blog

In no particular order, here are some ideas for blog posts.
Which would you like to read?
Got any other ideas?

Nix Nugent
Mars Fortress
Gigs attended
USA / UK tastes (Laura)
Interview a live music promoter
compare recordings of classical works
music hardware / software / instruments
stand out music / musicians - interviews / reviews
Similarities / differences between performing / recording

Discovering Music / Musicians

Where / how do you listen to / find out about music / musicians?
Here are some of the ways I do.. Many of these are so inter-twined that it's difficult to separate them

ReverbNation
"The best tools for musicians and the best music for everyone else."

LIVE GIGS
I'll go to a gig to hear one of the artists performing and
discover the others, like I did recently at the Regal Room in Hammersmith

Collaborative Songwriting

I talked to Larissa Eddie (facebook Page / Profile, twitter) about
collaborative songwriting and this is what she had to say...

Larissa: I traveled to Bath for a gig; it was just starting to snow
as we left so we managed to get home safely!

Rupert: What was the gig?
Larissa: It was for the lord of Bath! Haha.
A huge private party which was lots of fun!

Rupert: How did you get THAT gig?
Larissa: It was through a band that I sing for quite regularly
and they had got the gig! So much fun!

Rupert: Was it just you performing or other musicians too?
Larissa: Yeah it was a full band and
we did a lot of modern songs which was great

Rupert: What's next for you music wise?
Larissa: Ahh well I'm busy writing with some new producers
so I'm just building up my material before I start gigging lots again,
but it's very exciting. I love this process!

Rupert: How do you find producers to work with? Do they find you or you find them?
Larissa: Yeah a bit of both really but these new guys I've started working with found me!

Rupert: How do you work with them..once you've found eachother?
Larissa: I think they found me on myspace a while back
and then approached me recently about working together.
I usually go to their studio and write or they send me backing tracks

Rupert: So they write the instrumental parts and you come up with a vocal line / words?
Larissa: Yeah mainly but sometimes we will start from scratch

Rupert: Which do you prefer?
Larissa: Normally writing to a backing track..
I guess it focuses the session more and I end up getting more done

Rupert: Do you think that's a common preference with other singer / songwriters?
Larissa: Ahh not always.. I guess it's because
I don't really play an instrument so it's how I'm used to writing

Rupert: Is it ever the case where you come up with a vocal first?
Larissa: Yeah sometime I have an idea and then take it to
a musician or the producers! It is cool writing that way too!

Rupert: Which has been your favourite song / collaboration so far?
Larissa: It would have to be when I wrote with Lucie Silvas.
I used to love her music when she was big over here
so getting to write with her was amazing!

Rupert: I haven't heard of her
Larissa: Check her out she had a few hits probably around 7/8 years ago

So I checked out Lucie Silvas and I discovered (via wikipedia) that she 'was born into a musical family in Kingston upon Thames in 1977 [where I live now], learned to play piano at the age of 5 [so did I - ish], and had written her first song by age 10 and moved to Thames Ditton, Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, when she was 13. She entered a Young Performer competition and came 3rd when she was 14. She attended Surbiton High School for Girls [I frequently walk/drive/bus past it] and later became a backing singer for Judie Tzuke, who helped her write much of her first album, entitled Breathe In.'

Rupert: How do you find other writers, producers to collaborate with?
How do you work together?
Raphaella: it's great fun collaborating - it's where I learn the most because
I'm working with different perspectives/creative minds and
you can inspire each other to write something you wouldn't normally

Rupert: who has/have been your favourite collaborator so far?
Which song(s)? Why? Who have you worked with so far?
Raphaella: ahhh I couldn't say because they are all wonderful &
I've learnt & enjoyed so much from every session/co-writes

Lewis Edwards (facebook) has "collaborated on projects where [he has]
played some instruments and they have as well"
He explains "I do the production with them behind me giving more ideas.
Recent project called 'bine' is me making all the music,
with a little bit of input, and they are making the video software
with a little input from me. Other collar projects have seen us split the work,
such as myself doing all sequences, and them doing the other things.

Martyna Baker usually writes on her own but co-wrote Hold Hearts with Sam Dixon.

"He was on the guitar/piano and I was on the laptop writing the lyrics.
We worked on melodies and harmonies together;
I usually came in with a seed on of an idea though."
martynabaker.tumblr.com - martynabaker.bandcamp.com

Do YOU write songs with other writers, singers, producers?
How do you find eachother? How do you divide the 'work'?

My Mums Musical Past

The other day when I was at hers, she picked up her (acoustic) guitar and starting singing various songs that she used to sing. When I was younger, she often played guitar and sang. Then at some stage she stopped. She told me about some of the songs. I was at hers today (Friday) and asked about when (early 70s) / why (married, at home with a child, not much money, nothing to do) she started playing, about learning to play guitar at home (using a guitar she was given by someone who knew Maddy Prior) and at Richmond Adult College in Richmond upon Thames. She told me that it was at one the guitar classes she met her oldest friend who was also learning, about how they used to perform together in pubs (she mentioned The Red Cow last time we talked about it), sometimes with an Irish band (although one of them wasn't Irish) - I almost asked her if one of them played spoons! I asked her if she and her friend used to sing harmonies - she said her friend didn't like to sing high, so she sang the higher notes. (When my mum sings in choirs, she sings the alto part but when she's practising at home, she'll play a different part on the piano at the same time).

She told me about how her dad used to sing in local operas (e.g. Gilbert & Sullivan), about how he had been in a group called Carey's Canaries, that her mum used to sing but was even more shy than she was, and some of the places she / her parents moved to (Taunton (Somerset) where she did her GCSEs, London...).

I think I'd like to note (pun intended) it all down for posterity sake. My dad, born the same year in London (Streatham), spent a long time creating a Family Tree (who was born / died when, who married who when, locations, jobs where known), and I know part of my paternal ancestry was On The Stage, but I don't know much / anything about my maternal ancestry. I know my mum was born in Langholm, a small town just north of the Scottish border with England in Sept 1946 so could be included in the 'baby-boomer' generation I suppose.

My mums parents moved back to Langholm in c1990, and we went up to visit them sometimes.
The two main occasions were New Years Eve and The Common Riding.

Musical Memories

Shakespeare's Sister's song Stay reminds LauraBiding exPress (facebook- twitter) of the time that
she met Siobhan Fahey in 1985 when she was in the group Banarama.

"I was a college student, studying biology at the time and won a meet and greet contest.
I was quite thrilled at the time to have them in Minneapolis, MN, USA, seeing as how they
had travelled all the way from England. It was at a bar named "Norma Jean's" -
there was a big painting of Marilyn Monroe on the outside"

Texas' You Can Say What You Want takes me back to being at college (RUTC, 1996-98)
listening to the music on my, I guess it was a ..whatever my mobile music listening device was at the time....

Listening to pretty much anything by Mike Oldfield (esp Tubular Bells / Ommadawn), Penguin Cafe Orchestra (Signs of Life...) takes me back to listening to it with one of my brothers' in his bedroom.

This one takes me back to going to watch another of my brothers do gymnastics,
as it was used at the events he performed at.

More Music in 2012

Mars Fortress - @MarsFortress

Rupert Cheek on drums

Mark Chester on guitar and vocal

Sam Stickland on bass

Nix Nugent

On Monday 23rd January, working under the PianoTalent banner,
I will be accompanying singer songwriter Nix Nugent (facebook - myspace)
in a set comprising of her songs, a couple of her poems and a cover song.
The gig, presented by Dead or Alive, starts at 7.30
Old Queen's Head, (facebook), Islington, London (Angel tube).
We're on around 10.25-10.55 and we'd LOVE your support .
This is our facebook event

Mars Fortress again

I'll be drumming with Mars Fortress again
when we return to the stage on Thursday 26th Jan
The Shoreditch (facebook). This is our facebook event.
Llisten to our 2 new songs on SoundCloud

Blog

Bleak-iversary

Blog Topics

Discovering Music / Musicians

Collaborative Songwriting

My Mums Musical Past

Musical Memories

More Music in 2012

Mars Fortress - @MarsFortress

Nix Nugent

Mars Fortress again

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