St Johns Bar - 21 Feb 2011

I played this fantastic little set-up a couple of weeks back at St John's bar. This is the chap that followed me, we were the final two acts on the Saturday night. Set was:

Do it right

I told you brother

Let me count the ways I love you

Together, Forever

Portrait

Living on a prayer

I'll be there for you

Jimmy Jones

I hear the train a comin'

Trouble

This was a fun set, most notable for me that it was the first time I'd played 'Do it right' & the first time I'd gigged using my new ukelele. I was still in the process of writing 'Do it right' so I didn't get it quite right, I think I dragged it on a bit cause I didn't really know the structure of the song yet. The uke songs went down a treat, it was good to find out I can use it even though it doesn't have a pick-up, just had to get the mic right in there!

Overall I was happy with how I played, although it was obvious to me that I hadn't played in a decent amount of time. Still once I had warmed up the performance definately picked up (or so I thought), in particular 'I'll wait for you' & 'Jimmy Jones' (which overall got the best response, that song will forever haunt me!). I finished with 'trouble' which I have modified slightly, I've now got the handclaps on the off beat, which gives it a whole new sound, difficult to explain & even harder to sing now because clapping on the off beat & singing is pretty darned hard thing to do. I give the gig 6.5/10.

Welcome ep - Cover

So here's the current cover for my first ep, now called 'welcome'. It's a photo Ange took early last winter, hence the hoody. The ep will have three tracks, "this old house", "I'll wait for you"(solo) & "without you". I like the photo, not the font, that can be changed, but the lay-out is great.

My favourite things

I found this great blog, loving it.

& my favourite song at the moment, with my favourite lyric, "I feel just like I am on Jupiter, the one that looks like rainbow sugar, but it doesn't lend itself to life".

Jupiter does look like rainbow sugar!

Bonnie Prince Billy - Go Folks, Go

A master craftsman at work, just guitar & vocal. Bonnie Prince Billy - Go folks, go

Songs, songwriting & guitar playing

My time is being taken up at the moment with developing solo material, as has been clear with my posts over the last 6 - 12 months. I want to develop my guitar playing so I can solo freely without thinking about what I need to do, I haven't really progressed beyond basic note patterns/scales & it's quite frustrating not being able to play what I can hear in my head. I haven't developed the subtlety of a great player yet, my leads tend to be quite clunky & basic so that's something I want to achieve. I've been listening to Robert Johnson & Blind Willie Johnson who manage to combine their slide work with standard finger playing, something I've never been able to do, my two slide songs are both strictly slide with no finger work involved. I'd love to be mixing the two style up in the same song. I want to one day record a solo blues album that is comparable to what those guys have done, a one take record of just guitar & vocal, it's not really been done since the blues hey day but I think it's a fantastic way to listen to music, just cut right down to it's most basic. That's something that's appealing about Neil Young's recording is the immediacy of his playing, he records his guitar & vocals on the one take (well, he did for living with war anyway, so I presume he does for everything else!). Man, those guys are good. So much of that comes from regular gigging too, you can only go so far practicing in your bedroom, the real growth comes from the actually doing, the playing, so I know I have that up my sleeve. I feel like once I'm performing on a regular basis my growth as a player & songwriter with speed up exponentially.

The songs I'm working on at the moment are coming along, I'm struggling to get vocals done for one of them, 'these falling leaves'. It's a song concerning the overuse of the planets resources so it's difficult not to fall into standard cliche phrases. At the same time the issue is important to me so I want to be able to speak freely through the song, I feel if I can get it right it can be an effective tune. 'Lullaby' is finished and probably my favourite of the recent songs I've written. 'Round & round' song structure is complete & has vocals for half the chorus & half the bridge, so there's still all the verses to do. 'Obituary' has the structure finished, vocals for two verses & the chorus so there's just the final verse to complete. I've also come up with another couple of riffs but it'll take time to see if they'll develop into actually songs or just fall to the side.

The recording of the album is on hold through to next year it appears, Allan hasn't been in touch since the last session so I'm leaving it up to him & not pushing things. We'll both have some time off & continue next year, my expectations for it being finished have pushed out another twelve months, if it's finished by Christmas next year, with all the bit's & pieces I want (strings on 'Fallen', brass on 'Only a fool' & piano on 'In the meantime') I'll be happy.

Lordy, lordy, lordy - Session 12

Loving these two songs at the moment, they were actually recommended to me as part of a Christmas party playlist I was working on & they ended up being my favourite tunes. I actually thought it was a pretty good playlist but it was dragged after three tunes! : ) Seems the Stones, Lou Reed & FoTC aren't what the people want. Bring on the Black eyed peas! Oh well.. fight the good fight I say.

Went to Allan's a couple of Sunday's back. Carly came & we got a 'final' mix of Jimmy Jones. She put some reverb on her vocals which I was dubious about at first as I thought it sounded great as is, but it turns out I was wrong. We also removed Mike's guide drumming which was keeping us in time & I added a whistle at the moment when the drums & bass kick in. It sounded amazing on the studio speakers but through headphones the reverb has made Carly's vocals sound like she's in a large room, there's a bit of echo going on. Regardless, I've sent through a copy to Active, will be interesting to see if I get any response. They were enthusiastic about the first version so hopefully they'll give it a whirl on one of their shows, it'll be great to finally hear one of my tunes on the wireless.

In other news I've started working on the fifth track, it's called 'Round & round' & is about just going through the motions. It's another 'nice' song, too pleasant for my liking but I'm trying not to question the songs I write. I want to play to my strengths & if that means playing these pleasant songs then that's what I'll do. I'm just trying to get better & continue growing as a singer, song writer & guitar player, there's just so much that's achievable, so much growth available, I can't ever imagine the time will come that I'll be satisfied. I've been listening to Neil Young's solo live recordings from '72 & '92. He's such a formidable player it's amazing. The things he can do are so inspiring, I look forward to the time when I can sit down with an acoustic guitar for an hour & a half & keep an audience entertained without the need for a band. Just vocal & guitar. It's going to take time but I know I have it in me.

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy - Session 11

Went to Allan's on Sunday to transfer the second tape to pro-tools. Fallen, Lover, Secret Garden & portrait. Fallen sounds great, I decided while I was there that I'm going to really try to get a string section for it. It sounds good but the rising & falling tempo of the track would benefit hugely from a string section. It could probably be covered by a synth/piano but for the recording I'll do my damndest to get the real thing. Lover sounds ok, I think everythings there but we'll have to do some magic in the mixing. Secret Garden's a bit too crunchy, I'm going to re-record the opening guitar part to get it a bit cleaner before the crunch of the chorus. On the plus, the middle section sounds great. Portrait is probably my favourite of the four tracks so far. The 12 string works beautifully, it was a god send to be able to use it for the recording. The harp, vocals & shaker all work as well. Adding the BV's will almost see the track done.

Am back there this Sunday to do some vocals, Carly's coming so we'll try to get her vocals mixed where she's happy then I'll send a copy away to Active. Sweet!