Wednesday 25 January 2012

horatio dies all over again

dear boris,

a few years back i wrote a song called 'Horatio Dies'. though i never 'properly' released it, people still liked it and i play it a lot.

during the album recording sessions with Bobby Bloomfield of Does It Offend You, Yeah? back in August which spawned a couple of decent tracks, I had a stab at a new version of 'Horatio Dies', and then donated it to the good people at Engineer Records.

they have THIS to say..

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All of us at Engineer Records are very proud to be giving the world Lamp Light The Fire: A Compilation of Quiet(ER) songs

Lamp Light The Fire has a theme. No questions or hidden agendas. Simply put, Engineer Records wanted to gather a small array of artists that we´ve loved and worked with in the past, and/or thought would sound great in the environment of an acoustic guitar as the central instrument, and build from there. Don´t let the title fool you though, as there are as many acoustic rockers on here, as much as the intensely subtle, slow burners as you´d expect on such a compilation. Listening to it as a whole you'll hear that this real gem of a project sounds just as dynamic as any ´proper´ album. Although mellow in places, this is not a snoozer of an album only to fall asleep with. Hearing how each artist took the idea and built upon it is certainly the key to the album's inspiration. You´ll find some songs that sound like the artists´ best work yet, and plenty of exclusive material.

You´ll hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by piano, strings, vocal harmonies, and fitting percussion. You´ll hear some artists we´ve worked with in the past, showing off their new material, and some newer bands, or newer solo work, most of which is previously unreleased. Engineer Records and these artists, including Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ryan Mills, Jeff Rowe, The Satellite Year, Her Only Presence, Mikee J Reds (Call Off The Search), Elemae, The Waltz (Penfold/Moirai) and Dan Coutant (Joshua), have created the scenario of a sit down at a camp fire surrounded by good friends. This musical company bring together talent from across the world to warm your heart, sway your soul, and reflect upon the quieter side of life.

PURCHASE FROM THIS LINK (engineer bandcamp)

PHYSICAL CDs AVAILABLE FROM ENGINEER AND INTERPUNK


So there!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

happy new ears

all,

a belated happy new year to you. i would've posted this message earlier, but i had to recover from my experiences this year at the stroke of midnight as me and my girlfriend saw in 2012.. kettled around the back of London Waterloo, able to hear fireworks, somewhere, but more able to hear the shouts of the general public, annoyed that we'd all left it too late to make it to the South Bank.

so, we went home to Reading, shared some champagne and watched Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and made our plans for 2012.

i don't have any plans for 2012, dear reader. well, i do, but they're pretty vague. i have no resolutions, merely plans:

Plan #1: make album #2
this past weekend I visited the good kids at White House for album recording days 8 - 10. it was crunch weekend, because by the time day #11 rolls around it will be over a year since day #1, and i don't want to have a five year gap between first and second albums (though i'd definitely string you along for that amount of time if you let me).

the songs are sounding natural. i have a fear that some are a bit basic, but a second album of puns and smart-alec quips will only cause some of you to punch me in the ego eventually. still, all the music is written, and the next step is to flesh out the twenty-something songs into finished articles. all necessary musicians have been recruited, what we need now is Time.

Plan #2: finally, some t-shirts
i think i've finally tired of being the only musician to sell more than 50 records in a shop who doesn't have a t-shirt with his name on and/or a hilarious statement about how cool/uncool/subversive they are. expect this to be remedied by the time i get out on the road

Plan #3: do some gigs
i know that should be a given that any musician is going to do gigs, but i'm one of the few who could accidentally go a year without really doing very many (see: 2007, 2008, 2010). the reason i'm not doing any at the minute is very simple. number 1: i have nothing to sell, number 2: i have no new set, and i've been playing this current one for a couple of years now. it's time for a change. i have some one-off shows planned in the coming months, as well as a track on a new compilation, and i'll get to those this week.

so, there you go
consider yourself updated. i'm off to grovel to my e-mailing list that i haven't spoken to them for many, many months, and i just (FINALLY) found the mailing list from the Frank Turner/Franz Nicolay tour back in May in a box just now, so i will also have to grovel at them and see if they remember who i am.

YOU, take it easy..
x