If 15-year old me could see me now

Hello folks, hope you’re well. It might seem like I’ve been lazy with my blogging of late but I’ve actually just been busy making some dreams come true for a fifteen year old. I’m talking about teenage Shambles of course! A few weeks ago I played my second show at King Tut’s, supporting Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun. It was a great gig with a brilliant audience and I enjoyed it like naebody’s business. I got my ageing flyer back despite the large crowd, with one naughty gig-goer even taking it downstairs to the bar. I met some lovely people and I even sold my first ever piece of Shambles Miller clothing merchandise!

All I had to do to keep my identity a secret was grow a beard and lose a significant amount of muscle mass.

There was an added bonus to my King Tut’s adventure however. A week or so after the gig I was alerted to the fact that the show had been reviewed in none other than the rock ‘n’ roll bible of my teenage years: Kerrang magazine! The punk-song-murdering, orange Ibanez-bashing mosher inside me was beside himself. I’m still really excited to see my name in print and absolutely delighted to read that my set went down so well. If you’d like to read the review for yourself, I’ve posted it below.

That I popped up in Kerrang only a few short weeks after my good friend and partner-in-crime Neil Slorance was the icing on a delicious cake of sugary brilliantness. I’d like to thank everyone who came to the show and that lovely chap Sam Law for reviewing my performance so kindly, and I hope, accurately. Thanks to you lot and Kerrang magazine for making a teenage dream come true.

If there’s one person I’d like to NOT thank, it’s Katy Perry, for completely ruining the phrase “teenage dream” in the collective consciousness for the forseeable future.

Til next time!

love Shambles

x

Pornography and Poppycock

Hello folks! What the hell have you been up to? Fishing? Joinery? BUILDING DEATH RAYS? Cool. Here’s what the hell I’ve been up to:

As you might have guessed from the above picture, I’ve been featured in a nifty wee ‘zine called Pornography for Cowards! It comes with a compilation CD featuring one of my songs and the review of my EP in the zine itself is one of my favourites so far. If you’d like to buy a copy, head over to the PfC Big Cartel Store or check out the main site. It’s a really nice wee read and it’s DIY-tastic!

This week I also did a wee interview, or to be precise, a twinterview! It was for Wee Claire, otherwise known as Claire Lim, who I’ve been following on twitter for a while now. Her blog is always great to read and on top of that, she runs PR company A Badge of Friendship. If you’d like to read my twinterview, just click this wee link.

I’ve also got a couple of gigs in the works, but I’ll update you all on that shortly. I best be off for now, but thanks for stopping by folks. Til next time!

love Shambles

x

It’s Shamblin’ Time!

I widened this. I shouldn't have widened this.

Hello folks! I hope you’re well and not succumbing to any nasty flu badstuffs or the like.  There’s a BUG GOING AROUND, don’t you know. His name is Jeff and he wears a big purple jacket with yellow shoes. So, y’know, look out for him. And his cape.

This week I’ve been trying to get back to normal and have spent quite a bit of time glued to my laptop or in the library, smelling the books. I’ve also been popping up around the internet, courtesy of some lovely blogs and zines, so I thought I’d round some of em up in handy links’n'quotes format. So let’s get started!

Tonight We Dance, Tomorrow We Cry

First off, a lovely review! My favourite part is this paragraph:

“Meanwhile ‘Alice’s Song’ finds Shambles in a reflective mood as one of his (presumably many) parties comes to an end. It’s an oddly moving ode to his pals and leaves you in no doubt that Shambles knows what is important in his life.”

Sure, the description of the song is touching but the main thing I got excited over is the fact that the writer presumes that I have lots of parties. I bloody love parties (most of the time) but don’t go to that many. I can only assume my music makes me seem cooler than I actually am, which as any musician will agree (although not out loud) is pretty much the point.

Read the full review at this floaty nice link chap.

It’s Bloggerin’ Time

Next up is a post from one of my favourite blogs, where a lovely chap named Colin Bell tries to convince braw folk like you to download Things That Make Me Angry from me and the lovely folks at Strummerville. I’d pick a favourite bit, but I’ll let you guess for yourself when you read it. Just remember, I’m ridiculously white. Unnecessarily so. It’s painful. Colin is also responsible for that spiffy image up top. Thanks man!

Read it now, you crazy fools! Go on, click like there’s no tomorrow.

Is This Music?

Well apparently, yes, it is. Last up is another lovely review, courtesy of a fine chap named Elliot Halt (that’s a brilliant name). My favourite bit is a wee sentence that I find quite encouraging, as it would seem to suggest that in my music, I come across the way I’d hope that I would (plus it’s a flattering wee compliment):

“With ‘Nu-Folk’ being quite the sound of now, Shambles Miller is offering something a lot more traditional here; guitar, voice, wit and plenty of opinion.”

Get clicking, friends. Read it here.

Well there we are folks! Wherever will I crop up next? Well, here, probably. But sometimes other places!

Take care folks, til next time!

love Shambles

x

Spot the deliberate mistake…

Folks! It’s a pleasure as always, so it is. That’s me up there, taking a picture of a wee poster for the gig I played last night. It was my first time playing Frankenstein’s, in fact, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever been in Frankie’s Glasgow venue. It was an interesting one: not my worst performance, but not my best. I don’t think the folk down front quite ‘got’ what I was doing. Well, I suppose that’s my fault for deciding to do all my songs in the form of interpretive dance, whilst wearing a stormtrooper costume. Och well. You live you learn.

When I come offstage, I like to nick off to wipe the sweat off ma big stupid face compose myself, and have a wee think about how well I performed. I chill out for 2 minutes, breathe deeply, and reflect on whether or not the gig was an overall success. Well, on a night where I sang ma wee heart out, got paid a wee bit, a free meal, a few free drinks and sold some more CDs, the best part was undoubtedly spending the evening drinking and talking pish with my friends. As usual. I’d say that’s a success.

Recently I’ve also had a new wee review from Kowalskiy. Here are my highlights:

• “this release is another folky gem”
• “a Billy Bragg for the blogging generation”
• “chronicle”
• “the”

Spiffing highlights I’m sure you’ll agree. If you’d like to read the review in full, click me. Go on. Click me.

I’ve also done a wee interview for Sound Surrounds! It’s a fine blog to behold, so if you’d like to read the review just click right here, then read with your eyes. And enjoy with your brain. Or complain with your fingers. Either way, it’s nice to get involved, I think.

That’ll just about do for now I expect, til next time folks!

Shambles

x

Sailing by the Seat of my Pants

Hello folks! It’s been some fortnight so it has and it doesn’t look like slowing up for me just yet. Until the morning after the friday night before perhaps. As well as organising everything for the EP launch this friday (October the 22nd) and rehearsing with my wee band for the night, I managed to fit in a lovely wee gig at the Hidden Lane Tearoom. It was a thoroughly braw night and I’ll be telling you lots more about it soon. In the meantime though, I’ve had some lovely things written about the new EP and bits and bobs about the aforementioned Tea Party. I thought I’d collect them together here so you can peruse them at your leisure. Here are some of the nice things folk have been saying and links to the full articles:

“…by turns folksy, passionate and surprisingly witty.” – It’s Bloggerin’ Time!

“It is called Strike and it is all kinds of awesome and lovely.” – My Portis Wasp

I shouldn’t play favourites, but I can’t help it. What you’re about to read is a beautifully written article, by an exceedingly lovely lady, whom I finally had the pleasure of meeting this week at the Tea Party. My favourite part reads:

“...enough heart to power a small charity.” – Last Year’s Girl

I swooned a little, like a girl, when I read this.

I said I’d say more about the Tea Party and I did. And here’s a little more. Sean McCann, who organised said shindig, also performed as part of a duo: the Ballad of Alex K. I implore you to find them and hear their tunes. You won’t regret it.  Sean also filmed parts of the night and you can see some videos (including one of me performing Robots) over at his site, Light Up Glasgow’s Skyline.

By this point in the week, after the Tea Party, my body was starting to yearn for a wee sleep, as the weekend began to bleed into monday. However, I couldn’t say no to a special wee Kitty the Lion-related event, in aid of their new single. It’s called ‘Gutted’ and it’s out now to download from iTunes. I’d do that, if I were you. Gaun.

Now we’re at Tuesday. My body is attempting to succumb to the flu, my tonsils are involved in some sort of oral revolution and attempting to seize power, I’m imbibing more orange juice than is probably healthy, and rediscovering the taste sensation that is gargling with salt water. The EP launch is this friday folks. Needs must. Also, in case I haven’t mentioned, about the EP launch, please do come to it. It’ll be more fun the more of you there are to sneeze at sing to.

And the last bit of news I have for the moment: I’ve just heard that one of my tracks will be getting played on Jim Gellatly’s new music podcast tomorrow. Make sure to tune in or download when it goes live tomorrow! Rest assured I’ll be reminding you anyway.

That’s all for now folks. I’m off to give my throat a good talking-to, although that seems a little counter productive. Maybe I’ll just lie down instead…

love Shamble-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..