Online Diary (May 2011)

Jun 1, 2011 Latest News
Posted by ryan

31/05/11

It’s the end of May already?! last nights open mic was very thin on the ground where musicians were concerned. A little shake up to make it fresher or getting the word out to more acoustic guitarists and singers is in order. Next week is MUSE night so if you are a musician or know of any that would be interested pass on the link:

After a busy weekend of gigging (a couple of weddings, a corporate and a pub gig in Exmouth) I am looking forward to getting on with the music video in June as well as Glastonbury Fesival, The Fleece & Firkin (Bristol) gig on 14th and a show in London (Koko’s) with Matt Baker on 22nd.

Had the photos come through from Sonica le Roux who came to The Bedford on the 23rd with my friend Brett Parker. Thought I would share a couple with you here:

Secret has taken another leap forward since visiting Karl G last Thursday, a few more tweaks and it may be ready to upload to iTunes in preparation for a release. Just need to pin Tony down to get the mixing done and then need to get a few opinions before going ahead with the full confidence I am looking for.

27/05/11

Spend some time with Karl G today and made some good progress with Secret. gonna get some feedback from some unbiased friends and take it from there. exciting stuff. I listened to it a few times in a row which is a good sign. Just finished my gig at The Saddlers Arms… I have been allowed to stay over since I am playing in Chudleigh tomorrow morning so a big thankyou to the landlord (Martin Loader) if you are looking to play in the Exmouth area I would highly recommend you get in touch.

Currently sat in my room watching some Mitchell & Webb Look whilst writing a little guitar piece with guitar pro. Also going over some old lyric ideas and seeing if I can make a little more headway with some of the yet unfinished songs… some are prooving to be quite elusive; once things fall into place though it’s an amazing feeling. An anology might be that with some of these songs it’s like I have done the edges of the puzzle but am now trying to find the middle bits – only thing is I have 1000 pieces to choose from and it’s only a 100 piece puzzle! Gahh!

Playing with Matt Baker tomorrow afternoon and if you have not seen any of our videos have a little look at this one:

See you all tomorrow for another update of my little musical life. Thanks for reading

…Oh one other thing, I am now going to be using Twitter more effectively so if you are a regular user and would like to ‘follow’ me then you can find me on ryanaoinglis

26/05/11

Meeting with Rhys Hayward (music video director) went well and a few more ideas have come to light. gonna start storyboarding next week. Very much looking forward to that!

Been promoting the fan PAGE on Facebook as the group system is going to be archived. If you could be so kind as to ‘like’ the PAGE then it can start to build up momentum. Invite all your friends and post it on your wall if you would like to help spread the word.

Spoken to Angela from NOVA radio again today. She is going to help promote the Fleece & Firkin Gig (14th June) which will help – really need a good turn out on this one as it may lead to good support slots in future and as it is with the band you will get to hear what the album is going to sound like

Deuce Promotions have been in contact today to offer a package deal which includes radio plugging, discounts on many important services I may require as well as a whole host of other things. Very glad I contacted Rob (rob@deucemp.com) with my details for him to look at. Might be worth you getting in contact if you are looking for gigs in the London area as well as help promoting your material

www.deucemp.com
www.myspace.com/deucesounds
www.facebook.com/deucemp
www.facebook.com/deuceradioshow

I’ve also been making some headway with these APE tracks for Jay (Furze) will meet up with him next week to go over the first few and take it from there. He has already got management and other important things in place so would be a great side project to get on with.

25/05/11

The premiss for the music video for Secret has been written and our meeting is tomorrow afternoon to go from there. Feel Any Feeling has been mixed (just instruments) Was meant to do vocals today but Tony (Hobden) is busy with other work at the moment. You can have a sneaky listen to it here though for today ONLY since you are awesome enough to visit this diary so often.

Feel Any Feeling (Mix 2 240511)

I am spending the rest of the day with various paperwork and sorting songs I need to learn for this weekends gigs (4 in total) Also sending out some more emails for work etc… I’ll hopefully appear on NOVA radio (local station) soon to perform a couple of live tracks and talk about upcoming events so will post the audio to that once it’s done.

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‘Secret’ – music video premise

3 locations: dance studio, corridor, car park

4 characters: teacher, seductress pupil, witness pupil, head

A large dance studio: a male teacher is in the middle of a private lesson with pupil – we catch the odd look that suggests she is besotted with him. At an opportune moment, she tries to kiss him, and a fellow pupil walks in to see this, before leaving the room looking stunned – from her vantage point it appears that the teacher was trying to seduce his pupil. The teacher runs out into the corridor, but the witness has already vanished. He walks back into the room with heavy feet, face downcast. However, when he re-enters the dance studio, time has elapsed, and it’s the following day – the studio is full of pupils, all limbering up for the start of their lesson. The witness looks up as he enters and the seductress pupil follows suit. Several other pupils give him disapproving looks, as if the rumors have already begun to circulate. He tries to talk to the witness, but she backs away, won’t even look him in the eye. We jump cut to the teacher going through the steps of a routine with another pupil in front of the class, and he is conscious of the undue attention being given, perhaps pondering what’s been said behind his back. Later… He walks to his car post-lesson to find a hate note left under the windscreen wiper. Quietly fuming, he scrunches it up, gets in the car, and drives off – watched by the witness pupil, who appears to be mulling over her next course of action. Next day, and another dance class in full swing. The head walks in, interrupting the lesson, and beckons to the teacher. They leave the room together – pupils look at each other slightly bemused and talk among themselves. Some of them look over at the the witness, who suddenly looks awkward – she turns to the seductress, and is greeted with a look of dismay. Out in the corridor, it appears that the teacher is being given a dressing down, but emphatically protesting his innocence. He returns red-faced to the dance studio, and begins packing his bags, watched by the head – he exchanges a look with the seductress-pupil before leaving the room. She goes to say something to him, but he storms off. (some action here? – possible fight between seductress and witness with the other pupils as onlookers?) The disgraced teacher arrives at his car to find another note – he’s about to scrunch it, but reads the message scrawled inside: “I’m sorry”. He looks up to see the seductress standing at a distance. Note: as story unfolds, Ryan is always present within shots, either singing or observing. He is the story’s narrator.

24/05/11

I’m not sure if last night could have gone much better! I planned ahead and thought about things to talk about between songs and made (I think) no mistakes in either of the 4 performances. Tony Moore said some very kind words and was a pleasure to watch, especially when he performed his song about quantum physics which was very cleverly done. I have already been asked back and intend to use the footage to approach other London venues to gain some showcase slots to potentially increase my fanbase and gain all important contacts… once the album is complete I should then be in a better position to do a live launch in a respected venue.

Watch live video from mrjingles18881 on Justin.tv

Watch live video from mrjingles18881 on Justin.tv

Watch live video from mrjingles18881 on Justin.tv

Watch live video from mrjingles18881 on Justin.tv

Watch live video from mrjingles18881 on Justin.tv

23/05/11

Tonight is all about The Bedford in Balham (London) You can watch it live online with this link http://www.justin.tv/thebedfordlive from 7:30-8pm I believe. I will be performing 4 songs (IF I FALL, STARLIGHT, HOW THINGS CHANGE & SECRET) on my own with my trusty (and re-strung… ZING) Takamine acoustic guitar

Last night at The Orange Tree in Honiton was pretty cool. Look forward to being in that area again soon. Thanks to Tony Lock of One Umbrella Music for helping me find work in the Devon area.

Friday night was a standard singalong at Illusions and Saturday was spent with the band playing in Axbridge (The Oak House) We were playing for a 60th birthday but the room happened to be full of accomplished career musicians! some of them borrowed our equipment to play some songs between our sets and it was an awesome evening. Right better hoover the car, eat something, send out some online invitations, feed my cat, check I’ve packed everything and work on my script for tonight. See you tomorrow

20/05/11

Rehearsal on Tuesday went well as we decided upon our setlist for June 14th at The Fleece & Firkin (Bristol) We made a few changes to intros and outros to enhance the live aspect of the tracks. For You needs a little work with regards to the lead guitar part; needs something special to spice it up a bit. Other than that some of the other tracks are starting to take shape – this pre-production is taking a long time but it’s well worth it for the outcome of the tracks at the recording stage. Look FWD>> is sounding more jazzy now with real emphasis on the acoustic; probably my only chance on the album to show off my jazzy lead chops better make the most of it. We still haven’t touched Destiny or Footprint yet due to not knowing what direction to take them in. The old band recording of Destiny was very good but very rock orientated which might not fit with the other album tracks. In the studio right now with Tony Hobden mixing songs recorded at Abbey Road in April.

I uploaded the newest version of Secret (still unfinished) on Slicethepie to get some feedback and it all came back very high scores! still need to work on the backing vocals and some sprinkles of genius over the top though. Can you get 11 out of 10? we shall see.

17/05/11

So quite a lot has happened since last Wednesday. Met up with Jay Furze from band APE who unfortunately have recently split up but lead singer Jay is keen to get something new up and running and has asked me to convert some of his songs to a more acoustic feel. With contacts he already has in place something could come of it and his songwriting and vocals skills are very good. Since it seems VTKTM is now officially dead it would be good to have an alternative project on the go in it’s place… Oh yeah VTKTM is no more; I will most likely still work with Chet on future tracks but the other members have decided to bail out comepletely from now on. I wish them the best of luck in their own projects.

Friday night was spent at The Back Bar with my lovely band. The first set was a little ropey due to monitor issues but the 2nd set was pretty much awesome. A guest appearance from Adam Barmaki on ‘No Diggity‘ got the crowd started and the rest of the set was non stop high energy. Here are some pics

Unfortunately my throat suffered a little by the next day and I had to cancel my gig at The Sheild & Dagger in Bristol it was still a little ropey on Sunday but I performed at The Grand Pier anyways in the afternoon… had a guest appearance from Kelly Griggs who is a very talented singer; She has performed wth Dr Sax as well as being a solo performer around the Southwest as well.

Had a conversation with Karl G with regards to the production of Secret but he had not yet made any progress which was a little disheartening to say the least. I am hoping he will arrange a time for us to get together and work a little further on the song. In the meantime I think I will get some opinions form some other producers in the area to see what else may be available to me. I want the best possible opportunities for the track and the right producer to make the right tweaks is VERY important right now… let’s see whats about shall we?> Seeing Tony H on Thurs to retrieve latest mixes of the other 4 tracks. Excited to hear them!

Also it is good to see that my beer mats are getting used for the purposes of good

If you have a beer mat or a copy of 7 blank tiles (physical or digital) take a picture of yourself holding(standing next to) it for a chance to be in the next albunm sleeve and a free copy of the album! send to me@ryaninglis.com

Currently loving the Keith Lemon Mouthbox iPhone app!

11/05/11

Hey guys I would like to point you in the direction of my good friend Mark Ely‘s album available on iTunes. He has been a great help to me with the arrangement ideas and general friendliness. His music & his voice is superb and would very much appreciate you guys maybe buying a song or two if you find it is something you like the sound of. I recommend ‘Isolation‘ or ‘New Skies‘ to start with. I spent some time with him while I was in Dartmouth and it’s fair to say I see him as a bit of a role model and has great advice he has been giving me with the production of my own album. Cheers (click the cd case)

I have been learning ‘Belief’ – John Mayer most of the day. It’s a real tricky bastard because of the rhythm under the vocals – I have to learn it for a gig. Also have to learn some Buble soon. I don’t mind doing it at all but I would much prefer to be writing lots of new stuff. I will be at The Back Bar this Friday with the band (minus Hannah -violin) you can check out the Facebook event here:

I took this picture of the pier yesterday and thought I would put it here for you to look at too

09/05/11 – continued…

Just in case you thought that Ryan’s band slack off in his absence, here is ample evidence to the contrary.  While Ryan enjoyed a weekend of festivities in the South West of England, Sam, Adam and I buried ourselves deep into more pre-production for his forth-coming album.

Who says the artist needs to be present?  ;-)

09/05/11

What a great weekend! Lots to tell you about: firstly Thursday was spent in Cornwall and I got a chance to see my friend Roxy in Newquay – her daughter is a bit of a singer so we filmed a version of Make You Feel My Love which you can have a look at as soon as it is uploaded.

Tom Cary came to see me play in Vertigo and was good to meet up with him. He offered a few contacts which were very helpful too. I saw him perform on the Sunday night at The Royal Castle in Dartmouth. He’s definitely got the mad skillz!

Ok now onto Friday… I performed in Browns Hotel which is definitely one of my favourite venues I’ve ever played due to the amazing crowds that have been there whenever I’ve performed. They also were very kind to offer me a room to sleep in over the weekend. A massive thankyou to them for that. I recorded the gig at Browns so once I have edited/mixed the audio it will be available to download for free in it’s entirety. I also found out that I had left 10 cds behind their bar from the previous year. They didn’t last long before being snapped up Phil King was performing there the night after and I managed to get a quick chat with him before he had to drive back to Bristol. Phil has 2 albums available to listen to and buy from iTunes. Check him out by clicking his picture.

I played at No.8 Foss Street Cafe on Saturday afternoon; a very laid back affair with lots of finger picked songs and most of my originals. I went to see Roger Styles after that as he was playing at The Bayard Cove Inn. Rogers set was outstanding mixing his own material with gypsy jazz and even the odd Muse cover! I would highly recommend him and you can check him out by clicking his name above. His EP Lead Balloon is available on iTunes for £3.16… bargain! click the iphone screen below to get a copy right now!

Saturday night was spent in The Royal Castle and was basically a frantic evening. I played covers only and managed to have the audience up on their feet the whole night. I wish I had some picture or video to show you how crazy the event was!

Sunday afternoon I played at Bayard Cove Inn… Angus the manager was an extremely agreeable chap and ran a great venue. In fact I met a few new people over the course of the weekend and everyone was amazing. A big thankyou to Dominique & co. The barman at the Royal Castle, Mitch Tonks at The Seahorse, Browns Hotel, Antonia Suner, Nick Cooper, Alf Resco’s (for the amazing breakfasts) Gavin Cox, Claire & Mark Ely to name a few. Here are some nice pictures

05/05/11

Currently sat on my laptop at 2:16am writing some new lyrics due to the very rare occasion that I have new inspiration… one must take creativity wherever it takes them I guess. I find myself remembering the feeling I used to get from finishing the lyrics to a verse and finally being happy with them.. or the first time I played along to Paranoid Android (Radiohead) once I had learned it on the guitar when I was about 17/18 and it sounding the same as the CD. Ihave almost certainly lost the level of passion that I once had in regards to actually practicing with the guitar at home or sitting down to write something. I very much hope I can find it again. Maybe playing gigs ALL the time does make you a little jaded towards the music but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve had a really good easter weekend performing and spending time with friends old and new. Looking forward to this week (off to Cornwall tomo) won’t be back in weston til Monday briefly before I shoot off again to Bristol.

Had a meeting with Rhys Hayward with regards to the music video and after seeing some of his work I am fairly convinced he’s the right guy to work with on this one. Also we we’re acquaintences years ago so already have some knowledge of each other. He is working on the premise this week for us to review next week. The story is one that will hopefully turn a few heads but I am eager to keep clever metaphors and sensitivity a key ingredient as well as making it ‘loop’ as in the final scene can lead into the first one.

Tony (hobden) has made a start on mixing the last 4 tracks we recorded at Abbey. also he will put together a little ‘coming soon’ video to start the interest building on the release of Secret. Listening to it now I can hardly believe that is my little voice… really pushed it to the limits at the end of the track; nothing but scrunched up face going on in front of the mic

Writing new lyrics is always hard but I have come up with a way that is working for me at present. By using random word generator I can flick through a few words until I get to one that gives me an idea and I go from there… once I am stuck I click a new word and so forth. I have written a page of ideas so the next move will be to refine the separate parts and make with the consistency of rhythm and meaning. Here is a little thing I just came up with that I like.

“To all my lucky stars
Your constant reminders on display
Each time my sights are high
You never feel that far away”

Anyway better get on with some work. I hope you all have a great weekend. I may not be able to update anything for a few days but when I get back I’ll make sure there’s a few cool things to look at. Cheers

P.S – currently loving ROCK IT by SUBFOCUS!! tune!

02/05/11

And so begins the merry month of May! Lets get started with 2 gigs on the pier, 1 at Decades and a weekend away in Corwall and Devon Off to Truro on Thursday to play at Vertigo which will be followed by Dartmouth Festival which is a great way to kick things off. Mixing of Lost, Feel Any Feeling, How Things Change and Starlight will start on Weds evening.

Lenny Savage, Rob Clarke and The Stanleys performed at Decades too and was nice to play in a candle-lit environment

Here is a picture of Floyd from The Bottle Bar where I played on Saturday night, they are kind enough to put up a bloody big poster whenever they have music playing there. It’s situated on the main road from town to the seafront so gets seen by a LOT of people; great advertising!

I need to collect my new batch of beer mats from KALL KWIK (01934 626263) tomorrow in preparation for the festival. Stuart who works there is great and I totally recommend them for all your printing needs. last year I sold about 40 hard copies of 7 blank tiles – don’t have any left so I will be pushing the online sales and making people aware of the forthcoming one.

BUY 7 BLANK TILES HERE

Had a meeting with the VTKTM guys and it looks good that we will be getting back to rehearsing and looking to put on a live show in the summer, watch this space! Here is a pic of Chet (rapper) and myself (much better rapper) looking happy (gay) when we went for a drink after the meeting. If you are not familiar with VTKTM (Visions To Kill The Mainstream) then please check us out. I cannot wait to play live with that band again.