Online Diary (January 2011)
Jan 31, 2011 Latest News
31/01/11
January is well and truly gone and it keeps going faster and faster! last week I played all 7 days of the week in various different guises. Open mics and gigs private/public got most of my upcoming gigs out of Weston now and hoping to continue the trend. Reason being I would like to put on an event showcasing the full banbd versions of the upcoming album. If I’m away for a bit hopfully more people will be interested in coming along.
Paid for some advertising in ‘Bridal Dreams’ magazine today that goes out with the Weston Mercury to see if I can some more work with wedding gigs for the band and as a solo acoustic act.
Working on organising further aspects of the SKYDIVE in August; currently waiting for everyone to reply to me 
Rehearsal is off tonight due to car trouble for the drummer (Sam) will rearrange for Sunday and hopefully get a whole day devoted to ironing out any kinks. Still looking to get a date to mix the studio session of ‘Secret’ and Ican’t wait for you to hear it. It’s bloody awesome so far. Just need to produce it a bit more to make it stand out in todays market
Found these old recordings I did with Craig Godbeer when we were performing as STRUMAH from 2004. My guitar playing was shocking in places but it was all done in one take and recorded by Bob Garrett at his house.
15 Years – The Levellers (Cover)
30/01/11
Here are some pictures of my amp that is in production. Malcolm Ray took me to his workshop today and showed me how far he has got with the unique valve amp specifically designed for my acoustic guitar. Needless to say I am somewhat excited about it and look forward to playing it. The company is called Ray Sharp and he will be making many more amps so you can buy one!! Will get a spec from Malcolm soon for those of you who like to know the more nerdy aspects of its construction
Playing at Ammos tonight in Weston-super-Mare and will be joined on stage with some special guests. Gonna rehearse with Hannah Johns later (violin) and maybe learn a few new covers. I will be recording tonights gig so live recordings will be up soon. Last nights wedding gig was great in Keynsham and I got home with enough time to go out and live it up on the town. Peter Fealey and Adam Taylor were on hand to make the night amazing.
28/01/11
Was supposed to be getting the Secret session mixed today but poor old Tony Hobden is in hospital so went to visit him. Also delivered Kate Lee’s birthday present (KLEE Photography) and picked up my PA from Loves Cafe in preparation for playing at The Bottle Bar tonight.
I don’t have many gigs in Weston for the next 6 months so my wings are definitely stretching ever further. Competing with Tinchy Strider tonight who is playing on The Grand Pier (Nancy are supporting; Shane & Maudie Roynan, Rob Whelan and Kate ‘Spinklesparks’ Dean) so hopefully town will be bustling with revellers.
Been recruiting more volunteers for the skydive and things are going well so far. If you would like to sponsor me click here to go to my JUSTGIVING page. Looks like I have 36 people so far and more people to tell yet. Need to get some media coverage soon once the artwork is finished from Jo O’Donoghue and everyone has got their sponsorship underway.
Paying for some advertising for the first time in Bridal Dreams magazine to try and get some more wedding gigs this year. I think they are the best gigs of all and with my awesome band and equipment available we can play small rooms and big ones with a setlist everyone loves.
These pictures were taken at The Old Duke in Bristol. Went there for open mic night and it was GOOD 
The others have been put into the Phots/Artwork section HERE. The pics were taken by Marco Sanna – it doesn’t look like there is a link to a website for him but he seems to do some work around the Bristol area so look out for him
This video has been the main source of laughter today so be sure to check it out. I know it’s purile and vulgar but it appeals to my childish sense of humour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrBj3u5dPgM
Also uploaded some more tracks to the VTKTM YouTube channel which you can find HERE.
27/01/11
Sat listening to a couple of tracks from guys in my area. Feeling pretty lucky to be surrounded by so much diverse and quality musical talent. First one is this Radiohead sampled track from Nick ‘Satchman’ Rowland TRACK also Knew Eyes (Michael Piper) who I laid down some vocals for this track TRACK. Went to James Scriven & Tom Forristers studio today to record some guitar parts for them – love getting involved in projects and got to have a little widdle with a little solo. Once the track is finished they said they would send over a copy so will post it on here. Acoustic night was great tonight with lots of singers and players getting involved. Young Lucas Thomas (Lorna’s son) played some mean guitar and even sang a little bit which is cool. Hope he keeps it up. Oli Sillick knocked out a couple of corkers and a girl called Sophie sang a few great tunes too. Adam Barmaki was on hand as well as his brother Youssef on his drum. All in all a great night and third night in a row of playing my little guitar. Last night I was at The Old Duke in Bristol with my old mate Matt Baker (some tracks of us playing are in the downloads section) as well as Tom Sheppard (download) & Eliza Fyfe. Tomorrow is Klee Photography’s birthday so will be playing at Loves Cafe for her. Bottle Bar on Friday then a private gig on Saturday. Sunday… I think I will rest
Also just had an exclusive sneak peek of Paul C’s working of Little Sun. It’s very much in it’s early days but would like to share the work so far with those select few of you that are interested.
26/01/11
Working on my guitar course again today; tweaking lesson 4 which is about harmonising the major scale, roman numeral system and transposing predominantly. Lesson 1 was about the major scale/chords, lesson 2 the minor scale/chords, lesson 3 triads and now working on 4. Got several ideas I was to include in them so rather than just learn a topic you apply in your own creative ways. Gonna be a stonking course I feel.
Also uploading the raw video file of Blackbird recorded/performed live at ‘the’ studio so you can have a quick look. I intend to get the audio p[roperly mixed and the video edited nicely. thought I would post both so you can see the beginning and end product of something like this.
My friend Paul Dimmick (7quidstudios) has started work on remixing another one of my tracks. Panic is sounding pretty cool so far; he’s used some interesting chords over the vocals to give it a completly different feel. Here is an early version
Panic (7quidstudio remix demo demo)
Been speaking with Nick (I teach his son guitar) today about some video editing and he raised some points about the videos so far and how they could be improved. Will get them in writing soon so I can put them here to remember them. Blackbird video goes out of focus a little bit due to depth of field issues. Next time I will try to avoid such mistakes. Once the audio is mixed and the video is manipulated into something a little better I will post it on here. The microphones that were used were just lovely
24/01/11
Had to time to listen to the recording from yesterday and have some ideas to augment was has already been done. Karl G has a copy so he can get some ideas of his own too. Gavin Cox (Eastertown/The Orphans) has also given me sound advice that I shall take on board. The recording process has started so well I can’t begin to say how relieved I am that things are falling into place.
Open Mic Night was great tonight with some new faces joining in the fun. Adam Barmaki (some great covers played with him) Andy (played a pretty awesome cover of poker face) Matt Baker (putting ‘Bad’ by Michael Jackson on our setlist from now on!) as well as Owen, Sam, hope I got the names right and Eliza. Just good to see people having fun with acoustic night.
Got to sort the session data for Secret and arrange a time to meet up with Tony H to mix it. Got quite a lot on my plate at the moment > can I keep spinning these plates? Skydive to keep organising, gigs to find, guitar course to finish writing, promotion to do, start my own record label? catch up with tax admin, tidy my room etc…
Time for bed now but up reasonably early to get some things done
23/01/11
Currently sat in studio 3 and getting started. Adam is re-stringing his electric and Sam has set up his drums. The drive here was fairly uneventful and traffic free which was ideal. Was told by Kris that we are using a revolution pre amp which is the mutts nuts
While the Pro Tools session gets booted up we’re just getting ready to start laying down the guide tracks and get the drums and bass done. I think (touch wood) I have managed to get everyone here safely and with all required equipment and spares… WIN!
Here is the article written on SLICETHEPIE.COM
First tip of the day: make sure the drummer has tuned his toms. Currently waiting on a flappy feedback to be cured. Also don’t take a camera with you that has a full memory card. D’oh
Just finished doing the guide and pinpointing where the 5/4 time signatures come in on the session so the meter can be changed to suit the click. About ready to start recording the drums on their own with Sam Evans. I am suffering from slightly chapped lips so will be applying Neutrogena Labios to my cracked face for most of the day and drinking plenty of water. Whilst stepping out to fetch some items from the van we could see people having their pictures taken against the road sign and the graffitti all over the walls… Happy days.
Done a solid drum take and now doing another to give us more options when mixing later. Also going to record samples from each part of the kit to use later if need be too. After that we’re gonna have a 2 hr break wandering towards Camden for some food and a chat before heading back to get stuck in with the hard work.
It’s now 18:10 – we had to vacate the studio from 2pm so we went to get some food (steak) and had a wander around London. I’ve just been on a trek to find some Red Bull to keep me lively for the next 4 hrs of recording and the eventual drive home. About to record the bass (Steve Hatton) and then most likely acoustic, lead guitar and violin before the vocals. Spoke to Karl G earlier about getting the session data to him to have a play with in the week so next thing to do it to arrange a time with Tony Hobden to mix it.
>Just got home and it is now 03:02am! almost a 24hr day but it was almost definitely a turning point in my life personally and professionally; the seriousness that was taken in making sure the slightlest details were sorted during the recording and not cutting any corners was paramount to the quality of the performances.. not to mention the dab hand of Kris Burton who was frankly amazing today. Got to catch up on some sleep but will get the media and recordings out soon as they are ready. Firstly though must correctly label all the audio tracks in the Pro Tools session What a day… Secret is sounding better than ever
22/11/01
Currently sat in my ‘ouse re-stringing my acoustic listening to Jamiroquai live at Abbey Road and pondering of the possibilities the next 11 months will bring. Got some Michael Jackson covers to learn on Monday and gonna do some rehearsing with my friend Adam Barmaki in preparation for Illusions Magic Bar Open Mic Night. Will update tomorrow throughout the day so keep an eye
18/01/11
Putting some of the final touches to the trip to London on Saturday. Booked the van to take us there, cleared the funds from slicethepie to pay for the recording/hire/rehearsals so far and getting the gig sorted on Friday at The Back Bar (W-s-M) Dean Turner will be doing our live sound for the gig and we will be doing a mixture of originals and covers. Once all the original material is rehearsed and together I intend to put on a gig solely for the purpose of promoting the forthcoming album; I will be filming the gig and making a live DVD of it.
Have recently got a contact in London who runs an agency and so hoping some more work around that area comes about as well as something in Canada… fingers crossed. Meeting up with VTKTM again this evening to discuss some plans in action – more info on that soon but it good to be back on the horse as it were. I throughly enjoy being part of that band and the music we have made so far is awesome… without meaning to sound cocky but instead self assured.
Here are some early recordings of rehearsals with the band for you to check out. They are not high quality by any means but since you have taken the time to read these entries I wouldn’t want you to think I was holding out on you.. so here they are, with out of tune bits and all that included. Some more on the way (rehearsed My Weakness last night and made a few changes that I was pretty happy with) all in all we have 1/3 of the album rehearsed
17/01/11
Band rehearsals tonight and spending sometime today learning some more Michael Jackson songs for next weeks open mic night at Illusions (it’s MJ theme) Entered myself into Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition (also VTKTM as we are getting back into a spot of rehearsal hopefully)
Looking to get some more gigs promoting my original material with the band. Somethings come up in Bridgewater that might be good. Also met someone who organises events on the Grand Pier in Weston so will be looking to put on something there with the view to filming a live DVD of that gig too.
Last night at Grounded Cafe in Bedminster was pretty chilled. Nice way to spend a Sunday evening and the food was great. I noticed a couple of the tables were playing scrabble and the beer mats I put out went in peoples pockets which is a good sign. So far this year I have been booked for private gigs more than pubs which is encouraging.
15/01/01
Working on new song Little Sun this afternoon with Paul C (elctro house producer) he also remixed Destiny. I fancied trying something different with the track and so far things are coming together nicely. Will maybe be able to put up a taster later.
unonick1 has edited some of the video footage I have been taking since late October/early November. The first is from when I went to Slicethepie headquarters and can be viewed here:
Here is my Justgiving page for my charity skydive for Footprint Musicians Charity. If you feel like sponsoring me I would be very grateful
http://www.justgiving.com/Ryan-Inglis
14/01/11
Skydive stuff is going well. Working on getting some coverage and publicity as well as finding more volunteers, currently at 34 which is good. Also may have found my first tattoo design. I’m very much into my sciency stuff and this equation written by the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac describes the inner workings of an atom combining the equations of quantum mechanics and special relativity. It’s the key to natures secret code and I think it looks cool and will also remind me how amazing the universe and everything in it is whenever I look at it. Will probably have it on my left arm so I see it when I play guitar
Also had a meeting with Richard Browne (from sensecreative.co.uk) today about a super awesome project he is putting together. I don’t want to say anything more just yet but it involves me being in a good position to interact with more musicians from the North Somerset area.
Other than that I’ve been continuing with my guitar course and watching documentaries while I work. I have also realised how amazing Bruce Lee was in all aspects of his belief system and dignity. It really does inspire one to do more with this life we lead
11/01/11
Last nights acoustic night at Illusions was great fun. Musicians playing with others they had not before, joining in with songs they didn’t know yet, impromtu jamming… hell yeah more of that please. Also spent a lot of yesterday sorting out more stuff to do with the Skydive.. looks like 5th of August is jump day and artwork is underway by the fantastic Jo O’Donoghue. Skydive UK are providing lots of help and now still recruiting volunteers to do the jump and help raise money for FOOTPRINT MUCICIANS CHARITY. A total of £20,000 is the target. Let’s hope we can get there
Been testing out lesson 1 of the guitar course today on my housemate and a friend. Went well… will keep to the same formula for the rest of the lessons and should be finished by end of Jan.
SKYDIVE is confirmed for 5th August. If you are willing to sponsor me then get in touch. It doesn’t even need to be very much; £1 would be better than nothing. If you knew how scared I am of heights you would appreciate the turmoil going off in my head everytime I think about what I am doing… pound me up innit
Here are some PDF’s I got sent about it all
Digital_General Information on Record Breaking_new Footprint booking form ONLY Footprint info pack and booking form
09/01/11
Well Friday I played in Ealing for a last minute booking and Illusions Magic Bar was awesome last night. Today was meant to be spent rehearsing but Adam (lead guitar) is ill so we will be doing it on Tuesday now in preparation for the 22nd. Been working more on my guitar course… To give you an idea here is what I have come up with for lesson 1 so far. Guitar Course 2011 – Week 1
It’s no where near tweaked enough yet but it gives you the idea. I have been switching between the first 6 lessons getting ideas here and there and finding ways to make the information practical as the lesson goes along. This is all in an effort to make money this year through teaching groups rather than relying on 1 – 1 tuition. As I need to take a bit of a step away from gigging constantly my income will have to come from elsewhere. Hopefully this will catch on and do well. There are a few things to consider such as public liability insurance as well as a venue to host the lessons – it will need to be somewhere like a live music venue or a pub to get the atmosphere right during the course and to make students more comfortable in that environment before getting them to perform on stage in front of strangers.
Starting a new open mic night in Bristol every other Monday at Illusions Magic Bar to get out to Bristol more (also for financial stability of course) here is the facebook event I created LINK
Tomorrow is another ‘to do’ list day as well as get to the gym, have a run, work on the course some more and prepare any loose ends for the studio day in a couple of weeks. Oh also been watching a load of documentaries. According to Tom (my housemate) I would be better off playing Xbox with my time rather than all this silly facts and figures rubbish… he might have something there
06/01/11
It is currently 18:15 and I have been spending today on a few things. Mostly working on my guitar and performance course (already working on lesson 5 of 10) More details of this will follow. Went for a short run today and got some more gigs booked. Off to a VTKTM meeting now and then playing at The London Inn.
04/01/11
Brand new year to get playing around with… like a fresh new toy unspoiled by bad mistakes or lazyness. So it all seems exciting at first and determination is at an all time high lets hope it can last all year eh?! Been very productive so far working on getting gigs sorted (so I can pay that ‘RENT’ thing thatI love to pay so much) emailing potential agencies for work outside the southwest and making a start on writing my own specialised guitar and performance course – I am looking to get out of teaching 1 to 1 guitar lessons this year as my time would be better spent teaching groups. I’m hoping to get this underway in February.
Currently organising the band trip to London for our recording session. Van hire & logistics, dividing the recording time up effectively with a plan, orgnising rehearsals etc… spot of lunch now and then back to it. Also already spoken to Slicethepie today about the plans for the future and all is good and well Happy New Year
Online Diary (December 2010)
Jan 2, 2011 Latest News
30/12/10
Well well well, hasn’t 2010 been eventful? Looking back I have been a busy gigger (roughly 170-180 performances not including acoustic nights) and have written a second albums worth of material (very slowly) with which to record in 2011. Song writing has never been a quick process for me but I know at least that by the time the song is finished I am happy with it. I’m glad that you have enjoyed listening to the songs too. I am currently sat in Loves Cafe W-s-M waiting for my hot chocolate and carbonara thinking about a little evaluation of the year and what to concentrate on in the year ahead.
Some of the highlights inclue (in no particular order)
- Winning the Slicethepie funding (Oct)
- Supporting the guys from Reef at The Orange Box in Yeovil (Oct)
- Performing with my band at STREETFEST in front of hundreds of people (Sept)
- Destiny winning demo of the month in Future Music magazine (Sept)
- Performing at MANNIFEST (Aug)
- This website being made possible by my friend Peter Fealey (also his amazing stag party in Latvia!! (Aug)
- Having been in the top 3 artists of www.Talentwatch.net since I joined in June (Currently at number 2!)
- Recording an awesome video with VTKTM (May)
- Finding his songwriting again in April (Wonderkid)
- All the amazing remixes of my songs by various talented guys out there. A big thankyou
- The pictures taken by KLEE photography which have been pivotal in putting a much more handsomer face on my music
First thing that comes to mind for 2011 is planning to do a SKYDIVE for FOOTPRINT MUSICIANS CHARITY. I intend to get 39 of my friends to do it with me and aim to raise close to £20,000. My reason for this amount is that is what Footprint have paid out over the past 7 years to young talented musicians in the North Somerset area and I would like to organise something that meets that target in one go… also coincidentally it is exactly the same amount that I would even consider jumping out of a plane for!! Falling is my biggest nightmare and before 2011 is done with I want to know I’ve tasted fear. I also want to say why I support Footprint as much as I do: I believe having a creative outlet is important to a healthy life… if at a young age you can be encouraged to excel in a creative art then I believe it leads to a potentially more productive and happy existence
Second is the recording of my (hopeful) masterpiece. With your help I have some serious money to spend on recording an album I hope you all can be as proud of as I will be. I have a great band behind me and lots of friends who will lend a hand along the way. I have big ideas for promotion and hope that I can keep up with some level of determination that it requires. I have it in my mind that I want to do things without a manager for the meantime because I am confident that there is so much that can be achieved on your own… I hope this doesn’t drive me crazy :-S
HERE ARE SOME OF THE IDEAS I INTEND TO DO FOR 2011
- I’m thinking of doing some guitar technique videos one a month to help gain some interest from the guitar playing demographic out there. I’ll record a little riff I have written along with some tablature and an explanation of what’s going on. One of those a month would be feasible and fun to do.
- Creating the odd ringtone here and there to get people hearing my little ditties regularly. I heard that things like this can spread very quickly and publicity is important (there is already one for you to help yourself to in the DOWNLOADS section)
- Tabbing out all the original material and having them available to download for those of you interested in learning my songs
- ENDORSEMENTS… I have already secured an amp endorsement but strings and potentially a guitar endorsement would be amazing
- Gigs abroad. I will be getting on the case to get my pasty white ass into some sunshine this year. I’ve been abroad once since I was 17 and that was for a friends stag do in August just gone. I really would like to get some international gig and meet some new people along the way.
- Less gigs, better quality: After playing a vast amount of times over the last couple of years I have realised a few things; playing regularly, although helpful for paying the bills, is detrimental for encouraging an audience to come and watch. Although it is important to play different places to gain more potential fans it is more important to play in the right places to the right people and to offer something special in return for the audience’s attention. I could quite happily play my acoustic guitar to room of 20 people at a time but I feel like it is time to start putting on a show and selling tickets to coordinated events. I have NEVER charged an audience to see me play as I’m either playing for free or the venue itself pays my wages. Doing things the other way round is where I would like to head this year. Filming the performances and creating live DVD’s as well as maybe streaming them live online for people in other countries to view…. there’s no point thinking small any more; I’ve done my apprenticeship, now it’s time to open the flood gates.
- Regular video blogs. I can’t promise that they will be very interesting all the time but regularly keeping you up to date with ideas, opportunities or achievements would be good for me in the sense that it would force me to be more productive on a day to day basis. Also they might be either informative enough or funny enough to encourage people to pass them around? One would hope so.
- Merchandise – like some t-shirts, stickers, underwear line etc (lol)
- To get really really really fit so I could, if I wanted to, run a whole marathon in a suit of armour
- MAINLY: make my investors proud and put some money back into their pockets. I am eternally grateful for the helping hand you have all given to me and want more than anything to make sure I do my best with it. It may take a little longer than others but I promise that I’m in this for the long term and I would like to think that you are to. With your help there is nothing that we cannot achieve – almost every good thing that has happened to me within my music career has been thanks to someone passing on a song to a friend or many of you voting on a video that I posted that someone else saw and offered me an opportunity. All of these acts are priceless and so thanks again for those of you who regularly do this.
Right, so there is not a lot else I can think of for the meantime other than going out and enjoying my last social evening of 2010. I have a gig tomo at a private function so won’t know anyone there and will no doubt see in the New Year chimes with just a little sip of water and a drive home in the small hours. I hope you all have an amazing time this weekend and I’ll see you soon.
Since you made it this far through the essay you deserve a little something in return. Check out this amazing guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbX6mDnMwM
24/12/10
Um.. a slightly lax week and a half in relation to keeping up to date on here but nothing has been worth reporting as such. Been very busy with gigs and xmas shopping and all kinds of pedestrian activities that isn’t worth mentioning. All I wanted to say tonight before I go to sleep is that I wish whoever may be reading this a fantastic Christmas and thankyou for your support in 2010. I have $15,000 to start using in 2011 and lots of exciting ideas to realise. I’m intending to jump out of a plane at somepoint to raise money for charity and get some nice new videos up online to get the word moving around.
All in all I am a very happy and lucky boy who has lots of cool things to get done in the next 12 months. Thanks for your support x
14/12/10
Ok, so… been a very busy few days. The gig at Uphill Village Hall was awesome fun and The Royal Hotel was a surprisingly good night; usually it is quite hard to please the few people that are there but the audience were really great and very appreciative which was wonderful. Saturday was basically a non-stop gig to gig and then out for some fun with friends. 12th (Sunday) was all about Footprint Musicians Charity and we managed to put on a day of live music featuring some great local original talent such as:
Rob Phillips, Oli Sillick, Lenny Savage, James MacLucas, Saving Mary, Emily & Harrisen Larner-Main, Jethro Wilkinson, CJ & Lucille, Lorna Thomas, Lucas Thomas, Roy Glover, Dave Gibson, Ben Fletcher and Tom Conibear (Roshambo) For info on the night and pics and vids keep an eye on the facebook page. In a nut shell we put on events to raise money for the local musical community. We have given out around £20,000 since 2003 to help original music in various forms and I love being part of the process
Today was mostly a catch up with laundry, house tidying and admin as well as an evening of band rehearsal which was great. Laura (Heathcote) got to grips with some of the melody lines I had in mind for the songs and will add a very awesome dimension that I’ve always wanted to hear on my tracks. Harmonies were worked on too and I have been sorting out getting invoices ready for the studio time in late January. Going to have a photograher there to take pics through the day (KLEE Kate Lee) as well as plenty of empty video tapes to get some footage to use for a promo vid.
Got some advice from Tom (GOMEZ) and it seems a very good idea to use the majority of the money on promotion whilst keeping the recording costs down. This makes sense as you could record the best album in the world but if no one knows its there then it gets left behind. So I’m definitely going down that route but the single (Secret) will be done to a high standard to get the ball rolling. Night night for now – more later today when I’m up and about
11/12/10
Well last night was fun My housemate Tom had his 29th birthday and we all went in fancy dress… the theme was ‘band names’ and I will post a picture of what I went as sometime tomo when they are copied onto the computer. Also played at Illusions Magic Bar and The Colston Hall last night in Bristol. I should say a massive thankyou to Kall Kwik in W-s-M for helping me out with a new batch of beer mats – absolute legend, thankyou Stuart.
I have 3 gigs today! firstly playing at Uphill Village Hall for a charity event involving burlesque dancers. Gonna be a real drag after that I will be playing for an hour at my favourite cafe in the world Loves Cafe and then later from 9pm I will be at the Royal Hotel on the seafront playing to the locals and residents.
Tomo I will be working on the Footprint event all day at The London Inn so will be back on the case with my pop career after that in the week. Cheers for now.
09/12/10
Good day to you all… started the day with a meeting with Richard Browne (eventcastmedia) with regards to the continuation of ideas regarding the documentary. It was decided that the first three steps should be as follows:
- 1) Record a live gig to high quality including professionnal lighting/sound and visuals which can be used for promotion as well as getting the ball rolling on content for the documentary. Interviews before and after the gig as well as audience feedback with be included. These videos will be streamed live over the internet also so people who do not live locally will be able to watch from home – also after the editing it will be available to watch on YouTube and Muzo as well as other video channels online.
- 2) Once the main gig (for the forthcoming live DVD) is announced and the venue has been decided upon I will be looking to go steps further with regards to improving the first video, which could be seen as a test run, as well as gaining as much media attention as possible. The venue that I have in my sites is a very well known place in Weston-super-Mare and as such could potentially draw a fair sized crowd. Meeting with regards to this are likely to be early in the new year.
- 3) Once the album itself (or indeed the first single) is ready for release we will be looking to film a week solid of doing as many interviews on radio and filling 7 days with as much action as possible. Ideas such as playing in HMV or some Schools or Universities perhaps. Alongside this will be an online campagin to get as many single sales from fans within the week to try to achieve a chart entry.
The timeline of events so far is to record the single in late Jan and then get it mixed, produced and mastered by early/mid February. Once the single is completed and the band is fully rehearsed and ready for a gig we will do the first one – maybe late Feb/early March. The videos from that will have a month or so of circulation to create a buzz and in the meantime more rehearsing/writing will be going on. The BIG gig will be maybe in April/June time giving hopefully enough time to record the majority of the rest of the album. The single release will coincide with the big gig and hopefully enough listeners will be on borasd to make a few sales and then the 7 days of interviews and cramming will commence. Once the single has done the rounds a possible second single followed by the entire album (including live DVD of BIG gig) for general release. Obviously a lot of other things need to be considered in between but all will come clear when the time is right.
On another good note the guitar amp endorsement is confirmed which means added money to the investment total with which to spend on the album and also a free amp worth thousands of pounds to use in my live shows and in my videos this is AMAZING!!! more details to follow
Having a meeting tonight with a stylist who works with bands in the Bristol area and has worked in London too to get something underway with regards to moulding myself and my band into a cohesive and pleasurable style that will suit the music. Nothing strange or over the top, just an embelishment of our normal clothing with some tweaks I should imagine.
Other than that I will be in Yates’s (W-s-M) tonight hosting the open mic night.
07/12/10
Up at 8:30am!!!! WTF?! yes it is true and I have already had 2 meetings today. One with someone who deals in video editing who has offered to help with software I need as well as the possibility of recording some new live videos before the year is done. Also spoken to the sales representative of Tanglewood to ask about the possibility of sponsorship through them – unfortunately Tanglewood never endorse or sponsor artists but he said he would get me in touch with someone from Takamine which would make much more sense as I predominantly use their guitars. Apparently they are under the umbrella of Fender who also deal in most of the top makes and so as the saying goes, if you don’t ask you don’t get. No harm in trying is there.
I have to collect my next batch of beer mats as well as getting some new posters made for promotional useage as well as find some spare time in my diary to get a new nut fitted to my beautiful guitar. I have ordered a bone nut for best results followed by a set of Martin 12′s (acoustic strings) for that nice tone I like so much from the wonderful skills of Sian from Emarty Academy in Weston-super-Mare
Will be trying to get another quick meeting with Paul Raymond today to get his advice on my budget as well as hopefully getting a reply from Tom (Gomez) apart from that I will be spending today getting birthday supplies for friends, tabbing out my original material on guitar pro, editing more live recordings, making a start on a demo for Senses and catching up with gig invoices. Oh yeah and band rehearsal is tonight too!! better get my little skates on!
BAND Rehearsal was fantastic and lots of things to talk about but will post them tomo as I am now gonna relax with some TV and a well earned nap… You may also have noticed I posted a little ‘ringtone’ for your phones earlier in the DOWNLOADS section. Will probably make a few more here and there because it is fun and hopefully some good exposure. Night all
06/12/10
At currently 4:30am I have been staying awake until the early hours for about a week now. Got a lot of incidental things done though… It’s been great to consolidate my life into neat folders and finished tasks and this is all in order to clear my focus for the job at hand that demands my creative mind not my logical one. I have a meeting tomo with Malcolm Ray who is gonna help me with promotion and possibly further investment opportunities, also still looking for help sorting out my budget to divide the $15,000 into workable sections so I know what I can afford I go along.
Been gigging the last 4 days and had today off with which I used the time to sort my life, editing live recordings I needed to catch up on, tab new songs and go shopping for birthday presents and cards for friends. Here is the tab for One Step At A Time
Saturdays gig at Illusions was great fun; a group of girls asked to have a picture taken with me and one of them sat on my lap mid gig. Highly smile making It was also Steve Hattons (bass player) birthday so a few were out and the atmosphere was the best. Actually had 3 gigs on the Saturday which is quite hard on the throat but easy on the wallet and lord knows I could use the extra pennies. Tuesday is next band rehearsal which after last week we are all very much looking forward too. Laura added on violin is gonna rock my world!! can’t wait. Looking to get all songs up to scratch and then record them all as demos within a day as a live setup – after that it’s gonna be serious studio time and production heaven. As I have a clear idea of what I want to achieve the production duties are pretty much gonna be in mine and the bands hands with input from people around such as Karl G, Tony Hobden and possibly a couple fo others I have in mind… Not to confuse and dilute the clarity of the production but to keep an open mind to what is available and which directions to head in with more confidence. Also I read something very interesting by Chad Price on Slicethepie with regards to investor repayment and royalty agreements which I will need to look further into but I believe very much the same as Chad that you should at the very least get your original investment back (with some work from your side required also) have a read here: LINK
As always if you wanna get in touch to ask me anything or suggest something I may be missing just send a msg and I will get back to you. I’d better get some sleep before tomo’s ‘to do list’ day gets underway. Cheers
Had a meeting this evening with Malcolm Ray and his business partner and things are looking good. I can’t go into much detail but I can say that as well as working within the public sector on energy efficient lighting they also deal withb guitar amps and have many VERY useful contacts in the music industry as well as contacts who may be able to help in some way (some Asian and some local)
2 main things came from the meeting; one being that they are willing to provide me with a guitar amp of very high quality to record and perform with (endorsement) as well as being able to help me with video/documentary making, printing and CD production as well as sourcing a very awesome live venue to record the live DVD of the pre-album launch gig. My plan is to record a high quality DVD of a gig to include all the songs that will appear on the forthcoming album. This should be ready for realease at the same time as the album and will definitely help with promotion when the time comes; everyone loves something to watch… now my evening will be spent eating with friends, installing my printer and promoting the FOOTPRINT EVENT (12th December)
03/12/10
Welcome to December everybody! The last two days have bee fairly standard with acoustic night on the Weds (with some performances from new faces and a busy bar for a change) and a gig last night with Jo Williams at Unwined. I have not slept yet as I have been up all night, the same as the last three days, just doing stuff and organising my new laptop and consolidating all my music files and writing my new to do list… which at the moment has 26 items of which I need to get sorted asap. I feel that I will be more productive if I can de-clutter my day to day life. Unfortunately it’s something that needs doing all too frequently.
I have a wedding gig tonight with Lorna, only for an hour, and then most likely gonna have some social time with some friends not involving spending a lot of money – and hopefully laughing so hard I can’t breathe which I miss. Tomo I have 2 gigs (Loves & Illusions) followed by a few drinks with the bass player (Steve Hatton) for his birthday… these next couple of weeks are choca-bloc with musicial related shinanegans so should have some interesting pics and vids to post soon.
Been tabbing out the guitar parts to ‘Ready Babe‘ which was written by Lorna & myself a few years back as Lorna’s son Lucas was interested in learning it. It would be great to get the 3 songs that Lorna and I wrote together recorded for prosperity (Ready Babe, Waiting and Breaking Bridges) so will hopefully book sometime privately with Tony Hobden to get them done sometime in the new year. You can check out the tab here but it is still to be worked on – Ready Babe itself has about 17 different distinguishable guitar parts to score out!
I am currently also watching possibly every episode of QI on YouTube at the moment.. addictive stuff; it’s great to have on in the background as well while I’m tapping away on the keyboard like this.