Are you better than Jedward?

You may not have heard of Jedward and if you haven't just watch the video. There are other videos of them live, playing the 02 which I think is the biggest arenas in the UK.
I'll leave you with that bit of information for now and move on to my main point.

Yes, it's that hoary old subject of getting paid and people paying for music, my music, our music, music that I and you, perhaps produce.

I know I covered this in my last post but I've had more time to get this right in my head and it's quite astounding. I'm not saying that I've come up with a brand new idea or that I've found a new way of marketing my music. Perhaps I should just give you, dear reader, a little info about me.
I am a singer songwriter, I've been playing guitar since I was about six, I've been writing, performing and recording these songs for the past 13 years or so. I also produce a weekly podcast full of unsigned music that other artists from all over the world send me. Just so you know where I'm coming from.

Most of the gigs I have played have paid me nothing, yup not even a drink. Most of the songs I have recorded, produced and promoted have been downloaded for nothing. The weekly podcast I compile, produce and promote I do for nothing.

Some might say that these activities are my hobby. Some have and that hurts, yes actually hurts my feelings! Crazy eh? I put a great deal of time and effort into what I do, I'm very passionate about it all and yet I just give it away.

I would love to get paid for it, I do actually value what I do BUT I also want people to hear it, that's the whole point isn't it?


There are many "bedroom players" who are content to play in their bedrooms and never let anyone hear what they do and that is fine, nothing wrong with that at all, my wife plays the piano for fun and has no desire to perform.


But I digress.


I'll let you in to a secret, a personal private secret. I think I'm really very good at playing guitar, writing songs and singing. Crazy eh? I pretty much have to think that otherwise I wouldn't do some of the things I do like play at an open mic night, play gigs miles away in front of people I don't know. I also would love to do it for a living. Just recording and playing music. Yet I still do it now for nothing. WHY? 


My podcast takes about an hour to ninety minutes to actually produce. There is a lot of admin type stuff that goes with it. Emails, databases and blogs are written and added to pretty much every day. I get a real kick out of making it as I have a real passion for unsigned music. i do think it sounds better, has more soul, feeling and passion than the signed stuff. I feel a glow of pride when other podcasters ask me for a track that I have played or if I see a review of one of the tunes that I featured, knowing that the reviewer first heard the tune on my podcast. I would love to spend more time on it, develop some of the ideas I have for it, do more interviews and write more about the artists but I just don't have the time. 


In an ideal world I would be able to earn money from selling my songs online and get some cash for making the podcast. Is that too much to ask? 


NO it bloody isn't!


Over the last month or so I have had a bit of a revelation, a change of heart. Some of it has to do with people like Jedward (remember them?). Lovely lads I'm sure but singers they 'aint. They played the 02 and they're getting paid for doing what I want to do and I know that I do it better than them. I may feel all self righteous about it as I go and play my open mic for fuck all but I have to go to work on Tuesday!!

(breath)

"Give away and then they will pay" is the mantra isn't it. I did cover this in my previous post
but just a thought. When we give stuff away on Bandcamp we DO get peoples email addresses. Yes, yes we do. When we sell things on Bandcamp we also get peoples email addresses. Now I would prefer to have a mailing list that contains email addresses of  people that have paid money for my tracks rather than a list of email addresses of a group of people that just took the tracks for nothing, didn't even pay a pound for a whole album of my songs.

To be taken seriously for what I do, I /we have to charge for what I/we do. This elevates us above the people that DO just do it for a hobby or are, and I'm sorry to say this, just aren't very good. They are out there. I get sent plenty of tracks by people that just aren't very good or SHIT. They also give their tracks away and people download it.


There are also many podcasts out there, bloody thousands. Some are great and some are rubbish. They are pretty much all free. If you had to pay for a podcast you would expect it to be good eh? Of course you would. So lets charge for podcasts, micropayments say £2 a month like The Vobes Show does. That way people, the public, would know that they are getting a quality product
We can all "get our music heard" even on iTunes people can listen for free, on bandcamp and myspace people can hear for free. You van give your tracks to Amazing Radio and they will play it for free, grated they won't introduce it so that people know who you are but hey will still "get it out there".



So, in closing, if you want to posses any of my songs, the songs that I have crafted and recorded and uploaded you will have to pay because Jedward get paid and

  I'M BETTER THAN JEDWARD

Give it away, now?

So the mantra for many independents is "Give it away, because later they'll pay".
If you don't know what I am talking about, let me explain

Many independent artists chose to give their music away free, usually download only, in exchange for the email address of the person that bought it. The thinking behind this is that once you have seduced your fan with free music, they will fall in love with you and purchase your next release.

Lets assume, for a moment, that this is the correct and proper way to go about it. At what point do you start to charge?

Lets now question the giving away of our precious talents. Many of us record at home so the actual cash outlay of producing a track (or podcast for that matter) is nought. Uploading to sites such as the beloved Bandcamp is also, nought. So on a strictly financial basis we are not out of pocket by giving these things away.

To avoid this becoming a discussion just about music, I would extend the "talents" to poets and writers.

Some may mention that old chestnut "Time is money" which, I believe, is balls and not worth clouding this already foggy issue. 

Busy times

I often feel that I neglect this blog. I have others, three others but this one is just for my music. I think the fact that I don't use this one much is rather indicative of the fact that I don't push MY music enough.

I've spent the last few months working on my podcast and have had a great success,  finally finished Tom Caulfields brilliant album for my label Pure Acoustica Records.
I've also been working on Pure Acoustica , that also is starting to pick up and I'm stating it in a new venue this week.


A few weeks ago, after chatting to Matt Stevens, I started push my music and have had some great results especially with podcasters, ironic eh?

Bug cast and Made in the UK played my tracks this last weekend and there are more to come including some play on BBC local radio.

I am also planning an exciting development to the Vinyl project, remember that?

I'm also uploading my latest album plus some other stray tracks on to iTunes this week. I've actually been earning some money from iTunes, something I thought would never happen. It's not a fortune, enough for a few pints and enough to pay to get this new collection of songs up. That will make a total of about 37 tracks up for sale.

So now that Tom's album is finished, the podcast is looking after itself, Pure Acoustica has started again AND I've got plenty of gigs lined up for the summer now is the time to push these tunes of mine.

Come the autumn and winter I shall be writing another album or two and perhaps leave these tunes behind, but then again.......

Why Wait? pt2

Going back to my earlier post "Why Wait?" . Many of my friends waiting for something i.e. a new guitar, camera etc before they actualy do something. I'd like you to look again at this little video I made.
It doesn't look that great because it was shot using an old digital still camera, it doesn't sound great because it's just using the mic on said camera, there is the odd mistake on the playing but I thought "f*** it, I'll put it up anyway"

It's been up less than a week and has attracted just over 80 hits to date. Ok, it's not going to change the world but it has generated some lovely feedback. Perhaps the fact that it's an honest little piece, is why people like it? Who knows?

I think what it does illustrate is that we shouldn't put stumbling blocks in our way, shouldn't stop ourselves from doing something because we may not do it well. F*** it, just do it anyway. Perhaps you can do a better one next time.

Lists

I like lists, it concentrates the mind and helps quite the constant chatter in my head "Must do this, remember that, have to call/email/meet up with ....
It is almost endless.

This is a small extract form my master list, there is more so much more...

My Music
Develope my music locally and beyond. Good quality, well attended and regular gigs.

Sell cds and downloads, consistently.

The Vinyl Project.
Use the money that has been donated so far, and record a live album at Pina Studios in London. I will perform this in front of an invited audience who will be present in the studio. They will all pay £10 and will receive a copy of the record that they were present at the recording of. People who have already donated will be invited but will not pay the £10.



Pure Acoustica

I want to expand the number of acts to include poets, story tellers, magicians ect. I think there is a great potential for bookings for niche weddings and parties. I also want to explore the concept of House Concerts. Develope www.pureacoustica.com to reflect what is going on eg gigs, Bristol, artists.
Expand the number of regular venues and publisize "The Pure Acoustica Brand" 

I also want to produce and arrange other bands and artists. I have a lot of experience with this, just need to publicize it more.


Pure Acoustica Records (record label)

Expand the number of artists. This simple way of recording is a cheep and effective way of showcasing an artists talent. I think the stripped down style can also be a great blueprint for future recording. Again it's also a niche.
Develope www.pureacoustica.com to reflect the label as well ast the artists.

So there is a small extract of a list I made two weeks ago. It has altered somewhat and there have been developments.

I hope to have some concrete news in the next few weeks.

This space? Watch it!

A little faith...

I played at the Soul Cellar last night. No biggies, I've played there a few times, it's a nice little cellar bar in Southampton.

When I arrived the place was dead apart from a few friends (4)of the guy that was playing at the time.

He was thrashing away, acoustic guitar and mic plugged into an amp, a Marshall I think.

There were about 3 other random chaps hanging about but they buggered off after a while.

Young Jack Martello played next. He played his usual set of covers and original songs.

The previous guy and his mates had pissed off by this time. Solidarity brother!

Around halfway through Jack's set the place started to fill up a bit. The reason being was that the drum and bass club upstairs was due to start and a few enthusiastic D&Bers had turned up early and wher taking advantage of the cheeper drinks downstairs before it all kicked off.

I was standing next to Mrs Nick and remarked that this would be a great opportunity to play Pure Acoustic ie no mic, no amp just me on stage singing with a guitar.

She, understandably, was unsure. "People won't be able to hear" she said. Looking round at the young crowd of around thirty, mainly male average age around 20  I thought she may have a point.

I've been toying with this theory that if you play Pure Acoustic, people will  talk quieter and some will even listen EVEN in a big noisy bar.

This theory was borne out last night. At first people didn't notice and probably wondered when I was going to start. Nevertheless they did clap when I had finished so at least they noticed thaty I had stopped.

When I cracked into my second tune, the ones that wanted to listen did and the overall sound level had dropped considerably. I was playing ballads and getting a great reaction and by the time I got to the end of my set the louder funky tunes went down a treat!

So, Pure Acoustica DOES work, people DO listen.

Podcast number 14...at last!

At last, number 14! A bit of a shoddy one as it's been a while since my last one, so I'm not properly back in the flow so I thought I'd better play some good music. The fantastic Tom Caulfield from Weymouth and the amazing Matt Stevens from London. I managed to slip a newish one of mine towards the end. Hi if you're a new listener and welcome back if you are a regular. I'll try and keep these a bit more regular. If you have some music that you think I should feature, give me a shout.


Best place to listen is via iTunes, click on the link on the left.


If you don't do the iTunes thing then go direct to nicktann.podbean.com or you can listen via
The "Playa" on the right


Pip Pip!

Whoops.....

After playing for two hours at Borders in Southampton today, I was wondering why?
I didn't sell any cds, I didn't get any email addresses for my mailing list, nobody knew who I was, nobody made a special effort to come just to see me and I didn't make any new contacts.


"I didn't sell any cds" - I did have cds with me but I'd put them on a table away from people and there was no explanation as to what they where, who I am and that they were available to buy. I wasn't exactly making it easy was I?

"I didn't get any email addresses for my mailing list" - I may have done if I had thought of letting people know that I HAD a mailing list or even had a sheet of paper and perhaps a pen so they COULD give me their email address!!

"nobody knew who I was" I didn't tell them, in fact thinking back, I didn't tell them anything! I never said a word! To be fair, there wasn't anyone sitting watching me, folk were just wander around just like one would in a book store but I could have tried to engage them...

"nobody made a special effort to come just to see me" Apart from a few tweets and a mail-out to my Facebook group I hadn't exactly pushed the boat out as far as publicity.


"I didn't make any new contacts." Not exactly true, I did meet the guy that organizes events at Borders so I'll let myself off that one.

Never-mind, I'm not going to knock myself out over it. Hopefully I'll remember to make more effort next time and put a bit of thought into it.

I did play a few of my oldies today and had a few nice chats with Jules from Angry Badger, who organised the day, so it wasn't a complete wash out.


Oh and I gave a cd to a 10 year old who stopped and listened to about 4 songs. Increased my demographic!!

                                                          *****UPDATE*****

I take full responsibilty for any opportunities missed on Saturday. Jules from Angry Badger did loads of publicity and I thank him for setting the thing up and giving me the opportunity to play. I just wanted to point out that I WAS THE ONE WHO DIDN'T TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF IT

A Fucking Fiver!

I wonder how many of you wonderful people follow independent artists? The ones who possibly suffer from the tag "unsigned". If you don't I understand, I mean there's so much great music out there in mainstream land.

There's, probably, a sexy girl band, some solo rapper types, the odd make up daubed fey (?) guitar band, an Irish boy band all singing the same note, a competition winner as well as the plethora of assorted female American lunatics. Spoilt for choice eh?

You may be forgiven for thinking that these un-signed acts must be shit, otherwise they'd be signed right? Well, if you carry on that line of logic then the statement "signed bands are all great, otherwise they wouldn't be signed, right?" would also apply and we know that's certainly not true.
There are many dreadful acts that reside under the tag "Independent" or "un-signed" I'll give you that.

HOWEVER

There are many more that are bloody wonderful but how do you find the good ones?
How do you find a band who are at the level when you can still go and see them for less than a tenner, where you can get an email from them (not some industry lackey) letting you know when they are playing and what they are up to and where you can start collecting their early works before they got signed and it all when it bad!

I give you this The Showcase Sett Limited edition 16 track compilation cd
It's been compiled by Xan Phillips and Jules from Angry Badger Records and iconic -culture and I went to the launch of this last night and heard the whole thing, twice. It's bloody marvelous, no really.
I defy you, DEFY, to find a duff track on it. There may be a track or two that may not be too your taste but that's to be expected. It's got one of my favourite bands in the world on it, the mad and beautiful Wise Children. Their track I featured in podcast number 11 is just pure Joy!.
Last Night Andrew Foster played his track "The Alchemist" live and was quietly and poetically profound. He later joined up with the amazing Loz Bridge from Loz Bridge & The Box Social and totally blew everyone away. Loz is a legend. Think Gomez (remember them?) hugging Keene.
There are plenty of great tracks on this album, yes yes yes one of mine is on there but you can forget that, you can still download it for free by clicking that little widget thing but as I've already been paid for it I don't give a bugger either way.
I guarantee you will find at least 3 bands that you will want to hear more from and if I'm wrong, then you have no soul, no soul at all.

All for a fiver, a fucking fiver!

Podcast Number 10

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This has been one of my favourites. I interview independent artist, musician, dancer, actor and great friend Charles Olsen. He talks about visits to, the now notorious, Branstons Farm in Surrey in the early nineties. Meeting Dave, Paul and myself in the early stages of Drunk on Logic, almost winning the Saatchi prize and living in Madrid. As he lives in Madrid , the only way I could do the interview was to record our Skype conversation and it turned out pretty good.

I found myself without a clip of Charlie playing Flamenco so had to Skype him to send one, only to find that he didn't have one either. Fortunately he was able to record an impromptu piece on the spot and email it over. What a pro!

His web presence is amazing and has many a site to see as he does so much. Including a blog written in Spanish!

If you use iTunes to download this podcast then you will also be able to see the pics I added, screen grabs showing our Skype/recording session.

I also included one of my tunes as well as a 12 year old recording of Drunk On Logic's first paid gig.

If you don't have or fear the iTunes then you can listen or download by clicking here

Sleeve Notes for new Album "Bare Bones"

On listening to the first couple of tracks of Bare Bones I doubt you'll be clicking the iTunes buy button straight away.

The production is basic, to say the least, the vocals are often overwhelmed by the guitar and vice versa. Many of the tracks are short, have untidy endings, lack a "bridge" or "middle eight" or even a chorus!

This is my "back catalogue", my history. Many of these songs were recorded over ten years ago at 3am using one basic microphone and an old Mac. An audio notebook of ideas and inspiration.

But there are songs, oh yes, and that's what I want people to hear. Naive perhaps, basic even.

The alternative would have been to leave them, let them rest on a hard drive until the Mac eventually dies. But then what would have been the point? I still play many of these songs; I will often take parts from songs, a chorus, intro or theme and use them in a new composition.

So these songs are footprints, the tracks of my journey to the here and now.

No vocoders, no auto tune or expensive production or mastering.

Have a listen, you may even remember hearing one for the first time at that gig 8 years ago with that guy you didn't know in that dodgy Soho club you went to just the once to check it out but never returned. Or you may have been round my flat one night after the pub and cajoled me into playing something.

Or, of course, you may be listening for the first time in which case, don't judge too harshly as what you are listening to are just the "Bare Bones"

See what I did there?

Original artwork is by my good friend Charles Olsen

Podcast no 7

This week, amongst other things, I rant about buying a fridge at Comets, play some fantastic music by Matt Stevens and Simon Javens, a new advert for those great folk at Hayward Guitars in Winchester, talk a little about Pure Acoustica and launch the very first "Twitter News"

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.

It Could Have All Gone Horribly Wrong

But, fortunately it didn't.

A chap called Nick dropped me a line to tell me about a new weekly event he was starting called Natural Jam, an acoustic night at The Havana Bar in Southsea. I quite like Southsea, I have some friends there and vaguely remembered going to this bar once last year. I had been drunk but remembered the table football and great murals. I digress...

It was agreed that I would play the opening night last Tuesday 12th Nov.  I Googled the other people on the bill and checked out some of the people attending.  Shit they were young. Teenagers and early twenties types, not my usual audience of 30-40 somethings. I was a little apprehensive.

It could all go horribly wrong. 

My last gig being Chaplins I still felt a little shellshocked but I turned up optimistic anyway.

Nick had decided that all the acts (there were 3 including me) would play without mics, amps and all that shenanigans and play pure acoustic. 

The stage is pretty big, set up for bands and the like.  Plenty of comfy couches and sinking chairs.  The first act, I would guess, are more used to electric guitars and P.A.s but did a pretty good job and the djembe sounded great.  Next came a duo who also accounted well for themselves.  They even had a bash at Hotel California which shows some balls!

I did pretty good! I had re-written "Don't Make Me Wait" putting in a key change and changing the chorus.  I had a ball, I love this pure acoustic stylie.  Unfortunately, the fucking minidisk player didn't work so I don't have a record of it but i enjoyed myself no end and can't wait to play there again. I think that this could be a great success this pure acoustic stuff and I hope Nick realises the potential this place has got.

If I had one niggle it would be that no-one was introduced. We all kind of shambled on and started.

What about a "Welcome to Natural Jam at The Havana. We do this every week. Lets all give it up for Blah Blah Blah?"

Come on Nick, pull your finger out eh?

Catch Up

The Edge of the Wedge Southsea.....is a nice little bar. I played there before earlier this year and loved the place. It's situated on the main drag in the seaside bit of Portsmouth next to The Wedgewood Rooms. It had changed a bit since I had last played there. It had more sofas and it was dark outside. Not the bars fault obviously just the time of year. I was given the choice of when to go one and decided on the second slot. There were 3 acts on (supposedly, I'll get to that) so the second slot was the obvious choice. The first guy could soften them up (the audience), I come on and blow their minds and then the poor sap coming last has to "follow that!". Yes, cold and calculating, that's me.

The first guy came on and did a good fluffing job for me. Then I hauled myself out of one of the many sofas ( they really are very comfy) plugged in and was good to go. I was a little apprehensive as I had decided to do my quiet, ballad rip your heart out songs and the place was pretty noisy. It was a youngish audience and there were a few characters at the bar who looked like they might not take to songs about unrequited love, prostitutes the odd Jeff Buckley cover.

Also, just as I was about to start the entire bar erupts into a cheer as a be-spectacled figure walks in with a guitar case nodding, exchanging back slaps and pleasantries with pretty much everyone in the place. It then dawned on me (quick see that's me) that these were ALL his friends. They had ALL come to see him. He soon collected a little posse of smokers who would, en masse, troupe outside for a smoke and more backslaps throughout my set. 

However, they loved it or rather they loved me. They were quiet and attentive throughout my set, applauded and cheered in the right places  and were more than happy as I pimped my cards and cds after my set.

I then realised that my decision to go second was a good one. Mr Popular came on and played a short (15 mins or so) set of tunes on his Uke  that he had written 20 years since and were known by the entire bar, as they were all his friends (remember? Hope you're keeping up).  Funny, witty and not too far away from the great George Formby whose wife Beryl is a bit of a hero of mine. Next up was another friend of the audience who, guitar in hand, went on to please the audience. All this, coupled with the comfy sofas, had the feeling that we were at a house party thrown in a strangers house.

By the time yet another "mate" had taken the mic we thought it was time to leave. It was all very good but yet another private joke laden set was too much for us by then and we (Mrs Nick, Bill & Lisa ) disappeared into the night

This was just before all my Winchester gigs so a nice little warm up it was. 

Not like Chaplins last sunday, oh christ no.......

Pure Acoustic

So last Friday I thought I'd try something new. I really enjoyed the whole Froggies bar experience from the week before. I did email the Frog about playing there again but methinks I may have been a bit too pricey for him. He's probably found a cheap covers merchant by now but I'm not bitter. 

But I digress 

I decided that for the gig at The Eclipse I would play totally acoustic, no amp and no mic. Just me, a stool and a guitar. Despite it being only 6.30 there was a fair share of drunk types about as well as some BLIND DRUNK people staggering about. 

It was fantastic, the feeling of just sitting in the middle of this pub "naked" was one of the most liberating feelings I've ever had and I've had a few. The sense of freedom was overwhelming . Yes, people did speak when I was playing and I fell into that same "adding to the atmosphere of the place" feeling that I had experienced the week before but the reaction after each song was just amazing. During the second half hour one of the afore mentioned drunks hovered in front of me agog. He had the look of a young kestrel, head still and eyes fixed whilst his body gyrated trying to steady itself against the torrents of alcohol pulsating through his system. Now normally this would have been a little disconcerting. You never know what your average drunk will do. Will he (why is it always a he, I despair of my gender sometimes I really do) get nasty, friendly, emotional or just vomit over you and pass out? The thing is is that one feels a little trapped, guitar plugged in and mic and stand holding one in. But this feeling that at any time I could just get up and run gave me the kind of confidence usually reserved for super-heroes. So I turned and looked at him, he was about 3 feet away carefully (kind of) balanced on a table, and sang "How Can it be Wrong When it Feels so Right?" straight at him with feeling and passion. 

I doubt if he would have remembered much about that night, seriously he was so wasted that he fell into a table later and pretty much passed out. I wanted him to wake up in the morning, try and piece the night before together and then remember this big guy with a guitar singing love songs to him. Nevertheless it was a great evening culminating with food and wine and good company

I'm at Chaplins in sunny Boscombe on Sunday and possibly shooting a promo video if I can get my act together.

Whoop De Fucking Do....

"Hi Everyone
Thanks to all the people who turned up for the open auditions onSaturday – over a thousand of you attended and we're glad wemanaged to see everybody who came.
The quality on the day was very high and you made it tough for usto decide who to put through. Unfortunately, if you haven't heard from us yet then you didn't get through to the next stage, but wereally appreciate all the effort you made to come along.
We've plenty more things to entertain you coming up on the site –so make sure you stick with us. There'll be a gig zone to promoteyour music and increase your exposure, competitions to win mobilephones and other prizes, exclusive previews of the show and behindthe scenes content, Alex Zane's blog and Alex James' photo diary.
Check out the website later today for photos and a full report ofthe day.
Orange unsignedAct"



I think I'll leave it now eh?

The Candle Club!

At last I can say that I have played The Candle Club !

This is a great club based at the Back of The Talking Heads pub in Portswood Southampton.

I have been checking it out for a few months but, for reasons I will tell you later, had not played.

the idea is that you turn up and book a 10 minute slot, hang around until that time, then play. There are a set of traffic lights to the left of the stage. They stay on green for 7 minutes, then 2 on amber. When they switch to red you stop playing. The stage is huge, the place is a bit of a barn, the p.a. is top class as is the lighting. The audience is great and will get bigger when the uni students return. The atmosphere is very very friendly and professional. There are a few regulars that come along every week, I think. One of which is Kim Tecno who I missed last week but have seen before. A performance poet of the stoned, pissed off, reflective kind. His ranty observational funny verses are complemented by what I can only describe as "kick ass techno" which he plays himself on a small silver keyboard. His shambling disorganised persona is original and very funny. I highly suspect that this is not an "act" and he is like this. I bloody hope so!

"So why haven't you played before?" I hear you ask.

You'd forgotten that bit hadn't you? Do try and pay a little attention!

I think it was a mixture of confidence (lack thereof) actually it was just confidence. 

The act of turning up asking "Please sir, can I play?" was just a bit scary.

It's just ridiculous I know, I've done so many gigs played to hundreds but this "please" was just stopping me. I had been putting of playing for months but had finally ditched that weedy little wanky voice in my head and just thought "Fuck it!" and did it.

I now swagger, yes swagger, now that I've done it. It may sound like a small thing to you and it wasn't a huge thing for me but big enough for me to think of it as a fear faced and defeated. 

I did play well, if you give a tinker's cuss, and I sang like a dirty angel. Just two tunes; How Do You Sleep (with the new very high notes!) and All I Think About Is You (which I am in the process of recording and will be releasing as a single....kind of)

I will be there tomorrow, oh yes.....

Get Out Of London!!

Seriously, if you’re an artist trying to garner any kind of success then get out GET OUT!!.

 

Let me start at the beginning. Assume that you are a singer/songwriter type. You want to play in a nice place, sell cds to strangers, get people you don’t know to come to your other gigs and possibly have sex with beautiful women.

 

My experience is that unless you have connections you will play empty dives in the middle of housing estates, obscure expensive bars no one goes to,  acoustic nights in noisy bars that empty as the previous acts and their many friends depart after their “stint”.

For this London rock en Roll experience you will be paid fuck all.

“Promoters” of such events will not publicise you nor will anyone ANYONE wander in hungry for live original music except drunks and junkies who wouldn’t get served anywhere else.

 

You will not sell any cds and beautiful women will definitely not lay you. 

 

So my advice would be get out of London.

Come and play out here in the country.

Come and play at great places like Chaplins in Boscombe.

Lovely, enthusiastic women like Fiona will great you, shake you by the hand and be pleased to see you.

James the pianist and sometime sound guy will make a point of coming over and asking what you need and offer you a free drink.

Other performers will be talented and passionate and friendly, swapping places to play and being generally “chummy”

Ok, you won’t get paid as it is a free venue but you will play to a respectful, appreciative and enthusiastic audience that you didn’t have to bring yourself.

You will get your photograph taken and even a video of your songs to be put on the venue website.

Hopefully they will ask you back to play a longer set eh Fi?

You may take a beautiful woman home.

You may even be already married to them!

 

 

 

By the way, if you continue to thrash that dead horse that is ‘The Londin”you may as well busk, you’d play to more people possibly sell a few cds. You might even get laid!

The Beggars Fair 2008

I wasn’t filled with optimism when I first entered The William IV.

There was a 5-piece covers band in full swing, well a kind of swing, playing in a neutral oblong room with an audience of about 15.

Do I have anything against cover bands,  I do as it goes.

Not cover bands per say. Some would argue that the London Philharmonic play covers. It’s the “pop” or what was once pop/rock/country/fridaynightdownthepubhighhosilverlining type cover bands.

I’ve played in them. It’s a soulless occupation and you go home with your £50 hating yourself. Well ….. I did.

It wasn’t my past shaming me, well perhaps a bit, but the fact that I was on straight after.

If one has been enjoying the regurgitation of old Cliff tunes or tapping ones foot to singsong Beatles classics, then this git with the guitar with too many strings, singing you his stories of old loves lost, sexually predators ect is just going to irritate you.

But, I could not have been more wrong!

The scary guy who owned the PA (think the replacement drummer in The Commitments) was very helpful. He sorted me out sound wise, well I plugged everything in and twiddled a few knobs optimistically until Debs gave me an “OK” nod , but he was friendly non the less.

 

Now for this gig I had moved away from the usual set list idea. I had listed all the songs I was happy playing live, but I had used illustrator to cunningly put them haphazardly on the page. This way I could just chose whatever song I felt at the time would work. It was a great idea and one that I’m going to continue using.

 

I stayed away from some of the slower songs and kept it bluesesqe.

I went down pretty well with a few folk poking their heads round the door from the garden/smoking area from time to time. I even played my new cover “little sister” which went down a treat.

 

On to The British Legion, yes I shit you not! As already mentioned, in my tawdry past I have played the odd ‘Legion/Conservative club (ha!) etc so even with the memories gently emerging, I kept optimistic and decided I was going to , as our ‘Merican friends call it “Kick Ass”.

The British legion in Romsey is a little like what I imaging a cruise liner to be, big bar, plush carpets, nice toilets and full of old people.

A lot of old people, wall to wall. Suits and ties and flowery dresses.

There were a few younger types but they stayed mostly in the patio/garden area.

And then THEN there was my audience. Loverly they were. Sitting close and tapping tables and clapping at the right places. I had only just played the ‘William” so I was good to go. I had considered dropping a few of the more risqué songs: One Night Stand, Pale Moonlight (“turn me over ‘cos I like it like that!) but then as most of the oldies couldn’t hear anyway, I played them.

I could see a couple sitting straight in front of me where very into me. they looked oddly familiar but I let that pass. After my set, (I must say I was pretty good) the lady, well I would say girl as she looked about 19 but the guy she was with looked about 30 but who am I etc…..WELL she came up and asked if I had a cd for sale?

“Me? A cd? Of course I have a cd, I have one just here along with about 10 others that I’ve never sold ever before at a gig, yes NEVER SOLD A CD AT A GIG BEFORE!

I did feel a little pang as I handed over one of the cds that had, over the last few months, has become a friend and a comfort to me in times of stress.

“ A special festival price of £5” I spluttered.

Ha!

So, my chest bursting with pride and a spring in my step, we ventured forth to see the wonderful Louche Manouche down at The Melting pot stage. 

Some of you more eagle eyed readers may have read my Beggars Fair blog from last year ( I think it's further down the page). This year daughter was left at home with the internet baby sitting her and mrs Nick was asked to ignore me, let me get to the gigs in my own time and my own way and not to "whoop" whilst I, the great maestro, is performing. This she did admirably and looked damn sexy all day!

All in all a good day. 

I don't mind this gigging lark, I'm going to do a few more.

 

Apropos nothing, the phrase

 

“God made Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve” appears to indicate that if you can make a bullshit rhyme, then that gives it some kind of truth.

 

“God made Adam and Eve not Julian and Sandy”