Swampscott

Hey Lover ( Demo ) by Swampscott

2010-10-18T12:29:00.001-07:00

Ballad of a 30 Something Office Worker is out now!

2010-09-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

The debut single can now be purchased on CDBaby, iTunes, AmazonMP3, eMusic,Spotify and many more!

Proper Country Cooked Just Right

2010-08-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

Its not very often I stumble across great country music performed with balls ( especially from a female singer ). :-)

Nikki Lane is one such example of someone who is going back to the old ways and doing it right. Good songs recorded the way country should be, none of this Nashville polished shit! No siree! Taylor Swift can kiss her ass I reckon....Check out "Down to the Wire" and "Thousand Dollar Hound", just the epitomy of cool!

Another such example of great country music cooked just right can be found in the songs of Belfast based troubadour Declan Doherty ( aka Shaky Horse ) Countless gems can be found on myspace.
Check out "When will you see", "If I can't be your lover" and "Its a Crying Shame" to name but a few. Its the bleeding heart of country music in its purest form.

Swampscott

SHITTY,SIMPLE,SIMPLE,SHITTY,SHITTY:PRETTY

2010-08-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

I recently read a comment someone made to the tune of, "There is no such thing as a good live album"...to my dismay, I disagree, I think there are tonnes of great live albums..and that lead me to think about all the old recording ways before the advent of digital etc. Think of all the old delta blues, old bluegrass and country records, elements of Motown where the song and the performance took precedence over the sonic pristineness of a record, where technological advances didn't intervene on raw human emotion.

So I guess what I am saying is, if you want to make a good record, then its gotta be shitty, raw , in your face, and you also need a good song, some f^&*ing bad-ass players ( not fret wankers ), a nice room and a couple of mic's.

Which lead me to this fine article on Old Skool Funk recording and thinking, these guys share the same belief as me...check it out, its brilliant and hilarious, all at the same time....

Some new Demo's posted!

2010-08-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

I've posted a couple of demo's of tracks on Soundclound, since I am in a bit of a musical frenzy at the moment.

The songs are called "Oh Sunny Day" and "Love Has No Feelings".

"Oh Sunny Day", is a bit of a homage to days gone by. I had this Byrds/Kinks melody running around in my head, so I thought capture it and don't lose the idea..so it kinda transpired that way and its available in all its harmonious demo glory on SoundCloud.

Oh Sunny Day (demo) by Swampscott

"Love Has No Feelings", this track I penned in work in my head, while daydreaming one afternoon ( as you do like )...again, I had this melody in my head that I could not shake and just thought, lets write it down. The version on here is a one take job down at a friends house ( actually Paul from Jackson Cage ). What actually happened that day, was that Marty ( usually bass player in Jackson Cage ), had just bought a pedal steel, he was super excited to give it a whirl, Paul played some bass and my brother Dec ( aka Shaky Horse ) finger picked guitar, while I strummed and crowed....I said to them, I have this song, you wanna give it a go and try to jam it, and so we did, and I absolutely love the result,its so raw and winged...great stuff...

Love Has No Feelings ( rough live demo ) by Swampscott

You'll always be in my heart

2010-08-04T11:54:00.001-07:00

A little meandering song of love and regret.

You'll always be in my heart by Swampscott

Are you excited about the Open House Festival 2010 ?

2010-08-03T03:52:00.000-07:00

Are you excited about the Open House Festival 2010 ?

I sure as hell am. This year tops all the previous years due to the sheer class of talent that has been assembled. I played at the Open House Festival in 2009 as part of Jackson Cage and we had a great time playing to so many cool people, but this year I am looking forward to it as a beady eyed fan.

Most of my fav bands on the planet are playing, Wilco ( possibly the best live act in the world right now ) will be there, ably supported by the Felice Bros. Old Crow Medicine Show will be there accompanied by the equally fantastic Dave Rawlings Machine, not to mention the fantastic Iron and Wine, surely this is complete heaven for music lovers everywhere.

But these great acts are only the tip of the iceberg. The Chillifest is a great day out, chilli eating competitions and helium karoake, plus a festival littered with amazing string bands and trad bands from all over the globe that will truly blow your mind...

As you can tell, I can't wait.

Swampscott

Its a lonesome road we have to travel!

2010-07-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

Getting off the beaten track round our neck of the woods!

The Ballad of a 30 Something Office Worker

2010-07-28T03:06:00.000-07:00

This debut track is a short stream of thoughts on the transition from perceived freedom of youth, to the state of being in limbo about whats next, to entrapment of the free soul into the drudgery and banality of life behind a desk wondering how it all ended up like this. You get the drift.

It will be available for Digital Download on iTunes, Spotify, Last.fm, AmazonMP3 etc... from 13 September 2010 onwards.

This track will be provisionally included in Swampscott's forthcoming collection of songs entitled "Streams of Consciousness".

A preview is available on SoundCloud!
The Ballad of a 30 Something Office Worker by Swampscott

Swampscott is born!

2010-07-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

Swampscott is a new music project. It is brought to you by Shay, a former member of Belfast Rockers Jackson Cage.

With the imminent arrival of my baby daughter, I decided several months ago the time had come to swap the live music scene for introspection and the home recording studio, at least for a little while.

I had an inkling for a new band/project for a while, but ever since leaving Jackson Cage I often wondered if that was it for my musical aspirations. But alas, no, once music is in your blood it will never leave.

I have often questioned the quality of my contribution to the music scene and been bamboozled by the talents of others. It kinda made me question is there any point in me making music. But of course once you realize music is for everyone, its an open door, in which to express yourself, then you are free to do as you wish :-). So here I am about to expose my sub conscious upon the world.

Finally, a pearl of wisdom that is often overlooked and underrated.

Don't fall into the trap of getting into music for anything other than the love of it. Never worry about what others may say! I thought I'd learned that ages ago, but I think I may have only just got it.