Break on through to the other side

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Posted: August 6, 2021

Week to week

As i’m sure we’re all hoping that this lockdown easing isn’t just another false dawn and ignoring the seeming inevitability of another winter lockdown, but i’m actually full of positivity! After 21 live streams I have some actual gigs booked in in the next few weeks

I’ve also been working hard recording songs for my upcoming album, i’m really proud of what is being produced and excited for the release. As soon as there’s something to show you, I will share some bits and pieces.

I’ve also been releasing live recordings of songs from streams to my YouTube channel. Here are a couple taken from my Acoustallica night:

I keep saying this but I will work to update this blog more frequently so please stay tuned, there are lots of exciting things in the pipeline.

Everyday Is Exactly The Same

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Updated: November 11, 2020

I think I used to have a voice

When I started this site, I intended to update the blog on a monthly basis. This hasn’t happened mainly because of covid restrictions of live music. It is been tough to be inspired with meaningful things to write about when most days are the same. Lockdown has been isolating for many people and i’m no exception. It’s been struggle at times to break the basic routine eat/work/sleep, and this has definitely affected my productivity. That isn’t to say that I haven’t been busy working on my music in the background.

Since March i’ve done: eleven live streams on my facebook page, three virtual music festivals, two live gigs during the short window in between lockdowns, written an albums worth of new material, and released a new single (more on that later!).

I can feel their eyes are watching

I don’t usually play cover songs. This may be an emotive subject as there is nothing wrong with being a covers artist, it’s a great skill. There are better singers than me, there are better guitarists than me, and there are better cover artists. What I can do that is unique is write and perform my songs. This is what I love doing and what drives me forward.

However, while streaming I’ve been wary of just playing the same songs every time and things getting stale for viewers. This has lead me to try my hand at some covers and it’s made for a nice challenge. I really enjoyed taking songs and trying to put my spin on an arrangement of them. The first big example of this was when I did a virtual gig ‘Grunge Night’ (watch here). This was an hour of me playing songs from many of my influencers from the Seattle Grunge scene.

Most Recently came a requests night, for the first time I asked people what songs they wanted to hear. The response was humbling and I was stretched creatively which was wonderful. Some of my personal highlights were:

  • Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
  • The Curse – Josh Ritter
  • Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
  • Wired for Sound – Cliff Richard
  • Hotel California – The Eagles

Sometimes I think I’m happy here

It was definitely out of my comfort zone especially with little time to prepare, I really enjoyed it. I’ll likely be doing another one in the new year. You can watch the stream here. I’ve also uploaded some of the covers to my YouTube Channel and will be adding more frequently. At the risk of cliche, make sure you like/subscribe/press the bell icon to be notified when i upload!

i’m particularly pleased with my cover of Rag N Boneman’s Human.

I have another couple of live steam gigs lined up. Make sure you like and follow my facebook page to see what i’m up to. http://www.facebook.com/MarcWoosnamMusic

Bonus points to anyone that knows where the title/headings come from!

Islands in the stream

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Updated: April 30, 2020

Oh how things change in just a month! Since then the UK has been in full lockdown mode and all the festivals and gigs for most of the year has been cancelled. However it’s not all doom and gloom, the world keeps turning, life goes on and the wonderful people of the NHS are doing daily miracles to keep the public safe and bring things under control.

Since the lockdown i’ve done a few online gigs in association with The Graham Steel Music Company on The Online Music Club, there are almost daily gigs from a variety of talented artists.

That is what we are

I was initially hesitant to stream my music online as I try to ensure that what i put in the public domain is as good as it can be and with streaming the video can be a challenge but the audio is the hardest part. Not that there’s anything wrong with streaming from a phone, I just wanted a level of professional presentation that is a challenge to get on a phone, particularly with the varying dynamics of some of my songs.

I wanted my streams to be of the highest quality I practically could achieve. My home recording setup is a mid-range imac with a scarlett 2i2 and an old Behringer C1 condenser mic. It’s really difficult to get a good balance of recording if you’re trying to capture vocals and guitar on one mic so my first port of call was an APK P170 ‘pencil’ condenser mic. I installed OBS to help manage the video and audio feeds locally before then streaming using facebook live.

How can we be wrong?

I did my first stream with that setup and the sound was good but I didn’t like the backdrop of a room in my house so, slightly controversially, I bought a green screen for my next stream so i can, using OBS, chroma key the green and have a background that wouldn’t distract from the performance. However, I had issues getting the lighting right, using a series of lamps and uplighters to try and catch a the shadows. It was a pain to setup, the slightest movement of the green screen would create a shadow which would ruin the effect, and it would get very hot. So after a bit of googling I bought a couple of softbox lights which has made the whole thing much easier and look better making me more comfortable with streaming my music.

You can check out the full video from my latest stream

And I’ve uploaded my cover of The Beatles Helter Skelter to my youtube channel

Stay safe out there and see you on the other side!

Fear and loathing in berkshire

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Updated: March 15, 2020

Hasn’t this been an eventful start to the year?

Like a lot of people when coronavirus was over in China in December, it wasn’t even on my radar. Now it’s a global pandemic the likes of which haven’t been seen in modern times – outside of a movie!

This has a knock on effect to live music, and rightly so, events are being cancelled left right and centre. I’m lucky enough to not rely on my music as my sole source of income so it isn’t going to hurt my pocket like some musicians. If you do want to support support independent music but can’t, try including those artists are in your streaming playlists or see if there’s any merchandise you can order from their bandcamp or website. The little things can make a big difference.

On a More Positive Note

I made a conscious choice towards the end of last year to focus on quality of gigs rather than quantity, to try and play at events that are concentrating on ‘listening’ audiences rather than those that ‘also have music’. Trouble is that these events are in high demand and book up long in advance for obvious reasons. I am fortunate enough to be booked to play in the coming months at two of the bigger of these events locally:

Music at the Pottery (8th May) which is at the Farnham Pottery and The Loft (21st August) which is at Lynchpit Community Hall.

And i’ve also been speaking to some festivals about having performance slots. Once I have more information I will share it here and on my Facebook.

These are very trying times and I do really appreciate those of you have come out to see me perform recently. I will make sure that both my Facebook and this site is up to date should any gigs be cancelled.

Breeze drifting on by…

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Posted: February 7, 2020

… you know how i feel

That was the year that was! 2019 done, musically things progressed more than expected, hopefully 2020 brings the same.

The year has continued with the unexpected, I was grateful to be nominated in the GSMC Awards for ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Single’ for my song Unspoken, and absolutely blown away to come runner up in Best Newcomer and to win ‘Best Single’. I also performed a small set on the night which was awesome, the crowd were great!

I have spent some time writing songs again, they’re coming along nicely and it feels good to be going through the creative process again. Previously, i felt like i’d hit a bit of a slump in writing, like i was falling back onto familiar crutches rather than trying new and interesting things. I shifted into the non-standard tuning of my EP (low to high C-D-G-F-A#-D), that shift in tuning really helped me out of my comfort zone and force me to experiment. I’ve gone back to standard tuning but have kept experimenting, i’m really excited for where these songs could end up. I’m working on new material this year aiming for studio studio time and an album release for 2021.

I’ve got lots of gigs coming up, be sure to check out my calendar page to see where i’m playing, ‘Like’ my Facebook Page – Marc Woosnam Music to get notified of events too.

It’s the end of the year as we know it… and i feel fine

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Updated: December 7, 2019

As 2019 comes to a close this is probably where I should provide some sort of retrospective infographic showing the number of gigs this year, the amount of time rehearsing, songs written, etc etc. However, unfortunately I only started tracking data since I started this website, an ‘annual’ retrospective of the last three months doesn’t quite have the same panache!

But it has been a phenomenal year for me, my aim going into 2019 was to get an occasional showcase gig and if i’m lucky, to appear at one festival. Instead I am playing almost exclusively at showcase sessions, support slots, gigs, or festivals, i’ve recorded and released my own EP with brand new songs, filmed a live performance of my EP, performed at a dozen small festivals and closing the Saturday acoustic stage at Wokingham Festival.

If you’ve met me more than a few times you’ll have heard that i used to be in a band, since the band split I had a couple of solo gigs, but I pretty much had 15 years out of performing live, I kept playing and kept writing, life carried on. My best mate Phill Cooper, who you may know as The Grand Old Uke of Dork, and I talked about various things to provide the creative / performing outlet and we talked about doing an open mic.

I wasn’t on facebook at all at the time so I was completely reliant on Phill to arrange everything and do all communications, the poor guys was texting me back and forth for hours each week as we try and align the planets for a day we can both play. We played a few times at Martyn’s Open Mic, then Phill found Abi Powell who ran quite a few open mics with prebooked slots in and around Bracknell.

We started playing for Abi regularly, often twice a week! We then met other promotors, who are also performers, and widened our circle. After Phill sent me a couple of videos of my performances that people had live streamed to facebook and there were comments asking who I was, I thought it was about time I created my own facebook and let Phill get released from the burden of being a completely unpaid booking agent!

Last December we discovered Graham Steel through artists promoting their nominations to his annual music awards, I messaged Graham asking if i could play at his showcase sessions at the Acoustic Couch (a great live music venue in bracknell), I was booked in January and since then I’ve worked with Graham extensively for bookings, for promotion, and for developmental support.

That takes us effectively to 2019, thanks to spotify i have some humbling stats on the streaming of my EP since its release in Sept.

I want to end by thanking every single person who has come to one of my gigs this year, bought a CD, or streamed my music, and a special thanks to Phill Cooper as without him literally none of this would have happened and i’d still be only playing in my living room.

2019 has been a musical cracker! Here’s to 2020 being even better!

tune in and turn it up

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Updated: October 25, 2019

It’s hard to believe how much has happened in the last month, i’ve played at eight events, appeared on two radio shows, done live recordings of my EP, and setup my youtube channel!

Wey Valley

I had the pleasure of appearing on Brian Player’s Acoustic Cafe Show on Wey Valley Radio, alongside folk legend Robb Johnson which was a great experience, you can check out the show here:

Oxjam

I also played at the very first Oxjam Windsor, Oxjam is an annual charity music festival that raises money for Oxfam, whose mission is to fight poverty worldwide. Events are held in multiple cities across the United Kingdom every year in October. Since 2006, more than 50,000 musicians have played to an audience of more than 1.2 million people at over 4,000 Oxjam events since the festival’s inception. It was a great event that was fantastically organised with 20 acts across three stages at two venues, at the event i sold my EP with all the proceeds going to Oxfam.

Videos

I recorded my EP at Silver Street Studios in Reading back in the Spring, and this month I performed a live set which was recorded on video with multiple cameras and audio mixed in their impressive studio. I will be drip-releasing the videos every Friday to my FaceBook page, to my YouTube Channel, and also to a new video page on this very site!

Firey Bird Show on Radio Woking

Just this week, I did a 2 hour live radio show with Elaine McGinty on her Firey Bird Radio Show on Radio Woking which was just a lovely experience. Elaine has a really conversational style of interviewing and we got into how I started in music, some of my musical influences, and I got to perform most of the EP live on the show.

I’m closing the month by performing at The Firey Bird Acoustic Sessions on Tuesday 29th which i’ve played once before and was a really memorable night, please join me for what will be a great night of music in a wonderful venue.

…And so it begins

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Updated: September 15, 2019

After what has been a whirlwind 12 months here is the launch of my website, this year i’ve gone from playing open mics, to showcases, to festivals, I’ve launched a single:

and a six song EP:

The EP in particular was a huge personal milestone having all been songs that have been written since I restarted playing music live last summer, and all of which have particular meanings behind them. I have been gigging a fair amount recently and promoting the EP, you can see in the Calendar page what i’ve got coming up, if you’re in the area then i’d love to see you coming down.

I’m going to be trying to post at least once a month with what’s coming up, do subscribe to my mailing list to be kept up to date with the latest news.