Busy Busy Busy

That's what I've been, all through the summer. I had the six whole weeks off work and what a difference it made. I managed to catch up with all the contacts I wanted to catch up on and do (nearly) all the things I had been putting off until I "had the time and head-space". It did pay dividends!

I had a few things I needed to do. Firstly I wanted to record all my songs. I thought I had managed that but last night remembered two that I had forgotten about, so I'll put that right this weekend.! Halfway through that process I had an idea to record a live, studio LP and release it as a limited edition vinyl collectors item. So excited by it that i actually created a blog and have received an amazing amount of pre orders and a large donation by a guy I haven't even met! You can read all about it here thevinylproject.blogspot.com

I also organized the first Pure Acoustica residential gig at The Dolphin in St. Denys.
You can read about that here 
It was a great night. Join the group and you can keep an eye on what's going on with this little beauty. The next event at The Dolphin is on the 17th.
Tomorrow I'm playing in Alton from around tenish
I'm playing next Saturday, the 12th,  in Southampton city as part of this thing called "Music in the City" catchy eh? You can read all about it here it looks like a lot of fun.
And I'll be playing a grown up set on a stage with a pucka P.A. on the 26th upstairs at The Soul Cellar for Angry Badger Records 
What I haven't had time for is recording any new pod-casts which is a shame as I do enjoy them. I have some new ideas for some jingles buy I may give them to http://watchwithmothers.net/ saves them pinching them eh?
Meanwhile I'm going to be recording some new videos for my YouTube channel.
I may even record one using this, it's beautiful. Made form an old cigar box and a bit of 2x1!
Pip Pip

Unsigned?

Unsigned?

I am often referred to as an “unsigned artist”.
I blame no one, I do it myself. Nick Tann, unsigned artist. I have always hated the tag, it sounds as though I am lacking in a way.

“Are you signed Nick?”

“No” I say, blushing at my shame “I am unsigned”

When putting any of my yap on the web, tags have to be applied to documents to help all those poor folk out there find what they want. “Original” “12 String guitar” “songwriter” etc are all positive then “unsigned”. It should have one of those glum emoticons after it and a big apology “Sorry I’m not signed”

BUT, now I am making a change. I am now going to call myself an “independent artist” This is a better reflection of what I am and a damn sight less glum and apologetic. It’s something to be proud of. I may make myself a badge proclaiming myself an INDEPENDENT ARTIST. You wouldn’t want to walk around wearing an “Unsigned” badge now would you?

This is, however, not without risks when it comes to the getting found by people who are looking for unsigned people. If you Google “unsigned artists” you will get 867,000 pages whereas if you Google “independent artists” 157,000 hits you will find. Nevertheless, it may be better to be part of a smaller, prouder group.

Lets hope it catches on…..

Radio Radio

So once again the publicity machine that is Debbie and me spring into action.

I recorded a radio interview about two weeks ago and tomorrow it will be broadcast on the illustrious Original106 FM. 

I thought I would start my blog career at this point as I wanted to share what it's like waiting for some kind of recognition for work one has done.

I have put in the hard work, the writing of the music, working out the words or "lyrics" as us songwriters like to refer to them.

I've sat and recorded the songs, playing the same guitar part over and over again until I was finally happy with it. The guitar part for Life is a River took me a whole day, playing the same piece over again. Then, recording finished I work through the millions of effects. Which reverb to use? How much? This can take weeks of fiddling around until I get to the point when I think that I can do no more. Then the mix down, then mastering the song as a whole. The artwork for the album is also a painstaking event.

Which photographs? Which font? Sizing and resizing the images so that it all fits on the paper. Thankfully Debs does this for me. Otherwise the album would have the back of a cereal packet with "NIck TaNNs fing" scrawled in crayon slipped into it.

The album is then sent off (still with me? Good). Emails are sent to radio stations and then after a few months there's a response. There is a radio station that will play a track. let joy be unconfined! The next 2 months, thanks to carefully engineered please and requests, I get asked along to the studio to record an interview and to play a couple of songs.

After running through in my mind answers to possible questions, changing the songs I'm going to play, I finally get to the studio.

After a brief chat with Xan, I go into a tiny studio and play my 2 songs. They go well, I don't usually get nervous about playing thankfully. The interview  begins and I rattle on about transport links in the Southampton area. I kid you not,after all the work that we've put into the album, I start banging on about motor-ways. Still , I get the chance to talk about other stuff. I really need about half an hour but get cut short at around 10 minutes. He didn't ask any of the questions that I had anticipated but at least listeners will get to know how easy it is to get around Southampton. 

I won't tell you what I did say in the interview as I'm sure the majority of my yap will be edited out. But have a listen anyway. If you don't get a chance to listen to it live at www.original106.com it will be available as a pod-cast later.