The objects in my house

Buildings have personalities, I’m sure of it.

I went for a walk this lunchtime and looked at the buildings. Some were old, some were new, some were ugly, some were pink.

I realised that a building and its surrounding roads, villages, towns, leave traces of people. Not something tangible but a kind of ghost memory of everything that has taken place there.

When I live somewhere, I put objects around. The best of these are objects that have been given to me by others. These objects (unlike the roads and buildings I walk past) have very potent ghost memories and because of this, because of the person they remind me of, become priceless artefacts. And when these objects are placed around the house I live in, that house suddenly becomes home.

Camden Bar Set List – 23rd January 2012

I Want You Bad

Faith

Under Pressure

Love this life, don’t wait till the next one comes

I have a car. I have a job. I have an identity. But when something in your life gets taken away, you have to change your identity. You’re not really changing, but something around you, in you, about your persona shifts.

Industry. I’m just going to look that up:

technically productive enterprises in a particular field

Not very emotional, that definition. But I’m emotional right now. Because when you sit at a desk or a counter all day and tick like a clock or go ‘ooo ooo’ like a monkey, you hope that someone likes the monkey impression or nods their head to the ticking. You hope all that effort leads to something worthwhile. You hope your life isn’t meaningless. Someone does appreciate it, but industry just motors on impassively and says how grateful it is for what you’ve done and then kicks you as you walk out the door. Power-dressed-women and big-smoke-hardened men who honestly care about getting the company back on track (and get paid handsomely for the chance, I’m very sure) and then just shit on whoever they want to and give someone who’s given a decade or two to a company a sentence in an email to say how much they appreciate his service, backing it all up with ‘I’m tough, I make no apologies about that’. Sleep soundly, won’t you?

I was not in a good place tonight for playing at Camden as you can possibly imagine by that previous rant. As it turned out, it was a good night. Did Under Pressure for Tim and Charlotte, had a little chat with Lucy and Andy who were unbelievably sweet and self-titled themselves ‘Team Graeme’ – thanks guys. Swapped compliments with Zoe by hand signals!

And I realised how much I will miss it there if I don’t get to play for a while. When I go there on a Monday night, everyone working there, everyone joining in, everyone watching just shares something wonderful that resonates round the room. It’s so special. It’s everything that industry can’t be.

Quick quote

Good artists do what they believe in and don’t merely court public approval. In these respects they are the opposite of politicians.

New Year’s Revolution

My friend said today that the only constant is change and he’s right.

I have lots of change coming up. The website is changing (slowly).

The amount of time I can spend on music is changing (for the better).

The night is changing (into morning) and I have to go to bed.

I’ll keep you posted though.

Camden Bar Set List – 16th January 2012

Fall At Your Feet

Just Like Heaven

Here, There & Everywhere

Live Notice

Juxtaposition and the endless…

Blue Nile again. In Saturday Night, they seem to sing, “a quarter to five when the storefronts are closed in paradise”. I love the juxtaposition of the time, the shops and paradise – it grabs my attention every time the song gets to that point. Words are so powerful sometimes.

One thing that we commented on several times during our recording stint the other week, was how the possibilities just go on and on. You add one note, one voice singing a word, one pluck of a string and you can then go a million ways with it. I felt those possibilities as we composed together and it was really exciting. But they also become fewer as you add more to the song. I Want You Bad is a good example. As I added instruments and riffs and voices, I realised it was shaping into something more intricate than this:

I Want You Bad

but each time I added something, I was having to get more specific with it in order to make it fit. And I love that! I love the honing of something you’ve created into something that ultimately will be more refined if you’ve done it right.

Following

Well, it seems people are starting to follow the blog on here. Whether you’re an avid or occasional reader, we’d like to say a big thankyou to you for taking an interest in what we do and write.

Cheers

x

Everything Changes When The Red Light Goes On

During the first week of January, I spent three days with a friend making music. We started to mess around with stuff that I had done preliminary recordings of and we composed a new track together. That was really exciting. Also, when we played a small segment of the new composition, we got what could be a second track too. Each of the days was a fairly intense 10 – 13 hour stint during which we managed to attack 4 or 5 songs which is amazing and they sound incredible already. I had a vision of these songs being very acoustic but when we started to put down electric guitars, everything came to life. It’s been a very exciting start to the year.