JJ's Muse

Yesterday I celebrated another year of life.

I’m not really one for celebrating birthdays, and I struggled in the run up to the day to answer the question that came from a few as to what I was going to do. My general response was that I wasn’t that bothered about doing anything in particular, happy to go with the flow and just see what offers came along.  I did, though,  sense that it should be marked in someway, and that it definitely wasn’t going to be marked by me hoovering on my birthday

When the day came, I enjoyed spending quality time with my immediate family. Continue reading

“Phase 1 Complete” was the words of the text my brother sent me at some random hour Monday am. This meant that the mixing had been done and the 5 tracks were ‘good to go’.

He then texted me Thursday to say he would drop off a CD and I waited in a mixture of fear and anticipation as I wondered what it would sound like.

Well, as I blog this I am listening to the track “Turn Your Eyes”, and I can truly say I am pleased with what we have done.

It’s all about getting it into the hands of somebody now, and at least one somebody is saying he’ll be giving them away like hotcakes  so watch this space.

As a sidenote, the cold type whatever it was that wanted to land on me on our first day of recording, seems to have now taken hold. – Not impressed, but thankful that it was kept at bay so we could do what we had to do.

Night!

This was the view that met me when I left the studio at 5am this morning (Friday). I had intended to try to sleep, but decided it wasn’t worth it and that I would stay up with my brother who was still putting music on some of the tracks.

My good intentions were delayed by my body demanding a power nap – one minute I was looking at the laptop, next minute I was waking up

It was a looooooooooong day yesterday, but it was really cool, touching, and humbling to see how both Bishop and my brother put in hours of work, and are preparing to put in even more when they begin mixing the tracks – Oh Yeah, we have done all five!

I also need to shout out to Doug who was in the studio till 2am  Wednesday night/Thursday morning laying down the bass.

Sidenote: The rest of this post is a day out due to sleep deprivation and having to get back home and straight into some meetings yesterday (Fri 17th) 

So how did it all end? Continue reading

It’s 12.55am Friday morning, the noisy birds are chirping and Bishop and my brother are tweaking some of the tracks and recording guitar, so I’m  taking a moment out to catch up with the world outside the vocal booth!!! I have also had something to eat as my cereal and toast breakfast was at 10am yesterday morning.

I didn’t think we’d be able to do all the tracks and suggested we drop one of them. But, my brother – who at around 3am Thursday morning went to bed for the first time since waking up Tuesday morning- was adamant that we should stick to the plan.

His determination (pigheadedness) has reaped rewards. All the tracks are now done vocal wise, two have almost full instrumentation, and according to some friends who dropped by – it’s all sounding very nice.

I must say that these past 2/3 days have been challenging, sometimes frustrating, and confirmed that I definitely prefer live gigs to studio work, but I am feeling very rewarded by the experience. I am also excited to see what may happen next as I step out once again into the world of music, session singing and explore seriously my song writing.

It’s amazing what a chain of events a simple question can lead to.

Well… as of 3.12am this morning, this is what the ‘state of play’ was: two tracks with vocals done – bar some end chorus ad-libs,  a severe case of vocal booth fever, squashed ears from the cans (headphones), crazy headphone hair, and a desire for tea and cake

Recording vocals can be hard work, and there is really no getting around the fact that it generally takes up a considerable amount of time. Yet, it is very rewarding when you hear what you have done. There is an art to studio work which some singers can find easier to master than others, and the same is true of  singing live.

Of course you have to able to sing in both situations but that’s where the similarity can end.  Continue reading

Arrived in Wales at 1am this morning. – Nothing unusal there, we always tend to travel at those mad hours in the morning. What was unsual was that there wasn’t the usual struggle to keep awake, no need to sing road signs and whatever else to ensure arriving in one piece!

So why make this mad trip?

Ans: A simple request for some singing sessions, followed by the question “do you have a showreel?”*, began a chain of events which started as a plan to do a simple recording at my brother’s and has become an ‘out of orbit’ plan to record 5 tracks of varying styles, with lead and backing vocals, drums, bass, keys, guitar and whatever else is inspired along the way, ready to take home early – first thing early – Friday morning!!!! – Whatever happened to pressing record on a tape recorder and if you had a mic you felt stush

Before heading for bed, we had a look at the studio, it’s looking good.  Bishop’s guitars are looking impressive on the walls, the desk looks ‘da business’ without being pretentious, Continue reading

” I don’t like pigeons that fly”

This was a comment from my friend that had me laughing away. It made no sense to me!

She went on to clarify that as long as they weren’t flying around, she was fine with them. Once they take flight though, she will look for the quickest escape route, ‘ducking ‘n’ diving’ and maybe hollering. Either way, you’ll know about it

I don’t think she’ll be joining the Save Trafalgar Square Pigeons campaign anytime soon! Continue reading

An unexpected delay last Monday created tthe opportunity to hear some wonderful music.

I was due to meet a friend at Charing Cross, but she had been held up. As I mused about what I going to do, the choice seemed to be just nipping to a coffee shop across the road or going to a really nice coffee shop on Monmouth Street. – I haven’t actually been there yet, but some serious coffee drinker friends of mine highly recommend it, and I have been to the one in London Bridge. ( Monmouth Coffee Company)

Anyway, I digress..

I then remembered that I had wanted to check out The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-field, which triggered another memory, which was that I’d read somewhere that they have free lunch time concerts.

So off I went to see what I could find out, and was pleasantly rewarded by finding out the lunch time concert (held on a Mon, Tues, & Fri) was starting at 1pm. With 15mins to go, I headed back up to the church, where I had not long passed through a throng of people going in. – I think I had assumed they were tourists or going in for a service!

I became a part of the throng, and with my concert sheet in hand sat down in anticipation, hoping I would get some of the concert before my friend arrived.

Click for a list of March Concerts

Continue reading

I really believe that everybody wants to be heard.

Hungry to be Heard by Jarra McGrath (click on picture for full explanation)

I’d suggest that we spend our days trying to be heard in one way or another.

Some of us use writing, some music, art, dance, photography etc and even our silence can speak loudly for us.

I would also suggest that in our daily life our jobs speak for us, our relationships with family, friends, work colleagues and even the passerby speak for us, our choices etc. Sometimes not in the way we would like or intend, yet speaking for us nevertheless. Continue reading

Last night I enjoyed an evening of poetry, music, spoken word and some other bits in-between at an event put on by Eclectic Arts Network (EAN)

They were celebrating International Women’s Day – a day previously unknown to me and from what I gather, not widely known in the UK. Well Kocoa and others from the EAN felt compelled to do something in honour of this day and last nights fusion of artists from different creative genres was the result.

I went along not only to enjoy and support the night, but to read some of my poetry.

This was a long time coming ‘stepping out’ for me. As a ‘writer-in-waiting’, writing poetry and writing in general has long been a part of my DNA – known only to a few, and very little shared (unless you have been the recipient of a card from me ) Continue reading