Hello, and welcome to my blog.
It has been a few months since I last posted a blog, things have been pretty busy and I have been a little poorly.
As I am sure some of you know, Georgejazz came off the air..we will miss the station greatly..but sometimes even good things come to an end. Ironically, it's popularity was it's downfall in the end. The server kept on crashing, and due to finicial restrictions there was not a budget to invest in the station to take it to a wider audience. It seems we are all feeling the pinch...it is a shame but we made some good friends.
The good news is we have joined a brand new Jazz station, and with it some exciting developments.
I am due to begin recording my nu Blues EP the end of the year, I am looking forward to getting back in the studio and getting the creative juices flowing !
I am also looking forward to next year, hopefully taking a band out to the Jazz clubs..and playing some festivals including Malborough Jazz festival.
I am as determined as ever to remain true to my music, and work with people like minded. Maybe I have chosen a difficult path, but to be honest I would rather continue on than make music I am not comfortable with.
We have received alot of albums lately from some well known artists..and I have to admit I have been very dissapointed..I would rather not name names, but some have really chosen to go in a direction not true to their musical roots..over produced commercial r&b and pop really. I suppose money talks, each to their own. I don't knock it, just wouldn't do it myself.
As I have said in earlier posts, I have been offered and turned down the deals where I would have had very little, almost no involvement in the musical proccess, and niether had any control over rights etc..some may say I am daft..but I would prefer not to be a robot !
Anyway, can you really see me making MTV music video's, ha ha
My dream is still to tour with a great band, doing the music I love..I shall continue to work for that goal.
Thank you as always for reading my blog, I won't leave it so long next time
Love
Claire
Showing posts with label festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festivals. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
"What a year !"
Hello and welcome to my blog.
Once again I would like to thank everyone for coming back, and for your comments. It has been fun to write, and if I am honest, almost therapeutic aswell !
As some of you have mentioned, I am the stage in my story where I met some of you. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support, and yes, I am going to get a little sentimental here, which as you know is not like me :-) But seriously, if it wasn't for your support I reckon I may well have thrown the towel in a long time ago !
I would especially like to thank Sarada, my rock, Geo my mentor, Ken for your belief, Robin for everything, Paul for many a phone call :-) & Rich G for your invaluable help, don't know what I would have done without you all ! And of course, it goes without saying..my Angel xxx
Chapter 6
Once again I would like to thank everyone for coming back, and for your comments. It has been fun to write, and if I am honest, almost therapeutic aswell !
As some of you have mentioned, I am the stage in my story where I met some of you. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support, and yes, I am going to get a little sentimental here, which as you know is not like me :-) But seriously, if it wasn't for your support I reckon I may well have thrown the towel in a long time ago !
I would especially like to thank Sarada, my rock, Geo my mentor, Ken for your belief, Robin for everything, Paul for many a phone call :-) & Rich G for your invaluable help, don't know what I would have done without you all ! And of course, it goes without saying..my Angel xxx
Chapter 6
"What a year!"
This may sound a little dramatic, but hey I am known for being slightly dramatic at times, and you guys can stop laughing..I know I know, probably too dramatic, but it is my right, after all I am an Artiste !!!!
2008 was an eventful year, probably one of the most eventful of my life !
The year started with a number of trips back and fourth to London, meeting and greeting various musicians and dj's. One particular trip which will stay in my memory forever was when we actually drove into the centre of London, yes drove ! NEVER again ! We were going to Hyde Park Corner to meet our friends at Pizza on the park. I have been driving for nearly 17 years, and I lived in a fairly big city, so I class myself as a pretty confident driver, it took on a whole new meaning when I drove through the streets of London....I mean, who would chose to do that on a daily basis, it is CRAZY. I am proud to say though, I kept my composure, and gave as good as I got to the demon drivers of London ! After a hair raising 2 hours, just to get through the West End, I parked the car opposite the Ritz. I had decided that was a s far as I was going, so we walked the rest of the way. Our good friend was performing a set at a private do, it was cool and we got to sit next to the guy that wrote The Office amongst others..We were staying in London with our friends and they asked if I would mind giving the bass player a lift home, to which I said of course. As it was late at night so we took the "scenic" route, it was a far more pleasant experience than the earlier drive as you can imagine. The bass player introduced himself and told us how he had just completed a session on an album, and when I asked if it was anyone we might know he casually said yes we may know him, I can tell you I nearly freaked out, it was only George Michael !!! I just said "cool" , though in my head I was saying "oh my god, oh my god" ha ha ha. When we turned a corner we were faced with loads of camera's flashing, to which my passengers took no notice as Hugh Grant walked in front of my car to get into his. All in days work I guess !
Due to circumstances beyond my control I found I had to go back to singing solo, doing hotels, clubs and casino's. Initially it was very difficult, as I thought I had said goodbye to solo work, but as most artists will tell you, bands are a labour of love and don't pay the bills unfortunately. I found it just as soul destroying as I had done before, only I found the edge was taken off due to the fact that I has all these other projects going on, and of course the radio shows. You have to do what you have to do, and that is how I treat it. I hadn't realised how badly the non smoking ban had effected the industry, it is really struggling, and work is not as abundant as it was. I focus on it being a temporary measure, until I can earn enough money from doing what I really want to do, or I win the lottery :-)
Around this time, sadly the station we were doing our show on shut down, fortunately an offer to join another station came up. Sometimes things happen which are sad, but something new is always around the corner. A couple of weeks after we joined the new station, we had an offer to join yet another one, this one a Jazz station, so we were soon busy doing 2 shows a week. The new music was pouring in, we are very fortunate I think, we get to hear music that doesn't usually get on mainstream radio. I'm not going to get onto my soapbox about this, but it is a travesty, I don't know who to blame really, the stations who play the crap or the people who tune in to listen to the crap..of course it's not ALL crap that would be unfair, but they certainly overlook the real talent in my opinion. Luckily it seems to be changing because of the Internet. No matter what your taste in music, now you can find it on some station somewhere on the web, which is great ! As a duo we were causing a few laughs, we are very open with our listeners, and some comment on how they love the fact that they feel invited into our world, all be it mad and chaotic ! But that is us, mad as hatters..but the music is always the focuss and we don't mess around when it comes to the playlists. We have made alot of friends through radio, some of our listeners have become personal friends, that is the great thing about music though..the universal language, crossing all barriers, in my opinion the whole world needs to let it in and it would be a better place !!!
During the following months I didn't do much recording, we were literally too busy, but I soon got itchy feet and wanted to get back into the studio. I am a very lucky girl, I have amazing friends who also happen to be very talented. With the help and generosity of my friends I managed to get a new song recorded without a budget. We had great fun recording it, and it came together beautifully. The guys all did their parts separately, then I did my vocals. When we had finished the production we invited all the guys up to listen and have a chat on the show debuting the track. The feedback was brilliant, and the support from various dj's on stations all over was amazing.
In the next chapter I will tell you about the exciting things that happened with the new record, more projects, and moving up the musical food chain so to speak !
Look forward to next time,
Thanks for reading my blog
Love
Claire x
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
"It's called Shameless self promotion"
Hello and welcome to the 3rd installment of my story.
Huge thanks to those of you who have been following so far, and for your comments, I am very happy you are enjoying it.
If you have just joined me, you may want to read my first 2 blogs to bring you up to date.
Now I am about to invite you behind the scenes of what I refer to as my "Internet persona".
Of course, this is my own personal experience...tears, tantrums, elation, achievement and let downs..the usual behaviour of a sensitive artist, it's all in there.
There are alot of opportunists and sharks out there looking to exploit music and capitalise on other peoples hard work and vunerability, and some who are just bad eggs, I have met my fair share, and very nearly been stooped. I wont be mentioning names, as much as I would like too, it is all part of the cut throat world of the unsigned, struggling artist !
Chapter 3
Where was I, oh yes Pneumonia !!!! Sod's law became an apt cliche for me in a big way when I decided to take a break from the club circuit to concentrate on my music career and just as I retired I got pneumonia. Was a bit hairy there for a minute too, the pneumonia itself didn't kill me, but the antibiotics I was prescribed nearly did ! I had a bad allergic reaction and ended up being rushed into hospital. It didn't realise how long it would take to recover, for 3 months I was pretty much out.
I had been on line with my website for a few months, so I decided to use the time to start using myspace and a few other artist network sites and posted up a few of the cover songs I had recorded during the summer. Myspace had really starting taking off then, with the success stories of the Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen etc. I was just learning how the whole thing worked, at first I admit I didn't have a clue what I was doing and how to best utilise the sites, but it didn't take to long to work it out. After I had posted up a few Jazz songs I starting receiving some great feedback, and met a few people who I am still in contact with today, this is the good part of the Internet, you can make some genuine friends and build a loyal fan base. The downside is there are a few weirdo's and nutters, for want of a better expression ! I cannot count the amount of times I was sent inappropriate messages and photo's, I shall leave it to your imagination ( but some were of naked men, which upset me greatly :-) .
At the end of 2006 as I was recovering from pneumonia, a huge opportunity came my way and I was offered some free time studio in a top notch studio to record a demo c.d
Even though I was still a bit poorly I knew I had to utilise this opportunity. I decided I would write a few original tracks for the demo as well as doing a few covers, so I got to work and wrote 3 new songs. I was lucky to have some good musician friends who agreed to play for me, so they learned my songs and we spent 2 days in the studio and got 7 tracks done. I was very chuffed, as that is alot to get done in 2 days !
After mixing and mastering the tracks I commissioned a 1000 hardcopies, and here started the arduous task of sending them out to radio, publishing, labels and people who had requested a copy, I spent most days back and fourth to the post office sending the cd's out to nearly every part of the world. Of course back then I thought the thing to do was to get a huge record deal, ha ha ha..yes I am genuinely laughing at my own naivety !
I also posted the tracks from the demo on myspace and various other sites, and my profile started to rise with more people visiting and sending my lovely comments. In amongst these new friends was a record label from America. I received a wonderful message from the label telling me how they loved my voice and thought I had huge potential, all the good stuff you love to hear when you are someone trying to their "big break". As you can imagine I was very excited when they asked if I was interested in signing with them. A person from the label called me a number of times, we talked about what the plans were as far as me going to the U.S, recording and the various musicians that would be brought in on the project, I can't mention who, but one or two of them were well known names.
I was nervous and excited, and started to get my head around the massive things that were going to be happening, making plans etc. I even had a meeting with a UK representative ( or so I thought ) here in Wales. I am not one to be easily led, at this point all seemed well.
Then the contracts arrived !
I have to tell you am very lucky to have some very good friends who have worked within the music industry who know their stuff, and I am also fortunate to have access to a media lawyer. On first glance the contract looked ok, to me anyway, but then I didn't understand alot of the wording. Basically when I had the terms of the contract explained to me in English I couldn't believe what I might have signed, it was a complete scam. I would have signed all my rights away, to my music , publishing, everything. This is what they were banking on, once I had signed the contract and was obligated under the law of their state I would have to pay £25,000 to get out, which I would have wanted to do once it dawned on me what I had signed, that is if I HAD signed. Of course when I asked a few questions about the contracts and it became obvious to them that I had been advised they withdrew the offer !
At the time I was devastated, deflated and disillusioned about the whole music industry, and my confidence took a massive blow, now I view it all as a learning curve, and it taught me alot ! Over the following months I was contacted by a number of UK artists about this particular label and it seems we were all subject to this attempted scam, luckily none of us fell for it. The more artists I speak to the more I hear about how much this goes on. They are very clever too these labels, PR people etc, they have websites and look very official, but beware because things are not always as they seem ! Though you really do want to believe it...but hey I believe in karma :-)
Reading back, this has been quite a serious blog, but as I said in the beginning I want to tell you the truth about my journey in music, even the not so nice bits !
In the next chapter I shall tell you about my first play on radio, and the really bad interview I gave..oh no, I still cringe when think about it now ! Plus moving on to more projects, and more ups and downs.
Thank you for reading, I look forward to next time.
Claire
Huge thanks to those of you who have been following so far, and for your comments, I am very happy you are enjoying it.
If you have just joined me, you may want to read my first 2 blogs to bring you up to date.
Now I am about to invite you behind the scenes of what I refer to as my "Internet persona".
Of course, this is my own personal experience...tears, tantrums, elation, achievement and let downs..the usual behaviour of a sensitive artist, it's all in there.
There are alot of opportunists and sharks out there looking to exploit music and capitalise on other peoples hard work and vunerability, and some who are just bad eggs, I have met my fair share, and very nearly been stooped. I wont be mentioning names, as much as I would like too, it is all part of the cut throat world of the unsigned, struggling artist !
Chapter 3
"It's called shameless self promotion"
Where was I, oh yes Pneumonia !!!! Sod's law became an apt cliche for me in a big way when I decided to take a break from the club circuit to concentrate on my music career and just as I retired I got pneumonia. Was a bit hairy there for a minute too, the pneumonia itself didn't kill me, but the antibiotics I was prescribed nearly did ! I had a bad allergic reaction and ended up being rushed into hospital. It didn't realise how long it would take to recover, for 3 months I was pretty much out.
I had been on line with my website for a few months, so I decided to use the time to start using myspace and a few other artist network sites and posted up a few of the cover songs I had recorded during the summer. Myspace had really starting taking off then, with the success stories of the Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen etc. I was just learning how the whole thing worked, at first I admit I didn't have a clue what I was doing and how to best utilise the sites, but it didn't take to long to work it out. After I had posted up a few Jazz songs I starting receiving some great feedback, and met a few people who I am still in contact with today, this is the good part of the Internet, you can make some genuine friends and build a loyal fan base. The downside is there are a few weirdo's and nutters, for want of a better expression ! I cannot count the amount of times I was sent inappropriate messages and photo's, I shall leave it to your imagination ( but some were of naked men, which upset me greatly :-) .
At the end of 2006 as I was recovering from pneumonia, a huge opportunity came my way and I was offered some free time studio in a top notch studio to record a demo c.d
Even though I was still a bit poorly I knew I had to utilise this opportunity. I decided I would write a few original tracks for the demo as well as doing a few covers, so I got to work and wrote 3 new songs. I was lucky to have some good musician friends who agreed to play for me, so they learned my songs and we spent 2 days in the studio and got 7 tracks done. I was very chuffed, as that is alot to get done in 2 days !
After mixing and mastering the tracks I commissioned a 1000 hardcopies, and here started the arduous task of sending them out to radio, publishing, labels and people who had requested a copy, I spent most days back and fourth to the post office sending the cd's out to nearly every part of the world. Of course back then I thought the thing to do was to get a huge record deal, ha ha ha..yes I am genuinely laughing at my own naivety !
I also posted the tracks from the demo on myspace and various other sites, and my profile started to rise with more people visiting and sending my lovely comments. In amongst these new friends was a record label from America. I received a wonderful message from the label telling me how they loved my voice and thought I had huge potential, all the good stuff you love to hear when you are someone trying to their "big break". As you can imagine I was very excited when they asked if I was interested in signing with them. A person from the label called me a number of times, we talked about what the plans were as far as me going to the U.S, recording and the various musicians that would be brought in on the project, I can't mention who, but one or two of them were well known names.
I was nervous and excited, and started to get my head around the massive things that were going to be happening, making plans etc. I even had a meeting with a UK representative ( or so I thought ) here in Wales. I am not one to be easily led, at this point all seemed well.
Then the contracts arrived !
I have to tell you am very lucky to have some very good friends who have worked within the music industry who know their stuff, and I am also fortunate to have access to a media lawyer. On first glance the contract looked ok, to me anyway, but then I didn't understand alot of the wording. Basically when I had the terms of the contract explained to me in English I couldn't believe what I might have signed, it was a complete scam. I would have signed all my rights away, to my music , publishing, everything. This is what they were banking on, once I had signed the contract and was obligated under the law of their state I would have to pay £25,000 to get out, which I would have wanted to do once it dawned on me what I had signed, that is if I HAD signed. Of course when I asked a few questions about the contracts and it became obvious to them that I had been advised they withdrew the offer !
At the time I was devastated, deflated and disillusioned about the whole music industry, and my confidence took a massive blow, now I view it all as a learning curve, and it taught me alot ! Over the following months I was contacted by a number of UK artists about this particular label and it seems we were all subject to this attempted scam, luckily none of us fell for it. The more artists I speak to the more I hear about how much this goes on. They are very clever too these labels, PR people etc, they have websites and look very official, but beware because things are not always as they seem ! Though you really do want to believe it...but hey I believe in karma :-)
Reading back, this has been quite a serious blog, but as I said in the beginning I want to tell you the truth about my journey in music, even the not so nice bits !
In the next chapter I shall tell you about my first play on radio, and the really bad interview I gave..oh no, I still cringe when think about it now ! Plus moving on to more projects, and more ups and downs.
Thank you for reading, I look forward to next time.
Claire
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Chapter 2 " The world of Clubland "
Hello, and welcome..if this is your first visit to my blog, may I suggest you read my first post before you read this one, it starts st the beginning of my story.
For those who are returning, thank you for coming back for the next installment.
Before I continue with my story I would like to thank all those who wrote comments and sent me messages. I am very happy you enjoyed it, and it gave me the confidence to continue on.
Chapter 2
" Clubland "
So I was telling you about my years doing Karaoke wasn't I, yes, I would definitely call this time an introduction into the world of entertainment !
It was during this time I recorded my first album, a covers album. It was a great experience, and got my first taste of studio work.
Many successful artists, comedians etc often talk about their time spent working in clubs, pubs and hotels, referring to it as serving an apprenticeship, and I would certainly agree with that !
People often think that success happens overnight, and though it may be true that you can be catapulted to stardom, you have to look behind the scenes to the real life stories of the years of trying to make it and knock backs before success. Unless of course you are Charlotte Church, who by the way is a formidable young lady, hello to you !!, or you are just looking for 15 minutes of fame, in which case it can happen overnight, but as soon as you arrive you dissappear again. Those who have maintained longevity and continued success would have spent many years developing their talent and learning their trade so to speak.
To give you just one example, Michael Buble was out there gigging 15 years before he got his break, and though sometimes artists get a little up their own bottoms when they get success, most are humble and very appreciative, as they spent so long trying and never giving up..and that is what it is all about, not giving up your dreams.
Ok, so the words that come to mind are, agents, commities, piss heads, abuse..well I could go on and on, but the bottom line working the clubs is bloody hard work !
Things are a little different today, regarding the standards of agents, clubs and the artists, but I won't go into that too much because it would end up in a essay type ranting session. But when I started out, if you didn't cut the grade you were litterally payed off and shamed in front of the audience, yes , really..it never happened to me, thankfully, but around the clubs of South Wales you often hear stories of a certain Mr Tom Jones being payed off from many clubs when he first started out, but personally I don't think it was his talent, it was probably more to do with his girating hips and leather pants that the conservative punters had an issue with.
For the first few years the venues I played in were generally ok, bar the odd shit hole with one man and his dog..I often wondered why some of these places were paying singers, not that I was complaining of course, but they may well have just had the jukebox on.
Oh my, I could tell you some stories.. one time I was singing in a snooker club and some one, who obviously had an issue with the venue actually threw a snooker ball through the window and it missed my head by inches !
But honestly, sometimes the rougher looking the place, the better the audience..I some some great nights and great fun in some dodgy looking places, I even did a short stint as a Blue comedian, and I can ear some of you saying, really Claire Blue comedy, no, surely not ! You know me too well Ha ha. I would like to say however, that I admire anyone who chooses comedy, it is the toughest job in the world, to make people laugh, I did ok, but at least if I had a bad moment I could blast out a song and all was well again.
After about 3 years singing solo I had the opportunity to join a band, having only ever done a little live work with a sing along 3 piece in my local, I was very happy to get my teeth into a proper band with real musicians..instead of always singing with my backing tracks.
I was lucky enough to play some festivals with my first band, including Brecon Jazz. We performed mainly funk and soul music..and when we were cooking we were hot stuff ! One year it was raining so bad that in between singing, I was stood on stage holding a broom stick trying to push the water off the marquee, what a sight, very glamorous ! Needless to say, that was not the best gig.
Oh, and one year we were playing a big open air festival and the organisers really stitched us up, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but we were scheduled to follow the local heavy metal band. Now I think back it was very funny, but not at the time ! The band had a big following and most of the audience at that time were there for them, especially the ones sitting closest to the stage, so when we walked on, we were faced with hundreds of heavy metal fans...as you can imagine, starting our set with Pick Up The Pieces, an Average White band track..well I will leave it to your imagination !
I was with the band for about 4 years in total, doing the odd gig, and recording a demo album, but eventually we all went our seperate ways. I learned alot from singing with them, it is very different singing in a band to singing solo. Mostly I learned how to be part of a team, and to listen to what is going on around you, and where to leave space etc..we jammed alot during gigs, even now, it is a favourite thing to do when I am playing with a band, improvising..it is great fun and audiences love it. It is all about creating a one off, something in the moment, that they can feel part of.
Over the following years I sang with a number of bands, including big bands, singing the Jazz standards. I loved it, I have to tell you, there is nothing in this world like singing in front of a full 20 piece band, what a rush !!! I even sang in a pop band with some great friends, who I am still friends with now. One time we did a summer open air gig, it was a huge sell out..but the inevitable happened and it rained, the only day it did that summer, and it had to be this day ! We were gutted, but the funniest thing was the organisers had forgotten to earth the generator..well it was funny, but obviously could have killed us all, needless to say it was sorted out and we lived !
The gig ended up being brilliant, half the people still came and braved the rain, it was like a mini Glastonbury, we had people dancing around in the mud. My feet were so wet that I just kicked my shoes off, the wind was blowing in the direction of the stage so I was soaked through by the end, and I'm sure everyone could see through my top, but I didn't care, it was amazing !
Over this summer, which was 2006 I also recorded another album of covers, and got started on myspace, and the world that is internet networking !
It was also around this time that I started to look towards recording my first album with original work.. I took some time off, and guess what..first I had to get over pneumonia !!!
In my next chapter, I will tell you about recording my demo album, getting my first play on radio, some of dodgy record deal offers I had, and the sharks in the industry..not naming any names of course !
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it.
Looking forward to seeing you for my next installment.
Love
Claire xx
For those who are returning, thank you for coming back for the next installment.
Before I continue with my story I would like to thank all those who wrote comments and sent me messages. I am very happy you enjoyed it, and it gave me the confidence to continue on.
Chapter 2
" Clubland "
So I was telling you about my years doing Karaoke wasn't I, yes, I would definitely call this time an introduction into the world of entertainment !
It was during this time I recorded my first album, a covers album. It was a great experience, and got my first taste of studio work.
Many successful artists, comedians etc often talk about their time spent working in clubs, pubs and hotels, referring to it as serving an apprenticeship, and I would certainly agree with that !
People often think that success happens overnight, and though it may be true that you can be catapulted to stardom, you have to look behind the scenes to the real life stories of the years of trying to make it and knock backs before success. Unless of course you are Charlotte Church, who by the way is a formidable young lady, hello to you !!, or you are just looking for 15 minutes of fame, in which case it can happen overnight, but as soon as you arrive you dissappear again. Those who have maintained longevity and continued success would have spent many years developing their talent and learning their trade so to speak.
To give you just one example, Michael Buble was out there gigging 15 years before he got his break, and though sometimes artists get a little up their own bottoms when they get success, most are humble and very appreciative, as they spent so long trying and never giving up..and that is what it is all about, not giving up your dreams.
Ok, so the words that come to mind are, agents, commities, piss heads, abuse..well I could go on and on, but the bottom line working the clubs is bloody hard work !
Things are a little different today, regarding the standards of agents, clubs and the artists, but I won't go into that too much because it would end up in a essay type ranting session. But when I started out, if you didn't cut the grade you were litterally payed off and shamed in front of the audience, yes , really..it never happened to me, thankfully, but around the clubs of South Wales you often hear stories of a certain Mr Tom Jones being payed off from many clubs when he first started out, but personally I don't think it was his talent, it was probably more to do with his girating hips and leather pants that the conservative punters had an issue with.
For the first few years the venues I played in were generally ok, bar the odd shit hole with one man and his dog..I often wondered why some of these places were paying singers, not that I was complaining of course, but they may well have just had the jukebox on.
Oh my, I could tell you some stories.. one time I was singing in a snooker club and some one, who obviously had an issue with the venue actually threw a snooker ball through the window and it missed my head by inches !
But honestly, sometimes the rougher looking the place, the better the audience..I some some great nights and great fun in some dodgy looking places, I even did a short stint as a Blue comedian, and I can ear some of you saying, really Claire Blue comedy, no, surely not ! You know me too well Ha ha. I would like to say however, that I admire anyone who chooses comedy, it is the toughest job in the world, to make people laugh, I did ok, but at least if I had a bad moment I could blast out a song and all was well again.
After about 3 years singing solo I had the opportunity to join a band, having only ever done a little live work with a sing along 3 piece in my local, I was very happy to get my teeth into a proper band with real musicians..instead of always singing with my backing tracks.
I was lucky enough to play some festivals with my first band, including Brecon Jazz. We performed mainly funk and soul music..and when we were cooking we were hot stuff ! One year it was raining so bad that in between singing, I was stood on stage holding a broom stick trying to push the water off the marquee, what a sight, very glamorous ! Needless to say, that was not the best gig.
Oh, and one year we were playing a big open air festival and the organisers really stitched us up, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but we were scheduled to follow the local heavy metal band. Now I think back it was very funny, but not at the time ! The band had a big following and most of the audience at that time were there for them, especially the ones sitting closest to the stage, so when we walked on, we were faced with hundreds of heavy metal fans...as you can imagine, starting our set with Pick Up The Pieces, an Average White band track..well I will leave it to your imagination !
I was with the band for about 4 years in total, doing the odd gig, and recording a demo album, but eventually we all went our seperate ways. I learned alot from singing with them, it is very different singing in a band to singing solo. Mostly I learned how to be part of a team, and to listen to what is going on around you, and where to leave space etc..we jammed alot during gigs, even now, it is a favourite thing to do when I am playing with a band, improvising..it is great fun and audiences love it. It is all about creating a one off, something in the moment, that they can feel part of.
Over the following years I sang with a number of bands, including big bands, singing the Jazz standards. I loved it, I have to tell you, there is nothing in this world like singing in front of a full 20 piece band, what a rush !!! I even sang in a pop band with some great friends, who I am still friends with now. One time we did a summer open air gig, it was a huge sell out..but the inevitable happened and it rained, the only day it did that summer, and it had to be this day ! We were gutted, but the funniest thing was the organisers had forgotten to earth the generator..well it was funny, but obviously could have killed us all, needless to say it was sorted out and we lived !
The gig ended up being brilliant, half the people still came and braved the rain, it was like a mini Glastonbury, we had people dancing around in the mud. My feet were so wet that I just kicked my shoes off, the wind was blowing in the direction of the stage so I was soaked through by the end, and I'm sure everyone could see through my top, but I didn't care, it was amazing !
Over this summer, which was 2006 I also recorded another album of covers, and got started on myspace, and the world that is internet networking !
It was also around this time that I started to look towards recording my first album with original work.. I took some time off, and guess what..first I had to get over pneumonia !!!
In my next chapter, I will tell you about recording my demo album, getting my first play on radio, some of dodgy record deal offers I had, and the sharks in the industry..not naming any names of course !
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it.
Looking forward to seeing you for my next installment.
Love
Claire xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)