Booze, Reviews and Interviews

Hello folks! How are you today? You look fairly chipper to me, which is no mean feat right now. In between the new Con-Lib government, ash cloud malarkey and the fact that in Scotland it can’t be Summer for one whole day, never mind two days in a row, a good mood is to be treasured.

I’m feeling pretty braw myself today as I’ve finally finished my summer exams! Fair enough, I’ll need to write a big ol’ dissertation over summer, but I’ll also be able to get gigging regularly again. Hopefully I’ll fit in a wee Scottish tour, so if you have any suggestions of where I should play and when, do let me know. It also means I can melt my brain with comic books, video games and of course, the odd pint of beer/whiskey/pakora sauce. I’ve done a wee bit of that already, including last night when I went to see Andrew Maxwell. The highlight for me was when he turned out to be related to a drunk Irish girl in the front row. That and when he told me if I wasn’t stoned, my hair certainly was. Fair enough really. As for the missus, her favourite part was undoubtedly Scottish Jesus, as summed up in this picture. Nae danger.

In other exciting news, I’ve done a wee interview for Elba Sessions, as well as being featured on Ride The Tempo!

You can read the Elba interview in full by clicking this handsome link. I’ve only done a few interviews so far, but this has been one of my favourites. It even clears up this issue of my tiny guitar :) The feature at Ride The Tempo features one of my songs and you can take a look it by click this strangely alluring link.

Oh and, just so ye’s know the tiny guitar is real, here’s a photo of it in action:

Am I singing or laughing? You decide.

No, those aren’t pyjamas.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts on the interview/feature/possible tour venues/which enemy I should be battling in my new E.P/my ridiculous haircut/etc

love, Shambles x

Badges? We don’t need no stinking…oh wait, yes we do.

Hello folks! You might well be looking and feeling lovely today, but I’m a little worse for wear, thanks to a big day yesterday which ended in me taking a few too many refreshments. Then stumbling home with a bag of badges in one hand and a kebab in the other.

So, as you can see, I picked up the first ever batch of Shambles Miller badges! It’s very exciting, being on a badge. I got them from the lovely Heidi, she hearts badges. Although I’ll mostly be flogging these cheaply at gigs, I’ve also made them available to buy online at my big cartel store, just in case any of you eager beavers really fancy some Shambles/Dragonwizard badge action. Also, you can still download digital copies of my E.P from my store on bandcamp. I’m still also trying to win this competition to play at the Green Man Festival, but I need lots more votes! You can vote every day, even if you’ve voted before, so please vote for me, I’ll be very very very grateful.

Now, I did mention being a bit steamboats last night, which is largely the fault of Mr. Andrew Lindsay, who was playing a gig in the Recital Room at the City Halls! As usual he was fair braw, so you should go give his music a wee listen. I also managed to cram in a lovely burger at Ketchup, some lovely time with the missus and good banter with pals, as well as an Onomastics exam in the morning. Badges, beer, burgers and banter. I really made the most of my day off. However, I’m off to hit the books again til I achieve exam-freedom on tuesday. Til next time folks!

love Shambles x

No Rest For The Wicked(ly Bearded)

Hello folks! You look lovely today, all shiny and healthy. Unlike me, but I’ll bore you with the wee woes shortly. As you can see, I played in Sloans Ballroom this week and it was bloody fantastic so it was, possibly even a new favourite venue. The crowd was great, I felt really comfortable on stage and the room just looked absolutely amazing, a really great atmosphere. I’ll be putting up some new videos soon hopefully, in the meantime here’s one that my pal Alice got from the evening, always one of my favourites to play, Beer Song:

I really enjoyed that night so I did and it seems that my body knew it was going to be my last gig for a month or so, since I succumbed to illness the following day. “Dr. Showbiz” as my dad likes to call it, must’ve kept me going until the day after, when I was laid low by some nasty badthroat. Unfortunately, it’s nearly exam time for me, so my need to study almost constantly is being thwarted by illness. Curses.

Rocking my typical stagewear, complete with ridiculous trousers.

Today is also a strange but exciting day for me, as I sold and posted off the very last copy of my debut E.P “Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard.” I’m really grateful to everyone who has bought a copy, the support means a lot to me. I’ll be recording a new E.P during summer, but in the meantime if you’d like a copy of the E.P you can download a digital copy from my store on bandcamp. You can even download individual tracks if you prefer.

As I mentioned previously, I’m taking a month or so off from gigging, what with exams and all. Plus, after gigging almost every two weeks for nearly a year, I think my throat/liver could do with a wee rest. Hopefully that time will fly by though, I’m sure I’ll be itching for a wee gig as soon as exams are over.

Also, I’ll hopefully update the ol blog with new videos and other stuff soon. I’d especially like to get up a video of my new song “Strike!” as it’s quite appropriate for me at the moment. More on that later though.

For now folkies, thanks for reading! Til next time,

love Shambles x

“Not that i’m suggesting Miller is a smelly drunk man…”

Hello folks :) (I know some people abhor the use of smileys, but it seems appropriate, since i’m smiling as I write this)

I am in lovely mood at the moment, i’m rather pleased with myself I must say, and i’m more than a little excited. Apart from the fact that i’ve had a lovely weekend with my beautiful missus (despite her brother’s team getting gubbed at the fitba) and despite the fact that i’m up early tomorrow for a lecture on onomastics, i’m pretty bloody chuffed because i’ve just read the first review of my EP! It comes courtesy of the lovely, and irresponsibly attractive folks over at Music Liberation. I’m in a fair braw mood over it, so I hope you’ll take a wee read. Tis a fine blog in general, so have a read (once you’ve read the review of my EP of course :P)

I’m also excited (and it must be said, nervous) because I have a busy couple of days, culminating in my gig at the Liquid Ship tomorrow (Tuesday, 29th September) for the Free Candy Sessions. I’m playing with some lovely talented folk, so even if I fail HARD, we can all have a wee pint and enjoy their fine music. October is looking like being a fair busy month for me in general, with a fair few interviews, gigs and reviews, including my own set at the Acoustic Riot stage for Oxjam Glasgow on the 24th of October! Oh I’m an excited man, I am.

Plus I get paid in October, which is handy cause i’m HEAVY skint. So take pity on a poor Shambles and come see me at the Liquid Ship and maybe even buy a wee EP if you’re in the mood :)

Til next time folks! Have a week!

love Shambles x

[Incidentally, the picture has nothing to do with this post other than that it captures me being excited and features my beautiful missus, who I mentioned earlier. Okay, off ye go now. You look awesome today by the way.]

Robot Disguise Caught Me Your Eyes…

Hey folks! Since my EP is now on sale, i’ve put up a second track from the record on my myspace page. The track is called “Robots” and while its totally fine if you want to believe that the song is about me and a beautiful young lady escaping a Robot Attack, you can also consider that its a song about the night when I met my beautiful missus at T in the Park in 2008 :)

Thats us, on the very day we first met in fact, with The Prodigy in the background if I remember rightly. Later that evening she mentioned how much she hated smoking, so I went several hours without a fag and pretended I didn’t smoke, even when she bumped into a friend who asked if he could bum a smoke off me. I was already a bag of nerves! Luckily, I managed to wean myself off the ol smokes, but the missus has, SOMEHOW stayed the course and put up with me. But its expensive having a girlfriend, they always need you to buy them things like lollipops, buttons, pretty dresses, pinafores and such, so if you like the track I hope you’ll consider buying my EP at my Big Cartel Store. Shameless plug I know, but i’m really very proud of it!

Anyway, til next time folks, oh and before I forget, I LOVE your hair like that, it really suits you! Go you.

love Shambles x

(P.S, yes that  ACTUALLY IS my missus. I can’t believe it either.)