Gigs this week!

 

Another really great week or gigs coming up this week! Three old favourites and a brand new and exciting one!

Firstly it's open mic at The Wharf on Tuesday from 8. Everyone is welcome to come down and sing, play, dance, tell knock-knock jokes. Whatever you like really! Last week was really cool because, even though I was the only one playing, I met a couple from Scotland who really liked my music, bought some CDs (and a T shirt!) and asked me to go and play at a festival in Bathgate!

On Friday I'm going on an adventure over to Stourport to support Bleeding Hearts at Worleys at The Swan from 7. Check out the stage, it looks amazing!

Saturday I'll be chilling out after Friday's antics with an afternoon session at Village Coffee, Bar & Kitchen from 2. I've started squeezing a couple of my own tunes into my set there, and haven't been kicked off yet!

Then on Sunday I'm hosting a superb line up at The Fox and Anchor including Dan Hartland, Alex Vann and Lauren Macmillan. It's always an honour to be able to book myself onto a line up with such talented musicians, and Sunday is going to be a perfect example of that.

It would be great to see you somewhere along the way :)

 

Sam.

Autumn Update

It seems that every post I write on here starts with an apology for not posting enough and a promise to 'be better'. The former is true once more, but I'm not convinced about the latter yet.

A lot has happened in the last 4 months since my last post, some of which is music related! I've started a new open mic night at The Wharf Bar in Walsall, booked some more cool acts to play at The Grain Store Live Sessions, re-started the Fox & Anchor sessions for this summer as well as booking in at some new gigs and festivals for the coming weeks and months. There are more details of these on the gigs section of my website :)

Off the stage is where my life has changed the most. At 19:49 on April the 2nd my son Buddy Costello Draisey was born! He is absolutely amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without him. He's already been to his first gigs at Village Coffee and The Fox & Anchor, though he usually gets more attention than me when he turns up!

We've also moved into our house, which should hopefully mean (after some more DIY jobs are done) that the studio can be put in and I can FINALLY get to working on this album I've been promising. I know, you'll believe it when you see it, but I promise it is on the horizon.

2015 - years end.

2015 is almost over, so it's time to reflect on this year's achievements. I've done approximately 125 gigs so far (it will be 126 by the time the year ends, and 127 if you count getting roped into playing at my Mom & Dad's party as soon as I arrive!) left a band, put another band on the path to a mega agency deal, sat in on a career day as a 'proper' musician, got elected to the MU regional committee, played some great new venues and put on another highly successful Codfest.

Outside of music, Kayla and I have bought our first home and are expecting our first child!

However, I still haven't finished recording this *highly* anticipated new album. This year has been busy on and off stage, and I don't want it to be a rushed job as it's been hanging over me for so long now. It's no excuse now, and I've promised myself (and everyone who has asked) that it will be done in 2016. I've even comandeered a room in our new house for a studio!

A major highlight for me this year was getting the chance to support Bleeding Hearts in Kidderminster. They are fast becoming one of my favourite bands, and it was a pleasure to share a stage with them.

I just want to finish this post by paying tribute to Rich McMahon, a greatly talented local musician who died suddenly this year. I was blessed to play with Rich at The Grain Store and spend some time with him and Maggie that night. His music and personality were both inspiring in equal measure and he is hugely missed. His song 'Inbetweenland' is on the playlist that I play in between acts as the gigs I host, and is seriously worth a listen if you haven't heard it already.

Here's to 2015. 2016 has a lot to live up to!

The music business geek.

You may not know this about me, but I'm something of a music business geek. I don't mean that I know all about the inner working of major labels, or who big name producers are, but that I do a lot of reading and watching around the subjects of independent music. That is, I watch videos, read blogs and listen to podcasts on independent music marketing, mixing and mastering in home studios and other musician's release strategies. There are some superb resources out there if you are into that sort of thing.

The main problem I'm having lately however, is that it seems that every independent 'success story' is coming from someone who was either dropped by a major label or left a major label for whatever reason. They talk about how hard it's been, how brave they are, what a risk it was to try and release a record on their own. And in a sense they are right. It is harder than having a massive label doing it for you. But you have already had a major label push once. Everyone has heard of you. Your marketing plan consists of sending a message about your new album to the mailing list you gathered while a major backed you, with thousands and thousands of names on it.

I get that these guys are going at things in a more difficult, risky way to what they are used to, but it irks me that these are the 'independent success stories' that are peddled to us, when actually these guys have had a lot of help from the old guard, even if their former contracts have expired.

It's great that independents can be seen to be flourishing, and its also great that someone who doesn't quite make it under a major label can carve out a career for themselves, but they can't really be held up as a champion for those of us who don't have, or don't want, major label backing.

Some of these resources are great. If nothing else, music marketing blogs make you think about making ' to do' lists and planning releases properly for maximum exposure and impact, but when the advice it just 'email the thousands of fans on your mailing list', you're not really helping me at all.

Moaning about moaning

I love musicians. I am one, I work with them on an almost daily basis and almost all of my friends are them. And it's definitely a tough 'gig' (excuse the pun). Piracy, streaming royalties, venue closures, cutbacks, 'the economy' and live music fan apathy has all made our job harder over the past few years. But if there is one thing that I hate about the whole thing, it's musicians who moan about it.

Regardless of how much harder it's got (was it ever easy?) there still seems to be a general consensus that this is the best job in the world. It's something I agree with, and something I tell people often when they ask about me and my chosen career path. Every time I read or hear from another disillusioned muso grumbling about how hard it all is their argument always starts with 'we love doing this BUT...'

Just take a pause from typing or talking there and think about what you are going to say next. Yes, the music industry in its 'semi old-fashioned semi new-age' model is very difficult to 'crack' in the traditional sense. No, you probably aren't going to become an overnight sensation, because not only does nothing happen overnight in music but also the sensation ship has kinda sailed. But yes, moaning about it, regardless of how right you think you are, will always make you come across self righteous.

So you will never hear me complain. I'll campaign for fairer royalty payments and performance rates and protest about the way the arts is treated and funded, but I'll never complain about having the best job in the world.

If only you could see me now

I've recently remembered a couple of stories I thought I might like to share with you. I'm not usually one for the whole 'overcoming adversity' thing but for some reason these popped into my head so I thought I would put them up here.

The first is something my parents were told when I was born. Apparently (according to my mom) when they asked if I was going to be ok, a doctor replied with the classic line 'well he's never going to be a concert pianist.' She first told me this story one day when she heard me playing the piano in our house. While I am by no means a 'concert pianist', I can play a little, but I also doubt the doctor in question would ever have pictured me playing any of the instruments I can play now. I can't say that this has given me an edge when wanting to learn any of these instruments, but I do look back on how I picture that story going with a wry smile.

The second story is about my middle school music teacher, Miss Williams. To add some background to this story, Miss Williams was the third music teacher I had had in as many years. The first, Mrs Ormston, was a lovely lady who had a lot of time for me. She left to teach in another school. Then came Mr Wylde, another nice guy who appreciated my love for music. He (similar to myself) fell victim of the workload of teaching and left to pursue a career in performing. I still see him from time to time at weddings we are both performing at. Then came Miss Williams. On her first day she went around the class and asked everyone what musical instrument they might like to learn. When she got to me, I said I wanted to learn upright bass. I didn't really even know what one was, but my grandad had played one in a jazz band and I thought it would be nice to learn the same instrument as him. Her response;

'I don't think you will be able to do that. How about you try keyboard.'

I knew straight away she had taken one look at me and dismissed me. Not only that, but she had tried to fob me off on an instrument I had zero interest in. Why? Maybe in part because it was her instrument and thus easier for her to teach, but I'd guess that it had more to do with her perception that I would find playing an instrument like that impossible.

If only she could see me now, eh?

RIP Ziggy

Today is something of a momentous day. My little Fiat Punto, affectionately known as Ziggy, has finally given up it's ghost. He has taken me to gigs up and down the country and been thoroughly abused in terms of the amount of equipment he has been forced to carry. He was known as 'The Punto-van' to The Replicas for this reason. He will be missed.

But onward and upward we must travel, and I'm pleased to say that I have bought a replacement. It's a bigger car that can fit much more equipment in (and possibly be even more abused in the process) and maybe even house me overnight on a longer journey. Tour anyone?

In other news, I'm hoping to begin recording the guitar parts for the new album this week (now that the drums and the bass parts are down). A massive chunk of the album is recorded already and if I can get the guitars down this week that will be another massive tick off the list. Wish me luck!