February Album Writing Month

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

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

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

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

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

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

With Pure Heart

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