Like Dreamers Do

These past coulple of weeks have been quite stressful and at the same time, amazing!
The band and I entered ourselves in the songwriting competition run by the Musicians Benevolent Fund (MBF). We had to submit two songs which demonstrate our compositional and lyrical skills and our performance abilities. The two songs that we entered with were 'Yellow Brick Road' and 'Mind Reader.'

Thankfully, with these songs, we were picked from over 2000 entrants to be one of the six finalists to compete in London for a prize of £5000, which would be used to further that persons musical career. Upon hearing the good news and finding out that we were the only Scottish band to be in the final, i couldn't help but get my hopes up. Representing ourselves, and representing Perth college and Scotland, the college generously funded our trip down to London to play infront of a panel of very reputable judges in the final of this competition. Judges including Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams' producer and songwriter) and Eg White (Composer of such songs as Duffy's 'Warwick Avenue' and Adele's 'Chasing Pavements').
The journey there was taken on the sleeper train which was quite fun and got us in at London at 8am... yeah. We took the underground from there to our accomodation in Balham, which was also where the gig was to take place on the thursday night (the 26th Nov), at "The Bedford!"

We got to the venue at 4pm and were coincidently catagorised into "Scottish Vs English", as they all seemed to be sitting over the other side of the room... there was no seats over beside them! Honest! But we did speak to a few of the bands/artists on the night before the competition started, and everybody seemed to be in the same frame of mind - excited, nervous, and quitely confident. We had the added attribute of being tired as hell..

Alas, we weren't awarded 1st place or any prize money... But no rattles were thrown and no glass eye's shed a tear, as i have never enjoyed myself that much in a long, long time.
We got to speak to the judges afterward to get feedback and constructive criticism - every judge contradicting the last, making the award seem purely based on musical preference and personal opinion. You never know, with a different panel we could have taken first place.
We also got a band photo shoot and a fanastic drunken interview after the show, both of which we have yet to watch back and laugh at :P

Our favourite part of the journey however, was the trip back on the train from Lond Euston to Glasgow Central, where witty conversation and inappropriate banter was at an all time high.
It seemed like we managed to clear our whole carraige haha

Aspirations have not been dented, as like dreamers do, we'll keep doing what were doing and we will use our own money in February to record a 7 track ablum, once again releasing it digitally on iTunes ;)

A trip is what you make of it, and we certainly made the most of ours. I got to see London for the first time. Oh... and Big Ben... thought...it would have been bigger... but yeah, the whole experience has only increased my confidence and increased my dedication to this band.
We have a busy week ahead with three gigs:
Tuesday the 8th, at Macsorleys Music Bar (Glasgow)
Thursday the 10th, at Bannermans (Edinburgh) - JP's Birthday!!! Make sure you all come to this one! :D
&
Sunday the 13th, at The Ark (Edinburgh)



In the mean time you'll be pleased to know that i will be doing my college work/homework and fattening out my graded unit. Thankfully, with the mischeif i get up to I have more to put in my graded unit now. I'll be writing about our amazing trip to London and also about the pantomime that i'm playing guitar for -"Calamity John." A modern twist on the old classic, played out by the childrens drama group in Perth Grammar Schools music theatre tonight and tomorow at 7.30pm

I better go and get ready for the panto just now. As long as i know that im organised then i'll feel content. I'll let you know in my next blog entry how the whole thing goes, and also if next weeks gigs were any good or not... or... you could just come and see the gigs for yourself ;)

Catchye later x

Help!

Last week. Fun times... fun times... haha

On Wednesday and Thursday we had college as usual. The sight reading book i've been working through has not only been helping me in my guitar study, but has also helped with music theory. I can now answer theory questions a lot quicker, which can only be beneficial.

In terms of my guitar study - I should be playing a lot more of my guitar at home than i do right now... there's no excuse...
From now im going to play my guitar for at least 2-3 hours a day. In working towards my goal of becoming a session musician, a lot of my free time now should be focused on getting better on my chosen instrument. If i do this i'll begin to see myself progressing, learning more styles and soloing techniques, how to use a plectrum properly, and writing more songs for the band.

We had gigs on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday this week...

• On Tuesday in Dunfermline, we played our whole set to a good crowd, but the sound was pretty dire.

• Friday had us in Clydebank at 'Cosmopol'. The first ever out of town gig we played was at the other Cosmopol venue in the centre of Glasgow, although the first Cosmopol gig went a lot smoother... Friday the 13th struck us bad: Jamie's amp was on the blink; I forgot the words to Lazy; John broke a drum stick; We had to axe two songs because my voice went; The venue was freezing cold and there was almost nobody there... but everybody seemed to enjoy our set? Good times :)

• Saturday, when i woke up I couldn't speak properly yet alone sing again... still cant :( Played for our friend Chris's birthday party in Coupar Angus - where the amp and PA system didn't work properly and we only played four songs due to me not being able to sing, and i sung those songs differently which sounded very strange..

But the point im trying to make is that a gig is never perfect. (Im not being patronising, as i know alot of people have probably done more gigs than me).
There are so many things that can go wrong: Equipment can play up; you can forget chord progressions or words etc; the gig itself might be badly promoted and sometimes leading to you having to "pay to play," which is a rediculous concept... But a gig is a gig, and the more you do, the better a performer you become. Hopefully sessioning live on TV or in the studio will be easier after I gain more confidence in my performing abilities.

"Eat Dr. Ape" are playing on Friday the 20th Nov :D

12.30pm at College in the theatre
&
8pm at 'Hustlers' in Dundee. (70, North Lindsay Street. Behind 'Fat Sams' and along the road)

Cheers :P

The Long and Winding Road

...I've grown up... enjoyed myself... learned how to play music and became a musician... gone to Perth college... we've made this band... now were finally on our way to making it big...


On behalf of the band... thankyou...
everyone.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Across The Universe

Apologies for the vagueness of my last blog post.

These couple of weeks, infact this month, has been amazing. I've been everywhere.

~College in general is excellent - playing guitar; playing Beatles songs and learning about the band themselves; learning all we need to know about being a session musician; making songs using only a midi keyboard; learning how to read and write music. At the moment it doesnt seem to be too demanding which thankfully leaves me time to do other things.

~ I went with my big sister Jennifer to Manchester the other weekend so that she could audition for the "Move like Michael Jackson" dance competition, due to be aired on tv next year. Unfortunately she didn't get through, but she thought "sack it" and we went around Manchester and enjoyed ourselves. Saw the sights, took some photos, and had the best burger i've ever had in my life!!!! At a dingy looking restaurant run by a 'not so enthusiastic' foreign family. Will definately be stopping there again if i go back to Manchester. Unfortunately didnt stop in Liverpool and do the Beatles tour. Gutted... didnt have time...

~Recently our band 'Eat Dr. Ape' has encountered a major stepping stone in its path to success:
Our last few gigs in Glasgow have went really well and have led to two managerial interests;
We have been gigging consistenly now, to the extent that we have been and will be, playing at least one gig every week, up until Christmas. The next gig being this Saturday at the Twa Tams for Halloween :D

Last Thursday we were invited to play live on Stirling Uni Radio - "Air 3", which was absolutely amazing! We got to be interviewed, request songs and play three of our own songs acoustically. John played the Djemby haha :) and during Yellow Brick Road the clock fell off the wall and hit one of the cameramen on the head! Ahhh, the laughs we shared... well... we laughed. Almost forgot the words after that haha

We have one the first round of the songwriting competition we heard about through college and entered through college. All we need now its to be one of the seven bands/individuals picked to play in London on the 26th of November! So fingers crossed...

Oh, I finally have lyrics to our new song "Irony" which we will play on Halloween. Will be the first ever performance of the song so dont miss out! :P
Ice factory afterwards. Cider. Jager bombs. Tequila. Steamin. Kebab. Spew. Good night sleep. Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! x

Eight Days a Week

This long week has been soooo ****ing amazing i cant describe it! haha



So i wont........








Stay tuned though for my next post on Thursday.

P.s. E.D.A, i-Tunes, yeeaahhhhhhh!

Get Back

After years of chronic procrastination (that’s procrastination), I realised that I really need to GET BACK TO WORK!
I have plenty of work that needs catching up on: Moving house; knocking down walls; tidying my room; practicing and writing music/lyrics; homework!

I really do piss myself off sometimes…the way I always manage to find something “more interesting” to do than any of the things that actually need to be done.

And so, things are going to be different now.

I went into college on Monday for eight hours, and managed to get a lot of my overdue/recent homework done. I also went in for a few hours on Tuesday and did the same again, and I actually enjoyed myself.
Better that, than sitting at home doing nothing…

Anyway, rant to self over... Not a lot happened at college last week.
We took lyrics to a existing Beatles song and created a new chord progression to sing those lyrics along to, which was quite productive, as that same song isn’t going to waste and instead will be used again for our Beatles style original song in band class.

Note to Marlisa: I am thinking about studying Ringo’s song writing for my Beatles presentation, which should be quite fun… funny



En otras noticias, Eat Dr. Ape have a gig tomorrow (8th) at ‘The Buff Club’ in Glasgow, which we hope all goes well :)
Last Friday we played at ‘Maggie Mays’ in Glasgow - we had to get at least 15 people to come to the gig otherwise we would have had to make up the difference and pay the venue. Thankfully we managed to get 16 there, so we made a fiver to share between the four of us… yeaahhhhh!

We have a new song in the making! Another Mind reader-esque / Seventh Heaven sounding song. Although allow me to stress that it is not just a rip-off of these two songs, it is a unique song in its own rights. We look forward to performing the song at our next gigs, after it is completely finished. After... I have... written lyrics... yeah

So yeah, I'd better get back to work.

Yesterday

Yesterday at college we had a talk from Perth College lecturer and session musician - Pete Honeyman. Peter told us about life as a young session musician and instrumental instructor working all over the country. Listening intently, as I realised this might be the career that I will pursue after college, I realised that I have a big hill to climb before I can walk down the road of the session musician.

The key things I learned about session work is that you have to be versatile and adaptable. You can always plug your guitar in and play in the style or manner that you prefer, you have to be able to play the instrument the way that the producer or MD wants you to - whether that be playing distorted or clean; finger style or with a plectrum, or even just playing the acoustic guitar. Whatever the situation, you have to be prepared and have the right equipment.


I’ll be honest and say “I cannot use a plectrum to play the guitar…”
I taught myself the guitar when I was fourteen and preferred using my fingers to play as I realised I could play both melody and accompaniment. Since then, I have never really bothered to pick up Satan’s plastic and try to sweep-pick my nuts off. After what Pete has said, I know now that I will need to vastly improve my sight reading skills and my guitar technique.

So yeah lets try and use a pick…oh dropped it…oops dropped it…ahh sack it… Hell yeah, just played a pinch harmonic with my fingers ;) alllright, high five!



Besides the talk, the word session has been hitting us from all angles. Thursday afternoons see us in Session Skills class with Gavin. For the past couple of weeks he has also told us of his career in session work, ranging from outside events and television shows, to studio recordings and adverts.
Within the next week or so, Gav will be making us create our own band/sessions and testing our sight-reading, teamwork and organisational skills. I do look forward to playing some Motown.





P.s. If anyone is actually reading this, Eat Dr. Ape have a gig on the 2nd of October at ‘Maggie Mays’ in Glasgow. Its quite an important gig so it would be great to have everyone along to support us :D

All I've got to do...

This past week at college has been more intriguing than the first. Class talks from successful teachers and degree graduates have only increased our knowledge on what other options we have in the music industry after we leave college or university.
Fiona McKenzie, the predecessor of the great Marlisa Ross, attended our graded unit lecture on Thursday afternoon and spoke of her life in the music industry. Teaching and performing, whilst still always learning, Fiona seems to have enjoyed every moment of her music career, working her way up the ladder and finally living the dream (as the nation of obesity would so commonly describe it). Fiona has worked her way up the ladder - teaching music to children and adults and conducting vast orchestras, she is now the musical director (MD) of ‘Centre Stage Music Theatre’ in Kilmarnock.

Her life as a musicians has had its ups and downs, but this just shows you that not everybody leaves college or university and just teaches one instrument, plays one instrument in one band and is just stuck in one dead end job for their whole life. Her speech on Thursday, accompanied by her mute male friend, was a joy to listen to and I hope to leave college with the same drive that she has.

Oh, by the way, I have chosen Session Musician as my job to apply for in graded unit.



Beside this talk, in band class on Wednesday we discussed what songs we are going to learn for our Beatles covers gig in 12 weeks time:

“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
“Octopuses Garden”
“Sgt. Pepper”
“Come together”
“Help”
“Hey Jude” &
“All you need is love”

(These being narrowed down to around 5 or 6 songs after we find out which of them we perform the best)



Right, I'm off to play guitar and learn some Beatles songs!

Got a wedding party tonight, going to get totally lamp shaded! :P



Woooo, Eat Dr. Ape, woooo!

Blogtastic

Well hey there gang! My names Chris Findlay (Tiffy).

My life consists of college, working, chillaxin, and most importantly playing in my band - "Eat Dr. Ape"

Music wasnt always my ambition until the age of 10 when i started piano lessons. Enjoying playing piano led to my enjoyment of music itself and also led to me learning the guitar at the age of 14.

Upon leaving school I tried to be a smartarse and go to university - I attended Aberdeen University for three months until realising that I didn't enjoy the course and wasn't really academic enough.. and so I came back to good old perth... Yeahhhhhh!!

I worked for a year and then began my HNC in music at 'Perth College' in September 2008. Now after a year of essays, gigs and tests, we are finally 1 year smarter than we were before :)

Its onto HND now and for the next year i'll be updating all you blog stalkers on my life status (i.e. What i'm having for my lunch, how ill/well i'm feeling, and also leaving random R.I.P messages in condolence to he families of celebraties that I have never known personally and don't really give a shit about...what?)
But no, really, for the next year i will update you on myself, my band, and my life at Perth College and my coursework.

Enjoy ;)


*cough* Buy 'Eat Dr. Ape' on iTunes *cough*