New review

Here's another review of my new album. I think it's the first since the album actually came out! They did get a quote wrong, but I can forgive that seeing as they seemed to like the album! It's really nive to get a postive review not just from a more national entity like Folking.com, but also one that is so impartial. Check it out here or read it below :)

'“I’m the last of the protest song heroes” sings Sam Draisey in ‘Five Years Later’. That in itself is unusual because many writers of protest songs deny that’s what they are. Furthermore, ‘Five Years Later’ is a very good protest song and it comes on the back of ‘The Worst Lie Of All’, which you might consider to be even better. Sam is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Wolverhampton and As I Live And Breathe is something like his fifth album. Like others before him he’s turned his back on the first two and re-issued some of the songs on Anthology. This album has been a long time in the making and the polish that Sam acquired in recent years is self-evident.
As I Live And Breathe is, in many ways, autobiographical but often in an oblique way. ‘Used To Be My Hero’ is an attack on an un-named musician and my mind immediately turned to Bob Dylan but Sam is too young to have that sort of attachment to Bob. He says that “punk’s not dead” so that alters the time frame and opens up the field a bit. To confuse things further he follows that with ‘Let’s Not Grow Old’ heavily inspired by Johnny Cash.
Sam is a whole band all by himself but he has back-up from Dickie Davis on drums and Daniel Hart on second electric guitar plus his wife Kayla, who co-wrote some of the songs, providing vocals on ‘Turning You Down’. Sam has a distinctive voice that sounds younger than his years and he’s mixed himself well up front even when the band is rocking – oh yes, he did all the recording, mixing and mastering himself, too. And now I’ll tell you that Sam has only one arm and I discovered that fact only when I’d got to the end of the record which is when you learn it. Sam is someone who has proved what can be overcome.'
Dai Jeffries

NEW ALBUM

It's finally here! After years of stopping, starting, re-starting and stalling, I finally launched my new album 'As I Live and Breathe' last night at The Crown Joules in Codsall. The gig was ace, the supports (Brains for Breakfast and David Young & The Midnight Chorus) were brilliant as always and the guys that supported me in the band played a blinder! I couldn't be more happy with the way the night went.

So now's your chance to get the album! If CDs are you thing, you can order one from my online store by clicking the link here, or you can get it on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Amazon Music (and probably more, who knows. Send me a message if you find it somewhere else!)

So that's it. It's been a long road, and now an even longer one begins. Good job I've got my walking boots on!

West Wulf review

I've had another album review come in, and it's another really good one! Read it here and I'll copy it below - https://westwulf.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/sam-draiseys-new-album-brings-protest-love-from-the-heart/

Sam Draisey’s new album brings protest & love from the heart

If you live in Wolverhampton or South Staffordshire and like music, chances are you’ve heard of – if not seen – Sam Draisey. Sam’s been about for a few years yet hasn’t quite reached the grand old age of thirty yet, which will come as shock on hearing new album, ‘As I Live and Breathe‘. Draisey sings with a real conviction, you feel his words come from the heart, from experience, at times from personal anger about politics, greed and the state of England. There are echoes of Frank Turner here, modern folk and protest. But this is far from just a protest album, there’s plenty of love and upbeat melody here to raise a smile – even the songs that deride modern society, apathy and negative attitude such as ‘Scarecrows‘ play along to a positive rhythm – that feeling of “hey, despite how it looks, life isn’t all bad so keep your chin up! Things will get better.”

A favourite of ours, ‘The Worst Lie Of All‘ tells a story that many from the working class will be familiar with, trying your best to get somewhere but having the world against you, of the wealthy turning a blind eye to the plight of those struggling to make ends meet and of people in power treating the rest of us as political pawns rather than thinking, feeling people.

‘Used To Be My Hero‘ bounds along at quite a pace, another familiar theme for listeners – musicians that had a powerful message and gained a fan-base but ended up middle of the road once they’d become successful – and comfortable, losing their edge and putting out music just to keep people happy and the money rolling in, never regaining that original passion. ‘I Won’t Ask Why‘ is a thoughtful ballad about unexpectedly falling in love and cherishing it now it’s here, come what may.

There’s a lot of experience behind ‘As I Live and Breathe’; as well as having several albums under his belt, Draisey is a regular live performer. if you haven’t seen him live, it really is worth tracking him down – a recent Facebook post on Sam Draisey Music tells us that he’s approaching his 1000th gig since he started out in 2005 (both solo and in bands such as The Replicas). This includes the Molineux, Codfest, various festivals and pub gigs such as the Newhampton Inn and The Crown, Codsall. Live, Sam holds an audience captive – we’re looking forward to hearing some of ‘As I Live and Breathe’ in person.

‘As I Live and Breathe’ is being released on 23 July at The Crown in Codsall, South Staffordshire. Entry is free and the gig starts at 20:30.

Ryan's Gig Guide review

My first review of the new album is in, and I'm very pleased with it! Chuffed actually.

'As I Live and Breathe' has been named as Ryan's Gig Guide's 'Acoustic Album of the Month'. This is a major honour for me and I'm really pleased that they liked the album as much as I do!

You can read the full review by Nick J. Townsend below, or there is a link to the publication here.

‘Wolverhampton singer/songwriter Sam Draisey releases the ‘As I Live and Breathe’ album. Fifteen songs strong, a long time coming but very worthwhile and tunes like ‘Five Years Later’ totally explain what Sam stands for. If you are expecting traditional folk then be careful what you wish for, as you’ve not only got that sound but imagine the voice of a hardened Paul Simon blended with Damien Rice roasted in the political attitude or lyrical magnetism of artists like Billy Bragg. Highlights are ‘The Worst Lie of All’ for its observations of equality, ‘Used to be my Hero’ with its superb character assassination and grit, the delicate ‘The Day That I Was Meant to Die’ which with a title like that isn’t quite what you expect to hear as it’s beautiful, there’s ‘Let’s Not Grow Old’ a wonderful nostalgic mind road trip and ‘Turning You Down’ with its attention and personal insight into missing someone mixed with a little anger. Hey, this is a real passionate guy, sometimes he shouts, sometimes he whispers but this is deep and absolutely mesmerising from start to finish.’

Album Launch!

I'm so VERY excited to announce that my new album 'As I Live and Breathe' is being launched on the 23rd of July, and I've got an awesome gig lined up to kick it all off! Supported by two of my favourite acts (and some of my favourite people!), I'll be playing at The Crown Joules in Codsall as part of my ongoing songwriter's nights there. There is even talk of me having a band with me, so it should be a very special night indeed!

I hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, the album will be available on many online retailers and streaming sites (iTunes, Spotify etc.) from the day afterwards. You will also be able to buy a CD copy directly from my website.

Track list.

Here it is, the official track listing for my new album, 'As I Live and Breathe'.

It's finished!

I'm delighted to announce that my new album is finished and will be called 'As I Live and Breathe'. I'll be releasing the track list soon for you to check out :)

What do you think of the artwork?

a quieter week

A quieter week this week. Open mic tonight was good fun (thanks to Matt Dooner and Faye Bagley for coming down to play) and I'll be back at Village Coffee in Codsall on Saturday for my usual residency gig.

I spent some time setting up the studio at home today and have almost got everything working and how I want it, so hopefully I can get working on the new album shortly. It's embarrassing how long it's taking me to be honest, the project file is labelled 'new album 2014'!

So, I better get to it then!

New gigs!

January is always a month of change for me. Quite often it's the month where, if a recurring gig is going to get cancelled, it will get cancelled. This January was not without its victims as the open mic night at The Rainbow and the winter nights at The Fox & Anchor both bit the dust. It's sad, but I do understand that January is often a lean month for pubs and they have to make hard decisions. At the moment it does look like I will still be back at The Fox & Anchor in the summer. I'll keep you informed about that.

The good news is that two new venues have come in to replace the two on the way out. The first is The Grain Store in Wolverhampton.

The usual host there is a guy named Andy Turner, who I worked with a few times last year (see my last blog post where I ran through the gigs I did in 2014). I guest hosted there over Christmas while he was away and he has asked me to help him out once a month. I won't always be playing, but I will be hosting what looks like the third(ish) Tuesday of every month there. I'm hosting next week's gig, if anyone fancies coming down and saying hi.

The second gig that I've started running came a bit more out of the blue. After getting a request for a covers band come in to The Replicas email account we booked a gig at The Plough in Trysull (it's on Friday the 6th of February and is free entry, if you're around). While another member of the band was on the phone to the landlord of the pub he happened to mention that they were looking to start an open mic night and perhaps run a music festival in May. Dan (from The Replicas) sent me a message telling me to get in touch so I arranged a meeting last week and went over to speak to them.

The result was a fortnightly new open mic night on a Thursday night from the 12th of February. I'm looking forward to playing in a new venue. We are also discussing the idea of putting the festival on during the May bank holiday weekend. The owners there seem really up for it, so it should be a lot of fun!

Outside of gig bookings I have been working on guide tracks for the new album ready for the drum and percussion parts to be recorded. I'm starting to get excited about these songs coming together now!

Charity Christmas Album 2014

So, the launch was a really fun night! Thank you to all those who came down and an equally as big thank you to all the great acts that played. You really put on a great show!

The Charity Christmas Album is now out and available from my online store. Get yours now for just £5. This year's chosen charity is the British Heart Foundation. I'm sure you will agree it's a hugely worthy cause.

There are 6 tracks on the album this year. Mine is a duet with my wife Kayla and I think it's the first time she has sung on a record (it won't be the last; trust me!). There are also great songs from Christmas Album new-boys Brains For Breakfast and Josh Briggs. Those of you who were at the Oxygen Thief gig earlier in the year will remember Josh I'm sure. He blew us all away that night and his Christmas song is a lovely little reminder of everything we love about Christmas. 'Brains' is a long-time friend of mine whom I have gigged with loads and I had great fun recording his track with him. It's also ace, by the way.

Alongside the new guys are Christmas Album stalwarts Natch and Dom Malin, but excelling once again within their own individual styles, showing that, as always, the Christmas Album is a hugely diverse release and always has something for everyone. I love this about the albums, that not only do they catalogue some of the artists I've worked with during the year, but also show how diverse they are and how Christmas can mean so many different things to so many different people.

We also have a re-released track on the album from Bryony Williams. After debuting on last years Christmas Album with her song 'Christmas Time' (now entitled 'Don't Feel Like You're On Your Own') she went away and re-recorded it, adding extra instruments and depth to the sound. Why don't you compare the two and let me (or her) know which one you like the best.

Anyways, my new show is at The Fox & Anchor on Sunday. If you don't want to buy one online, come and get a Christmas Album from me then. It starts at 7:30.

Digital Distribution

I've been thinking recently about what to do regarding my next album's release online.

In the past I've always stated that releasing my albums on iTunes and Spotify were primarily for marketing purposes. I don't expect to make much money from it, not even enough to keep it up online really (it costs around £30 a year, which is ok for the first year, but after an initial burst the sales tend to fall away), but I've always said that as two of the biggest music services in the world, it looks good to have them up on there. It's free advertising.

Isn't it?

I've been toying with a few ideas to change it around. Should I release my album via Bandcamp, a service I have heard nothing but good reports about, and one that doesn't charge a fee? Or maybe I should just have them online on somewhere like SoundCloud, giving the downloads away for free or in exchange for an email address. Or should I even go whole hog and release them as a torrent? It wouldn't be illegal, after all, and I wouldn't be the first to do it.

Maybe it's time for a fresh start with iTunes instead. 'The List' has been available online now for almost 3 years. Should I take down my old albums and start again with the new one? Just stockpiling them on iTunes is not only expensive (it's £30 per album per year), but it could also leave potential new listeners with a 'don't even know where to start' mentality. Maybe I could implement one of the other strategies above for the previous two albums and have my next album up on the major platforms.

As always, comments are more than welcomed on this :)

See you soon,

Sam.

Spotify ~ Hero or Villain?

There have been a lot of blogs, articles and the like flying around recently about streaming services such as Spotify and whether they are dangerous to musicians due to their low royalty payouts. I read a lot of arguments from both sides of the fence, and thought I would share my views with you guys. Leave a comment with your thoughts at the bottom of this post, I'd love to hear what you think about the whole thing.

As an independent musician, I don't think Spotify is ever going to make me any money. That doesn't mean, however, that I think it is a bad model. The idea of the royalty payouts by Spotify is that you get paid a tiny amount of money every time one person listens to one of your songs. For me as an independent musician without ties to a record label who has a deal in place to collect 100% of my royalties, I get about a third of a penny per track play, so if someone listens to 'The List' from start to finish (12 tracks), I'd make about one and a third pence!

It sounds like nothing, but I'll put it another way. Imagine how many times around the world in different people's personal stereos, car radios and MP3 players 'Dark Side of the Moon' has been played. Millions? Hundreds of millions? More? Now imagine if all of those plays had been on Spotify, which in the future will be possible as they branch their service out to mobile devices so you can take it with you wherever you go. You are looking at millions and millions of plays, each being paid a third of a penny or more as the music is so popular. At a third of a penny per play you would need just 334 million plays of individual songs to make a million pounds. For 'Dark Side of the Moon' as a whole, it would be under 33.5 million plays. Considering sales of that album are estimated at 50 million worldwide and not many people listen to an album just once, you can see how it mounts up. And it would be growing all the time.

So Spotify is just another service that's good for the guys at the top and rubbish for the guys at the bottom?

Well, sort of. I use Spotify's player to play the music on my Facebook page and on this blog. I don't think of it as a way to make money, but rather a way to advertise my music to anyone and everyone that wants to hear it, for free, through a trusted medium. And if they like it, they might just go and buy it. Or at least it might get them interested in my music enough to come and watch me play.

So that's my view on Spotify. If you write a great song or album that people keep going back to, it will pay you in the long run. However, if someone decided to listen to my album 'The List' solely on Spotify rather than buying it, they would have to listen to the whole thing over 385 times before I got the £5 for the CD!

That is why I don't use it for financial gain, but rather treat it as an advertising expense. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know :)

Ready for launch?!

Today is the day, in many respects. Firstly, my album 'Anthology' launched today on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc. You can listen to both of my albums now by using the Spotify widget on the right hand side of this blog page. Isn't that cool?! If you like what you hear (I wouldn't expect you to buy it without listening first!) you can download it from iTunes here. If you don't like downloads, you can always come and visit me tonight and buy a CD copy :)

And that leads me nicely onto the second launch of the day. After a really nice gig last night at one of my favourite venues, Katie Fitzgerald's in Stourbridge, I kick off 'The 10 Mile Radius Tour' tonight at Common Folk in Pelsall. It's at Pelsall Cricket Club. I've never been to a folk club before and to be honest, whenever I've enquired in the past, the people who run them have been very stand-off-ish. But I thought I would take the plunge for this tour and so I emailed ahead and for the first time they didn't seem like elitist 'folkies'. I might be wrong, but I'm hopeful all the same :)

If you are from Pesall or know anyone that is, why not give them a nudge tonight and come down and say hi. Would be great to see you :)

See you on the road!

Sam.

Launch date and Competition update

I can officially announce that I will be launching my new album 'Anthology' on Sunday the 29th of July, where I will be playing at The Fox & Anchor, Coven with some great guests and friends. Below is the official launch poster.

I am also pleased to announce that, as the first track on the album is '7 Days a Week', I will be holding 7 days of competitions from the 14th to the 20th of July in order to get you excited about the album. Some of the competitions will be based online, some at the gigs I have booked over those days, and I won't announce them until that day. Make sure you keep up to date with my blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages as well as visiting some of my shows during that week to be in with a chance to win. I might even run more than one competition some days, so don't tune out just because a winner is announced!

I'm excited about this now. It won't be long before you will be able to get the album from my online store, direct from me at a show or online via download. Roll on the 29th!

Sam.

New album and new sessions!

I've not posted for a while, but I've busy planning away all sorts of things for you, so I hope you can forgive me.

First off, I will be announcing the release date of my new album this week! It won't be far away, but I won't be releasing it straight away as I want to build some momentum and put on some crazy competitions for you all leading up to it! I get hold of the CDs tomorrow. It's an exciting day!

Also, I have a busy extended weekend of great gigs lined up. Im heading to Village Coffee on Saturday afternoon for my usual 2-4 chilled out slot, before driving down to Chesterfield in the evening for the first ever 'Sam Draisey Sessions' on tour at The Commercial Inn in Pilsley. Joining me will be Alex Vann, Elliott Burton, Natch and Brains for Breakfast, some of my favourite acoustic players from the midlands who I have shared a stage with many times. I'm really excited about the whole thing! Then from there I head to Sunday night and my brand new open mic at The Albion in Wednesfield. Last Sunday was the first one, and even though no-one else played it still went down really well and had a good audience. If you want to play in front of them, just turn up on Sunday for an 8:30 start. Then on Monday it's my stalwart open mic at The Hartley Arms in Wheaton Aston, which apparently is getting some advertising on Kic.FM in the lead up. Again, all welcome for a 9pm start. Finally on Tuesday we have my 'Sam Draisey Session' at The Robin 2 in Bilston. I'm really excited about this as the confirmed acts are Moseley based band 'SYLVIA', Punk Ukulele player Dan 'Salty' Salt,  the lap steel and Americana stylings of Pete Boddis and the frankly excellent Dominic Malin. I can honestly say that these guys are some of my favourite artists from around the Midlands (there is so much talent in this region. it's amazing!) so don't miss it. It's free, and again, if you want to share a stage with them, it's open mic too. Get there from about 8 to avoid disappointment!

So that's it for now, but it won't be long before more posts appear with details of my new album, competitions and gigs coming up for you to enjoy. I always want to make it worth your while reading this blog, so I might even have a competition just for blog readers!

See you over the weekend, I hope!

Sam.

the final moment.

As any engineer worth his salt will tell you, there comes a time in a recording project when you have to sit back and say 'you know what, I can't do any more to this. I'm just messing, fretting over tiny little nuances and sounds. I'm starting to make the record sound worse than it did yesterday!'

Well, I'm finally at that point. I've mastered, listened, tweaked, listened, tweaked again listened again and then tweaked some more and now I'm finished. Finished I tell you! I'd be working on the artwork if my laptop hadn't died, but I've got a few ideas for it. The long wait is over. I can confirm, I WILL be releasing a new record soon! Yeah, I know, they are all old songs. But they are new recordings, new arrangements and new ideas. And by Jove I'm excited about it!

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Studio Diary Two - The Overwhelming Hand-Cramp

Today was my second big stint in the studio (I was in for about an hour yesterday and got another two guitar tracks down). I spent all afternoon finishing off the guitar parts before going back to the first song to start to add in extra sounds and instruments. These included some kick drum, snare and cymbals, though not all together, as that would make me a drummer! It also included some extra lead guitar, so I dusted off the old Epiphone Sheritan from its place decorating the bedroom wall and plugged it in.

When I moved on to ukulele was when the hand cramping started! I've chosen to add uke to a song that's in Bb, and so all the chords are either barre or have strings being covered by one finger. This requires extra squeezing and, coupled with my inability to overlook minor mistakes and fret buzzes, left me to abandon the instrument halfway through take 8 (ish). Oh well, I'll get back on it tomorrow!

One of the coolest things that happened today was finding the 'missing' sounds in some of the songs. That is, some of the songs felt like they were just going through the motions, like they didn't have that extra something to make them different or special. It could be something seemingly small like a shaker of me tapping my fingers on a snare drum or cymbal, but when I add it to the rest of the track it just adds something and seems to bring the whole thing together somehow. It's one of the most exciting parts of tracking in the studio.

I'll hopefully be back in tomorrow and with a good stint I might just finish most of the tracking. Depends how long the uke part takes to nail! I'm sure you'll hear all about it!

Studio Diary 1 - The Miraculous Radiator!

Today was the big day. Today I started recording the guitar parts for my upcoming 'back catalogue' album. This involved breaking down all my current recording setup, moving next door into Ed's music room and setting it back up again. This actually took longer than I thought it would, but once it was finished, it looked ace! in fact, I took a photo.

Once it was all set up and ready to go, I then changed my guitar strings and cleaned my guitar in preparation. Once that final part was finished, I started the meticulous process of recording guitar parts for my songs.

When I'm doing my own production, I'm a stickler for perfection. That is, my performance has to be perfect. A bum note, a buzzing string, picking the wrong string at the wrong time or an over-zealous strum can easily lead me to re-do a take. This was a problem today as it is really cold in there, and cold hand (and arm!) lead to more mistakes, especially with added dynamics, like strumming too hard to catching the wrong strings. However, I found the perfect solution, one that I used to use when I recorded in my loft, and had forgotten about...

My portable heater! Ironically that bad boy was with me for the original recording process for some of the songs that are going to be included on the new album! It's pretty old and can click and creak from time to time, but it helps to save more takes than it ruins!

So, aided by the heater, I managed to get guitar parts down for four songs today, two of which had two different parts, so six in total. I'll be working tomorrow in the middle of the day, so hopefully get some more recording done after that. I'll keep you posted :)

From The Vault

As some of you are probably aware ( at least I hope you are!), 'The List' was not my first album, but rather, my third. My first two albums were called 'Bard Song' and 'The Rumour Mill' respectively. I produced them myself  at home and burned the CDs as and when people wanted them. These albums were accurate depictions both of my songwriting and performance ability at the time of recording and my ability behind the desk and mixing.

But now I feel I have improved. My own knowledge in the studio, and my collection of gear has grown substantially in the last few years thanks to college training and frugal upgrading, and with many of the people who are fans of the music I have made recently having never heard my older material, I think that now is a good time to revisit it. I am therefore happy to tell you that I've started work on an album of tracks taken from the first two albums, as well as tracks from other EPs and even a track I played live a handful of times but never recorded.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! I'm also taking this opportunity to name the track from 'The Rumour Mill' that has until now remained 'Untitled'. I'm not announcing the new title until the album comes out, but rest assured and after much deliberation, I have finally come up with something I'm pleased with. It's only been four years coming!

Like I said before, I've not just improved behind the desk, but in front of the microphone as well, and that's why I'm reworking and re-recording all the old songs, so even the people who have heard them all before will find something new in there to enjoy.

I'll be interspersing my blog posts with studio diaries from the making of this album, so keep reading the updates if you want to know about how I'm getting on. For now, I've chosen the songs, recorded guide tracks and started on some percussion and bass parts. I'm also running through a few different ideas for album titles and artwork designs at the moment, so I should hopefully be able to announce the album title soon!

Until then, I'll say my farewells. I'm hosting open mic at The Hartley arms in Wheaton Aston, Stafford on Monday night (30th) so if you would like to see me play or fancy playing yourself, come on down for a 9pm start. I've also got an exciting meeting with a friend booked to talk about merchandise next week, and I'm performing at Village Coffee in Codsall, Wolverhampton on Saturday afternoon from 2. I'll keep you in the loop.

Thanks for reading. I'll catch you again in a few days.

Sam.

Welcome.

So this is my first blog post, and for the benefit of anyone who has stumbled across this by accident, I should introduce myself. Hi, My name is Sam Draisey and I'm an independent singer/songwriter from the West Midlands in England.

You can hear all my music and see my various online presences by clicking on the buttons at the top of this blogs home page. I won't inundate you with links to check them all out, but I won't discourage you from having a nose either!

So what's this blog going to be about? Firstly I'll be talking about my gigs, my recording projects and my general pursuit of work within the music industry. I'll be posting any reviews I get for you to read, and would welcome any comments you may have about anything I do. I'll also be talking about the different ideas and schemes I have for promoting myself, my shows, my merchandise and my overall 'brand'. Those of you in a similar boat to me might find this interesting and even helpful, and again can feel free to share any insight you might have into the subjects of marketing and promotion by commenting on such threads. I'll use the blog to post 'blog only' content for you guys, like guitar tabs, videos, sound clips and photos.

I'll also be using this blog to run and advertise competitions for free stuff to do with my music, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

And finally, like with any blog, I'll be using it to give you an insight into my day to day life and thoughts.

So that's pretty much what it's about, with probably a load of other stuff thrown in that I haven't thought about yet.

I'll post again in the next day or two, but for now, welcome to my blog.

Sam.