Tomorrow evening I’ll be playing a solo set in support of my very good friends, Kitty and the Can Openers who’ll be launching their excellent debut EP. Also performing will be Joe Echo (AKA Ciaran Gribbon, formerly of Leya).Â
See you there!
Tom
Tonight, Tom will be performing with New York singer/songwriter Nell Bryden in the Black Box in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. Doors open at 8pm and admission is a very reasonable £6.
Hi Folks,
Just to let you know I’ll be playing a show in Belfast tonight with an awesome Portland band called White Hinterland.
The gig will take place in Auntie Annies Porter House on the Dublin Rd in Belfast. Doors are at 9pm and it’s £5
Please check these folks out, they really are something very special.
Â
See you tonight!
Tom
So, as I said in the last post, I was off to Dublin yesterday to perform a session for Muzu TV. Some of you may be asking what Muzu TV is, though possibly not as I’m usually the last to catch on to these things. Anyway, I found a good description on Crunchbase.com which may or may not tell you something you didn’t already know:
“MUZU TV is a interactive music only platform website for artists and fans. It offers personal profiles, photos, personal channels, music videos, and FAN TV upload for free. MUZU TV protects the rights of music on the site and generates income by a shared advertising revenue with the music content owners including unsigned artists.”
Check out the site and see what you think for yourself.
The folks at Muzu TV are recording live performances of all the acts performing at this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival in Dublin. They were really nice people, very dedicated to making Muzu TV a success. The session went off without a hitch. I played a solo version of Fighter which we did in one take. I’m becoming a big believer in the power of the first take!
I’ve done so many sessions and what-not now and I’m starting to feel like a bit of a hack. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy doing them and I’m always grateful for the opportunity to perform my music to a wider audience but there’s definitely a loss of naivety about how these things work. I used to get so nervous about performing in front of cameras but now it’s more a case of “Okay, where do you want me to stand?”. The important thing is that when you go for a take you’re not going through the motions. I hope that day never comes for me but I see a lot of band s on TV who are clearly there already. And not just old bands either. That’s kind of depressing. This probably isn’t making any sense. I put that down to the Porterhouse cocktails. Go Dublin: we love you!
Some photographs:
In the Muzu TV beer garden.
Me and the hands of Muzu TV’s Marina Kenny.
Marina Kenny & I.
Hello all,
I just wanted to give a little update on the recording. We went into Start Together last Sunday as planned and laid down the drums and bass for “Private Rooms”, “The End of the Summer” and the new track I rehearsed with Nick a couple of days before the session. It’s provisionally titled, “Love is Hard on the Heart”.
I’m so happy with how it’s all sounding so far. Nick nailed the first two tracks in the first take. The man is a drumming legend. We took a bit of time with the new track, trying different approaches but in the end the take we used was very close to how Nick and I were playing it at our pre-recording practice. The recording has a great moody quality to it. I’m going to keep the arrangement sparse but I have a few ideas for some subtle additional instrumentation.
I’m already planning ahead to getting the next bunch of songs recorded. I guess I should finish these first though! Exciting times!
Here are a few more snaps:
Another review of Fighter is now online at the ace The Devil has the Best Tuna Blog:
BOXING CLEVER:Â Tom McShane
Genre: Indie / Alternative
From: Belfast, Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Tom Mcshane is a singer songwriter from Northern Ireland who takes you on a tour of his emotions with his heart firmly pinned to his sleeve. Like a mellow, melancholic David Ford or Will Oldham if he’d been brought up on the streets of Belfast instead of Kentucky Tom reaches right into your chest tugging at your heart and leaving you breathless. Such honesty is rare in a scene that emphasises style and fashion over passion and should be treasured by anyone with a passion for music.
Tom has recently released a single, ‘Fighter’, a lo-fi tale of a son following his boxing father into the ring. ‘Fighter’ was released as a split 7″ single with fellow Belfastians, the altogether more mainstream sounding indie pop trio Escape Act (of which more tomorrow).
If you’ve grown tired of run of the mill singer songwriters like David Gray then Tom McShane has arrived to restore your faith.
Thank you kindly, sir!
Tom
I’m going into the studio with Rocky today. The plan is to begin recording two or perhaps three new songs. This recording session isn’t going to be very intensive, my plan is to take a relaxed approach where I record for a day, take the rough mixes away and see what ideas come in between sessions. With the fighter sessions I had a very fixed idea of how I wanted things to sound from the outset, this time I’m not making any decisions until I get into the studio. When I record at home, how I worked on the Songs Are Sad stuff and other home recordings, I would invent and arrange as part of the recording process. Now I want to see if I can get that sense of spontaneity with a studio recording.
Working with Rocky is great. It’s important to record with someone who gets what your music is about. It makes recording so much more fun. I guess you need to trust the person you’re working with, trust their ideas.
Nick came over to my house on Friday night and we worked on drums for a new song he hadn’t heard before. It was really good fun and I recorded a rough version of the song. It’s the first time I’ve ever had anyone come and recorded with me on my eight track. Actually no, my friend Rigsy Recorded piano on a few songs for Songs Are Sad back in 2003, but apart from that! It was great anyway, I’d like to do more of that!
Here are a couple of shots.
A brief but very kind review of Fighter appears in the single review section of Subba-cultcha.com;Â
TOM MCSHANE – FIGHTER – PENNY DISTRIBUTION
Slow burning lament, touched with melancholy and exploding into falsetto when the emotion calls for it, a touching song from an artist with a pure soul…
Jeremy Chick, Subba-cultcha.com, July 2008
Thanks, Jeremy!
TomÂ
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be performing at the Stendal Festival on Saturday 16th August along side the likes of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., David Kitt and a host of others. For the full line-up check out www.stendhalfestival.com.Â
Tom
There are a couple of things I’d like to write about quickly while I have the chance. I’ve been totally swamped over the last few weeks and I’ve not been very successful at finding the time to get caught up with emails, blogging etc. I’m playing a show in Belfast tonight so my usual two hour drive home from work is not required, creating a neat little pre-sound check window.
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!