NEWS
MARCH 3rd
A few things to report on... I have a rare, well not
so rare these days haha as I did one two weeks ago
Anyway I have a show this Sunday in London for
a good friend of mine Klaritta on a boat on the Thames
.The gig is called Ship of Fools and is probably a very
apt title. I decided to do something different and have
written a framework from which I can improvise a whole
show from. Its called October, January, March. Its starting
to sound pretty nice and hope it will turn out ok, theres
a big chance of course that it could all go wrong but then
thats the beauty of improvising. It would be very nice to
see anyone who can come.
After the show in Toronto the leader of the Orchestra and
I
discussed my writing a piece for for the whole Orchestra.
I thought it was a bit crazy as its beyond anything I have ever done
before but decided to try. I was thinking about themes and how best to
approach it. Last Friday I went back to the Tate Britain gallery in
London to look at one of my favourite paintings by David Hockney
Its a huge painting consisting of 50 canvasses and is called
Bigger Trees. While I was sitting looking at it with a friend of mine
I thought to myself that I would really like to make a very big piece of
music, then the pieces gradually fell into place in my cloudy mind haha
I should try and describe the painting in music using the
orchestra and
that this should form the basis of the work. So thats it, its going to be called
Bigger Trees (surprise) and I would like to perform it in Toronto with
the Corktown Orchestra in the Autumn. Im not sure how it will sound
although I have ideas in my mind. Until I have played the show on Sunday
I wont start to think about it but I am really excited.
In other news; Erins debut release "You Are Found" is being
mastered today by
a good friend of ours Paul Dub Walton and Maria Arango is making the final
touches to the cover art. We are probably looking at a May release now.
Two/Three is probably also releasing their debut album in
May but I will keep you
posted.
FEBRUARY 18th
Thanks to everyone in Toronto for making the
show last night so special and thanks to The
Corktown Orchestra for giving me the opportunity
to realise another dream. Heres some more video
from rehearsals with Erin, this album will be magical...
FEBRUARY 12th
Im in Toronto and have been rehearsing with
Paul for the upcoming
show on the 18th. I have
known Paul for 20 years and we have never
played together so it was really interesting.
We rehearsed in the church in Toronto where the
show will be and the piano was quite out of tune
but it sounded really really nice. Or timing together
was quite special, having known each other for so
long, known the way each other speaks and the inter
action I think it just translated directly into how we
played.
I had been rehearsing these songs at home in Devon
for a couple of weeks now and it was driving me crazy
my concentration was terrible but as soon as I started to
play with Paul it was completely different.
In other news the Disintegration article is now available in French here
JANUARY 10
First news of the New Year... I will be playing
a one off show in Toronto on February 18th
Its a preview from the Two/Three album and
I will be playing three or four songs with
Paul van Dongen on Cello details here.
The album "Before" should be finished by the
end of January and I would like to release it
in February or maybe April. Yes April would be
a good time, its a kind of rebirth, spring kind of
an album.
I have also agreed to perform another one off
show in London on March 7th. I'm currently writing
a new suite of music for this show which will only
be performed once. Its a very interesting night
on a boat on the Thames (it doesnt go anywhere)
run by a good friend of mine Klarita Pandolfi
here are some details.
Norelle and I spent about three weeks before
Christmas working on Unterbrücke and are now
pretty much waiting for the special guest drummer
to finish his parts. I think this will have to wait for Autumn
for release, its way to dark for the Summer.
In March I am going to start work on the final electronic
album recorded in the same way as TTIM and SFTSB.
I think it has to be a group of three, two just seems
unfinished somehow but then again it's pointless if it's
forced so I will see how that goes. The main thing I am
concerned with is learning these piano songs and not
making a fool of myself in front of some real musicians !
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
If you would like to read the Disintegration
article in Slovak you can here !
DECEMBER 09
Wednesday December 30th
Wow I am totally overhwhelmed again by
the response to my Disintegration article. I had
150000 hits on my site on Monday! I have really
also enjoyed reading everyones emails and
questions which I am trying to keep up with.
The article will also be translated into Polish
Russian and now Slovak which I am very excited
about. So all I can say is a huge thank you to
all of you for your interest and support....
Monday December 28th
So here it is my memories of making
Disintegration there should be some more
contributions so check back. I hope you find
it interesting and if you have any questions
or suggestions please let me know.
Monday December 14th
So the last of the three albums from the 90s
"My Days Beyond" is now available for free
download here. I have really been amazed at
the response to these albums and very happy
that so many people have downloaded them and
are enjoying my work from nearly 15 years ago.
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Charlie Crow has been played on US NPR
radio ! Im very excited about this as this is a
very personal project with no radio plugger
and no record label. So it proves you can do it
all yourself. I would really like to thank John
Dilliberto and his wonderful show Echoes.
This has turned into a bit of a dialogue with
myself and I'm sorry for that but the good news
is I have decided to publish the Disintegration
memories page and it will go live on December
28th. I've written, re written, edited and revised
and I'm happy with it now. I've also let a few
friends whose opinions I respect read it and it
they have all encourgaged me to publish.
There will be elements that don't like it but then
they take pleasure in disliking anything I do. The
vast maority of people I hear from and talk to are
amazing people and this is for them.
Just found and added the midi files to the
Big Buildings page....
Just wanted to add a quick thanks to all
the people, literally in the 1000s that have
downloaded Grey Clouds Red Sky already.
Theres not really much point to making music
if nobody gets to hear it is there? Although this
music is from another lifetme of mine I think its
valid and shows a progression. Anyway thank
you all very much. The next one is up Big Buildings
the the third and final album in this collection will
be available from next week.
I have finished writing my memories of Disintegration
but have run into a bit of a brick wall about publishing
it. As I discovered recently you do have to break a few
eggs to make an omelette and Im not sure if those
eggs really deserve to be broken. I have already been
asked to do restrain it in one way before anybody has
even read or seen it.
It is a very interesting piece and has unlocked long forgotten
memories in both myself and the other contributors who
include Dave Allen, Richard Earl and Bruno Brunning
but wether I will publish it now I really dont know.
Monday 7th and Big Buildings is now
available get it here !
Tuesday 1st of December and my first
solo album "Grey Clouds Red Sky" released
in 1994 is now available for download free here.
Its the first of three that I will be putting up for
one week each up until Christmas.
Also working on the final draft of my Disintegration
memories which is shaping up nicely and should
be live by the end of the week. Im just scanning
a few last sordid photographs and crossing the T's
and dotting the I's on all the sex and drugs scandals
hahahhaha
NOVEMBER 09
Just finished a video for Trains On Bridges
the title track of the Charlie Crow project and
you can watch it here
Some interesting news which I have decided
to make public. I have been working on a new
project for the last four months. Its LOUD, HEAVY
and DARK, its a bit of a departure for me really
but something that I feel very at home with.
Its called Unterbrucke and the album is entitled
Detach, it features me on Keyboards and vocals,
Norelle French from Machetes on Bass and Vocals
and a very very special guest on drums. It will be
released in early Summer with a world tour to
follow.
I have been toying with the idea of releasing some of my older
material
and today I was listening to Big Buildings the album I recorded just after
I released Grey Clouds Red Sky. I really like it and I think rather than put
it on iTunes I am going to make it availabe free on here. I think I will also
make GCRS available here as well , why not ? So I will prepare a page
over the next couple of days and you can download it free....
OCTOBER 09
In other news I am officially no longer managing the
Machetes. You can take a horse to water, you
can even pour it a glass of cold Evian but you
can't make it drink. Maybe it wanted ice and Lemon?
We finally have a release date for Erin's album
"You Are Found" it will be released on 99X/10
on March 11th 2010. Its been a long and emotional
journey and a true labour of love so we are very
excited to announce this news.
I am proud to have been a part of this record and
consider my playing on it to be the best I have ever
done on an album....
New Synthesist T shirt avialble from the Store
page and the limited edition Charlie Crow
package is also available again
Updates on the Two/Three project which is coming
along very nicely, I'm just waiting for the leaves
to change colour so I can get the photographs
for the cover. You can read more here
SEPTEMBER 09
Lots of news most of it bad really... Great Society
my record label in NYC has sadly gone out of
business. It is really sad and a sad reflection of
the state of the music business. Kevin the owner
is a personal friend of mine and I have never met
anyone so invested, in so many ways, in music.
They will be sadly missed but I'm sure Kevin will
reinvent himself and his approach to the business.
Second piece of bad news is that I am no longer
involved with the Machetes. All I can say is I did my
best and I still really believe in the band.....
Finally some good news! I recently finished writing
the songs for the long talked about Piano/Cello
project. Its called Two/Three as it now includes
Erin who will be singing on three of the songs.
I have been in Toronto for three weeks now and
we have recorded the Cello parts with Paul vanDongen
and it sounds really beautiful so far. The album is
called "Before".....
We will release the record on 99X/10 in
February and play some of the songs live with
Pauls orchestra, The Corktown Orchestra at
a special concert in a church in Toronto.
AUGUST 09
Finally after a couple of years in the making
I am releasing my Jazz/Electro project
Charlie Crow. Its coming out September 1st
initially only on iTunes but with a very limited
edition CDR which I will burn myself and put
together a nice little package. So look out for it....
You can read about it and hear some samples
here
JULY 09
Not much to report really, my album
came and went. It did great on the college
charts got lots of great reviews and everyone
loved it but sadly nobody bought it.....
I think it is indicative of the greater state of the
music business and until we work out a way
forward everyone is going to struggle but
it's an exciting time ( If I keep saying that perhaps
it really will become exciting hahah).
In the meantime I have been working on my
other project, managing the Machetes. The band
came over to England in the middle of May and
we spent seven weeks recording, playing shows
and making a video. It was pretty intense and
we learnt a lot. We released a single called FIFI,
it's available on iTunes and also as a 7" vinyl.
The video for it is pretty insane haha I directed
and edited it, you can find all this stuff at
www.themachetes.com
In other news Erin has been playing a lot of shoes
in North America and if you are around please go out
and support her, heres a link to her Myspace...
.Its
been her aim to start playing as much as possible for
a long time and shes
doing it now. She's been playing
mainly solo with some special guests so they
are
very special
shows.
Erin is also very involved in a charity which she set up for
the support
of patients and families going through the treatment of Lymphoma,
something that we know a lot about. In April she put together an amazing
event in Toronto and released a compilation of great artists who all
donated songs. The event was an afternoon tea party in an art gallery
with some of the artists who submitted songs playing and
lots of crafts that had been donated for sale. She managed to raise a
lot of money for the charity, you can check out the website here>
I contributed a song from my new project which is tentatively
titled Deux
its me on Piano and my friend Paul vanDongen on Cello. The song is called
A Field of Lavender and you can hear it on the charity site, more from that
to come this year I hope.
You can hear this on my Myspace page
A Field of Lavender - Deux
NEWS APRIL 09
I was asked by Moog to give them a song
for a new artist profile section on their website
so I finished a song I wrote last year for the
Concrete show. Its called The Crow Flies and
Jason Daniello from Moog added some Moog
guitar to it. You can download it here FREE !
The Crow Flies - Roger O'Donnell Erin Lang
Just launched an internet TV station, it's
called 1055TV which is the name of my new
management venture TenFiftyFive Artist
Management. I'm going to use it for all sorts of
things like days in the studio and streaming
interviews with interesting people. At the moment
it's broadcasting the EPK I made for the Machetes
so if you have a chance go HERE and watch it.
Well it couldn't last forever hahah down to
#18 today but thats not a bad run of 4 weeks
in the top 20. I also made #8 in the Echoes
chart for February which I am also very proud
of.
Two weeks later and it's still at #13! I also did
and interview with the very nice John Dilliberto
from Echoes radio show last night which should be
airing on an NPR station in the States near you
soon. Update; it will be airing on March 16th!
Got a great review in Keyboard magazine which
is always nice as its the magazine I read growing
up playing keyboards. I learnt some great tips from
people over the years and drooled over lots of gear
I never ended up owning.
We played a show with Erins project in London
last Wednesday and the turn out was very nice, so
thanks to everyone for coming. We introduced a new
member to the band, Oskar Silen on bass. More shows
to come from Erin in the near future and another
Concrete show from me which will be entirely
improvised.
Strange as it may seem my record is in the charts !
By chance last week I checked the CMJ RPM chart
for electronic music thats being played on College
radio and BINGO Im there at # 13! I couldn't believe
my eyes and I really have to thank all the DJs that
are playing my album]. You can click on the chart
above to make sure Im not cheating
hahahha....
Aslo had a really nice interview on Wired.com
which you can read here
Its been out about 10 days now (my new record)
and so far things have been going very well.
Lots of radio play and lots of amazing reviews
that have really surprised me.
I just want to thank anyone who has taken the
time to listen to my recordand write a few
words about it, good or bad.
I also want to thank my label who have never
lost faith in me and my music, they are amazing
people who love music...
I will post some of the reviews as soon as I have
time...
In other news I am officially a rock and roll
manager now ... I am managing and incredible
band from Toronto called Machetes....
My new record as I have long been saying
is due for release on January 20th
which is just under two weeks away now.
We have a free download of a song at
Worlds
Fair so go and get that now and if
you want to pre order, which you know you
do then you can go here
Unfortunately due to circumstances
beyond my control the shows in Mexico
have been cancelled. I apologise to
everyone who may have made plans
and hope to play there sometime next
year.
Just briefly as I don't have much info
right now but I will be touring through
Mexico in November. I am very very
excited about this, the chance to play
to the most amazing music loving
audiences I have ever experienced
and play some new material. So
stay tuned and I will post the dates
and venues as soon as I have them.
The first show will be in Guadalajara
on November 22nd. Of course Erin will
be with me on vocals and various crazy
instruments!
Free Ringtone ! I have been meaning
to post this for ages, if you have any
trouble downloading it email me and
I will send it to you....
Erin released a new EP in June and it's now
availabel on iTunes. Its got two songs from her
album a bonus song and three remixes. One
of the remixes is by Jimmy Tamborello and
it's really amazing. You can buy it and visit
her site here www.erinlang.com
I have a collection of photos that I took on
tour over the last few years and you can see
them here. If you like them I have decided to
print some and also make some Apple books.
If you would like to order one please email me.
Release date for Songs From the Silver Box
confirmed for January 20th 2009. After some
lengthy and frustrating negotiations with Epic
owing to my using a song I co-wrote with Lenka.
Its difficult to imagine how majors ever do
anything but they were very nice people and|
the main thing is the song is on the record.
I just finished a remix for one of my favourite
artsist Juana Molian from Argentina. Silly me didn't
realise it was in 7/4 until I got the song into my
computer! It was a challenge but she liked it
in the end....
I am playing a show on the 18th of October at
the Concrete Cafe which is part of the Hayward
Gallery one of my favourite places in the world.
Its part of the South Bank complex on the Thames
in London. I have written a new piece of music for
it and Erin is going to perform a special set before,
it should be an amazing evening and its free!