1ST BLOG – JUNE 2010

Greetings!!Two years ago when my brother mentioned the idea of me getting a ‘blog’, I’ll be honest I thought he was talking about installing some kind of strange posh Toilet, it turns he was talking about something in no way connected with bathroom  related facilities. Before I go any further here’s his blog (he is a teacher mind…and lives in Wales…..but please don’t hold that against him tho…. ( It should be stated that my aim of this was in no way to insult any body connected with teaching or in fact Wales)……….I think i’ll start again!

Greetings! !!This is the first of many (hopefully) blog entries that I will submit exclusively here on my home website where I will try to regale stories from being ‘on the road’ , in the studio and most interestingly; from gigs themselves.

Im going to start with a very brief (I can see the yawns already on some of your faces already) summary of the year that has been, the tour and general….ness. The easiest and most entertaining way to do this is to watch this video!

So as I sit in my front room, the dog asleep next to me, watching the the opening game of the world cup when I should be at least pretending to practice, I wanted to write down my latest thoughts & musings.

Recently I’ve been having much merryment performing in Bristol (don’t get me started on the one way system in that city), Cornwall & Devon. Enjoyed meeting a wonderful photographer Chris Parratt at The Raglan Arms and she has taken some fantabulous pictures, which you can see on this website.

My question to you (it may well turn out to be rhetorical) regards numbers of people at gigs. Everywhere I go, every promoter I speak to says that crowd numbers are really down, CD sales are down & it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get people out to see live music. Especially new music. This is not helped by venue after venue ‘playing safe’ and booking the same old Tribute Bands on Fri,Sat & Sun nights…but do we blame them?In a recession venues are losing the fight for survival all the time so they want to guarantee getting people through the door.

However there is simply so much fantastic talent out there in this country (let alone touring artists from America and Canada) that if given the chance, would draw crowds in every night, of that I am certain. But how do we get numbers back in venues paying to see this quality live music?Ticket price reduction would be my first suggestion, I have done gigs where I am the headline act and the promoter is charging £9 and there is no local support act, now I have a lot of faith in myself but £9?…..in the middle of Winter…..in the middle of nowhere…….well I’m sorry but not every acoustic act can do a ‘show of Hands’ and make tickets £16 and draw a crowd…..and frankly nor should they be asked too.

In a day and age where online promotion is so important, we (as artists) perhaps forget the power of word of mouth – someone sees a great new artist live, tells his friends, next time they are playing they go and watch and take their friends etc etc. So as a performer I have a responsibility to put on a show that grabs people, says ‘listen to this’ and ‘ignore the football screen for one night and come and watch me play’………it’s too easy to do what lots of venues do and ‘play safe’ by playing the same old songs in the same old style with the dull self indulgent verses and the uninspiring 3 chord chorus………………which reminds me, did I mention my new song…!

In News Hot off the…. whatever the thing is that makes news hot….an oven?….or maybe a blowtorch?……I’m going to be playing at Glastonbury for the first time, in the Pleasure Island Marquee, I will report all goings on in the next blog.

Scott, my musical partner in crime…he has a hot tub in his garden dont you know (that’s not a euphemism)…. and I, have many duo gigs coming up as well and if you happen to be in the facbook side of town then check out our page here

I would like to make this as interactive as poss so get in touch, send comments, emails, questions, jokes, musical recommendations etc and in return I promise to make my blog much more interesting in future! You can follow me on twitter here

I should mention a special gig at Bridport Arts centre on June 25th where I will be supporting Flossie Malavialle – she recently supported Show of Hands & Fairport Convention on their Uk tours and is not to be missed…..the drive from Glastonbury to Bridport in rush hour is one I am less looking forward to though!

Current musical recommendations:

• Edwina Hayes
• Slaid Cleaves
• Lou Brown

And finally, here’s a vid of excerpts from a house concert I did last month.

Speak soon, love, shoes and badgers,

Cole