Well sorry AGAIN for the lateness in updating this ol thing called the website. Things have been hectic. First of all I had the pleasure of composing a couple of pieces for lovely dance projects. The first of which is 3 pieces of music to accompany a DVD the sports youth trust has commissioned in order to promote dance in primary schools.
The second is underway at the moment and is again another dance collaboration. Wayne Sables Project have asked me to create the music for a dance film they are shooting. Commisioned by the Lowry museum in Manchester the piece is to tell the building and history of Salford Quays. Very interesting and I shall be putting some pieces up on here as soon as I can.
The BBC Raw Talent have also done me the honour of playing “Mermaids” on the radio Sheffield broadcast last week and I hear also that a number of the other tracks from “Share&Enjoy”, the last CD have been listened to by the national panel. This does not mean they will be played nationally at all. but it is nice to know that SOMEONE has listened to them and thinks they are worthy.
Share&Enjoy is available for FREE download for a limited period and you can get to it HERE
Ok the finished CD is completed and available from ME! its FREEEEEE too! unless anyone wants to give me money! Its titled finally – “Share and Enjoy” So feel free to drop me a line and Ill send you a link to download from or send you a CD.
Yes its blatant gig plugging time. I have been asked to play as part of wagon wheel medias ongoing nights at the Grapes. Craig at WagonWheel is working hard to try and bring the best acoustic and blues guys passing through this fair city of ours to the grapes to play. 4 acts on an evening £3in from 8pm. I have been to a few of these and they are REALLY good. I have never been disappointed with anyone I have seen. So I am actually quite flattered that he has asked me to play…
Incidentally Mike Hughes, is also on the same bill. Up till recently he was in a band called littlezee recorded their debut album (devils in the detail) supported kasabian on tour last year and then for some reason the album has been put on hold… Hence he is doing some solo stuff. He is really REALLY good! Think a cross between tim burgess from charletans but with more swagger than ian browne.. (really nice guy too!)
So PLEASE PLEASE put it in your diary and come on down. It would be great.
Hello out there. YES I know its a while since I posted but I have been up to my neck in family matters as well as collecting up some new orchestral samples to use on the new CD. I am still hoping to release this at the end of the summer and I have had had some good feedback from those that have heard it.
To give you a little overview the feel of this album ( My first 10 tracker) uses more piano, as I seem to be writing again on this and quite a lot of orchestral instruments, strings, cellos and suchlike. I like the sound of most of the stuff recorded but then I have just taken posetion of Vienna Symphonic Library’s Special Edition strings..these sound amazing….All I need now is the degree in computer science to make them work.
HERE IS A SNEAK PREVIEW OF HOW IT SOUNDS AT THE MOMENT.
Embracing the recent surge of nline dating and the fact that you can basically live out your fantasies without leaving your computer screen…
I intend on re recording some of the orchestral sections and tidying things up abit however 8 tracks of the 10 are recorded plus I am also thinking of putting a recently performed cover as the last track – If you were at the geen rooms recently you will know what I am talking about.
LEAVE ME A NOTE!
Well from the looks of the stats I am getting quite a lot of hits on here and i take it that there is quite a lot of downloading of the CD’s Going on. Thats Great…Thats fine, but it WOULD be nice to know what you guys thought so drop me a message in exchange for the music and let me know. Its only polite!
Just a very quick one to say i will be playing acoustically at the green room in sheffield on Wednesday the 22nd of April. Its only a small thing but I am very much looking forward to playing for the first time in about a year.
Also I have been asked to give my thoughts of my desert island discs at the shakespeare next thursay (9th) It has been a hard struggle to pick so if anyone fancies coming down and listening it starts at about 8 and details can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=26853999774&ref=ts
I have very few REAL influences musically (or rather I probably have LOADS of ‘fleeting” influences that then seem to subside into the depths of obscurity) I can name only 3 people that i can safely say have been a direct influence on my writing. I can safely say that one of these is David Ford. Now, I have only known of his music since Dec 2007 when my itunes library SUGGESTED I buy the album. I downloaded it and was instantly blown away by the power, lyrics,musicality and overall AMAZINGNESS!!! One song in particular stopped me dead on the motorway almost, made me cry tears for about an hour and instantly burned into my brain as one of the most powerful songs ever written in my mind!!
Song for the road…
So much so it directly led me to write not only my own song Losers Place – but also use some of the lyrics in my renewal of vows when my wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in 2008. I have seen david perform on a few occasions now and it truly is a wonder to behold not only because of the way he performs these beautifully crafted songs with an emotion not many performers can achieve but because of the musical ability and technical achievements contained within the show. A good example of this is the video for his song “Go to Hell” Recorded live in Brooklyn and featured ford playing multiple instruments and household appliances!!
The opportunity to perform came abut because every year David holds a series of charity gigs to raise money for local causes (called Milk and Cookies). Gigs were held this year in Eastbourne, Birmingham and Manchester. The david ford message board runs 2 auctions for these gigs. The first is to suggest a silly cover version for David to perform. The second is to suggest a cover and perform it onstage with David…
I usually do a gig myself in sheffield around March time in aid of Cancer research and for one reason or another this did not happen this year. As the Manchester gig for a local cancer hospital I though t i would make a donation and see what happens. I put in the bid and waited to be OUTBID… 2 weeks later no other bids had come in! I then found out that the auction was only open to Eastbourne and as I was going to manchester it might not happen. “no worries” I thought “never mind” – However one of the moderators on the message board had checked out my myspace page and decided I could “hold my own” so it was going to be a simple job of turn up and play… so i was on!!!!
The night before the gig – I was at the pictures and my phone kept ringing…needless to say i kept switching it off as i didn’t recognize the number. After the film i thought i had better ring back and when it was picked up i said… “Hello WHO’S THIS THEN???” …the relply of “This is David Ford…just ringing to go through the song for tomorrow” sent me speechless as to be honest I was not realy repared for the fact he might actually RING me up!! I am not a person who puts celebs on pedestals or anything but it was kinda COOL to have someone i admire ring me and have a chat.
So Thursday December 11th at St Phil’s church in Salford..My wife Charlie and I arrived and basically walked into a wonderful atmosphere. Even though it was only 4 oclock there were lights being put up, cookies being set out (by davids lovley mum!) We were made to feel very comfortable and relaxed. David and i spoke about the song of choice and the key, we ran through very briefly with a suggestion that during the interval we find some harmonies etc..
I cant believe how relaxed I felt in front of a few hundred people with the whole thing. It really was a very emotional experience and one I can safely say i will treasure for the rest of my life. I DO hope i get the chance again to sing with mr Ford at SOME point in the future. So thank you to EVERYONE who made it possible and my heartfelt thanks to David – A most humbling, genuine LOVELY person who made me feel very welcome and agreeing to sing a silly cover with me in exchange for cash!
so here is the only video we have – taken by charlie. It’s missing the beginning but still…you get the idea.
OK! Here is the “other” CD I did a couple of years ago now. its a little more FULL ON in the sound. Most of the songs were written when I was with Invisible Jets back in 2001 so it shows how long ago it took to get them into a recorded state. This was also the first CD that got played on the radio here i sheffield. With losers place, Lemon tree and outsider gaining quite a lot play over the weeks on BBC Radio Sheffield Raw Talent Unsigned show! There is a cover to go with this CD that I created and it took age to cut them all out. As its only available to be printed on an A3 printer I have not included it in the download but if you want a copy please drop me a line at
The above link will allow you to download for FREE the 4 track EP of Reach These Seven hills. An acoustic EP from 2007. it is a zip file and contains all the tracks plus artwork to cut out and make the CD cover!
Well seeing as though this is the NEW site I will be porting over the old downloadable EP : “Reach these Seven Hills”. This will still be a free download but also intend to place the other CD “Oragami for the soul” on here also.
Over the past few months i have been recording again and now have 4 finished tracks. “Losers Place” was the
first to be finished and I shot a very short video for it. The song was inspired by the Cooling towers that stood by the M1 at meadowhall. You can see the video on youtube if you search for Tinsley Towers or Joe Armitage.
Welcome one and all to my little part of the internet. I guess I have been meaning to do this for a while. With all the will in the world, updating sites even as a proffesional designer is tedious and takes a lot of time and energy to do. As a designer, musician, father, and god knows what else i have created too many different sites to keep everything about me separate so i thought it would be easier to get all this crap in once place with the intention that it will be easier to update and add the contents of my mind to. I am hoping that as this progresses I will be able to have a section for all my music related projects including Downloads, Gig dates and what I am up to whether that is recording kazoo parts on a new track of closing another venue with my “kiss of death!”
Another section will relate to any design work I am doing. The occasional website i have done, new personal designs, t shirts,badges etc. its nice to keep a record.
I also have lots of random thoughts and experiences I intend on writing in here also and hope that it might help in keeping a little record, if only for myself!
So Here we go. Please bare with me on the updates as they happen and the design of this template as it evolves..
