Cycle Grace Pulse Break

Bywater goes to the London

After muchos giggage in Liverpool over the last year I’ve not really devoted much time to head out of this Scouse City and soak up any Southern culture… this be changing as I spread my musical wares to the London. I be playing a gig with Rudi Douglas and Owen Duff at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Thurs 22nd September as part of the night SONG.

The last month has been great in terms of gigs playing at: Above the Beaten Track festival, Mathew st festival,  Grateful Freds and support to Daniel Martin Moore in the Scandinavian Church…to name a few..awesome

Last week also saw the launch of Soundworx Media in Liverpool. Two good friends of mine who also made the video to my song WAVE

See ya in the London!

x

News & a Comp to win my CD!

Hey all,
If you are on my mailing list you will already have read this. Arguably it’s worth another read anyway…:)

*FIRSTLY:  I’ve received some great feedback/reviews from my album so far this year. (www.jobywater.wordpress.com/reviews/)
One in particular was the magazine FATEA. This prompted them to request one of my tracks for their Autumn showcase sessions. As of 1st August my song ‘Disclaimer’ will be featured along with other artists for a 3 month period: http://www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk/

*SECONDLY: My songs ‘Disclaimer’ and ‘Let Go’ have also been chosen to be featured on the ‘Women of Substance’ radio playlists for the next 3 months www.womenofsubstanceradio.com

*THIRD-UP WORD-UP:  GIGGAGE.
Awhole list of gigs over the next couple of months

There is also very serious talk of heading to Hamburg and Berlin at the end of September.

*FOURTHLY: COMPETITION #1 – 2 copies of my album (plus badges) up for grabs: For the people who can best describe my music in 1 or 2 sentences! Inbox me with your offering. Don’t be shy. ENDS 12th August!

Extra-curricular nuggets…

WHISC:I recently began volunteering my online skills for Whisc (Women’s Health Information Support Centre) on Bold st. Liverpool.
They are a great bunch of ladies offering support to women in the forms of a drop-in service, training, reduced price holistic therapies (I have Shiatsu massage there once a month and HIGHLY recommend it) & beauty treatments to name but a small percentage of who they are and what they have to offer.  They promote positive mental health and are a charity. Further information can be found @ http://www.whisc.org.uk
Also join them on Facebook and Twitter.

Its been a great month so far, thanks for reading and best wishes and good vibes to you all.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog at http://www.jobywater.com
See you around! 🙂

Jo x

WHISCing on the SEVENSTREETS of LIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC

At the beginning of this week I hit a bit of an ebb tide-wise after spending copious amounts of time in computer-based business research mode. The creative portion of my existance started to seem like a very distant memory. After a small crisis I aired on Facebook in the words of ‘HELP!’, Mr Graham Holland of LIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC came to my aid. After 2 coffees in conversation at Bold st Coffee I realised I am actually doing ok for a self-release muso/artist on the organisation/business front.  I have dealt with the fact that I’m not the only one and after a couple of words with myself I think I’m over it 🙂

So, Liverpool Acoustic. Graham set up this up originally as a web-based hub for all things acoustic in Liverpool. A place to find gigs, open mics, reviews, web-links, artist profiles. Anyone interested in the acoustic scene or musos looking for reviews, a profile or gig opportunities should defo check out this site. Liverpool Acoustic is also a bi-monthly top quality event at View 2 Gallery on Mathew st. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My next stop of what turned out to be my magic day was WHISC (Womens Health Information Support Centre) on Bold st also. Reason for visit was to reschedule my Shiatsu massage after sleeping in last week….oops. I went in and babbled about how much time I seem to be spending on the computer and came out having agreed to do their blogs/updates aswell……?! 🙂 However. This is a place I really support in Liverpool and I’m trading for a free massage so I didn’t really do bad afterall.

WHISC is a charity for women to use. They offer everything from a drop-in ‘listening ear’ service to reduced price holistic therapies. I have been having Shiatsu there for the last year and it’s amazing. So if you’re female and need support or want to volunteer or are looking for massages etc I suggest you head here! They’re really friendly people.

Thanks to Vicky Andrews this week who did me a fab interview for SEVENSTREETS magazine. Awesome bit of writing. There’s even a swear word in it (see what happens after a couple of beers..).

I also had my album reviewed by AMERICANA magazine.

Have a great weekend! And if anybody needs one of my badges to cover up unsightly holes or stains on clothes give me a shout. I hear that’s what they’re being used for…:)

x

My artwork now on greeting cards!

I have recently received my first purchase of greeting cards adorned with my very own artwork..awesome 🙂

They are currently for sale in News from Nowhere, Bold st. Liverpool.

Any enquiries from people not able to make it there please send me a message and we’ll sort something out. I’m very, very happy with the professional quality of them and looking forward to getting them out into the world where they belong!

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check out more artwork here

Happy Days 🙂

Jo x

Weekend gigs, garden hopping & Fatea

Last weekend brought me 3 very different gigs. On Saturday night i was invited to play the launch for United Conscience at Studi0 2 Parr st. These folk are non-profit organisation setting up to help train and match up volunteers with international projects in a way thats financially more accessible and ensuring that the money goes straight to the project it is intended to support. Total pleasure playing for a full room and a worthy business intention…!  That done I ‘ran’ round the corner to the old faithful Zanzibar to perform at Songbook Sessions. A smaller crowd but it was great to see some friendly and familiar faces out in support of my musical quest. I did get a pat on the back by the sound guy Morgan too for rocking out on acoustic 🙂

Sunday gig travels took me to Manchester. Put me on a train with a coffee and a book to write in and I’m the happiest lone traveller in the universe (is that a capital ‘U’? ..) even if I was surrounded by upturned Fosters cans spilling over from Saturday night….this train was GRIM.  Manchester was ace. I played at ‘Listen with…’ for the lovely Craig White at the Greenroom. Top attentive crowd. Every egos dream but somewhat daunting when you find the whole room silently focussing on you 🙂 A moment where a brief flit of thought pops in and asks…’so do you still think you want to share all those thoughts and feelings with these people…?’ 🙂 IDo! 🙂 I got a chance to reunite with Owen Duff. His stuff was great. And we got food…really good food too!

I arrived back in da Pool just in time to see We, the Undersigned be the backing band for the legendary Dawn Penn at Mojos. Awesome gig.  This was injected with humour when my mate got annoyed with some girls dancing in our way and after telling them she was the manager asked them if they were old enough to drink (cheeky :)). They skipped off and returned with their ID (that my mate was too drunk to read and it was too dark to see anyway). I may never grow up…I think this mentality has stayed with me from reading too much Beano when I was a kid. Yeah, blame the Beano. On the way home I found myself trapped in a strangers garden with the very same friend who had suggested we garden hop to her flat instead of walking round. Much giggling and nettle stings followed. We had to go back where we came from anyway because there was no way over. This realisation occurred only after we had scaled an 8ft wall…with my guitar. I do have a very vivid memory of hearing my guitar cry as it was dropped over the other side of the wall….:( It was ok tho., tough cookie…maybe a little out of tune. Top Weekend!

Album-wise I had good news this week in the form of FATEA magazine asking if I would be interested in putting one of my tracks in for their Autum showcase…erm…..erm…………YES PLEASE! …ahem..i mean, yes that would be great, thanks. 🙂 I went searching and discovered they had written a great little review of the album on their site…

‘Jo Bywater, delivers a hard edged, fiesty collection of guitar driven songs. She seems to be an artist of boundless enthusiam and no mean talent. Raw and dirty around the edges, troubadour blues, that at times look like they are seeking to simply go out there and kick your head in, juxtaposition with a more compassionate, more reflective attitude, love it.’

Lesson of the week: Avoid garden hopping with your guitar.

See ya next time!

Jo x

The ‘where did my hour go’ Sunday muse, gigs and reviews.

Well in all honesty considering I’m bearing a hangover, post 80’s-themed birthday party of friend, even if that hour hadn’t been taken against my will for season transition reasons it probably would have been lost in sleep anyway…the phantom hour of spring. The positive is that it kicked me right into gear to appreciate the beautiful peaceful Sunday vibe and do a little writing, (motivated by ‘Tick tick tick. That’s the sound of your life running out’ :))

GIGS AND REVIEWS.  Last week brought me 2 great gigs and this week has brought me 2 great reviews!

Friday 18th I played in Vinyl Basement on Lark Lane.  FESTIVAL EXPRESS, run by two great people Terry Gray and Hayley Blackledge. It was noisy but I knew it was a music loving crowd, this gave me greater license to be louder and more dramatic 🙂 Eye of the Tiger!  It paid off. I sold a CD before I’d even put my guitar down and got some great feedback in the way of a guitar geek convo about tunings etc, love it. I love playing gigs on the Lane (most of the time), it’s like being at home; it’s where we filmed the vid for WAVE. There’s a proper buzz of creative talent around here AND it’s just round the corner from my house, perfect. Terry ended the night with some ace covers like James ‘Sit Down’, Candi Staton ‘You got the love’. Tunes that I had 7inch vinyl singles of when I was growing up. Ah shame he didn’t do Betty Boo!

On Monday I was at Studio 2 Parr St for Women’s Poetry evening. Run by Val Walsh it comprised of a varied group of ladies doing original poetry. All ages, all styles. I went down tired and left completely inspired. I played Ropeladder and Disclaimer totally unplugged and babbled nervously to my fully-attentive audience. Great! 🙂 These are the kinds of gigs that remind me of the roots of why I started writing songs, by way of expression and creativity. It can be easy to get caught up in the momentum of the business side of things. Grounding.  I sold more copies of the album and had a great conversation about following your passion.  I was recommended a book last year called ‘The Davinci Method’ which I found very inspirational. It had a quote:

‘Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and then go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive’ – Howard Thurman.

This really motivated my direction at the time and I ended up using it on my album cover.

The two reviews this week were awesome.  The first one came on Friday by way of NERVE magazine in Liverpool by Richard Lewis and the second courtesy of Eddie Cooney for the national music magazine R2 (found in WHSmiths etc). I have to say thanks to these two gentlemen and also very glad they enjoyed the music. It’s a great motivator and it does feel that my time spent posting CDs, researching and emailing is all paying off bit by bit.

Ace.

So rounding things up…

At this ‘ere party last night (in amongst people dancing in a circle wearing neon plastic in the synthesizer-infused air) a conversation was had by someone who has my CD. It was brought to my attention that I should ask people what their top 2 fave songs on CYCLE GRACE PULSE BREAK are. Great idea! My thinking is that I can do this and whichever song comes out #1 will be my next music vid…..watch this space, I’m gonna be needing your cooperation, or if you read this and feel like replying now please send me an email.

Right, I’m gonna go see if I can find this lost hour because I’m starting to miss it and I don’t want to wait until autumn to get it back..

Until next time!

Jo x

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