Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Tom

In Association with Trans & Oh Yeah

This summer, Belfast based singer/songwriter Tom McShane & producer Rocky O’Reilly (Start Together Studio) throw open the doors and invite fans to witness first hand and take part in the creation of Tom’s next record. Fear not though; this will not be the repetitive and laboured process of endless over-dubs and recording trickery. This instead will be a dynamic and exciting live performance modelled on old school recording techniques of the ’50s & ’60s.

Two open-studio recording sessions will be held on July 3rd. During each of these sessions the album will be performed in its entirety with each song being performed only once per session. The best take of each song will be selected for the final cut of the record.

The recording will be facilitated by the Oh Yeah Music Centre, the creative hub at the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. Recording will take place across various rooms with Oh Yeah’s main exhibition/performance space becoming an extension of the Start Together studio space, also based in the Oh Yeah building.

Tickets for this event are strictly limited. The ticket price not only admits fans to one of the recording sessions for this special one-off event but also includes a pre-order of the finished album which will be mailed to them as soon as the album has been mixed, mastered and pressed. Each ticket holder will be credited in the liner notes and receive special individual copy that will display their name.

Become part of the discussion that shapes the development of this record by joining Tom’s mailing list to have your say in everything from album art to the album’s title and receive demo versions of the album’s tracks as pre-production progresses.

Oh Yeah Building, Gordon Street, Belfast

Saturday 3rd July 2010

Session One 14:00

Session Two 19:00

Ticket price per Session (inc. album pre-sale): £9

Tickets available through the Waterfront Box Office

A little last minute, I know, but I’ll be supporting Malcolm Middleton this evening at the Out To Lunch Festival. The show is in the Black Box and doors are at 8pm and tickets are £10.

Maybe see you there?

Tom

And it was for that reason that what was to be a UK tour was truncated to a single London performance. If I’m honest, I was reluctant to play even that one show, but I also hate to let people down so in January I set off, London bound, with the old classical guitar on which I learned to play in tow. And I’m so glad I did. I enjoyed it so much. Removed from whatever unpleasant factors back home, playing to a room full of strangers, it was a joyous experience. A simple pleasure. It’s the most I’d enjoyed playing live since my Portland OR show in November ’07.

And with that experience came the understanding that given the right circumstances, on my own terms, I could once again be happy making music. And right now I’m in the process of determining what those terms are to be…

As I write this I’m sitting on train, travelling through swampy Louisiana on my way from New Orleans to Memphis. It’s a tour of sorts, a little bit of a pilgrimage too. My route will take me through some cities of magnificent musical heritage; New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago and New York. I say tour of sorts because I have booked no shows. I’m exploring with my guitar, playing singer/songwriter and open mic nights when I can find them, attending gigs to listen to other people’s music but most importantly, meeting other musicians, broadening my horizons and having fun.

I don’t mean to sound self-obsessed or overly serious. The bottom line is this: I wasn’t enjoying it but I’m taking steps to fix that. I love making music. I wish to continue to do so in a way I can enjoy. If I can’t accomplish that it won’t be the end of the world but I’m going to try my best to find the path that works for me.

So we concluded our tour the weekend before last, with two great shows in Cork and Limerick. I love Cork (city and county) so much. I first visited there in 1995. I went to the Feile Festival there when I was 15. It was an amazing experience. I think Cork has to be the prettiest county in Ireland, though that whole south west coast seems pretty spectacular. Anyways, we played in a great bar called the Quad. It was a strange show though as they have an open door policy. The lack of cover charge meant the bar was consistently busy but on the flipside most of the punters weren’t there for the music. The contrast between this and our experience of Baker Place in Limerick could hardly be more stark. There, punters paid in gladly with the understanding that they were going to hear new music and were respectful throughout.

Both shows were great though. I was glad Escape Act were headlining Cork though, as they stood a better chance with that crowd. Originally in fact, I hadn’t wanted to headline either of these shows as my band was stripped down to a three piece. Conor was unavailable so Ross provided the bass duties for the entirety of both shows. I had wanted Rich to join us on bass at the end of the Limerick set and for Ross to play guitar for a song but that wasn’t to be. I thought it would’ve been a good note on which to end the tour and I was a little sad it didn’t come to pass. I digress. As it turned out, my worries about headling in Limerick were without merit. We rocked things up a little for both shows but especially in Limerick. I think it was my favourite performance of the tour. I wish Conor could’ve been there too though, that would’ve made it complete.

Some snaps from The Quad:

And some from Bakers Place:

My very good friend, Maria, who lives in Cork really helped us out by getting loads of her pals down to the Quad show. We’re all in her debt! She then joined our road trip and came to party with us in Limerick. I’m glad she came along, it was great to see her. Our friends Amberlea and Suzanne were also along for the ride and helped keep the party ship afloat!

As well being joined by old friends we had the pleasure of making some new ones. Tim and Brian of Vertigo Smith opened both the Cork and the Limerick show. Tim is an awesome songwriter, and if he wasn’t clearly going to be and international rockstar (which he so obviously is) he would still have an extremely promising career as a professional songwriter. His songs are so smart, witty and intelligently constructed that he’d have no difficulty securing success in that field. Brian, his bass player is as pleasant a person as I’ve encountered in a long time; he simply exuded friendliness. They both made us feel so welcome. I look forward to playing more shows with these folks in future.

Vertigo Smith:

So that’s it. The tour is over. A mixture of highs and lows but thankfully, mostly highs. I’ve received a lot of great feedback about our shows which is always welcome. Maybe some negative feedback would’ve been useful too, to help improve things for the next tour but then again, I’ll not complain too much about the lack of negative comments. For now I’ll take all the positivity I can get; my confidence needs the boost!

Now I’m heading to the Limelight. I’m playing there tonight with Driving By Night who are launching their new single, Departure. It’ll let you know how we get on!

Tom

PS: As always, more pictures can be found on my flickr!

For more details on the recording of the session and more photographs you can check out my livejournal.

Thanks for reading!

Tom   

In the run up to the release of Fighter/God Says (the upcoming split seven inch single I’ll be releasing with Escape Act) I’m going to be giving away some free music. For the next three weeks I’ll be making three session/live tracks available for free download through my Myspace music player, each only available for one week. Each track includes includes full color artwork, lyrics and track notes.

This week it’s a cover version of Nina Nastasia’s “That’s All There Is” from her wonderful “The Blackened Air” album. To any fellow Nina Nastasia fans out there, I really hope I haven’t butchered it!

This track was recorded for the BBC’s Across the Line show in January of this year, a couple of weeks before the Fighter recording sessions at Start Together. The BBC session was produced by Paul McClean and engineered by Ciaran Tracey. 

Download it now from my Myspace. 

Tom 

Closer to home, Tom was recently interviewed for Culture Northern Ireland for inclusion on their Podcast. The episode in question took a retrospective look at Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and as well as Tom, Stuart Bailie and Bap Kennedy were also interviewed. You can listen to a streamed version here.  While we’re at it, here are a couple of other NI based Podcasts we heartily recommend to you; Belfast Wax  and No Clarity, which recently featured Tom’s music in their third episode.