I’ve said it before, doing stuff is HARD. Unless that something is making a lo-fi recording about how hard doing stuff is, and then making a wee one-shot music video for it like two weeks later. Because that’s precisely what I’ve done. Here it is.
The hardest part was getting the song from the thing I recorded it on and the video from the thing I recorded IT on onto one other thing that would let me make them into one thing.
Or the hardest thing might be understanding that sentence. Who needs punctuation? What am I saying, I love punctuation. I really, really do.
Last Valentine’s Day I played a wee gig for Lady Alba at the Old Hairdressers. I sang some songs and read a poem given to me by a young man in the audience. So, pretty much what I said in the title above. Hope you enjoy the video!
Oooooooft. It’s been a busy auld time. I won’t apologise for not updating in a while because if I did that every time I didn’t post for a while then I’d have to apologise every time. Cause that’s what always happens. Have I forgotten how to write? Possibly. Perhaps it’s because my brain is fried. Why? Well…
I’ve been busy playing lots of Yes and Pro-Independence events.
It’s not long now until the people of Scotland make a huge decision about the future of our country. If you’ve got no idea what’s been going on in the referendum debate then you’ve either been living in a cave or you’re the British mainstream media. HAAYYO! With the 18th growing ever-closer, there are Yes and pro-indy events cropping up all over the place and I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to be a part of some of them. Most recently I played the Radical Independence Rally on Buchanan Street and the final National Collective Glasgow Session before the referendum.
My best bit was when I forgot how my own song started just as the TV guys got their camera set up. It’s a good thing I’m not called Reliable Miller.
It’s really exciting and inspiring to see so many people turn up to events like this, engaging with political debate and discussion (and on a Monday night no less!). Whether you’re Yes, No, or still undecided, it’s amazing to see people so actively involved in trying to create a better future for Scotland. There’s just over a week to go though so I’ve still got time to squeeze some more Yes events in! Tomorrow (Thursday the 11th) I’ll be performing at the Yes Pollok Campaign Base and on Friday you can see me at Oran Mor for Radical Independence’s International Rally. I hope to see some of you there.
I met one of my actual heroes.
As you can see, he was really excited to meet me.
This week I was at the Govanhill Baths for a talk on Independence as part of the Festival of Ideas. It was a really interesting evening with a great panel and although I’m already a definite Yes, I really enjoyed hearing some of the different opinions about the future of Scotland. Not as much as I enjoyed meeting the panellist in the photo above though, one of my all-time heroes, Billy Bragg! I obviously had to shake him by the hand and, of course, take a selfie with him. I reckon the sound of Billy Bragg saying to me, simply, “selfie?” will never leave my brain. My favourite thing here is that it looks like he’s taking the photo.
I played the launch of this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival
Although Acute Cartoonhand is said to be a very serious condition, I’m staying positive.
Have you ever played a gig in a big gold room? I hadn’t until last week when I played the SMHAFF 2014 Launch. It was pretty special so it was. They have a really exciting programme of events coming up in October that I really urge you to check out. The guys are SMHAFF have worked really hard on it and I’m honoured to have the chance to be involved with such a great project. There’s a stigma around mental health issues that really needs to change and events like this make it something that’s easier to talk about. It’s a really positive and empowering thing and I’m proud to be even just a small part of that. Check out their website for more information about what they do and what’s coming up in October.
So…that’s why my brain is fried. But it’s fried in a good way. I’ll have some exciting news for you soon, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, let me leave you with this short video of Christopher Walken making a really bad joke. It’s totally Christopher Walken.
Right now some of you are probably thinking about getting ready for your hot date tonight, deciding what you’re going to wear, listening to some Barry White, that sort of thing. Some of you will be planning to sit alone on the couch and eat a two-person amount of food by yourself. Some people might be doing a mixture of both, either with a significant other or a good friend. Some of us are probably going to get a bit drunk.
Well, whether you’re loved up to the nines or in an open relationship with pizza, I’ve got a little something for you.
For the loved-up romantics out there, I’ve gone and dug out this (admittedly cheesy-as-fuck) cover of The Book of Love by The Magnetic Fields (and covered by Peter Gabriel).
Cheeseball.
For those single people out there, why not put a positive spin on your past breakups with this video of my single “Confessions”.
Want more? Well, why not get a 14% discount* off anything on my Bandcamp with one of the following codes:
LOVEDUP
or
FOREVERALONE
I’ll let you choose which one to use. Just head to my Bandcamp page to put those codes to good use!
Have a great day everyone, whatever you’re up to!
Love,
Shambles
x
*Technically it’s a 15% discount, Bandcamp wouldn’t let me make a 14% discount, but you get the idea.
Despite having existed in four different decades, I decided to use a pretty modern method of announcing my new single. Y’know, for the kids. You guessed it, I DONE A VINE.*
If that video leaves you with some questions, let me explain. I’m releasing this single on a mini-comic featuring art by, who else, Neil Slorance. Basically if you buy it from my Bandcamp, you get an immediate download of the single and I send your comic out in the post. If you buy it from a record store or directly from me at a gig or whatnot, it comes with a unique download code that you redeem at Bandcamp! It folds out into a wee print so you can put it up on your wall, display it in your toilet, or just fold it back up and carry it around with you to parties so that people know you’ve got great taste in music and art. Oh and there’s a download-only option too of course.
Awwww.
Now, I’m going to level with you. I’m lazy. Some of you are lazy too. It’s just one of those things. I know some of you are thinking “but I’ve already clicked on something to read this, now you want me to click something else to go buy something somewhere else?” and I know that some of you would’ve gone to look at a Buzzfeed article about the 21 most important faces Leonardo DiCaprio has ever made before even finishing that thought.
Oh HE knows.
We’re the same you and me. That’s why I’ve embedded my single below in this very blog post. You can listen to it here, and even purchase it if you like. That leaves more time to look at hilarious dog gifs!
I really hope you like the single. As you might have guessed, it’s named after the Regeneratin’ Degenerate, the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool. He even had something to say on Twitter about me releasing a single named after him, look.
#realtalk
He ain’t gettin’ nothin’. If you’d like to see the picture he’s talking about, make sure to head over to my Tumblr, where you can also keep up with other daft stuff that I do. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has bought the single already, I hope you all dig it. See you at a gig soon hopefully!
Til next time,
Shambles
x
*I tried to embed this but it just wouldn’t work. I’d keep trying but I’m about to lose my temper and I’ve run out of biscuits.
Shambles Miller's really really good website 