i applied to play on the danny kyle open stage at celtic connections long before the winter break, and got the call a couple of days ago to say i'd been selected to play. i think that was the only demo/bio i sent out in 2009! i'm not a great biography writer; writing in the third person was something i took up initially in the first days of my myspace account in an effort to appear serious/professional, but self promotion has never been a talent of mine and in the end it all sounded forced so i gave up on it. there have been so many earnest demos sent out over the years. the first few i thought of as lottery tickets, a chance for the BIGTIME if only someone with money to invest would listen, even the appalingly home-recorded cassette tape [no really!] i bid farewell to back in 2001. god help the man i sent that to. i think i begrudged what i saw was the 'begging' aspect, or maybe that's just how i came across in my tone of written voice in whatever blurb went out with the particular recording at the particular time. regardless, they serve as some sort of line in the sand or milestone in the story of my writing. i think i've taken a proud photo of most of them because it was so hard to send them out into the world!

so thanks to the latest lottery ticket, i get to start this year with a bang so the investment was more than worth it. and there is already a small scottish tour booked with my good pal and longtime collaborator caroline kemp for early in the year. it's so nice to play music with someone you aspire to play like! it's all that folky guitar [she's much nicer to her guitar compared with the beating mine gets] and the voice with real character. i'm still working on it. BUT the last few months of quiet study have afforded me the chance to re-learn some strumming technique [i'm working backwards now] which is perking up the new riffs nicely. there's been lots of new writing so once that starts to sound polished there will be a few more... you've guessed it... DEMOS on my various web allotments...

til then

fiona

well, it's been far too long since i got around to this. perhaps not with very good reason but hey ho! the last few months have been eventful. i've played many gigs, done a lot of writing and and a lot of thinking and finally learnt my way around a soldering iron. now that i have time to breathe in and out i can come back and blog like a sensible person.

i've started a new electronic audio project, and it has a home online here. all the new sounds i'm learning to make will find their way onto the new record i'm sure. work on that is going slowly, mostly because this time i am taking my time but also because i am waiting to update my gear before committing the first tracks to tape. it seems that the new songs need a lot of new thinking, and that has been fun.

bizarrely enough, this blog has attracted some spam in my absence. i don't know if there is a equation that could relate 'time away' to 'volume of spam' but in my head that makes sense. anyway, while clearing out the comments i came across a particular bit that i am going to leave you with. i believe the fictitious lady in question was trying out her english skills...

'hope is the only test of gravity, and gravity hope'

class test: put that into a lyric if you can. hmmm.

fi x

i haven't written anything yet about guitar playing and tuning and whathaveyou, so i thought it would be an appropriate topic for the next post after my website tarting up this morning [or haven't you noticed??]. at the moment i am trying to finish about four songs at once. not literally at once, you understand, but i have all of these tunes demanding my attention at the moment. my brain is easily distracted just now with other day to day nonsense, so trying to commit to a lyric line or riff is not in my power, and so they just pile up waiting to be fully formed. but i am having fun with tunings. my new guitar [well, not so new now, about 6 months old i think] is particularly happy about being tuned up and down, which suits me fine, cuz over the years i have only damaged my instrument which is just ungrateful of me. so these tunes are all in different tunings and here they are:

EADGAD - this one is nearly finished as of this morning. it is a pure pop song, honest
DADGAD - this one is an epic political rant, so an appropriately folky tuning for that
CADGAD - a hoppityskippity riff on this that i love playing
CGCD - this is on my tenor guitar, a hardy chick, and will be a a slow strummed something

there you go. remember, be kind to your guitar if you are going to tune it all over, and make sure you are in a committed relationship first - strings are easily broken.

fi

march is nearly over and i am heaving a sigh of relief. march is always a frenetic month for me - a certain friend of mine would say that is evidence of the astrological calendar at work, but for whatever reason it is the month of hard work and big ideas. although i have neglected updates and this blog, i have been at the grindstone for other reasons. firstly, it's album time again. how quick it comes round! i am off into the studio [a real one this time] for recording next month. it's nice to spitshine and finalise tracks and start arrangements for songs, but it takes some working out. not to mention click tracks. i cannot for the life of me play to a 'blip, blip,' so out came the loop pedal and drum and the clicks were born. i'm not going to launch into a tirade about the studio environment and the difficulties of representing one's songs.. lah dee dah. that can wait until next time. and then secondly, i have been putting press and nonsense together for my may extravaganza with attila the stockbroker and david rovics at the tunnels in aberdeen [as part of the wordfringe festival]. it's truly going to be a carnival and an education supporting them for three scottish dates in may - i am one excited lady. not only the prospect of hearing so much inspiring political music, but seeing the great wheels of DIY gig organising swing into action has been uplifting as it all came together, a bit of a revelation for a girl who has been lumbered with one thing or another over the past few years - always making getting on the road seem out of reach. but this will all change very soon of course. yes, march has brought its usual dizzying highs and depressing lows for so many reasons, but the hard graft is always good for my writing and my thinking. just need to hang in for july. july is always my fallow month.

i'm feeling in a blog mood still which would be a much easier thing to feel if this darn wireless keyboard was behaving itself. you need to bash the buttons; truly an old-world clunky typewriter feel. anyway i thought i would draw your attention again to lost and found, from where the recordings on my homepage origninate and where i am headed tomorrow. it's funny how being in one city for a certain length of time makes you feel like there is nothing more to know, or no-one else you would like to meet where you are, and all the interesting and hiphophappening people and things are much further away. i belive that i had closed my ears, probably in the way i had done to dublin before i left. but in the last year along come these folks and they truly put on a good show. and one of the best audiences i have had the pleasure to hop around for. and they introduced me to ms. charlot webster, who shares my dark obsession with cd packaging. it is comforting to me that i am not alone in this. honestly. i'll sign off now with something vaguely romantic like my cat needs fed, but i don't have a cat. the sun is right in the room today and it's saturday morning so it's my favourite bit of the week. our flat is on the second floor, above another flat and then an archway of sorts. the sun comes right in and it looks like the light is on, and everything gets a mid-air sort of feel. i think this place is the closest i will ever get to a castle keep and a moat. cuz that's what we all want, right?

hello dear reader and welcome to my first ever blog post. i'm not a big fan of online outpourings, but i figure seeing as my online persona is always lagging behind with what i am doing in the real world in terms of writing, gigging, planning, learning and whatever, it really is the best way to provide anyone interested with some sort of insight into my musical workings. this year so far has been all about learning the art of dedication to the task, and as such i am hoping that i will remember to add to these posts. i've done a round of website updating and the rest, you can listen to my set from the lost and found night at cellar 35 last thursday [19th feb]. it really was a fine evening, those folks very much know how to party and playing for them is always fun. even better when there is a dedicated man with an excellent camera to capture the audio and video.

anyway, back to these updates.....

fiona