Revival Road part 1:

After an awesome night at The Revival Tour in Manchester I thought I'd blog about it. Not just for others to read about but partly so that I have written down what i remember so that I don't forget bits.

For those that don't know what the Revival Tour is heres a summary. Its four lead singers from four different bands routed in punk rock singing their songs and collaborating acoustically in a folk setting as a revival of traditional folk sessions where people used to just bring along their instruments and sing and play together. This tour involves Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem/ The Horrible Crowes), Dave Hause (The Loved Ones), Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) and Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio) plus Joe Ginsberg on upright bass and Jon Gaunt on the fiddle.

I think what I loved most about this show was the amount of fun the guys were having up on the stage and the respect that they showed for each other, always hugging, shaking hads between songs and requesting applause for other band members. It was like a group of best friends playing together and loving it, where choosing to walk on stage and sing or play along with one of the others at any given moment, was expected. Thats the way folk music should be. This word has already become cliche when talking of the Revival tour but camaraderie is the only way to describe the relationship that these guys have together. I've never watched a tour like this and maybe I never will again. 3 hours and about 47 songs! My only regret is that I won't be going to any shows at the end of the tour. By that time the band will be more familiar with each others songs and more collaboration can probably be expected.

Already being familiar with the work of Brian, Chuck and Dave; Dan Andriano was the only person who I didn't know what to expect from, but I was impressed by his voice and his musicianship if his songs did seem a bit samey on occasion. There were a few highlights of the show in my opinion. First of all Dave and Dan covering Joe strummers 'Coma Girl' a song that I love and totally unexpected, second was Meet You In the Middle by Chuck Ragan with Brian Fallon on backing vocals, third was Brian and Ian Perkins playing 'Ladykiller' by The Horrible Crowes. The audience just went quiet for this one, in silent awe, most people chose not to clap and sing along and just listen as he poured it all out in a real atmospheric performance. My fourth highlight was Brian playing Senor and The Queen acoustically, I love that song , especially in this format.

After the show my aim was to meet the band having been unsuccessful in the two hours before the show. Dan Andriano came out first and he was such a nice guy, grateful for the praise we (the approx 20 people who were waiting around with me) showered him with and thanking us deeply for supporting the tour and buying the tour compilation. I got his autograph on the Revival Tour CD.

Next I got Dave Hause to sign my copies of his own album 'Resolutions' and My tour CD. I briefly discussed what a fun tour it looks to play on and he agreed. I got a picture with him and said that I was hoping he would play his song 'Meet Me At The Lanes' as it was my favourite so he asked if I was going to any more shows. I wasn't so instead he offered to put me on the guest list to the closest show to me which was Nottingham. I was kind of shocked that he offered me this and of course agreed, getting myself a plus one in the process. What a nice guy though!

Chuck came out next but I only saw him for a second as his hands were full. I got my tour CD and his new 'Covering Ground' CD signed and told him it was my favourite of his yet.

It turned out that Brian Fallon was already on the bus so we asked Chuck to get him to come out and he eventually did, and was surrounded by the group. It was clear that most fans in the audience were Brian or Gaslight Anthem fans throughout the show and this made it clearer as the other guys got no where near the same attention.

I remember last time the Gaslight Anthem played Manchester. I got the chance to speak to Brian briefly and get an autograph on my 59' Sound cover but I thought asking for a picture would be a bit pushy so I didn't, and have regretted it ever since. This time I was hoping to get another chance and after waiting around for the band for a few hours before this show I thought I may not get the chance again. Luckily after the show I got my chance to get a picture with one of my heroes. I think what made it for me though were the conversations I had with him so I wanted to summarise here what Brian said and some things that we talked about, which may interest a few fans out there:

One girl wanted him to sign her tattoo on her leg in so that some tatto artist would be able to do it for her. Brian was hesitant to do this and tried to get her to reconsider, saying take this from me I'm covered in tattoos I don't like, this is another mans autograph on your body, it will be there on your wedding night etc. I thought this was nice of him to try and talk her out of it, but she wasn't having any of it so he signed her leg and from what I know (another Dimestore Saint) she is now tattooed.

One fan told Brian he'd recorded an EP and when asked if it was good the lad wasn't too confident. Brian  told him to be more confident, believe in his work, asking if it was true, if it was real. He told him that if he's written songs to write them to the absolute best that they can be and to just believe in yourself, making the point that this was the only few minutes he would have to inspire this kid so he wanted to make his words count. It was quite inspiring to me to hear him talk like that, being a songwriter myself.

Once I had my picture taken with him I thanked him for the Manchester show when I requested 'The Patient Ferris Wheel' for my birthday in November 2010. Brian had announced it on stage saying "This is a request, Have a great birthday tomorrow" before getting into it and I wanted to show my appreciation. I said you won't remember but I requested that song for my birthday and he said "I don't remember" but was glad he could help me out because he doesn't always take kindly to requests. Mostly its when people shout out for songs and interrupt though whereas I had a conversation with him before the show to put my request in. He told of one guy at Bristol Revival Tour the night before, who just kept shouting a song title over and over and Brian got annoyed saying Im much more less likely to play it if people shout it like that. I think thats fair enough, he said people who persist he would have thrown out because they impair the enjoyment of people around them and this is important to Brian. At this point I asked Brian if he'd seen the You Tube video of Dave Grohl kicking a fan out of the Foo Fighters show. He hadn't seen it but I recommended he did and he smiled and winked at me.

Next one guy asked if they enjoyed Glastonbury, but he was referring to when Bruce Springsteen joined them on stage. At this point I cringed, in fact I actually said people have asked you about that so many times it makes me cringe when I hear it and Brian turned to me with a smirk and said "It makes me cringe too"

He went on to stress that he does love the guy (Bruce) but he knows him on a personal level too, recalling a time when he invited his whole block round for a barbecue and Bruce asked to come. Brian told him that all these people would be there and they know who he is but Bruce still went round. Brian wants to concentrate on being Brian Fallon for now and find out who he is as opposed to all these comparisons with Bruce Springsteen and stressed that people shouldn't like him just because they like Bruce.

When discussing the new album Brian said he is writing songs on the road whilst on The Revival Tour but that they had recorded 11 songs. Brian wants 40 though which I gotta admit is Springsteen-esque but I wouldn't say it to him. I asked if Biloxi Parish would be on it and he said it probably would. When I asked him about it he said it is a place in Louisiana and when he was passing through there he hadn't been home in 6 months and missed it. The song is about those feelings and getting home from a long time on the road and is not actually about Biloxi Parish the place. This is obvious from the lyrics now but it was cool to hear it from him because he doesn't often divulge too much about his song meanings, preferring fans to make up their own minds.

Other bits of chit chat were about the tour bus. I asked if on the top floor its just a load of mattresses but he said its bunks and that he gets a surprisingly good sleep on there whereas I presumed it would be an uncomfortable kind of broken sleep. Brian mentioned his dog Frank currently staying with Alex Levine and his wife. Brian has him trained not to pee indoors but apparently he keeps doing it at Alex's. I asked him if he was worried that Frank would pee all over his house when he gets home and he did say he was worried about it. Frank is a rescued dog for those who don't know.

In the end most fans had dispersed and there was only myself and a fellow dimestore saint left  Brian signed my 'Elsie' and tour compilation and I shook his hand and told me he'd just topped off a great night for me, and a great night it was.

As I left I maged to chat to Ian who loved my Johnny Cupcakes T shirt and was wearing one himself. He actually said he had mine on the bus too. I got a picture and an autograph, he seemed like a really cool guy with a good sense of humour, Id have liked to chat with him longer but it was after 1am with this point, I had work the next day and the band needed to sleep at some point too.

I may add to this in the future when other bits and bobs come back to me, I know some bits may seem a bit pointless but they're there for you to read anyway.

Here are a few of my photos from the Manchester show.

Not forgetting my song of the blog. This time its Great Expectations (the Revival Tour version as filmed by ihearttheweakerthans on You Tube. Its in HD with decent sound too. Take a look below! Hopefully I'll get around to writing up the Nottingham leg soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v7FNJpyjMs&list=LLhdJ0hZKi_kcx_wLkuCQ0Iw&index=31

It Feels Like Heaven When You Can Sleep Through The Night

Its been a while between posts lately. To be honest there hasn't been much inspiration to write anything, that is until this week...

Monday 5th September 2011, the day The Horrible Crowes release their debut album 'Elsie'. Brian Fallon's blend of haunting night time music, a deep and meaningful album of hymns for lonely people. When you get into your room late at night, turn out the lights, turn this cd on and crash out and get lost in this dark world that Brian and Ian Perkins have created.

Its been a long wait for this album and but for the odd hitch here and there, (where djs played songs on the radio before they were allowed to do so), the album didn't seem to leak to a great degree until Sideonedummy released songs to Rolling stone and other sites. I'm glad it didn't really leak (not to my knowledge) and I agree with what Brian Fallon said in his blog. If I was a recording artist that had slaved over making something as good as it can be, I wouldn't want it being released until i said so. That would be my right, and those people who say they are such big fans that they have to hear it as soon as possible (even if it is streamed on some poor quality internet site) are just fools. The bigger fans will respect the views of the artists and be patient until the record is good and ready to be heard in its entirety. They won't get any personal thanks for it but I take my own satisfaction in knowing that I have respected the wishes of my hero and that as a whole he will appreciate those who waited.

As far as the album goes I think its genius! But I'm biased. The two songs 'Behold The Hurricane' and 'Go Tell Everybody' are the more upbeat ones and are the tracks that you could see The Gaslight Anthem playing but other than that I think the songs are very different in style to Gaslight (but for Brian's raspy vocals) for those who are expecting more of the same. The majority of the songs seem to be based around heartbreak, broken relationships, cheating girlfriends etc and aren't therefore songs you would play at a party, I really suggest listening something like this in your own time when you can really appreciate the words and quiet whispers on songs such as 'Cherry Blossom', 'Sugar' and 'I Believe Jesus Brought Us Together'. Its not really fodder for your car stereo either. Thats my opinion anyway. Stand out tracks to me are 'Lady Killer'; another break up song with a catchy chorus and 'I Witnessed A Crime'. The organ on the latter really reminds me of The E Street band and works perfectly alongside the bubbly base line. The lyrics in this seem to talk of a relationship that isn't working out and I guess I relate to being with someone where the interest in each other runs out. It may sound doomy and gloomy from all I've said but despite being a heartbreak album, you don't need to be heartbroken to enjoy this album. I wouldn't have thought it was for everyone but Im sure Fallon fans will love it, you can really hear his influences like Tom Waits, PJ Harvey etc.

The day before I received the album in the mail I listened to this hour long interview with Brian Fallon on WBJB radio in New Jersey. A really inciteful interview that any Gaslight Anthem fans may find interesting but also left me champing at the bit... Heres the link, hope it works...

Brian Fallon Interview

As for my own music. My plans were to record all my songs in acoustic demo before building up to a full band album. These plans have been set back by my holiday and then a break to one of my fingers. If you know me you are probably sick of me making a big deal about that right now but my left ring finger can't bend, thus I can't play chords and its really killing me that I can't pick up the guitar and play. Physio says Im about 10 days away, so I guess I'll just play the waiting game and maybe finish a few half written song lyrics ready to record when Im fit again. As it stands I have 10 songs recorded in demo. Here are the titles: Young and Wild, Neon Sign, Were You Thinking Of Me?, The Darkplace, Old Times, Sweetheart Serenade, Road of Life, Its Real, Janie Jones and The Footsteps Of Billy The Kid.  Just to hopefully keep people interested.

Young and Wild is currently on Soundcloud. If you haven't listened any, then please feel free and comment too but be nice ;)

Alex Magrath Soundcloud Channel

My song of the blog this week is predictably The Horrible Crowes and its called 'Lady Killer'  so click this link to watch. Finally I'll suggest that you go out and buy this album. When have I ever been wrong about this stuff before...

The Horrible Crowes - Lady Killer

Tell me what you saw, I'll tell you what you missed when the ocean met the sky...

Heres a little bed time story...

I headed down to Frank's Place, this old sailors bar down by the harbour. I'll go in there just like I do most of the pubs in this town, but week after week on a Thursday I'll strum the old folk songs on this beat up old acoustic guitar they have.  Its never too busy, just nice, the usual punters, some small groups, couples huddle away in the booths, some guys just come and sit; sit and drink the night away. Maybe they're sitting there without their lost loved one, maybe they just came in from a few days on the sea, or maybe they just couldn't get control of that television remote at home but I seem to have the attention of some of these sailors who sit there night after night to hear me strum my songs, applauding gently at the end of each number, sometimes they'll join me at the bar when I go for another whiskey. I like it though, it relaxes me, i'm in my own world, singing my heart out, they say nothing they just listen. One guy speaks up, asks for Whiskey In The Jar, and why not.

Part way through in walks Janey. Everybody in town would recognise her, I've seen her around. I hear she came out the rough end of a hard divorce some years back, never really settled down after that. I'd never seen her in Frank's though. She walked through got herself a drink of something clear and took a table at the back but she gave me this smile, I'm not sure if I was singing at all at this point, I joined the rest of my audience, transfixed...

She was young for her years, this long blonde hair, wavey like the sea... she had class. I regained my composure and sung one of my own numbers, a new one, they hadn't heard it before, Brothers... then I went up for another whiskey. People were filing out now, it was getting late but she walked over to me and introduced herself. She knew my name, maybe she'd heard me mentioned in one of the other seaside bars down by the shore. We didn't hang around either, we headed out and just walked, we walked and we talked down to the shore until we hit the boardwalk. It was peaceful, the waves crashed and that was the only sound besides our voices under the light of the moon. I think I got her, she seemed to get me, she could see why I enjoyed just singing the nights away in these quiet little pubs. I never felt I was good enough to make the big time, I was happy just being some kind of local hero but it was all about the music for me, I just needed that quietly appreciative audience and I'd keep coming back.

It felt like we talked for hours, leaning on the end of the pier staring out into the endless ocean. It was like I'd known her all my life, I wished she'd walked into that bar years ago. I pulled her to me with one arm around her shoulder as we leaned there in silence, to keep her warm in the night breeze I guess. I started singing low, right down at the bottom of my range, a sea song that I heard once and right then as I took in that sea air I thought... The ocean really does breathe salty... it went like this...

Click the link

Sun Kil Moon - The Ocean Breathes Salty

I didn't just write this story randomly, its based on the lyrics of one of my songs, a little acoustic track called Janey Jones. I hope you like it, follow the link below.

Janey Jones by Alex Magrath

We Need More Of These Nights They Always Go Too Fast...

By now some of you may have seen my song Young & Wild doing the rounds on facebook, twitter and soundcloud. Heres a bit about the song:

I have this ritual when I write songs, I have notebooks with countless lyrics scribbled into them, different versions and layouts of verses and choruses I've written over the years. When I have versions I am happy with I write them into my best songbook. Im now into my second songbook but Young & Wild comes half way through the first. I date each song when I finally write it in and Young & Wild came from 2006 which would have been the summer after my second year at university.

At this point University was getting serious. Every student knows first year doesn't count, we just partied hard and exams weren't taken seriously and as long as you passed with better than 40% average you were ok. Second year counted for 25% of my degree or something. In the words of my professor on graduation day "You did fuck all in second year" and he's right, if he was saying this it must have been bad, my average was in the mid forties so by third year it was time to really pull my finger out and get this degree. We'd had another year of serious partying, some people were squeezing work in between various nights out and social occasions but I was sleeping a lot, eating junk food, playing my guitar, watching dvds, drinking the nights away and just hanging out just like most students and all my friends would. It was a good time, the wider world was still a year away, we didn't have to worry about it yet we had a big group and most of us were pretty close to each other by now. I loved this group I still do most of these people, I dreaded the end of summer semester because I knew it would be three months before we could pick up where we'd left off. The concern for me was, I knew that as well as enjoying myself I'd have to work hard in third year, I also knew everyone else would be busier so at this point, two thirds of the way through my university career I couldn't help but feel nostalgic during summer break, like our best days were behind us now and third year would just be a let down. In some ways it was but as I was looking back I wrote a couple songs about friendship, youthful friendship, fun in the sun, hanging out kinda songs. One of which was Young and Wild but it was originally titled Young and Wired after the Bon Jovi lyric in their song 'In and Out of Love'. The song lyrics themselves are pretty self explanatory, we were our own people, we did what we wanted, we thought we were the kings of the road back then, nobody could keep us down we just walked around like we owned the place or something but we were just enjoying the life and so there it is, Young & Wild if you haven't listened it visit my facebook page and find the link on there.

As for my plans to record some of my songs to an album, progress is being made. I have a list of twelve songs I want to be on the album some of which are only partially written but its all one big work in progress. When I have all the demos done I will distribute the demos to various musicians that may be helping me and when they have learned the songs hopefully we can make stuff happen but this is time away at the moment. This album has a theme and therefore I also have a working title for it. The songs are all going to be linked by the dreams, hopes, regrets, wishes, experiences and stories of people just making their way through life. A few of the songs are slightly biographical or inspired by feelings that I have had at times but by no means are they all necessarily true stories about me, that will remain a mystery...

The song of the blog this time around is a song by a man named Dave Hause, this is a perfect song to fit with the subject matter of this blog post because it is about a guy looking back at all his old group of friends that have been spread out now and they arrange a reunion night were they re-live the crazy times of their youth. Ive only discovered this guy recently because he sings in a band called The Loved Ones and he will is one of a quartet that I will be watching on this autumns Revival Tour. Its a great song and if you like looking back on the past times and reminiscing like I do I think you will like this song, again maybe its one for those who were at uni and are now all spread out across the country, maybe you miss the rest of your old gang. Its all in the lyrics here guys there aren't any better videos of this currently on you tube but this is pretty good, click the link or better still look up the song on spotify to really be able to pick the lyrics out...

Dave Hause - Meet Me at The Lanes

Thanks for reading...

BON JOVI... We were born to follow!

In an earlier blog I said it was 6th time I would be watching Bon Jovi, correcting myself its actually the 7th and its still a great show even now! Although their latest albums aren't hitting the standards that their classic pre-2000 albums did, the energy and quality of the performance is still amazing to see.

Those who read this blog each time I post will know that in an earlier blog I have expressed my concerns about how Bon Jovi are now a business not just a band etc etc. That doesn't take away from the fact that they are one of my best bands of all time. Jon Bon Jovi is arguably the best front man in rock and he is backed by three of the best musicians in the business in Richie Sambora, Tico Torres and David Bryan and this makes for a hell of a show. Tonight was the Manchester show at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on the UK leg of the Greatest Hits tour and it was awesome!!! Heres a pic of the view we had although I'm sure it doesn't do it justice as we had a great view considering we arrived late.

I said before the show I wanted to hear my two favourites Blood on Blood and In These Arms and a couple of rarities and they didn't disappoint. They kicked the show off with Blood on Blood before playing through You Give Love A Bad Name and Born To Be My Baby. Blood on Blood is more of a song to end a show with, its an anthemic song about friends growing up and having each others backs and I like that in a song, I write several of my own songs with my own friends and memories in mind. In These Arms was also played and they even played their epic ten minute Dry County so I was content. Besides this they ripped through all the hits you would expect Its My Life, Bad Medicine, Wanted Dead or Alive, We Weren't Born To Follow and ending with Livin On A Prayer and with a few odd numbers thrown in between. For you romantics out there you may know Bed Of Roses which was also great. It was good to see Richie Sambora still at his electrifying best on the lead guitar despite another stint in rehab but Jon was struggling at times on the slippery stage with his leg in a splint as he awaits surgery on his ligaments. Heres a closer pic of the band...

The band were unfazed by the rain which poured throughout the show, JBJ joked about all the people sitting in the mud at Glasto and said he'd rather sell out stadiums on his own rather than with the help of fifty other bands. Tonights sell out show was reportedly played to 46,000 people. Thats 92,000 arms in the air, what a sight that must be from the stage! Although I liked and cheered at this comment I am annoyed that we didn't try and get to Glastonbury this year. If only you could be in two places at once...

I also liked the comment Jon made about having no pre-recorded tracks playing on stage with "no girly backing singers, this aint no reunion tour" etc unable to resist a dig at the music industry today.

Unfortunately I still feel this may be the last time I will see Bon Jovi live, not because I'm bored after 7 shows but because I am now content that I've seen them enough. I have seen them play all of their hits several times over and there are still more songs rarely played in their shows that I would love to see but the chance of them playing those songs are getting slimmer with every new album released. On top of this ticket prices are going up as I have mentioned before. Tonight they played Work For The Working Man, a song about regular people coping with the recession. At face value its a good song but its marred by hypocrisy in my opinion. How can Jon Bon Jovi sing for the working man when ticket prices have shot up for a band that don't even need the money anymore. However this is just a small complaint about a great night.

So although I am in Bon Jovi retirement as of tonight its not because I wouldn't want to see them again its just I want to prioritise bands I haven't seen as much of. I still want to be at the front to watch Bruce Springsteen, The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me!, I've never seen the Counting Crows or Augustana (and I want too!),  and Matchbox Twenty will tour again soon. Having said that I could be like Paul Scholes for England... I may consider coming out of retirement if asked...

My song of the blog this time has to be a Bon Jovi song so I thought I would put up this video of In These Arms which I took at the show. The sound quality is decent. Click the link below to watch...

Bon Jovi - In These Arms live in Manchester 24.06.11

For those who have never seen Bon Jovi, maybe you have been tempted in the past, you should go they will play for two and a half hours and you won't be disappointed. 

Bon Jovi rock! May this continue for years to come...