Hello folks! You look lovely today, as always. My updates are still a little sporadic due to the process of changing where it is that I live from one place to a different place. However, I’ve managed to steal some internet from a local kebab shop by perching on the roof at nighttime, which has given me time to discover the video I’m about to post. Some of you might know that I recently played an event called Dust It Off at the Old Hairdressers, alongside Laura and Thom and Julia and the Doogans. Our performances were captured by the guys at LIVEFLY (you can watch Julia and the Doogans’ performance at this link here) and have recently been uploaded to their site. I was recovering from throat-and-chest-and-sinus badness at the time but I think I got away with it (apart from pointing it out) so I thought I’d share the video with you lovely lot.
Hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to comment/rate and whatnot.
Oh and yes, I did notice that it says “Shambless Miller” at the start. It’s true, I have no shambs to speak of. (This has been rectified, but I’m leaving this bit in because I like that shite joke. You understand.)
Hello folks! It’s lovely to see you again. I’ve been neglecting my blog (and the internet in general) of late. Why, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve just moved into a new flat and thus have been preoccupied with boxes and piles of things and keys and the can’t-do-without-able Billy Bookcase. As well as giving a whole new meaning to Alice’s Song, it’s kept me pretty busy. I did however find time to do a quick wee video of one of my favourite songs. I originally recorded it for Valentine’s Day, but in case you missed it at the time because you were too busy smooching with your best girl/guy (or sobbing quietly into your individual tiramisu) here is my version of the Book of Love.
As you can see, you also get a teeeeensy tiny glimpse of my new flat, where lots of musical jam will hopefully be made over the coming months. I’ll keep you all updated (whether you want me to or not) so hopefully it won’t be too long until my next post.
Oh and if you’re wondering what life in the flat looks like when I’m not singing love songs for the internet, it looks a bit like this:
Some of my lovely friends, or, some nice young ladies who let me stand next to them long enough to take a photo.
Hey guys. For those of you that don’t know, I recently received my exam results and I’ve graduated with a 2:1 in English Language! I’m very happy and to be honest, I’m more proud of my friends, many of whom I’ll no longer get to see every week, now that university is over. It is only fitting that I’d mention you all in a blog post though guys, I’ll genuinely miss the “oh, you should write a blog”-based winding up that so many of you enjoy indulging in!
Since getting my results the other day and realising that this phase of my life really is coming to an end, especially with so many close friends packing up and getting ready to travel to other bits of the country (and some to other countries altogether) to start the next stages of their lives, I’ve been thinking about “Alice’s Song” (fitting and ironic, since Alice is one of those close friends, though if anything she’s moving nearer to where I live rather than farther away).
When I first wrote it, I was thinking about friends I briefly drifted away from and friends I barely see anymore. Some of us grew apart through time, others simply through circumstance. In the case of others still, it was quick and I never saw it coming and I regret not doing more to maintain our friendship, as it was always, and remains to this day, very dear to me. At that stage of my life, that’s the core of what Alice’s Song meant to me.
Now it means something more still. The song acts like some sort of…memory collector, proving to only be more applicable to my life and the way I see my life the older I get, even just at the age of 24. Over the years, it describes my friends better, and better describes how I feel about them, whether that be about saying goodbye to them or spending valuable time in their company. Achieving that special level of drunkenness that caused me to attempt to dance at our Graduation Ball the other night only lends the later sections of this song more resonance still, for me anyway. Here are some of the words:
The birthday cake is going stale And all that’s left of your old toy chest are the rusty nails You’ve got no idea where you put all those old cards you received
But that’s not what you’ll remember; it’s the time you spent together With the people who brought colour to the memories of your life.
I know we’re all too busy now to meet up every week To exchange our witty repartees and kisses on the cheek So instead we’ve got our twitty little updates and we tweak Our facebook pages though the days just seem to slip away, as we forget
That once you called me brother and I told the same to you That your wife became my sister, as did all her sisters too That we loved each other dearly as we’d dance all through the night But that we might live forever, for one more day
The birthday cake is going stale And all that’s left of your old toy chest are the rusty nails You’ve got no idea where you put all those old cards you received
But that’s not what you’ll remember; it’s the time you spent together With the people who brought colour to the memories of your life.
I know I’m a big jessie, but it really has been an absolute pleasure to spend the last few years getting to know so many of you. Whether we’ve been friends from the start or have only become friends in the past few weeks, I wish you all the best of luck in whatever you do next. From now on, you’ll all be in that song when I sing it.
(Incidentally, that’s also the line I’ll use when I show up in your home towns, at your houses, needing a place to stay after playing a tiny gig in your local pub. No sorry, I don’t have any money, but here, have a CD. Are you going to eat that? Thanks.)
You are all, and I know YOU know I mean it when I say, just so very braw. Thanks,
Hello folks! Ah, some new faces I see? Lovely faces they are too. Whilst I’m busy writing more songs of daftness and milking a recent Thing That Happened for all it’s worth, I thought it might be an idea to remind you all about the free stuff I have!
You’ve probably seen me rambling on about this song being played on 6 Music recently, but you can also download it for free via Strummerville! You can even download it from this very player, just click the wee down arrow at the right. Every download counts towards the Strummerville charts, so you’d be helping me out as well as getting a Free Thing!
I also have this special wee live track available, from my set at Words per Minute at the Arches a few months ago. Feel free to, in no uncertain terms, get right in aboot it.
Also, if you check out (and perhaps even like?) my music page on facebook, you can download a the version of “Pssst!” I played during a live session with Jim Gellatly! Just click this beardy wee link.
If you find yourself hankering for some more tunes, I also have my EPs for sale on bandcamp. Just get clicking to check them out.
Thanks folks, hope you download and enjoy! Back to the songcave for me!
Til next time,
love Shambles x
Thanks to Last Year’s Girl for letting me steal this photo and muck about with it. Even though I didn’t ask.
Hello folks! I hope you’re having a lovely [insert day of the week] and that you said hello to [insert name] for me last time you saw them. I sure miss him/her, that crazy bastard/bitch.
As you might know, I recently played some of my songs at Words per Minute, the monthly full-of-brawness event held in the Arches, featuring the best of Scotland’s writing, music, spoken word and performance in general. And me, last time.
I really enjoyed my set at the Arches that day and managed to capture some of said performance, via technology magic. I thought it might be nice for other people to hear it, as my set was just a wee bit different than usual and not just because it was 10 minutes long, seriously curtailing the amount of pish I could talk between songs.
With this in mind, it’s time for a tasty free download! Here’s a special wee medley I’m calling Alice’s 99 Shortest Problems.
I hope you like it folks! If you do, tell your friends! If you don’t…tell your friends! And if you like it (even just a little) please download it. I went to all the effort of pressing the upload button and everything! Tired oot noo, away for a lie-down.
Shambles Miller's really really good website 