Ikväll

I kväll repade vi hos Cezary, som även har fixat ett lite studio i sitt hus... ! Så nu kan vi göra bra repdemos etc. Vi jammar lite på en ny låt, men annars förbereder vi oss mest för inspelning i mars-maj. Vi har bokat studio en första helg, och även hittat en bra trummis till inspelningarna, så i år skall det bli skivsläpp! Äntligen!

Sen har vi ledigt/höstlov, så jag och Diana tog en sväng ut och spelade två låtar på L'Assassino, Open Stage. Vi fick varmt mottagande, och det var verklegen jättetrevlig, lite kontinental stämning där tyckte vi. Massor bra akter var där också, allt från riktig bra Barry Whitejazz till banjoblues och italienska kärleksvisor. Rekommenderas!

English: Today me and Didi went to Open Stage at L´Assassino, and played two songs. Really fun and a great atmosphere. We are preparing for recording, so you can expect our first album to come out sometime this year.

The first trio gig

Some photos from Simone Says gig at Grekisk Kolgrill och bar, Göteborg. 27th of January 2013. First there was a quiz, then our concert, then open stage with a several of nice acts. All tables were booked, it was a nice atmosphere, and it was fun playing there. I think the trio concept worked very well, for a smaller place like this.

Simone Says Trio

Beata, Christer, Kristina and Vilda doing the quizz

Cezary who has learned all the songs now in two months...

Didi

Me behind the keys

Nice shot of Raysan Ismail. He and Cezary took most of these photos.

It was snowing outside and really cosy inside. Here is the arranger State on the Open Stage after.

Thomas Fridner and Diana played at the open stage (The New String Theory). They will perform at this club the 24th of February, and I will play the piano for them on one song, and perhaps appear at the open stage doing some songs after that.

My children was there too, having a good time

My friend and spanishteacher course mate Ania (left) came all the way from Poland for the concert (and for seing Gothenburg.) So nice! Another collegue Lisa at the right.

Here we got an ad in GP before the concert, great!

It was a succecsful arrangment, and thanks to State Lycke this club will continue every second sunday.

Now it´s a while until the next gig, and we will work on recordings and I have booked a weekend in a studio in March. So long! :)

Spelningen nästa vecka

Nu har det blivit ändringar i konseptet, så det är ny tid och plats (men samma datum) som gäller för vår spelning på State Lyckes söndagsmys. Det är meningen att bli en ny scen för osignade artister i Göteborg, varannan vecka (gå in och gilla på States FB sida och håll dig uppdaterat) samt en trevlig helhetsupplevelse för publiken, med mat och diverse underhållning.

Jag citerar eventet på FB:
"Söndagsmys med Bitter & Butter, har nu flyttat till,
Grekisk Kolgrill & Bar på Ranängsgaan 4
Där kommer Bitter & Butter med vänner att bjuda på
quiz, levande musik & open-stage samtidigt som
krögaren Simon gärna serverar sin söndagsmiddag,
Gyrostallrik + en pilsner av märket Sofiero för 99:-

Program
16.00 Quiz med Mick "Bitter" Henriksson
17.00 Gig med Simone Says
18.00 Covers och open-stage med State "Butter" Lycke

Vägbeskrivning
Spårvagnslinjerna 1, 3, 6, & 8 till hållplats Svingeln. Promenera sedan mot Olskroken och du kommer att gå rakt in i entrén efter ca 100 meter.
Eller: Buss 17 till hållplats Svingeln. Titta mot trumaffären, Buller & Bång och vrid därefter blicken en smula åt vänster och där ligger det.

Hjärtligt välkomna hälsar

Mick "Bitter" Henriksson
State "Butter Lycke
Krögare Simon

samt dagens band, Simone Says
Camilla: piano/sång
Diana: viola/sång
Cezary: kontrabas"

Varmt välkomna! :)

English: Next sunday we will play at Grekisk Kolgrill & Bar på Ranängsgatan 4, (Gothenburg) at 16.00 (time and place has changed from the original plan). There will be quiz, covers and Open Stage, but we are the guest band and will play a set starting at 17. Welcome!

Happy new year! Contemplating 2012.

I hope you are having a good holiday. I have had some lazy days at home, watching family movies (the "Santa Paws" was VERY popular among some), playing Wii (a christmas gift; really fun and exchausting), I have been out for drinks with friends, and new years we'll celebrate with some close friends.

Running through the year 2012 I'm quite satisfied, though very little was planned. We released some songs here in the blog, and got good response from people around us. The GPscen contest turned out to be the most important thing concerning the music. I knew one year ago that we would participate, but I didn´t quite expect everything that would happen: The preparation, the chasing of votes, the success with the webvotes (we were leading most of the time, I am very grateful for that support!) the attention, the kick around the final, the dissapointment because we didnt win, and the dead period after... This got us/me very focused, and we rehearsed very good with the help of Staffan... also we had to build up the competetiveness in us and people around us, which made it harder to be satisfied without winning. Quite stupid, since the prize was really not such a big deal. Tought a useful experience that I don't regret. But I really prefer to cooperate instead of compete with other musicians. We are all in the same boat, and it sure is not easy for anybody. I kind of knew that already. But now it´s experienced.

Another good experience was playing in Spain, at a local jazz pub, me and Didi. That was during a course for spansih teachers, two great weeks. More things can be mentioned, playing in Annes hus was great... loosing band members was not that fun, and I had to rethink a great deal, but things happen for a reason, I belive. We found Cezary among other things. Now I will not think so much in terms of a band, more cooperations. I know I can take nothing for granted, but I am very glad for still having Diana with me. Now she is involved in plenty of other projects, among other things The New String Theory, a band with a different sound we will surely will hear more of next year...

Here is one of my personal favourite memories from the year; the trip to Paris with my nine year old daugther. Some truly lovely days we spent there; Sightseing, shopping, eating and playing, just the two of us. That will be a memory for life.

For the next year, plans are being made right now. Still the top goal is to make new recordings and get something out on Spotify. It has taken a while; I have to keep reminding myself and others that I am a working parent, but still I am impatient.... but 2013 is the year!! And then I will keep on writing. A little every day, after the children have gone to sleep. And then something more, but I will keep you informed. But for now, all I want to say is: Happy new year!

Inspiration

Yesterday I was at a party with some of my musician friends, we call it an "inspiration party". The point of this is to meet, and do some kind of performance for each other if we feel like it, listening, and giving each other response and inspiration. It´s a nice opportunity to try something new, and yesterday we played as a trio for the first time, and it was so nice. Here Didi took a photo of some of the instruments involved:

And this is Cezary, jamming classical songs for us.

Thomas Fridner started this tradition a year ago, and there have been some parties since then. So great initiative, to be recommended :)

I am very exited having a contrabas in the band, it´s so cool and it gives a lot of new opportunities with using the bow as well. Cezary is also very engaged now on this process, and knows more or less all of the songs already, so we can focus on the sound and playing together more when we rehearse. I so look forward to our gig in january. It is going to be great!

I got hold of some money now. Thats a releif. Because then I can proceed my plans with recording. Now we do need a drummer and a producer.

A lot of ideas is swirling around in my brain and I have a lot of energy engaging in everything. Like, environment and world peace, and small stuff like that ;) And I really think that EVERYBODY (that understands Swedish) should watch this 6 minutes interview with Hans Rosling, showing how to solve the world problems. In short: We should focus on helping the poorest people (that is not so complicated btw.), and the richest part of the population (we who can afford to travel abroad once a year) should do A LOT more with the environmental issues. We have to stop closing our eyes. I know I'm a slow learner, but from now on I will really try to be a concient consumer as much as ai possibly can, not just think about prize and taste.

But, sometimes I also need to think like this, or I´ll go crazy:

A contradiction? I dont think so. Slow living. Concious living.

Enjoy december, stay green, and look how nice the toy catalogues are in Sweden this year! Kids playing together with kids toys, finally! :)

Soon on Spotify

We were recently asked to contribute with a song to an album: "Our Empty Promises (An Indie Collection)", together with 10-15 other unsigned artists. This seems like a good way to reach out to new people, when all the bands together are promoting the album. And it was cool being asked of course.

With a little help from our Facebook friends, we chose "I´m running", which also feels easier to give away since it´s already "out". So in december/january a Simone Says song it will be available on Spotify and Itunes for the first time... a small step for humanity, but a big for Simone Says. ;) So, make room on you Spotify playlist!

I have also made a Youtube channel for Simone says, and have posted 3 videos there. Suddenly I can find our video in other sites, like NME, first for music news. That´s always something, perhaps someone discovers our music here, who knows?

I try to think of this "marketing" and all the other stuff around the music (applying grants, writing mail, blogging, networking in hundred channels etc.) as something fun; and I quite like it also. It´s important with communication, it´s a natural prolongation of the music, but I really wish I had a little bit more time for ... making music. Well, I guess that´s the situation for a bunch of people... Anyway: I´m grateful for having the opportunity at all to create at all, and now soon having a song on Spotify. It has been a long way to get there.

Nytt samabete, ny låt

Yes, då har vi har hittat en ny basist att samarbeta med... Cezary Dubicki heter han, polsk, mycket musikalisk. Han i tidligare har spelat riktig mycket, ute och i olika konstellationer, mest jazz, en del klassisk. Han spelar både bas och kontrabas, och det skall bli kul att utforska nya möjligheter med detta instrumentet.

Nu gäller det att repa ihop oss. Christer är ju ny på trummor också, så det är mycket jobb som ligger framför oss. Ingen av låtarna är helt okomplicerade i formen och det kräver en del arbete att få allt in. På spelningen i januari ska vi testa ut att spela i trioformat för första gång; jag, Didi och Cezary.

Annars får man ständigt pröva sina värderingar. Har haft en sådan period i höstas. Man frågar sig varför man gör detta, är det värd det, allt jobb, tid, pengar och frustrationer, bla bla bla... Det är himla tråkigt när bandet inte funkar, och att någon slutar i bandet är en sorg. Numera tänker jag mera samarbeten än band, men vet inte om det gör ting lättare.

Men man får sen komma ihåg den drivkraften som gjorde att man började, och veta att man kommit sig genom svåra perioder tidigare. Nu är energin på väg upp, och jag känner mig åter lugn och nöjd med situationen. Vi har lite småspelningar på gång framöver, jag har bra musiker att jobba med, nya låtar på g som jag tycker är lovande... det är okej! Jag söker stipendier för att ha råd att spela in. Nån dag. Jag vet vad jag vill, men hur snabbt det går och vilken form det tar kan jag inte helt styra över.

Och, kolla, jag har lagt ut en ny låt på Bandcamp:



Inspelning gjordes ifjor i studio, men det är en "liveupptagning" dvs. att allt gjordes i en tagning och tillsammans, och filerna är inte fixade på nåt sätt. Då jag skrev den tänkte jag skicka den till melodifestivalen, få någon att framföra den i discoversion, men sen blev det till att jag och Didi började göra ett smått hysteriskt arr på den, och den var så rolig att spela att vi behöll den själv ;) En inte helt enkel, men kul låt med lite spooky Tim Burton stämning i, lite cabaret, hoppas du gillar. :)

Annars: Diana är med i ett nytt projekt: The new String Theory, tillsammans med Thomas Fridnér. Suggestiv 70 tals inspirerad musik, med gitarr och stämsång. Gå in och kolla på deras Facebooksida och gilla om du vill följa dom.