Yoooooooooo

Hey! While I was busy forgetting that I had a blog, I recorded and released a live album. Here it is:

Did I mention that it’s free? Fill your boots! I hope you like it ^__^

I’m releasing a thing and it’s called this and it looks like that

Eagle-eyed bird-people might already know what my new EP is going to be called, but only someone who is half-eagle, half-Sherlock Holmes would surmise what the artwork would look like for this new release. So for eagle people and regular humans alike, here’s the cover of my new EP, out on the 19th of July.

As you can see it’s called Doing Stuff is Hard and it’ll be available to download from Bandcamp from the 19th of July, the same day as the Glasgow launch party at the Hug and Pint. I feel like it’s an appropriate title since it’s the first proper thing I’ve released in over two years. It’s also the first time I’ve released something that doesn’t feature some sweet, sweet Neil Slorance artwork! Well…sort of. Here’s the back cover.

Ach I just couldn’t help myself. Oh and there’s a wee tracklist as well, so you can get an idea of what to expect. It’s still mostly an acoustic EP but there’s some wee surprises from Jamie Sturt and Ryan Joseph Burns in there (some of which you might have already heard on Neil’s Song). In addition to making it available on Bandcamp, I’ll be doing a limited run of 50 physical copies, so get yersel down the launch to grab one! Or if you live in/near one of the cities where me and Chrissy Barnacle are stopping off on our tour, you might manage to grab a cheeky copy ahead of the official release date, so check out our tour dates and come see us play in a venue near you!

That’s all for now, I really hope you can make it to one of our shows and if you live in Glasgow, come on down to the launch. It’d be really great if you could come validate my life choices, and I’ll love you for it.

OK, byeeeeeeeeee x

Doing stuff is still hard

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.

If you liked the song, feel free to download it from Soundcloud for free! Feel free FOR free.

Bye!

In which our hero sings about love and reads a poem from the heart of a besotted young man

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!

 

Things I did recently and photos of me doing them.

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.

Hope to see you at a show soon! Til next time.

Shambles

x