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| 09/07/09 | Blog...the lucrative lecture circuit beckons! So there I was last week, minding my own business, when an email came in from Biddulph Up In Arms club near Stoke (http://www.biddulphupinarms.com/index.htm formerly Biddulph folk club) asking would I like to do a gig there in the autumn....no problem there, they then added would I like to do a lecture at the same venue this week (July 8th) entitled "Perspectives of a Professional Musician" (that's debateable, I only know 4 chords!)....and this week!??...hardly enough time to prepare a one hour talk (with half-hour question/answer). Anyway, they were going to pay and feed me, and the pub served pies, so I agreed (I'll try anything once, me).... I took along a guitar and sang "Grey's..." as an introduction as to where I am now, then took 'em way back in time to 1977, and armed with audio clips and old vids/performances off youtube etc, worked my way through my various bands, projects, writing partners, TV work, production duties etc, right back to today and "Chronicles"... I think it was a success, I enjoyed it, and I needn't have worried about the length of the lecture...I managed to ramble on for an hour and a half, hardly time for questions! Thanks to all who attended. Looking forward to playing the Liverpool Echo Arena on Sunday, supporting Sharleen Spiteri...what, 5000 people?, no problem... |
| 04/07/09 | Blog.....Bang goes my integrity...plus Eric's book Just to reinforce the fact that I try not to take myself and this "solo career" too seriously, I've posted a couple of hilarious (well, we all think so) videos on the site...they were made as a birthday treat from my mate and writing/production partner Guy Batson (The Bat™) and feature "me" performing a Chippendales routine, and a hip-hop breakdance number (how fit am I?!)..apologies if everyone's done their own versions of these and they're all over the 'net by now, but I've not seen 'em before. Also for my birthday I received the book about the mythical and wonderful Liverpool Punk/New Wave club "Eric's" (see below in "current reading" for details)...I had been contacted by the author Jaki Florek a while ago, and was asked for my memories of the place ...I was surprised to find that there are 8 or 9 pages of text and photos dedicated to Yachts, Christians and even right up to my solo album "Chronicles..", which they mention favourably... It's a weighty tome, a wonderful book, a sort of scrapbook full of pictures/reminiscences (and not a little self-mythologizing!...which even I am probably guilty of) and the characters (famous and not-so) that inhabited this magical club, without which half of the Liverpool bands of the past 30 years wouldn't exist (no, make that three quarters). My closing comment in the book is: "...All i know is I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now, and have been doing for the past 30 years, without Eric's"... |
| 29/06/09 | Blog...learning to rawwwk. Absolutely! A week in rawwwk: So, despite this new fangled career thingy of me being a "solo artist", I haven't given up my day job, writing and producing. I'd agreed to get involved with Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio) and their "One Last Dream" competition. The idea was that the station would hold this competition to find a band from "back in the day" who'd never made it and give 'em one last chance, and I'd co-write and produce a brand new song. The winners were a lovely bunch of lads, "The Original Sinners" from Amersham....a full-on hairy-arsed rock band, and no mistakin'!! So we met up last Monday (22nd), bonded in the pub, threw around a few ideas for a new song which all parties agreed should be called "One Last Dream" and should basically describe the madness that the band had been through in the last few weeks...it's all been a bit of a blur for them as they only met up again 3 weeks ago, after having not seen each other for 15 years . Tuesday we wrote the song, then Wednesday we found ourselves in Abbey Road Studio 3 with 12 hours to record this brand new opus...nothing like a deadline to keep you focussed...at one point around 6pm I was thinking "this is madness, we're never going to get it finished", but the adrenlin kicks in and everybody delivered, and 11pm we had it mixed...and I do believe we got away with it! Thursday morning 7.45am I was interviewed live on Absolute Radio on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show and the song had it's first play, and since then they've been hammering it (I've heard it twice today already)... it's being rush-released as a charity single today on i-tunes, 79p and proceeds from sales go to Teenage Cancer Trust...(so if anyone's feeling charitable?). It was only after we finished that I admitted to the band that I've never really "raaawwwkkked" before..I'm strictly Pop, with occasional indy, singer-songwriter (and country!?!) tendencies....but it felt good, so thanks Pete, Dan, Mark, Al and Dave. PS.....Then on Saturday the band capped off a brilliant week as they played to 40,000 people opening Saturday's Hyde Park concert on the same bill as Neil Young, Fleet Foxes, Seasick Steve and Pretenders...Go, Sinners! PPS...the only slight downside to a most enjoyable week was that, in return for me giving my time for free, Absolute Radio had promised to promote and play my new single and the album....then it turns out that the stuff on my album doesn't fit into their format...(yer what?!?...)...hmmmm, maybe I need to learn to rawwwk more... |
| 19/06/09 | Blog.....Arenas, Marquees,Theatres and Pubs I've got a load of gigs coming up in the next few months, strangely almost entirely up North..but that redresses the balance as most of my spring dates seemed to be in the South (people were beginning to think I'd forgot me roots!). Tonight I have my first ever public solo performance...not a proper gig as such, but I've been asked to get up and do 20 mins or so at the aftershow tent late night session at the Beverley Folk Festival...it'll be strange and a bit daunting not to have my trusted compadre Pete Riley at my side to make sure I'm playing the right chords in the right key!!....still, the team (me and Pete) will be back together on Sunday night (21st) for the proper Beverley Folk Festival performance supporting Seth Lakeman at the finale concert, come back Pete all is forgiven! Then we've got a big gig at The Liverpool Echo Arena supporting Sharleen Spiteri on 12th July as part of the Summer Pops festival... and later next month I do a bit of "moonlighting", playing keys for the Wild Swans on their comeback gigs, first shows for 26 years..all star line-up, including Ricky from the Brian Jonestown Massacre and various Liverpool luminaries (check Paul Simpsoon's myspace for details). More gigs in Sept including 3 nights at Liverpool Everyman Theatre supporting a band whose name I cannot reveal yet..all very cloak and dagger until it's officially announced, but will let you know shortly... H x |