Ok so it hasn't really been a once a week kinda thing but I assure you, I really wanted it to be but every time I though about updating the blog, I either thought "I'll do it in a minute" or "I'll do it tomorrow", Ah well...
To be fair, nothing has really happened these past couple of weeks. Same old, same old really... oh cept St. Patrick's day we had a great laugh down the pub, including my personal viewing of some drunk guys hard on in the toilet...I'm neither proud nor ashamed :S
This week i've got off because the basically the factory is closed...simple BUT i've been bored out of my mind, made me realise how much I really enjoy working. But yea thats about it...
Oh yea and Only 5 weeks to go!!!.....yea "only" :(
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Ms. Nash I Salute You
So last night was gig night, Kate Nash at the Hammersmith Apollo.
Very kindly Mum and Dad offered to drive me and my older sister up there and drop us off whilst they went to see My mums mum and possibly my eldest sibling. Everything was all going to plan until we just hit London and learnt that the Hammersmith one way system had been shut due to debris on the road after the previous nights storms. So we just jumped out of the car and used the underground, Think we started out South Ealing station luckily on the line we needed and it was only like 4 stops away so good times.
Go the the Apollo to find a mahuusssive que outside and the doors weren't open so the que wasn't moving. Kristy said she knew a little pub just round the corner so we went and had a nice little drink or two. Really nice kinda trying to be modern pub but a bit run down, quite nice atmosphere so really enjoyed it. Bout half 8 we left to go in but still there was a huge que, we thought screw it we'll just get in there. In all honesty within like 10 minutes we were at the front so no problems there really.
Got in had another few drinks, decided not to watch the support act cause they were called "Black Kids" and we thought that was "un-PC" (lol by now we were pretty well toasted) but we saw Ms. Nash was on at 9:15 so got into the auditorium for bout 9. Kristy heard the directions from the usher wrong and went right instead of left and we walked through a whole row of people trying not to spill our drinks only to find we were in seats 2 and 3 when our tickets were for 32 and 33. So made our way round the back and up the top and eventually found our seats, quite good, quite a way back but right in the middle and could see the stage pretty well.
Well when Kate actually came on, all the girls (which made up a good 85% of the crowd) went mental. Although the acoustics weren't great where we were sitting, you could hear the she was exactly like she was on the album, and she was putting all she had into the performance which i truly respect her for. Played the handful of songs i really knew and played them well, the songs I didn't know, also were really cool although cause of the acoustics like I said I couldn't really make out the words clearly which is really the more important side of her music. All in all a really good performance and great musicianship all around ~ turns out shes actually quite handy with and guitar as well as a piano.
Nothing really to report leaving everything went well and we got home by about 12:30 to which i wrapped up the night with Beans of Toast and a cup of tea
Good Times...
Very kindly Mum and Dad offered to drive me and my older sister up there and drop us off whilst they went to see My mums mum and possibly my eldest sibling. Everything was all going to plan until we just hit London and learnt that the Hammersmith one way system had been shut due to debris on the road after the previous nights storms. So we just jumped out of the car and used the underground, Think we started out South Ealing station luckily on the line we needed and it was only like 4 stops away so good times.
Go the the Apollo to find a mahuusssive que outside and the doors weren't open so the que wasn't moving. Kristy said she knew a little pub just round the corner so we went and had a nice little drink or two. Really nice kinda trying to be modern pub but a bit run down, quite nice atmosphere so really enjoyed it. Bout half 8 we left to go in but still there was a huge que, we thought screw it we'll just get in there. In all honesty within like 10 minutes we were at the front so no problems there really.
Got in had another few drinks, decided not to watch the support act cause they were called "Black Kids" and we thought that was "un-PC" (lol by now we were pretty well toasted) but we saw Ms. Nash was on at 9:15 so got into the auditorium for bout 9. Kristy heard the directions from the usher wrong and went right instead of left and we walked through a whole row of people trying not to spill our drinks only to find we were in seats 2 and 3 when our tickets were for 32 and 33. So made our way round the back and up the top and eventually found our seats, quite good, quite a way back but right in the middle and could see the stage pretty well.
Well when Kate actually came on, all the girls (which made up a good 85% of the crowd) went mental. Although the acoustics weren't great where we were sitting, you could hear the she was exactly like she was on the album, and she was putting all she had into the performance which i truly respect her for. Played the handful of songs i really knew and played them well, the songs I didn't know, also were really cool although cause of the acoustics like I said I couldn't really make out the words clearly which is really the more important side of her music. All in all a really good performance and great musicianship all around ~ turns out shes actually quite handy with and guitar as well as a piano.
Nothing really to report leaving everything went well and we got home by about 12:30 to which i wrapped up the night with Beans of Toast and a cup of tea
Good Times...
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Week 2: Waiting...
I know i know this is over a week since i lasted blogged it up so sue me i'll do another one later this week geez
Well quite and interesting week this one just gone. Started our 3 and half days weeks this week which was cool but pretty sure i didnt do anything thursday night, mainly though due to the plans i had for the next day.
Which was the day i spent in the studio, the very first day and MY GOD, was it amazing. Nas is such an easy guy to work with, he knows exactly whats what, made me feel very comfortable specially with the vocals side of it and has a really keen ear for funny melodies that work really well.
We started at about 11'o'clock possibly later and didnt finish till gone 7 that evening twas great. We got half a track down basically we're going back to it with fresh ears and mixing it properly adding whats necessary where necessary and so on, but already its sound great ~ really exciting stuff. Gives me real drive to keep pushing my work further forward. I'm really happy with hows it going down basically.
After that went down to First base with the lads, work and close friends, and had a good laugh really. Wasn't drinking and I left really early because of the following days events but yea still had a great laugh.
And today i did my Pass Plus so my insurance costs for the car should come tumbling down...well we'll see anyway
Good Stuff, Good Week. Time to go play some Army of Two with Marky Boy!
p.s. 9 weeks till car time... :(
Well quite and interesting week this one just gone. Started our 3 and half days weeks this week which was cool but pretty sure i didnt do anything thursday night, mainly though due to the plans i had for the next day.
Which was the day i spent in the studio, the very first day and MY GOD, was it amazing. Nas is such an easy guy to work with, he knows exactly whats what, made me feel very comfortable specially with the vocals side of it and has a really keen ear for funny melodies that work really well.
We started at about 11'o'clock possibly later and didnt finish till gone 7 that evening twas great. We got half a track down basically we're going back to it with fresh ears and mixing it properly adding whats necessary where necessary and so on, but already its sound great ~ really exciting stuff. Gives me real drive to keep pushing my work further forward. I'm really happy with hows it going down basically.
After that went down to First base with the lads, work and close friends, and had a good laugh really. Wasn't drinking and I left really early because of the following days events but yea still had a great laugh.
And today i did my Pass Plus so my insurance costs for the car should come tumbling down...well we'll see anyway
Good Stuff, Good Week. Time to go play some Army of Two with Marky Boy!
p.s. 9 weeks till car time... :(
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Week 1: Car Ordered...
So this Wednesday i got conformation that my car has been actually ordered....bad news is though that its gonna take upto 10 weeks which in a lot of ways has really pissed me off as i was initially told around 2-3 weeks, but hey - a cars a car. So we'll keep upto date with all that jazz
Also Yesterday (Wednesday) we got told at work that due to lack of orders the factory will be closing on Thursday lunch-times, so im doing a 3 and half day week.....for the same money. Tis amazing really but we cant plan ahead and what not because if we are behind on our targets we can be asked to stay/go in the next day to meet demand, which is fair enough i guess they are paying us for it.
But yea, also booked my Pass Plus test today for a week on Saturday. Bit more experience and a bit more off my insurance.
Sorted out first date for getting the studio today, which is gonna be next Friday (provided were not working) . Should be a good laugh, gonna keep it simple initially, lay down some of the stuff i've already finished and what not and just develop on those, but expect some previews before long.
Also Yesterday (Wednesday) we got told at work that due to lack of orders the factory will be closing on Thursday lunch-times, so im doing a 3 and half day week.....for the same money. Tis amazing really but we cant plan ahead and what not because if we are behind on our targets we can be asked to stay/go in the next day to meet demand, which is fair enough i guess they are paying us for it.
But yea, also booked my Pass Plus test today for a week on Saturday. Bit more experience and a bit more off my insurance.
Sorted out first date for getting the studio today, which is gonna be next Friday (provided were not working) . Should be a good laugh, gonna keep it simple initially, lay down some of the stuff i've already finished and what not and just develop on those, but expect some previews before long.
Sunday, 24 February 2008
My Musical World: Part I
So, I've decided to document my winding journey in my quest to break the music business. Like so many before me I've had many a dream of being able to perform in front of people who genuinely want to come and here me play. Its a very universal feeling I think, I could say in confidence at some point or another almost everyone has had that bug. Well I caught the bug about 8 years ago now and its never left my side.
Now with the coming of a little more maturity, I'm starting to really take the whole game seriously. Writing music and lyrics become a very big passion of mine. I think I've always been quite literate but for the first time I'm starting to be able to string together line after line and be able come up, otherwise catchy little turns of phrase which I'm almost able to write a song around. My problem at the moment is I'll start something good, write the first of it down and leave it at that. At the moment I have nearly 30-40 four lines files on my computer just waiting to be finished. Theirs also the 20 or so scraps of paper I've bought home from work with the same basic gist, 4/5/6 lines with a slim outline of how i want a song to sound and that's it, its annoying as hell but when i go back to em I just cant get into the mind set I was when I wrote them and therefore I find it very, very difficult to add more to them.
So where does this leave me for the coming future? Well, the good news is that the studio I'm set to go into is practically finished, in fact it was of my understanding that this weekend it would be finished. So, with any luck, what I'll be able to do is print off all these half arsed attempts and hopefully turn them into something a little more substantial. Mark Nasir, my record producer, is a fair bit older than me, 10 or 15 years, and he has spent most of his life dedicated to music, so I know that when it comes down to it he's going to be a major guiding light in months to come, And I'm really looking forward to that to be honest, for too long now my energies have been scattered all over the place. It'll be nice to have a little focus and direction and hopefully some finished products.
At the same time as well, Me and Jade have got to start getting together soon and getting some stuff sorted. Jade has an amazing future ahead of her in terms music and i am absolutely honoured that she would want me to be a part of it. For a long time now, I've been debating whether or not raw talent alone will get you anywhere in the industry, and I'm not sure so far it has been that way. But if anyone will prove it wrong it will be Jade. I look forward to the day i can say "I remember when..."
Well that was a basically sum up or the last 19 years of my life up until this point and maybe just maybe, a preview of that is yet to come. I'm looking forward to it, hope you are too
Now with the coming of a little more maturity, I'm starting to really take the whole game seriously. Writing music and lyrics become a very big passion of mine. I think I've always been quite literate but for the first time I'm starting to be able to string together line after line and be able come up, otherwise catchy little turns of phrase which I'm almost able to write a song around. My problem at the moment is I'll start something good, write the first of it down and leave it at that. At the moment I have nearly 30-40 four lines files on my computer just waiting to be finished. Theirs also the 20 or so scraps of paper I've bought home from work with the same basic gist, 4/5/6 lines with a slim outline of how i want a song to sound and that's it, its annoying as hell but when i go back to em I just cant get into the mind set I was when I wrote them and therefore I find it very, very difficult to add more to them.
So where does this leave me for the coming future? Well, the good news is that the studio I'm set to go into is practically finished, in fact it was of my understanding that this weekend it would be finished. So, with any luck, what I'll be able to do is print off all these half arsed attempts and hopefully turn them into something a little more substantial. Mark Nasir, my record producer, is a fair bit older than me, 10 or 15 years, and he has spent most of his life dedicated to music, so I know that when it comes down to it he's going to be a major guiding light in months to come, And I'm really looking forward to that to be honest, for too long now my energies have been scattered all over the place. It'll be nice to have a little focus and direction and hopefully some finished products.
At the same time as well, Me and Jade have got to start getting together soon and getting some stuff sorted. Jade has an amazing future ahead of her in terms music and i am absolutely honoured that she would want me to be a part of it. For a long time now, I've been debating whether or not raw talent alone will get you anywhere in the industry, and I'm not sure so far it has been that way. But if anyone will prove it wrong it will be Jade. I look forward to the day i can say "I remember when..."
Well that was a basically sum up or the last 19 years of my life up until this point and maybe just maybe, a preview of that is yet to come. I'm looking forward to it, hope you are too
Movies at midnight!
So, me and Mark spent last night watching a few films and getting a little buzzed, was a good laugh really.
Blade runner was actually suprising really good, the story was pretty solid but it was the imagery was the thing that really the main point of the film. Lots of shots involving flashing lights and smokey backdrops. Great sound track, even tho it was all synth / electronic stuff but it really just captured the mood of the scene and really just summed up the whole dark film noir-y atmosphere of the whole thing. Really recommend it ~ definitely lives up to its reputation.
Die Hard 4 is genuinely an instant classic, i was told that they were running the die hard series into the ground with the fourth installment but i loved every minute of it, theres no faffing around with a deep mysterious story (which we had just experienced with Blade Runner, not in a bad way just fancied a bit more shoot, shoot, shoot some more, then ask questions). Classic scenes, Classic McClane. Thoroughly Enjoyed it also massively recommended.
Third and finally we watched The Big Lebowski, I've been pestered to watch this for quite a while now by one lil' Rachel. Im really glad i finally got to see it tho cause it was actually hilarious, although i was absolutely knackered by now, I did get a lil lost with the story at first but had some amazing one liners, really it was classic Coen brothers film with some great cameos. Again higly recommened, sober or otherwise :)
All in all a really good laugh but still got City of God and This is England to watch along with some more Red Dwarf, so expect some more writing up here soon.
Other than that, the weekend beens kinda dull so far a lot of lounging around but an unusual amount of song writing this weekend so i might have some lyrics up and around sooner or later so keep posted :)
Blade runner was actually suprising really good, the story was pretty solid but it was the imagery was the thing that really the main point of the film. Lots of shots involving flashing lights and smokey backdrops. Great sound track, even tho it was all synth / electronic stuff but it really just captured the mood of the scene and really just summed up the whole dark film noir-y atmosphere of the whole thing. Really recommend it ~ definitely lives up to its reputation.
Die Hard 4 is genuinely an instant classic, i was told that they were running the die hard series into the ground with the fourth installment but i loved every minute of it, theres no faffing around with a deep mysterious story (which we had just experienced with Blade Runner, not in a bad way just fancied a bit more shoot, shoot, shoot some more, then ask questions). Classic scenes, Classic McClane. Thoroughly Enjoyed it also massively recommended.
Third and finally we watched The Big Lebowski, I've been pestered to watch this for quite a while now by one lil' Rachel. Im really glad i finally got to see it tho cause it was actually hilarious, although i was absolutely knackered by now, I did get a lil lost with the story at first but had some amazing one liners, really it was classic Coen brothers film with some great cameos. Again higly recommened, sober or otherwise :)
All in all a really good laugh but still got City of God and This is England to watch along with some more Red Dwarf, so expect some more writing up here soon.
Other than that, the weekend beens kinda dull so far a lot of lounging around but an unusual amount of song writing this weekend so i might have some lyrics up and around sooner or later so keep posted :)
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Gig Plans!
Plan so far
Kate Nash @ The Hammersmith Apollo ~ 10th March '08
Billy Bragg @ The Colston Hall Bristol ~ 24th April '08
Mark Knopfler @ The Royal Albert Hall ~ 28th May '08
Eric Clapton (Hyde Park Calling Festival) @ Hyde Park ~28th June '08
Gigs on the Cards
Elbow w/ Two Gallants ~ In Oxford or London
Two Gallants ~ In London and/or Oxford
End of the Road Festival ~ In Devon
Kula Shaker ~ Where ever/ When Ever
and hopefully more to come :)
Kate Nash @ The Hammersmith Apollo ~ 10th March '08
Billy Bragg @ The Colston Hall Bristol ~ 24th April '08
Mark Knopfler @ The Royal Albert Hall ~ 28th May '08
Eric Clapton (Hyde Park Calling Festival) @ Hyde Park ~28th June '08
Gigs on the Cards
Elbow w/ Two Gallants ~ In Oxford or London
Two Gallants ~ In London and/or Oxford
End of the Road Festival ~ In Devon
Kula Shaker ~ Where ever/ When Ever
and hopefully more to come :)
New Year!
Well its been and gone, but its only just starting to feeling like a new start for me...
In recent weeks I've...
So lets see it all come to play eh? :)
In recent weeks I've...
- Passed My Driving test (New Years Resolution out the way ;))
- Started writing a lot more frequently...and really thought about it this time
- Got my own desk at work! :D
- Started laying off the games
- Started yet another blog..
So lets see it all come to play eh? :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
