Just to confirm, the launch gig is the 19th of November not December as i had erroneously written in the last post. Thanks for spotting that Daniel!
I blame a knock on the head...
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
CDs and listening and stuff
Right, well amongst other things, last night i picked up the CDs.
That's about where the good news stops.
The bad news involves having a disagreement with my car about where we were going and coming to a decision that upside down in the ditch was the answer.
That and finding out there's a problem with the CDs.
It's fair to say that i've had better days*.
But, i'll be sorting out the cds in time for the launch. So, date for your diary.
Friday 19th November.
Upstairs in 1331 (Grape Lane in York)
Free entry
We'll be playing, Dr Jones' other band will be playing and we'll be joined by the excellent Dan Webster as well.
CDs (in all their corrected glory) will be available for ten of your english pounds.
For those of you who've pre-ordered and aren't based in York, i'll be getting yours in the post to you once they're sorted and i'll sent you bank details.
In between now and then i will be putting the various tracks up in various places (myspace and bandcamp) so that you can have a listen prior to parting with your hard earned.
Watch out for a flyer nearer the time (i.e. when i've had time to do it**) that will help persuade you that this really is the best thing to do on friday night.
Stay well
Drew
*As, to be fair, has the car.And, unlike the car, i don't have a scratch on me.
** Today i have mostly been speaking to insurance companies and their associates.
That's about where the good news stops.
The bad news involves having a disagreement with my car about where we were going and coming to a decision that upside down in the ditch was the answer.
That and finding out there's a problem with the CDs.
It's fair to say that i've had better days*.
But, i'll be sorting out the cds in time for the launch. So, date for your diary.
Friday 19th November.
Upstairs in 1331 (Grape Lane in York)
Free entry
We'll be playing, Dr Jones' other band will be playing and we'll be joined by the excellent Dan Webster as well.
CDs (in all their corrected glory) will be available for ten of your english pounds.
For those of you who've pre-ordered and aren't based in York, i'll be getting yours in the post to you once they're sorted and i'll sent you bank details.
In between now and then i will be putting the various tracks up in various places (myspace and bandcamp) so that you can have a listen prior to parting with your hard earned.
Watch out for a flyer nearer the time (i.e. when i've had time to do it**) that will help persuade you that this really is the best thing to do on friday night.
Stay well
Drew
*As, to be fair, has the car.And, unlike the car, i don't have a scratch on me.
** Today i have mostly been speaking to insurance companies and their associates.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Getting there...
yeesh, how long can this take? So, i think i've finished the artwork, i'm just waiting on a couple of answers on some technical queries from the folks at HDC in Bradford, and then, finally, we'll be looking at a week or so for production.
Which brings me to Launch Night!
Well, it would if i'd sorted it out yet.
And here's where you can help, there's a poll in the right frame of this site, because i'm trying to get a booking when as many of you as possible are available, so please click away and let me know which dates are good for you.
Thank you.
On an un-related note, i found this the other day:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400100311992&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Now i don't mind that one of my cds is on e-bay, i don't even mind that it means one of YOU thought it wasn't worth keeping and sold it on.
But really, £3.99 second hand? It's only a penny more brand new! That my friends, is what you call and unacceptable mark up. And in these difficult economic times too, i dunno...
Which brings me to Launch Night!
Well, it would if i'd sorted it out yet.
And here's where you can help, there's a poll in the right frame of this site, because i'm trying to get a booking when as many of you as possible are available, so please click away and let me know which dates are good for you.
Thank you.
On an un-related note, i found this the other day:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400100311992&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Now i don't mind that one of my cds is on e-bay, i don't even mind that it means one of YOU thought it wasn't worth keeping and sold it on.
But really, £3.99 second hand? It's only a penny more brand new! That my friends, is what you call and unacceptable mark up. And in these difficult economic times too, i dunno...
Monday, 20 September 2010
Flyer for MWK gig and other stuff
Above is the flyer for the Michael Weston King gig at the basement next friday, hopefully the subject line gave that away.
You might also be pleased to know that the album is now officially complete, I'm still working on the artwork (and having occasional issues transferring software between computers) but it should be done soon. Launch gig still to sort out though.
Finally, next gig after MWK is back at Verve bar in Leeds on Oct 24th. Usual mix of decent acoustic acts expected, please come down in you're in the area.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Two steps forward...
Well, as of thursday, the album will be complete. Just over two years and lord alone knows how many hours, but on thursday evening i shall be walking out of the studio with the master CD. A few days after that we will have some decent samples (and probably a couple of full length tracks) on Myspace and the website (i'll come back to this in a moment) and the downloads will be available to buy from bandcamp, thesixtyone and itunes (shortly afterwards).
In addition to the downloads, I will be making 100 cds, these will be rather nifty and come with the a full inlay, nice metal case and all the lyrics and the like. They will be £10 each and I am taking pre-orders.
After that we'll be back to download only I'm afraid. Though if there is significant demand we might do another, simpler, run (standard jewel case stuff).
Basically not enough people are buying cds for us to justify making any larger runs. You don't want to see the boxes of unopened EPs we have in storage...
I'm sorry if that means that someone misses out one. I'm investigating a potential solution via cdbaby that might allow us to do basic cds mailed all over the world without needing to take the massive up front hit. I'll let you know how that works out.
We're also working on some t-shirt designs, again, this means heavy upfront investment so let me know if it's something you'd be interested in.
As soon as my replacement graphics card turns up on monday i will be working like the clappers to finish the artwork but i'm thinking about 1 month until i have the cds.
Apologies for any confusion on gigs, bit of mix-up between me and the promoter. I am no longer supporting Andy Write on Nov 2nd. The good news is that you don't have to wait that long...
Next gig is on the 1st October, supporting Michael Weston King, at the City Screen basement. £12 on the door, but just £6 with a flyer (which i haven't produced yet but will follow shortly. See graphics card issue above...)
Should be a good night, here's what the venue says about him:
When Laurel Canyon legend, ex-Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers country rock pioneer Chris Hillman says you’re “as fine a singer-songwriter as Gram Parsons” you know you’re good. In fact, it’s difficult to know where to start with the quality plaudits, “ … an exceptional songwriter” (Word); “ … elegant, subtle performances … wonderful in a way that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up” (Maverick) and so the praise heaps up. Part Nashville balladeer, part alt country hero, Nick Cave meets Rodney Crowell, the ex-Good Sons is mentioned in the same breath as Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt and Tim Hardin. High praise indeed, and well deserved. This is a MUST-SEE show, and early ticket purchase is strongly advised!!
The other thing i'm trying to sort out at the moment is a proper launch night for the album, it's balancing the choice of nice, friendly, intimate venue where we like playing vs. trying to get somewhere at a weekend.
Not easy, but in progress.
If you thought all that sounds like things are going fairly nicely then you'd be right. So just to balance things out, here's the hitch:
My website is down. Well, that is, www.drewstephenson.com is down, as is my e-mail address of info@drewstephenson.com. You may think that that's what you're looking at, but if you check the url at the top you'll note some forwarding has happened.
Obviously i'm trying to get these reinstated as soon as possible, but in the meantime, you can get me on blinddrewsmusic@googlemail.com and you can get to the website on http://blinddrewsmusic.blogspot.com/
So there we are, two steps forward and just the one step back. That's progress right?
In addition to the downloads, I will be making 100 cds, these will be rather nifty and come with the a full inlay, nice metal case and all the lyrics and the like. They will be £10 each and I am taking pre-orders.
After that we'll be back to download only I'm afraid. Though if there is significant demand we might do another, simpler, run (standard jewel case stuff).
Basically not enough people are buying cds for us to justify making any larger runs. You don't want to see the boxes of unopened EPs we have in storage...
I'm sorry if that means that someone misses out one. I'm investigating a potential solution via cdbaby that might allow us to do basic cds mailed all over the world without needing to take the massive up front hit. I'll let you know how that works out.
We're also working on some t-shirt designs, again, this means heavy upfront investment so let me know if it's something you'd be interested in.
As soon as my replacement graphics card turns up on monday i will be working like the clappers to finish the artwork but i'm thinking about 1 month until i have the cds.
Apologies for any confusion on gigs, bit of mix-up between me and the promoter. I am no longer supporting Andy Write on Nov 2nd. The good news is that you don't have to wait that long...
Next gig is on the 1st October, supporting Michael Weston King, at the City Screen basement. £12 on the door, but just £6 with a flyer (which i haven't produced yet but will follow shortly. See graphics card issue above...)
Should be a good night, here's what the venue says about him:
When Laurel Canyon legend, ex-Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers country rock pioneer Chris Hillman says you’re “as fine a singer-songwriter as Gram Parsons” you know you’re good. In fact, it’s difficult to know where to start with the quality plaudits, “ … an exceptional songwriter” (Word); “ … elegant, subtle performances … wonderful in a way that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up” (Maverick) and so the praise heaps up. Part Nashville balladeer, part alt country hero, Nick Cave meets Rodney Crowell, the ex-Good Sons is mentioned in the same breath as Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt and Tim Hardin. High praise indeed, and well deserved. This is a MUST-SEE show, and early ticket purchase is strongly advised!!
The other thing i'm trying to sort out at the moment is a proper launch night for the album, it's balancing the choice of nice, friendly, intimate venue where we like playing vs. trying to get somewhere at a weekend.
Not easy, but in progress.
If you thought all that sounds like things are going fairly nicely then you'd be right. So just to balance things out, here's the hitch:
My website is down. Well, that is, www.drewstephenson.com is down, as is my e-mail address of info@drewstephenson.com. You may think that that's what you're looking at, but if you check the url at the top you'll note some forwarding has happened.
Obviously i'm trying to get these reinstated as soon as possible, but in the meantime, you can get me on blinddrewsmusic@googlemail.com and you can get to the website on http://blinddrewsmusic.blogspot.com/
So there we are, two steps forward and just the one step back. That's progress right?
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