There are many pieces to the puzzle that makes up this musician’s life but it’s the music that keeps me chasing my dreams. Somehow I am plugged into a constant stream of sound, so it is always with me, and there is no escaping, fortunately. To hone in the sound, I have to process it, and this is the first hard bit about being a music maker. I sit there with my guitar, pen and paper and hope I can form what I hear into something that you, the listener, can also hear. This is the hard part because, if I could, I would just hum and scat my whole way through this new burst of music, but no, song writing is called song writing because there is a certain element of writing that takes place, you know, those pesky lyrics! I call them pesky because they are (for me) the hardest part of creating a song and I would say that over sixty percent of the listeners out there don’t even process the lyrics at all which makes it all the more difficult because I WANT you to process the lyrics, so I try to make them really good, something that you will really want to listen out for. Once I have my theme ready, I place it all together in some kind of wonderful structure or other. There is no one way to write a song, they all come out differently and I am always stoked to see how one of mine will end up (I have so many in the works!! I really must be more disciplined in finishing some!) I was once told that the bridge should be the best part of the song, so I always try to make it stand apart and be the BEST, but it doesn’t always work. Some songs are just plain better than others. I am still waiting for that ONE song to get heard. Perhaps you will take the time to listen to what I have so far? My newest labour of Love is NOW ONLINE!! You can scoot over to Itunes and check it out if you so desire… ‘tis the season for sharing J http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/monkeys-under-stars/id485589392
Day 12 at Gallery Studios
Hey folks. Here I sit, on the comfy ‘used to be white’ couch. This little love seat has been my home for the last 12 days, back ‘n forth between the microphone and these plush cushions! It’s been an amazing process so far, here, tucked away in the basement of a church in Ottawa’s Glebe. With Dean Watson as my producer, I have been blessed. Dean and I have been friends for years and we work together even better. Not only does he have the ears of a bat, but he is an excellent musician as well. When I emailed him (or was it Facebook?) a few months ago, he was gung ho, and I was so excited by his positivity, he was happy to take on the project, and a 12 day project at that!! The first cd I recorded took exactl y one year from it’s start date to the CD release party… and I decided to do exactly the opposite this time and so far so good! Last Autumn, I won $5000 towards my career, through The Big Money Shot music competiton (Live 88.5 NewCap Radio) and immediately knew it had to be put towards this album. It also has to be said that I could not have done this without the help of my band mates; Rob Rose, Chris Hopkins & Rob Milicevic, their musical skills have saved me on more than one occasion. They are also featured on this new album, which will be called “Monkeys Under Stars.” As I sit here typing to you, Dean is working hard, and we are listening to “Got No Time” in its (almost!) finished version. With only one more song to go in the “mixing” department, the album will be ready for it’s mastering session (with Bova Sound Studios.) Mixing is akin to balancing things out; perhaps taking harmonies down in volume, or cleaning up the sounds of the drums (i.e taking the tom drum echo out of the snare hits) it’s actually a long process… cleaning up breath, aligning everythign together, syncopating it all, so there are no odd sounds or beats in the mixture! An analogy for the mastering process has been explained to me like this: take your favourite spaghetti sauce, it’s delicious!! Add to it a little parmesan, gruyere or mozzerella and the pasta dish just became even better… I never eat my spaghetti without cheese, and I suppose mastering is like the cheese! It polishes off the sound, rounds it out in a way… SO! The best news is yet to come… The CD Release will happen at The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield Quebec on June 5th. See you there??? Xo (turns out we need to finish the mix on ONE more!! Day 13 it is!!)
Lunar Eclipse & Andy Swan
Folks, what a night last night. I was high on moonshine & a little red wine... what a great show at Tranzac in Toronto. I shared the stage with The Talented Mr. Andy Swan. He is fantastic & his voice is SWEET! It's amazing what kind of energy the Universe gives us when something so special as a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse comes into play. I was all riled up & ready for anything. I Love nights like that... & to be honest there weren't too many people out for the performance, but the music sang louder & hearts were won I'm sure!! Toronto life has been very kind so far... this little visit to another part of the world has done heaps of good, I have some great shows coming up... The March 7th show at Savannah Room (the old Oasis) will be fantastic, as part of Canadian Music Week, it's an 11pm SHARP start... so come out if you are in The Big Smoke. Also, I am hosting an Indie Song Writers Night at The Supermarket (in Kensington Market) once a month, the first one will be held on the 31st of March... So far I have an enormously talented lad, Mr. Ron Leary as part of the first Sing-Song night... I will of course keep you posted... Check out my new song "Monkeys Under Stars" on YOUTUBE... it's my favourite so far... hope you like it. Take good care... February is almost over!! Love Lindsay
Articles & Reviews & Videos Oh MY!
Hey All! Things are going great. We just put up another video on You Tube, it's me playing at The Sheep, The new song is called "Monkeys (under stars)". Here is a direct link to the"Monkeys (under stars)" video. I'm really Loving this new one, check it out!!
Also, check out some of the Reviews and a few Articles that have been newly added to the site. Check out my gig listings as well, there are some newly added ones... Toronto here I come!! LOVE moi xox