Questions and Chancers

Hello folks! I hope you’ve had a nice weekend/evening/sandwich. I’ve had a lovely relaxing weekend after a hectic week and a busy day of work on Saturday. As well as finally finishing and handing in the essays I’ve been working on which have kept me trapped in the house writing most days, I’ve been making up flyers, making up the last batch of EPs I have to sell, writing some new songs, working on a video, playing a nice busy gig (and getting paid for my troubles!) and of course, I managed to fit in a little bit of drinking/merriment/sandwiches.

Phew! The gig was great though, got to play to lots of folk and a lot of friends came to see me, including some folk I haven’t seen in a while which was lovely. I even managed to sell about 10 copies of my E.P! As a result, there are only a few physical copies left, so if you’d like one of the very last copies, you can order one over at my Big Cartel Store or alternatively download a digital copy (which is a bit cheaper) over at Bandcamp.

So, I mentioned a new song and a new video. Well, it took me quite a while this one, so I hope you’ll let me know what you think Its called Questions and Chancers (see what I did there?) and here it is!

Well, thats that! I hope you enjoyed it. I really am very thankful to you lovely folk who come to my gigs and watch my videos and read my nonsense and listen to me talk pish. It makes me feel quite special and a bit fuzzy in a nice way.

Anyway, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of the video or just for some banter.

Til next time,

lots of love,

Shambles x

Shambles Miller @ Pivo Pivo

Hello! Thats me that is! Thats my flyer! I’m quite excited to have a proper flyer for a gig. Big Thanks to my pal Neil for drawing this up for me.

So, anyway, as you can see from the lovely flyer, I have gig next wednesday, 3rd of March at Pivo Pivo. Its only £3 and you can also see some other nifty bands, such as Starstudded 78, General and Port Cullas, so there should be a little something for everyone!

Oh and also, if you come along you can get one of the last few copies of my E.P for HALF PRICE! Thats only £2! I thought since you’ll have already paid to get in, I’d sell my CD a bit cheaper Its called “Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard”, and it features more art by Neil Slorance.

I’ll be celebrating that day too, since its the day I hand in a LOT of work, so I’ll be letting off some steam and playing some tunes! Oh and if nothing else, you get a flyer! Sounds like a good deal to me.

If you’d like to RSVP to the gig, cause perhaps you’re a bit of a fancy-pants (thats cool, fancy pants are nice now and then, I might wear mine for the gig) feel free to join the wee facebook group thingummy, its open to everyone!

I really really hope to see you at the gig!

lots of love,

Shambles x

So there is such a thing as free cake…

Hello folks. I have a question for you today, so I do:

How many times have you been walking somewhere, seen someone stopping folk in the street and subsequently found a way to avoid them, despite having no knowledge of their agenda?
How many times have you, without hearing them (perhaps you’ve even got your headphones in) waved them away or told them you’re in a hurry? (Ok so those are two questions, don’t be such a pedant.)

LOADS I’ll bet; we’ve all done it. Once, I even pretended to be French in order to sidestep a particularly enthusiastic gouranga bloke. Unfortunately he spoke the language fluently. Rats. The jig was up. Then I remembered I could leave, we were out in the middle of the world here, not trapped in some tense social situation or…room. I fucked off post haste.

Anyway, today I was on my way to the library, cause I’m super-cool and thats where the super-cool kids hang out (round about the 828’s, if you’re interested) when I saw a young woman up ahead, stopping passers-by, most of whom ignored her; waved her away without looking, simply aware that a stranger was seeking their attention.

Ok, fair enough, normally I too would just keep going, but this time I didn’t have my headphones in, I’d decided to just listen to my thoughts and the world for a change; so, as I got nearer to the young lady, I kept my head up and waited to see what purpose was causing her to stop folk in the street.

“Would you like a free cake?” she asked.

“Haaah, there’s no such thing as free cake”, I replied, ever the cynic.

“Ohhh but there is! Its a lovely day, the sun is out, so, y’know…”

I ate that free cake. That sweet, light, sugary, agenda-free cake. It was delicious. I thanked the girl and carried on my way. An hour or two later, as I left the library, that girl and her friends and her delicious snacks were gone, like some sort of cakey dream. I smiled, and carried on.

So remember folks, amidst the charity workers, gouranga-hasslers, Big Issue sellers and junkies with dubious stories involving an unfortunate series of events which have caused problems that can only be solved by you giving them their bus fare, every now and then, someone is just trying to give you some free cake.

Take your headphones out now and then, see what happens.

Til next time folks,

love Shambles x

The artwork in this little story is by my good friend Neil Slorance. Buy stuff from him. Or from me. Y’know, whatever.

A Little Diversion…

Hello folks. Yes, that is a picture of me taking in the aroma, the bouquet if you will, of a wine glass full of money. Thats just the sort of life i’m living these days. I’m not rich or anything, just such a complete idiot that I carry my money in a wine glass instead of having a bank account or owning a wallet.

ANYWAY, as if just to prove that i’ll always find a way to do anything rather than study, I was roaming around the files from my old laptop when I came across this old piece of electronica that I created a few years ago with a bizarre mish-mash of resources. Its a bit long I suppose, but I’m quite fond of it. I hope some of you like it or maybe just find it interesting. Bonus points if you can tell me what I used to make these bleeps and bloops and such.

Its called Revoisac X-15:

Well thats that! I hope some of you liked it, I know its not quite for everyone but its a wee bit of my musical past.

Til next time folks,

love Shambles x

What If Everyone Joined?

So, the BNP has been forced to allow ‘non-white’ members into their party. Back when the possibility of this was first mentioned, my Dad said it would be a good thing. I was a little surprised; like most folk I thought it would just be another way for this band of racists to continue masquerading as a political party.

“Ah, but what everyone should do when the BNP open their party up to members of any ethnicity, is join.”

I blinked. I rubbed my ears to make sure what they were hearing.

“…what?” I asked.

“If everyone who is opposed to the party JOINS that party, the party as it is will die. They won’t be able to keep operating in the way they do. Their far-right, fascist and racist ideologies will be forced out, as will they.”*

As far as the BNP is concerned, no person of a non-white ethnic background will join them anyway; this change in their constitution is just a legal loophole to keep them afloat. The BNP won’t really expect British citizens of various ethnicities/religions/skin colours/beliefs to join their far-right organisation. But if EVERYONE joined…

It’s not long until April, and I can’t think of a better and more fitting joke to play on those particular fools.

Shambles x

*I’m paraphrasing, my Dad probably wouldn’t use the word ‘party’ so many times in one sentence.

Under The Covers

Hello there folks, how are you? Not just how, but WHERE? Perhaps you’re reading my ramblings on the bus, on the train, at uni, in the pub, at home or even in bed. The latter, incidentally, is where I’ve been recording some demos. Under the covers, specifically. Don’t ever let it be said that i’m not lo-fi.

One such example of my under-the-covers recordingcan be found in the recent video I did for a cover of Frank Turner’s “Ballad of Me and My Friends”, with Shirley Valentine. The next example can be found right here so it can. Its just me and a guitar, recorded on an iPhone, under the covers. Hope you like it!

You can even hear the covers rustle at the end. Hi-tech business.

Feel free to comment or just say hello and such. Til next time folks!

love Shambles x

Blackberry? More Like BLUEberry*. Ha.

So, my missus recently got a new Blackberry and it came with a feature which can read your text messages to you if you’re driving or operating heavy machinery or milking a cow and whatnot. On discovering this, I immediately did what ANY normal human being would do:

Yes, I texted it lots of swear words. You would too. Thats all for now folks.

P.S. If you know anyone with this feature on their phone, try turning it on when they’re not looking, then waiting until they’re in the cinema or at a family dinner or in church until you text them. Have fun!

love Shambles x

*I meant blue as in the nature of the language the phone was using, its sort of a pu- oh never mind…

Square-Pig Snubs Technology

So, I finally gave in. Despite regularly slagging friends for becoming glued to their shiny apple-boxes, I’ve bought myself an iPhone.

Ach what does he know.

Shambles x

It wasn’t like this in my day…

I am a walking, talking (especially talking) contradiction in terms. A big old hypocrite, even. I enjoy learning about Buddhism and try to live by its philosophies, yet I eat meat and drink alcohol and regularly concede that in some situations, with some people, you might just have to give them a kicking. I sneer at over-excited teens who jump and scream at the sheer giddiness of simply existing; yet who cry and despair at the miniscule amount of work required of a university fresher, whilst myself despairing at a workload which regularly accomodates trips to the pub and long lunches. I mock trend-followers, whilst walking around Glasgow University in my skinny jeans, my long coat and my unfeasible haircut. Oh and the scarf.

My personal hypocrisy of the day however, comes in the form of youths. Bloody youths, with their youtubes and their fringes and their insistence on continuing to breathe in between sentences like “oh no, its totally cool, like, i’ll put it on bebo later” and “ohmygod, did you hear what Jonny said? What a loser, he’s so gay, eugh, like whatever.” I physically groan at their attempts at humour, or any time I hear them talk about the minutiae of their lives as though nothing has ever been as important as X telling Y he fancies Z but Z likes…etc etc. Worst of all is the manners, or lack thereof. Walking into the shop i’m leaving without waiting for me to vacate the doorway, but offering no acknowledgement or thanks for my holding the door open, for example. Their nonchalance towards shouting, screaming, littering, throwing things at people, mocking the unfeasible haircuts of others (ahem) occasionally causes me to physically growl. Then sigh, and despair.

It just…oh wait a minute, hang on.

(Look Dad, I know I have uni in the morning, I’ll stop soon. What do you mean I’ll never get to sleep? Just because i’m playing my Nintendo DS whilst watching The Big Bang Theory, writing an article and messing about on facebook/myspace/twitter/etc at 1 in the morning? I just do that until i’m tired. Then I lie in bed for around 2 hours listening to podcasts until my brain finally quietens down enough for me to fall asleep. Its a perfectly healthy system, now excuse me, i’m going to make a microwavable cheeseburger, i’m peckish. Oh look, the wrestling is on).

I’m sure I heard my father growl slightly, then sigh as he left the room and went to bed there. Weirdo. Can’t believe he didn’t offer to make that burger for me.

Anyway, it just boggles my mind that these bloody kids, some of them not even old enough to drink, or smoke, or gamble, think they know everything. Wait til they get to my age, then maybe they’ll stop being such idiots. God, it really is tough being 23.

The Ballad Of Me And My Ukulele (and Shirley Valentine and a Rubber Duck)

Hello folks! You’re looking particularly lovely today, I must say. It could be the way the light is hitting your face, the beers I had for lunch, or it could be joy at the fact that I’ve FINALLY finished the video for the wee collaboration-cover I’ve done with my pal Shirley Valentine! I quickly knocked up a rough wee demo of my ukulele version of Frank Turner’s “Ballad of Me and My Friends” and Shirley lent her gorgeously awesome vocal talents to it. I liked it so much that I decided to make a wee music video. It features me, a rubber duck, some photo adventures and some tasty animation from my very own hand. If people seem to like it (and even if they don’t) me and Shirley Valentine will hopefully do a proper version of this, with real microphones and everything.*

So here’s the video, I hope you enjoy it! Oh and you might want to turn your speakers up, I was working on it late at night so I’m whispering at the start…

…and at the end, yeah. Well there you go! I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks again for watching, I really appreciate it. Comments are always welcome of course, I haven’t really done a video quite like this before.

Til next time folks!

love Shambles x

*As opposed to making a tent out of my bedcovers and recording my ukulele/vocal parts whilst underneath, to eliminate outside noise/echo. You’ll find me in the dictionary next to “Lo-Fi.”