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!

A GoPro for Christmas (and the re-emergence of my YouTube account).

So I got a GoPro camera for Christmas. For those who aren't aware, the GoPro is a great little camera often used in extreme sports videos (and on the end of selfie sticks!).

Since then I've been recording a lot of my gigs both solo and with the bands. I thought I'd collate a few of them here for you to see.

  

The first two are covers from fixed cameras to the side of the stage.

  

The next two are with the camera fastened to the end of my guitar/bass. I like this angle and it's easy to operate the camera in between songs!

What do you guys think? Let me know in the usual places :)

Sam.

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!

2014 in review

January often means it's time to reflect and set new goals for yourself (like finish that bloody album!).

With that in mind, here is a look back at what I got up to in 2014...

January
Number of gigs - 6

January is often something of a lean month when it comes to gigging. After a hectic December, that can also often be welcomed. 2014's edition did see me play at The Grain Store in Wolverhampton for the first time, a cool new little venue being promoted by an old school friend, Andy Turner. I would go on to host one of my highlights of 2014 there with him later in the year, but you'll have to wait for that!

February
Number of gigs - 6

February saw the first gig of the year for The Replicas and also my first ever show at The Prince Albert in Wolverhampton. It was really good fun actually, swapping between bands outside and acoustic acts inside in a 'Jools Holland' style. It was being hosted by Born Music, a sort of extension of the band Shatter Effect, who are good friends and good people. I'm not sure if there is anything going on there now, but I'd be interested in playing again if there is.

March
Number of gigs - 13

Monday is my birthday month and it just so happened that my 26th outing landed on open mic night at The Rainbow in Coven. Much fun was had by all! I also organised the music for my next door neighbours **th birthday party (I won't write how old she is, I'm a gentleman) in the form of a festival in her garden. This involved a couple of performances on my part, including a rendition of Macklemore's 'Thrift Shop' that I'm only partly ashamed of. I think there is a video around somewhere...

April
Number of gigs - 12

April was a great month. I co-promoted and played on a show at The Grain Store headlined by Oxygen Theif. It all started when my friend Hannah tweeted him asking him to check out my music after he appealed on Twitter for a support act for his Leicester show (is this starting to sound like a Grandpa Simpson story?). Instead of playing with him in Leicester, I ended up putting on a gig for him to play in Wolverhampton! It was great fun and really great experience for me as it was my first time booking and promoting a show for a signed artist.

A few days later I also played 3 shows in one day, starting out with some busking at Molinuex Stadium followed by a stop at The Golden Lion before finishing at Hail to the Ale. It was exhausting but really good fun!

May
Number of gigs - 10

In amongst the gigs this month I formed a new band. Asked to help out a band called The Times Flies after their singer/guitarist left, I eventually ended up starting my own 3 piece covers band with two of their former members (they folded, I didn't steal anyone). That band is now The Jukebox Dimes. You can find us on Facebook here.

June
Number of gigs - 14

June was great! I played two festivals, including a new one for me in Evesham (Worcester) called Dubs in the Middle. Also, The Replicas returned to The River Rooms and I returned to a place where it sort of all started for me, The Shrewsbury Arms in Albrighton. Almost 10 years ago I practiced there in the first band I ever gigged in, Too Shrewd. In honour of that, and of the memory of our late guitarist (and still to this day one of the best I've ever played with) Mr Tony White, I played a somewhat emotional version of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' as he was a huge fan of the band. It was a really special moment for me and one I'll remember for a long time to come.

Also in June I took a young lad named Jack Curley on work experience with me for a week. It was a bit strange for both of us but really quite cool. I taught him the ropes of performing, recording, live sound and promoting in the week he was with me.

July
Number of gigs - 6

July was a bit lean, but I was on holiday for a fair chunk of it. Not one to miss a trick, I played a gig in a restaurant while I was in Turkey. It seems to be a regular thing when we go on holiday there now, but I don't really mind. It's a new audience I guess!

I also made my first appearance at Brewood Music Festival. It was a truly brilliant day and another highlight of the year.

August
Number of gigs - 12

August was festival month. I love festivals, and if you count a pub car park all dayer as a festival I played 4 consecutive weekends of them in August. The newbie to the list was Llangollen's 'Famous Faery Fest', a great little festival filled with music, stories and crafty stuff (which certainly kept Mrs Draisey happy!)

September
Number of gigs - 12

When it comes to gigs, September is all about Codfest. This year's was no exception. The line up (if I do say so myself) was awesome across both stages and I had a blast. I mean I worked constantly from about 8 in the morning until gone midnight, but it was amazing! Every year I wonder how we are going to better it, and every year somehow it gets better!

Also in September I got asked last minute to play at Shrewsbury Fields Forever, a great festival I'd love to go back to this year if the offer is there (hint hint). It was another booking through Andy Turner, who seems to have featured quite heavily on this year's highlight reel.

I know I've written the obligatory two paragraphs about September already, but I couldn't finish the month without writing about probably the coolest venue I played at last year. When I put the postcode in and me and Mrs D. headed out to Birmingham to the The Songwriters Cafe we weren't sure what to expect. I'll admit that we were a little apprehensive when the postcode took us to someone's house, but all those doubts were gone as soon as we were guided around the back by the wonderful Paul Murphy. The venue is in his back garden and no photograph of the tree house/adventure playground style structure could ever do it justice. It's simply amazing. The gig was streamed around the world and they were getting comments online from as far away as Canada and Angola! Even more amazing was that also on the bill was a guy named Dan Hartland, whom I supported on my first ever live solo gig at The Varsity way back when. I think The Songwriter's Cafe might just squeeze in as my favourite gig of 2014. Just.

October
Number of gigs - 4

Wow, October was quiet. I guess I must have subconciously needed a rest after the antics of August and September.

November
Number of gigs - 11

November started with me playing a wedding, which is always an honour. It's even more of an honour when I get to play someone's first dance. Whenever I'm asked to do a first dance I always video myself playing it and send it to the couple getting married for their approval. That way if it's not what they are looking for they can decide to have the original played instead and I don't end up ruining anyone's big moment! This time I played a version of 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' that was adapted from a version by an american band called Sleeping at Last. I think my version in the end sort of linked that one and The Proclaimers' original, but they seemed to like it none the less.

November also saw the debut of The Jukebox Dimes. The first gig was beset with technical problems, but we managed to pull it around and put on a good show. I also played at the EP launch of one of my good friends Brains For Breakfast. The EP is great, so get your copy from him now!

December
Number of gigs - 8

Compared to the year before December was almost tame, though I did manage to squeeze in a 3 day run of gigs the weekend before Christmas (in 3 different acts!) and put together another Charity Christmas album. I also booked a Christmas party gig at The Crown in Codsall, which was another stepping stone for me in my quest to become a 'proper' promoter.

Total number of gigs in 2014 - 114

All in all that's not a bad year of gigging. It's over 2 a week.

I'm not going to single out any one gig as the best. After all, I didn't mention all 114 gigs above, so these are basically highlights. There are some obvious ones that stick in my mind as I write this, but I'm sure you can figure those out for yourself :)

What was your favourite gig of 2014? Where would you like to see me play in 2015? Answers in all the usual places.

Sam.

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.

Christmas Party!

You have have seen me banging on about this for a few weeks on social media, but I thought I would put an update on here as it's only a few days away! I'm really pleased with the line up for this year's Christmas party and hopeful that people will come out and enjoy it.

Just in case you missed it, here is the poster;

You might have seen these around the village.

I've got a lot of work left to get it finished, but I should be releasing this year's Charity Christmas Album on the night too. It's a little bit light this year, but it's still got some great tunes from some of my favourite local artists

See you on Saturday.

Exposure: another dirty word?

I've just seen this article from The Daily Mash pop up on Facebook and it got me thinking about playing for free.

It's very tongue-in-cheek, as everything for their website is, but it raises a valid point about playing, and asking others to play for this myth of 'exposure'.

'Exposure' is word that plagues hard working musicians everywhere. I see gig adverts all the time that all say the same thing; 'we can't pay you, but you will get exposure to a new audience'. That's all well and good if you know there are going to be a lot of people there who have never seen you before. I played at half time at a Wolves match last season for exposure to over 26,000 people (if you measure 'exposure' purely in terms of Facebook 'likes', I still only gained about 15 new 'likes' directly from that gig). I've also taken support gigs for more established artists who play similar styles to me because playing to an audience that enjoy similar music to mine is good 'exposure' for me and my music. These gigs were also great fun and in the case of the latter I've often sold more than my fair share of merchandise to cover the costs.

My main problem with this comes from the idea that all gigs are like this, that all gigs have masses of people attending who are all fans of the sort of thing you are doing and want to hear music that is new to them. We all know that this isn't the case and that actually most of the time you end up playing to an empty room and getting evil looks from the promoter for not bringing anyone with you. 'Why would I need to to re-expose myself to people who are already my fans?' I hear you ask. 'Surely if I was just going to play to my friends and fans, I would just put on my own show'. Well that's because in reality there is no 'exposure' on offer. It's just a buzzword used to mean 'the venue/promoter is doing this on the cheap and lazy and so can't/won't pay you'. I've ranted on this blog about promoters like this in the past so won't go into it again, but if you fancy a chat about it you can find the original post here.

I don't want to fall into the trap of this becoming another 'poor, down-trodden musicians' post where I sanctimoniously go on and on about how musicians don't get paid enough and it's all so terrible. I put on open mic nights myself where other musicians don't get paid to play. I get both professionals and people who just do it for the love of it play at them and they do it for a variety of reasons. I guess what I'm really getting at is that real, genuine exposure to an engaged audience of people who like the style of music you play, regardless of how big that audience is, is vital to musicians at almost all levels. My issue is that that, in the majority of cases, this is simply not what is on offer.

If you want to see me 'exposing myself' (in a musical way...) I'm hosting open mic at The Rainbow in Coven tomorrow night (Wednesday 29th October) from 8:30. See you there :)