Here’s a four song video from that little set I did in Limerick recently at a songwriters session down there.
Set list in the video:
The Guinness was good there, that’s all I’m gonna say, and thanks to the guys behind the Limerick SongWriters night for recording the video!
Dublin is proving to have many little hidden gems at the moment. When I played the Saucy Sundays sessions in January, I was blown away by the venue upstairs in the Grand Social. Wonderful place to play, and the audience were fantastic. I had a similar experience with the very intimate Matchbox Theatre, which is downstairs in Le Café des Irlandais on Georges St (where Café Bar Deli used to be).
This beautifully intimate café theatre hosts the 50 Cent Sessions every Wednesday at the moment, and is the perfect venue for this kind of an evening. Last wednesday I was playing a wee set there, and it was wonderful to get to hear such a variety of other acts.
I had the odd experience of following another pianist (it’s not often you run into piano-based songwriters at nights like this, for some reason. Lots of guitars, not so much piano), so we decided to share the same set-up, to save time and hassle on the night. So, I was playing an unfamiliar digital piano, which just felt all kinds of wrong. And I was sitting down. I realised that I’ve never actually done a solo gig sitting down at the piano. I seem to play standing up when I’m performing pretty much always. It really is more constricting to be sitting, and I ended up contorting and piano-bench humping and understanding just why someone like Tori Amos ends up writing around on the piano bench while performing. It’s not in me to sit still while playing.
Watch me being all awkward with a strange piano. But it was the night before Paddy’s Day, so I sang one of my Irish language songs.
Nevertheless, it renewed my love for my own gear, as I really do love the digital Roland I’ve had for the last 8 years or so. It’s heavy as hell, and a pain in the ass to move between gigs sometimes, especially since my case has now lost all handles and broken both wheels, but I really noticed the difference it makes when I was without it last Wednesday. Needless to say, next time I’ll forgo using someone else’s, even if it is less hassle, as I’m just more comfortable with something that feels closer to a real piano.
This song was previously demo’d about a year ago, and even shoddier than this demo I’m posting today, but nonetheless, the song has come together more in my head, and I’ve a clearer idea of it now than I did 12 months ago. It’s a cute little pop song that kept popping into my head in different bits and pieces, that all came together on the piano at one point. It has a jauntiness that makes me smile, and although I think I really intended on making it quite a musically simple song, it hops back and forth between two keys instead. Oh well, that’s what I get for intentionally trying to write something simple and straight forward. It seems that when I try to write something more complex, I end up using two or three chords!
Nevertheless, I like this little tune. I fuck up the piano, as I’m wont to do, and I probably go off key too, which is my other little issue when I’m recording myself. I really hate recording myself. Just thought I’d put that out there.
But yeah, this song is about liking someone you should really like in that way at all, but you know, you can’t really help who you fall for sometimes can you? I kinda like the gender-fuck in the lyrics, and it was intentional.
Is This What They Call Romance? [demo] by misterebby
(lyrics after the jump)
I was going through all the stuff I’ve demo’d and seeing what needed improving, and did two re-demos of two songs last night. This is the first of them : “Galway Rain”, which I’ve written about before.
I have an awful habit of being really “free” in my approach to rhythm and keeping a steady tempo. It’s something that has always plagued my piano work even as a classical student. But the years of having to practice with a metronome filled me with an absolute distaste for them and click tracks. But it’s something I need to overcome as well as working on listening closer to my own internal sense of rhythm instead of abandoning my playing completely to emotional rubato.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to retake this demo – to get a tighter feel to the pulse, which I managed to mess up in the bridge again when I went to relisten to it. I guess I’ll have to take out my metronome again, or overcome my fear of click tracks.
Listening back to recordings of yourself is the most horrible, yet often essential learning.
Anyways, here’s the re-take of that demo, mistakes and all.
Galway Rain (demo) by misterebby
Lyrics Read More
This post on Edible Geography struck a chord with me. I’m definitely one of those people who sits in cafés for hours working.
Usually though, people can see what I’m doing, as I’m rarely on a laptop anymore since the death of my Powerbook G4, and I’m usually switching between a notebook (yes, actual paper one), manuscript paper (yes, more actual paper you use for writing music), and my phone (for my twitter addiction).
For example, I took this shot of my “workspace” last month while sitting in Kelly’s Bar & Restaurant, which is one of my favourite places to do some work:
I love working while in cafés and actually prefer it to working at my desk at home. I’m more productive and more focused when I’m working in a café and get a lot more work done in that kind of environment than I do pretty much anywhere else.
It’s always been that way – throughout uni, I’d get my composition assignments written in the canteen, the students union bar, or any of my favourite cafés in town. The noise and the bustle meant I had to focus on whatever work I was doing. I had to really concentrate to get the work done. That kind of atmosphere works for me. True, I may have also been using the lunch hour before the assignment was due to both eat and get the work done at the same time, but a bit of last minute pressure always helps. ;)
These days, I sit and write out arrangements for songs of mine, or for various different work that I do with choirs, or singing classes. I work on lyrics for my own songs, or write other things like this that make me happy.
I do get some strange looks sometimes, if I’m sitting with a full score out on the table while I have lunch or coffee, quietly working away writing down notes. And it’s certainly not as handy as using MuseScore (a free, open source Sibelius-like software) on my iMac at home, but it’s a bit more comfortable for me and I don’t make as good coffee as those cafés do.