Lark Lane

We made a video for Disclaimer

A few months ago I decided I’d like to do a video project for another one of my songs (making the video for ‘Wave’ was such a success and lots of fun with my friends at Soundworx Media). Seeing at ‘Disclaimer’ is a well-loved favourite at gigs it was a no-brainer.   I sent a message out into the ether and after meeting a few potential Videographers I decided Mr Dominic Boyle was to be the one….

Dom is a recent graduate from Edge Hill University. Armed with his awesome camera and a few meetings in Bold St Coffee, we headed out into the streets/coffee shops/parks of Liverpool and thus ‘Disclaimer’ aquired visuals. Dom has been a superstar to work with and it was a great experience.

You can find him in these places: 
Youtube – Poetry in motion: Vocal Media
dom.f.boyle@gmail.com

Have a look and see where we got to in the vid! 

Jo x

Under the influence

After a week of gigs and my mate from Unis hen-do thrown in for good measure I’m quite thankful that this week is a little bit more chilled. Catch up on some sleep and a little bit of detox all around.  Actually looking back i feel like its been MUCH longer than a week but all for good reasons!  I played the fab Mash Gallery in St. Helens, Festival Express (which is perfectly on my doorstep and i got to proof my Rolling Stones covers..), Lark Lane Healing day (where i got some amazing soup and a lovely family audience for a change) and Under the Influence…Rolling Stones @ Studio 2 (hosted by the fab Kaya). It’s the first time in aaaages I’ve played any covers (and i’m not amazing at remembering my own lyrics nevermind other peoples..even if it is the Rolling Stones).. The tunes I settled on playing in the end were ‘Paint it Black’ and ‘Gimme Shelter’ after a little Facebook call-out for suggestions.  I went for making them a bit more my own as opposed to straight up covers….check ’em out!

Paint it Black

The rest of the weeks good news comes in the form of 2 very favourable reviews….

New Reviews & Folk Radio

I also had my pic and part of an interview in this edition Nerve Mag Liverpool. Cheers to Sebastian and the rest of the Nerve crew.

i’m now heading off to learn the guitar solo for Master of Puppets for one of my guitar students…..did i say my week was more chilled out…..

Rock n Metal

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