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!

Another Express & Star article

The press pieces are coming in thick and fast now the album launch is almost upon us! Those great people at The Express & Star have done it again, this time doing an artist profile on me. You can read it by clicking the link to their website or just scrolling down!

https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/2017/07/21/unsigned-artist-sam-draisey-talks-about-forthcoming-midlands-gigs-/

'Some people are lucky enough to live and breathe what they love to do.

It is a hugely privileged position to be in, and Sam Draisey - who can count musician, gig and festival promoter, live sound and studio engineer, festival organiser and musician's union committee member among his job titles - is fully aware of that.

"It’s a great feeling knowing that I’m doing something I really love," he tells us. "I’ve worked in education for a few years but I’m leaving this summer to concentrate solely on music – I’m really excited about it.

"I like the diversity of having a number of strings to my bow when it comes to music, and that does seem to be the way the industry is going these days. It’s nice when other musicians come to me for advice on all sorts of things from recording and performing to distribution and copyright and I feel like I can help them."

Yes, some slave away for eight-plus hours a day at something which merely serves to pay the bills. But Sam, 29, from Wolverhampton, has other ideas for his life.

"I don’t aspire to be rich or famous, just to be able to live off what I do," he adds. "I get asked a lot if I would consider going on a TV talent show, but I don’t really think it would suit what I do, the type of music I make or the kind of person I am."

Sam is a busy man. Just playing music would give most of us enough to stay occupied. As a solo artist he has a new record he wants to show the world - releasing it officially on Sunday with a live showcase at Codsall's The Crown Joules.

"I class this as my third album, though it’s actually more like my fifth," he says.

He draws his inspiration from a range of artists as any singer/songwriter would. Notable influences include Frank Turner, Damien Rice, Jack Johnson, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and the incomparable Johnny Cash, as well as other more traditional folk artists.

He also has extra cash flowing in through a successful wedding band called The Replicas for whom he plays bass.

But he has much, much more than just playing on his plate.

"I'm an elected member of the Midlands Regional Council of the Musician's Union, I run a songwriter's night at The Crown Joules every two weeks - one of which I'm hijacking for the album launch - and I've run recurring gigs all over the place over the years, including a monthly session at The Robin 2 for a while.

"I've gigged all over the region and supported acts like Ian Parker, Edgar Broughton, Bleeding Hearts and Under A Banner and played at various festivals all over the country."

He's also part of the committee that puts Codfest together every year and he is busy putting this year's event together for its usual September slot - though at the moment the exact date is a closely-guarded secret.

"Shhh, I’m not supposed to talk to the media about Codfest," he jokes, before adding: "I’m kidding, but we are very close to being at full capacity now without any real advertising, which I guess is something to be proud of.

"I’m on the committee that puts the festival together, as I have been since the start. My role is mainly to organise the music side of things, from booking the acts to managing the stages, helping to run the live sound and generally just being very busy about the whole event.

"You can find out more about this year’s festival – Codfest 8 – by liking their page on Facebook."

It has been a lifelong effort for Sam to get to where he is today, and he epitomises the hard work required to establish yourself in a crowded and often fickle environment where one minute's buzz-artist among listeners can be forgotten and one moment's enthusiasm from an artist can drain when met by obstacles.

"After singing all my childhood, I took up bass guitar at the age of 16, basically because the strings are further apart than on a six-string and I didn’t think I would be able to manage that," he jokes. "The first song I ever learned on bass was In Bloom by Nirvana, on Christmas Day 2004. By the evening I was jamming with my nextdoor neighbours Mick and Jack Edwards, who played guitar and drums respectively.

"In fact, Jack went on to play drums and congas for me on The List and Anthology albums," both of which are previous solo releases from Sam.

"A few months later I was asked if I wanted to join a newly forming band by an old friend of my dad. I learned a huge amount about playing live and working within a band from playing with Too Shrewd, and I still see it as an important part of my musical education. The band lasted for a few years before members started to move away."

To see that education put into practice, head along to The Crown Joules on Sunday to help Sam launch his new record. He will be selling CDs on the day, and it will go live on streaming sites such as iTunes and Spotify the next day.

The evening kicks off at 8.30pm, with free entry, and support will be provided by David Young & The Midnight Chorus and Brains For Breakfast.

For more information on all of Sam's projects, live dates and past and future releases, search for Sam Draisey on Facebook or visit www.samdraisey.com

Express & Star review

Another great review of the album, this time from The Express & Star. Read it here or at the link at the bottom;

' Wolverhampton's Sam Draisey hides a deceptively powerful voice inside his slender frame.

The 29-year-old exercises his vocal chords on his new record that will be a hit with singer/songwriter fans.

It's a mixture of softer folk and country vibes with a drop of gritty rock here and there. He sounds a tad like an angtsy James Blunt when aiming high and a young Brian Molko when sinking low. Quite a combination, eh?

The guitar plucking on display from the Unsigned page star in The Ticket is talented, and the soft anarchy that flows through some of his tracks is a joy to hear.

There is a kind of been there, done that feel to the tracks, too. It's a confidence and assured nature which breathes experience rather than cockiness and arrogance.

Take opener Roots. A forlorn melody accompany's Sam's voice for a track that oozes gloominess but stops short of heartbreak. It's a good sound.

Upbeat crescendos permeate Five Years Later, a protest song that inspires rather than scaremongers. This is the kind of track which can fall flat on an unsigned release, sincerity and seriousness can get lost among bad production values. But Sam and his band avoid the pitfalls with ease, he produced and mixed the tracks himself so he shows a keen musical ear in more ways than one here.

Anger does break through in Used To Be My Hero - a different side to the vocals than heard previously. His gentle approach to the music allows his voice to take centre stage. It helps get his message across without being hidden by a wall of sound.

Perhaps the highlight moniker falls on Turning You Down, a lovely slow burner that grizzles raw energy when the rock outro kicks in.

This is a fine example of doing things yourself and could herald the start of something big for Sam Draisey. Scott Matthews has done it, is it time for somebody else to break out?

Rating: 4/5

Sam Draisey will be releasing As I Live And Breathe with a launch show at The Crown Joules in Codsall on Sunday, starting at 8.30pm. He also performs at Wolverhampton's Hogs Head on Friday, July 28, before playing at Village Coffee in Codsall the next day at 2pm.'

https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/2017/07/19/album-review-sam-draisey---as-i-live-and-breathe/#zse8zFVfFpK6Ccfg.99

Band announcement

Thanks to these heroes, I can officially announce what you may have known for while...

My album launch on Sunday will be a FULL BAND SHOW! I'm so bloody excited about it too!

Check out the Facebook event page here;

https://www.facebook.com/events/1866784633583576/?ti=as

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.’

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?

How long is too long?

I'm about 3 songs away from having my album mixed, and I'm really happy with the way it's going so far. The only thing is, it's around the 45 minute mark already. It won't quite get there, but it will be up close to an hour by the time it's done.

Is that too long? Would you listen to an hour of music by one artist?

I'm also aware that it's been a long time since I've released anything, and keeping all the tracks on there feels like a good way to repay people's patience. Plus, if I hold tracks back for my 'next release', there is a decent chance that when I get around to that, I'll either forget about the songs I left back or won't want old stuff on a new record, so they will never come out at all. Plus different people will like different tunes, so more songs gives me more chance of having something someone will like.

What do you think?

It's finally happened!

I can't quite believe it. After what seems like an eternity of recording, leaving, moving studios around, forgetting, re-recording and agonising over minute details, I've finally finished tracking my album! The computer tells me that it's a total of 1,128 takes! I guess I am a perfectionist after all!

Now it's on to the task of editing, fine tuning, mixing and mastering. Then I can start thinking about fun things like pressing CDs and launch parties. Who am I kidding, it's all fun really!

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!

To vinyl, or not to vinyl...

Just a quick one. I've been thinking, and I'd really like to release my next album on vinyl (as well as on CD and online). I enjoy collecting it myself and it would feel like a real achievement to do it. Only problem is, I'm not sure how well it would sell. I'm not really interested in making anything from it, but I'd need to sell enough copies to at least get close to breaking even, and getting vinyl pressed is expensive!

What do you reckon? Would you be interested in buying my 'still' upcoming album on vinyl?

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.

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.

A Narrow Escape

My open mic nights have been suffering a little recently. As you know, I lost the night at The Woodman a few months back, but to add to that The Three Stirrups in Brewood closed just before we were set to put another night on there. I only heard about it because the landlord at The Hartley Arms told me. Still, I bare no grudges. I know the pub was really struggling and the boss there would have had much more on his mind than letting me know about the closure.

But then last week's Robin 2 open mic, my newest and most exciting venture, had a relatively poor turnout too. The standard of musicianship on show was very high, as usual, but the attendance was not as good as previous months, and all of the events so far have not yielded huge profit margins for the venue. So when Mike from The Robin phoned on Wednesday, I was fearing the worst, and I was even more fearful after the conversation, where I was given 2 days collect my thoughts and promotional ideas before making a judgement on whether to take the night forward.

I am, however, pleased to say that after some pleasant negotiation and compromise, 'The Sam Draisey Sessions' at The Robin 2 are safe for the time being. Moving forward, I am going to need to try and get more people in to the nights, possibly to perform but more-so to watch. But that is the fun in promotions, is it not?


A nice, relatively happy little story for you there. I'm back at work and returning to normal after Easter now, so I should hopefully be back in the studio soon. I've given myself until the next Robin open mic to finish the album mixing. Wish me luck!

Hope you are well, and to see you at a gig soon :)

Sam.

Studio Diary Three - The Arduous Task

Sorry it's been a while. I'll level with you, I've been out enjoying the sunshine. I hope you have too :)

Today I finished tracking for my re-release album. All that's left is a spot of guest vocals on one track and the microphones can go back in the box! Though I won't speak too soon. The only reason I hadn't finished sooner is because I had to go back and correct a juvenile mistake.

Without boring you with software related details, I set up 4 microphones to record my guitar, made 4 tracks for them on the computer, then told all of those tracks to record the signal from THE SAME MICROPHONE! So I ended up with 4 identical tracks of guitar sound that wasn't a true or even remotely palatable depiction of my guitar on it's own. I had to go back in and re-record the guitar parts for the two songs I did this on (yes, I made the same mistake twice!) and record the vocals on said tracks today before I could move on to the next stage of the process.

Then another technical hitch happened. My computer's disk drive refused to have any CDs anywhere near it. I mean literally. It was like trying to spoon-feed a full child. I even tried the 'here comes the aeroplane' trick. It wasn't having any of it! It's rejection meant I couldn't listen to any reference tracks easily, and also incurred a painstaking CD ripping and file transferring afternoon.

But after all that, these are the albums I have chosen to go through at first before I start the mixing process, just to get my ears used to the style of music I'm dealing with and maybe to pinch a few techniques from and tip a few hats to more established artists who do what I do. This won't be the last of them, but for now, see if you can name them all from their CD labels. Then let me know who you think is missing!

Anyway, that's enough for now. I'll hopefully be able to get down to mixing in the next few days, and update you accordingly.

See you soon.

Sam.

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 :)