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 :)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
After the buzz and excitement...
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...
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...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Not this time ;-)
Awww well I didn't get through tonight... but I've had a wicked time the last few weeks :)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
What am I playing on Friday??
...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...
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...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Through to the Stars of Our Bars FINAL!
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!
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!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Facebook Fan Page and New YouTube video of Summertime
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
http://twitpic.com/19ixk4
And uploaded a video of me covering Billie Holiday's Sumemrtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgBrm4puYMM
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