erol but it was really hard to drag myself away!

Esbah and The Witch
I enjoyed the general vibe and the drumming/percussion during this.

Metronomy
I hadn't heard of these before but they've got some pretty good tunes up their sleeves!

Coldplay
One of the few bands I actively dislike although I have to say they played a number of more upbeat songs I was not familiar with I enjoyed listening to.

Rumer
Her voice and some melodies really reminds me of Carol Carpenter. Lovely slow and chilled out for a summer's day.

Tame Impala
Only saw these guys briefly...

Stornaway
Heard some good comments about these and it was deffo a good gig! They kicked off the Pyramid stage on Saturday morning. The lead singer bridged the gaps between the songs with random pieces of trivia, keeping us amused. Their lovely English folk influenced indie was a soothing way to start the day.

Beyonce
Absolute class. What a performer! In addition to playing her hits, and her latest single (Run The World) and a medley of Destiny's Child hits, she even played an Alanis Morissette cover. She owned the stage and the night and the crowd.

Pendulum
Enjoyed this :)

Plan B
I've liked Plan B for a few years now but in all honesty, I thought the selection of songs was poorly chosen and he didn't play anything I was looking forward to hearing him perform :-(

Laura Marling
I was disappointed here too - mainly because "Alas, I Cannot Swim" is one of my favourite albums of all time and we only got 2, maybe 3 songs from it - not including Tap At My Window or Night Terror. I was also hoping she would play New Romantic. The majority of the set was from the latest album, which is fair enough, it was just a shame for me. Aside from that though, her voice was gorgeous as always, every song she played was faultless in performance and she has a lovely warming stage presence.

Paul Simon
Unfortunately, during Paul Simon I was on a mission looking for an umbrella to shield my burning skin, alcohol (to stop the pain, obviously!!) and a toilet - once all missions had been accomplished successfully, the set was over. I heard a good selection of hits though!

Don McLean
It was wonderful to hear American Pie - I will remember that moment forever! He also played Vincent (Starry Starry Night) - which I have also covered myself, but it in all honesty, the rest of the set just wasn't very engaging, including Vincent. I felt like he either wasn't in touch with the music, or himself, or the crowd.

The Low Anthem
I only saw the last few songs from this set - none of which I was familiar with and they didn't really grab me on the day.

Mumford & Sons
Once again, I'm not familiar with any Mumford & Sons songs, but I enjoyed listening to them.

The Vaccines
I was kicking myself during this because the only reason I wanted to see them was to hear Post Break-Up Sex being played - I was listening to that song on repeat before Glasto and then totally let it pass by whilst I was at the bar :-( The rest of the set sounded great though!

The Naked and Famous
Caught the tail end of this set - will definitely be getting the album though after what I heard!

Man Like Me
Excellent stage presence - fun, dedicated to giving a great performance and decent tunes too! I was waiting for London Town, which they did an excellent job of!

Cherri V
I'd never heard of Cherri V before but I'll certainly be keeping a look out for the name in future!

Blast from the Past - Mothership's Dressed To Undress video

2011-06-17T14:55:00.000+01:00

There's been a bit of talk about Mothership recently (the band I was lead singer of 2004 - 2006) so I've been listening to the old tracks we did and even had a look at the video we recorded too.

I remember the day we recorded it... I had been out the night before and was absolutely wrecked, I was out in the car with my boyfriend Douglas at the time and our mate Chris and I got phone call from the band reminding me about the video shoot. I quickly got myself back home and changed, make up on, pineapple alerted (I used to tie my dreads above my head and it was known as 'The Pineapple' haha) and got myself on the next train to Sheffield. I've always been a little camera shy when there's video cameras around so I had no choice but to forget my hangover from hell and get some drinks down me again. I soon got into it though and we ended up having such an ace time shooting the video - you can see in some of the scenes that there was rather a lot of frivolity at times ;-)

I've pasted a link to the video below :)

Blowin' In The Wind

2011-06-15T09:36:00.000+01:00

I was never a major Dylan fan up until he released his album Together Through Life back in 2009 - it was one of my favourite albums of the year and then after that I got a hits compilation (which included 'Blowin' In The Wind', and then a few of the earlier albums too. He's always a favourite to cover with male acoustic singers but I like to think I've changed this just a little bit to make it my own.

Suede Tomorrow Night!

2011-06-14T13:00:00.000+01:00

We'll be heading down to Suede again tomorrow night for the Open Mic sessions!

I'll be playing 4 or 5 songs sometime after 9pm - will probably include a couple of new covers... maybe Madonna's "Frozen" and ABBA's "Chiquitita" on guitar :-p

Will try *not* to sing Chicken Tikka though.

Open Mic Tonight @ Suede, Athlone

2011-06-01T12:26:00.000+01:00

There's a new bar opened up in Athlone called Suede and I went there with Beko a couple of weeks ago and we randomly stumbled upon an Open Mic session!

So I'm going back to play a few tunes tonight! Will be there from 8:30 onwards...

Jolene (Dolly Parton)
My Baby (new song of my own)
Blowin' In The Wind (Bob Dylan)
Dressed To Undress (an old song I used to play with Mothership)
Where Do You Go To My Lovely (Peter Sarstedt)

See you there! ;-)

Vincent Video

2011-03-26T18:22:00.000Z

2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

2011-03-21T11:03:00.000Z

Lucinda Williams released a new album a couple of weeks so I've been listening to her again recently. I decided to cover one of my favourite tracks by her - 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten, from her album 'Car Wheels on Gravel Road'

Luka

2011-03-04T10:53:00.000Z

I was determined to get a video recorded in January - which I did...although only got it posted here now :) I had a little Suzanne Vega weekend ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSHJQoBiDM

Whisky

2010-05-30T17:46:00.000+01:00

My parent's bought me my first kitten when I was 12, I called her Whisky.

She died on Friday night...I've been crying at intervals since...and some words and things just came out of me... I think I have a recording to upload too...

Link to MP3: Whisky

Whisky
You were here
16 years
Even now
You're still my little girl

I grew from a child
To a man with you
Our love never changed
Truley unconditional

I'm so sorry
I wasn't there
When you closed your eyes
For the last time

So when I close my eyes tonight
Maybe you can come around for a while
We'll lay on the ground, you can sleep for one last time
And we can say goodbye

Georgia On My Mind

2010-05-16T01:24:00.000+01:00

Recorded a cover of Billie Holiday's (Ray Charles') Georgia On My Mind earlier today :)

Sweet Bilamie

2010-05-11T14:47:00.000+01:00

I've been playing around with a guitar part for the last couple of weeks, a part that was inspired by the songs that Beth and I have written together... Today, I put some lyrics to it... In case you don't know, when we play music together, our duo is called Bilamie :-)

"Sweet Bilamie"

I got a little friend who I love
With talents sent high from up above
When her fingers stroke her strings
I feel so much love I have to sing
So please, please, please
Lets make some sweet
Music together

Sweet harmonising beautifully
We'll be bathing in utopian ecstasy
The vibes push us high
That's when our spirits shine bright
So please, please, please
Lets make some sweet
Music together

When another man walks out
When a girl fucks you about
There's another world where love is free
Bilamie, Sweet Bilamie

When the day drags dull and long
When there's a voice screamin' 'your life is wrong!'
There's another world where love is free
Bilamie, Sweet Bilamie

Songs Brewing and Ableton Ordered

2010-05-11T11:22:00.000+01:00

After a little break from music after the Stars of Our Bars weeks, I'm back on track now and writing some new material... since I haven't bought the mega expensive software yet, I cannot record, so instead I am writing on guitar again in the mean time - which is nice! Guitar is good for summer... I also have a couple of covers lined up - one to choose for Eduardo in Brazil which I promised aaaaages ago and one for Beko in Turkey.

*** 5 minutes later ***

Ok so I decided to bite the bullet and buy Ableton Suite 8 (€700!) - it was very hard to click on the BUY button.... hahaha but in 2 weeks I will own it so no more trying to work with cracked software that keeps crashing and breaking (well, I hope not anyway!!).

Bad News...

2010-05-11T10:31:00.000+01:00

Awww... I had some gutting news over the weekend... My long term plan after Ireland was to move to Brighton and once there, I was looking forward to working with my musician friend Beth and making sweet music together and playing gigs... We have a duo together that we call Bilamie - we've only written a couple of songs so far but I've totally loved every minute of it... She's such a wonderful person to work with musically - vibrant, intuitive, experimental, and so encouraging... Circumstances recently have changed for Beth though so she is having to move back up to the North of England which means she won't be there when I move to Brighton. But it's not the end of the world - we can still work together in future and it will at least be easier when we're in the same country... :-)

I was still going to do my own solo stuff even if Bilamie worked out so I won't be looking for another partner to work with - the idea was just that I wanted to work with Beth because she's such a talented musician and we have a similar outlook on music, life and love... So it's not terrible news, it's just a change of plan :)

After the buzz and excitement...

2010-04-06T10:05:00.000+01:00

Omg.

What a week...

A week last Sunday I had to take Antonio (my car) back to the UK before the Irish government turned him into Cola Cans... I missed my ferry (followed sign to the wrong Port!) and had to hang around 5 hours for the next one and then when my ferry got into thr UK, I had to drive to my parents.. I didn't get to sleep till 6am and was up for working from home at 8... lol Then Monday night I was back in Ireland but there were no coaches to go back to Athlone (and obviously I didn't have a car anymore) so I had to get a hotel and then catch the first coach in the morning... However, I couldn't sleep that night and only had 2 hours again... Then the night after I slept really well until 4am and then that was pretty much it... I only started to feel normal again yesterday...

I've taken a bit of a break from music this week. The last few weeks have been really intense - rehearsing night after night and changing the songs for the competition... But I'm actually ITCHING to get started again now and can't wait until the evening... I think the first thing I am going to do is have a few run through's of the song I did for Aitor "Try a Little Tenderness" (I spent so long on it, I don't want to not practice it and then completely forget it!) and then I'm going to start working on one of the covers for Eduardo. Before I can record again though, I need to buy Ableton Suite 8 which is €700 so I'm not sure when I'm going to have the money for that what with all the crazy amounts I've spent on double car insurance and everything to do with that recently...

I got some really lovely messages from people on Facebook after the competition last week giving words of support...

Easter weeekend was cool... I was meant to start my covers for Eduardo but I couldn't find the email with the songs... :-( However, I started recording a song I started writing last week... It was acoustic guitar based but I'm starting with the drums and bass and synth and building it up from there now and then maybe add guitar in later...

I've only got tonight thought and then I'm off to France on a business trip tomorrow until Friday and then June is over to visit until Sunday so it's going to be a crazy week...

Not this time ;-)

2010-03-27T05:05:00.001Z

Awww well I didn't get through tonight... but I've had a wicked time the last few weeks :)

Newspaper Clipping for Stars of Our Bars

2010-03-25T11:24:00.000Z

What am I playing on Friday??

2010-03-24T10:12:00.000Z

...not that I'm freaking out or anything....ahem.

I've sorted out which cover I am playing, BUT out of hundreds of my own songs, I can't seem to find ONE song of my own composition that I want to play on Friday night...

I've tried to narrow it down to a few but not convinced that any of them are perfect for Friday at the moment and I'm still looking through the others... Whatever I play, I'll probably end up changing it anyway! lol

So far, I've narrowed it down to:

Bite - would have to be a re-make, starting off a capella like the original but then instead of the drum stick on wood, it would be heal stomping (which goes down well usually) and then the guitar joining halfway through... am worried that the judges may think it's a gimmick to win though... or it might just show originality...

Dressed To Undress great song, instantly likeable... but I already played this the first weekof the competition...

Falling into the Leaves - I would be playing the original "fast" version of this if I did play it (not like the slower recorded version) - this is a favourite amongst friends in Athlone but the guitar part is so simple, I may lose marks for that... The chords are literally G Em C D and then mixed up and there's no fancy strumming or anything like that...

Facing the World Again - It might be a little slow and depressing... but it's got quite heart felt lyrics... the guitar part is a little quirky in the verses... not sure the vocal really shows off my voice though...

A Secret Love - obviously this is definitely slow and depressing too but it *is* on piano, which could be a bonus and it's pretty dark and eerie which might be a good change of mood during the evening - if I did a remake of it, I might be able to make this one work... Re-makes on the piano are more difficult for me though and I only have 2 evenings before Friday...

Petroleum - I love the lyrics to this cos it's comparing a relationship to a jar of vaseline! haha but you could see how, due to that reason, it could be easily disparaged... The guitar work is good though, the song is upbeat, it's catchy, it goes down well at parties usually too... The chords aren't anything fancy but I think the general structure of the song makes up for that...

In History - even though I think this is one of my best, I do think that it is a song that grows on you rather than being an instant favourite - which it needs to be on the night... I dunno, it's such an OLD song now and I've played it so often that it's kind of tatood on my brain and I find it difficult to analyse it objectively...

Kate Bush - this is definitely an option - the guitar part is ok, decent variation of chords and strumming... I think vocal could benefit from more variety and that might let it down...

Deeper Interaction - I say this is a recent song but it's actually end of 2006 hahaha which is aaaaages ago! Anyway - this is also dark and on the piano, like A Secret Love except I guess that the piano part is a little more interesting...

Killing Me - a music review in Sheffield once said that this was a sure fire Number 1 hit - but thats when I had all the backing arrangement from Mothership to it... I'm not sure how well the songs stands up when it's played only acoustically.. The other thing is that the lyrics are quite disturbing - about a friend who wanted to commit suicide - and even though the lyrics are quite subtle, I'm not sure it suits the atmosphere of a competition night...

Ok. So. Bite, Petroleum, Kate Bush and Deeper Interaction are the first songs I'm going to play tonight and see how they sound....and I'll take it from there...

Through to the Stars of Our Bars FINAL!

2010-03-22T09:59:00.000Z

It was the second round of the Stars of Our Bars semi finals last night and I came first out of the night and am through to the FINAL on Friday!!

I played "Wish on The Moon" (a new version) and "One" by U2.

I'm not sure of the songs to sing on the final on Friday yet - need to get thinking quick as I only have 4 evenings to decide and prepare...

I'll be uploading the photos from last night on to Facebook later and I'm going to put them up from the last weeks on to here too!

Facebook Fan Page and New YouTube video of Summertime

2010-03-19T13:27:00.000Z

So I was quite busy yesterday and created a Facebook fan page...
http://twitpic.com/19ixk4

And uploaded a video of me covering Billie Holiday's Sumemrtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgBrm4puYMM

Poster for Stars of Our Bars

2010-03-18T18:05:00.000Z

Semi Finals: Sunday 21st March

2010-03-18T18:02:00.000Z

I've got a place in the Semi Finals of Stars of Our Bars playing on Sunday night at The Palace Bar again - usual venue but the time will be a bit earlier this week because it's Sunday (am waiting to find out but I guess that getting there for 8 should be fine!)

Last.FM link
Facebook link

I've gone and caught myself some kind of cold so I'm hoping I can get rid of it before Sunday otherwise my voice will not be at it's best.. eeek!

This week I will be playing a cover version again and then also one of my old songs Wish On The Moon - but it's been totally re-vamped! Will get the new version recorded soon! :)

Through to the Semi Finals!

2010-03-13T19:11:00.000Z

Wooohoo ok so last night, I sang:

Matthew MoreOrLess (my own song on piano) and
One by U2

And it got through to the semi finals!

Today has been really cool - I haven't done anything except chill, have a siesta and write a few bits and pieces on the piano that I really like... I should play piano more... need to expand the piano EP anyway as there's only one song for that so far.

So hooray for U2! And Matthew! lol

Pics coming soon!!

Covers on Demand 2

2010-03-09T08:50:00.000Z

hehe

Well... if you remember my Covers on Demand post a few weeks ago where I had a choice of 3 songs and had to cover one of them? Well I chose 'Try a Little Tenderness', by Otis Redding and when it was fininshed, I sent it out to a few people... and I was chatting to a friend in Brazil who loved track and I agreed to do the same thing for him...

So here's another 3 songs...
Lift Me Up - Christina Aguilera
So Beautiful - Darren Hayes
Glitter In The Air - Pink

Once again, I don't know any of the actual songs so that's kinda cool as I'm learning it from scratch!

News on my EPs

2010-03-08T11:56:00.000Z

Thought I should clarify what's going on with my EP's... :)

I wanted to split my recorded songs into different EPs, so that each EP had a flowing 'theme'. Therefore I am recording several EP's all at once and I'm just adding to each EP as and when I record a new song for it.

Demo
Recorded in 2005 - this is finished so I'm not adding any tracks to this.
1. Wish On The Moon
2. Bite
3. In History
4. Takin' The High
5. So Worthwhile

Eight English Months
This is for songs mainly with acoustic guitar accompaniment.

5 Minutes
Anything on here is cover versions... Since these are not my songs, I have not put them available to download from anywhere but you can just email me and I will send them to you :)

[to be confirmed]
This is my most exciting project as it is more electronica based. Just 2 tracks recorded for this so far "Spirit Like You" and "Theories from Von Krahl" but I have a few bubbling under :-p

Live Sessions
These are all songs recorded on my iPhone so they're not excellent quality but I have sooo many songs and I don't want them to get lost forever in my brain somewhere, so everytime I play an old song for someone, I try and record it. I have a few that I can add to this so I need to upload them.

I'll also be having an EP for songs that have piano accompaniment mainly because these tend to be quite dark so I think they will all fit pretty well together on the same CD. For anyone who knows my music - this will be tracks such as A Secret Love, Deeper Interaction, No Soul I Know Could Live Without Love, Matthew MoreOrLess etc.

Links to all my downloads are on my Last.FM page.

Yay 2010 is an exciting year :-D

That's it for now...

Looking forward to tonight as I'm going to sit on the patio in the sun, drink red wine, and rehearse my songs for Friday's competition!

Through to the next round!!

2010-03-06T20:09:00.000Z

Sooooo...... I good news from last night! Was at Stars of our Bars at The Palace Bar in Athlone and I CAME FIRST in the competition and therefore I'm going through to the next round which is next week! So excited! Seriously can't believe I won...was sooooo cool! Got to find good songs for next week now!

And we celebrated with champagne afterwards woohoo!

For the record... I played a cover of Garbeg's 'Only Happy When It Rains' and my own song Dressed to Undress :)

Gig tonight!

2010-03-05T09:09:00.000Z

Yay! It's the talent competition tonight! It seems like I've got a few people coming from work thanks to friends in each department acting as mini marketing peeps hehe so that's really cool!

I was going to play a song on guitar and a song on piano... but the piano one I haven't really practiced enough (even though I wrote it 2 years ago...but it's really hard! I need to start writing simplier piano songs or maybe I just need to practice more mmmmhmmmm hahaha yeah I think that is the answer!)

Link to gig info

So I think I'm going to play Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage cover) and one of my own "Dressed To Undress" - both on guitar...

It's a beautiful day again here! I'll be able to rehearse on the river bank in the sun later if this keeps up... :-D

Palace Tonight!

2010-02-26T13:04:00.000Z

Ok so I'm gonna head down to The Palace Bar tonight (the place where I am playing next week!) and see what the local competition is like...

I need to see what everyone else is doing before I decide what I want to do... I'll be playing 2 songs - so I thought one of my own to start and then a cover song to leave them with - that should be cool! But we'll see...

Best not get too wrecked tonight - I need to remember what I've seen! lol

First gig booked in over 2 years!

2010-02-25T14:39:00.000Z

Ok so I'm not ready to start gigging again but this is just a one off show! There's a competition running in Ireland called Stars of Our Bars and it's in Athlone as well so I thought I'd have a go...

I'm playing at the Palace Bar, Athlone town centre on Friday 5th March!

http://www.last.fm/event/1430373+Stars+of+our+Bars

Now all I have to do is decide what the hell I'm going to perform... Guitar? Keyboard? Congo's? Will I use the laptop as accompanyment? Or shall I get one of those foot pedals that you can loop to make layered sounds? Hmmmmm.

Ok well I have 1 week to prepare!

Eeeep!

Cover Versions on Demand!

2010-02-17T09:32:00.000Z

One of my friends (who is also a musician!) had an idea that we should both choose 3 songs and the other person has to choose one of those songs and cover it!

So he gave me the option of these 3:
Otis Redding - Try a little tenderness
Imogen Heap - Half life
Joe Cocker - My father's son

I know other songs from all 3 artists but don't know the actual songs at all, so I got home last night and downloaded them from iTunes... I was really tempted to cover Half Life because I like Imogen Heap, but then I thought that My Father's Son was quite a simple song and I would be able to do more stuff to it to make it my own but in the end I chose Try a Little Tenderness, simply because I loved the vibe to it - think I need to invest in a bit more of Otis Redding... So last night I started practicing... The bloody chords were wrong on all the internet sites (I think they just copy from one another so if the first ones wrong, then they all are!), so first I had to work out the correct chords. It went quite well, but I need to practice it more yet...

The 3 songs I picked are:
Joni Mitchell (obviously!) - Carey
Whitney Houston (obviously haha!) - Saving All My Love For You
Billie Holiday - These Foolish Things

So I'm waiting to find out which one he is going to cover now! Woo!

Sunrise

2010-02-15T09:15:00.000Z

I love dawn. You start to think about all the things the day could have in store for you. More so, I think you believe in yourself more at dawn than any other time of the day - it makes you feel like anything is possible if you just put your mind to it.

:-)

Love Nest

2010-02-09T19:44:00.000Z

I've had a good few days but today I kinda crumbled when I got home...

Got a little tune out of it though at least...

Download free mp3: http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/384979610/Love%2BNest.mp3

Today i thought
About you all day
As usual
My heart is full
And I miss you
Oh so much

I'm watching the sunset over the marina
We've watched many times together

I'm fighting off the urge to say i love you
Yes, I still refrain
I hope you're ok

I'm fighting off the urge to say i love you
Yes, I still refrain
But I think I'm gonna be ok

YouTube Covers - Tear In Your Hand / Redemtpion Song

2010-02-09T11:03:00.000Z

Recorded a couple of YouTube videos on Friday night...

A cover of Tori Amos' "Tear In Your Hand":

A cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song":

Aftermath

2010-02-08T14:54:00.000Z

One of the worst things about someone breaking up with you...

...is that they have realised that their life will be better without you, than if they were with you. And then it's up to you to find ways to make your life better without them too. And it's kind of a hurtful thing to think and its difficult to get your head around - it's like you're trying to make the transition from being "one" in your relationship, to being completely your own person again both in heart and mind.

So, moving on.... Healthwise I had a terrible time last week. I ate a lot of junk food, I didn't go to the gym once and I was smoking. I was going to the gym twice a day in January and I think I was just really upset that after 4 weeks, I hadn't lost *any* weight.

So now this week, I'm starting again, but this time I will be following the same regime as I did last year when I lost a stone - except this year I will be weight training too. So I'll be having All Bran and an apple for breakfast, soup for lunch and then vegetables and some kind of meat for dinner. And I won't be eating any bread. I'll be getting my 5-a-day fruit and veg and drinking my usual copious amounts of water. So I'll be doing 30 minutes cardio Monday to Friday in the morning before work and then after work on Mondday to Thursday, I'll be going to the gym to do 45 minutes of weight training.

That's the plan for now until 29th March. I've got 7 full weeks to lose 14 pounds.

Fingers crossed.

Ableton for Mac now LIVE!! Ace. Face. Of. Pies.

2010-02-05T09:03:00.000Z

Yesteday evening was ace. Period.

I got home and managed to get Ableton Live 7 for Mac. This put me in *such* a good mood cos my Mac actual has a bit of power behind it so composing on that will be like composing on a real computer woooo! Lappy is sooooo slow with Ableton but I had already started a song on there from the other night which started off being inspired by a Demdike Stare song but I ended up working on it aaaaall night and now it's turned into a kinda Dark Progressive House / Minimal style song.... It felt really good to be creating again... I don't often feel the thrill from writing guitar or piano songs anymore unless something really hits me but I loved recording this last night with 3 different bass lines, 3 different drum tracks, and I bought some congos last weekend and they're included on there too (although to be honest they sound more like tom toms due to mic positioning but thats ok...!) So I really wanna go home and finish it off now! Would be ace to have a new song out so early in the year... I recorded a little demo the other night called "No Sweet Conversation" but I was only messing around and then after realised that the mic was set up wrong and had only recorded in one speaker! haha So may work on that again another time and add some strings and harmonies too...

Hmmmm I'm sure paragraphs aren't meant to be that long!

Returning to Shine... and Garageband

2010-02-04T09:33:00.000Z

Am listening to Joni Mitchell's "Shine" album right now... It feels completely appropriate for my feelings at the moment... When I first got into this album, it was Autumn/Winter 2007 and I was living with Mark at The Apple Building and I was completely in love with him...but by this particular point I knew that nothing was going to happen between us... And I just felt completely devastated inside and I used to go to a branch of Starbucks and they would always be playing Shine. At the time, I felt like I had lost an integral part of me... In reality I had lost nothing but my faith in a fantasy... I had realised, for real, that nothing was ever going to happen between Mark and I... and that had took a year to surface in my mind... Obviously I'd lost something that I never had in the first place, but whenever you lose something dear to you, you are going to have a period of mourning...and that's what I had to do for a while in order to come back stronger afterwards. Both listening to Shine, and going to this Starbucks after work and having a relaxing coffee gave me sooooo much comfort... I thought I was never going to hear another new Joni Mitchell album.. in fact she hadn't released one since I had got into her music in 2003 so it was absolutely amazing when the album came out, also when I actually liked it, and then even more so when it started to hold so much significance to me.

I feel kind of the same now. I've lost Sandeep and this is my period of mourning. It's so strange because I haven't felt like listening to Shine since I got over Mark... Whenever I listened to it, it just felt like I was tapping into a feeling that I didn't want to address... a feeling of desolateness, weakenss, starting from scratch, finding myself again... But all of those things I feel again right now... and this album now feels just as important, as relevant and as comforting as it did 2 years ago... The funny thing is I never really got over Mark until I met Sandeep...

I've written a lot of lyrics this week about mine and San's break up... I don't know why, but this week has been the most difficult week since we first split back in December... It shouldn't be because Tarni is home and I have more people around... But I guess I'm just feeling lost. I just don't know what to do!! I'm confused.

I was sooooo happy last year... In periods during the past, I have had happiness but I don't think I'd ever had such a feeling of contentness as I had last year. I remember I'd leave work at the wekeend and drive to Dublin to the airport and I'd be listening to Alas I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling and thinking about what me and Sandeep were going to get up to that weekend... I'd catch my flight, I'd have a small bottle of red wine and I'd sit on the plane just thinking how lucky I was to have such a wonderful guy to be with, to have parents that love me, to have such caring friends, to have got my big break in my career, to be talented enough to write my own songs and express myself, I'd even think about how lucky I was to have grown up in a country where I got an education, and a decent place to live... I don't think I'd ever felt so thankful to the world and I was so happy to admit it. I started writing songs for an EP and even the lyrics were positive...

"Suddenly I feel
Like I'm on holiday
I'll talk to strangers
I'll read in cafes

I'll wake up at dawn
Even in the summer
I'll watch every sunrise
And I'll feel stronger

And when I wake
I'm straight out of bed
And I feel rested
Watered and fed

Finally I feel
And I don't have to think
Soon all will be in place
Finding my missing link"

This was early Summer... and then Summer was amazing too... and then I don't know what happened...

All I have to do though is get through these few months and I know that I will be ok. I need to plan. I need things to work towards and to look forward to.

Music-wise, I've had a good week... I wrote this crazy experimental piece on Tuesday night... but it was a bit mental - crazy rhythms with a vocal part over the top... I bought 2 congos over the weekend so I've been playing those a bit too. And I've been learning to use a new software programme called Garageband which I got free with my iMac. Although I really don't want to, I want to buy Abelton Suiter but its about €700.... it's absolutely extortionate... and I certainly can't afford it right now...

So I'll make use of Garageband for the time being...

Ok...time for me to go....x

Beautiful Star

2010-01-22T13:11:00.000Z

Am feeling a lot more positive today than when I wrote the last post... I'm sure I probably have a long way to go before I'll feel better about Sandeep - but I know it's an adjustment period and it's only been 6 weeks anyway...

It's a strange time right now, Sandeep is gone, Maik has moved back to Germany, Jesus and Tarni are on holiday, Douglas isn't talking to me despite many attempts, and I guess, I feel kind of lost... But on the other side of that... this week I've been so healthy with food and exercise and I went for dinner with Sarah which was absolutely lovely, I've been in contact with my Mum a lot more since Christmas, I've been talking to a lovely Brazilian guy called Eduardo and yesterday I felt kind of human again and like I had a bit more strength inside me to deal with stuff.

So to celebrate, I bleached my hair! haha Most people at work were pretty shocked... But they only know me at work where I'm a lot quieter...well...most of the time...exception of Xmas parties etc... :-/ And today is sunny... And I guess I'm feeling thankful to be alive and for my friends and my family... See it's obvious I'm pretty emotional... but at least it's in a good way :-)

Warm (lyrics)

2010-01-20T11:29:00.000Z

Was completely head over heels and infatuated when I wrote this - I was drunk on love, autumn, alcohol and a certain brand of cereal...

Free MP3: Web Sheldon - Warm

Hey mister,
I didn't used to know your name
Or the kinda game you were playing

You were just some real cute guy
In a club in a city
Miles away

Hey mister,
So what would you say if I were to say
Would you go on a date with me?

Wanted to get to know you better
You wrote me a letter
I keep it in my diary

Can you feel the chill
It's a frosty dawn
I can feel the chill
I'd like to keep you warm

I'd like to put my arms around you
Kiss you when I greet you
Hold hands when we want to
Be "Me and you"

Kiss you whilst you're calling
Taste you in the morning
Hold you when I'm phoning in sick for you
To be "Me and you"

Hey mister,
So was that your arm or my leg
And what did the (Smashing) Pumpkins say to you?

As soon as they left
You turned over to me
And we kissed and I sank into you

Everybody says I'm so lucky
And isn't it exciting
And yes it is

And I swear I'm growing up as we speak
For once
I'm no emotional freak

Can you feel the chill
It's a frosty dawn
I can feel the chill
I'd like to keep you warm

I'd like to put my arms around you
Kiss you when I greet you
Hold hands when we want to
Be "Me and you"

Kiss you whilst you're calling
Taste you in the morning
Hold you when I'm phoning in sick for you
To be "Me and you"

Whatever happens anytime, anywhere
Where we're all going or what that curl means in your hair
Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could read minds
I think I'd trade in my favourite cords for that sometime
Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?

I'd like to put my arms around you
Kiss you when I greet you
Hold hands when we want to
Be "Me and you"

Kiss you whilst you're calling
Taste you in the morning
Hold you when I'm phoning in sick for you
To be "Me and you"

Can you feel the chill?
I'd like to keep you warm

Slaying Dragons (lyrics)

2010-01-20T11:24:00.000Z

I like this song cos it's kinda weird... And it paints a good picture of how crap my life was at the time haha

Today I don't feel like Slaying Dragons
Success is too much like hard work
But I'm still subjecting myself to this guilt

I'm just sitting here, wondering
Go with the natural flow
It's what I need and if it's not coming naturally, then why...

Push it
Push it
Push it
Push it
Push it
Push it

It's weird though
I never seem to feel alive or awake
It's more a series of interlocking events

I just seem to be living my life
For losing my life through alcohol
That's all that I look forward to and that can't be no way of...

Life
Life
Life
Life
Life
Life

11:11, 11:12,
11:13, 22:22
Please explain the significance?

People at work say I never smile anymore
Just bore into the screen
What's happened to me? I feel so...

Dead
Dead
Dead
Dead
Dead
Dead

Good Friends (lyrics)

2010-01-20T11:17:00.000Z

This is kinda sad... I think it's one of my favourite break up songs that I've written...

Free MP3: Web Sheldon - Good Friends (live 14.12.2009)

I never wrote a love song for you
I was too occupied being in love with you
And before the rainy days were amazing days
Those days are so special to relate to

It started from good friends and fun
The best way it could be
Ignored our heads, listened to our hearts
Lived for the day right from the start
And your rings means I'll love you forever and a day

And if you can smile one second longer
You're that little bit stronger
And you can be proud of yourself
I'm sure we're still allowed to help
And if you can walk one metre further
You're that little bit closer
To the place you want to be
So good luck darling
Even if that place isn't with me

I'll never get to hold you all through the night again
And keep you smiling and warm till the dawn again
And before amazing days, were crazy days
It was intense and passionate and soulful and you were just my friend

Your arms filled a space in my hearts lonely days
And your thoughts and your love were all so beautiful
Ignored our heads, listened to our hearts
Lived for the day right from the start
And your ring means I'll love you forever and a day

And if you can smile one second longer
You're that little bit stronger
And you can be proud of yourself
I'm sure we're still allowed to help
And if you can walk one metre further
You're that little bit closer
To the place you want to be
So good luck darling
Even if that place isn't with me

You made love and sex and dreams and thoughts fit all into one place
You gave hearts and smiles and happiness in our glory days
You hugged insecurities and tears far away
We walked on water from Sennen to St. Ives and tempted fate

And if you can smile one second longer
You're that little bit stronger
And you can be proud of yourself
I'm sure we're still allowed to help
And if you can walk one metre further
You're that little bit closer
To the place you want to be
So good luck darling
Even if that place isn't with me

Yes, good luck darling
And here's a toast to remaining good friends

Dressed To Undress (Lyrics)

2010-01-20T11:12:00.000Z

This was a track that I played with Mothership back in 2005...

Web Sheldon - Dressed To Undress (live 14.12.2010)

New secret
Another cigarette
Another snort of that
Leave the curtains back boy

Another brain
An entertaining game
It's a degrading shame
Oh what a lame excuse, ha!

What's this, hey
A boy in disarray
Enjoying this display
Head starting to sway

In this gracious room
A solacious mood
You tenacious fool
You're starting to drool

Hey isn't it bright in here
We're in the spotlight here
Can you feel this here?
Come on, Cavalier!

Listen to me
This is a good house,
We'll have none of that
None of that
None of that in here

Get the best
Dressed To Undress
Oh, be my guest
There's no second best, ha!

I suggest you
Confess all to
Come so close to
This infectious point of view

Hey isn't it bright in here
We're in the spotlight here
Can you feel this here?
Come on, Cavalier!

Listen to me
This is a good house,
We'll have none of that
None of that
None of that in here

Hey isn't it bright in here
We're in the spotlight here
Can you feel this here?
Come on, Cavalier!

Hey boy are you high now?
Are you excited now?
Are you ready now?
Come on, I'll take you now!

Listen to me
This is a good house,
We'll have none of that
None of that
None of that in here

After San (lyrics)

2010-01-20T11:06:00.000Z

2 weeks ago
You called me in the morning
I was jet lagged from New York
And hungover
You said you'd been sad lately
Stumbled over your words
And then you said
"It's not gonna work"

And you started crying, crying
And I started trying
To work out exactly what these words meant
And you started crying, crying
And I saw there listening
To my boyfried telling me I'm no more than a friend
Not anymore

So I laid down in our bed of tears
Started to think back over this year
I listened to "The Treehouse Song"
We were gonna move in before too long
You only asked me 2 months ago
Before things changed like I'd never know

And you started crying, crying
And I started trying
To work out exactly what these words meant
And you started crying, crying
And I saw there listening
To my boyfried telling me I'm no more than a friend
Not anymore

Is this because I've been smoking
Have I not called you enough
Maybe I shouldn't have gone to New York

Is this because of my mood swings?
Do my texts take too long?
You couldn't even tell me what was wrong, no
You couldn't even tell me what was wrong, no

You couldn't even tell me what I'd done wrong

Takin' The High (Lyrics)

2010-01-20T10:57:00.000Z

Recorded this in 2005...

Web Sheldon - Takin' The High

So you're here but you're not here
So it happened but it didn't
Angel on the shoulder
Quietely suggesting that you shouldn't
Oh, it's falling apart

So you're here but you're not here
So it happened but it didn't
Angel on the shoulder
Screamin' that you shouldn't

Oh, oh, oh
It's falling apart, apart, apart, apart
Oh, oh, oh
Why don't you get a room?

And now you're singing out of tune
Whenever you get to sing
Feelings are less than before
They all know it's leading nowhere
It's got nowhere to go
But the devil still dreams for more

Oh, oh, oh
It's falling apart, apart, apart, apart
Oh, oh, oh
Why don't you get a room?

And now you're looking miserbale
Kinda reverse intent
Change hand in hand with confusion (confusion)
He's the devil and the angel
He's the distant boyfriend
Caught up in love/lust illusion (illusion)

Oh, oh, oh
They're takin' the high high high high life
Oh, oh, oh
He's not gonna be a wife

And now you're singing out of tune
Whenever you get to sing
Feelings are less than before
They all know it's leading nowhere
It's got nowhere to go
But the devil still dreams for more

And now you're looking miserbale
Kinda reverse intent
Change hand in hand with confusion
He's the devil and the angel
He's the distant boyfriend
Caught up in love/lust illusion

Oh, oh, oh
It's falling apart, apart, apart, apart
Oh, oh, oh
Why don't you get a room?

Oh, oh, oh
They're takin' the high high high high life
Oh, oh, oh
He's not gonna be a wife

So you think that it's gone missing
Lost through all the kissing
Found abandoned on the covers
Of a few careless lovers
Careless lovers
Dirty lovers

Bite (Lyrics)

2010-01-20T10:51:00.000Z

Am playing catch up at the moment, uploading lyrics to songs I've recorded in the past...

Free MP3: Web Sheldon - Bite

What are we to do if we can't make the time
If it's not worth the escape from the grind
What are we to do, haven't got the time of day
With what we do now, we won't make the grade

Feel your feet on the ground now
Survey this town now
Lose yourself or get found now
Just don't be so bored

Heaven forbid take control
Out of the routune hole
On the right or wrong road
Oh just cut the cords!

Just moving and moving
Go anywhere, really anywhere
Just biting and biting and biting

Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Bite, Bite.

What am I to do
Enough triviality!
It's only the debut
My speciality
What am I to do
Can't hack authority
It could be nice to be
In the majority

Tick tick goes time now
When it didn't used to even exist
How did kids suddenly grow
While I tried nothing new

It's time for adventure
None-indulgence with pleasure
Not fat/sugar/leisure
On continuous loop

Just moving and moving
Go anywhere, really anywhere
Just biting and biting and biting

Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Bite, Bite.

5 days a week
I wake a flea in my ear
Think I'll sack off
This managerial career
So shock, horror, trauma
Cos my make-up's all smeared
Well I make the decisions
And I decide not to be here

I don't want to win it
I'm not going to lose it
I don't want to just survive
In my safe little world

I scowl through the people
Give all strangers evils
But it's not how I feel
So it's not my world

Just moving and moving
Go anywhere, really anywhere
Just biting and biting and biting

Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Shock, horror, trauma,
Bite, bite, bite, bite
Bite, Bite.

In History (Lyrics)

2010-01-19T22:28:00.000Z

Download MP3: Web Sheldon - In History

If you see me out there
And my flirt is searching again
Well you can be rest assured
I don't feel the same for them

Well now I can't even say "Hello"
Could it be that I'm just that shallow
All my heart now feels is hollow
There's no shiny path to follow

Well my heart if wasted
It's broken, healing, but shy
And if they're interested
I just let them pass me by

When I found out where you loyalties lied
Well, didn't that just cut me down to size
Hell is freezing over but I'll be out by then
And maybe we can bring this shit to an end

And now you're
Running so fast you can't see what you left behind you
Hoping and showing those feelings don't find you
Only one question left to ask is
Why'd you do it to her

If you had my love we could've been flawlwess
Living in a fantasy world with Taurus
But you melted away before our history
In History

If I'm tempremental or angry
It's usually over you
Well I'm just hoping we can be
More loving, less cruel

It must be 99.9 in here
I'm drowning in Suzanne Vega's tears
Cos I know exactly what she means and
If I was In Liverpool I'd shake her hand

And now you're
Running so fast you can't see what you left behind you
Hoping and showing those feelings don't find you
Only one question left to ask is
Why'd you do it to her

If you had my love we could've been flawlwess
Living in a fantasy world with Taurus
But you melted away before our history
In History

So if you see me out there
And my flirt is searching again
Well you can be rest assured
I don't feel the same for them

A Change Is Gonna Come

2010-01-15T10:05:00.000Z

This blog is mainly for song lyrics as part of my music blog... but my personal life effects my music a lot...

Me and Sandeep broke up in December...

At first I was singing all my songs I'd writtin in the past about previous break ups to make myself feel better - Kev, Alex, Paul Dietician, Douglas... And then at Christmas I wrote one for Sandeep called "After San".. but now I can't even play... Pain usually inspires me to write but at the moment I feel too dead to even pick up an instrument. I thought I was getting better at dealing with pain, and maybe I am... it's not been long since it happened... I guess I was staying strong but I got sick a couple of days ago and I think that's really brought me down...

January is a cold dark month at the best of times... Tomorrow is the weekend. And I have nice red wine.

I Woke Up Heavy (Lyrics and Video link)

2009-12-30T22:52:00.000Z

Link to YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7tOsPS1qgY

I watched the sunset today
Over the urban sea of life of grey
But it stands pretty
In it's own way

I wanted to be on my favourite cliff top
To be out of my suit
And out of my socks
But I was 400 miles away

It shone from the sky
It reflected on the road
It was the topic of conversation
For every speaking soul

But I Woke Up Heavy...
I Woke Up Heavy...

Have you ever tried to clench your fists
After just waking up? You can't do it
Just as you're rising
You're at one with the world

A peaceful serenity you can't reproduce
At any other time, for any other use
It serves a purpose
So keep it in mind

I got home
But I didn't have my tea
And now I'm in my room
Looking forward to my dreams

I Woke Up Heavy...
I Woke Up Heavy...
I Woke Up Heavy...
I Woke Up Heavy...

Spirit Like You (Lyrics)

2009-11-30T09:27:00.000Z

Download MP3: Web Sheldon - Spirit Like You

They say you'll lose
Because you sinned
But sins are just
Strings 'round your mind
They can all be undone

There's many times
You sat and sighed
And couldn't see
How a step could be taken
If there's nowhere to go

There's many doubts
Need letting out
It's amazing how free you feel
Once you deal yourself
A good hand

You watch them trace
Lines on your face
But you miss it when
They're wishing for a
Spirit of life just like you

Mistakes will happen to you
You're only human so
Don't cut yourself up, don't get down
Regrets are only regrets
If you don't learn from them
You know you can turn it around

Theories From Von Krahl (Lyrics)

2009-11-27T13:09:00.000Z

This is actually about the same guy as Good Friends is about and some of the lyrics were written back in 2001.

Download MP3: Web Sheldon - Theories from Von Krahl

Peeash:
Oh, so it's true
You've kissed somebody else now, haven't you!
And don't I feel a fool, pushed you away
Talked me down to your friends
What do they say?
But then again, I promised I wouldn't dig
But I'm having a hard time
Me and my stiff upper lip
Are going away for some time

WS:
So what if maybe Peeash is the one?
Cos you deserve now, no more hurt now
Bad times should be gone
His running around and kissing girls you could never understand
And that one night apart when he couldn't keep it in his pants

Peeash:
I enjoy being there for you
That I'm a someone that you can talk to
That we're still considered friends
After all we've been through, I'm glad I have you
But he's just a concept to me
He's only a story, it isn't real
If I saw him, how would I feel?
You and your new 'see how it goes' deal

WS:
Everybody makes mistakes, hoping this isn't yours
Cos you deserve now, no more blame now
You were not the cause
He always acted like he'd got something to hide
He always pushed you as far as he could
Till you stepped to one side

Are you learning from the past
Or letting it ruin your last chance?
Are you applying Theories from Von Krahl
Or simply learning how to fall?

Hope you appreciate
I left you to your man
Because I understand
And all I ever really wanted

Was your happiness
I had the things he lacked
But I couldn't give you that
That's why I left you

On the way home I collapsed
You'd taken all my strength
But added another complex
And add another to the

'It wasn't meant to be' list
But you were more to me
So that's my good deed
And I don't care about the karma

Song Collections

2009-11-16T13:08:00.000Z

There's so much planned in December that I'm starting to think like it's the end of the year now because if I don't, December will sudddenly be gone and I won't have done all my usual end of year things like making compilations of my favourite songs of the year and Top 10 albums etc...

So I was thinking in relation to Web Sheldon, this has been one of the best years of my life for my own music... And thats kind of a weird thing to say because I haven't played ANY gigs (apart from playing for friends :-) ) and I've only written a few new songs but this year I have recorded about 10 songs... And making a record of those songs has really made me feel like I have something down in concrete and will set the scene for next year...

If you know me, you'll probably know that I hate to limit myself too much and I've found it very difficult trying to confine myself to write or record a certain type of song so they all fit on one EP and sound coherant... So instead I've split the different types of music I'm recording into different parts...

There's a collection called "Eight English Months" which are acoustic guitar based, mostly quite old songs that I am recording only now...

There's "5 Minutes" which is a collection of cover songs...

There's "No Soul I Know Could Live Without Love" which willl be a collection of Piano based songs...

Then there's a couple of songs I've recorded that are more upbeat but I haven't got a name for this yet... but this is my main and most exciting project...

So I'll just keep adding song to these as and when they are recorded and see how it goes...

I'm hopefully buying an iMac soon so it will be v nice to work with a something faster than a snail too... I do expect a lot from my poor lappy though and he does very well considering *hugs to lappy*

Painkiller (Lyrics)

2009-08-03T11:25:00.000+01:00

Painkiller

I don't know how
I daren't think how
But something in between us
Seems wrong about now

I watch them play
Watch them celebrate
I know that you should be here
But you passed on that date

You haven't said "Hi"
You didn't say "Goodnight"
I think there's part of me missing
In another lonlely night

Oh look, "Kiss! Kiss!"
Don't remind me of this!
I took you off my desktop
To painkill this illness

(note - this is like a 'Part II" version of 9th May 1998)

9th May 1998 (Lyrics)

2009-08-03T11:14:00.000+01:00

This is kind of a silly song... it was written on a very obvious date...

Download MP3: Web Sheldon - 9th May 1998

9th May 1998

9th of May 1998
And your cruel words have reached my ears again
So I'll choose my murder weapon
And I'll slowly count to 10

I love you (not), this room's so hot
I can't decide, the course if action I will take
So I'll get right in my kitchen
And bake you a poisonous raspberry cake

This pressure's pounding me into the swampy ground
I feel like there is no escape
So come around here with that sweet sweet neck
I'll string you up with sellotape

9th of May 1998
And I feel like I've been wronged by you
And why do I care so much
Cos I know that this is nothing new

Hmmm so I guess I shouldn't name names on here... But I was convinced I was in love with this guy for, well, I remember at the time I counted 30 months altogether... Ah the joys of being a teenager in love... Obviously there's a book load of other songs and history to it. I remember at the time, I hadn't told anyone I was gay so I used to refer to this guy in my diary as Lysida (each letter stood for something but that would give it away and I'm being discrete here...!)

A few years later, I was in a relationship and I had a similar feeling to above, so I re-wrote it with a slightly different melody and different lyrics... the new version is really sad though when I think back - it was called Painkiller... I should deffo record that actually!

Ableton has a Strop

2009-08-03T10:51:00.000+01:00

Something went wrong with Ableton Live this weekend... (that's the programme I use to record...) Like any issue revolving around computers, it wasn't solved quickly... and there may have been a few choice words said in the process... The issue was that Abelton wasn't recognising my external sound card so after much fiddling around and searching internet forums, un-installs, re-installs, I finally got it working. But by that point, I certainly wasn't feeling creative anymore - I felt like I'd just got back from work!

That's the thing with recording on computers, the're amazing what they can do, but they can completely kill the creative mood if something goes wrong with them... It's not like simply pressing play on an 8 track... But having used both, I'd use a computer every time! I love the way you can play around with stuff, manipulate it, add effects, sample things...it's amazing...

On Sunday I recorded an old song called "9th May 1998", I wrote it on that date too (all those years ago lol) It's only a short one and it's a bit silly - it's talking about a guy I like and how he's fucking me around, so I'm imagining all the different ways I could kill him...

Anyway...!

It feels good to be recording. Re-living old experiences and songs, and writing new songs again...

I hope I never lose inspiration to write, it's weird cos it really helps me deal with stuff. And when I feel down about something, I can look back to old songs and think "Hmmm this current situation looks awfully similar to what happened in the past, and I'm still alive!!" I guess it's like when you tell someone a problem and they say they've experienced sometihng similar too, it makes you feel better because you don't feel so alone or isolated. But when you're listening to a song yo've written and you're kinda telling yourself you've been through it before, it's like a way of saying "Yep! Been there, done that. You'll be fine. Keep smiling. You'll come out of the other side, just keep putting one foot in front of the other."

New Songs for Download

2009-07-27T09:46:00.000+01:00

So, it was quite a productive weekend... In addition to finishing Theories from Von Krahl on Saturday, I also finished Spirit Like You on Sunday and I've uploaded them both to Last.FM for free download http://www.last.fm/music/Web+Sheldon/%5Bto+be+confirmed%5D

I was trying to decide whether to wait and put all the songs up for the EP at the same time or just put them up as I record them and I figured I've been so long getting around to recording them, that I might as well just put them up as and when they're born!

Omg I'm so tired today though! I think I was all hyped up from finishing the EP last night and I just laid in bed for 2 hours, waiting to fall asleep. Getting to sleep at night has never been my forte. Sleeping in the afternoon however or with my head against a speaker in Popstarz, now that's a diffferent matter entirely.

First song for EP finished!

2009-07-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

Woohooo!

I finished the first song for the EP today - "Theories from Von Krahl". I'm so pleased! I started writing recording it back in March and hadn't done anything else to it until today where I thought "Right! I'm going to finish it off!" (I didn't really believe myself though!) But 8 hours, 1 shower, 4 pizza slices and 1 giant coffee mug later, it's done!

I feel like I'm on a roll now and I should be finishing off another...but not sure that's a good idea at this time in the evening... perhaps I should watch a film instead!

I already have a few acoustic songs recorded - I did a demo of 4 songs back in 2005 and then I'm putting together an acoustic album of some of my old songs and then I'm doing a covers EP as well. I'm going to put all the lyrics up here (apart from the covers!) with a brief explanation of what the songs about. The key word there is 'brief' and perhaps we shall add 'vague' too. I don't want any ex-boyfriends chasing me with sledge hammers...

First Post

2009-07-24T10:48:00.000+01:00

Hi! I’m Web Sheldon!

I could say I’m a singer-songwriter but that would get me pigeon holed straight away so I’ll just say that I’m a singer, I write songs and I play music. I’m not claiming to be special or different from anyone else, but I would like to think I am not limited by genre. I can honestly say I like any kind of music from Bjork, to NWA, to Chopin, Metallica, Billie Holiday, ABBA, Loretta Lynn, Digitalism, Elis Regina… and I’d like to think that to some degree, that eclecticism is reflected in my own music,

My songs are like journals – whenever I feel a strongly about something, I’ll write some words down. Sometimes those words turn into songs, and sometimes they’re never more than just a few thoughts jotted on a bit of paper.

I’ve been playing solo as long as I can remember and I’ve been in a few bands along the way too; Shale (during College), Beyond Obsession (during University), Mothership, and Bilamie (whenever we’re in the same city!)

I’m originally from the UK but I’m living in Ireland at the moment in a small town – despite being a city boy at heart, I’m loving the serenity and it’s giving me a bit of time to reflect and write from the heart again. I’m pretty health conscious – I go jogging and to the gym on weekdays and I keep a food journal (this stops me eating Pizza every night!) So, what else? I work in studied Communications at Uni, I work in IT, I like red wine, going to music festivals, I think we can learn a hell of a lot from different cultures if we just take the time, I like looking at people’s handwriting, smelling electrical equipment and cooking.

I’ve kept personal blogs in the past but I intend for this to be just relating to my music. I’m going to post lyrics on here and maybe use it as a kind of news / general info kinda website. I guess it’s more of a personal space for me and for anyone that like my music and wants to read more about the songs.

So Hi!

...and thanks for dropping by.