Tesco's Got Talent Relections

Performed with 3 other colleagues at the now annual "Tesco's got Talent" heats. All for charity and a lot of fun, technical issues and biased judging aside. It got me to thinking how interesting it would be to recreate "HERESY" live.

For anyone new here, "HERESY" is a 6 song concept e.p. I created chronicling the torment of a priest trapped in a mysterious desert who is battling demons both mentally and in reality. A quick tap on "Heresy" in labels should take you there. I really enjoyed jamming with the guys, there was a certain chemistry in our ragtag group, though I was not happy with my own performance in parts. Afterwards, feeling hopeful, I enquired about the possibility of producing the songs in a live setting. The guys seemed open to it and I hope that this comes to fruition. It was truly a labour of love and having waited since 2014 to do this, I am cautiously optimistic about it happening.

Below is the video of our performance from the other night. It is the exclusive property of Ginte Cepaitis. He is the singer of the video playing the Tele, and hopefully he won't mind me sharing it!

"SING LIKE YOU'RE WINNING, PHIL."

I took part in "Tesco Got Talent" again this year. I had made up my mind not to. I had my fun in the sun twice and it was only fair to leave it to some younger, hungrier talents whilst I could relax, not worry about soundchecks and enjoy a few nice pints of Guinness without the worry of fluffing my lines on guitar or vocals but....

The show was held in the venerable Kavanagh's venue, in Portlaoise, which has seen some top comedians and bands ply their trade over the years. So how did I end up performing here after all my promises not to? Well, nobody stepped forward, at all. It was frankly embarrassing that there would be absolutely no local representatives in the show, and a charity one at that, (Temple Street Hospital, a GREAT cause) so I said count me in. I had a week or two to prepare, usually I'd have a month or two, but it helped with the song choice. No time to learn anything new, so I decided on an original song "Strong". The song is a very personal one and I enjoy playing it but it sends me to "that place". Everybody has it, a song that makes you sad, gives you goosebumps or simply takes your breath away. But I was confident I could do it justice.

I walked in and was that early, I did my soundcheck straight away. The sound engineer was a nice guy. Had a few interesting stories to tell about musicians he'd met. Who was nice, who was otherwise....
He thought I was a seasoned pro as I'd completed my soundcheck. Quite the compliment! "You seem to know what you're doing, do you play live alot?" I said "Nope, I just get on with it, know what I like and treat the soundman nice." He laughed and said "In case I make you sound like shit?!" Clearly he'd heard that one before. The soundcheck was to my ears fine as regards to my guitar, Selena's tone, maybe a little trebley in hindsight but that was my fault, the settings were mine on the amp simulator. My voice? I started to sing but my voice croaked as soon as I started to sing the piece, my eyes welled too, so I defaulted and half arsed my way through an old Bryan Adams number off key and slightly rattled. 

I left the stage, and sipped a guinness. Keeping to myself and waiting on my posse and wondering how the Hell I could do this. The crew appeared and it calmed me down alot. My better half knew I was nervous but I said it was healthy nerves - The kind that reminds you not to be an arsehole should you ever reach an elevated social standing. Nine acts were scheduled. I was sixth. Just after the raffle break. Time to get the pints in.

I studied each act as they performed. One exception aside, I won't identify as they were brave in the attempt and it was for a great cause, I felt all the other acts brought some real competition. I stood in a toilet cubicle calming myself down. "I can't sing this song, I'll start to cry" or "The crowd need to be perked up and you're gonna depress them." All negative thoughts born from my embarrassing soundcheck. But then, out of nowhere, my favourite Tom Waits quote appeared in my mind - "If you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is music. You have to adjust to your needs at the moment." It made sense. Adjust. Play it fast, upbeat."SING LIKE YOU'RE WINNING, PHIL."

The announcer called me up "....to perform a song he wrote, on a guitar he made..." (NO PRESSURE THERE) "....please welcome Phil McClean to the stage!" My wonderful gang erupted, thus forcing the rest of the crowd to comply. I wanted to introduce my song, explain it's genesis, and the people it was written for, may they rest in peace. I wanted to shout "Happy birthday to my little sister tonight" but I felt the more cynical in the crowd would see it as trying to gain favour with the judges. Hands shaking I started to strum slowly, just to calm my nerves. Then my cheeky side came out:

I played with two angels on my shoulders and near a dozen of them in the crowd who came to support me. I played as hard and as fast as I could, I wanted that crowd to have the time of their lives and to my song, not a cover, MY SONG! The first time I played an original song in public.

The raffle was fun and quite a successful one for our tables. The Missus and the birthday girl both getting a prize! I turned to my friend, Jonny beside me and said "I won't win anything here, I'm a cheerleader as always, but damn me I enjoyed that." I always feel I have to engage the crowd. I can't help it. Those people are there to be entertained and I was always conscious, that with some acts, the crowd can lose interest and talk over them. I can't stand it and will always make sure to clap along to those acts and give them their dues. It's not easy up there under those lights.

The lady stepped up on the stage to announce the winners after the raffle buzz had died down. I sipped my pint waiting to applaud the successful act. Silence. A pin drops somewhere. In third place "Phil McClean!" I nearly fell off my chair. I froze. "Do I go up?" I asked the people around me in disbelief. Jonny practically pushed me towards the stage. I stepped up and received my award, feeling like they were going to say it was a joke. The fact of the matter is, I don't generally win anything and I just received an award for performing a song I'd written. One of the judges shook my hand and leaned in "I'm really sorry, it was a split decision." "Fuck that", I thought,still elated. "It feels like I've won an Ivor Novello award."

  
With special thanks and fond memories to the two angels on my shoulders last night:

My beautiful Granny.                                                                   A gentleman, Rorey.

THE FOG LIVE: TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING.....

I've been absent a while so it is nice to get back on and tell you my news. But first, a happy birthday to my beloved Magpie!

Our story begins in a bedroom with a four track, 10 years ago. 2 young lads decided to record music together, even though we couldn't really play instruments. We called ourselves "The Frequency Of Ghosts" or The FOG, geddit? We found our niche doing short novelty songs and Nirvana covers for our own entertainment. As we mastered our instruments, we actually started writing songs, songs that meant something, at least to us and recorded a number of independent albums for ourselves, friends and family.

Life took over. We've always been close and kept in touch, but the musical collaborations became less and less as education, work and family commitments took over. This was not a bad thing. But it certainly is something we missed.

Recently I planned to surprise my fiancee for her birthday. I wanted to throw a little gig and of course there was a vision. It would be me on guitar with backing tracks. But I needed help to beef it up, so I contacted my old friend and got my sister and little nephew in on the act too. We set up a marquee in the back yard, and after some hard work and stolen moments to rehearse we reached the day. Nerves tattered, a rushed half arsed soundcheck and with some invited friends and family neatly tucked away in the corner, the lady arrived. We opened with the nephew and his version of "All Of Me" by John Legend. He was a little pro and owned it. Then myself and my old friend tore into "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It was confident and assured and one of the better performances. We vibed off each other and he tore into the solo with pure abandon! My sister and I performed a couple of Bryan Adams numbers. She was excellent. I was sub par on the guitar. The nerves took over. Throughout the show I had a ball. It wasn't perfect, warts and all, but it wasn't meant to be. It was a well intentioned gig for my better half and I believe she enjoyed herself. I do believe we peaked with Aslan's "Crazy World". I even got to play an ad hoc version of "Selena's Theme", which was inspired by the woman herself. The FOG playing live, fancy that!

Upon reflection, I believe we've exorcised the demons that taunted us for never performing live before. Ten years is a long time, with exception to a small acoustic set, 9 years ago. We are already planning gig number 2. A live recreation of "Heresy". It wont be until next year but I'm sure as hell looking forward to it!

A PICTURE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE:

THE FREQUENCY OF GHOSTS LIVE. 

A different flavour.

Some time ago, I wrote a piece called "Morning Star" just to throw my hand at some classical-esque style guitar and added hand claps for a little flamenco style flavour. It was fun, it was throwaway and I quickly forgot about it.

A week or so ago, I rediscovered it on an old hard drive unit and thought "Hey, that's not bad for an amateur!" So I quickly relearned the piece and decided that at a minute long, it just didn't cut it.........and here comes the tangent:
Two dear friends of mine are getting married in December. The girl in question is a Spanish lady with a passion for flamenco. I am a self taught amateur with a passion for culturally different music, so whilst the flamenco is an art form performed by true Spanish masters, I am a simple Paddy who dreams of being one and so I am not labelling anything I may perform flamenco as it would be an insult to the music itself and the incredible musicians who live and breathe it. But I want to thank two particular women who've inspired this piece, my wonderful better half for writing an incredible story and creating the character in question who inspired the mood of the piece and my lovely Spanish "sister" for making me pay attention to this incredible music. I went to great lengths to try and create a piece to be proud of. This was a labour of love and whilst it's not perfect, yet, it is slowly but surely getting there. I stress, once again, that this is NOT flamenco but it does have some very Spanish influences. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed creating and playing it.

Siren's Scales (Selena's Theme)

LOUD NOISES!!

So, I bought myself a new toy, as you can see above! Loud is an understatement but to be fair I have saved the neighbours eardrums as once the level passes 4 o' clock, the windows threaten to wobble in the spare room. It's an investment which will be useful for any parties (home or away) which we may have in the future or should "Skin & Blister" choose to play an impromptu gig for family and friends. It was an impulse buy but overall I am very pleased with it. Downloaded some custom backing tracks, wired up the laptop to it and played along through my trusty Vox whilst warbling along.

It's a new sensation to be honest. As I have been forced to learn to play along with with some popular standards (some enjoyable / some necessary evils) and that is completely alien to me as somebody who only played along to my own compositions for a long time. New mainstream music rarely excites me as it's been monopolised and raped by the Simon Cowell-esque manufactured mentality that's pandemic today. So that's why I tend to live in my own head, listen to older music or find sounds completely off the grid.

Not to go off topic, I'm ultimately pleased with with my purchase and having been gifted some further excellent equipment from my grandfather (I'll cover that in the next one) I reckon I'm in for a fun and interesting musical summer. Thanks for reading.