Christmas Magic in the Air

As the festive season is fast approaching, it's good to begin to take stock of the year gone by and start to look ahead to the coming year. For The Summats, January 2015 will see the release of a new single, 'You Could Be James Dean'. This track, featuring Becky Dawson on lead vocals, was completed in October and is just about ready to roll.

As mentioned in the previous blog, this is Becky's first lead vocal on a Summats release and she has given a wonderful performance, the track also features some outstanding and very haunting lead guitar work from John Kettle. We are so looking forward to you hearing it, however given the impending festivities, we thought a January release would be wise, hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Becky in the studio

We haven't recorded a new festive song this year, although we really did intend to, time just got away from us. Rest assured, there are new tracks on the way, and we will be looking to be back in the Christmas song song business next year.

Something new which is very much available this Christmas is a short ebook I have written entitled 'Christmas Magic in the Air'. The book, which I am incredibly proud of, covers the whole back story around the writing, recording and release of 'All I Want Is Christmas'. We have had such great success with it that I thought it was worth putting pen to paper (metaphorically of course, I actually used a computer!) to let you all in on what has been a roller-coaster ride since the day we wrote it. I've shared a great deal of memories and anecdotes from playing in our first bands together way back in the 80's, which included sharing a stage with Rick Astley and takes us right up to the present day. Primarily it is based around what has been a tremendously popular song for us but there are also some great tips for budding songwriters and hopefully you will find a few amusing anecdotes which will give you a giggle as well as a real insight into the songwriting process. The book is available from Amazon in the Kindle store, if you don't have a kindle eBook reader, not to worry, you can download the free Kindle app from the Amazon store which will allow you to read the book on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Who knows, some of you who have supported us from the beginning may even be mentioned. There is certainly a big mention in there for Tunecore who act on our behalf as both our distributors and publishing administrators, we couldn't have done it without you guys.

With the above in mind I would like to say a huge thank you to all you wonderful people who have supported The Summats from day one, downloading our music, reading and sharing our blogs and Facebook updates etc. As a very special thank you,  'Christmas Magic in the Air' is available as a free download for the next five days, after which it will go back to its usual Amazon store selling price around the world. I hope you will take the opportunity to download the book whilst it is free and if you enjoy it,  please rate and review it afterwards, that will certainly help it on its way.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing 'Christmas Magic in the Air, the writing process, as far as books go, is obviously new to me but it is amazing how much detail comes back once you begin trawling your memories, I can definitely recommend it. It is very time consuming, which is something I never seem to have enough of, however it was written over two summer holidays in 2013 and 2014, writing a story about a Christmas song whilst sitting by the pool in Italy was an interesting experience to say the least! Hope you enjoy the book.

Our friends over at Segal Gardens have done us proud in their Christmas video. Damo Cummings has been a big supporter of The Summats over the past few years and really has done a brilliant job using 'All I Want is Christmas' as the soundtrack, You can check out their video at Summats Songs

Also worth checking out our friends over at www.festivesongs.com, the site is very supportive of The Summats and is also a great place to hear brand new Christmas music.

Good to see that Band aid is going all out to help worthy causes again this year, the track is possibly not as strong as in years gone by given the lyric changes and the new lineup, but, well, who cares! It's for a great cause.

On that note, I will sign off by wishing each and every one of you a fantastic Christmas and

Hope that you have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2015.

Thank you  for your support.

Take care and keep smiling

Baggers

Happy New Year Baby!

The end of year post, a time for reflection and looking towards 2014 with hope and expectations for the future.

The year is ending on something of a high for The Summats, All I Want Is Christmas - Single  had another awesome festive season, the views racking up on YouTube and the song continues to sell well across the world. People have been very kind with their comments and appreciation and seem to love this song more every year for which we are very grateful. DJ Dave Monks from BBC radio Merseyside also played it on the 21st December, our first BBC airplay, to say we were delighted would a huge understatement!
 

Our new festive track,  Happy New Year Baby  is also performing wonderfully, the single is selling really well across the globe with downloads coming from the UK and all the way across to Australia and the United States, we have high hopes for new years eve!

The song features Sam and Becky on the vocals and was produced by John Kettle at Jaraf House studios in Wigan. John was formerly the driving force behind Wigan band The Tansads, he is now a member and primary songwriter for the excellent Merry Hell, check out his work, you won't regret it.

We were very humbled when Damian Cummings from Segal Gardens, Berry Bridge & Oakwood - HWCGS Care contacted us to enquire if he may use "Happy New Year Baby' as a backing track for his festive video, we were delighted to be included, you can check out the vid here Segal Gardens.

 Our special thanks also go to Sammi Walsh at SJW Photos. Sammi along with her best friend and able assistant Amy held a Summats photoshoot in December, see left. One of Sammi's shots was also chosen as the cover for Happy New Year Baby.

Sammi is a extremely
talented photographer, who primarily specialises in music pics but can turn her hand to just about any other genre. We are hoping to work with her again for a new single early next year for which she will also be helping us out with the video.
Check out her site and drop her a mail if you would like to work with this amazingly talented young lady.


We would also like to thank each and every one of you for your support throughout this year, we appreciate you all and we certainly hope we have entertained you along the way.

Take care, keep smiling and may we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very safe, healthy and Happy New Year Baby!