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June 17 Checking In, Checking outI used a rehearsal room/studio for the first time in maybe 20 years this evening.
It seems like an eternity ago.
Me 1 - Circumstance 0.
April 26 If you can't laugh at yourself...Way back in 1991-93 I was in a band called Brainchild. This was when I lived in New York. If you ever meet me I can tell you stories about this band. Meanwhile here is a promo video for one of the tracks off the album : April 15 Good EnoughWhat's good enough ? Four songs 'what I wrote'. Four recordings of me and my guitar. Four things I want to say. April 08 The Open Mic Scene in Dublin, some pointers and some open mic etiquetteI had a couple of emails recently where I was asked to recommend some open mic sessions in Dublin. Since mid-2007 I’ve been playing around Dublin and have picked up a few pointers along the way. I’d like to share them here. If you’re not familiar with the open mic concept in a nutshell it is this:
Some etiquette and basic manners that should be observed:
A few tips:
You’d think all of the above was obvious wouldn’t you ? Here is some information I’ve pieced together on active open mic nights in Dublin as of April 2009. I’m sure there are others out there (I know of at least one other that I haven’t yet checked out).
Monday Night, The International Bar on Wicklow Street
On Monday night there is a nice open mic in Peadar Kearney’s on Dame Street. http://www.myspace.com/musicmediumlive This is about 5-6 doors down from the Olympia Theatre. It’s got a PA and isn’t too big. As you progress they have other gigs in the same venue later in the week where you can do a full set of your own.
Tuesday Night: The Bankers Inn , just around the corner from Dame Street/Andrews Lane. http://www.myspace.com/davemurphyandfriends
Wednesday Night: Bruxelles, on Harry Street just off Grafton Street. http://www.myspace.com/thezodiacsessions
Sunday nights in The Bleeding Horse on Camden Street http://www.myspace.com/thebleedinghorsesessions March 31 High And Dry![]() "... don't leave me high... don't leave me dry..." I dropped in to play at an open mic tonight. I knew the folk running the gig and they very kindly gave me a slot to play 4 songs. It's a small town... I also knew all of (bar maybe one) the people who were playing. Dubbel-in Tow-en Is A Very Small Tow-en. I enjoyed the set and the audience were really complimentary. Here's the problem, and I might have blogged this before, how on earth do I come down from the buzz ? Here I am at past midnight having got the bus home and I'm not quite ready for sleep. How do people (musicians, songwriters) come down from gigs ? I know some of the obvious stuff but bloody hell if I'm buzzing after just playing 4 songs how can I balance that with 'real life'. I still have to work tomorrow. Glass half full: people liked my songs and my performance. I liked the flattering words they used. So I'll be back for more next Monday :-) That Was The Week That WasI'm poleaxed ! So on Sunday last (22nd) I played a 30 minute set at the end of the night in the Bleeding Horse (The Apollo Sessions). I wasn't meant to close the gig - it just worked out that way. Unfortunately the act but one before me managed to almost clear the venue with their noise. The folk who remained were really respectful and a great audience. Got some lovely compliments. I tried a new song (Bed For Sale) and a cover version (Shipbuilding). I hadn't expected to be on so late and had had a skinful by the time I got onstage. I have no idea if it affected my performance. Well. Actually. I'll bet it did. I was certainly more daring. The week was taken up with work (office type work). A re-organization and general business stuff kept me busy. I don't usually do long days in the office but this week I ended up doing a couple. This got in the way of getting any writing or recording done. I picked up the guitar on Friday evening and did some more work on Bed For Sale because the lyrics aren't quite there yet (there's not enough death in the 3rd verse) and it needs a bridge/middle8. Saturday I spent the day spring cleaning. eBay is about to get hit with a bunch of stuff that I hope people will buy. Went to see Ireland vs Bulgaria on Saturday evening. Brutal match. When we conceded the own-goal I decided enough was enough and left Croke Park. There was a warm house, warm family and warm glass of red wine waiting for me. Stayed up far too late Saturday night. Watched a movie and then a bunch of music videos. With the clocks going forward it didn't work out well. 6:00am getting to sleep is not what I should be doing 'at my age'. Today (Sunday) was more productive than it should have been given my slight hangover and general shattered state. I did some more work on 'Bed For Sale' and practiced a couple of songs in anticipation of tomorrow night's open-mic. Feel suitably creative I grabbed my guitar and headed into the studio. Over a 2-3 hour session I managed to get 2 acoustic recordings completed. I might be able to use them for my Acoustic EP. This time around I recorded the guitar part first and then overdubbed the vocal. I was listening to a recently released Beatles bootleg (Revolution...Take Your Knickers Off) and spotted that Lennon had used this technique for 'Julia' on the White Album. I also spotted a lot of flubs and mistakes that were obviously fixed by those clever Abbey Road engineers and their razor blades. Good enough for Lennon... more than good enough for me. A very chilled evening. After dinner listening to BBC 6Music and thinking about the week ahead and what it might bring. Monday evening I've got to finish a conference call at 7:00pm and then get myself home and/or into town to play in Peadar Kearney's. The good people at Music Medium Live have moved to this venue. I expect that like most open mics it might be a bit chaotic. The rest of the week looks like it'll be taken up with conference calls and meetings, attempted gym visits and yearning for recording. Brian Cowen is a coward![]() and so are the executives in RTE It started here http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/mar/22/cowen-hung-out-to-dry-in-national-gallery-hijack and it's gone here: http://www.mulley.net/2009/03/25/picturegate-or-whatever-we-call-it-is-not-about-a-facebook-group and here: http://www.caricatures-ireland.com/blog/the-taoiseach-has-no-clothes-and-rte-has-no-balls-the-brian-cowen-nude-caricature/ and here: http://whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/coming-late-to-the-party-but-still/ I think there's legs in this hopefully better than the above March 18 I’ve got blisters on my fingersA good weekend. On Sunday I played a short set at the Apollo Sessions (aka The Bleeding Horse Sessions). With Tuesday being a holiday in Ireland (St.Patrick's Day) I took Monday off and decided to leave the car at home and enjoy the gig.
I think Fiach and John have found a great venue (The Bleeding Horse pub on Dublin’s Camden Street). As far as I can tell the pub was an old house and has a myriad of staircases and balconies. In the backroom they setup a small PA and light which was just perfect for the room. In between pre-booked acts (of which I was one) it is an open-mic setup so anyone can wander in and play a couple of songs.
With it being that weekend it was no surprise to find plenty of tourists. Transient is how I would describe the audience. The same folk at the start of the night were not there when I did my set. I performed 4 songs ('Holding On', 'What Do I Know?', 'Be Alright' and 'Devil & The Deep Blue Sea'). I guess they went down well - are people just being polite when they applaud? Singer-songwriter insecurities like this do my head in ! I need to name and shame those SSIs whenever they appear. I think that’ll be the trick. To me, these songs are old. Some are almost 2 years old. I have to remind myself that to the audience they are brand new. Not that I am in the same league as Ron Sexsmith but I'm sure he thinks 'Secret Heart' is old as the trees and feels like a cover version when he's performing it. I'd feel short changed if I went to see Ron live and he didn't play songs like 'Secret Heart' and 'Lebanon Tennessee'. Fiach said something very complimentary after my set (along the lines of not being able to get one of my songs out of his head - see I told you it was a compliment !). John asked if I'd be back next week. I'd love to. Of course I would. But will I be overstaying my welcome ? There I go again with the SSI . . . Inspired by the gig on Sunday I took some time on Monday to write a new song. ‘Bed For Sale’ was inspired by something Chris Difford said in the Songbook show. He met his song writing partner Glenn Tilbrook having read a note posted in a shop window “among the beds for sale”. That got me thinking about the story behind a bed for sale. What happened that the bed was for sale – and so on. I’m always looking for a story to build a song on.
Tuesday was a national holiday so of course I spent it in my studio… I’ve decided to pause working on my album for a couple of weeks. I’m going to get 4 acoustic songs onto an EP so that I can have something out there. Since I have the facility to duplicate & print CD-Rs and the cost of printing a simple envelope is not much it leaves me with no excuse ! Today my fingers are sore. No blisters (yet) but damn they’re sore. It’s been a while since I played guitar for so long. At the end of the day two things bugged me: my voice was warmed up but I could barely play guitar (usually it’s the other way around) and secondly I was disappointed at the quality of my performance. I know I can do better. I was trying to do it ‘live’ in the style of a radio session. It sounds like a demo. That’s not what I want. I’m going to have to do it like a recording: get the guitar down and then overdub the vocal. Guess what I’ll be doing for the next couple of evenings ? March 01 Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans
Our son Ben is 10 years old today. He’s a sweet, polite & good natured kid and we’re very proud of him. When Ben was born he was a very sick baby. He spent the first week of his life in an intensive care unit, the first couple of days on a ventilator. Nothing has come easy to him. Ben had to work hard to achieve everything. In the past year we finally got to the bottom of a learning difficulty that has made school more difficult than it should have been. Ben’s non-verbal learning difficulty is being managed really well and we’re seeing him coming on in leaps and bounds. I received some texts for Ben today and he was able to read them aloud himself. That was a big step up for a little man. Parent worry. It’s what we do best. Beats doing anything useful. Something has happened though. 10 years is a lifetime for Ben. It’s been a blink of the eye for us. I remember as a kid being sick on my birthday. It sucks. Ben was running a 40 degree temperature yesterday at 6:00am and I had to bring him to the doctor to get some help with the bug he’s fighting. One of his classmates has ended up in hospital because he started having breathing difficulties. Our crosses are all relative. Despite being wiped out and not feeling 100% he got stuck into the bowling & Qazar games before we headed to TGIF for a birthday meal with his friends. Personally I cannot stand the place but the kids like it. February 24 Song Sung BlueI’m in an email discussion with another Irish singer-songwriter. It seems that many of us hold ourselves back creatively and we were sharing our frustration and experience. Demons & fears are the single thing that holds back so many songwriters and I include myself in that. Some days I'm confident and others I just wonder who I'm trying to kid. I'm even going through it now with my album recording. On MySpace there is a simple guitar+vocal+cello demo of a song called "Holding On". I started recording a master of it last week and have almost completed it. The problem is that I've recorded it with a full band arrangement. Although I like it I'm not sure if I should stick to the original simple arrangement. I'm trying not to sound like a whiny acoustic folksy singer-songwriter stereotype (I'm looking at you Damien Rice!). I've done this with my song 'Be Alright' which on MySpace is a simple acoustic demo but the ‘album’ version has more in the arrangement. I've decided to just get on with it. If I make the wrong decisions on the arrangements and style then so be it. Nobody dies because of it. Fortunately I have my own studio which means I can spend entire evenings working on this stuff. Until last year I hardly used the studio for myself and seemed to be always doing stuff for other people and trying to hire it out. Many of my friends are musicians (regularly mentioned in this blog) and I have to stop comparing myself to them. Sometimes it feels like I'm only 'pretending' to be a songwriter. They're doing it full time so I'm really only pretending to be an artist. That's a hard one to get over - that feeling that they'll come to the gig, hear the CD but will know that it's not the real deal. I think a songwriter needs to set goals and deadlines. I've set myself a goal of having a launch gig in the small room in Whelan's for a CD. Ideally in the autumn. Given that I will be away for 3 weeks this summer and have a demanding day job it's quite a stretch. There's also the small matter of paying for the duplication and hiring the venue. With the goal in mind it's focusing my mind on getting this album done. The person I’m corresponding with has set themselves a goal : write a good song this year. But I think they’re not giving themselves a fair chance. My message: If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion: set yourself a target to write as many songs as possible this year. If they're all shite then so be it. But I'll bet you a bottle of your favourite drink that there will be more than one gem in there. Now, my point here is that I'm looking back on the songs I wrote and recorded for that project and have decided to keep two of them live on MySpace. I created an 'experimental-me' MySpace at http://myspace.com/iLIVEinAsuitcase . I think I will do something with those 2 songs. Each of them took less than 2 hours from opening a blank page in my notebook to finishing the demo. I found the open mic scene in Dublin to be very supportive (with only 1 exception really). Just getting out and playing your songs is a great learning process. You find out which material works and you also develop confidence. Most people look in awe at anyone who can play music in front of an audience. Even more people admire anyone who writes and performs their own material. My song writing friend mentioned the inner critic: "As songwriters I know a lot of us wrestle with the 'who wants to listen to me & my ****' mentality. Very valid points. They’re not alone in this. All I can say is this: the point is that you can do this and others can't. Nobody can write a ‘Peter Fitzpatrick’ song (not even Ron Sexsmith - he can only write Ron songs). Here endeth the lecture. February 22 His majesty's sarcastic requestI'm in the middle of republishing all of my old blog posts from MSN to blogspot and I get this error: The server reported an error with the following URL: http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4442091455711856893/posts/default 400 Bad Request Blog has exceeded rate limit or otherwise requires word verification for new posts Well isn't that special ? Now that I'm posting directly I can see that it says: If you make a large number of posts in a single day, you will be required to complete word verification. After 24 hours, the word verification will automatically be removed. So, my blog is going to live a double life both here and on blogspot until I decide on one or the other. February 19 Always something there to remind me I dragged myself back to the gym on Monday after work and managed to get back into it. I forgot how much energy I have after I work out and went into the studio on Monday night. I wanted to do something but hadn't really decided just what that something was. So I decided to make a start on a properly recorded version of 'Holding On' (there's a demo here on myspace and a link to a live video here). Originally I thought I'd do a small intimate version with just a guitar, cello or string section and maybe use the harmonica. What came out of the 3 hours was rewardingly creative. The track is , I hope, close to a George Harrison 'All Things Must Pass' vibe. There are some real drums, bass, hammond, acoustic guitar and strings. I slept on the track and on Tuesday night I replaced most of the acoustic guitar with electric guitar and used a roto-vibe type sound (think the guitar sound Harrison used during the Get Back sessions in the 'Let It Be' movie). I layered a second guitar sound and was really pleased with the results. I also edited the drum track to map it closer to the track - making sure the rhythm complimented the track. I'm really happy with the dynamic in the song now and still get a little thrill when it hits the solo. Right now there's just a guide vocal which is pretty much as it is sung on the demo and how I've been singing it live. Listening to the track I know I'm going to have to rethink the vocal line. I will need an evening for that and might end up revisiting it a couple of times. The lyric & vocal is so critical. I'm looking forward to doing the backing vocals. I really enjoy stacking up backing vocals because it can really lift a track. The middle eight section needs some work. The middle8 is the bit in the middle of a song that sounds different to the verse or chorus. Example: Beatles 'Girl' : "she's the kind of girl who puts you down when friends are there you feel a fool, when you say she's looking good she acts as if it's understood..". And that was it. Wednesday night I sat in the sunroom with my laptop, small keyboard and headphones. No matter how much I tried the middle8 didn't progress. I think I need to sit with a guitar in the studio for a bit to develop it. It might need backing vocals too. So I'll keep an open mind. The truth of the matter though was that by Wednesday between the day job, 2 visits to the gym and 2 nights of creativity I was spent. I'd probably have been more frustrated with this in the past but I accept that sometimes it just doesn't happen. Like songwriting you can just hit a wall or a dry spell. I recently had a spell of not writing and over the course of the last 2 weeks I started to eek out some song ideas. It never disappears. Like physical exercise I need to do it regularly to keep it 'happening'. The middle-age spread isn't disappearing but my energy levels are better and I feel healthier. More importantly I see an album on the horizon. A real album. I'm already dreaming about a launch gig. That's got to be good. February 15 Grow old with me Today I feel old. I had intended going to the gym (not having been for over a week). Late nights just kill me nowadays. There's always tomorrow. February 09 White Ladder Enjoyed my gig in Whelans (see below...). AnnMarie O'Grady was very accommodating and it turns out I had met her accompaniest (Garvan Gallagher) at some point in the past. He was very cool and supportive. I hope to maybe get asked back sometime. A great little venue. Whelans has 3 gigs running simultaneously: the 'main room' is where Pugwash did their album launch last year and it's where I saw Thomas Dolby and almost saw Simple Kid. The downstairs bar usually has some free music at the weekends. The room we played is next to the beer garden & smoking area. It's an L-Shaped room which is usually a pain but it works well here. The bar is at right-angles to the stage and has a sign reminding guests that it is a listening venue (nice one). The fireplace was lit up and the smell of burning logs filled the room. AnnMarie has a good crowd coming to her gigs. I have a way to go before I can do that (plus I need to work up more songs but that's another issue...). They listened and interacted which is the best part of the gig. I needed to be done by 9:20pm so I set my mobile phone alarm to go off at 9:15pm. With my phone on vibrate I thought the alarm would just vibrate the phone in my pocket. Of course that didn't happen and I got a nice accompaniment to my song in Aminor. The audience thought it was funny. They listened to my songs and were very generous in their applause. I couldn't have asked for more. Unfortunately nobody I knew was able to go. I'm always at pains to say to folk that I realise they can't go to every gig and not to worry - I'll keep spamming. So it seems that the room is not too expensive to hire. I might use it to launch my CD (which is looking more like an EP now). That would be a good night out. I reckon if I gave a CD to every person paying in then I'd cover most if not all of the cost. I could get a couple of friends to play and maybe even get a video from the night. Maybe that'll be the gig where I'll try to get everyone to turn up. Now *that* would be quite a night alright. Something nice to look forward to. It's been a very stressful week and I'm glad to be finally getting on with my life again. February 06 Rocking Robin Listening to the Phil Wilding & Phill Jupitus podcast today they did a little mention of 'Twitter' ![]() So I decided to create an account http://twitter.com/iMADEtheBBC to see what would happen. The only person I had heard of who uses Twitter is of course Stephen Fry ( I couldn't remember Phil Wilding's twitter ID). So I'm "following" Mr Fry. He Tweets and I follow. (Not that he's Tweeted yet but I'm hopeful of activity later this evening). I'm not quite sure what it is I'm going to get from this Twitter service. I was reminded of a story that Cilla Black told. When she became successful in '63-'64 she was put in a nice hotel in London by Brian Epstein. She had just appeared on TV and was incredibly excited. When she got back to her hotel room she spotted a telephone by the bed and decided she had to share her excitement with someone. She picked up the receiver and put her finger to the rotary dial. Then the remembered..... she didn't know anyone back in Liverpool who had a telephone. February 05 Getting CloserThis songwriting and performing lark throws up some surprises every now and again. Late last night I got a reply to an email I had sent almost a year ago to AnnMarie O'Grady who had promoted a gig in our office through some friends. I asked for a support slot. Unfortunately at the time someone was already lined up. AnnMarie is playing in a well known Dublin venue this Sunday and I'm playing support. Back in 2007 I set myself a few goals for my music. One of them was to play Whelans because it's one of the better gigs in town. Hopefully this will be the first of many. I like the idea of playing little anonymous gigs for 2-3 years and getting my name around town as a reliable interesting person to open a show. Now and again just playing my own gig would be nice but I'm realistic enough to know that I'm not 19 anymore. So thank you AnnMarie. I hope your audience like my material. In other news I did an interview and live performance back in December for a local radio station. Thanks to Dan Prendiville I have an MP3 of the show. You can download it here.
I'm Alright JackLast week I intervened to stop some children who had gone into a building site from placing themselves in danger. For my trouble I've had a whole boatload of hassle. My worst nightmare. So I've decided to make a change in my attitude to 'doing the right thing'. I'm not going to do it anymore because it's not worth it. This is completely selfish, mean spirited and anti-social. I know this. It's me or it's them. It ain't gonna be me.
and in other news.... life sucks sometimes :-) January 20 How does it feel to treat me like you do?Listening to the BBC iPlayer repeat of last night’s BBC 6music Gideon Coe radio show I heard him say that yesterday (January 19th 2009) is the most depressing day of the year. Well that would explain yesterday’s blogging wouldn’t it ? Of course let’s not make a drama out of a crisis eh Daily Mail ? The sky is falling ! Feeling blue? Today - January 19, 2009 - is the most depressing day in HISTORY, say experts It’s a good thing I don’t pay attention to the radio (other than to listen to proper music shows after they’ve been broadcast…) or I might not have bothered getting out of bed yesterday.
Last night I picked up “Tunesmith” by Jimmy Webb again and got back into it.
It sent me to sleep with the strains of ‘Galveston’ ringing in my head and dreams of Ivor Novellos. Could be worse … could’ve been ‘MacArthur Park’ because it was cold last night and the cake would have frozen… January 19 Turn off your mind, relax and float downstreamI feel the need to empty my mind of some clutter. By and large I have tried to ignore the end of the world as we know it. It’s all out of my control so I can only sit here and deal with whatever happens. Yesterday I went into the studio and wanted to write something. I re-appeared a couple of hours later with a recording and no lyric. I want to write a song about religion and believing in God. I’m having doubts about religion. There are worried people in every office these days. Mine is no exception. Somewhere in the deepest recess of my mind I wonder ‘what-if’ and think about life-changing events.
This is where I am right now.
This is where I’ll be in a few hours. |
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