E.P. DIARY PT. 2

I know, I know!

Okay, diary entries shouldn't really be 5 months apart, but unfortunately that's how long it took from me deciding to record a new E.P. to actually getting the thing recorded. I will freely admit to having shocking planning skills.

In all honesty, it has been a learning experience. When I recorded 'Slow Burner', the songs were all a couple of years old and I knew them inside-out, but this time around I actually had to write new songs after making the decision to record, as well as finishing off half-written material for the E.P.

But we're nearing the finish line!

The office. I have the best job ever!

Over the last two days I recorded six songs at The Depot Studios in Edinburgh, under the watchful eye and guiding hand of my good friend Craig Ross. We went back to basics, with guitar, vocals, and a sprinkling of harmonica and the odd backing vocal for good measure. It's how I prefer to do things, and will be something slightly different and stripped back from my last recorded offering.

Craig Ross doing the slidey-fader, pushy-button stuff. 

Mastering, artwork, final tracklist, and many other bits and bobs that go along with releasing new music are all yet to be dealt with, and I'll aim to keep everyone updated, but this is the final stretch. I'm looking forward to sharing some music!

Much love,

Al

E.P. DIARY PT. 1

Yesterday I wrote two songs. Well, technically I wrote one song, and finished another that I started about a year ago.

On Thursday morning I decided to play around on the cheap Fender acoustic I bought for busking last summer, and as I was noodling around, songs came out!

There are a couple of reasons this is important. 

1. I haven't had the music 'bug' for around 2 years. Prolonged writer's block and lack of motivation or inspiration resulted in me more or less putting music on the back burner for a long time. Two new songs isn't exactly opening the floodgates, but today I made plans to write, and writing happened. That's a major step forward from where I've been at musically the last couple years.

2. Most importantly, these two songs, along with a couple more that I haven't yet recorded (and one more I plan to get finished very soon) , mean I'm looking at recording again, so the decision has been made today that  a new E.P. is officially on the way in the coming months. To keep things ticking over quick, I'm planning to keep these recordings stripped back with minimal instrumentation (we'll see how that works out!).

As things progress, I'll do my best to document as much as I can via my facebook and twitter pages, but I'll be keeping a diary right here on my much neglected blog. Keep an eye out :)

Al

x

IF LOVE IS A FIGHT

Myself and Matt had a great time on Friday supporting Krista Detor at the Torphichen Inn. We managed to get a hold of some video from the night, courtesy of promoter Bill Lothian. Here's 'If Love is a Fight' from the gig.

STORYTIME: MANDO I WISH I HADN'T BOTHERED

I had to laugh today. I went in to a local music shop this afternoon, which, for the purpose of this story, we will call Farce-City Music. I'm looking to learn some mandolin, and they appear to sell them dirt cheap, so I went in and asked about one in their window display. Admittedly, I had misread the price tag, which I read as '£99.00'. Turned out it said '499.00', but when the grumpy old man assisting me asked "Have you even got that kind of money?", I laughed it off.

He then says: "No point in getting something out the window if yer not gonna buy it." and hands me a £75 'bestseller' which he promptly takes back off me, without me even strumming a chord. Then tells me how they used to be made in Korea, but are now made in China. He tells me he knows a lot about wood as they specialise in pianos, and that they also supply the shop up the road with their banjos, and how if I ever want to be an instrument dealer, I need to know a lot about wood. Then he says, "this needs tuned", tunes up the mandolin, and hangs it back up again (behind the counter where I can't get to it). Then he walks away from me. All of this happened without me saying anything. Hilariously terrible!

FOR THE TECHIES - MY GEAR!

I figured I'd write a blog about the gear I use, as it is something I have been asked about a few times by other musicians, and the occasional sound engineer. My stage setup is very simple, as I only use an acoustic guitar, but getting my acoustic sound to a point where I am finally comfortable has taken me a while. I also like to tell the stories behind my instruments, even if nobody listens!

My main guitar is a Taylor Big Baby, which I found in my local Cash Converters a few years ago for a measly £75. They retail at around £400, so I assume they didn't know what they had. It was well played, and practically beat to shit when I bought it, but I love this guitar. It's from 2005, and has a dark stained top, which I haven't really seen on any other Big Babies. I doubt that it's rare, but I like knowing it's that little bit different. I installed an L.R. Baggs M1A soundhole pickup in this guitar, and after doing so, I don't think I will ever look past L.R. Baggs when choosing an acoustic pickup. Plugged in, this is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever owned. It's a little mid-rangey, but that actually suits my playing quite well.

My second guitar is a Farida M-26 parlor. I was looking for one of these for a little while, but the only shop locally that had one in stock didn't have it set up right, so all of the strings buzzed badly past the 4th fret, and the shop weren't in a hurry to fix it. I generally won't buy a guitar online without playing it, so I figured it would be a long while before I got hands-on with one of these Faridas, but I chanced upon one used, but in perfect condition (minus the hardcase), in a local Cash Generator for £270. Yes, I'm lucky with pawn shops. I originally put a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker soundhole pickup in the guitar, but I really didn't like the sound I was getting. If the soundhole had been big enough, I would have put an M1A in this guitar too, but instead, I recently swapped over to an L.R. Baggs Lyric system.  The Lyric is actually an internal microphone, and I have yet to put it through its paces live to see how it sounds and handles feedback etc., but I have a lot of faith, and if it holds up then the Farida may become my main guitar.

Both of my acoustics are strung with Elixir strings. Nanoweb Lights on the Taylor, and Polyweb Lights on the Farida for a slightly more 'worn-in' sound. Assuming I don't break any, Elixirs last me months, without needing cleaned. My hands sweat a lot when I play, so my string choice was originally out of necessity, but I loved the bright tone of the Nanowebs on my Taylor Big Baby, so it worked out really well. The amount of money I save by using coated strings is huge.

Cables? I'm usually not fussy, but I'm currently using Klotz, and one Elixir cable that has survived about 5 years of pretty constant use.

Finally, I run through a Boss TU-2 pedal tuner onstage. I bought it in 2005, and it's an absolute workhorse. It's been kicked, dropped, had drinks spilled on it, and still works as well as when I first bought it.

So there you go. It's probably not what you would come to the website looking for, but hopefully some of you may have taken an interest. This is stuff I sometimes obsess about, and I'm sure there are others out there that can say the same! 

STORYTIME - THE DAY I DIDN'T DO MY HOMEWORK

One day, about 2 years ago, I got a phone call, asking if I could play a last-minute gig that same evening at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. Having never performed there as a solo artist I jumped at the chance.

The gig was supporting the legendary-by-all-accounts Peter Murphy, who was once the frontman of Bauhaus, a highly influential band in the early days of goth-rock. I honestly wasn't familiar with them at all at this point. Not my usual cup of tea, but hey, this was a foot in the door with King Tut's and DF Concerts, so I happily went along with my wee hat on and my acoustic guitar.

When I arrived at the venue, Peter's band were soundchecking, and there was Peter, looking all goth-rocky, singing away and playing his guitar, and actually looking a lot younger than I had expected. After they were done I went up to him, told him it was a pleasure to be playing with him, and generally fake-schmoozing because I felt I should. But he was looking at me like I was a total weirdo and not saying much at all. Then he went away to the green room.

Anyway, I minced my way through my little set of solo country songs, and got a surprisingly good response from the sold-out venue of hard rock fans. I went and had a drink, and then went to watch Peter's band play.

"But wait. Who's that skinny older guy singing and prancing around the stage?" I thought to myself. "Hmm, he must have one of his mates doing a wee guest spot".

Then I asked the girl who was repping the gig, and she says: "That's the guy. That's Peter Murphy"

OHHHH NOOOOO!!! It turns out that although I had done my pre-gig homework to find out who Peter Murphy was, I hadn't actually looked at a picture of him. No wonder the guy I was schmoozing with thought I was a weirdo! His name was MARK! Of course Peter Murphy doesn't soundcheck his own bloody microphone! He's too busy being a brooding bloody legend backstage!

The gig rep just laughed in my face.

STORYTIME - THE DAY I THREW UP ON ANOTHER MAN'S PRIVATE PARTS

Before I was a country singer, I played bass in a band called Ardentjohn. I still do actually, but we don't tend to play much these days.

Back in March 2006, we spent 4 weeks playing a residency in a nightclub in Breuill-Cervinia, an Italian ski resort right on the Swiss border. It was a tough slog. Good times, but 40 gigs in 30 days is a lot for anyone, so when the opportunity for time off came, we generally made the most of it.

Every Wednesday was a 'theme night' at the club, and on our second week there, they hosted a 'ladies night', complete with male strippers. This meant that no guys, including us, were allowed in before midnight, so we got the night off. Hurrah!

I can't remember what the rest of the band did that night, because my chosen course of action was to go to the bar in the hotel next door, get absolutely trashed on dubiously measured vodka red bulls, and try to drunkenly chat up the barmaid, who we will call Nikki. Because that might have been her name.

When Nikki finished her shift, we walked down the mountain into town. Well, she walked anyway. She told me the next day that I spent most of the journey falling over and sliding down the hill on my arse because I couldn't actually stand. We made it to the club, where I immediately abandoned her and attempted to walk back up the mountain to my apartment. It was roughly 1am, and I was completely alone and incapable in sub-zero temperatures and 6 feet of snow. At one point I fell over into the deeper stuff, and initially thought "Ahh, I will just sleep here and go back in the morning". Luckily I realised that I would DEFINITELY DIE if I did that, so I got up and headed home. It must have taken me ages.

When I got back to the apartment, the rest of the band were in bed, so I got into bed but it must have been broken or something because room started to spin. Just then my bandmate Mark got up to go to the toilet. As luck would have it, just as he closed the door I started to feel a wee bit sick...

Thankfully Mark had not locked the door. I barged in, and as I lunged towards the toilet pan, I tried to push Mark out of the way. I failed. I can still hear his words: "EEURGH! AL, YOU JUST GOT SICK ON MY C**K!!!"

Al-tagnan and the 3 busketeers

Yesterday was great. We decided to have a pre-gig practice in the afternoon, but the weather was so incredible that we decided to go busking. I forget how much I like busking. The Meadows Festival was on, so the people were out in force, and they were absolutely loving our little band, to the point where we had a nice little sit-down audience for the 45 minutes or so that we were there. Also, it put a wee £40 quid in the band beer fund.

We headed down to The Voodoo Rooms, and played a cracking set, considering it was our first gig together in 18 months, and only our 2nd band gig ever. A bit ropey in places but all in all, we had a great time, and the other bands on the bill were ace. Big thanks to our pals Miyagi, The Glendale Family, and The Appassionados for making the night so much fun, and thanks to everyone who came out for it. For a Sunday night gig in Edinburgh, you did us proud!

They don't call me Slim Shady, but...

I'M BACK! I'M BACK!

Yes, much like an American wrestler, my 'retirement' only lasted about 8 months. A few things have come together recently which got me back in the game.

The first of which, is a gig offer with some of my finest musical pals, Miyagi, and The Glendale Family. Both are bands I've played with quite a bunch in recent years, so when Andy from Miyagi asked if I would play on a bill with both acts, the only answer was yes (more details on the Tour page). Initially this was just meant to be a one-off appearance, but...

After my last gig supporting Red Sky July back in October, the promoter (Bill Lothian) has been in touch offering some pretty cool opportunities come the summer and into next spring. More details will surface in the coming months, but rest assured you should be seeing a LOT more of me with the full band in the future.

What's occurin'

It's been about a month or more since I posted a blog. Apologies!

Right now I'm listening to Joe Pug in my headphones. I supported him last month in Glasgow (still amazed I managed to land that gig!), and it was an absolute pleasure and an honour. I've been a fan of his for about a year now, and the fact he was such a great guy just added to the whole thing.

HUGE thanks to everyone who signed up to the mailing list after that show. It was great to talk to so many great people. I'll hopefully land another show with Joe when he comes back to the UK to tour his new album.

I'm also going to be supporting Neal Casal in May! That gig was supposed to have been at the beginning of March but was postponed for whatever reasons. I wasn't too familiar with Neal's solo stuff before, but obviously knew him as the guitarist in Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. I am fast becoming a fan. The guy can write a damn fine song! May 26th, Electric Circus, Edinburgh. Put it in your diaries, and grab tickets from the link on my Tour page :)

Our kitten Biggs is getting, err, big. He's awesome, but he can be a little shit too! This is him trying to be cute:

In other news, I'm booked to play at the Deer Shed Festival this summer. A nice weekend of folky vibes and great food beckons. Hope the weather behaves itself! It'll be my first festival since Wickerman in 2007 so I really can't wait. 

I bore myself with these blogs so I'll sign off now. Much Love.

Al

Captain's Rest Blog. Stardate blah de blah....

Hello!

Christmas is out of the way so it's back to business. I had a quick trip down to London and Cardiff last week to warm up a little for my gig supporting the amazing Joe Pug on the 26th of Feb! It's at the Captain's Rest in Glasgow if anyone should fancy making it along. The guy is a true talent and I've been a fan for a while. You could do a lot worse than checking out his stuff. On that note, if you have any music to recommend, please do. I'm short of inspiration (songs to rip off) at the moment :)

We've had a new addition to the family recently. Our new kitten Biggs is chewing my hands to pieces and climbing all over every surface that'll hold his weight, and some that won't. He's really playful and pretty hilarious to watch. He crashed my laptop the other day by opening Firefox 300 times with his ass! Our other cat Daisy is NOT happy...

Oh and by the way a big thanks to all of you guys who have given me feedback about the album, band videos etc recently. It's all appreciated! I'll sign off with a little vid from September that recently found it's way onto the web courtesy of Future Exits Media. See ya soon!

Edinburgh Spotlight Review of Al's Album Launch!

The chaps over at Edinburgh Spotlight were at the album launch gig on thursday! Here's the full review:

In his grey suit and hat, Al Shields may be a little lighter in tone than The Man In Black – but with his appealing set of old country, blues and American folk, he walks a similar line to Mr Cash.

Tonight’s gig at The Voodoo Rooms is to celebrate the launch of Al’s debut long player ‘Slow Burner’, a collection of self-penned songs steeped in the 20th century Americana which he obviously loves so much. With titles like Travelling Man and Had A Little Lovin’, you get the sense Al would be more at home in some dustbowl diner in the mid-west rather than a grand ballroom in the east end of Edinburgh.

Tonight however, he’s gathered his local musical friends for an enjoyable and accomplished celebration of his LP release; and shows that you don’t have to be born in the USA to capture its musical spirit.

Support comes from Edinburgh singer songrwriter Kat Healy, whose short but sweet set of country-hued acoustic songs set the mood perfectly. Joined by guitarist Rory Butler, Kat has a stage presence which mixes vulnerability with good humour and has a voice and songs which drip with fragile emotion. The harmonies with Butler are something special; but Kat has an undeniably strong impact solo too, when her lone presence on stage emphasises her ability to take an audience on a heartfelt journey through her music.

Al Shields has assembled something of an Edinburgh alt-country / folk supergroup to accompany him onstage tonight. With Matt Norris on banjo and his And The Moon bandmate Tom MacColl on upright bass; Gavin Taylor of the Whisky River Boat Band on steel lap guitar; and Andy Duncan from Black Diamond Express on drums: it comes as no surprise when the sound they create is distinctive and hugely appealing.

What comes as more of a surprise is the fact this band doesn’t really exist – it’s been created specifically for this launch gig. So – although Duncan and Shields are long-time collaborators – the level of tightness on display from Norris and the others is impressive, coming across as if this band have been travellin’ the railroads together for a long time.

Shields acknowledges his good fortune at having such talented friends; but the night is his, and his set of songs about bad work, bad luck and bad lovin’ shows his ability not only to evoke the spirit of the lone bluesman, but also to pen some mighty fine tunes into the bargain.

As the band depart leaving Edinburgh’s Man In Grey alone on stage playing a couple of his songs solo, Al Shields has launched his album in style – and turned the Ballroom of the Voodoo Rooms into a little long-lost state of America.

Video Blog - THANKS!

'Slow Burner' album review from Bluesbunny.com

Scottish music reviewers Bluesbunny just gave the new album 'Slow Burner' a 4/5 review! Here's what they had to say:

The search for authenticity is an onerous task but it seems to be one that Edinburgh singer songwriter Al Shields has chosen to take on with his debut album "Slow Burner" and, whilst he has chosen to plough the deep furrows of the Americana genre like so many others, he has managed to entertain where so many have failed to inspire.

You'd be hard pressed to guess his origin from his accent. It is certainly more of mid America than Midlothian. Then again, the songs wouldn't travel the road of life as well with a Scottish brogue driving them along. The near Nashville sounds of "Home" and the reverential to The Band "Travelling Man" illustrate his influences well and provide evidence that Al Shields is capable of more than just jumping on the roots bandwagon.

Although the Americana genre is not renowned for supplying laughs, there is chuckle or two be had in the wry "Warning". It's about the wrong kind of woman but, then again, all the best songs are.

Whilst mostly downbeat in tone, "Slow Burner" is nonetheless a good natured album that is both easy on the ear and worthy of closer attention.

Been a long time since blog n' roll...

Hey guys. It's been a while since I last posted on here, but I'm sitting in the dark at 4am and figured you all deserve som Al-time. So I'll tell you what's been happening...

The album is finished! Good god, it only took 2 years. It's mixed, mastered, and the artwork is saved on a little photoshop file right here on my computer. I'm aiming at a release in october. I'm going to book the launch night before any offical release date, but rest assured you will know all the details when I do!

I have also decided that my dayjob as barman at the Auld Toll Bar must finally come to an end. It's been a pretty emotional ride, but the album has finally given me a little focus and positivity, and barwork has been slowly sapping those very same things away over the past 5 years. Well no more! Come september I shall be off on tour and when I get back, There's a record to release! I cannot wait to get out of there.

What else...? I recently stumbled across a band called The Staves on youtube and was immediately floored by how good they are. Then I found out my good friend and fellow musician Kat Healy is supporting them in Glasgow on the 8th of August! You should totally go to that if you can. I will certainly try! Have a look at the video at the bottom of this blog for a great version of their song 'Winter Trees' - you need to skip about a minute in before they actually start the song.

Well I reckon I should sign off. I'm pretty rubbish at this blogging thing but if I wanna stay 'street', then it has to be done :) Here's that video:

Lazy Bones

After looking forward to 3 days off my mundane day job, i've managed to waste them by sleeping all day.

It hasn't been a total waste though. I saw the Secret Sisters in glasgow last night and they were amazing. Better than i had ever expected. And only £7.50 a ticket! They're on a european tour so go see them if you get a chance.

I'm also excited to have tickets for Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers, and Justin Townes Earle in the coming months. It's gonna be a good summer...

Other than that, the Cattle & Cane support slot i played recently was...nice. They're quiet folk. Not like the other 2 support acts who made me feel like my ears were having a period. It was great to play Sneaky Pete's though, as i always like playing new places to people i don't know.

Did you see the royal wedding? AWWWWW!!! I was ill with food poisoning but saw some of it on TV. I forgot how boring weddings are. Any wedding. Not just royal weddings. They are BORING!!! The only fun part is the party afterwards and it wasn't even televised! Is this what my tax money pays for? :-)

I'll sign off, but not before i remind you all i'll be playing at Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar this saturday, the 7th of may. It's cheap as chips if you fancy some live music before a saturday night out. DO IT!

Boy, keep movin'

I'm so tired! We got the keys to the new flat last week and have spent the last few days decorating before we can move in. I'm not in a routine of getting up regularly at 7.30am so it's been taking it's toll. I've had to put the guitar obsession on hold too, but i can't wait to get back to near-civilization (assuming Leith falls into that category?)

So it's been fun times on the music front. I had a BRILLIANT time at the Liquid Ship in Glasgow last thursday. One of the most fun gigs i've done for a while, and i'm now gearing up for my support slot with Cattle And Cane on the 11th of April. Y'all should come along!

As well as that, The Electric Ghosts are back jamming, and are set to play at Haddowfest in Edinburgh on April 3rd. Our first live outing since the summer! We're playing Cabaret Voltaire around 4.30 if you're interested.

My musical discovery this week has been Secret Sisters. Proper old-skool country tunes wrapped up in a mighty purdy package. I've posted a video below, and also a song from the Liquid Ship gig. Hope you enjoy!

Blog numero dooz

The new EP arrived in the post today. Yippee!

They look lovely, and I am very happy about it too. But I’m also a little confused. The print on the actual disc is much paler than on the sleeve. I actually quite like it, but will need to see if this can be remedied for the next run I have made. Nothing’s ever easy!

Had a good gig on Monday at King Tut’s in Glasgow playing with The Scattered Family. Lots of young girls lined up along the front of the stage would be daunting you may think, but I am a sex god and take it all in my stride :-)

Writing this, I realise I don’t know how to write blogs. I should maybe look at other people’s and see what you should actually write about. I’m adamant I’m not gonna use this as an outlet for my constant misery though. But I might.

Anyway, here is my crap cover of a Merle Haggard song. You can look him up on youtube if you want to hear a better version!

Hmmm...

It’s half 12 at night. The Bourne Identity is on TV, my girlfriend is crocheting a teddy bear for my newborn nephew Archie, and i’m at a loose end.

So I figured I’d start a blog.

More than anything, it’s an incentive to keep me pro-active. I reckon if I make a vow to myself (and you guys) to update this page frequently, then I had better get off my arse and find stuff to write about, be it gig news, releases, music recommendations, and maybe some home-made videos? Who knows?

Apparently it’s important in this day and age for independent musicians to have a busy web presence, so i have spent this last week promoting my new Some Songs EP (check it out on the website), and as a result I now have more web pages than Justin Beiber. Possibly.

I’m gonna keep this first blog short. It’s just for practice. While you’re waiting for another one, you should check out Josh T. Pearson. He’s awesome, if you like downbeat melancholy country songs. But hey, who doesn’t?

Al