So the day has finally arrived! My next album will be recorded today in two completely live sessions at 2pm & 7pm at the Oh Yeah Building, Belfast. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. This will the the culmination of so much hard work by a great many talented people:

Nick Fitzsimons: Drums
Marty Timlin: Upright Bass
Conor Scullion: Piano and Organ
Linley Hamilton: Trumpet
Angie McCrisken-O’Reilly: 1st Violin
Michael McMullan: 2nd Violin
Zarah Fleming: Cello
Ciara O’Neill: Vocals
Hornby: Guitar & Vocals
Amy McGarrigle: Vocals & Glockenspiel
Rich Dale: Vocals
Ben McAuley: Vocals

Rocky O’Reilly: Producer
Ben McAuley: Engineer
Barrett Lahey: Engineer
Lee McMahon: Monitors

Come along and help us make something special.

I hope you enjoy!

Tom

I also did a video interview with ATL’s Paul McClean which you can watch here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/atl/artists/tommcshane.shtml

I hope you enjoy!

I explain in a little more detail the plan for the day and the thought processes behind the slightly unconventional recording method.

Tom

Mr Eddie Mullan of Culture NI interviewed me recently regarding my upcoming Album Recording project.

He also recorded me playing a short acoustic session of two songs that will be on the album, “Flowers” and “The Ural Winter”.

You can read the article and download mp3s of the session tracks for free here.

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

Ramada Encore // 18:00 // Friday 9th April
Premier Inn // 18:00 // Friday 30th April
Malmaison // 18:00 // Friday 21st May
Ramada Encore // 18:00 // Friday 4th June

As I explained last time I’m writing and demoing new songs at the moment and sometimes the easiest way to capture a new tune is to make a quick video. I’ve decided that rather than practicing the songs for months with a band then spending weeks in a studio trying to get the perfect version, that it might be fun to share some of these songs with people at the time of their inception so you’ll hopefully hear how the songs develope and progress towards the finished article.

The song that follows, “The Ural Winter“, was written this morning, filmed at about 18:30 and was uploaded earlier this evening. This represents the quickest turn-around from writing to public “release” I’ve ever had. I hope this doesn’t show to much in the quality of the song. At the moment I’m not sure how I feel about this tune; it’s too fresh for me to have an opinion. I’m certainly not sure if it’ll make it on the next album at this stage, but at the very least it’s a song that didn’t exist this time yesterday, and that’s a nice feeling.

Less chatter! Here it is, I hope you enjoy:

If you missed the first of these video demos you can see the last one here.

All the best,

Tom

Just to let y’all know I’ll be playing a charity show with Robyn G Shiels and Johnny Black (Lafaro) on Thursday 25th June. The gig will take place in The Menagerie, off University St in Belfast. The door tax is £5.

See you there!

 Tom