Posted by admin on 10 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: meanings, news, tip
The recent broadcast of the BBC’s “Secrets of the Pop Song” featuring Guy Chambers has brought attention back to Ray Heffernan. At the time, he was a very young musician that met Robbie Williams in Dublin and went on to work on the song that became “Angels”. He eventually sold his share of the song [...]
Posted by admin on 03 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: meanings, tip
Unfortunately, I only came across this programme after the first 15 minutes. But it must be said: “Secrets of the Pop Song” is an absolutely amazing songwriting series on the BBC. As the title implies, the idea is to get behind the process of writing pop songs, ie songs that have huge appeal. The first [...]
Posted by admin on 23 Jun 2011 | Tagged as: tip
Carosel – I’m Sorry (Official Video) from carosel on Vimeo. A friend tipped me off about this band, actually from my neck of the woods in Dublin. I haven’t seen them live nor know their work. All I can say is that there are times when you stand back and let the songwriting do [...]
Posted by admin on 22 Jun 2011 | Tagged as: tip
Although I spend a lot of time sending out music demos and tracks to people, I also occasionally have to sit at my desk and receive them. Over the years, I have acted as an occasional A&R person for different projects ranging from Playstation games to niche labels and singers. My latest stint for a [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: news, tip
Phil Wilde has been busy over the past few months overseeing remixes of CB Millton’s “It’s a Loving Thing“. The final radio edit is ready, with a glossy video to go along with it. This is still one of the most popular CB Milton tracks (and one of the most successful lyrics I wrote). CB [...]
Posted by admin on 28 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: news, tip
Someone asked me the other day about the “new paradigm” for songwriters and musicians. I mentioned that increasingly, entertainment will be sponsored. This puts the transfer of money before the consumption rather than during or after. Then I caught the new Heineken ad, and was struck by the singer. Turns out, the new ad was [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: gadgets, tip
I took some time at Midem 2010 to put a question to David Stark, publisher of SongLink. His tipsheet provides some of the best tips in the business, hooking up major artists with songs. The “names” have included Tina Tuner, James Blunt, Kim Wilde and many others. Publishers and songwriters use SongLink obviously to get [...]
Posted by admin on 16 Nov 2009 | Tagged as: tip
This is the reason it’s such a pleasure working with Perry Rose: his sheer musicality. Over a simple ukulele riff, he builds layers of piano and vocals (bear with him). He will be interviewed on Belgium’s Classic 21 radio on November 18 2009 at midday, with a show on Nov 21 in the Belgian town [...]
Posted by admin on 01 Oct 2009 | Tagged as: events, tip
One of my writing partners, Steve Willaert (known for his soundtracks for movies such as “Hell in Tangier”, “Stille Water” and “Vermist”, has just announced concert dates for an ambitious project he put together with a bunch of multinational musicians. ChiBeJa features Chinese flautist (and Real World artist) Guo Yue, Japanese drum master Ryutaro Kaneko, [...]
Posted by admin on 24 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: tip
Feeling stuck on a song? Worried about blank page fever? Writer’s block? Then try a little exercise. Take out all your lyrics and give them a hard look. Spot any trends? Are you still writing about that one big break-up? Are you still fuming about that same two-faced liar? Are you still copying Smokey Robinson [...]