Outside the Box

I have 6 tracks that I recorded at an acoustic gig I played last week. I used my lovely Rhode NT1 plugged into my portable minidisc and the quality is stunning. Therefore after a little tweaking I will release them for digital download by Xmas on good old iTunes as I did with "Life is a River"

It's about a year since I released "Life is a River" and to be honest I made about £150 profit from it and I'm pretty chuffed considering I wrote and played all the songs myself and recorded them in my spare room. 

Now you are all smart creative folk (aren't you?) what I would appreciate are your ideas to help publicise this album. Interesting viral marketing type ideas and publicity stunts.

If you know me then you will know that I'm pretty shameless when it comes to whoring myself round this great web of ours so I'm not going to whimp out of anything due to any shyness.

I did a special mix a few years ago of old People tracks preceded by a snatch of dialogue from Pulp Fiction. It sounded pretty natty and as I didn't inflict it on the world there were no messy copyright issues. I could go down a similar road this time and use some other spoken word. I could even hang the copyright stuff and hope for some publicity. There is no such thing as bad publicity eh Charlie?

I'm a bit handy at editing video so I could make a film for the tube of you

I did want to put up a witty and pertinent youtube vid but decided to treat you all to probably one of the best vids I've ever seen.

So throw me a bone, you've had great ideas before, share a few. 

I don't have a name for this album yet nor any ideas for the cover.

So let your imagine fly and aid me in giving up my day job.

Simpering Twats

What a ridiculous and shameful event this whole Sachs, Ross and Brand balls up is.

The gutless and cowardly BBC instead of sticking up for "their guys" decide to kowtow to the gutter press and a has been actor famous for being in 13 episodes of a sitcom.

The BBC SHOULD have said

"We wholeheartedly support Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross in their defense of the pointless complaint from Mr Sachs"

"Furthermore the Daily Mail can just fuck off!" or somesuch.

He was supposed to be giving an interview to messieurs Ross and Brand regarding a documentary he was appearing in and he couldn't even be arsed to be in to do it!

Is there anything else that Mister Sachs objects to?

Perhaps the credit is a tad too crunchy for you?

Should suspected terrorists be held for 87 days without charge?

What do you think Mr Sachs?

Shall we all hit ourselves on the forehead with spoons?

Would you like me to keep a hamster called Basil?

I wonder how many Spanish waiters were offended by your portrayal of them as stupid ignorant peasants ?

The Beeb will now have lost millions of "yoof" from Radio 2 who would have tuned in on saturday night to hear what old Russ would have had to say about all this.

I tried to leave a comment on the BBC website earlier and after being asked to remove my offensive language, 1 bloody and 1 sod, and was confronted with the message that informed me that my 99 words would have to be moderated before it would be deamed fit to appear on it's hallowed pages. No doubt incase I happened to offend Mr Sachs any further.

You may be wondering what I am on about and why there is nothing about me and/or my music and what relevance this has to me,well dear reader here it is.

Independence.

Ok I don't get paid a fortune for what I do but I can do what I want, when I want and how I want. Whether it be a podcast, a blog or a song.

So I pity Russell and Jonathan. I felt sorry for them as they struggled, like frightened rabbits, to get out of a situation that should never have happened. I suspect that they felt let down by the beeb for turning on them. I admire Russell for quitting and hope that Jonathan will do the same, stick two fingers up to the BBC and fuck off to Channel 4.

But he, unlike Brand whose own company Vanity make his radio show, is under exclusive contract to the BBC and will probably want to hang around.

So who is the loser?

Millions will now watch The Bill documentary (on ITV for christs sake)

Millions will watch Russell Brand's Ponderlandstarting a new series this week.

Kazillions will watch wossy's friday night show.

Well the losers will be the people who listened to Russell Brands Saturday night show on BBC Radio 2. I've been listening to the podcast of it since he was with Radio 6!

So the loser is me, thanks!

Shame on you Mr Sachs and shame on you BBC, shame on you..

Podcasting

I have always wanted to do this.

Actually I have always wanted my own radio show.

I love the radio and always have. As a 7 year old I used to tune in my tiny radio (with the single earpiece!) late at night and listen to Radio Caroline, The World Service and a plethora of crazy European foreign language stations. When I got to about 15 I fell in love with Radio 4. I thought it was cool to listen to The Archers, a kind of rebellion in a sea of punk and Bay City Rollers. 

So now to the podcast (I could talk about the 70's for hours LITERALLY ). 

After spying on fellow reverbnationer (yes that is a proper word...now) Matt Stevens, I noticed that he had a podcast available on iTunes. 

I am a big fan of the podcast having been given a "pod" by Mrs Nick some 2 years ago although one doesn't need one to listen to a podcast, oh no.

So on emailing him he directed me to www.podbean.com and I signed up.

I got all profiled up and then went about making my fist podcast. I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I had recorded some of the Chaplins gig and wanted to play some of the songs from that plus a little chat. After much faffing I decided on a format. 

1) Scripted intro......I tried to do it straight "off the mic" but found myself drowning in a sea of "ahh's" and "ums" and hitherto unknown habit of smacking my gums before each sentence. 

2) The tune

3) An unscripted conversational chat with "The Secret Guest".

 "The Secret Guest" has to remain secret as they get enough publicity as it is and don't want anymore so best keep mum eh?

So after a little editing and tweaking here and there, I loaded it up. I'm still waiting for the beautiful monster that is iTunes to show it but it's only a matter of time.

If you've never heard of podcasts and aren't sure what the are, the Wikipedia definition is the best

So if you have ten minutes to spare click on the purple widget (yes I know I just can't help myself!) on the right

Here is my Top Ten Podcast list

1) Adam & Joe. Brilliant and Funny

2) Russell Brand. See above Despite the fact that he refuses to use my fucking jingle!!

3) The Archers. See higher above

4) Jonathan Ross. Much better than tv Ross

5) Roy & HG "This Sporting life" From the Australian ABC Radio station JJJ. An acquired taste,once acquired then relished.

6) Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 normally The News Quiz or The Now Show!

7) Thinking Allowed with Laurie Taylor, possibly the best broadcaster ever EVER!

8) Stephen Fry's Podgrams. You must listen you simply MUST

9) Radiohead "In Rainbows" podcast. You didn't know? Shame. Thank me later.

10) Steve Wright in the afternoon. JUST FOR ASK ELVIS IGNORE THE SYCOPHANTIC INTERVIEWS

Do you podcast?

What do you listen to?

Have I whetted your appetite?

Any other business?

Shit Shit Shit

This week I have 2 gigs.

I haven’t gigged since sometime last summer.

Last week, about Thursday I realised I was scared.

I ran through a few tunes and came to the terrible realisation that I couldn’t sing, my guitar playing was shit and all my songs were dull and derivative.

This is a bit of a drawback for someone who is aiming to make music their profession.

I wandered around the house wondering how I was going to break this to my lovely wife, the wife that has supported me, built me a website, created the artwork for my last album and believe in me.

I decided I’d leave it for a while and join her on the sofa and watch TV for a bit, Jonathan Ross was on.

I quite like Mr Ross, I also like his taste in music, normally.
This week he had a band called Vampire Weekend to finish of the show.
I sat watching, listening. They were dreadful. Now I’m not one of these middle age men that moan on about “music today blah blah blah” (or maybe I am!). But they were dreadful.

I then turned over to watch Jools on BBC2. Yes, I know you can guess so I won’t go into detail but …. Fratellis = Stereophonics with a great drummer despite the grey tee-shirt, Alison Kraus and Robert Plant – Plant is a god therefore nothing can taint him, Spiritualized-out of tune, Chris Gifford-just embarrassing, Emmylou Harris-ZZzzzz.

I then started to feel better.

There is a mindset (yes I hate that phrase too) amongst us creative types, that we are shit and should go and work down a mine and stop thinking that we can do anything that people will find entertaining.

I get it, I think the simple term for it is self doubt, but I think I’m a creative person so fuck off!

On Sunday we finally got round to watching “Tony & Joan”, the drama doc about Tony Hancock.
There are scenes with him (Tony) having great bouts of self doubt “You’re shit, shit, shit” he says to himself in the mirror.

The penny dropped, rolled around then flew up and smacked me in the face.

Later on Sunday I burned some tunes (from iTunes) on to a cd so that I could do the thing that I love best, sing in the car. I chose all the tunes that I love and know well. So this week I have been singing at the top of my voice on my way home and now feel that I am ready both mentally AND physically for this week.
I just hope that next time, next time…….


See? Look a happy ending!