A new year! What happens now then?

Its time to take a few looks back, and a big look forward

It’s coming to the end of January and already Christmas and New Year seems like a distant memory. The frost has been trying its best to invite itself into all of our lives over the last week here in Northumberland. It’s a cold but beautiful sight and the mornings are now being filled with magical winter skies above my little hometown of Bedlington each morning and evening.

The morning cold soon shocks you wide awake and the little early morning walks on the school runs with my little ones, wrapped up in scarves, gloves, hats and hoods, paints beautiful pictures on the Journey.

2019 is well and truly into motion now and its always about his time of the year I start thinking about the year before and wondering about what the new year will bring. The beginning of a year is also the perfect opportunity for reflection on one’s life So why not get it down in my little blog! Not all of it as I don’t want you to get too bored along the way, but slipping little pieces into my little home of ramblings here.

2018 was a great year, filled with both ups and downs of life to balance things out. My life isn’t all as rosy and wonderful as people sometimes perceive it to be and neither would I have it that way. Balance is the key for me as the light wouldn’t be as bright without a little darkness along the way. A big ray of light for 2018 and one of my biggest life events coming to the end of the year was, of course, asking my beautiful partner in everything, Maria (or Curly as you may know her) to marry me. She said Yes by the way hahha phewwwwwww, So I already have an amazing year of planning, excitement and hopefully a fantastic wedding day marrying my little curly soul mate. Its a massively important part of life for Curly and it has been a great journey with her getting to this stage of in our little humble lives.

If you haven’t already managed to watch the sneaky video I filmed of the proposal then you can check it out below!

Amazing Adventures Always

My musical life has been as fun and as interesting as ever. I get to travel a lot and meet so many great people on my adventures with all the musical projects I’m involved in. There was a lot of new music created and also released throughout the year and there is a whole lot more to come in 2019. I’ve managed to play some amazing venues across the country and been involved in some amazing events. Recording and producing some of the brilliant, local musicians in the Shagnut Studio is always great fun for me too and its a very rewarding and exciting part of my life.

Sure, sometimes a musicians life can be very tiring physically and mentally and some parts of the music industry and gigging life can be completely and utterly bonkers but… I wouldn’t change it for anything. I love creating, writing, recording and performing! Music definitely has been and always will be a part of my little path through life forever.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”

So what am I looking forward to and what do I plan on working on through the year ahead, 2019?

Of course, our wedding will be one hell of a day and that will be a big priority this year. We don’t have a date set as yet but hopefully, that will come along soon and we are hoping to Marry this year.

Then as always, and as I mentioned earlier, music is always my little buddy who chugs along through life with me. No matter what is happening, its always there to get me through whether it be good, bad, happy or sad times. There’s a song in there somewhere hahaa!

So naturally, 2019 will be filled with more music. I have a great little new musical branch off in life coming in 2019 which I’m really, really excited about but il let you know about that in another blog once everything falls into place and I know it’s all working out. I also have lots of new original music coming out this year with all my projects and musical ventures. My solo Shagpile material, We Steal Flyers, the band Growing Robots and of course with my lovely wife to be Curly and our little Rings True project.

I’m also looking forward to getting more involved in local events that are coming up this year and hosting more music nights for other musicians to be a part of like The River Bank Sessions in Morpeth, Northumberland. I started this night with the support and help of The Riverside Lodge at the end of 2018 and had the amazing Johnny Dickinson give it a good kickstart in life. Hopefully, the night will go from strength to strength throughout this year and will turn into a great little home of live music and musicians.

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My YouTube channel is another place in which I want to put in some more time, effort and life into building and creating more. I slowly started falling out with it over the last few years as they have gone through so many changes, which in turn have caused problems in the music category within youtube and the support for musicians just isn’t there like it was. But, things change and I’ve decided to try and put some more time into it again and push more music in there. I see so many people sharing and still watching a lot of my music and videos through that platform. This is why my new little ‘Stripped & Out There’ series has been born this week. I will write about this in the next blog post and explain a lot more about it and where it has come from though.

I guess I should stop here and continue in the next post as my butt and hands have gone numb and I’m pretty sure your eyes are getting tired reading all of this. Part 2 will be along soon enough…

Thank you if you took the time to read through my ramblings and I would like to personally wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous and positive year ahead with lots of Amazing Adventures Always!

Jason

Happy to Feed a Smile!

I thought I would drop in and tell you a little about one of last weekends shows. January is always a bit strange with gigs and venues for working musicians. So many venues end up cancelling music or even closing all together which has a massive effect on my life as a full-time musician and of course on the venue owners too! I ended up having a few more dates available than usual this January and I was asked to perform an online gig within the virtual world of Secondlife. This time it was a little different though, as it was a Benefit or Charity Gig for Feed A Smile and Live & Learn in Kenya. I hadn’t played any Charity shows in Secondlife so thought I would check out the charity and what they provided and I decided to go for it.

 

check out these smiles 🙂

 

Here is how the gig works, people donate in a currency in which every 100 lindens (Secondlife Currency) exchanges to purchasing 1 hot meal. It is a really great way to view the show, rather than seeing the money exchanged and thinking about totals raised and it makes it so much more fun and engaging. During the live show, there is a board behind you which tells everyone how many meals you have managed to raise throughout the 1-hour show within the virtual world.

DennyMac on stage!

The full fundraising mission for Feed A Smile was 2 hours long for Sundays edition and there was a great musician performing in the hour before my own show called DennyMac who was a fantastic guitar player and played some great songs including some lovely instrumental original music he had written. After both our shows were finished and the donations were counted up we managed to raise an amazing 110 hot meals. How unbelievably amazing is it that with just 1 hour of my time performing a live gig, from the comfort of my own home, this can make such a huge difference and impact these lovely little kids, who are in need in such a huge way.

So yeah! I’m looking forward to working with them again in the future and helping out in any way I can and I’d just like to say a massive thanks to everyone who helped put this all together especially Brique, Lo , Sparkie, Lo Bloch Management, DennyMac and of course the lovely listeners who turned out for the show!

Go out there and be awesome my friends and do something great today along your way!

Amazing Adventures Always – Jason

 

 

 

*bleep* you! I won’t do what you tell me!

In April this year, a post went up on Facebook by someone I didn’t know asking if any musicians would be able to record an acoustic cover of ‘Killing in the name of’ by Rage Against the Machine as a commission job for a couple who wished to have the song played during their wedding ceremony as they walk down the aisle.

 

Rage Against The Machine

 

A lovely friend of mine and music lover Sian saw the post and dropped me into the conversation with a lovely recommendation. I got chatting with the person who was dealing with it all for the couple and sent her a few YouTube videos over to check out my channel and before I knew the plan had been set.

So, my challenge was to cover ‘Killing in the name of’ and do it acoustically and send them the finished song. This week I’ve been getting busy in the Shagnut Studio Shack with it and to be honest it has been not only challenging but great fun as well! I love working like this and especially on something I would probably have never even had thought of either.

We’ve been sending posts back and forward in a group chat and checking out the progress and at the minute it’s pretty much there now. I am gonna add a little more guitar and some harmony in there and I reckon it’s sorted. I posted a snippet in the group yesterday and they are sounding over the moon with it so far so.. good news for me!

The wedding is on the 29th July this year and I’ve also decided to release the cover as a single on the same day of the wedding as a little hi-ho to the lovely couple who got me to work on this project and it will be out on most major platforms online! There will be a little explicit language so, unfortunately, no kiddies can listen in hahah!

Hope you are all well out there and looking forward to hearing the finished song!

Jason – Shagpile Music

#amazingadventuresalways

www.facebook.com/shagpilemusic

 

My new Covers Album is out now and available on Spotify

 

What will you leave behind?

Hey up!! I’ve got a little story for ya! It was around 3 or 4 months ago, when my little half-pint daughters Olivia & Macey we’re hanging out with Daddy indoors on a not so nice day in Northumberland. After a few hours of finding things to do and getting up to mischief around the house it was time for them to head back to Mam’s and she was knocking at the front door before we knew it.

Olivia was feeling a little tired and ready for home but Macey decided she wasn’t going and decided to hide somewhere in the kitchen. After a little game of hide-and-seek Macey decided to stay over with Dad and Maria.

My two amazing daughters (left) Macey & (right) Olivia

We woke up the next morning and Maria headed downstairs early as always, so Macey decided to climb into Daddy’s bed for a bit banter and giggles. We ended up with both of us at the bedroom window watching all the birds in the trees in the garden. She loves watching them all flying in and out and learning about what they’re called and naming them all. She likes the ‘Chaffies’ and has a besty called ‘Crush the Thrush’ hahahha

A few days later I was sitting playing the guitar with Macey and having a little sing song and I was asking her about writing a song and what she would like to write about. She instantly started singing about our morning watching the birds together. ‘In the morning when we wake up and watch the birdssssss….’ was her little line to start with and we started singing different stuff together while I secretly took mental notes of all her little lyrics. It was such a lovely little moment to share with her and the time flew by and before I knew it a lovely little song was pretty much altogether and she was singing away while I played the music. She wanted to get it all finished so she could show Maria when she came in from work and she did. I even set the microphone up for her and she sang her little heart out. Since that moment she just sings it anywhere when I ask her or if I start singing it. She loves giving a little performance! (wonder where she gets that from haha)

Headed to Greggs for some pre-studio nomnom!

So… now we’re a few months down the line and I managed to get the guitars and my vocals recorded in the Shagnut Studio. I picked the little ones up from school yesterday and we walked around in the fresh October winds, up towards home. We stopped off for a little bit food and chinwag in Greggs Bakery on Bedlington Front Street. Macey wanted a cheese pastie and Olly had a sausage roll and we sat and talked about all sorts. I told Macey I had been recording the song and it was ready for her to sing her parts on now and we could do it when we got home if she wanted to. She was really excited about getting to record her song and she said “I’m excited to do it… but I’m also a bit scared”

When I asked her why she was scared she said because she didn’t know if she could do it or sing it right. Macey is only 5 years old by the way!! I assured her she was going to be amazing and that it didn’t matter what happened in there, then we got inside, stuck her headphones on and she had two little practices singing along with it. I hit the record button and tracked two takes of the full song with her singing her little heart out. She was absolutely amazing and she has such a beautiful little voice with a lot of control for such a young girl. She was standing there in her little school outfit while she twiddled with the headphone cable and I didn’t have to tell her a thing. She just sang through it without any problems and then sat on my knee asking about the mixing and what was happening on the screen. A very proud daddy moment and such an amazing part of my week, month, year watching her sing and express her cute little self and loving it!

The song is called ‘Maceys Morning’ and has turned into an amazing little moment captured between me and my youngest daughter and will also be on my new solo album. While all this was happening there was so much going through my head about what we can leave behind for others and memories that will still be around once we’ve left this little life behind. So… maybe have a think about what you would like to leave? or… what would be your favourite little moments in life if you could stick them in a box and pass them onto someone before you head off to the land of nevernever! Have a great week.. and be awesome!! Thank you for reading as always!

Jason #AmazingAdventuresAlways

www.facebook.com/shagpilemusic

www.twitter.com/_shagpile

The Sound of Silence

15.7.2016 The Sound of Silence – Johann Reichart the Executioner

In January of 2013, I performed a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Sound of Silence’ for my YouTube channel of videos. Sitting in my kitchen and recording it live whilst I practised.

Lately the band ‘Disturbed’ did a cover of the same song and it seemed to send quite a lot of traffic to my video with people commenting and telling me ‘Disturbed brought me here’ and the video is now heading towards 38,000 views…. now the good bit!

A month ago I got a comment on there by ‘MrBeck322’ saying ‘Love it!!!! Can I use your cover song in a video?’ and of course I replied with a yes but not knowing really what it was going to be used for.

A month later and I get an inbox with a nice message from Peter on my Facebook page with a link to a video. The track was used in a brilliant trailer for a theatre play about the last executioner of the Third Reich who was Johann Reichart and I had a look into what it was all about.

Johann killed 3165 people and among them were 250 women with a guillotine. Reichart is from a family of Bavarian executioners. He tried to escape his family tradition tried his hand at many different jobs and kept failing when people found.

When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power, the enemy’s and death sentences were piling up so they needed an executioner. Reichart was the most successful in the business by this time and was rising to fame for being the fastest executioner of that time!

He was also know for being concerned for his victims. He never wanted them to suffer so he developed ways to increase the speed and changed technical procedures of the execution to aid this.

After the second world war he was imprisoned by the Americans for his role in the Third Reich but knowing they had a master executioner in custody and lots of Nazis which were waiting to be executed, the Americans decided to use Reichart to rid of his former bosses.

After that he had to go through his denazification haunted by his deeds and he became a depressive, his only son committed suicide and he died lonely and hated.

Here is the brilliant trailer they created for the Theatre production.

After a little bit more communication back and forth over Facebook, we discussed maybe writing some music for future productions and it all seems like a brilliant connection that came from nowhere. One minute your sitting recording a practice session in your kitchen and the next this. Great and unexpected things can come from such simple decisions you make.

I hope you have an amazing adventure filled time ahead and that you enjoyed reading my own latest adventure. Thanks for reading!

Jason

#amazingadventuresalways

Applecarts & Tanglewoods

BOOOOOO!!!!! Its been a little while since I got to the blog so I have quite a few updates on what’s been happening to catch up on but I’ll try and keep it short and sweet!

First of all, I am sure most of you know by now that the new ‘We Steal Flyers‘ album ‘Applecart’ finally arrived and has been released to the world. You can now purchase it online and at most of the good online retailers like iTunes, Amazon & Cdbaby. The physical copies are also now available at ‘We Steal Flyers’ gigs and for home delivery from the ‘We Steal Flyers’ Shop.

Its been available now for just over a month and the support has been completely overwhelming! Not only did we have lots of orders online through our shop but they have been flying out at our gigs and the feedback from everyone has been so great! Lots of happy people out there with new songs from the us to listen to! A massive thanks to all of you for your continued support and patience! Now lets crack on and get the next album sorted!!

The next exciting news is after doing a few live videos in Dennis Todd Music shop in Bedlington for guitar manufacturers Tanglewood, I am now an official Tanglewood artist/endorsee. We kept in touch after the videos were shot and released and it all came together. They are a brilliant UK based company who make some stunning guitars and I am now the owner of a beautiful all mahogany TW47E which was presented to me in my local Dennis Todd Music Shop by Mark Whiteman. I’m proud as punch!

The new addition! Tanglewood TW47E

I was also performing a wedding gig in Ashington last week with Growing Robots with the new guitar for its second outing and the great Darren who is our bass player managed to grab some shots as I was setting up for the show. These were used on the Tanglewood website! You can check out some of Darrens amazing landscape photography of Northumberland and further afield at his homepage ‘Darren Turner Photography’

It’s been a busy old time here in the Shagnut Studio too with a few different projects for artists but I am also well into working on my new solo album too. Its already featuring a few great people you might know of through my pages and the songs all feel exciting and fresh to me. The album is heading towards more melodic and bluesy finger-style guitar and playing around with different tunings to keep it all exciting and I’m absolutely loving the challenges and the learning curves that have come along with it all. I still have lots of more good news in the pipeline but I will have to leave this for the next update!

Life has been good, creative, full of fun, love, laughter and busy times!! What else do I need??

Now back to work I go… hahaha! After a cuppa and some Marmite on toast of course!

Jason … #amazingadventuresalways

www.facebook.com/shagpilemusic

Off to play in Whitley Bay!

Bank Holiday Monday in Whitley Bay!

This weekend has just passed by pretty nicely. Unfortunately Derek was still unable to get himself ready for the gigs so I had Mike Slaughter coming along with me to help out and play alongside me for the shows but we still managed to have two fantastic gigs! The lovely seaside Smugglers Bar in Sunderland was on Friday and then one of the friendliest places you could ever play is the Billingham Catholic Club.

Setting up with Mike at Billingham Catholic Club

The Curly one has been away all weekend in Norfolk on her own musical adventures performing at a festival with the band and my little smily ones have been on a brilliant little break with my parents on the farm up in Belford so I had Sunday all to myself. Curly was heading back up around 10pm on Sunday night and I managed to catch up with Daz & Sav (two quarters of Growing Robots) at Morpeth Rugby Club for a few cheeky beers and a chinwag.

It was a lovely sunny Bank Holiday Monday and after a lazy lie in after our busy weekend it was time to get up and get ready for the little ones coming back with my parents and make some adventure time. The kids were full of life as always when they tipped up and after a few cuppas we decided to head over to Whitley Bay with the halflings, Curly and my parents in search of some fun.

The wind swept but wonderful Whitley Bay!

Whitley Bay is a little seaside town along the North East coast of Northumberland and home to Spanish City, a big dome in the centre which as a kid was part of the theme park, rides and lots of amusement arcades. I used to head over there every couple of weeks when I was in high school and play on the arcade machines and all the lastest games for a few hours or until my money ran out.

Whitley Bay is about fifteen minutes from my home and has been undergoing a lot of regeneration for a quite some time now. There is still lots of amusement arcades, fish and chip shops, bowling alley and ice cream shops around the Spanish City area and a lovely promenade which walks all the way along the coast of Tynemouth.

We headed down for in two cars and got parked up in no time and headed to the little bowling alley. The kids love it.. you can stick little barriers up too, so the bowls can bounce off the sides for some cool spinney sideways blaster shots. Curly & Olivia was playing against Mam & Macey whilst I took on Big-daddy Vare on another lane… I was hammering him until the very last shot when he over took me and beat me by one point! I wasn’t impressed… I thought I had it in the bag and I was gonna blackmail him into buying the fish ‘n’ chips later.

Girls vs Girls while the men battled it out!

After that we headed into the amusements to win loads of tickets and spend them on lots of goodies at the ticket bar. We filled our cups up with change from the machines and off we went looking for some flashy games to spend our lovely pennies on. We got a heap of tickets out the machines and Olly spent her winnings on a teddy bear munsta ball and some glow in the dark bracelets whilst Macey spent her tickets on a Shopkins Sticker book and more glow in the dark bracelets.

After that we headed for food along at the Coastline Chippy at South-beach. There was a kite festival on as we drove along the coast and there was some pretty impressive kites up in the air as we turned up at South Beach. The Coastline chippy has just been all done out and extended. I used to come here quite a bit with my Grandma & Grandad as they loved they’re fish & chips and it doesn’t get much better than at Coastline. I got myself a Coastline Haddock special with chips & mushy peas and I was well and truly ready for some nomnom! The food was lovely and the fish is always good! The work they had done inside had completely changed the place and it even had a bar in there in the middle to buy beers. The Ice cream side of the cafe was completely rammed with people queuing for they’re yummy ice cream fix. Olly was pulling funny faces and taking photo’s of everyone.

Swapping bits n bobs for Olivias photo!

We had a lovely slow drive back with really full, rounded belly’s and smiles all around! We dropped the little half-pints off before heading home and heading out for some cheeky drinkys with Stevie & Kat to finish the day off in the bank holiday sunshine.

Hopefully you had a great weekend too and if you get a chance, stop off at Coastline Chippy for some lovely fish ‘n’ chips and let me know what you think! Jason

#amazingadventuresalways

Curly-hair does care!

After a bit of a crazy week of the We Steal Flyers tour mobiles trouble and having to cancel some shows, I ended up being around the house over the weekend and into the next week a lot more than expected. I was missing the music that had been planned and on a lazy Tuesday night last week I ended up on the couch with the Curly one and my lovely new Sigma guitar.

There is pretty much guitars everywhere in our little humble home and they pretty much get picked up all day and played around with for a little then put down again. I can be in the kitchen, studio or sitting on the couch and noodling away while the tea is being cooked, the missus is creating her little crafty things at the table or when a movie is on.

So this Tuesday I was sitting playing around on the couch while Curly sat checking her phone and having a bit chin-wag with a glass of wine and after a bit noodle on the guitar we decided to try out a few songs while we chilled together. I even managed to bring her round to the idea of maybe recording a video for YouTube of us together. I was quite surprised as when I first tried to get her to record a little vocal in the studio, without video, I pretty much had to push the record button and then leave the building as quick as possible and come back when she was done! Hahahha. She is a shy little thing when it comes to her singing so this was quite a step.

Sound Check for Declan & Ali Donnelly’s Wedding

Curly does perform live though in a band, on her own with the piano and with me too. She sings for a worship band performing at events and festivals usually focused towards Youth Ministry. The band also performs around monthly at the lovely St. Marys Church in the centre of Newcastle for Y.M.T at their regular ‘Source’ events. She also performs at weddings and other Church related events and I managed to perform alongside her earlier this year during the service of ‘Declan & Ali Donnelly’s’ wedding (Ant & Dec) and as you can imagine it was quite a thing to be part of! We have a few wedding services to perform throughout this year together too. This was just to give you a little history on the little Curly one and what she does by the way!

I’ve been along to quite a few of the ‘Source’ events at St. Marys and when she sings with the band on stage, she really puts herself into an amazing place and her voice and emotion takes a whole life of its own and fills the huge chamber sounding church. The kids & adults absolutely love the events and its like being at an arena gig with the lights and production and all the effort that people put into it.

Anyhow, getting back on track we worked through a few songs together and we picked a song to get her singing on the camera for YouTube. Doby Gray’s – Drift Away was the song of choice and without a real practice, just a couple of quick run through, we managed to get sat in front of the camera in the kitchen and recorded it. We checked a little of the footage afterwards and I got all the crazy comments in my ear of “is that my face” , “I look weird” , “ohh I’m a bit off there” and “wow…shaggy you look amazing with that guitar you should buy loads more” hahahhahah. OK maybe not the last one… but I think she did amazing and looked fantabulous on the video as she always does!

The next morning I got the video up on YouTube and the response from all you lovely people out there was really amazing. All of the lovely comments & feedback from everyone has really boosted her confidence in singing in front of the camera and I’m sure she will be back with some more music as requested by so many of you. You did well, the shares and comments kept rolling in and it hit nearly 800 views in less than a week and we’re both over the moon!! Thank you!!

Jason #amazingadventuresalways

If Tanglewood would… I would!

7th April 2016

I received some great news from Mark at Dennis Todd Music shop in Bedlington last week. Tanglewood Guitars were to be filming a new series of videos for their website and homepage. They were to drop in-store to film a local songwriter in a local Tanglewood dealer. The dealer was Dennis Todd’s in Bedlington,  my home town and I managed to be the lucky artist who was going to get to perform in the store.WoooHoooooo!!

Mark from Dennis Todd Music Store in Bedlington

Dennis Todd’s music shop has been around since I was a little wee wipper snapper. I used to stop off in the store growing up and gawk at all the lovely guitars and instruments in the shop. My father used to take me up there too as a little one when he was picking up strings and bits n pieces for guitars he was giving a new lease of life too. Mark Whiteman used to work in the store and has since taken over the shop from Dennis but kept the original name and local friendly shine it always had.

On Thursday , Elliot from Tanglewood was turning up at 11am and I had to get my butt down there to perform an original song and a cover version of a song using two different Tanglewood guitar models. He was going to be filming and recording the audio and putting it all together in a nice little package for the world to see on the Tanglewood homepage and YouTube.

I woke up not feeling too grand unfortunately and was all stuffed up with the first signs of this nasty cold coming along on Thursday morning but I managed to pull together and get down there to get started. Elliot was already setting up when I arrived and getting things ready so I had time to sneak a strong coffee in from Mark while we sorted things out in the shop. Mark had some lights brought down and sat one behind the corner of the seat in the corner and another smaller LED to give a little fill light.

Ready to start on the first take with Elliot

We were pretty much ready to go when the Curly one tipped up to sit in the corner in silence while we got cracking. We had a couple of large microphones set up in front of me and I had to give the songs a few takes though for each song to hopefully capture some different angles and cut scenes to be all synced up and hopefully look lurrrvely when its all done. By the time I got through the first take of the first song my backside felt like it was on fire from the lamp which was heating me up like an oven. Mark also realised there was an expensive Tanglewood sitting right in front of the light so that was moved quickly to another location in the shop. Peowwww!!

I got to use one of the new dreadnought sized Crossroad series Tanglewood for the first song which was an original song of mine called “English Tea” and will be available on the all new ‘We Steal Flyers‘ album ‘Applecart’ which is out on the 6^th May 2016. For such an affordable guitar it sounded and performed really well and I started to get a little attached to it by the end of the takes.

The second song was a cover and I chose to play a version of the Cheers TV series theme song and I played a lovely TW40 OAN on this song. It had a a great big bright sound and was perfect for the more finger-style version of the song I was playing. By the time I got through the takes of the cover I was well and truly sweating with the muckle light behind me, that was trying to turn me into mush like the wicked witch of the North (East) . Ha Ha.

After the session with Mark & Elliot

After the session was done we managed to get packed up and had a little wander around a few places in Bedlington and got a few shots of the local points of interest. We popped into a few shops around the way and then back to the shop.

All in all it took around 4 hours and it was a great and different day with a few great people and hopefully the videos will arrive soon. With the amazing help of Mark from Dennis Todd’s and Elliot from Tanglewood UK the job was done and I managed to relax in the garden with a little fire with my little ones and Curly-top until way after dark. Another amazing adventure complete!!

Time to chill in the garden with the lovelys!

Thank you for stopping by my little humble home of life and music as always and look out for the new videos coming soon!

Jason – Amazing Adventures Always

..the lady’s of the night!

Day 8 – Lucerne, Switzerland

We were over half way of the We Steal Flyers swiss tour! We had two days off to relax and get ourselves ready for the next four gigs. We made it back safely the day after Grindelwald in Patrick Shumakers rocket ship, and somehow lived to tell the tale. The two days flew by pretty quickly and after eating chicken, lots of YouTube songs, Noblesse coffe and some more writing, before I knew it, it was time to meet Mark at Shamrocks Irish Bar in Lucerne to get set up for our Wednesday gig.

Time off with half a chicken and some Rivella!

Shamrocks was 5 minutes walk from our hotel in central Lucerne and we met Mark there to load in the equipment at 4.30pm. We quickly stuffed our gear and guitars into our little corner of the Irish Bar and I grabbed a little early beer and Derek had a lovely fresh glass of Orange Juice as he does!

Its unusual to be playing the Irish Bar on a Wednesday for us and usually its on a Saturday or Sunday at the end of the tour and it can get a bit wild for sure. I started setting up and I had half a PA system to set-up for the room then linking into another in-house system as well. Leads and cables everywhere and no electric points anywhere near us to be seen. I changed three mic cables on my pedal as they weren’t working whilst trying to disco step around our little corner. I doubt my buddy back in the UK Mr. Rob Saddler doesn’t have these problems. He has just won an award for “FOH Engineer of the year” and has been on tour with James Bay for quite a while now. Its great to see a lovely local lad and buddy doing so well at something they love.

Great plateful at Shamrocks Irish Bar in Lucerne

We managed to get set up and sound checked by 5.30pm and I ordered myself a lovely plate of nachos, chilli and cheese, with guacamole and salsa! OOOOOOOshhhh!!! It was a hell of a portion and went down lovely with my beer on the side! Derek headed back to the hotel while I hung around in the bar feeding my greed and chin-wagging and he returned 20 mins before gig time at 8pm ready for our show.

We had some lovely buddy’s turn up to listen again which I hadn’t seen since the October tour and Legend Bill came in with a Cahjon drum for Mike Marshall. He said he would join us for a few songs later on in the sets. Unfortunately Bill was feeling a little under the weather and could only stay for a short time. It was also Mike Marshall’s 50^th birthday at midnight so he was in celebrating mode and was passing birthday cake around the bar.

Birthday cake time for Mike

We played through our three sets and it was a pretty relaxed gig in the bar for most of it. Mike got up and played four songs with us on the cahjon and we finished off on a spur of the moment take on “Show me the wayyyyyyyyyy to go homeeeeeeeeeee” with a bit of a sing along. We finished up and had a bit crack with everyone in the bar and I sang Mike ‘Happy Birthday’ unplugged while he sat on his drum with a beer looking a little drunk. Hahha. Derek spotted a picture on the wall of an old bearded fella and said it was me, so we took our photo with it too. haha

After the show I decided to head out with Mike and a few others as he was going for that world famous ‘one last drink’ and the Irish bar had stopped serving by this time and was ready to close. We attempted to get in three other bars but they were all closing and the staff at Downtown suggested going next door. We headed into the bar which was open till late but they didn’t only sell alcohol. You could still have a normal drink in there while the ‘lady’s of the night’ did they’re thing though! We had a couple of beers and tried not to stare too much at what was going on. Hahah.I always find myself somewhere I shouldn’t be on tour for some reason .Haha. I got back to the hotel and Derek was still up who had took my backpack of stuff to his room for me. I managed to grab it and had a bit crack and giggle about the night in the corridor of the hotel before heading off to peeps.

The next gig coming up is The Sprue & Wiesen in Immensee, Zug. See you there.

Jason. Amazing Adventures Always

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