One Vivid Night in Sydney

It's been a while since I've talked about my time in Australia and I think I'm almost ready to discuss my next adventure.

But before I do...

Sydney has so much to offer, there's always something happening. Writers festivals, food and drink festivals, fashion shows, fireworks displays just for the fun of it. You really get caught up in the magic of this vibrant city.

The current offering is a spectacular display of light, music and ideas all put together to form Vivid Sydney, a plethora of light shows and installations throughout the city.

Highlights of Vivid Sydney 2014 are Martin Place, Customs House, Darling Harbour's fabulous light show (every hour on the hour) and of course the world famous Sydney Opera House which displays a stunning timeline of the development of architecture, civilisation and technology.

My partner and I spent a whole evening wandering around this amazing event; taking photos, shooting footage. We've then edited the whole thing into a nice little video with one of our Chasing Ourselves songs over the top.

Here's the link to our experience of Vivid Sydney 2014...

And here are just a few of the shots I took using my Nikon D5100 with an 18-200mm lens.

For more information on this years Vivid Sydney visit their website here or follow them on twitter @VividSydney for highlights and traffic updates.

Hidden Gems

In preparation for my holiday I decided to get my suitcase out of the loft, I'm not going for 3 weeks but the excitement is killing me so I thought I'd get started on my packing (I'll re-pack about 10 times in the next 3 weeks).

While in the loft (which is a little bit like a rubbish tip) I came across an absolute gem... A lovely retro red box that I discovered contains a collection of 45rpm vinyl records from the 50's and 60's.

These records belong to my mum and they're awesome!

There are some real classics in there:

Sonny and Cher
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Dave Clark Five
Roy Orbison

And loads more.

They don't have the covers and have my mums name written all over them so wouldn't be worth any money but they're still a great find amongst all the rubbish that's in my loft!

It's interesting to think what other things might be hiding up there, I'll have to have a good dig around when I have a little more time.

I'd love to know what hidden gems you've found 'stored' in your loft, leave me a comment and let me know...

Chasing...

So yesterday evening (Saturday 16th March 2013) at approximately 8.14pm BBC Radio Manchester's Introducing show played a song called Out of my Dreams by new duo Chasing Ourselves...

Chasing Ourselves is my collaboration with instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Ian Gordon.

There's never been a more surreal moment, listening to myself on the radio. 

I've always been into music and have sung for as long as I can remember. My dad and grandfather were musicians and I've taken a great deal of influence from them.
Music was my favourite subject at School and I continued to study it through College and University, earning myself a music degree, but hadn't done anything with it since then (I left Uni in 2007).

Then in September 2012 I met the other member of the duo, Ian, and the collaboration progressed very quickly.

We have very different music backgrounds (mine is more classical, contemporary and pop whereas Ian is a self taught progressive rock lover) and though our tastes in music differ we both say we'll listen to anything once and both like a wide variety of genres.

It's this eclectic taste that's created such a unique sound.

My background as a performer and songwriter is limited, I was never very good at writing songs or lyrics and the only performances I'd ever done were School, College and University examinations (so you can imagine the audience I had was made up mainly of teachers, a handful of fellow students and my mum). And because of this the beginning of the collaboration was difficult for me.

The first time I recorded vocals I was a nervous wreck, couldn't get through a line without cracking, then struggled having to listen to myself while the track was edited (like many other people I absolutely hated the sound of my own voice). But I managed to overcome that with support from Ian who's a pro and been writing/performing since the age of about 12.
Now it's the best feeling - laying down the vocals and then editing and mixing them into a brand new track, excited for what the final edit will sound like.

We're completely independently produced and have worked on a mini album of 7 songs, in a mixture of styles, all having a Synthpop element.

In February we began uploading our tracks to BBC Introducing and were a first play for BBC Radio Manchester yesterday.

I'm now full of excitement as to where we could go in this roller coaster of an industry.

I'd love it if you'd check out our songs on YouTube or you can listen to the full album on BandCamp

Here's 'Fly' for you...

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts so please leave me a comment!

What I'm Listening To Today

Today I've been listening to Roberta Flack's version of 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow'.

Roberta is probably better known for her rendition of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' but I discovered this song on 'The Best of Roberta Flack' album.

What a stunning version of this absolute classic.

'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow', also known as 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and first recorded in 1960 by The Shirelles, was originally quite an upbeat pop song and is currently ranked as the 110th greatest song of all time, as well as the best song of 1960, by Acclaimed Music. But for me Roberta Flack's version, her own arrangement, takes the song to a whole new level.

Her effortless jazz vocals are so expressive and show true conviction. You really believe she means every word.

The subtle introduction of the strings just reinforces the sheer beauty of the song.

If you listen to the lyrics and the way Roberta portrays them so convincingly its clear to see why this version of the song could have such a powerful effect on our human emotions.

I tend to exaggerate when it comes to how much I like music and almost every song or piece of music I hear is 'the best thing I've ever heard!' but I'm certainly not exaggerating when I say this version of this song is one of my favourite songs of all time.

If you haven't heard it already, check it out below, but before you do I'd like to suggest you turn off all the lights and listen through headphones to give the song your full undivided attention.

I'd love to hear what you think so if you have time, leave me a comment!