you with your eyes wide shut

been a weird christmas and new year.  first one without my dad.  spent it at home with the family.  missed my dad greatly.  sat at the piano for a while but nothing really happened.  still, the tunes are there for ‘always, already’ or at least they are starting to take shape.  slowly yes.  but shape all the same.  been listening to some amazing records of late.  daniel thomas freeman, the haxan cloak, clem leek, nils frahm.  just a few of the great records.  really inspiring.  start final work on the debut graveyard tapes record when matt gets back from australia and i cannot wait.  that really has taken shape over the last few months.  we’re in the final stretch now.  just need a solid week of hard work i reckon and we’ll be there.  have a label lined up for that one too which is great news.  hopefully people will sit up and take notice.  it’s the best thing i’ve ever done or been involved in.  matt is a genius and i think together we’ve come up with something very diverse and fresh.  i guess time will tell.  kays recording should begin late 2012 i hope. plenty time to firm up the record.  and then of course there is glacis.  need to get my finger out on that front.  all go go go in 2012.

i’ve been hiding in ditches

sunday recording session at edinburgh university music department with matthew.  was a mixture.  mainly piano for graveyard tapes stuff but i also managed to get down two of the new kays tracks.  was awesome to get to play a real baby grand.  very confined space to work in, especially when there are four of you there.  but it was pretty amazing and i think everything came off sounding great.  with graveyard tapes having secured label interest, i guess it’s now all about finding a home for the kays record.  well, first of all it’s about recording the album properly.  but fingers crossed.  that really was an excellent sunday of recording.  i could spend all day doing that.  i really could.

 

landings

i really do worry about what I will do with this record.  or indeed any record.  graveyard tapes, glacis, the kays.  it doesn’t really matter who the record is by i have no idea how i am going to get them released and my music heard by the right people or find a home for the music that means so much to me.  i guess mini50 is as good a place as anywhere else.  but i fear that if i were to do that then i wouldn’t be able to release music by others.  which would be a pain.  i guess i just don’t know where to start looking for a home for the kays.  the other stuff is easier.  but i just don’t know who cares about the kays.  if anyone.  so why would a label.  why would anyone want to take my music, spend money and produce a physical product?

at a time where vinyl doesn’t seem to be selling – despite claims that it’s in fashion – that cds seem to be selling less and less and tapes are still a little bit of a ‘i want to look hip/retro’ kind of novelty i am not sure why anyone would want to spend money on me or my music.

sounds glum i guess.

your eyes go black

illness is a pain.  i’ve had a cold for about a week but it’s turning into something else.  sinusitis i think.  i have had it before.  my head hurts below the eyes.  a sure sign that things are not well within my cold ridden head.  still, a new song happened upon me yesterday, which was pretty great given how i was feeling.  it’s called ‘hiding in ditches’ and is the third song i’ve written in a row on my shitty organ.  it cost me a fiver.  it’s a little out of tune.  some of the keys don’t work.  it’s a little broken.  a little like me today.  time to drink some coffee, pop some drugs and try and make it through the day.

a definition

always, already:

“once a certain place in time is achieved, the being of places in time earlier than that place is ‘transient’, problematic, or unthinkable. “

 

pull out the bullets

productive weekend.  sat down with my old, shitty organ that i bought for a fiver.  it’s out of tune.  some of the notes don’t work either.  but somehow i produced two tunes which i think are the best things i’ve written in a long, long time.  the way your hands work with the organ make it completely different from sitting at a piano.  it’s a different way of writing and the beauty of it is that the mistakes i made playing it lead to places in the songs i’d never have found on the safety of the piano.  stepping outside your comfort zone is a pretty big important part of being an artist.  i think it’s often the only way to create something truly great.  i know when something feels right.  feels like me.  like it should.  and this weekend two new tracks came so easily and felt so good.

your blood, black like ink

sometimes you wake up and you know that your music needs direction and focus.  you know that you need to split your music up because what you are creating are 2 very different entities and that they both need their own identity.  graveyard tapes exists to let me be more experimental.  it exists because i need it to exist.  at the same time though, i need the kays.  i never built the name over 8 years of hard work to just end it without a thought.  it was just that at the time i could no longer sustain or support the idea of being in a band.  and that remains the case.  i do not intend to play live shows as the kays lavelle.  however, i do intend to record a second album and release it.

this process will involve me working with people who i love and respect as musicians and who share the same musical visions and ideals as me.  one thing i know about be still this gentle morning is this:  it is what it is because of the people who were involved in the band at the time.   too many musical differences i think.  not enough common ground.   that’s not to say i’m not immensely proud of that record, because i am.  it’s just that i know it’s not what i would do again.  if i had to do it all again i would do it differently.  and so, this new record shall be undertaken in a manner that i think is ideal for me, but also for the sound of the kays lavelle.  i have already got a bunch of people involved who I believe to be perfect for the project.  all good friends.  all sharing similar tastes in music.

to be perfectly honest.  i want to produce something stunningly beautiful.  and i don’t think i will rest until i have.

2012 will see the recording of a new kays record.  so if you are interested do keep your eyes out here or on facebook for more information.

November 2010

So it’s been  6 months since Be Still This Gentle Morning was officially released.  Obviously, officially the Kays have split.  Unofficially I’ve started writing again.  Lots.  I have lots of musical projects on the go at the moment so a second Kays record was the last thing on my mind.  Then one Monday morning back in Dundee, visiting my parents I started playing a song at the piano.  It came quickly.  It felt right.  Sometimes you don’t find a song, a song finds you.  I knew as soon as I was finished it that it was the beginnings of a new Kays record.  I don’t know when that would be possible but I think it will happen.  I’m not saying I want to reform the band.  I don’t.  I don’t want to play live.  I don’t want to sit in dark, smelly venues from 4pm until 10 or 11pm.  I don’t want to waste my life doing something that I don’t truly enjoy.  I went to see Rafael Anton Irisarri the other week in Glasgow and this was something that struck me.  I tried to think about playing gigs.  I tried to remember what I enjoyed about it.  Nothing was the answer.  Sure, I love playing music, but the panic that would set in before hand was getting worse.  I could feel my lungs starting to wheeze.  My chest tighten.  My head start to spin.  I’ve never been one to have all eyes on me.  So getting up on stage never came easy to me.  Standing at the gig in Glasgow I thought about how I don’t miss the hanging around, the sound checks, the smelly venues, the fear at the beginning of a show, the tiredness at the end.  I don’t miss the ego of other artists.  I don’t miss the constant struggle to promote the music.  And on top of not missing playing gigs, I don’t miss going to them either.  My legs hurt after about 20 minutes at this Glasgow gig.  Whilst I loved the music on show I just couldn’t face the whole night.  My one sole need was to escape the dark cellar.  So I did.  I’m not sure where I’m going with this.  I don’t think there is really a point other than to say that when I wasn’t looking for the Kays the music rediscovered me and it felt and feels good.

Recommended listening:

The Antlers – Hospice.

Rafael Anton Irisarri – The North Bend

The National – High Violet.

Kays To Support Unwinding Hours

We’re delighted to announce that we will be supporting The Unwinding Hours at their Edge Festival Show on 6th August.  The show will take place at Capital and I’d recommend you get tickets well in advance as last time they were through in Edinburgh they sold out Sneaky Pete’s.  Should be a good one.

TKL xo

8am/Scars From The City – Live Video by Matty “J” Ross