Hello all, I've a couple of new W!LD gigs to announce!

The first is on the 29th of October in Mr Bradly's, (Cork) where we'll be playing alongside the marvelous Vegans in Furs.

The second is in the Oliver Plunkett, (cork again) on the 4th of November, as part of the Monday Night Sessions.
We'll be playing electric sets at both gigs, so if you've only seen W!LD acoustic in recent months, then now is your chance to come and see something even more barmy!

Meanwhile although I've been taking a break from blogging, that certainly doesn't mean we've been idle with other W!LD business, in fact quite the opposite is true.
The only problem is, it's all seemed too dull to be blogged!... No wait, dull is not not the right word..... vague is possibly a better one?
You see, I've been doing lots of W!LD promotion in the last month, and my world is now a mess new contacts, new ideas and potential musical events.
To do lists and email addresses, mostly written on random scraps of paper, liter my desk, and turn up in coat pockets or as forgotten book marks.
The thing is though, although it feels like some quite exciting things might happen soon, and I'm finding out loads about the music business I never knew before... I've nothing actually concrete to tell you about.

So all I can say for now, is.. well... Bye.

Louis.
W!LD 

www.songcenturyproject.com

It not often you can cool off after a show by paddling in the sea, but Saturdays gig at the highly enjoyable Melfest, offered just such an opportunity.* Beautifully situated on the Sheep’s Head peninsular, it was an all day charity event featuring among other guests, The Calvinists, Karma Parking… and yes you guessed it, W!LD.

Ben was down to play with us which was fun, his steady presence, combined with pleasantly spacious stage meant we were able to dance around a bit more then we have done recently.

Mind you dancing’s still not really my strong point, especially if I have to do so while simultaneously hitting all the right notes! I’m probably improving though?… I’d better be, because if W!LD ever start playing larger venues, my theory is the bigger the stage, the more elaborately you have to leap about!

The rest of last week disappeared over the horizon in a in a cloud of dust, before I’d even really noticed it was there… which is another way of saying it was busy, but mostly forgettable.

…..And help we’re already nearly half way through this week as well, I’d better go make some more news!

Louis.

songcenturyproject.com

*The consequence of my paddle was that when i put by shoes back on, the residue of salty water caused their ink run and I ended up with bright blue feet!

We were on the radio yesterday! My apologies for not telling you about it before the event, but we didn't find out what time we were going on till about an hour before hand!

We had fun though, particularly trying to get there on time... 

The studio is situated in the middle of a shopping center in Douglas, (that’s just outside Cork city for those of you who aren't locals,) and it’s unusual location presented us with a unique problem. Having entered the shopping center, we found we could see the studio, (in fact we were almost close enough to touch it,) but due to a huge set of shutters right in the middle of an aisle, we couldn't get to it!

It seems the shutters go down every evening to separate the shops which close after 6pm, from Tesco, which is obviously open later.

We tried to ring our contact in the studio to ask how to get in, but couldn't get through, so presuming there was going to be another entrance, me and Perry then proceeded to drag our instruments and accessories, the entire way round the sizable exterior of the complex, only to end up back where we started again, inside the shopping center but at the wrong side of the giant shutters.

We then tried going upstairs but all that was up there was a giant car park, hmmm??

We were getting a little agitated, knowing we were supposed to be on live radio in about 15 minutes, so I left Perry to look after our instruments, and jogged off down a fire escape in hope of finding a way round.

Round and round a labyrinth of corridors I went, then just as i thought I was getting somewhere, to my great annoyance I again came out just the wrong side of those great white shutters! 

I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I started jumping up and down beside the shutter hoping someone might look out of the studio window and notice me. Then I had a go at lifting up the shutters to see if I could squeeze under them, and it was at this point I noticed a security guard briskly heading in my direction.

Trying to look innocent, I gave him my best puppy dog eyes, and luckily he bought it! Then with an aggrieved look that suggested W!LD weren't the first radio guests to get stuck, told me he’d lift the shutters so we could go though.   

So we made it and just in the nick of time! We had ten minutes to set up our gear and do a very mini sound check, then after two other guests had talked on the first part of the show, we were on!

Surprisingly that part of the evening was pretty straightforward; we did a short interview followed by three songs, and that was that. Oddly it was much less nerve racking than when we did a pre recorded radio show? Maybe it’s just practice.

On the way out we were shown the way we should have come in, and we really would never have found it. Especially well hidden was the bit where you had to climb over some advertising boards, at the back of a car park!  

We'll know for next time though.

Bye for now,

Louis

songcenturyproject.com

Apologies for my 11 day blogger absence, I’ve been a bit busy. 
I've got a bit of time to spare now though, so here’s what’s been happening with W!LD in recent weeks...
 
Firstly, we’ve played a few gigs, one in the Roundy and then two in Cyprus Avenue. 
It’s been a while since we’ve headlined a show in the city, so we were fairly pumped for the first Cyprus one. We took to the stage even more eccentrically dressed the usual, and in my case, full of butterflies. 
With the butterflies causing havoc, it probably wasn’t the most polished W!LD performance that’s ever been, but it was one of those gigs that gives you a good buzz; That pleasing feeling of being not just alive but... 'extra' alive!
In contrast, the second gig in Cyprus Avenue was really chilled, right down to the band we were supporting who were a pleasingly harmonious, Simon and Garfunkel Esq duo called Winter Mountain.
In fact we’ve played with a few talented performers in recent weeks; Thomas McCarthy was our special guest for the first Cyprus gig and his set was hugely enjoyable, full of tuneful songs that jumped from falsetto high notes, to Thomas’ trademark guttural growl. He even played one song where he used a lit lighter to play slide guitar.    
Before then there was Thursdays gig in the Roundy, where we played with a band called Emerson, who sounded a little like Oasis but with more interesting arrangements, (a few less thrashing guitars for one thing).  
Much as I enjoyed watching those three bands though, my favorite moment from the week had to be during our first Cyprus gig, when the audience stared singing along to Wont Say a Word. 
Also memorable was Perry getting 'happier then normal' while drinking beers through a straw. As well as another sing-along the same night as the last, this time during First Failed Escape, plus all kinds of rhythmic extras to make up for our missing drummer.  
Speaking of whom...
 
The weekend following the first Cyprus gig we made the long journey up to Co. Meath to spend 4 delightful days rehearsing with Ben.
Circling Vultures, Boots, (Enduring) Summer Showers, and Wont Say a Word were all added to our electric set, and of course all the old favorites were given a much needed run through.
I would have written some blog posts during our numerous tea breaks, but sadly Bens Internet was down, so we went and played football in a quarry instead, (a quarry being the flattest bit of ground we could find,) sorry about that.        

Another bit of news, is that Perry’s moved into the city, so W!LD HQ now has a slightly less remote outpost from which to spread the music! yeah!
And...
That its for now, few. Glad to get all that of my chest. The next one will be shorter I promise. 

Louis

songcenturyproject.com 

These are busy times to be a W!LD, which is why I repeatedly end up writing this blog in the middle of the night, and also why I write a lot of gibberish… no only kidding I’d do that anyway.

So here’s what’s been happening…

On Monday morning, totally out of the blue, we got a call from the manager of Cyprus Avenue in cork. He’d red our interview in the paper, and wanted to offer us a gig, this Friday.We accepted of course, so now we've got two performances this week, Thursday and Friday night. Yay!

Details of them are here: breakingtunes.com/wld. 

We've never done a headlining slot in Cyprus Avenue before, so lots of rehearsals have ensued, and loads of new songs are being road tested for possible inclusion in our set.

Meanwhile I decided this would be a good time to go book some more W!LD shows for later in the year, which has meant designing a flier, and yet again rewriting our Song Century  press release, to fit with it.

Wish me Luck!!

Speaking of press release; operation press release is still ongoing, and in my cheerfully drowsy state, even that thankless task seems full of promise. I almost can’t sleep with the excitement of it all… or is that because I’m writing a blog at one in the morning... Yeah it probably is that... Where did I leave my bed…? I’m sure I've seen it around here somewhere…..Ow! That’s the floor… oh well it’ll do….night….

songcenturyproject.com/

Last night we went to see the marvellous Calvinists in Couglans, and were invited to do an unusually impromptu W!LD  performance.

Wont Say a Word, Stardust, and Searching for Delilah all got a outing, and it was during the third of those songs, (by which time I’d gathered my senses enough to actually start moving!) I realised just how much the Calvinists had deserved a breather. It was swelteringly hot up there, but as usual they were putting on an amazingly energetic show, we counted 6 broken guitar strings during the night.

Anyhow it was really nice to see the lads, and great to have a chance to air a few songs. 

We also managed play a bit the night before, at a delightful party of some old friends of ours. 

That night was a bit of a trip down memory lane, as they were Friends we used live just round the corner from, back in days when mine and Perry's singing was slightly less tuneful, and our songs were full of gurgles, possibly adorable drooling, and references to Peti Filous.

Mind you I still like Peti Filous, and probably do the other things too, so maybe we haven't changed that much? 

Some news: We just found out we're gonna be on the radio again next month which is cool,  we'll be on something called The Arts Show, I'll let you know when we find out more about it. 

In the mean time keep on voting everyone, and in case I haven't mentioned it here before, come see us play in the Roundy on Thursday!

bye for now

Louis

http://songcenturyproject.com/

Hey folks, Perry here (that's right I hacked Louis' account and am taking over the blog. Be afraid).
Don't know if you saw our interview in the Evening Echo today. It's the reason I've been running about the place screaming ECHO at the top of my lungs (MRS Milligan if you're reading this I'm very sorry, I didn't realize your hearing aid was turned up.) The interview had to be edited down somewhat before it could fit in the paper (I tend to twitter one like a raving buffoon.) However, here in Blog land there are no such space limitations. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is the full unedited interview.


How long have you been making music?
Since I was ten when I wrote my first song, it was called Bird Turd. The band have been together in some form or another since 2006. You can hear the original lineup on the recording of Jackhammer.

What does the Song Century Project entail?
We've set up a website containing demo recordings of 100 songs written by myself and my two band-mates. Using this website we're trying to raise €15,000 with which to record our debut album. The way it works is that anyone who makes a donation (of any amount) gets to vote on which of the 100 songs we record for the album. Once we've raise the money we'll record the 10 songs with the most votes.

How did this idea come to you?
I realized that I'd written all these songs and nobody was ever going to get a chance to hear them. Imagine how much it would cost, and how much time it would take, to get together professional recordings of all those songs. I didn't want them to just sit there on my hardrive, unheard and unloved. So I decided to release everything. All the demos, warts intact.

How broad is the scope of the songs up for the vote?
They're very diverse in terms of style and mood. Some of them are very comic and theatrical (First Failed Escape for example) and others are more introspective, in the singer songwriter vain (Enduring Summer Showers). Then there's progressive stuff (It's Just Begun) straight up blues rock (Jackhammer) jazzy piano songs (Runaway Park)... Every song is different!

How old/new is the material, what is the oldest song there for instance?
The songs were written over a period of 8 or 9 years. The oldest song on the site is called Backup Soldier, I wrote it when I was 13!

What has the feedback been so far?
It's been great! Some people have been amazed, many have been baffled ... I guess what we're doing is pretty 'out there'.

Do you think that whatever 10 songs are selected will have an influence on how the record sounds/is recorded?
Absolutely! Every song need to be treated differently in the studio. Some are recorded one instrument at a time over a metronome, others are recorded live in the studio. I'll be very interested to hear how the finished record sounds, it could be a bit of a challenge trying to tie all the different styles together.

Are they all arranged/preproduced already, or are they "living" songs still open to change?
That very much depends on the song. Some of the songs have been played at countless gigs so we're pretty sure we know how we want them to sound, but most of them haven't been arranged at all! Those ones are gonna need a lot of work. There's a song called Universal Supernova which we've recorded five times, each with a different arrangement, and we're still not happy with it.

Have you personally got a song that you really hope makes the cut?
Hmmm. I'm torn between choosing one that I really like and one that would be easy to record! I think I Wont Say A Word would be nice form both points of view. Plus, a lot of people seem to like that song.

Have you any gigs in Cork city in near future?
Yup! We're playing in the Roundy on the 29th of August. We're in the process of organizing a Song Century launch tour, checkout breakingtunes.com/wld for updates to our tour schedule.

How can people hear the music thus far?
Easy, just head to songcenturyproject.com and you can listen to all 100 songs for free!

Thanks for reading kids! I better get out of here before Louis realizes I soiled his nice clean blog.
Perry.