Chopstick in the Nutella?

and a great review for ‘Disclaimer’!

I woke up this morning to find an open jar of Nutella snuggly tucked next to my computer mouse with a chopstick poking out of the top like it was meant to be there, hmm… a little further along were 3 empty wine glasses, one of which was on its side just next to a wet patch on my rug…..aaaah the slowly dawning memories of singing ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and ‘Lucky Man’ LOUD in the car of midnight craziness and dancing in a carpark next to the Mersey to Annie Lennox (i wasn’t on my own, i had good company) …..Rock n Roll say you? …but now the chopstick makes sense, and it tasted GREAT!

Two great little bits of news today!…

My copy of Musician Magazine arrives complete with a great review of my song ‘Disclaimer’ in it….. 🙂

Under the Pavement radio show (ALL FM 96.9) are going to play my song ‘Ropeladder’ tonight in aid of me making it a free download for International Womens Day!

aaah, sleep in peace x

Art and Integrity?

A hypothetical question/discussion is occuring today on my music Facebook page: If McDonalds offered me a sync opportunity to use one of my tunes on their ad, do i do it? I’m veggy and hate mass corporations. Do i take the dirty cash and spend it for good (like Robin Hood) on sustaining my career as an artist?or is that a sellout? …In the end it really doesn’t matter BUT i’m curious ladies and gents, indulge me if you will 🙂 Head over to my FACEBOOK music page and join in. Join the page while ur there!

International Womens Day & free ‘Ropeladder’ download

8th March 2011. International Womens Day! Infact this year it is the Centenary celebration. To celebrate this as well as playing at a few relevant events I’ve put my song ‘Ropeladder’ from the album up for free download. Just email me ‘gimme Ropeladder for free cos its ace and so are you’ (to jo@jobywater.com) and i’ll send it right on over to ye! Its available until 13th March (2011 :))…

Ropeladder

Framed by a window

Portrait for the night

Shielded from the pirates of social decline

A flask for the future in a bag

And the rope ladder swings in the wind that could fill up my lungs

Poised for adventure

Raise my finger to the sky

Reflection of the room looms and dooms magnified

My face frowns in a cause for concern

And the rope ladder swings in the wind that could carry my wings

The infinite weight of the solitary night (x2)

In descendence of a long-haired princess, locked in a tower

Waiting for release and rescue and power

Her feet were craving the ground

And her diet of fear routed her there to be found

The infinite weight of the solitary night bares light

The moon she washes my dry

The infinite weight of the solitary night bares light

I’ve got to get out tonight

And that window with a hole from the challenge of a role

Took a blow by blow

Leaks the breeze in the form of the news of the night it’s my truth

Whispers its dreams on my skin

Fills my lungs like balloons

And they know the freedom to feel lighter than air

And safety became restraint

The rope ladder swings (x 2)

The infinite weight of the solitary night bares light

The moon she washes my dry

The infinite weight of the solitary night bares light

I’ve got to get out tonight (x2)

Where/how/what…the story of my albums availability

I’m here to offer some kind of word-based ‘spider’ diagram..

The album is available in 2 formats: Physical & Download

As a download is can be purchased through CD Baby and related online sites (Amazon etc.)

Pros:

It doesn’t take up actual real/physical space in your life
It’s already on your computer so you can put it on your ipod when you want to listen to it 24/7
Eco friendly

As a physical cd it can be purchased from CD Baby, News from Nowhere (liverpool), Gigs.

Pros: Old School. You can HOLD it baby!

If you buy it from CD Baby it raises my profile as an independent artist with them, charts and all that…and you get some cool post.
If you buy it from News from Nowhere you help them as an independent outlet as they take a small percentage when i sell a cd. You get a satisfying shopping experience on the best street in Liverpool. You make me look good because someone went in and asked for my cd.
If you buy it at gigs you get to see the gig for a start. A live experience to reinforce the album. I can sign it for you there and then. I get an extra audience member. The local music scene thrives. You go home with a really cool album.

May you choose well Jedi

nb: there are only ever gonna be 1000 copies of this album….

jo x

Badformat Sunday!

Yesterday I finally made it down to Badformat Social Club. I played there a few years ago with my covers duo when it was a different bar and if i remember they thought paying us in beer was a worthy offering for 90mins of cover songs…(we persisted and got cash AND beer if you want to know the outcome). Back then i hadn’t written ANY of my own tunes and back then if i’d met me now i’d have thought i was ace (no intended ego rub, just a reminder of how far i’ve travelled in the last 5 years!). ANYWAY I like Badformat Social Club…

My Sunday tour of Liverpool began with my cop-chase taxi arrival (late again) at Blackburne House for the International Womens Day celebrations. I grabbed a coffee in the cafe bar., perused at my own paintings on the walls and took a corner seat, wondering what all these chatting people were gonna think when the ‘random’ in the corner gets up and starts singing., i say ‘random’ because there was no allocated stage/pa or nuthin., like i said….picked my corner :). Infact if truth be told i made/begged Zoe who’d asked me to play announce me, and she did so expertly with a banging of a spoon on a glass. Phew. Nice little supportive crowd…

Next up a bag of shit chips from a place on Bold St. i’ll spare the name because i knew they were gonna be a mistake and still bought some. Only buy chips from places like that after 10 pints of beer….then they tast phenomenal.

Badformats ‘G.A.M.E.’ was run by Mr Greedy Jesus, had a fab local line-up: Avant Gardener, Rob Clarke, Stuart Todd, and few people i hadn’t seen before., finally got chance to put a face to Miles Carrington, great guitar chops and Alicia totally rockin’ out with her band Future Jack! Thats when 10.30pm hit and all i wanted suddenly was a cuppa, some nibbles, my cozy brown blanket and an episode of Dexter. I’m SOOO rock n roll :). However, my gig went great. Drenched in sweat as usual and with an extra -added ‘joplin-ness’ to the voice because i was my 2nd gigglet of the day. Full-on lights and PA system, a contrast to earlier and refreshing. I think stage lights feed the ego somewhat., i gave it my all anyway. It was topped off with an ace comment from someone who’s seen me play many times before that that was the best gig they’d ever seen me do!! Cannot/will not argue……

‘WAVE’ Vid premiere

The video to ‘WAVE’ from the album was filmed on a very VERY cold day in November in Liverpool in the dark depths of Vinyl Basement Bar (who very happily let us play down there for an hour or so AND brought us coffee!). It was a great fun experience with my good friends at SOUNDWORX MEDIA. I had never filmed a video for one of my own songs before and i liked it (a little bit too much maybe! :)). 3 changes of clothes, some miming and a Moon & Pea Deli sandwich later we hit Sefton Park for some outdoor shenanigans that brought much attention (these are the points you spot my giggles as dog-walkers and park-dwellers decided to give us friendly advice on how to make a video). Maybe it did look a little out of place that i was randomly dancing around playing guitar under a tree with no coat on.., oook i’ll let them off. Awesome experience even though i was no longer able to feel my fingers after 20mins of being outside….it was a wholesome, acheived kind of numbness 🙂

CHECK OUT THE VID, LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!

If you want to HELP?.. Head over to YOUTUBE and ‘LIKE’ the vid, PASTE the vid on your SITES/FACEBOOK etc…BLOG… TELL PEOPLE..LEAVE US COMMENTS! But most of all….ENJOY! X

Welcome to the Official Jo Bywater Website

For all your music and artistic needs….the ones i can provide anyway…

Last July i left my job in a coffee shop for my sanity (giving up my all day free addictive indulgent espressos) to be instantly and unbeknownst presented with an opportunity to record my debut acoustic album. This fueled the next 7 months (that and cramming my brain with MCPS, PRS and PPL factoids whilst still topping myself up with some serious caffeine). Recording an independent album is something i’ve been wanting to do for a year or two, and probably since forever as i remember telling my Biology teacher i was going to be a rockstar when i was doing my A-Levels (i used to walk to school listening to Hole, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, wearing a lumber jack shirt and tie-dyed laces in my Docs..:)). Rockin.

A situation of randomness occurred. A friend of my friend Elaine was back in Liverpool before going on a world tour and he was up for recording my tunes. AMAZING. We basically recorded the album in a night. I had a REALLY small budget and Danny (Rogers) was doing me a huge favour so i worked. I rehearsed all day, slept for 4 hours, got up, had food and headed to the studio (Highfield St.) for 11pm. When i got there Danny showed me the amazing acoustic guitar i ended up recording with. This is a rarity, i like my own instruments, but this guitar played itself, like a cliche and like a dream……:) We got stuck in. Live takes, ambient mics, peanuts and bananas….it was sweet and i loved it. By the time it hit 4.30am things were getting surreal and sleepy but we’d managed to get 6 songs down in 2 or 3 takes and 1 song in 1 take……..time for bed. The world was a strange place when i headed home….

The CD process was awesome. It took from August to December to get the songs onto a full-on audio cd with its own barcode and everything in my hand. In the meantime i’d painted and designed the album cover and sorted out licenses and loads of other bumf. It was delivered by a man who was REALLY upset that the flats where i live don’t have buzzers. I smiled a lot at him because it felt like Christmas and carried all 10 boxes up 2 flights of stairs and just sat and stared at them and leaned on them. I took a cd out and looked and looked, got a coffee and looked again….all day.

My debut album. CYCLE GRACE PULSE BREAK. 1000 copies of money saved, nights stayed in, food rations, really really hard work and lots and lots of passion, determination, perseverance…..X-Factor? bah….INTEGRITY 🙂 Love it! Launched in December (which i’ll write about soon because it’s worth a longer mention) and now i’m ready to set sail and get these babies of mine spread as far and wide as possible. Giggage!

The album is available to buy as a download or physical copy (my favourite). Have a listen to some tracks/clips and decide if you want to purchase. (next time you’re considering buying cheap beer and take-away food buy my album instead, it’ll be good for your conscience and your spirit and better than toiletries if it’s a present for someone else :)) There’s only ever going to be 1000 copies. Priceless.

For the time being there will be a FREE download of the song WAVE from the album with each Mailing List sign-up. Check out the right side of this page. The Mailing List will be a periodically (in my language that means ‘random’) sent email update of gigs, excitement and shenanigans. I uphold a strict promise to not bombard ye! So for the FREE Jo track come and join.

Many thanks for reading the blog, visiting the site. Its great to have you here. Its been an awesome journey so far and very significant, i’m looking forward to the rest of 2011!

Leave some comments, let me know your thoughts…..on whatever really…i’ll answer

Jo x

Welcome to spring! :)

Just taking a sip of coffee and appreciating the actual warmth of the sun today. Much updating going on online for me as there will be over the next week or so. My new website is here after much chocolate and coffee binging til 4.30am i’m feeling somewhat acheived 🙂

My artwork is now down from the walls of the Unity Theatre, Liverpool where it was received greatly. I’m now moving it round the corner to Blackburne House for some International Womens Day celebration viewing. It will be in the Cafe Bar for the next month i believe until the end of March

jo x