Bonde De Christmas at Mr Wolfs

I played an acoustic gig at Mr Wolfs noodle bar in Bristol last night.

Bristol is only a short way from where I live now but it still feels like an adventure whenever I go there. I think it's because I don't really know where anything is in relation to anything else there so it always feels like I'm lost in some foreign land or something.

The other thing about Bristol is that the streets all seem smaller and the buildings much taller then in Bath. It's a dominating city.

Mr Wolfs is a great little venue. It combines scuzzy and fresh in equal measures which I've decided is how a live music venue should be. Dirty enough to keep posh, middle age twats out but clean enough that you can enjoy the music and the environment without worrying for your health.

And they serve great noodles. I experienced a slightly peculiar feeling of ease last night, perched at the bar, drinking an ice cold beer, slurping down some spicy beef noodles and semi listening to one of the other acts on the bill. It's a feeling you should try to experience by visiting Mr Wolfs and slurping down some noodles of your own. Of course, you have to use chopsticks to really capture the right effect.

I played for 45 minutes which is one of the longest sets I have played in a long time. I was worried that my voice would give or I would make some terrible mistake because I really haven't been practising as much as I should recently, but my set actually went really well.

My only criticism is that I don't feel I invested my performance with as much emotion as I would normally try to but I think this is something that becomes harder to do when playing sets of longer duration. I'm afraid that it may also be a side effect of me doing the same thing for too long now and needing to find a new musical challenge.

My next acoustic gig is on the 27th of January at The Porter in Bath.

The Changing Of The Bard

On Sunday night we went to Back To Mine to see the changing of the Bard of Bath.

I was keen to go - live music, poetry, a relaxing Sunday evening - perfect.

A few other people obviously had the same idea and the club was actually quite busy with a really good atmosphere. I was kind of expecting only a handful of creative writing students and a few stuffy old poetry enthusiasts to be in attendance but thankfully I was wrong.

I think the attendance and the atmosphere prove that poetry and spoken word are still hugely relevant to peoples lives today. Poetry is cutting edge and something that we should be seeing more of on the streets, in our pubs and clubs and in the media.

Highlight of the evening for me had to be the Bard of Glastonbury. Excellent, honest, intelligent and funny in just the right places.

In other news, I have (or will shortly be) uploading a new track to my Tapper myspace profile. The new track is called The Promise.

Drip Drip Drip

Ages ago I was becoming obsessed with a 'drip drip' theory. The idea is that success will come from the things that take a little amount of effort, regularly, with no gratification, and over long periods of time. Like posting on this blog for example.

I was reminded of this theory the other day when looking at the number of hits and the number of song plays my myspace page has been receiving. It isn't a huge amount but I consider it to mean something. That just through the page existing, people are looking at the content, reading the blogs and listening to the music. As I gradually get my act together and get the page completely up and running (photos, music, videos etc), I am expecting the page to become a bigger success.

I guess this answers my question from a few weeks ago - Do people still use myspace? Yes they do.

Self Portraits

Been taking some self portraits recently.

Over the last year I've become increasingly interested in portrait photography and have been really pleased with some of the shots I have taken - of course, they have all been of other people with me behind the camera.

Taking self portraits without the aid of anybody else is a completely different ball game. Just focusing and framing a shot becomes a real challenge.

The hardest bit of the process eventually becomes evident through sharp pains in your knees. Constantly ducking down to view your last shot, setting up the next, then dashing back across the room to get into position before the timer takes the shot is a type of physical activeness I'm not really used too.

In the end, the shots actually turned out pretty good - the other limiting factor for the shoot was the poor availability of light but hey ho - I think I will post the results here soon as they actually have a certain professional quality to them. Professional in a very 90s way though.

This weekend I am completely focused on recording some new work for the Tapper project. I'm also planning on doing some work on the myspace which at the moment, is really just the bare bones of a profile and says nothing about the music that will be hosted there.

Some kind of focus is exactly what I need at the moment - today has not been a very inspiring day - but I'm starting to feel motivated about the weekend.

Tapper

The Tapper project is still ticking along nicely. I had a practice yesterday and I became excited all over again when imagining what these songs will be like when I eventually perform them live on stage.

The sound of the project is still changing, but currently is lingering somewhere between new-romantic synth pop, indie electro, and atmospheric dance. Sound interesting?

I've been incredibly busy recently with one thing or another so haven't really been able to devote as much time to the music as I would like to. I'm hoping that over the next few weeks, I should get some time to record some more as I have another song pretty much finished, and I want to get a demo of it up on myspace.

My thoughts are also shifting to my next acoustic gig - the 28th of December at Mr Wolfs Noodle Bar in Bristol. This is currently the last acoustic gig I have booked, however, after the last show I played, I've decided to try and book a few more since I had so much fun performing. Perhaps when the Tapper project is off the ground then I will feel differently.

Song writing with my new band is also coming along nicely. I feel that my electric guitar playing has already noticeably improved in the short time I've been in the band - playing with other musicians really is the best way to develop.

My Music

I'm writing an essay at the moment that discusses my music - my own creative practice.

It's interesting that I'm doing this at a time where my creative practice and what I do as a musician is in a state of flux. I'm midway between different genres, different ways of working and different ideas on what music and performance should be about.

I played an acoustic show last night at The Porter. I've said that I will be phasing out my acoustic work now to concentrate on a new musical direction - Tapper - however, after last night, I'm kinda wondering whether that is the direction I want to take.

I know I definitely want to explore some new performance styles and I'm definitely enjoying working on the Tapper project at the moment, but I'm not so sure I want to simply walk away from my acoustic work just yet. Just when I think I've done everything I can with it, it offers something new - it makes me happy.

I guess that's what it's all about. Doing what makes you happy, expressing yourself in the way that seems best at the time. Thinking about things too much, trying to make decisions on what to do, rather than just doing what feels right, can perhaps be the wrong approach.

I'm A Writer

I discovered the other day that the article I submitted to the student magazine has been printed.

I know it's only a small deal but to me this marks the start of my career as a writer.

Of course I'm not focusing my plans on becoming a writer, but I do hope that one day, my writing will contribute to my earnings in some way.

So this is the beginning - hooray

In other news, the new band is having what I consider to be our first proper band practice this Saturday. We have a handful of musical ideas, a few lines of lyrics but a strong idea of where we want to take this so I'm looking forward to a good session.

After The Car

I'm not sure what scares me the most, the chaos that will ensue when we finally run out of oil, the devastation that will be caused by flash flooding and other natural disasters, or having to live in a post car world like the ones described in the book of the above title.

It is actually a great book though - I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in environmental issues.

After reading last night, I couldn't help wonder what my role would be in the new, post car world.

I Could Have Played All Night

So I played in Taunton town centre on Sunday as part of the Christmas lights switch on celebrations.

I was more nervous about playing this show then I have been about any other show I've played recently. Going out the night before had only served to deepen my worries as my throat was feeling like crap and I knew I hadn't practiced or warmed up all week thanks to illness.

But things actually went really well. I felt massively relaxed throughout my performance and really enjoyed playing. I was only onstage for about 30 minutes but I could have happily continued to play for another 30 - 40 minutes.

I think the atmosphere in Taunton on Sunday helped - people were happy to just mill about the town centre, sampling a little bit of everything on offer, whether that was German sausage, French cheese, overpriced sweets or local singer songwriters. There wasn't the need to try and impress an audience, an audience who you have been forced onto in a club, and who are trapped, having to listen to your music for your entire set. People were free to wander around, maybe stop and listen to half a song, before casually moving onto the next attraction.

It was a nice format. I hope I get the opportunity to perform like that again.

I Battle With My Instincts, And The Neon Glare

So I have uploaded the first piece of music to form under the Tapper project. As I am still working hard writing and recording, nothing is completely finished yet so the music I have uploaded is only a backing track to be used in my first demo. It still gives you an idea of where I am taking this project though.

I hope it has uploaded succesfuly.

Please let me know what you think - as I said, everything is still in the development stage so feedback is invaluable.

When I began work on this project, excitement got the better of me and I began trying to rush ideas out. I have decided to take a small step back and take my time to develop some of my ideas. I have set myself a goal to have this project out and on stage by January next year. Up until that point, I will be writing, recording, producing, and uploading the results here for you all to hear.

Liquid Liquid And Other Good Things

It's surprising how busy I have been recently. Busy and incredibly content with it all.

Last night I went to a meeting to discuss the future of Liquid Soap, a (now) student led soap opera hosted on our very own Internet TV channel. My initial plan was that I would be involved with the production of the soap by assisting with the sound recording and post production, however, due to a change in circumstances surrounding the running of both the show and its Internet channel, it looks like my involvement may become deeper if we are to be successful in producing a professional product.

I was sceptical of becoming too involved last night - I have been involved with committees before and they usually create more problems then they solve and and can be very unrewarding, however, chatting to some of the guys after the meeting, it seems like there is a really focused bunch of guys willing to put in the hard work to make this channel a success and the future of the show is looking incredibly positive.

Yesterday, I finally posted my completed proposal for The Appledore Arts Festival. Now I just have to sit and wait for their response which could come any time from now until January. I'm really pleased with how the proposal has shaped up and I've had some really encouraging feedback from those who have read it. I've decided that even if the Appledore people aren't interested, I am definitely going to produce the project in some form, either as the intended installation, or simply as a piece of audio work.

And in other news, I have been gathering some energy this week to tackle a new phase of production on the Tapper project. Having reviewed the demo tracks I had produced, I was unhappy with the quality of the production which I felt was stepping over and distracting from the songwriting. My plan is to take the ideas and sounds I like from the demos I have produced so far, and completely re-write the tracks.

I also feel that I rushed into the project a little, trying to produce too much with too little content. I'm setting myself a target to have this project up and running in it's most basic form by January/February next year.

And of course, I have a few acoustic shows lined up:

Nov 15th - Taunton

Dec 2nd - The Porter

Dec 28th - Mr Wolfes

More details on these events will be posted when appropriate. And I am going to try and post a little more frequently here too - so much going on at the moment to talk about.

Interactive

The songwriting/production/recording of my latest material is coming along really well. I'm actually surprised how organic the sessions are, ideas are just flowing out of me at the moment. Amazing what a change of direction can do for your creative spirit.

My only concern at the moment is how much will I actually be interacting with the technology at my hands whilst performing? And is this even important?

I want this new project to be cutting edge, to be utilising technology to the best of it's ability and pushing boundaries of what one man can do in a performance. At the same time though, I want to keep a traditional song format with vocals and guitar. What's actually happening is I'm creating the music before the performance, and then playing and singing along to a backing track, with only minor interaction when I play something on the MIDI keyboard.

I'm sure I can be doing more to be using the technology creatively, but at the same time, I don't want to draw focus away from the songs, and I wonder whether it really matters that the laptop is really just functioning live to play the backing track? The production is still all mine. I'm still creating and performing music using digital technology?

On a different note, I now have a new myspace profile where I will be promoting the Tapper project.

Social Networking - Now How Does That Make Me Feel?

I'm wondering how important social networking sites are for musicians. A few years ago, if you were a band or a singer-songwriter, you had to have one if you wanted to build a fan base and get work. Is that still that case though? Are people still using sites such as myspace to find and support local artists?

Over the last two years, I have been gigging as a solo acoustic musician, completely without the use of a social networking platform. I would say that I've done OK. People have heard my music through frequent live performances and through the exchanges of emails and face to face conversations, I've managed to get a fairly regular stream of gigs.

However, at almost every gig I play, someone asks me if they can find my music on myspace.

So the question is, should I be setting up a myspace page to promote my latest musical project - 'Tapper'?

I can't help thinking that the only people using these sites are other bands and musicians, all screaming for attention. Yes that could open interesting doors in terms of networking and collaboration but the fan base is what's important. People listening to your music, telling their friends about you and coming to see your gigs. And can this be done, perhaps with a greater sense of style and authenticity, by simply bypassing the whole social networking world?

Internet Connection

Thanks to the lack of internet connection in my flat, I have been unable to blog for about a week. Once again I would like to thank O2 for their fantastic mobile phone and internet service that they provide me with.

There is really two (maybe three) things that I have been meaning to get off my chest this last week.

Firstly, I want to talk about drum and bass DJ and producer, High Contrast. I went to a gig he was doing in Bath last week and had a minor epiphany. Normally in a club I will be pretty much worse for wear. I find myself in the same boat as everyone else on the dance floor - off my face and dancing like an idiot to music I can't really hear properly because of the level of drink I have consumed.

Well last week I went out and remained completely sober all night and had a fantastic time - I'm actually considering giving up drinking. After about 5 minutes I felt relaxed enough to begin dancing but there was a moment just as High Contrast was performing his first mix where things totally went off.

I expect that most people in the club were too drunk to notice or care, but as he gradually introduced his next track, you could actually feel the atmosphere rise - it was such a bizarre sensation. And has he finally dropped in his next track I just felt a huge rush of energy that I could only communicate through dancing harder and faster.

We all know that music can affect the way we feel, it alters our emotions and can cause us to react in particular ways, but I think when that's happening to hundreds of people at once, in one single space, it actually creates another energy, one that can be felt by everyone in the room.

The next thing I need to talk about is my personal musical journey. It must be that time of month again where I get fed up with what I'm doing, I doubt the quality of my output and start thinking of different directions to pursue. Well here we go again, except that this time, I actually think I'm going to follow it through.

Yesterday I started working on some music to be performed live using laptop, synthesizer and electric guitar and the music has an alternative minimal disco pop sound. I've briefly experimented with doing this before but what I did yesterday, it actually worked.

I've got ideas for another two songs, lyrics and all, and I'm feeling really excited about getting this new project out of my head, into the studio and onto the stage.

Which leads me to my third topic - Myspace.

Is anyone still using it? Is it really a useful tool for a musician looking to get work?

Just An Update

When I sit down and think about it, I actually have a few things going on at the moment.

Last night I sent my article to the culture sub-editor of Bath Spas student magazine. I'm not holding out any hopes that they will print it or even think it's worth reading but you never know - we all have to start somewhere. And I'm actually quite proud of the article so I guess that's all that matters really.

Work on my proposal for The Appledore Arts festival has been on the back burner this last week. I think I added a few paragraphs the other day and I have collected some examples of my work to put on a CD for them to see what my music sounds like. I actually think it's a pretty strong collection of music - fingers crossed, they will as well.

I also have a gig on November the 15th in Taunton. There will be a stage set up in the town centre with bands playing throughout the afternoon (I think) and then in the evening the Christmas lights will be switched on throughout the town. Yep it's that time already.

From somewhere, deep inside me, the urge to pick up the acoustic and play has started to appear again. Last night I had a little play and I plan to really get myself back up to performance standard over the next few weeks. I've been lazy for too long.

Interesting Point From A Conversation Last Night

In the article posted below, I comment on the mainstream music industries failure to provide us, or point us in the direction of, new and ground-breaking music. They do, however, like to recycle sounds and styles from a decade or so ago, and then spend lots of money trying to convince us that we havn't heard anything like it before.

The article isn't really about me getting up on my soapbox or anything - just food for thought maybe.

An interesting point that was raised last night (in a discussion about the war we are currently involved in) was that all the information we need, including all the music we wish to listen to, is instantly available to us. Arguments of whether the media are providing us with the correct information, or again music (if we want to keep this relevant to the topic), are completely unneccesary. With the resources and technology available in every home, it is down to us to find our own truths, our own information or even - music.

Still, shouldn't stop you from having a rant every now and then should it?

The Music Industry - Doing Its Bit For The Environment?

The music industry is always trying to focus our attention on how new a particular piece of music, sound, or band is. It helps them to sell things to us, after all, if they were to clearly point out to us that La Roux is in actual fact, just a more modern yet banal version of Eurythmics, we probably wouldn’t go out and buy her album. I’d probably be more inclined to nick my mums cassette copy of ‘Sweet Dreams’ instead.

It would appear, and most of us have probably suspected this for a long time, that the music industry really is just recycling music from times they thought we had forgotten, sorting through the platform shoes, the glittered flares, the humongous mobiles, and finding those little gems in the cultural dumping ground, dusting them off and putting them back onto the shelves of HMV.

Of course the exact same thing happened in the 90s. Bands such as Suede, Supergrass and Oasis took the country by storm. For some, a golden age of music, for others, lots of bands sounding like The Kinks but louder, with less Ray Davies and not dressed quite as sharply.

Recycling the styles of bygone eras has been a popular and reliable money making tool of both the music and fashion industry for quite some time, and generally, I think were happy with that. So long as the music coming our way sounds good and allows us to forget our meaningless existence (for some of us anyway) we don’t mind how original or groundbreaking it is.

But is now the time, I wonder, for us to ask ourselves, are we not being short changed? The music industry knows that we have a hunger for new music, for fresh, exciting and original sounds, and they respond with what? Synth pop? And what about the artists out there who are pushing boundaries, artists who are utilising the very latest technologies, rethinking how we compose, deliver and consume music, why aren’t they on the cover of The NME?

From sound artists, challenging our perceptions of sound and of music, pushing the boundaries of performance and what technology can do, through to dance music pioneers, exploring new worlds of texture and connecting with audiences through ever expanding mediums.

These artists are out there, working in what we call the underground, but don’t they deserve a little more attention from our mainstream music media? A little more credit perhaps? And we, the music buying public, don’t we deserve a little more?

Early Morning Post

It's 08:32. I've actually been online for about 20 mins now. I'm combating yesterdays slight depression with a healthy dose of being proactive so I have taken note of the reading lists for some of my modules and intend to hunt down some of the books in the library.

I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between autumn and winter, I guess winter is just a lot colder and with absolutely no leaves on the trees, except for evergreens of course.

All I know is, it's bloody cold here in Bath. It was also grey and drizzly yesterday which doesn't help when you want to get out of the flat and walk into town, hence being trapped in the flat all afternoon.

This morning however, I can see blue sky, the perfect sky for a proactive day.

My Proposal - Introduction

Here is the first draft of the first part of my proposal. I hope it makes sense and sounds interesting without going over the top with the lofty ideas.


‘The Sea....Take Me To The Sea’ places the listener into a whirlpool of sounds and textures, carrying them on a sonic journey through countryside to coastline as they follow along a small part of the river Tor making its way to the sea.

Using location recordings, synthesised textures, and multiple tape loops, I hope to create an open composition where sounds glide over each other, pushing one another in and out of phase and therefore, creating new tones as they disperse around the listening environment. I will purposefully set the individual elements of the composition so that the timings and structure of the piece vary over time, constantly presenting new harmonic and rhythmic relationships between sounds.

My hope is that, in this blurring of boundaries and structure, I can recreate the flow and constantly evolving state of water as it move around our planet and through our lives.
At the very least, This soundscape will seek to paint a sonic picture of our beautiful countryside and coastline and where the mix of sounds, some familiar, some not, will create a sense of harmony and peace for the individual listener.

Audio Diary Part 1

Just finished producing the first part of my audio diary which will document my artistic journey up to the Appledore Arts Festival 2010.

The first part is really just an introduction and an extremely brief overview of the project I will be working on.

I decided that I should produce a small loop of music to have running in the background as I give my introduction - the sort of thing radio presenters talk over or they have running on cooking shows as they tell you what ingredients you will need to make a pie or whatever.

Producing this short piece of music was the first time recently that I have really sat back and thought, 'Hey, I think I could make a career out of this'. I loaded up my production software and in about 15 mins, I had a professional sounding ambient loop of drums, bass, synth and piano, which now sits nicely behind my vocal in the audio diary. It's nothing hugely special, but it works, it sounds good, and it was ultra quick to produce and copy into the arrangement with my vocal.

It looks like working on this fairly large and complex project is really going to highlight the skills I have and the skills I need to become a professional in the world of sound and audio production.

It's All Around Us

Just to quickly say, thanks to everyone who was in The Perfect 5th last night. It was great to hang out with some old friends, drink slightly too much, and go on to play some of my new songs - which it would seem, all went down really well.

I'm reading a book at the moment which I picked up in Bath central library. It really discusses some of the key ideas behind ambient, soundscape, noise and experimental music. I'm really tuning into some of these ideas at the moment, thinking about how sounds move around spaces, how different sounds collide to create new textures, and how these sounds affect us, not just in a mental way, but also in a physical way.

An interesting idea in the book is that the earth is constantly emitting a low (below the register of human hearing) rumble which is perhaps caused by changes in air pressure across the planets surface, causing the earth to resonate like a drum skin. Although we can't hear this sound, we can definitely sense it's presence.

The book also talks about the idea that minute sounds, reverberations, build up in rooms, again without us actually hearing them, but causing atmospheres to inhabit spaces which affect how we feel in that environment.

All this is excellent and is giving me huge amounts of inspiration with the planning of my proposal for the Appledore Arts festival, news of which will be coming soon.

A Good Session Well Done

Just finished a little rehearsal for my show tomorrow night at The Perfect 5th in Taunton.

I was away at the weekend meaning I didn't practise once. When I played guitar yesterday evening, things weren't sounding as flexible as they usually do before a gig. I can usually perform well straight out of the bag, but I know that with a week or twos rehearsal, warming up my voice and focusing my mind on the task in hand, I can perform a thousand times better.

Thankfully after todays rehearsal I'm feeling much more confident. I sometimes find that if I pick up my electric instead of the acoustic, slow things down and really allow my voice to soar amongst the chords, the result is a strong and incredibly controlled vocal delivery. Excellent for gently coaxing my vocal chords into performance mode.

Hopefully tomorrow night will be a good show - I'm looking forward to playing back on home turf.

I will soon be starting work on my proposal for the Appledore Art Festival. I will be documenting every stage in this project both here, and in an audio documentary which will be available on CD, should the project successfully reach its completion.

The Clap

What a great night it was at The Porter last night. The atmosphere was exactly as it should be for an open mic night - relaxed, welcoming and light hearted.

I was pleased with my set, mainly due to the control I held over my vocal, allowing me to draw notes out and hold them better then I have done in the past. For some reason though, I didn't completely lose myself into the moment so my performance was more of a technical triumph then an emotional one. Still, I'm feeling positive about next weeks gig at The Perfect 5th and I'm really looking forward to performing some of my new material to some old friends.

Headline act last night were a trio called The Clap. I'm not sure if that is their actual name, you never can be sure when Duncan is introducing the acts, but they were absolutely fantastic - the first act I have sat and watched till the end and thoroughly enjoyed. Their sound was a blend of acoustic folk and rap with thought provoking lyrics and some well placed harmonies which really drew you into their performance. Their music had a refreshing level of maturity and sincerity.

I don't think there will be another open mic night like last night for a while. Once term begins, Monday nights will surely become a whole new beast. Still, should mean the standard will be raised and a fresh wave of creativity will descend upon The Porter.

Steves Song

This is the title of a new track I am producing for artist, and good friend, Steve Mahns new website.

Steve does the most fantastic pencil illustrations I have ever seen - I simply cannot describe the skill and talent that he has. He has asked me to produce some music to be featured on the website and I have wasted no time in putting together some ideas.

Although I am yet to receive a brief for the project, I have began working under the following, self suggested guidelines:

• The music should be subtle, verging on ambient so as not to distract from the artwork.
• The music should be focus on acoustic sounds with electronic sounds serving only to reinforce the lead acoustic parts.
• The production must be of the highest commercial quality that I can produce so that it appeals to a wide variety of listeners.
• The feel of the music should be fairly neutral, leaving the artwork to create mood and evoke emotion.

So far, I have began putting together a demo track which is sounding good. The biggest two challenges I have to overcome at the moment are to keep a neutral sound to the piece, but mainly, to smoothly blend various parts into one another to create that gentle ambient feel. Subtlety is the key.

In Summary - What Was Meant By My Last Post

The problem with such infrequent blogging is that ideas seem to tumble out of me, creating a mess of prose where my original point usually is entirely lost.

I am concerned that my last post may be read that I am attempting to champion some forms of music over others. I'm really not. Music is important to me. Sound is important to me and I need to be able to understand how various forms of music fit into their respective places, in order for me to fully immerse myself into a musical world. I can't simply listen to a song I like and hum along without wondering why it sounds the way it does? why am I listening to it through this particular medium? Why has it been recorded and produced in that way? With those instruments? That's partly where my enjoyment comes from.

So the point I was struggling to make in my last post wasn't that electronic music was now more superior or relevant to other rock/pop formats, but that in order to understand why people are making music in the way that they do, and how that style of music fits into the wider scheme of things, you need to assess the motivations behind the music. What has the artists set out to achieve?

As I said in my last post, I had lost sight of this as I started to question the relevance of electronic music when I heard how much emotion and skill was displayed through classic blues guitar music. Thankfully, the following morning I reminded myself of the above ideas and that electronic music executes a whole world of other goals.

Tardy Blog 1

Up until last night, I don't think I've picked up my guitar all week. Most evenings after work I've been busy honing my mixing skills on Robbie's CD decks - I'm actually starting to get better, beginning to understand how to really listen and beat match, then balance the mix as you filter in and out various elements, moving from one track into the next.

But sat in Dan's flat last night, watching youtube footage of old blues guitarists, I realised that the guitar can allow a musician to express something the DJ and their decks never truly can - human emotion. A guitarist can hold back notes and bend them into one another, carrying the listen on an intimate musical journey, the sound is a direct link to the guitarist soul. Can an electronic musician ever display that intimacy? Sure they can create soundtracks that evoke particular emotions, their music can paint pictures for us as we dance the night away, but can they ever really have that instant connection, that control over the inflections of their sound which makes great music what it is?

Last night, I felt myself siding with the 'real musicians' party. Death to all this new fangled, boom boom boom electro nonsense!

But then this morning, it dawned on me - Electronic music offers something that traditional rock and blues rarely does, perhaps is unable to.

When I write a piece of traditional music using a guitar and my vocal, I am seeking to create a particular emotion, to tell a story using the way I play and the words I sing. When I'm writing a piece of electronic music, I'm operating in a completely different space. I'm aiming to take the listener into another world using texture, creating a new sonic landscape for the listener to be absorbed into. It's about pushing forward, presenting people with sounds they've never experienced before, creating structures and timings that pull in other directions to traditional music. Electronic music is refreshing, it's exciting, it cuts through everything proceeding it like lightening.

That's what it's all about - FUTURE MUSIC.

Bonde De Wolfe Promo Shots

Went to Clevedon today. It's really nice there.

The promo shots will be used for some up coming shows I have, the first of which is at The Perfect 5th, Taunton, on the 30th of September.

I also have a headline show in Bath but that's a little way off at the mo.

Shifting Patterns

I've been greatly inspired by the ideas of layering sound upon sound, texture upon texture, and just allowing waveforms to naturally develop. Letting sounds phase in and out of time with one another.

I abandoned the track I started work on tonight and thought I'd revisit an idea I played about with a few months ago - creating a track that ignored conventions of rhythm and timing and just allowed melodies and sounds to be placed anywhere within the track - I remember liking the results.

Whilst composing away, I realised that I was inadvertently creating the type of music I had been thinking about all week. Certain melodic patterns were sliding over others, hints of rhythm were creeping out of the mix before a new blend of textures pushed it aside as they spiralled their way into other directions.

The music can never become stale or repetitive since their is no repetition - every phrase is slightly different from the last, new textures can be dropped in with atomic effects, yet as a whole, the track remains a cohesive piece of music where every sound, no matter how randomly placed, sounds absolutely perfect - like it couldn't possibly belong anywhere else in the mix.

Bonde De Blog and Tapper

There have been issues with my connectivity these past few days thanks to a mix up with O2 and direct debit. Hopefully sorted now though.

I've been getting withdrawal symptoms from lack of blogging. Since the move I haven't dedicated enough of my time to writing and that's something I want to start addressing. I'm thinking that I want to move this blog into a bit more of a journal type thing - increased frequency, reduced content - but not reduced quality (I hope).

I'm going to see how a short post every two days or so goes for a while.

Today I have still been riding high on a sense of satisfaction from my gig last night at The Porters. Once again, practise makes perfect. I would say that I put in one of my best performances yet, playing my strongest set of songs as well. It was really heart warming to see some friends from Taunton make the journey to support me on the night so I hope they enjoyed it and felt the trip was worthwhile.

I'd been building up to last night for a little while so I'm kind of feeling a sense of relief that it's happened - I feel like my mind is now a little clearer so I can begin to focus a little more on some other projects, the first being 'Tapper'.

Tapper is the working title for a big new idea which still has a lot to be worked out before I can fully announce what it will consist of.

I do want to reveal however that Tapper will be an ongoing, collaborative project with a key theme of 'future music'.

Every time I put in some preparation for the project I get an immense flood of excitement and my head will be buzzing with new ideas for days.

I'm hoping that over the next few weeks, the project will start to come together.

Beautiful Pictures - Harsh Truths

There is a great, thought provoking body of photography on display through Bath's High Street at the moment.

I believe it's called Earth From Air and consists of large prints of images captured from a helicopter flying all over earth.

Not only are the photo's themselves magnificent, (my favourite being of an eroding iceberg near Greenland), but the accompanying text is also incredibly thought provoking.

I wish I could remember exactly what I read this morning - it actually made me angry. It was something to do with the amount of food we can now produce compared to the amount of people actually living on earth, and still so many people are starving. It made me think about how greedy and wasteful we all can be sometimes.

If you are in Bath, do take the time to check out these prints and read some of the information that accompanies them.

Preparations for my gig at The Porters are going really well. I've decided on a set list now, a mix of my latest material with a few older re-workings, and I think I've now got a really cohesive mix of songs.

I'm planing to spend next week really working myself up for it, making sure that my performance is as good as it possibly can be, and attempting to perfect what little vocal and breathing technique I have.

See me at The Porter Cellar Bar, Bath on the 31st of August.

Blues Harp

(I feel like this could be the quiet before the storm. I'm not sure why. It feels like I have nothing I need to do, but am content with looking forward to, and quietly making plans for, all the things set to happen soon.)

I bought myself a Hohner Blues Harp the other day. It sounds fantastic and gives me a good feeling when I sit there and play it. I can happily spend hours running my lips along it's edge, breathing in and out through it's reeds.

This will sound weird, especially to someone who has never really played a harmonica, but there's a definite sensual quality to playing one. Obviously due to it's design, the way you have to use it, but also I guess because of it's encouragement of improvisation, the way it lends itself to you feeling and hearing your way around a performance. You have to relax, exhale and then just listen to the sounds you produce, making subtle adjustments as and when you feel the need. It's incredibly rewarding.

Funny really, for what, at first, seems like such an odd little instrument.

Preperations

I started work on a new EP the other day - It didn't go particularly well.

But then I thought a much better use of my time would be to start rehearsing and preparing for my gig at The Porters on the 31st.

I have drawn up a possible set-list and have been rehearsing the songs, working on my technique, and re-writing/re-ordering the set-list to try and ensure that this coming gig is one of the best yet.

Todays rehearsal went really (really) well.

The Weekend Gone At Moles

Tripwire -- By far the best band of the weekend. Thick, moody, powerful alt rock.
The Answering Machine -- A big let down. Just too jangly and sounded like they were trying ultra hard to make a commercial indie record. Plus they fucked up 'Lightbulbs'.
Lego Castles -- Maybe some potential but they all try to look cooler then they sound. Way too messy and the synths were completely under utilised. Shame.
The Victorian English Gentlemans Club -- Slightly scary, garage, zombie rock. Made me feel tingly.

It's been a good weekend really. The mini reviews there may sound slightly on the negative side but that's just me being critical. I had a really good time at the gigs, mostly due to the company I had, but I would say you could do worse then check out any one of them live.

Being A Musician In Bath: Act Two

After a brief lull, things are gathering pace.

Open mic at The Porters is becoming busier, with a higher standard of performers every week. It really is a great and entertaining night. Monday night was really superb with some incredibly talented musicians in attendance, as well as an enthusiastic audience, both combining to create a fantastic atmosphere.

I guess it also helps that my short sets have started to get some good feedback as I am accepted into the open mic community. I have now been asked to headline one of the nights at the end of the month.

Which brings me onto my next topic. (nice how things link together sometimes)

I have now been booked for two gigs - both in December.

The first is in The Porters on one of the Tantrika acoustic nights and is on the 2nd.

The second is at the brilliant Mr Wolfs noodle bar in Bristol and is on the 28th. Part of my payment for the Wolfs gig comes in the form of a vegetarian noodle dish - FANTASTIC! (seriously, no sarcasm there - I am genuinely looking forward to the noodles)

These gigs are a long way off unfortunately but I guess that will give me time to prepare and make sure they are extra special. One idea which I have already started to investigate is to produce promotional material for these shows in the form a fanzine, something that people will hold in their hands and hopefully be inclined to engage with for a short while.

I am still hoping to secure some other gigs in the meantime but, as is usual in this business, this is starting to become a bit of a ball ache.

In other news - The Answering Machine on Thursday night - Lego Castles on Saturday - Both at Moles.

Update Update

The old musical sketch pad has been updated. A bit.

I've uploaded another track from my EP - Locked Away - and have uploaded a new picture.

Some examples of my latest music will be available soon - This should tide you over until then though.

Refreshing

I'm still planning on updating the sketch-pad with new music soon. I haven't forgotten it's existence, just been neglecting it for a while that's all. I also thought I would just link to it in the few words above since someone asked last night where they could find me related material on the web and I pointed them in this direction, this being the central portal of Bonde De Wolfe online.

(OK, plan for this week is to get the sketch-pad updated with current music)

Anyway, last night I performed at open mic for the first time in a couple of weeks and it went really well. It was actually the first time I have picked up the guitar in a few weeks as I felt I needed to give it all a bit of a rest for a while.

I was starting to slip into a few irritating performance habits which were really affecting me psychologically and making me question my development as an acoustic musician. Well let me state right here that giving yourself some time off, shifting your focus whether it be completely off music, into another area of music, for a day of two or for a month or two, really does the trick. Last nights performance was incredibly nerve racking, but also one of my most involved performances in a long time. The reception I received during and after proved this.

I have been contacting various venues in and around Bath this week on the hunt for some proper gigs. Fingers crossed, there will be some on the way very shortly, and I feel confident to say that they will be fantastic - I am so ready for this.

In the meantime, it'll be porters again on Monday, and hopefully some new music uploaded before then.

New Music Is Fun Music

It can be very easy to become bogged down by the serious issues surrounding musical direction and artistic production. These can distract you from the task in hand. I've whiled away many an hour, spent many a sleepless night wondering what direction my music should be taking, and asking myself if I've been making the correct creative decisions whilst writing. However all this serves to do is distract you from what it real and what is important. The fact that experimenting and trying out new musical ideas is fun!

I have just finished the production of my first dedicated sound-scape. Influenced by John Cage, I have disregarded all notion of tempo and time signature and have fused various synths with field recordings to make, what I consider to be, a very beautiful short piece of music.

It's not that I haven't cared about the outcome of this piece, I have put a great amount of emotion into it, but working on this sound-scape has given me a great amount of happiness. No stress, no worries, no sleepless nights. Pure enjoyment from trying out a new way of working and freeing myself from the usual constraints I work under.

This is how creation should be.

I'm not going to say that I will never produce/write music as I have done before, but after experiencing this instinctive way of working, I will never approach production in the same way again.

Structure

Been thinking alot about structure these past few days.

John Cage, what they call an avant garde composer, created his own structures. He rewrote how music should be structured, redefined what structure could be.

I am nowhere near having the slightest incline as to what his structures were really about, but it has made me rethink the way I use structure in my music.

I guess you can think of structure as something entirely flexible. Do we need to keep conforming to the same structures as everybody else? Do we even need a structure? Does nature have a structure? Does the planet really have a structure? I think there are arguments for both sides.

I am wondering whether structure is simply just a 'man made' thing. Something we apply to things to help us understand them better.

Either way, I'm imagining the possibilities for what lies outside of structure. Just think what there could be, unconstrained by time, pitch, formula etc.

Phases

I'm about to enter into another one of my 'get yer ass in gear' type phases. These are periods every 4 - 6 months or so where I re-evaluate my life/music etc and decide to make some changes. Despite the fact I rarely see the changes through, these phases nearly always result in something good - some new music, recordings or a great performance or two.

It's funny actually. Usually these times are proceeded by some kind of negative feeling, but this time, it's entirely positive vibes that are encouraging me to make the changes in my life.

I'm not going to bother detailing anything that I have planned but I will say that a whole bunch of things have started to come together and make sense and I've decided now is the time to start capitalising on my good luck and positive energy.

Expect new projects, exciting, fresh music and beautiful live performances.

Turbinates

I really enjoyed Tuesdays open mic night at The Pig And Fiddle. For some reason I had been looking forward to it all day and then, as the night developed, my expectations were met with an array of brilliant and entertaining acts. Unfortunately I could not name a single one of them but sets ranged from covers to original singer/songwriters and even contemporary and jazz solo guitar pieces.

My set went OK, but was definitely lacking in something. I seem to be getting uptight during my performances at the moment. I'm not concentrating on my breathing and am struggling to complete lines, put power and emotion into phrases and sometimes hit sustained high notes. It's nothing major - I still feel my performances are coming across well but I know I'm not quite hitting the standard I can, and perhaps have done before.

I'm putting this down to three main reasons:

1. I desperately want to start collaborating with some other musicians. My thoughts are no longer consumed with my solo work but with how I can develop my songwriting and performance with others. I think this comes across as me performing in a slightly detached manner, not putting my heart and soul into what I'm playing.


2. I haven't been practising so much recently. When I moved here I was practising all day every day and that resulted in some good performances. Simple - practise = greatness.


3. Hay fever. I think I am starting to suffer with hay fever this summer in that my turbinates inside my nose are swollen making breathing feel restrained. It kinda feels like I have a cold but without the funny voice. I do think it is affecting my technique though and the way that I deliver some of my lines.

So my plan is - Firstly to practise. I need to master performing my songs again. I figure that this will also help reinstate the pride I have in my work when I perform it fantastically. It may even lead to someone wanting to work with me on some wonderful music. And I guess the hay fever thing I will just have to put up with for the rest of the summer. It isn't so bad.

Oliver Owen : Rock Critic!

This Saturday there is a 'battle of the bands' type event happening at The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton. It is run by the good people of Live'N'Up and will also feature guest performances and an open mic event in the bar.

Not only will I be a guest act, performing two songs to open the second half of the evenings show, I have also been asked to sit on the judging panel for the BOTB competition.

I am both extremely excited and terrified about doing this, in equal measures.

It could be great. If there is a good mix of acts which allow me to give genuine positive feedback, maybe offer some advice from my years as a musician type, and maybe even drop in the odd joke or hilarious comment.

But there is a strong chance that many of the acts will be terrible. Coupling this with the probability that the other judges may be, how you say, soft, I could find myself biting my tongue and being 'nice' so as not to send the thirteen year old classic rock covers acts off home in tears.

Of course I don't want to be mean to children! I'm not going to be over critical just to make myself seem interesting. (Although it could lead to a lucrative career with ITV) But similarly, if something is genuinely shit - and is something that I hate - surely I cannot sit there and mumble "Yea guys that was really cool, you're all so young and talented and that guitar solo mid set where you played behind your head was soooo rockin!"

The other option of course is to say nothing, and where I absolutely have to say something, make my response so banal, so indifferent, that people actually forget that I have said anything at all.

but what would be the point in that?

Being A Musician In Bath: Act One

My plan has always been that once I had moved to Bath - the big city - that I would step the music thing up a notch. I would put more effort in getting gigs and maintaining a busy schedule of gigs. I would devote more time to writing, more time to marketing etc, maybe even gather a small cluster of musicians together to form some sort of ensemble. I would no longer be a simple clerical worker, dreaming of hitting the big time while playing crappy open mic nights with zero return. I would be a full blown musician, collaborating with others to produce ground breaking work and showcasing this to packed bars full of fans who will leave amazed and in love with the hottest new act in town.

I guess I had some naive notion that Bath would be overflowing with creative musicians, venues hosting live music and people willing to pay to see music. I thought that in no time at all I would be playing gigs and meeting other serious musicians. But in actual fact, I can't really say that things, so far, are that much better than in Taunton.

This is only going by my first impressions mind you. I have only been here for about three weeks so I mustn't jump to any big conclusions just yet but from what I have seen so far, on the surface, there doesn't appear to be the booming music scene that some other city's appear to boast.

My only proper exposure to Bath's music scene so far is through the attendance of a few open mic nights, which, as was the case in Taunton, are the stomping ground for very nervous newbies and seasoned cover artists and sound a-likes. And even these seem thin on the ground.

It would also appear that what music scene there is swarms around Moles Club and adjoining Porters Bar, mirrored by Tauntons singular music venue being The Perfect 5th. There are a few other pubs advertising live music but that nature of this remains to be investigated. My fear is that this, as was the case back in Taunton, will consist of pub rock cover acts assured of bringing in the punters.

The initial findings possibly could leave me slightly disheartened if it not for the fact that I am positive that once September draws near and the students return, and once this banal festival period of summer has finished, things will pick up and I shall be reporting an entirely different story.

New Inspiration

My plan was to spend the first two weeks in my new flat, writing, playing music, composing, and doing other interesting things like that. The sort of things I spend a long time thinking about doing, but never really get around to actually doing.

I've spent most of my time here rehearsing acoustic material and developing some new songs, reading about photography, and wondering why I haven't really got round to doing the things I was planning on doing. I did also make a brief start on a proposal for a sound installation but decided that, considering the proposal wouldn't be delivered until September, it wasn't worth spending too much time on. Plus I don't want to lose energy midway through this particular project as I feel it will be a real killer.

I have nearly finished reading a book about David Bowie in Berlin. It is absolutely fantastic. It talks about the making of both 'Low' and 'Heroes', as well as the making of Iggy Pop records, 'The Idiot' and 'Lust For Life'. What is most interesting about this time was the importance placed on working methods, collaborations and mindset when they were producing this material. Both Bowie and those he worked with were desperate to put their old selves, their old ways of working, behind them and create something fresh. They didn't tie themselves to schedules of preconceived formats of how things would be done. The sessions were organic and free and, perhaps because of this, the actual bulk of the work was completed fairly quickly.

I've spoken before about the need, as an artist, to force yourself into new directions, to attempt to work in different ways and to seek out new ideas and inspirations. This can be as simple as visiting a random gig, buying a new CD by a different artist, or as radical as it was for Bowie, moving to a different part of the world to work with different people. But if you want to keep being excited by your own musical or artistic journey, these steps are absolutely necessary.

I have spent the last few days working on new electronic music. Although the results aren't quite ready to be heard yet I am getting really excited about where some of the sounds are heading. Over the last few months I have had a bit of a sonic breakthrough with my electronic music which I am really pleased about. So to celebrate, I will be posting some old, new music on my musical sketchpad.

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I have just gone through the process of registering and licensing my copy of Cubase LE4 so that I can bounce some MP3s to upload. I have now discovered that Cubase LE4 does not seem to offer MP3 bounces. If it does - I can't find them.

I will post again when this is resolved and my music is online.

Bath

Living in Bath is great.

It has taken a week or so to stop feeling like a tourist, to be able to walk through the streets with confidence, not stopping every few steps to take a picture of an old building or ask where I am or where to go, but I am finally starting to settle into life here and the fact that this beautiful city is now my home is starting to sink in.

What with the moving and acclimatising etc, finding our way around and trying to get my head around bills etc, my mind hasn't hugely had the time to wander so I'm going to keep this post short.

I have been trying to develop my portraiture skills recently so will post some of the results very soon.

Also, with a new location comes new open mic opportunities so I will now be hanging around Porters Bar on a Monday night and The Pig And Fiddle on a Tuesday night. Come by, say hello and hear my new music.

Open Mic Night At The Perfect 5th

We can assume that people want freedom - That people want to make their own choices.

However, we mustn't then try and dictate or value people choices by our own standards.

I completely appreciate what Martin is saying in his blog post and understand why he is going to do the things he talks about doing, however, if you take away the free, open nature of the night by imposing rules, well then the night isn't really an open mic night at all and should not be advertised as one.

Yes it may be dull if every other act is an acoustic singer/songwriter but like Martin has said time and time again - open mic night is an open source product - it has no owner and its value is completely created by those that attend. I don't really believe that anyone has the right to take so much creative control over a night that does not belong to them.

As the owner of Atkins Scooters, Taunton, said to me this morning as I rode to work with him and his dog, "There is just no way of knowing why people do some things some of the time, and not at other times". Of course I was far too busy defending myself from his dog to pay attention to what he actually said so the above quote is just a rough representation of our conversation, the point is, Martin just has to let things naturally develop. The night hasn't even been going for a year yet. It is bound to have peaks and troughs and perhaps the night is in a trough at the moment.

Martins blog

Sound Art

I have just sent an email to the Appledore Arts people about me doing a sound installation at the 2010 festival.

I feel this is a bold step for me - they could always just say no, especially since it is currently a visual arts festival, but if they were to be interested, if they were to say yes.

Even putting a proposal together for them to consider in more depth would take me right out of my comfort zone - something which is only a good thing.

In the back of this years programme there was a small section detailing that next years festival will run the theme of 'Coastline', and this filled my head with all sorts of ideas for audio pieces I could create.

I have spent most of this week developing my idea, just in my head, and am really confident that I could put together a fantastic piece of sound art fusing location recordings, sound collages, spoken word and traditional folk music.

I hope they consider it.

My blogging frequency may decline over the next few weeks due to the fact I spend my lunchtimes out in the sunshine now and when we move to Bath, I won't have an Internet connection for a while.

I think I will write by hand and blog-in-bulk.

Appledore Arts Festival

Walking around Appledore yesterday I felt empowered.

I'm not sure whether it was due to the beautiful sunshine, the location, or the festival atmosphere but it felt great.

I like the format of artists exhibiting in their own homes. You weren't led or ushered anywhere and you didn't have to view the art according to somebody else's schedule. We were at our own leisure to explore the various streets and alleyways, poke our heads into peoples homes and chat to the artists in their own environment about their work.

There was some fantastic artwork on display ranging from oil painting to fabric work, to installations and film, and all from a range of artists, both young and old.

I liked the way you could view a collection of artwork, then wonder the streets discussing it before finding your next informal, mini exhibition. And every house you entered was sure to bring you a whole different style of work which tackled the festivals theme of 'Fire And Fury' from an entirely different point of view.

I think it would be nice to adopt this relaxed format for other forms of festival. Imagine a music festival where you weren't choosing between various stages or tents, but found yourself exploring a quaint sea-side town, where musicians held regular and informal gigs to small audiences in their front rooms.

I think that would be fantastic.

Tales Of A Far Away Land

After a few months of desperately trying to find inspiration for new material, I am now midway through three new songs. I guess it takes time to draw ideas together, to collect my thoughts and to get it all down on paper in song format. A huge amount of inspiration came from playing with The Laish Quartet and And The Bear the other week - both enchanting artists. It's also timed well that I have watched some powerful and completely original films and television over the last few weeks, and that the BBC is lulling its way through some form of poetry week.

The three new songs each have a different style, both compared to one another, and to my old material, although I feel the vocal style I am developing has continued through them all. I am also finding, perhaps intentionally, that certain key themes are emerging in my more recent work. I'm feeling incredibly positive about how these new pieces will slot into my current set and hope that the range of styles that I'm now working with will only serve to create a more rounded performance.

I wrote a while ago about an artists responsibility to try and leave their impression on the world around them and how I felt that I had a responsibility to question the 'democratic' society we are currently living in. (This is all the more relevant what with all the press at the moment surrounding MPs expenses) My lyrics recently have reflected my feelings on the subject and have focused on lovers running away, searching for meaning, and I have gone into careful detail to paint images of bliss and happiness where a couple have escaped from the rest of society.

I think the idea of freedom - I mean complete freedom - scares the guys at the top. The idea that you could attempt to live under their radar, in a space where they will know nothing about you or what you do completely terrifies them and I think that's an interesting idea.

It's pure escapism but I hope that others will find the ideas inspirational and that, instead of wallowing in despair at what they see around them, find themselves leaving it all behind and finding what makes them and those close to them happy.

on a slightly separate note - i mentioned above that i had been catching bits and pieces of the bbcs poetry week which has been leading me to wonder, exactly where does poetry fit into modern life? it's all around us - you'd be surprised.

Isolated Electronica

Today has been hard work.

I wrote a few posts ago about my frustration at having so many ideas floating around, working on so many projects, but not having the motivation to tie any of them up or finish them.

Today started very much in the same vain. Starting things with the best intentions and then quickly losing heart and deleting the work I had done. Or opening up half finished projects and then closing them down again after 5 minutes.

I think there can be many different reasons why artists experience this dissatisfaction with their work but I rarely think the problem lies with the work itself. For me, the problem is usually with the way I am viewing my work and the way I am going about my work. If I find myself carrying out the same routines, applying the same old techniques, then I very quickly become bored with what I am doing and struggle to produce and complete projects.

So in order to counteract the problems I have been facing, It's me that needs to change - actually change the way I am working even if it is in the most minor way.

This is what I did this afternoon. I made a clear distinction between the way I was working before lunch, and the way I would work after. The result?

Isolated Electronica:

Fire -- Destruction -- Protect Yourself

The Unloved

A fantastic feature on channel 4s programming last night. This drama was incredibly well produced with a thought provoking story - I found it very inspirational.

I have been working on lots of little ideas recently. Little bits of music here and there, recordings etc, as well as writing short poems or story ideas. The frustrating thing is that due to lack of direction, I haven't really seen any of these project through to completion. I just don't have a reason to finish them so once the initial conception has happened, I drop them and start working on something else.

Nearly all of the electronic music that I have been working on recently has come from one single idea for a short story. So it makes logical sense that with a new found creative enthusiasm, I should tie all these bits together into a single finished piece.

The story focuses on an ex offender many years after he has been 'rehabilitated' into society. However, instead of working a 9 to 5 or becoming involved with local community projects, he is withdrawn and isolated from his community. Due to his dark past you could expect this to be an exclusion initiated by the community itself but the reality is quite the opposite. Members of the local church group extend the hand of friendship to him, trying to pull him into society but he refuses, keeping himself locked away.

He is not bitter or resentful. He is simply afraid to trust himself. He does not believe his past has truly left him and he fears that he will commit his horrific crimes again. His only solution is to keep himself shut away.

The piece will consist of three main parts.

• An introduction of acoustic drone and vocal harmonies. As this part gathers momentum a solitary electric piano part will start to fade in.
• The electric piano will provide a bedding for a spoken word piece focusing on the above plot.
• As this middle section draws to a close an industrial rhythm will emerge before the piece launches into a track titled 'Self Protection', an electric guitar based piece which was one of the first pieces of music to come from the story.
• (This final section is subject to review as, although it was initially inspired by the story, the end result doesn't really convey the mood of the story)

I am also musing on the idea of coupling the musical element of this story with some visuals in the form of a dance piece. This will be explained in another post.

Two Things Learnt In The Last 24 Hours

:Caution; Those offended by narcissistic tendencies may want to avoid this post:

1) I have the ability to pull off 1940s 'crooner' classics really well.

Whilst driving back from Bath yesterday evening I covered such hits as 'You're Just Too Good To Be True', 'Come Fly With Me', 'Mack The Knife' and 'Have You Met Miss Jones'. Of course, I have no idea whether those are the actual song titles, but I'm sure you know which ones I mean.

A tip for anyone who want to be able to sing 1940s 'crooner' type songs; these guys must of had tremendous lungs so getting your breathing right is important.

2) Recording yourself reading is incredibly satisfactory.

I sat down yesterday with a chilled beer and began reading through my book of poetry and writing and recorded this using my hand held recorder. I was only doing this to run down the batteries so that I could re-charge them for my camera but I found the results to be incredibly pleasing. By reading poetry or prose out loud, you bring a whole new life to the words. You are putting them out there into the environment and colouring them with atmosphere.

So there you go. Two things learnt in the last 24 hours. Maybe this post will inspire you to sing out loud or make a recording of yourself reading something interesting. Probably not though.

By the way, I have new music - both electronic and acoustic - but am holding onto it for the time being until I have a significant body of work to unleash on the unsuspecting public.

Pol Arber Music

I am planning a new musical venture, a brilliant musical venture, and it's title would be Pol Arber Music, a play on the animal name - Polar Bear.

I was quite pleased with this title. It continues on the animal name theme which I think is humorous and is so off the wall that it allows the story of the product to shine, not the name. Polar Bears have no link with music in any form so I am completely free to produce anything under that name and not violate peoples expectations.

However, a quick google search revealed that there is actually a jazz band operating in the UK under the name - Polar Bear Music.

Too close for my liking.

So back to the drawing board.

Last Nights Gig

Last nights gig at The Perfect 5th went beautifully. It was a little quieter then I had hoped for but the atmosphere was great. I felt so relaxed all night and this showed in my performance where I found myself naturally doing all the things I concentrate on during rehearsals.

Massive thank you to everyone who came down and thanks for all the kind words afterwards.

I particularly want to mention two other acts who performed last night who blew me away with their songwriting and performances.

Opening the night was a local musician (drummer of band Paper Plane Pilots I believe) called Asher, AKA And The Bear. His set demonstrated a brilliantly minimal approach to songwriting which gave his songs a beautiful naive quality. Simple, honest and heartfelt. The simple acoustic arrangements gave plenty of space for his vocal to carry the songs and his lyrics were entirely captivating. Hopefully we will see And The Bear putting down his drumsticks and picking up his guitar again very soon.

Headlining the night were Brighton band Laish Quartet. These guys played a raw folk sound, combining vocal duets and violin to lift their arrangements to new levels of bliss. At first listen their melodies appeared simplistic but as their songs developed they displayed incredibly complex timings and layering of sound which swept you up and carried you away. The interplay of lead and backing vocals was perfectly executed with Daniel Greens lyrics creating illusions of a colourful other world.

The acoustic Wednesday nights are something the guys at The 5th are keen to continue with and if they maintain the high standard of acts displayed last night, they should become a great success.

Where Can I Listen To Your Music?

The other night at The perfect 5th open mic night, somebody complemented me on my set and asked where they could find my music. They had seen me perform a few times at various nights around Taunton and wanted to buy a CD of mine or something.

I wasn't really sure how to answer their question. My first thought was that the best place to hear my music is at a live show. I perform live usually two or three times a month and usually play a gig locally once every two to three months. But of course what they wanted was a CD to take home and listen to, learn the words to and sing a long to in their car.

My next thought was of my musical sketch pad but that only really hosts electronic music at the moment and is not really meant to demonstrate finished and complete collections of songs. It's more a testing ground for ideas.

When I started playing solo shows I was determined to do things properly, the old fashioned way. I would build a reputation locally, one that would be based upon human connections and interactions, not electronic ones with people who will never hear my voice or see me play.

If people wanted to hear my music they can hear it performed live to them, direct from me onstage to them in the audience. Not via a poor MP3 on a social networking site.

I told the girl that I would keep a demo copy of my EP, and of my live recordings, with me at all times so that when I next see her, I could giver her a copy. I thought to myself that this was a pretty good solution since I would probably never see her again which would save me the trouble of burning a disc and carrying it around with me getting damaged for the next few months.

But that's simply not good enough. My objective was to build a solid fan base based on actual human interaction. Someone has actually seen me play and come up and complimented me and asked to own a copy of my music. I have to respond to that.

So very soon a copy of my EP - 'Locked Away', and recordings from my show at The Brewhouse Theatre, will be posted by me, to her home address.

Keepin it real.

Don't forget, tonight at The Perfect 5th - Laish Quartet, Ryan Inglis, Bonde De Wolfe, And The Bear - doors at about 8:30, £3 entry.

Fear Of The Unknown

Funny why, after making brilliant plans for the future, as the time draws closer, we get an immense feeling of worry and regret. Something that seemed like a good idea months ago, now feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

Of course the thing to do in these times is to simply see your plans through. The fear of the unknown is simply that - a fear of something we don't yet know, something we don't yet understand. Seeing our plans through nearly always results in immense reward so when we truly analyse the situation, we can see that we are making a good choice, but still we have these initial feelings of panic and worry.

My question is, in a world where there are so few actual dangers, why do these fears still exist? Once upon a time, fear of the unknown meant you didn't leave your cave and get eaten by a bear. Fear of the unknown meant that you stayed with your tribe and weren't eaten by savages. But surely the bravest, the most fearless and the strongest warriors would override this fear and reap the rewards. Only they could hunt for food and find a mate.

Even now, those who take the plunge, seek out adventure and explore all that life has to offer, emerge stronger and smarter then those who don't, surely making them a more attractive mate and making them able to raise intelligent and fearless 21st century warriors of their own.

So,

Why the fear?

Ignore the fear!

Free CDs

I left a limited run of 10 CDs at a Live'N'Up show on Saturday.

The CDs were recordings of my set from a previous Live'N'Up show at The Brewhouse and I was giving them away for free.

The insert with the CDs pointed people towards this blog.

I wonder how many CDs were taken, listened to and enjoyed?

I wonder how many people have looked this blog up and read some of the posts.

I don't want to seem up myself or anything but it would be nice to think that some people listened to the recordings, enjoyed the music, and went exploring to find more of my music and more information on Bonde De Wolfe, rather than just turning to what they know best. Myspace and Facebook.

Working With Martin: Blog One

Martin will be exhibiting at this years Appledore Arts Festival with a nice stereo film instillation. He has asked me to work on providing the sounds for this short visual piece.

An important theme running through the footage is fire. This is also the theme for the festival this year so Saturday was spent recording burning meths, sizzling paint, burning plastic and bursts of flame from a fire stick. (Not sure what the proper name is for the fire stick but it's one of those ones people juggle with)

It was also a really nice chance for me and Martin to hang out together and work on something exciting.

Despite my hangover, Sunday was spent at home editing the sounds and manipulating them to create interesting sound effects. This went well but I can't help feeling that I was running through the same old processes, applying the same old effects and getting the same old results.

I have another recording session planned for this evening where I will be recording some more experimental sounds, still with the end vision of fire. Perhaps I also need to re-think the way I manipulate the recordings. Does everything need to be done in the box? does everything need to be done using plug-ins? Perhaps I need to start pulling the audio waves apart in a new way.

Something from Sunday that's really getting me excited is a short piece of music I started composing using some of the sounds from Saturday. This has a really eerie drone and lots of sounds washing from left to right which will work excellently in Martins stereo installation. I also stretched and de-tuned one of the flame recordings to create a surging, bassy woosh which adds a dark sense of movement to the piece.

Despite my worries over the originality and creativity behind some of the sounds so far, I am confident that this project will showcase some of my best production and composition yet.

Joseph Arthur

Recently I bought a copy of 'Our Shadows Will Remain' by an American singer/songwriter called Joseph Arthur. The album was released in 2003 and I found it in a sale for £2. I had never heard of him or any of his music before purchasing but was just feeling adventurous.

Every day I have one of his songs stuck in my head. I go home and listen to another, only to find that song then repeating in my head the following day. I actually walked through Tesco car park singing one of his songs out loud today (although very quietly).

It's been a while since I have listened to a piece of music that has captured my imagination this much. An album that I can't stop thinking about and that brings me actual feelings of pleasure when I listen to the songs.

On 'Our Shadows Will Remain', he combines the intimacy and honesty you would expect from a singer/songwriter, but with pounding electric guitars, synthesisers, and sometimes eerie, sometimes uplifting vocal harmonies. I am yet to really dissect his lyrics but some of the lines that really stand out create a whole range of vivid images in my head, sometimes dark, sometimes beautiful.

He has had a lengthy musical career with many releases - I will definitely be seeking out some more of his recordings.

Updated Music

New music is now available on my musical sketch-pad.

I can happily say that all tracks have uploaded correctly and play under the correct titles.

Working In Albums And Writers Block

I think I have been programmed to write in quantities of albums. I wonder how many other artists are the same?

Over the last two years I have written about eleven songs which I am incredibly proud of. These are the songs that I play out at gigs and are featured on various EPs and recordings. I also think it would be fair to say that those eleven songs kinda gel together. They sound good next to one another and common themes and sounds run from one song into the next. These songs would be my first album.

So now comes the second album. Obviously I am not consciously working on an album or anything but the new material I have started working on is different. Still me on an acoustic and still writing about the same topics but the overall sounds are different. More developed perhaps, more commercial even, but they don't seem to fit alongside my older material.

This has been nagging me this week. Why do these songs feel so different? Is it that they aren't as good? Are they not as original? Is it, like Trish said, that I'm trying too hard to write new material and the result is something un-natural and not me?

When playing the songs I think they sound great. They occupy me in exactly the same way the older songs did when I first started writing them. Is that all that matters?



Tomorrow I will be updating my musical sketchpad with some new electronic music, and taking down the live tracks as downloads.

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Also, Bonde De Wolfe Live.

Making A Name For Myself

What does that expression even mean?

I was flattered the other night when somebody in town recognised that I was producing solo work under the name of "Wolfe something..." - That's close enough for me at the moment.

In The Perfect 5th last Thursday to watch The Darlingtons, alot of people were discussing my old band The Rickys. Basically I felt that, musically, The Darlingtons are far greater then we ever were, and if they continue to develop their sound, performance and style, then there's no telling where their music will take them.

However, most people seemed to disagree and felt that The Rickys displayed something else - something that got people on their feet and had people humming the songs the next week at work.

Anyway the question is not which band excited Taunton the most, but why are people more interested in talking to me about a local band that split up nearly two years ago and not about my current solo work?

I wonder whether its the sonic physicality of a rock band that grabs peoples attention, sending them home with their ears ringing, where as the sensitive, delicate performance of a singer songwriter can easily be lost in a noisy bar.

Perhaps as an artist on my own I'm too meek. When there was the four of us we created a racket, lording it up wherever we went, demanding peoples attention both on and offstage. All that just seems unnecessary when your on your own and your happy to just sit with your acoustic and sing the songs you write in your bedroom.

Maybe people don't really care about another singer/songwriter on the scene. Could a solo artist like that ever become a phenomenon? Why not? Their songs are surely just as powerful as any bands. How much more can a funky bassline and battling guitars really add to a song which touches on basic human emotions?

Perhaps you can help answer these questions after watching me play at The Perfect 5th next month.

Free Music By Bonde De Wolfe

Below is a link to my musical sketchpad where I have two songs recorded live at The Brewhouse Theatre from a recent Live'N'Up gig.

Bonde De Wolfe Live

The Tracks are free to download.

Also on the site you will find a track from my soon to be released EP.

Thankyou

Capitolist Pig Night at The Perfect 5th

Just seen this on Martins Open Mic blog.

Whats wrong with the simple turn up and play ethos?

Martins 'over-the-top' enthusiasm for the night was probably what helped it to become such a local feature in the first place. He thrust the night into peoples faces and they weren't disappointed when they opened their ears and paid attention to the acts.

But the key word there is ACTS.

I would hope that people attend open mic night because of the great acts that regularly perform at the night. Not for the Butlins-esque compere or for flippant themes and gimmicks.

The very nature of an open mic night means that its popularity, with both performers and audience, will vary. You just have to roll with that. Please don't try and make it into anything that it isn't just to ensure bums on seats.

International Politics

When questioned about the responsibility of his country regarding the current economic situation, president X admitted a degree of accountability, before turning the topic around and stating that it was now time to look to the future, going on to explain what changes now needed to take place.

To the same question, prime minister Y sidestepped the question, and then told an anecdote loosely related to the question.

Anyway...........

I thought I'd post a link to where you can find Bonde De Wolfe music online. Over the weekend I will be uploading three tracks recorded live at The Brewhouse, all of which will be available as FREE downloads.

I also spent most of last night working on a fusion of driving electronica and electric guitar which will also be uploaded in a week or so. The track has developed from an idea for another short film and the original guitar piece was envisioned as part of the score for that. It's very John Murphy.

Speaking of short film ideas, I have been writing lots recently and I think soon I will have to take some of my ideas to local artist Steve Mahn and bully him into producing graphic novels relating to the plots. If all goes to plan these will be ready in 100 years!

Actually me, Steve and Dan were discussing the idea of making a short film over the summer so perhaps some of the ideas I have will be coming to light sooner then later. As will the guitar/film score piece I mentioned earlier.

Practise Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Saturday nights gig went exceptionally well and I think it all has to be put down to the amount of practise I put in leading up to the night. I was confident with my songs, confident with my guitar playing and my voice had been preparing for weeks and with a small warm up on the day, I was confident that it too would do me proud.

That's not too say there wasn't an air of nerves about me before the gig because, sitting in the bar enjoying a pre-show drink, I was extremely twitchy and noticeably agitated. I think because of the preparation I had put into this show I desperately wanted it to go well.

There were three other acts on the bill on Saturday, JD, Cameron Murray and The Random Vandals, who were all excellent in their own way. A little highlight for me though was the jazzy, bass led cover of a Greenday track by The Random Vandals. Was a nice break in their stripped down, pop-punk set. (Something which anyone who's been to college has sat through time after time)

The bizarre thing about Saturday night though was the audience. Mostly made up of younger college students, they were silent throughout each performance but then erupting into applause after each song. Could it be that the acts playing were really that absorbing and attention demanding? Did the songs really grab the young audiences that much? Or was it something to do with the lady telling people to sssshhhhhh if they spoke during a song? Either way, from a performers point of view it was great to feel like you were playing to an audience who actually wanted to listen to your music.

I recorded my set and the result is great - tracks from this recording will be available, probably as a free download, very soon. Probably keep your eyes and ears in the direction of the Live'N'Up myspace for details.

Somerset Music Hub

Yesterday there was a trade show held at The Perfect 5th in Taunton to help spurr on the development of the Somerset Music Hub.

In attendance were some of the local venue owners, promoters, and various other music and creative industry types from around Somerset. The idea was to create abit of a networking opportunity during the day, followed by a discussion on the Somerset Music Hub, and what it could potentially do for the local music scene.

I'm all for the idea of linking up the various businesses and organizations which are dotted around Somerset and its surrounding areas. It's surprising how a short 20 minute drive can completely separate different scenes and mean that bands from say, Yeovil, struggle to gig or gain popularity in somewhere like Taunton, and visa versa.

There was a lot of talk last night about government grants and Arts Council funding and how people in the South West can tap into that money to help their businesses. There seemed to be more of a focus on that then there was on the idea of linking good business ideas with potential customers.

What Somerset needs is not funding from the Arts Council or a singular grant from the government. It needs a sustainable structure to support its creative businesses. If there aren't the willing paying customers wanting to see live music then your venue wont succeed as a business. Simple as. Government money wont solve that. It just helps you to continue with a bad business model. It encourages lazy musicians and artists to avoid reality and the long term effects run deeper then the purely financial.

I am very encouraged to see people with a passion for music trying to make things better for the local music scene and I will be getting involved and trying to help as much as I can. I just pray that people look for realistic solutions to their problems and don't just turn towards the Arts Council.

I'm Grinding My Teeth Again

I had stopped for a month or so but it's come back. I can only imagine that in a few months, if this continues, I will required dentures.

I'm looking forward to my gig at The Brewhouse on Saturday night. My once-a-day rehearsals have been paying off and I'm feeling really confident that the show will go well. I guess that's the thing about rehearsing. Although the songs haven't changed and my ability hasn't greatly improved, my confidence has and I have no nagging doubts about any of my songs. This should lead to a better, more relaxed performance.

And I still have a week to go through the set and get myself completely prepared for the performance. I don't think I've been this ready for a gig since I started the acoustic music.

I did some more location recording the other day up at Great Woods. I'm not so worried about creating a natural sound scape this time like I did in my last piece, but I'm more interested in just using some natural, organic textures as basic samples to see where I end up. The results so far are encouraging but the actual recording session was an interesting learning experience.

Where's the skill in location recording?

Not in the operating of the equipment and not in the post-production of the recordings.

The skill lies in the ability to scout out the locations. To get yourself to that space, away from other human beings, away from traffic or any other unwanted sound source. To find that location and patiently wait, listening intently to your surroundings to find the sounds you want. The skill lies in your ability to become apart of that location and to submerge yourself within the natural ambiance of that place.

If you fail to do this then you will fail to get good location recordings.

Ambience

n. The special atmosphere or mood created by a particular environment.

I was imagining the other day what it would be like to have a bare, empty exhibition room, and to then fill it with the sound of crashing waves, running water and constant dripping. Or perhaps the rustle of leaves as wind filters amongst them, or the rhythmic scraping of somebody planing a piece of wood.

I would probably want to couple these sounds with some form of synthesised melody, just to create more of a structure to the piece, but I just thought it would be brilliant to create this parallel space to the outside world. Outside it may be noisy from traffic, cold or rainy, but only a few steps away, inside this room it could be something completely different.

Well in the same week I found myself reading in The Wire magazine about ambient music.

For many, ambient music was a back lash against the 'in ya face', obviously powerful effects of rock and pop music. Whereas rock music uses loud guitars, thumping drums and soaring, sing-along choruses to grab your attention, ambient music relied on constant but subtle sounds to gradually alter your emotions. You may perhaps ignore them at first as they compete with other background noise, but eventually they take hold within your subconscious and drastically alter how you feel.

When we think of ambient music, we think about sound-scapes, electronic textures and layers of subtle groove and repetition but it can also take a more recognisable form.

Think how many pop songs by artists such as Girls Aloud, Will Young and Coldplay seem to just be constantly making themselves know to us yet never being fully listened to or acknowledged? How many times have you been driving along with the radio on, perhaps tapping your finger along to the beat but not actually knowing or caring what the song was? Its just there in the background having a subtle effect deep in you subconscious.

The point I'm drawing from this is that if we rate how great a piece of music is from its instant effect it has on us, its capability to move us or excite us, then we are completely ignoring a whole wave of powerful music made by great songwriters and musicians that are just as moving and just as emotive, but approach us in a completely different way.