Featured Video: Les Ramoneurs de menhirs – Bella Ciao
Ah Celtic punk from Brittany. Forget the fact they don’t sing in English..well actually that makes it very ‘rebellious’! Hey the bombarde overpowers even the electric guitar.
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Album Review: Traveling Light by Dave Hum
Dave Hum
I have other Dave Hum albums so I say Traveling Light sounds different from his other creations. I will bring each one of them to your attention in days to come. For now we are going to take Traveling Light apart and discover its artistic merits. There’s a lot actually.
Groove: Most of Dave Hum’s albums are about instrumental prowess and great atmosphere. This one is an example of music that crosses genres. You hear African, Reggae, modern rock and classical influences thrown in for the good measure.
Great Melodies: Every track in this album are very satisfying. Dave Hum has a thing for melody which is always close to Celtic music. Whither he is trying to make something new out of something old, his music has that ’ring’ to it. If you are a fan of certain artists, it’s that quality that makes their music recognizable as theirs. It’s like DNA embedded inside the workings of rhythm, melody, arrangement and song structure.
No loose ends from beginning to end: The opening track Chesters Tune is ear-grabbing. From that track up to the end track which is Grandad in the Lift, Traveling Light will put you up your toes.
The Future of Banjo Music: Dave Hum has made banjo music in this album accessible to a lot of listeners.There are great tunes with great beats and variety. Tunes like Lulworth Mermaid with its New Agey female layered voices and the uplifting Riders are testaments of his amazing artistry. This is an album for all!
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Submitted: Velha Gaiteira – “Bate lavadeira e Helena” (tradicional do Paul/Beira-Baixa)
A friend of CMF Pedro Fulano Lourenço submitted this video. I am pleased that friends are very passionate about Celtic influenced music.The voice reminds me of Hungarian folk singer Márta Sebestyén. Very lovely!
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Flashback:Connie Dover – Somebody
I first read about her in CD review magazine. That was around 1991. This album was creating a stir in the Celtic music scene. Back then, the scene was different. No mp3s and very few people have access to ‘elite’ music like this one. She is one of the great artists who paved the way for Celtic music to have a broader acceptance.
My heart is sore, I dare not tell, my heart is sore for Somebody
I would walk a winter’s night all for a sight of Somebody
If Somebody were come again then one day he must cross the main
And everyone will get his own and I will see my Somebody
Chorus
Ochon, for Somebody, Och hey, for Somebody,
I would do, would I do not, All for the sake of Somebody
Why need I comb my tresses bright, oh, why should coal or candlelight
Shine in my bower day or night since gone is my dear Somebody
Oh, I have wept many a day for one that’s banished far away
I cannot sing and must not say how sore I grieve for Somebody
Music: traditional Irish; lyrics: traditional Scottish
Adapted by Connie Dover
From the CD, Somebody (Songs of Scotland, Ireland and Early America) by Connie Dover
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Today in Pictures: Celtic Birds Cross Stitch by Paula.
I could not let this article pass without introducing this wonderful musician who explored the world of Celtic designs.
Celtic glasses case sewn for my mother —Paula From the real of electronic music, Paula moved to cross stitch. She made amazing images with her Celtic designs and CMF is a proud owner of a lot of her works!
Wall Street has fangs. In a 24-hour world, does anyone notice the unusual behaviors of many, including the reclusive rich. When international power brokers, vampires and shape shifters hiding in plain sight, threaten Micaela and those she loves, will this heiress to a Druid legacy deny her power again and let others die? Can she accept the friendship and love of others with strange and frightening powers? A thrill ride of money, magic and murder across the globe.
Do you sleep better at night believing that vampires are things of fiction?
It is the first time that CMF features a novelist. I think that those who read Dark Dealings will really know why she is making a stir in the literary world. Through the twists and turns of this story, Karen Victoria Smith incorporates traditional Irish music either as a way to describe a feeling of the moment, an incident music or the tunes around characters when they go to a ceilidh. This is after all a story that merges Celtic myths and vampire horror. For those who haven’t picked their copy of Dark Dealings, I recommend you do it now. It is a great read.Very satisfying and full of suspense and action. You won’t be disappointed. In fact you will keep coming back for more and wish for a continuation story of the characters. It is a book with a lot of HEART, WIT and LAUGHTER. You will know more through this interview:
CMF You created an interesting character in Micaela. How many percentage is she you?
KVS: It is an interesting process. I did not set out to create a character that was me. But writers write what they know. And by that I don’t mean just that because I worked on Wall Street that is what I write about. We, as writers of novels or music, know emotions and experiences; we know our life and the lives of those near and dear. I was recently talking to a friend about a difficult decision I had to make but wasn’t ready to make. I said I was just going to put it up on the shelf and deal with it later. I suddenly heard Micaela’s voice coming from my lips. She is in some ways a lot like me. But good characters always get to do the things we wish we could do and say the things we wish we could say. Micaela is perhaps my alter ego in that way.
You told me that Dark Dealings is “It has been a labor of love. A tribute to all I know and have learned”. How strong is the knowledge of Celtic mythology in your family?
The knowledge was stronger in my grandmother’s generation. She is my Una (Micaela’s grandmother), but not so much in my parents’ generation. My grandmother instilled in me not only basic knowledge as a small child but a love and curiosity for my Celtic/Druid heritage. I began to seriously reconnect with that heritage in college and have pursued it since. My dream would be to live in a traditional cottage in a small Irish village where I could write and smell the earth and feel the energy from the land.
Your characters unfold gradually as opposed to in your face kind of vampire treatment. Do you have a liking for things that are implied in writing?
I have always like novels of discovery. I want my readers to see my characters change and grow and, in the process, become dear friends and family, even the vampires. I am a throwback to in my approach to writers like Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, even Stephan King. I can only wish to approach their caliber of writing, but I like the tension, the relationships to evolve. It is so important that reader feel like a novel is an experience in which they are a participant and not an observer. When I read as a child, I always imagined myself to be a character in the story. That extended to my favorite television shows and movies. I wrote some of it down but never kept it. Guess today you would have called it FanFic.
Dark Dealings is certainly not your typical vampire novel. We are dealing with a career woman dealing with powerful people and war of wits. Is this going to be a chronicle?
It will be a chronicle of both Micaela and a number of the characters in Dark Dealings. I am currently working on edits for Ogham Court, which is based on Devlin, Nora, Aine and set primarily on the street where the Salmon Run Inn and the Singing Stone is located. Relatively minor characters in Dark Dealings but who have developed lives of their own that I suspect one day will come full circle back into Micaela’s life. Micaela as a strong career woman is again a reflection of my personal career path before a became obsessed with writing. She is also a product of my taste in female characters. I could never stand helpless females waiting always to be rescued. Even when I read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (hardly paranormal horror LOL) I identified with Jo. She was smart, strong-willed with a hidden vulnerability, with a sharp tongue that was sometimes her undoing.
I think one of the things that are worth noting is how the relationship between the characters unfold. When we think of Nikki, her tale is kind of ‘sneaky’ because who would have thought there is more to her than just working as a law enforcer. Are you more into the characters or the plot?
I think both are important. But I consider myself character-driven. I start with a rough sketch of a plot and the theme. I spend a lot of time in the beginning developing my characters and they continue to reveal themselves in each round of edits. For me, it is taking well formed characters and sticking them in tough situations and watching how they respond and are changed as a result.
Where did you get your inspiration for the Baron?
Beyond my central interest in my Celtic heritage, I have been fascinated by old European royalty before the late 19th century. Two of my favorites are the English , particularly the Tudors and the early Russian dynasties. Both are so deliciously dysfunctional full of treachery, murder and political intrigues. I actually debated the end scene for the Baron (trying to avoid spoilers here). Could have gone either way for him.
If ever this becomes a movie, who do you see playing the role of Liam?
I have some thoughts on this but I would really love to have readers chime in on my Facebook page with their suggestions or to my Pinterest board for Dark Dealings. I love seeing for my work and the works of others how each reader brings their own interpretation to the character. It is a shame we lost Heath Ledger, though
The book is like a sly predator. It starts gradually and the last parts become really explosive and action packed. This isn’t one of those sentimental romance novels masked as vampire fiction. was deviating from the typical vampire franchise your intention?
LOL, I most definitely do not write romances. The recent trend in vampire and shapeshifter fiction has been very light, right up to vampires that walk around in the daylight. It was not always like that. Vampires and other preternaturals can be multi-dimensional characters yet they are capable of great violence. I am actually a huge fan of Laurell K Hamilton and her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. Ms. Hamilton builds intricate worlds of preternatural creatures in an alternates and very edgy universe. Her plots and subplots are not everyone’s taste as she pushes the envelope on sexuality and violence. But at the same time she explores questions of power and what it means to be human or a monster. The Trueblood television series is similar in that it does not sugar coat the needs and desires of the humans or preternaturals. Lestat in Anne Rice’s chronicles is also from that same genre. Ms Rice’s beautiful writing is I think pivotal to the resurrection of the paranormal genre beginning in the 1970’s and 1980”s
I think there can be romance but that it must be the light part of a very dark world. It is part of the exploration of the character whether they are a normal or a preternatural. In Celtic tradition there is the balance between the male and the female, the light and the darkness. Balance does not always mean 50-50. AS the light and dark half of the day the balance changes throughout the year and is part of the cycle.
Dark Dealings is an LGBT friendly fiction where characters like Connie really shines. Has the current political climate gay rights also influenced your writing?
Frankly no. The current political climate is wonderful but a step in the evolution of society that began decades ago. When I first imagined Dark Dealings, it came from the recognition that most non-Judeo-Christian cultures have some form of the vampire and shapeshifter. I wanted to develop an international multicultural world for Micaela to move in. It seems a natural extension that a diverse world be just that …diverse.
Somewhere in my upbringing, twelve years of Catholic School notwithstanding, I developed a more pagan philosophy regarding all living things. It perhaps comes from the Celtic acceptance of all the possibly creatures that populate the Otherworld and this world. Or maybe growing up in the post-Woodstock generation. In my world, as in my life, people do not come from cookie cutters or in one flavor. It is the variety that makes life an exciting ride. In the middle of Dark Dealings, Micaela goes to her grandmother Una to talk about creatures and thing which are not supposed to be. Una’s response is that “we who have touched the Otherworld know differently.” I wanted to create a world in my book and the books that follow that accept that all things are possible and valid. It sounds trite but if we can accept the premise of vampires and werewolves who seem just like us than why not LGBT characters who are three-dimensional and powerful characters in their own right. I love the character of Connie; she is smart, quick with a weapon when needed, a powerful shapeshifter and a loving and loved partner who happens to be another woman. Regardless of sexual preference I want all my characters to be multi-layered and complex. I did not set out to make her lesbian but as she evolved she spoke to me and told who she was. She is in some ways the perfect foil for Ethan or perhaps a hint at a less stuffy side of him. I suspect we will see more of her.
Kinfolk are Brian Mcdaid and Gerry Power. Brian and Gerry met in south of England in 2000. Both were working in different bands, and involved in different musical collaborations. Gerry was busy on the London singer songwriter circuit playing suppot spots to established artistes such as Nils Lofgren, Colin Blunstone, Geno Washington, Bert Jansch. Brian was poised to go to America having just been offered a deal. Since that meeting they have worked together with a number of other musicians, mainly playing live venues throughout the UK. Since late 2004 they have been drawing on their shared musical heritage to create KINFOLK and their debut album: THIS LAND.
Brian was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents are from Donegal and Fermanagh in Ireland. Gerry was born in London of Irish descent, his parents coming from Cork. Both share a similar musical heritage being influenced by traditional and contemporary folk music from Ireland, Scotland and England. For Brian this influence was inevitable – his uncle was the lat Irish folk legend Corny Mcdaid.
Typical of many young people, their musical experience and experimentation developed over the years. These included rock, pop, jazz, funk and country. However throughout their musical careers they have always maintained a strong acoustic and folk link.
This meeting of musical experience has produced a song writing duo that has flourished and developed together. They have produced songs of quality diversity, appealing accross a wide range of folk music tastes.
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Up and coming: Will Tun and the Wasters – Star of the County Down- Acoustic Cabin Sessions
They will be my featured band around mid-October so watch out for an interview with someone in the band .
Featuring: Emma Kate Tobia, Sue Aston, Noel Duggan, Karnataka, Denez Prigent(with Lisa Gerrard) and Celtic Tenors.
My dearest subscribers, welcome. It is raining while I am writing this and the weather can really change the mood. So we are going to go on a ‘softer route’ with classically sounding Celtic tunes-well, mostly- some old songs and and interviews I picked up off youtube. Weekend is here and August is almost over. It is amazing to see how the musical career of friends are starting to take off. This is probably the only site where you can find really eclectic stuff. I mean think about it: punk, traditional and new age all in one edition plus other interesting trivia along the way. But like I said, today we are going to go a little bit soft. I warn you though he next edition is going to be ear pounding.
The Cornish diva of the bow is celebrating her birthday today. It was perhaps about two years ago when I invited her for an interview article. This woman is really down to Earth, intelligent and passionate about her culture. What are better tunes to celebrate her birthday than this beautiful Cornish dance tune which she performed and also one of her tracks from Between Worlds. Check them out!
Cornish Dance “Mazey Dazey” Sue Aston/Tros An Treys
Taken from the album ‘Between Worlds’ by Sue Aston Filmed in Cornwall UK
One of the songs by Emma Kate Tobia that you don’t get to hear in youtube so I took time to upload it for your listening pleasure. Have you observed that there are songs in any album by any artist that don’t usually get to be a single yet that song sounds really good? Next time I will have to find someone who works in the record industry and ask how they get together to decide which songs in the album become singles. This is the 11th track off her album Aisling na nGael. I recommend it if you are into classical type of singing and lush orchestration. I was raised in Classical music so I really dig tunes such as this one. And yes, the Irish part came a bit later. When you merge the two influences , the result is always amazing.
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Noel Duggan of Clannad Speaks About the reason why they got together again.
Now going back to the video, Noel Duggan says here that they never really disbanded but concentrated in their individual projects. I think taking the time off from your band to hone your own musical styles can be a refreshing and creative thing would you agree? I am just so glad one of the best Celtic bands in the world is back!
That is a link to the track samples off the Celtic group Karnataka. Think of them as Riverdance, meets Gaelic Storm. They make big sounds and their live shows are always grand. Check them out if you like your Celtic music grand, big and theatrical.
Denez Prigent is one of the artists who introduced me to the music of Brittany. His voice has that haunting quality of a pinched pipe and the moving power of Gregorian singing. The subtle orchestration really highlights the beautiful singing between him and Lisa Gerrard. This language is Breton. What is more compelling is the translation I found in this channel:
In English: An hini a garan (‘The One I love’) The one I love, before, when we were little at home when we were so near to each other My heart was loving only one When I was little at home, the one I love. The one I love, I lost forever Gone far away and will never come back And this is what I sing for the one I love. The one I love one day left me For a far away land A land that I don’t know Lost, lost one day, the one love
Wow I think this is one of the songs you would like to listen to in your room after a break up with someone.
Plus today in pictures: Cheers+Greenland Whalefishers and The Electric Light Programme.
With readership and endorsements growing, it is easy for me to have CONTINUITY. It is great to mix and match music. And you know what’s fun?Having to write sooo little yet expose so MUCH music. What are we having for weeks to come? We will have Corrina Hewat, novelist Karen Victoria Smith, Calum Stewart and Will Tun and the Wasters. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We will have MORE!
Corrina Hewat is promoting Harp Village. The last event happened in 2010. September is going to be exciting!
The harp village 2012
Friday September 28th – Sunday September 30th
in venues all round Cromarty
I went and checked Cromarty Arts Trust and it is really an amazing venue:
It says Cromarty Arts Trust was established in 1987
Aims and objectives
To support the conservation of buildings of historical or architectural importance
To promote the advancement of education
To encourage the conservation of natural features, landscape, ecology and character of the area
To stimulate public interest in the history, character, beauty and wildlife of the area
To nurture artistic activity, locally nationally and internationally.
In pursuance of these aims we have raised over £1 million for the following purposes:
Restoration and conversion of three architecturally important buildings in Cromarty
The Brewery, restored in 1989 and now operated as the Cromarty Training Centre; The Stables, a Listed Grade A building restored in 1995; and Ardyne, a fine example of a merchant’s house restored in 1994.
You will see more of this delicate playing when you go watch the performance.
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Music from Brittany: Bagad Kemper
Guéna Lamour: Road-trip West Coast /Australia
Guéna Lamour was part of the Celtic/pop group Meliouank playing the keyboards though his main instrument is the bombarde. Right now he is devoting his energy to a group called Bagad Kemper and at the same time practicing for the duet competition of traditional music with a singer. Every year there is a big competition the first week of September, of the best duets of traditional music in Brittany. Bagad Kemper does something really exciting to Breton music and I am sure after seeing these videos you’d agree.
This is more like a rehearsal.
You can see his performance focused around 5:13 of this video
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Today in Pictures: Cheers+Greenland Whalefishers 24.08.2012
This is the aftermath of the most anticipated event in Celtic punk history within the Czech Republic. Greenland Whalefishers from Norway shared the stage with Cheers, both bands playing highly charged melodic punk tunes forged through the spirit of Paddy Rock. Check out this link and also add the band to your favorites to get the latest gig updates.
KCLR 96 FM is a radio station in Carlow Kilkenny Ireland. This station covers new and old music. This link below is a recorded show from Martin Bridgeman. He has a guest in the studio Michael Brunnock and you would hear music and conversation. Martin does interesting things in his show. Have a listen.
From Martin Bridgeman:
“We’re all good. Some good news on the show front. I’ll have an interview and tunes from on Sunday from Mick McAuley and Winnie Horan from Solas and another Kilkenny Musician Colm O’Caoimh. And if all goes well, I’ll have an interview with Jacqui McShee from Pentangle shortly”…
Singer/songwriter Slim took time between gigs to discuss his new album “ Gallows Tree Tales.”
Gallows Tree Tales is an album that will dance around your head for days. I know because I have the album and I play it every day. Whether you are using high quality headphones or huge speakers, this is a must have for audiophiles.
Slim is our artist of the week.This is our second ‘meeting’. I discovered his music a year ago through TradConnect, a social network for lovers of traditional Irish music. He was networking with trad. performers who played on the album. He shared the rough mixes of the tracks to potential fans through his Soundcloud account. Now the album is finished. It promises to please many listeners. Gallows Tree Tales has epic hooks, catchy melodies, and a mastering done with impeccable taste and precision. This is a great addition one’s music library – a timeless album to listen to again and again across generations. Here is our interview.
Slim at last the album Gallows Tree Tales is out! Now tell us about your memorable experiences recording these wonderful tracks.
Yep, the album’s out – after over three years of hard graft, it’s here. There’ve been so many magical experiences, – getting the bones together of the first track I wrote (‘Til My Dying Day), and releasing a rough demo of that to my fans on Facebook, and getting just the most beautiful feedback from it, and realizing right at that very point that this project had LEGS! Also with this project, although I didn’t have a working band when I started it, I really didn’t want it to read like ‘Slim plays all the instruments’ – I wanted it to be a classic folk-rock record, with loads of different artists on board, lots of different sounds and talents.
So as I was developing each song, I was adding session players to the mixes, and before we even get on to the gospel choir, there’s getting on for seven musicians on most of the tracks. Dan Clark plays some beautiful lead guitars, there are some stunning bits of Celtic pipes, flutes, and whistles, some beautiful backing vocals, and since I record everything myself, those ‘lightbulb’ moments when each player started up recording for the first time brought many shivers down my spine – I hope everyone else hears and feels these too.
Tell us about the choir. The choir appeared in the album giving it a gospel feel.
The choir (Singology Gospel Choir) are actually only on one song – ‘Peggy Gordon’ – which was one of the last songs that we cut for the record. It was a dear friend of mine, JR who suggested a gospel choir for that track. Since I’ve been doing the Gallows Tree Tales record for a fair while, I’ve been bouncing rough mixes, sketches and the like off my friends and family for so long – and probably ad nauseum in some cases – to get their take on things. These people should get credits really for all the ‘it needs a middle eight!’ / ‘you can sing that better!’ / ‘let me do some harmony vocals on that one!’ comments that I’ve got over time! Anyhow – Singology are one of my friend Reese Robinson’s community choir that she runs in London. And I just asked if they’d be up for doing a track. Very simple really.
The logistical side was a bit tricky – there were getting on for twenty of them, and my studio’s in the loft conversion in my house in Hackney. So we had the lounge as the green room, where they rehearsed, and then we got them up in groups of three or four to record the parts and sent them down again, while I plied them with pizza, and then we crammed them all into the loft for a final ensemble piece with claps and the works. Toni’s arrangement of the parts was spine tingling, and we doubled everyone’s parts so in effect you have about thirty people singing on the final mix. They graced me with their singing at the launch gig in August at Proud Galleries Camden, and we’re using that video footage to make a promo video which will be stunning. We’ll definitely get them on board for more than one track on the next record – Celtic gospel folk-rock – we’ve invented a new genre I reckon!
The songs are very catchy, adult alternative radio oriented but also very Irish. How did you come up with these songs?
I wanted this record to be like one of the classic seventies rock records. Not just a couple of singles and some filler, but a journey record crammed full of hooks and moments. And I didn’t just hole up in the studio for two months and rush through writing eleven songs, as I’ve had to spend a good chunk of the last three and a half years working (running my home studio, playing session guitar, getting drunk!).
So every song has had to pass through a lot of stages before it made the cut. And I made a conscious effort to give EVERY song a massive hook, a chorus melody that you could sing. ‘Til My Dying Day was the germ of the project, and that came from a great trip to Cork to see some friends back in November 2009, and when I got back to London with Irish airs bouncing around my head (mainly from my mate Donie who’s always singing after a few ales), that kind of informed the whole enterprise.
I got Orlaith McAuliffe and Colman Connolly on the record to give some real Celtic flavours later on which just blew me away – the Uilleann pipes that Colman plays at the start of ‘Til My Dying Day were actually just him checking his tuning and warming up, and it was one of those ‘stop! – we’re using that for the intro!’ moments right away. That first song was like an old yarn that I made up, and I thought, why not do a whole record of tales, which is what we’ve got now. I’m actually as proud of the lyrics as the melodies on this record – I think it all holds together really well.
I like the play of tempo in your track arrangement. The album starts with a ballad then ends with a ballad. In between are energetic tracks that will sure to get people up their feet. Who worked with you in the track order?
Well the last track (‘Reason And Rhyme’) was the first to place. My best mate Jim Gipson wrote the lyrics, and the sentiment of that song is just perfect for the end – ‘We’ve had our time, we’ve had our reason and rhyme’ – a positive break-up tune. I wanted a big Beatlesy singalong chorus to tower off into oblivion, and it’s the only track on the record with a fade-out. We did it live at the launch gig with the choir, with each band member leaving the stage ‘til there was just Singology Gospel Choir onstage singing their hearts out. Perfect.
As for sorting the order of the rest of the tracks, I actually bestowed that honour upon Andy Adams, my drummer. He’s been a tower of strength on this record – I bounce most everything I do off him. He’s fiercely opinionated, and I like people with something to say. So I just told him to go away and order the record, and there you have it. When you’re a solo artist it’s nice to offload some of the weight of responsibility for things!
Your songs have universal appeal. They all talk about the human condition but not confined to personal issues alone. There are also songs about history and places. Was the inclusion of these ideas intentional?
Some of the tales are fictional stories about the usual suspects (love, loss, booze, madness, drugs and the like). Jim Gipson wrote the lyrics to the two most personal love and break-up songs – Heart And Soul, and Reason And Rhyme – he writes in a very direct way, in a style that I don’t, and it’s great to carry that emotional burden for a moment when you’re singing them. There’s actually only one true story there – Cadogan 129, about the very first murder on Britain’s railways in 1864, which is focused on a pub round the corner from me in Hackney, London, which my mate Frank told me about as he lives next door to it.
The great thing about the interweb is once you’ve found a yarn, you can Google it to death, trawl Wikipedia and before you know it you’ve fleshed out a whole web of lives from the past. The middle eight of that song is the actual poem they’d read to the condemned murderer on the day of his hanging, ending with ‘May the lord have mercy on your soul!’, which was a nice touch. I’ll definitely revisit this technique of tale-telling for the next LP.
How do you see yourself 10 years from now as a musician?
In a very similar place to now I’d hope, as I really couldn’t improve upon these Gallows Tree Tales, how we wrote it, how it was recorded, the beautiful people who helped craft it – I’m just so proud of it. I’d definitely like to do more with trad. players from Celtic shores, and more work with the gospel choir, and I think there’s some more acoustic and pastoral places that I could go, but for now, I wanted to make this big, bold, technicolour folk record, that makes you laugh, cry, dance, and who knows what else all at once. I think we nailed it. The big job for the start of the next ten years is getting it out there.
Are you planning an album tour and where?
The next stage is getting this out there so absolutely yeah we’re gonna take this out on the road. London is the focus of course, but the tunes will travel. Definitely we’re talking festivals next summer and hopefully a good support slot or two. I’m gonna get the gospel choir thing rolling too, and the idea of having a collective of musicians that can come in and out and give their flavours. We’ll be doing another big night at Proud Galleries in Camden towards the end of 2012 with a bit more of an industry and press focus, and we’ve got a warm-up on October 7th at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington. Watch this space I guess. I’m off on a road trip from New York to New Orleans in September, so we’ll definitely try for some guerrilla gigs across the pond!
When you are not doing music, what are the other things you are passionate about?
Music’s pretty much the big deal for me – it’s all I do, and what I was born to do. I’ve got about a hundred other projects on the burner at any one time, and don’t devote nearly enough time to any of them. I do balearic electro stuff with one of me best mates Steve Lee (The Project Club), I play guitar with Reese Robinson who runs Singology, and we do kinda nu-soul acoustic tunes. It’s all about collaboration in my book – I met a great MC called Cozmost at Burning Man festival in Nevada last summer, and we’re gonna do a remote hip-hop-folk collaborative thing when I get time. This music thing is really all I live and breathe.
This is the second time we met in this interview and I don’t want to repeat myself. What are the other things you want to tell your listener that you think we haven’t covered yet?
The only thing I have to say to everyone is please get online and buy the record. I’m insanely proud of how Gallows Tree Tales turned out – and it’ll dance around your head for days and days if you let it! So go to www.slim-music.com and get on it, and of course befriend the Facebook band page by ‘liking’ it! www.facebook.com/gallowstreetales. And come and see us live!
Listening to the entire album echoes the passages in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. You travel through the depths of the human experience and you’re purged. Gallows Tree Tales has the larger than life themes that resonate through your soul. You just have to be prepared and you’ll come out of it more human, more honest and healed.
Sampler:
The Gallows Tree artwork courtesy of Slim\s official website
Slim’s band personnel:
Slim – vocals and guitar Andy Adams – drums Benn Cordrey – bass jh – keyboards Sam Kimmins – harmonica and percussion Dan Clark – electric guitar Seb Wesson – electric guitar Emma Bowles – backing vocals The Singology Gospel Choir conducted by Reese Robinson
To buy physical and digital copies (via Itunes) of Slim’s Gallows Tree Tales, get involved, and find out more, visit Slim’s official website www.slim-music.com
Teaser for the rest of the album tracks
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Misc
The Celtic Music Fan would like to greet Baz Mcsherry a Happy birthday. You are now older and wiser Baz! Here you are with your great song:
Celtic Music Fan 