End of an era?

This past week I have potentially waved goodbye to my most long-standing of open mic institutions, the monthly open mic at The Woodman in Bilbrook. Due to lack of funds in the entertainment kitty, I performed what looks like being my last gig there last week without being paid.

I have nothing but happy memories of the place, the people and the nights we put on, including some memorable impromptu performances and collaborations at Christmas special open mics that I will never forget. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who ever came and played, watched, sang along of just turned up and made the nights what they were.

Thank you everyone. It was a wonderful journey :)

I never wanted to be a teacher!

I'm aware that just lately my blog posts have become more like lectures than updates, and that's not what I started this for. I realise that I may well have been alienating people who want to know what I'm up to and where I am with certain projects (basically, what a musicians blog should be!) so for now I'm going to stop the lecturing for a while and keep on with the updates.

That said, any musicians who would like some advice from me only need ask :) I'm more than willing to help out where I can.

Anyway, on to the update. Today I finished recording the bass parts for the songs for my upcoming 'back-catalogue' album. I'm not releasing the track listing yet, I'll probably do that when the recording is all sorted and a release date is set. What I will tell you is that today I recorded bass parts for two popular songs from 'The Rumour Mill' and one from 'Bard Song', the latter taking a grand total of 20 takes! (I was starting to feel like I was nitpicking a little, but I nailed it just before I gave up all hope!). From here I have a decision to make.

Pretty much everything else I am going to put into the songs needs to be mic'ed, and for this I would like to record in a room different to my bedroom! It just doesn't sound great in there, and it's not isolated enough so not only do I worry about doors slamming downstairs ruining a good take, but also I feel like I can't really let rip with the vocals with other people in the house.

When I recorded 'The List' this wasn't an issue. I was recording onto a laptop, so taking the recording to a different location, which turned out to be either my conservatory in the dead of night or my next door neighbour's music room in his garden was easy. Now I'm working on a desktop PC, so moving it around is a bit of a headache. I think maybe I will need to camp in Ed's music room again (if he lets me!) or find somewhere to set up shop away from outside interferences.

These problems aside, the more I play and record parts for this album, the more excited I get about it. I'm still not totally sold that it's going to be a huge success, but it's a project I'm committed to and I'm starting to come around to the idea of it. What I like about it is that the songs that I have chosen have all, at some point, been big songs in my live sets, but recordings of them have never really done them justice. Since then I have improved as a musician, performer and engineer, so I'm hoping to give better representations of them this time around. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they come out.

Recording aside, I'm back on the gigging trail again, finding out new open mic nights, getting back in touch with promoters and finding new open mic nights for me to run, the latter starting tonight with a new night at The Stirrups in Brewood. Come down if you have the night off, it should be good fun. I'd also love to hear from anyone who has any suggestions about places I should play or people I should get in touch with about playing :)

So that's it for updates. Next time I'll hopefully be further along the album road, have had some gigs to tell you about and maybe even have some new merchandise and competitions to get you in on! Keep you posted :)

Sam.

Guitar Chords - Thunder Road (Cover of Bruce Springsteen)

I recently had a video of me performing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Thunder Road’ reviewed in PC World magazine, of all places! It was picked up by an American guy on YouTube who write reviews for them for videos of songs that apparently put the message of the song across better than the original! A bold statement, but you can read his reasoning for yourself here –

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=260339927353146

Review by Phil Shapiro.

After that the video got a spurt in publicity, and a lot of people have been asking me to write the tab on how to play it. So here it is, written in my blog. Hope you enjoy learning to play it.

The original is in the key of F, but I play it in E. I play it like this to get the inversions of the chords that I want. The top E and B strings are left open throughout the whole piece (pretty much).

Intro – E Asus2 E

E Emaj7 (The Emaj7 is a G#m shape on the 4th fret with the top E and B open) Asus2 (played in the same position as an A barre chord (5th fret) but with the top E and B open) B add11 (again, this chord is the B barre shape (7th fret) with the top B and E left open)

For the rest of the chords I will follow the lyrics.

During the verse I play the Asus2 and the Badd11 at the bottom of the guitar neck. I only play the barre versions in the run ups in the intro and chorus.

               E                           Asus2                            E

Well, the screen door slams,                       as Mary's dress waves

                                      Badd11                       Asus2

Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays

  Badd11

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely

        E              Asus2

Hey that's me and I want you only

Don't send me home again

  E  Badd11

I just can't face myself alone again

         E               Asus2  E (start strumming here)

Don't run back inside, darling you know what I'm here for

 Badd11             Asus2

So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore

         Badd11

Well show a little faith, there's magic in the night

         E   Asus2

You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright

            E   Badd11

Oh and that's alright with me

E                        C#m7 (play as a C#m barre (9th fret)with B and E strings open again)

You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain

          E                    Asus2 E

Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain

  Emaj7 Asus2             Badd11

Waste your summer praying in vain for a saviour to rise from these streets

        E         C#m7

Well I'm no hero, no that's understood

        E              Asus2 E

Only redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood

Emaj7

With a chance to make it good somehow

        Asus2           Badd11

Hey what else can we do now

            E Asus2       E

Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair

Badd11       Asus2

This night's bustin' open, these two lanes can take us anywhere

 Badd11

We got one last chance to make it real

E         Asus2

To trade in these wings on some wheels

      E             Badd11

So climb in back, heaven's waiting down on the tracks

E             C#m7

Oh oh come take my hand

E                 Asus2 E

Riding out tonight to case the promised land

Emaj7     Asus2         Badd11

Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road

E                 C#m7

Lying out there like a killer in the sun

E                    Asus2 E

Hey I know it's late, we can make it if we run

Emaj7       Asus2      Badd11        E 

Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road, sit back, take hold, Thunder Road

           Asus2         Badd11             E

Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk

             C#m7                   Asus2 Badd11

And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk

        Asus2             Badd11

From your front porch to my front seat

 Emaj7                   C#m7 (play 4th fret of the A string for convenience)

The car's open but the ride it ain't free

       Asus2

And I know you're worried 'bout words I ain't spoken

      Badd11

but tonight we'll be free, all the promises' be broken

          E                  Asus2  E

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away

Badd11        Asus2

They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets

                   Badd11

They call your name at night in the street

E               Asus2

Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

        Emaj7 (slow down now)

And in the lonely cool before dawn

Asus2

You can hear their engines roaring on

              F#m11          Badd11       Asus2             F#m11

But when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind, so Mary climb in

        Asus2 Badd11           E

It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win

Finish with the same chords as the intro again.

That's it. You can see the video that was reviewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBQCT8rnU0&list=UUI0M7B6MT09MX9PsSk1p26g&index=12&feature=plcp

The Open Mic Story - Part Two

So, to continue from where I left off...

Around the time when the guys from Manchester came down to open mic was about the busiest I had been. But it wouldn't last. Soon pubs started closing and changing hands in 'the great public house depression' that has been going on in the last few years, seeing pubs close all over the UK every week. The Crown changed hands, and though we tried to keep the night going under new owners, they weren't keen. The New Inns experiment turned out to be a failure, and The Bird in Hand also cancelled the open mic nights due to poor attendance. It seems that the reputations of the places I was putting nights on in was finally catching up with me.

So for a while we only had The Woodman, which had changed over the summer to running twice a month, and was getting a decent reputation. With this came new performers and friends, and they in turn opened new opportunities. I started running a new open mic just before Christmas at The Harrows in Coven, and although popular, it also fell foul of the depression. I moved to The Rainbow, but we didn't have much luck there either.

It was then that I was introduced into The Hartley Arms, a canalside pub in Wheaton Aston, which now runs a fortnightly open mic with me on a Monday night. This night stops and starts in terms of attendance, but has build a small loyal community following of a couple of young artists and fans, which is integral to any open mic night. As my own pool of musician friends improve and move on to bigger and better things, they tend to frequent my open mic nights less, as their 'touring' circle becomes larger and larger.

My own solo gigs had started to improve too, and I was now getting preferential treatment at the famous Robin 2 in Bilston. I became known as their 'go-to support', as I live 20 minutes away, take 2 minutes to sound check and am happy with being called in the afternoon for a gig that evening. I started off with warm up slots for large tribute acts which, although was in front of audiences of over 400 people, it wasn't the kind of crowd that were into my music. However, in a great case of mutual back-scratching, I was also let in on support slots I could choose, so I could pick artists (and projected audiences) that would fit in with my style. This led to me supporting Ian Parker, Edgar Broughton, The Sounds of Simon and Edwina Hayes, gigs where I could really showcase my music to an audience that were 'into it'.

In my search for a 'day job' I sent a CV to The Robin 2 detailing my accomplishments, including a list of my open mic night ventures. Off the back of this I was offered the opportunity to host a monthly open mic at the venue, which I jumped at. I also get to run the sound and geek myself silly on the amount of control I have.

So that's where we are. I now run nights at The Woodman and The Robin 2 once a month and The Hartley Arms fortnightly. I also have a brand new open mic lined up at The Stirrups in Brewood for this month.

As promised, I'd like to end this blog by naming some of the people (and linking them) who have helped me along with their performances at my open mic nights. Some have since moved on to bigger and better things, musical and otherwise, but we still see them all from time to time. Here we go;

Pink Ukulele Guy - https://www.facebook.com/Pinkukuleleguy - I met Jamie before his alter-ego was even fuelled at the open mic night at Alchemy in Wolverhampton. A truly unique artist, Jamie is an excellent songwriter and the single greatest example of independent branding I have ever seen! People all over the Midlands know him due to his relentless open mic visiting and memorable stage show. Many also have a t-shirt!

Lottie Phazey - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lottie-Phazey/110538252339985 - Lottie first appeared as a 14 year old at The Bird in Hand open mic night when I started going, playing covers of Kate Nash and The Script. She has since progressed as a guitarist, singer and lyricist and has in her set now some frankly outstanding songs. I'd never say an artist needs to 'get discovered', but if anyone needs to get herself an EP/album recorded it's Lottie. I'd buy it!

Matt Dooner - http://matt486gigs.blogspot.com/ - Matt is one third of 'The Travelling Fools', a touring set of artists including myself that we are trying to put together this year. I met him, along with the third artist, at a memorable gig at The Varsity in Wolverhampton. He has since become a close friend. I recorded his EP for him recently, so you will have to keep your eyes out for that sometime this year. Matt is an excellent lyricist who writes some of the most relatable songs I have ever heard!

Elliot Burton - https://www.facebook.com/pages/ElliottJBurton/242492439128915 - Elliot is the third part of 'The Travelling Fools'. A close friend and fantastic performer, Elliot is known for his extreme performances of great classics, as well as his eclectic covers and songwriting that ranges from tongue in cheek to Dylan-esque. Look out for Psych Killer, Nessun Dorma and Jerusalem, as well his own songs 'Cannock Girls' and the magnum opus, 'Sound of a Chord'

Lydia Jones - Winner of Beacon Radio's Young Musician award last year, Lydia is well known throughout the Midlands due to her high profile performances and constant open mic gigging. She has a CD of covers that she recorded with me, and is getting better and better with every performance. If you attend an open mic anywhere enough, you will see her eventually!

So that's it. I'll write again at the weekend. If you are in the area, come down to Village Coffee in Codsall on Saturday to see me playing some chilled out acoustic classics.

See you soon,

Sam.

The Open Mic Story - Part One

Maybe it's because I've been teaching all day, but I've come home and decided to write a history blog. Don't worry, it's not the Tudors or Stewarts, and there won't be a test, but I just thought I'd take you on a little trip down memory lane and talk about how I first got into that staple of my gigging diet over the past four or five years, hosting open mic nights.

As I said above, I started about four and a half years ago. Truthfully, the only way I remember how long it's been is to try and count up the amount of Christmas Special open mic nights I've done at The Woodman. I think it's four.

Though The Woodman in Bilbrook is my longest running venture, and the first venue I had all to myself, it wasn't my first ever taste of hosting. That came at The Bird in Hand, Tettenhall, where I took over a fortnightly slot filling in for Andy Turner, who wouldn't commit to weekly events, after attending a few times and deciding it didn't look 'that' difficult. I can't take all the credit though, it was mainly my dad's idea. As we both played in bands at the time, and as such knew at least a small amount about buying and setting up a PA system, we at least had some insider knowledge, and so we both invested (half each, as I recall) in a simple Carlsbro vocal PA, costing around £400 for two powered 12" speakers, a four track desk and the cables to connect it all together. Over the years I have added to my collection of sound re-enforcement equipment, but I still use these speakers on a regular basis.

Not long after that I approached The Crown in Codsall, then named Butler's Bistro, about putting on a music night there. The first night on my own terms was a success, with friends and fellow musicians coming down to help me out and see what all the fuss was about. We didn't get chance to do many more before the manager left and the pub closed once more.

Not to be discouraged, I moved on to The Woodman in Bilbrook, a pub just 2 minutes walk from my house (though longer when carrying speakers, a fate I encountered only once after falling out with dad and him refusing to take me!). This has become a fixture of my open mic diary, and a relatively well supported night with a loyal local clientèle. I started off here playing for nothing more than a free meal and a stage to showcase my songs, as well as those of a growing list of friends and musicians. The Woodman has always been on the last Thursday of every month (except December, when we usually move the night to make it into a Christmas party) and I believe that this regularity has helped the night survive above other nights I have hosted.

I started back at The Crown when it was taken over by a new landlord, who turned it back into a pub. The first open mic back there was a roaring success, with many people coming to perform in the bar area. The night before I was attending a friend's gig at The Little Civic in Wolverhampton when I got a call about the open mic, asking if I was providing a drum kit. I don't own one, so obviously that was a no, but the gentleman asked if he could bring one. I agreed and the next night we had two local lads turn up and rock the place! It all finished with an impromptu performance of 'Summer of 69' with about eight people on stage, and me on lead vocals. The whole place was bouncing. I'll never forget it.

Thus started the most fruitful chapter of my open mic career. Hosting monthly nights at The Woodman (now paid), The Crown and The New Inns in Brewood, an ill-fated venture into a pub that didn't want to advertise the fact that an open mic was there in case someone came who wasn't very good, and a fortnightly open mic at The Bird in Hand, my calendar was filling with music events and as part time jobs go, it was the best I could possibly wish for. I;d only ever had a paper round before that!

I'll finish off this part of the open mic story by talking about one of my most successful nights to date, a night that is still talked about by music aficionados of the Codsall area. As the open mic at The Crown really started to take off, we moved the stage setup from the bar area into the main function room, which came complete with a stage. I would book a band to finish the night's entertainment, and had applicants from far and wide. On one occasion I had a message on MySpace (showing my age there!) from one Kev Fox, a solo singer/songwriter from Manchester who was looking for gigs to complete a touring circuit of the Midlands. I invited him down to The Crown after listening to and enjoying his haunting music.

The night came and so did the Manchester touring act, Kev Fox and his support. And to my delight so did the people of Codsall! For a mere open mic night we suddenly had acts from a different county and over 100 people crammed into the function room at the back of The Crown. I still keep in touch with Kev, now playing frequently in Poland and Germany, and he remembers the night fondly.

Thus ends the first part of my open mic story. Keep an eye out for part two, which includes new songs, venues, ventures and a list of some of my favourite acts from across the years.

See you in a day or two,

Sam.

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.

No frills - getting my music online.

Being independent in the music industry has always been seen as being either for small bands who can't get a record deal or artists who fall out with their major label partners. In these cases the small bands were just seen to be making excuses and the large band either being greedy or righteous, depending on the public's perspective of them.

Nowadays, with the decline in major label dominance, it has become important for an emerging artist to know how to run their own show. Labels no longer sign artists to development deals like they did in the 50's and 60's, but instead wait to see if they come to fruition on their own or within a smaller label, then either buy them out or envelope the label they are signed to within their own company. But do not despair. With a decline in huge label contracts comes the decline in price for, well, pretty much everything you need to release your own record on your own label.

I say your own label, but I use the term loosely. I am not signed to a record label, even one I have created myself, by name. However, to date I have released 3 studio albums and number of EPs and have plans for a further two albums this year. I record, produce and mix the albums myself, complete all the artwork and send them off to a duplication company to have them pressed and when they are finished they come back to me and I sell them at gigs and on my online store. I could make up a label name and stick it on there, but the fact is it's just me making the arrangements, so I don't see the need for it. I could pretend to be a label when sending the album out to radio or promoters, but that just involves making yourself some interesting looking letter-headed paper, which is easy to do.

So what did I do? Who did I use? I get a lot of people asking we where I got my CDs made or how I got my music on the fabled iTunes. It's actually a lot easier than you might think.

I'll start with iTunes. The thing that people don't understand about iTunes is that it has no quality control. None. Anyone could record three minutes of garbled gibberish and put it up on iTunes through an aggregator if they had £20 to waste. All you need is an aggregator, or a company that provides the service of getting your music to online stores. There are hundreds out there, all offering slightly different deals in terms of what percentages you get from your sales and what you get back for your money. I;ll tell you about 2 in this blog, the one I use, and another I have heard good reports about.

The company I use is called Zimbalam. Their deal is simple. You pay £30 for an album (£20 for a single) and for one year it goes EVERYWHERE. That means all the online stores, from the famous ones like iTunes , Spotify and Amazon downloads right through to some I've never heard of, in every territory in the world. That's right Burkina Faso, you can buy my album online! At the end of the year you either pay £30 to renew the subscription for another year, or you pay £30 to take it down. The take-down charge is a drawback, but  it's a good deal if you want something that's all encompassing and no hassle, and the statistics they give back to you on where and when your tracks were bought or streamed are quite insightful and thorough.

The other company I have often pointed people towards is called Ditto Music. They have a range of bespoke packages depending on what you want, from a comparatively cheap 'get a single on iTunes and Spotify' packages, to a full works with everything including starting a label for you, getting your songs chart registered and using a sister company to collect performance royalties on your behalf (I'd advise against this, I'll talk about collecting your own PRS royalties in another post). The benefit of this is that if you have done your research about where and on what platform you want to release in order to have the most impact (so you have decided Burkina Faso isn't for you!) you can save yourself some money. Another main benefit is that, to my knowledge, they don't have a take down fee, so that's something to consider.

As I said, there are hundreds of other companies offering hundreds of other deals, so shop around. The perfect deal for you could be out there. Leave some links as a comment at the bottom of this blog if you like, I'd be interested to see some more deals.

I'm going to sign off now. Thanks for reading my blog, and for those of you who aren't musicians like me and are not interested in all this, I promise to rotate my content as much as possible, so the next blog either tomorrow or at the weekend will be about something different. Maybe a competition, if I come up with something cool for you to do before then!

Thanks again,

Sam.