In all seriousness, ladies & germs, since my last post there's been a dramatic mixture of nothing and everything going on, culminating in my return from Ireland last night clutching in one stygian paw a shining, circular vessel of sonic missive. Found lingering on that mercurial archive, among other curiosities, is this: a new demo containing five songs, including this one - my first serious attempt to transplant my songs into something like a "band" format.
Having recently received back word from Dan Keeling, a music industry bigshot who signed Coldplay, that upon hearing my first demo he decided it was "not what he was looking for at the moment".
I am quite taken aback sometimes at the lack of imagination displayed by music industry executives. There was a time when an "Artist & Repertoire" man's job was to be able to listen to a bare-bones demo and fill in the blanks himself, deciding what style, what backing and even what songs would best suit the artist. It seems now that that job has devolved into simply looking for some already-finished product that's lingering somewhere near the edge of whatever is the most recent trend among the scenesters and teenyboppers, who are people who know nothing about music and will buy whatever they're told is the cool new thing.
SO in the coming months I'll be putting together a fully-featured new demo of songs with full backing arrangements in a band format. The above track is just a preliminary experiment, knocked up in 2 hours with me playing everything except bass and percussion, which the producer handled himself. This new project has me re-energised and my enthusiasm has recovered significantly since my rather mopey last post.
Essentially my aim now is to get myself a manager. It's always been obvious to me that I'm just not the type of artist who can do his own publicity and networking. I can't be bothered to sit in front of myspace sending 500 friend requests when I could be out working on my craft. So I'm casting my eye around for who are the decent management companies who deal with my sort of music. I've got a notion to get in touch with Mondo Management, who deal with Damien Rice and David Gray and have a strong foothold in the Irish scene.
It's finally sunk in that this is a real long-term project I've got on my hands here. A lot of today's respected singer-songwriters are pushing 30 by the time they really get noticed. A year ago I'd have seen that as a waste of 10 years but now I understand that if that's what it takes, them's the breaks. This is what I signed up for.
Let me know what you think of the track. I've also uploaded 4 other newly recorded songs in the old solo format. Won't be playing any gigs with band accompaniment for a good while probably as it's simply not practical, especially considering I've just had to get myself a job to stay fed and sheltered.
Keep it lit
JBN
Well, I just got back from playing Indieboy's night at Tommy Flynn's and I must say I'm in a pretty grim frame of mind. Strange how around the time of my last post I was just about ready to take on the world, and now I'm back on the bottom of the pile again.
A little background information, perhaps; the aforementioned independent label thing fell through in a spectacular and singularly disheartening fashion. The one hand giveth, and the other taketh away. The people who were so wildly enthusiastic and optimistic to start with, who I'd had serious, guinness-fuelled shouting whirling gesticulation talks with about things as grandiose as providing a fresh, spirited ideal and wholly new music platform and dealing in heavy honest artistic reputation instead of gnarling hype machine paranoia, turned around and said they want to start off with someone more commercial. The word 'poppy' was uttered. So it goes. They're nice people and they're still offering me gigs, but I hope for their sakes they grow some balls because they'll be eaten alive if they're trying to go the commercial route with a tiny fledgling label.
So now it's the Ides of March and morale is waning low in the Newman camp. I hadn't played a gig in over a month before tonight, and I rehearsed like crazy which worked completely to my detriment. First I forgot the words to "I Fought the Floor" and then my voice completely gave up on me towards the end of the set. I have another gig tomorrow night at the Open Wan... I mean, Hope & Anchor on upper street, hopefully it will have recovered by then. I decided to take a risk on a new song I just finished, and screwed it up royally. I also tried out a song by a friend of mine from Belfast, and played it in too low of a key turning a beautiful and heartbreaking song into a real dirge.
Ach! Enough of this whingeing flagellation. Everybody has their off nights. It's just that when you've played a few really blinding gigs you wonder why they can't all be like that. So it goes. I look forward with a kind of cringeing trepidation to seeing the footage James took, hopefully it'll be useable.
The plus side of all this indulgent self-loathing is that I'm writing some really great new material, which I hope to have recorded in some form in the coming weeks for your listening pleasure.
Keep it lit
Just taking the time to fling a little news update this way, due to recent interesting developments.
I played an excellent gig last wednesday at Canal 125 in Kings Cross at the invitation of "Hooked on wednesdays". The venue itself is real nice and has a great atmosphere. The guys have a huge PA system for such a small room but there's nothing wrong with that! As soon as I got there I was given a free burger and some tokens for four free drinks at the bar. Now that's a way to keep the performers happy. I am continually and consistently disappointed in the off-hand way most promoters treat the artists at gigs, most of whom make great demands on the artist's patience and promotional nous, and then not bothering to pay anything at all, let alone actually make you feel at home or welcomed in any kind of way. That's a rant for another time, though.
There was another guy on the bill whose stuff I liked - name of Steve Finn. Worth checking out. Sort of a mancunian blues thing. Great harp player.
Anyway both my sets went very well and were well received by the audience (I'd like to thank the man known only as "The Jacket" once again for bringing people along), but the promoters themselves seemed the most impressed - in fact, they approached me afterwards to discuss a small indie label they're planning on setting up. It seems they've got the relevant facilities in place and they're interested in putting out my stuff. I don't want to jinx anything so I won't say any more now but they want to have a meeting in the next couple of weeks.
It's been about 2 months since I posted anything here, but this here is kind of a special one because I'm posting the first-ever video of me performing in public, just for you lucky people!
The video was taken during my performance of a recent and previously-unrecorded song at the Nog Gallery in Brick Lane, for the launch party of Cluster magazine on 7th December 2007. It even features an authentic (and rare) sighting of a glaring JB Newman fuckup at the start of the second verse when I sing the wrong line.
The sound at the venue wasn't too great - we had to kind of improvise the PA system when I got there. You can hear the song fine though. Enjoy!
JBN
Keen viewers will note that creatures of the night usually appear invisible in photographic footage or mirrored surfaces. For this video I can thank dear friend and paranormal investigator Meeya Chaudhury, whose mystic techniques and equipment made this video possible.
Stay tuned on Newman TV for another video from the gig which will be uploaded soon.
A couple more songs off of my 13-track demo album here, "Have Mercy On Me", kind of a bluesy lament, and "Sing Anything", kind of a hillbilly surrealist love song. Here's a post I just made to my myspace blog to go along with them:
Q: Voice + Wilderness = ?
Category: Music
Well it's been a wee while since I posted anything here, so I figured it's about time I gave a quick update for anyone who happens to care.
It seems my last shout was back in April, around when my EP came out on iTunes and I was preparing to go back to the Holy Land of Ireland to play the festival and sink deep into the grand melting pot of musical culture that bubbles over in all directions. "From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay", there's not an Irish mile that can't be walked in song. The week I spent in Rostrevor in July and the events of the month or two after have caused a great flowering of the branches of the tree of life and pushed me above and beyond what I was capable of as a musician and songwriter. Ireland has cleaned and rinsed the bones, unstitched the filthy straitjacket of London's fashion voodoo, wiped off the soot and smog-crusted mirrors lining its hideous boudoir and left them clear windows to the soul.
"...'Soul', I prayed,
'I have hawked you through the world
Of church and state and the meanest trade.
But this evening, halter off,
Never again will it go on.
On the south side of ditches
There is grazing of the sun.
No more haggling with the world...'
As I said these words he grew
Wings upon his back. Now I may ride him
Every land my imagination knew."
- From 'Pegasus', by Patrick Kavanagh
For my knowledge of the above poem I must thank Michael Diamond, a genuine Irish genius in word and bottle, upon whose songs we have recently wrought holy melancholy havoc in the studio at Annalong. The stories he's told me and the things we've done and have yet to do have finished in me the forging of the bright chisel that will carve all of my songs into the air. Hitch-hiking miles up the coast in the wind and rain in the middle of the night with guitars and the barking of dogs, we were Robert Johnson and Dr Faust in a play by Gilbert & Sullivan with a soundtrack by the Pogues.
Back here in the great slavering maw of London's old limping hound, I return to the howling chore of a life among the screaming deaf. The total lack of anything resembling a music industry in Northern Ireland makes the impossibility of my staying there indefinitely a blank fact. I've got a few more tracks recorded, bringing the total up to 13, which counts as a full album's worth. I may put them up on iTunes to replace the 7-strong bunch already on there. The (possibly temporary) unburdening of the spirit means I'm coming up with new songs at a rate much faster than before, so I'm aiming to have a second album's worth done by the new year. I'm also planning to shoot a video next time I'm back in Ireland - since there's nothing in London worth filming.
London is at the moment a great fat rock that simply sits and can't be shifted, leaving me only to set about climbing it and hope that at the top, someone might see me and throw down at least a biscuit to float home on. Where home is, I don't know, or can't decide.
Hi guys, nice group. These are all the songs I've uploaded to Vox so far, have a listen. The lyrics are on the page for each song. Cheers
JBN
This is a recap of everything I've put up so far here. Thanks to those of you who've left comments, I appreciate your interest and your encouraging remarks. Very soon I plan to have a video up here of me performing on the rocky beach back in Ireland, stay tuned to see it. I'm playing round about London for the next month or two, and I'll keep you all posted as to the whereabouts of said gigs. In the meantime have another listen here and enjoy.
Keep it lit
JBN
This song's not too serious or anything, just a little story about something that happened to a friend of mine. In fact, I think it's happened to all of my friends... started off as a joke, then I thought well, why not write the song? So here it is. Think of it as a requiem for the inebriated.
JBN
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Recent Comments
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This Morning Call said:
Thats a very honest post, mate. I forget the words all the time... on Friday I made up a whole... read more
on How long, oh lord, how long? -
SILO said:
Chin up mate, how would you know the highs if you don't know the lows? Also, I'm pretty sure that... read more
on How long, oh lord, how long? -
The Jacket said:
Regarding the label, at least they had a change of direction before you started working together.Regarding your gig, some'll be... read more
on How long, oh lord, how long? -
Beverley Williams said:
hey jb....... thanks for the post...... find it interesting and completely agree... i actually hate the industry at the moment... read more
on How long, oh lord, how long?
Mate im really sorry for you, ive done it recently and theres no consoling is there :)But i just think... read more
on How long, oh lord, how long?