Beware! The Leopard

No time so something funny

Paying gig!

Yep, that's correct, Beware! The Leopard has a paying gig on November 25th at the River Bar near Tower Bridge.

I have to admit, eventhough it has been almost a year since I gave up the world of bureaucracy for the world of music, a lot of the time it is still hard for me to call myself a "musician".  I guess it is becauase I, all too often, compare myself to my professional role-models.  This is act is a bit masochistic on my part, as I haven't been writing music for nearly as long as the people I look up to, thus in any comparison I am going to fall well short. 

But getting that email yesterday, which ensures that I have gig on the 25th, and that I will get paid for said gig (even if it's only enough to buy a pizza), helped me jump that mental hurdle to call myself a professional artist/musician.  It has also put some wind in my songwriting sails, and I can't wait to get home and work on a couple of tunes that have been giving me some trouble over the last few weeks.

So for all you burgeoning artists out there, hard work does pay off you just have to be patient.

For more details about the gig, check out myspace or facebook. 

Cheers

BWTL

 

I am a master!

at procrastination.

Procrastination is the bane of all artists.  I believe that Newton best laid out the ground rules for procrastination when he came up with the law of inertia (is it actually a law?  Physics escapes my grasp right now).  Anyway, the jist of inertia is that mass requires force to move it, and that force must be greater than the force which keeps it in place or on it's current trajectory.  Procrastination for me is something like that. 

Characteristics of procrastination:

1.  There is a strong desire to actually create something, write a song, record some bits, etc.

2.  There is also a strong desire to remain warmly ensconced in bed snug under the covers. 

So the force required to get me out of the covers on my day off has to be greater than the desire to stay nice and warm and cozy. 

Despite my desire to be a successful musician, right now the force of writing a song is nowhere near as strong as that tying me to the bed.  And so another song will go unwritten.

Who am I to defy physics?

Last night...

She said.....

Just kidding.  Last night was a great night at Powers Bar in Kilburn at the Stripped Bare acoustic showcase.  There were some really great acts out there, including Fuzzy Star, who I enjoyed not least because they had a glockenspiel and a violin.  They kind of have a Sufjan Stevens/Ben Lee vibe, check 'em out.

Steve Mahoney also played, drunk off his ass, but he still brought what was left of the house down. 

And this brings me to my one critique of the open mic/showcase format.  People that play at these gigs need to stay until the end.  Last night I played in the penultimate slot, which was ok because alot of the previous acts were still there to check out the tunes.  Shortly after I left the stage though, a lot of them fled the pub.  As a performing musician, this bugs me a bit, because we need to stick together, lend each other support and encourage success.  

So here's my call to other musicians, when you've been invited to showcase your stuff at a small up and coming venue.  Stick around and support the other acts who were there for you.

Tonight at Powers

Just a reminder that I will be playing tonight at Powers Bar in Kilburn.  It's on the High St near Kilburn tube station, Jubilee line.

While I will be without my trusty Nord, I will be looping it up for the audience.

Now I just need to get the desire for a fag out of my head.

Long overdue recordings

Here's a couple of tunes from my set on October 12th at the Phoenix.  Come on out to Powers in Kilburn on Wednesday if you like what you hear.

Download big_house.mp3

Download white_coated_wolves_october_12.mp3

Review: Loyalty to Loyalty

So the Cold War Kids have come out with a new record, and it's about bloody time that I took a stab at reviewing it. 

My first introduction to the Cold War Kids came via Tokyo Police Club when they played a show together at Zaphod's in Ottawa last summer.  While everybody was riding the TPC bandwagon, I was much more impressed by the subtle but infectious show that Cold War Kids put on.  In fact, it is safe to say that I was completely blown away by them.  It was the first time in a long time that a band I'd not really heard of was able to completely blow me away at a live show.  I spent weeks listening to their album Robbers and Cowards.  Audible treats such as a Saint John, and others echoed through my brain for months afterward.  So it should come as no surprise that when it was announced they had a new album coming out I was almost jumping for joy in this tiny hovel in Kentish Town.  I just about burst at the seams when it was further announced that they are playing a show in London (this week), and we managed to get tickets.

It was rapidly decided that we needed to take a listen to the new album so that we could sing along with familiarity at the upcoming gig.  So we bought Loyalty to Loyalty, and I have to say, I'm not impressed.  That is not to say that there isn't some very fine musicianship on this record.  In fact, it is safe to say that should this album have been released instead of Robbers and Cowards, I would have been equally blown away.  What is unfortunate, is that Cold War Kids don't seem to have grown at all musically since their full-length debut.  The songwriting, the guitar sounds, the feeling that you're sitting somewhere in the Mississippi delta listening to an old juke box play out its little known records, is all here, exactly as it was on the first album. 

So really what I'm trying to say is that if you buy Loyalty to Loyalty expecting something new and exciting from Cold War Kids, you will be disappointed.  If you buy it hoping for some more Robbers and Cowards, you will be overjoyed with what you hear.  

Photo:  Main Square in Bath, England.