Found: Fender 12-string!

Over the last few weeks, I have been moving my home (and recording studio).
Everything is still dismantled, and of course this is when i'm having my flood of ideas - right when i can't make a quick musical sketch of them. I have lots of scribbled notes like "change 3rd line of Kill Me to The finish was always my favourite part," "Am brkdown in Crazy - cut out everything but rhythm guitar" and things like that. Hopefully i'll remember what i'm talking about when everything is set up again...

One surprise was clearing out the big closet next to my recording desk in the old home. I grabbed what I thought was an empty soft-shell guitar case. It was heavier than expected, and I found my Fender acoustic 12-string guitar! It had been hidden away in the closet for years, and I'd totally forgotten that I owned it. And I'm sure it'll come in handy on one or two new songs.

Hopefully I can get the new studio set up in the next week or two and get to work!

St. Paddy's Review

The St. Paddy’s Day shows with the Boys From County Hell went really well. Two shows, five sets, two or three encores (I can’t remember), seventeen worn-down guitar picks, five musicians, no broken strings, one hell of a day! Oh – and too many pints of beer and shots of whiskey to count.

After the last song at the Cloak & Dagger, the last song of the night, I was ready to keep playing. I think the others were too. Unfortunately our voices were all disappearing and exhaustion was setting in.
This was the first time I’ve been onstage in years, and I’d forgotten how much I love it. We’ll have to book a few more shows this year. One thing that I didn’t forget – I always look angry or annoyed onstage, even when I’m having the time of my life!

Cheers, and I hope everyone else had as good a time as me!

... and that's a shamrock fake tattoo on my forehead, as I didn't have anything green to wear.

Stagefright

I used to get a really bad case of stagefright. I don’t really know why. I’ve always known what I was performing. Knew I looked and sounded good, and had a show well worth the admission cost. But they were still there.
The jitters eventually subsided, but it took a long time. And once they went away, I missed them. I missed the butterflies in my stomach, the nerves for the day before a performance, when I would constantly run the set through my head, ensuring I knew my parts and wondering what I didn’t know I didn’t know. Without them, performing got quite hum-drum. "Okay, it’s time to get back onstage… guitar – lights – put it in autopilot and go."

I haven’t played publicly since 2003. Not including my wedding, where I whipped out Unchained Melody (guitar and vocals) for my bride. And THOSE jitters had nothing to do with the music!

Tomorrow I have a couple of shows with The Boys From County Hell, and the nerves are back. My main concern is that I’m playing Irish folk music, and until 6 months ago I’d never really listened to it. I’ll be playing these 3-set performances of unfamiliar songs without cheat-sheets to hint at the chord changes. I’m sure I’ll be fine, i've done a lot of rehearsing, but there’s always the things that I don’t know I don’t know… Especially for the first performance with a new group.

I’ve got the stagefright jitters, and I like it!

Boys From County Hell - LIVE

Me. Live. Excited.

In ten days, I may betray my British heritage. I’m playing guitar in an upbeat, and somewhat aggressive, Irish folk band. A band which I believe has NO Irish members…

Anyway, it’ll be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to performing live for the first time in almost a decade (my wedding notwithstanding).

The Boys From County Hell
Saturday, March 17
at The Cloak & Dagger, 394 College St, Toronto
10pm-2am. ish.