Life Goes On...

"...Sing-a-long if you know where I'm coming from"

It's been quite an intense couple of weeks in many ways, and I must say I'm certainly feeling it a bit. The last few days especially have been a time for reflection, re-motivating and re-starting. Last Sunday (1st) I played at the Surface Unsigned Festival in Tufnel Park. On the whole it was a fun experience, I met some cool bands (and one decidedly uncool singer) and I pitched my solo set (with voice effects and looper) against five rock bands! It was certainly a crazy thing to do and it was no huge surprise that I didn't get through to the next round, but all the same I was a bit disappointed. In the end the maths was just weighted against me, I'd relied on picking up some of the band votes (each band got two votes worth 20 points each) which I did (more than any other act) but just couldn't pull in the text votes and audience votes to get into the top 4. I have to say though I did well not to come last, and I am very grateful to all those who texted in and, especially, to Adrian, Olivia, Alan (my dad) and Lorraine who all come through the snow to vote for me in person. If you are interested you can see the full breakdown of the scores here:

http://www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/londonHomepage.html

As you can see I missed out on fourth place by just 14 votes! Mind you The JayWays, who pulled out on the day, are an excellent band who might well have displaced a few higher up. At least I was there, I competed (against bands) and did myself proud. It was hard work doing the looping and trying to sing in tune when the onstage monitoring was a bit iffy, but apparently it sounded good out front, so what else could I do?

After enjoying a couple of post-gig drinks and hearing the result I headed out to find that the whole of London had turned white! As you probably know, we don't get snow in London very often and we are never prepared for it. Consequently I arrived at Balham station (after a very pleasant journey with one of the other bands and four girls from the Czech Republic!) to find no trains running, no buses running and one of the two cab companies shutting up early! The other company had a queue and there was me with a guitar and a bag full of electronic equipment trying to get in whilst the snow fell on me. I couldn't actually get into the lobby, so I check the buses again (no joy) and was just beginning to think I might actually have to walk home (some 9 km or so) through the increasing piles of white. Fortunately the other cab company had space for me to enter now, so I did only to find out that the cab that had just left was my best bet. Fortunately they waited, and after a quick trudge around the corner I was finally in a vehicle that was able to get me home safely.

In other news, the videos from the Double Book Launch are now up and you have a choice of two, this is my favourite:



Taken by Casdok herself, this one skips the intro and gets straight into the performance. Cunningly this angle means that you can't see the music stand with the lyrics on it (with the pages the wrong way around). You can just about make out a cable running from the PA and up inside my jacket to my iPod headphones - used as cunning in-ear monitors - vital to making sure I could hear what I was doing. If you would like to hear the (slightly nervous) introduction to this piece, then check out this version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAYBizvWDso

Don't forget that you can buy a copy of the Shrek Rap single (either on CD or as a download) for a donation of just £3. We have already raised £17 this way and it would be great to get even more money for DJ Kirkby's local Autism network. Do get in touch via a comment or an email to music @ darencallow.co.uk (without the spaces) and your very own copy will be on its way. It also includes two of my songs recorded especially for this release as an added incentive.

So what's next?

Well apart from a new version of Obsession and a new song called Life Goes On (see lyric at the very top), I'm also working on a piece for Daniel Lehan's show 50 Not Out at the Montague Arms on the 12th March. I'm also planing to record Until We Pass This Way Again and a new acoustic version of Lightkeeper. So there will be plenty to see and hear very soon - come along to Prohibition on the 15th February to hear some new things.

Daren
xxx

P.S. Do check out the radio show on South City Radio (see below) if you haven't already.