Until We Pass This Way Again

Yes, it seems I have found my folk roots, or perhaps I've just been hanging out with Eddy Jay too much. Either way, I now have a demo of Until We Pass This Way Again for your thoughts. It's certainly a bittersweet song, about passing of time, but also about the way that things move in cycles - no matter what happens the Sun will always rise in the morning and Spring will follow Winter. This is just a demo, vocals and guitar together in one take (via my TC Helicon VoiceBox, so the guitar is not as nice as it will be when mic'ed up) but I think it has enormous potential and I'm already hearing violin (perhaps just a single one) around the two-thirds mark. But anyway, without more ado here it is:

Until We Pass This Way Again (Demo) - MP3 (3'57)

Let me know what you think! (lyrics in post below)


Other News

It's been another busy culture week. On Monday I was in a photo studio in London Fields assisting on a shoot that involved two clowns, a ballerina and a bodybuilder... oh, and some marshmallow dumbbell sculptures!!! It could only be the latest project by Alex Staiger - watch her website to see the results in a week or so.

The Friday before I had great fun at Zero De Conduite at the Elevator Gallery in Hackney Wick. The highlights were the excellent Sculpture doing live tape loop mixing accompanied by visuals that involved a record player and a video camera. Really good stuff. Here's the first three minutes on You Tube.

I also enjoyed James III And The Puritan - who is an almost indescribable mix of live mixer, DJ, grunge guitarist and, well, weirdo in a very strange outfit of cape and multiple headwear!! The Home Office were also excellent cleverly playing along to a video soundtrack so they had synched videos for their songs. Also appearing and entertaining were Craig Template and a gaggle of performance artists.



This Wednesday just gone I was partying at the Notting Hill Blag Club with Wayne Myers (whose birthday it was), and doing a little bit of promotion for my gig there next week. Talking of which, here are the next few coming up, do come along if you can.

30th July 2008, 8.45pm
The Notting Hill Blag Club, 68 Notting Hill Gate London, W11 3HT
The last gig here was an excellent night, this promises to be even better.

31st July 2008, 8.30pm
White Hart, 1 Mile End Road, Whitechapel, E14 4TP
Featured artist at this open mic night in happening Whitechapel.

14th August 2008, 8.30pm
Montague Arms, New Cross
Lots of music and comedy at the Unwrong Quiz night.

17th August 2008, 7.30pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition
Prohibition Bar & Grill, Unit 1 Tower Bridge House, St. Katharine Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA
Just 15 minutes of fame!

31st August, 7.30pm
15 Minute Club @ The Living room
18-26 Essex Road, Islington, London, N1 8LN

Oh, one final thing. Why is it impossible to buy string anymore?! I mean, where do you get it from... no one has it!

Daren
xx

The Start...

Well, here it is. Rough as anything, and I'll probably only leave it up like this for a bit, as I have big plans for this song. But I hope you enjoy it as much as the fox in my garden, who rubbed his nose in the grass and then trotted off without so much as a "by your leave". This is one take, guitar and vocals, with only one tiny overdub (can you spot where?) - I still haven't got the feel for the lyrics, or the guitar part 100%, but it's a start. The stray tambourine sound near the end is when I threw my pick away to hit the rhythm part, it just happened to hit my tambourine lying nearby.

So over to you... let me know what you make of it.

The End Of The World part one MP3

Dxxx

P.S. Don't forget you can hear this song live for the very first time TONIGHT - Weds 28th May 2008 - Notting Hill Blag Club - 1st Floor, 68 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3HT - nearest tube Notting Hill Gate. Be there for 8pm.

The Fool I Am - Demo

Here it is then in a more complete form. It's still just a demo, mind you. It needs real drums, real trumpet and a bass line of some description, but I'm pretty happy with it so far and thought I'd share. Hope you are having a good weekend!

The Fool I Am - MP3

Dxx

Sign Me Up!

I've been working hard on new mixes and songs for my demos this week. Finally I feel that they are completed enough for public listening. I've also produced some artwork to go with them, so I hope you enjoy the whole experience. As I'm hoping to use these demos as part of a package to get gigs and management / recording companies interested so I WOULD APPRECIATE SOME FEEDBACK!! Lay it on me... anonymous posters can do it too... your thoughts are very useful to me as I'm very close to these songs and sometimes I really can't hear them... anyway, here we go.



I Need Your Love
This is a song that was on my very first Air demo!! But it's evolved a bit since then and with a bit of multi-tracking I've come up with something in-your-face, yet fun. I hope! Stick with it as there are good bits all the way through to the end. Check it out, and don't be shy with the volume:
I Need Your Love



Obsession
Another song with a few versions kicking around, but I'm really trying to display a range of ideas and sounds, so I'm pushing this sparse version again. The ticking clock is actually a metronome, and the clinking sound just before the vocals come in is ice in a glass of whisky (really). Ideally I'd love someone to pay me to record all these tracks with real drums, they would sound so much better, but in the absence of that (or until I save up enough cash myself) then the Garage Band drums have to suffice.
Raw Obsession



Minneapolis Hungover Tired Awake
A more recent song that I've tidied up for public consumption and added a little percussion. Let me know what you think. Btw, can you spot the references to the Pet Shop Boys in this tune?
Minneapolis Hungover Tired Awake

That's it for now. I really hope you hear something you like, and if you fancy helping me out then please tell your mates, download the track to your iPod and generally pimp me around. Thank you!

A few gigs coming up soon too:

7th April, TBC
The Sun, Clapham Common
Open mic spot

24th April 2008, 8pm
Manning’s Bar, 73-75 Brent Street, London,NW4 2EA
An unplugged night at this North London venue.

11th May 2008, 8pm
Cross Kings, 126 York Way, London, N1 0AX
Featured slot at this wonderfully eclectic open mic night

26th June 2008, TBC
The Duchess, Battersea Park
A full set at the prestigious Duchess Showcase night

Love to all,

Dxxx