You Could Be James Dean

The end of October saw us back in the studio to work on a new single entitled 'You Could Be James Dean'. 

The track features Becky Dawson on lead vocals and will again be produced by the brilliant John Kettle formerly of Wigan band 'The Tansads' and now a integral part of 'Merry Hell' when he isn't producing.

It's almost a year since we were last in the studio and it is good to get back to producing music again. The song was actually written about four years ago whilst I was still living in Australia but has never been far from my mind, I have been looking for an opportunity to get it recorded, Becky has produced some great vocals on it, the song is available from all good digital stores! Worth noting that it is also a big moment for Becky as it is the first time she has taken lead on a Summats single. Go Becks!

John and his band 'Merry Hell' have recently worked on 'The Armistice Pals'. This is a wonderful recording and reworking of Pete Seegers 'Where have all the flowers gone' and is to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war. In addition to John and his band mates, some of Britain's finest folk singers have contributed to the track, they were all joined by the late Pete Seeger's sister Peggy. It is a wonderful piece of work and and all proceeds from the single which you can downloaded here, will go to some very worthy charities not least of which is the British Red Cross.

Very sad to hear of the passing of Alvin Stardust earlier this week. The 70's glam rock star always seemed to be a thoroughly decent guy as well as great live entertainer and hit maker. His cover of 'Pretend' in 1981 was a brilliant track and one of my favorite singles of the 80's. Very sad to see him go before his time.

Last year the lovely people from Segal Gardens, which is a specialist residential and care facility in St. Helens, Merseyside, used our track 'Happy New Year Baby' in their festive video. Recently we were contacted again by Damian Cummings from Segal Gardens to ask if they may use 'All I Want Is Christmas' in this years video. We were more than happy to allow our music to be used and will share with you once Damian has completed work on the video.

The story of our Christmas song and the success we have had with it is the subject of a book I have written titled 'Christmas Magic in the Air'. It will be a short Kindle eBook and is scheduled for release in December if we can complete the final drafts and editing. The song has done some amazing things for us and gone to heights we could have only dreamed of, hopefully it will make for both a entertaining read and a interesting insight into the songwriting process, particularly for any budding songwriters out there.

Look out for both the book and the new single 'You Could Be James Dean' soon. Until then...

Take care and keep smiling

Baggers

Christmas Songs & other musings

The festive season is fast approaching, every shop window is being decorated & every store is playing the seasonal songs we all love to hear.

The Christmas song genre is obviously something very close to our hearts, especially as our own festive offering has been very good to us since its release in 2010, it has brought us mainstream TV airplay in Australia & made it to radio both in the UK and United States. 'All I Want Is Christmas'  was inspired by our love of the really great festive tunes, it seemed to us that no-one wanted to write good new ones anymore, we set out to both deliver a good old sing-along Christmas tune whilst paying homage to the great Christmas songwriters, time will tell if we achieved that but the single is going extremely well online again this year.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/all-i-want-is-christmas-single/id402973211

All I Want Is Christmas

In December we'll be heading to the Apollo Manchester to see Squeeze in concert. Been looking forward to this gig since about 1978! Never got to see them in their heyday, but I'm sure they will be worth the wait. Difford and Tilbrook are genuinely one of the finest songwriting partnerships to come out of the UK since Lennon and McCartney & deserve their place in the history of British music. Additionally, every night's entire set is being recorded and made available immediately as part of a 3 CD set which also includes the Packet Of 4 EP  - Squeeze's first set of new studio recordings in 15 years! Now so far as I'm aware, that's a first, who said the old brigade can't innovate! Pics to follow in the next blog. Will be great to be back at the Apollo, it has been a mainstay of the Manchester music scene for well over 30 years and has an atmosphere that somehow the bigger venues in the city aren't able to replicate, we've had some great nights over the years in the 1930s art deco former cinema which is also now a listed building, but especially gutted to have missed The Buzzcocks reunion gig there in May this year.

At the opposite end of the career spectrum, we are looking forward to seeing a fine young band later  this month. Loor a Los Heroes are a four piece indie band hailing from Newton-le-Willows and Ashton, we'll be seeing them at a gig in Warrington, I'm sure they are destined for a big future.
Their latest EP is excellent, check them out at:
http://looralosheroes.webs.com/
Whilst on the subject of new talent, please take time to check out an awesome new young female artist, A me B hails from Golborne and is an exceptional talent who can be heard regularly on BBC Introducing, Rinse FM and most Manchester radio stations, this young lady has a huge future in front of her, please check out her music at:
http://www.ameb.co.uk/

One gig we didn't get to see in November was The Killers, Brandon Flowers unfortunately had to leave the stage four songs into their first night in Manchester, he was suffering from a sore throat. The gig on the following night, which we had tickets for, was also cancelled. All's well that ends well though as the guys have rescheduled for February and it should be top night!

Another treat coming up in December will be a visit to Manchester's Christmas markets, this annual event is something that has grown and grown over the past decade, and is now arguably the best in the country, definitely worth a visit if you're in town and looking for pressies!

 http://www.christmasmarkets.com/UK/manchester-christmas-market.html

On the subject of pressies, there are plenty to be found at a great little online shop, lilyesque.com are offering 50% discount on all items to fans & readers of The Summats blog, be sure to use the discount code HO2012 at the checkout to get your bargains!
http://www.lilyesque.com/

Big news for the band as we now have two female vocalists, Becky Dawson has joined The Summats & will make her debut on the next single, due in June 2013. Becky has been rehearsing with us for the past few weeks and has co-written a track called 'Anymore' along with Sam, Toe and myself, a real band effort this one which the girls will take lead vocals on. The next EP track listing is almost finalised and we are looking forward to getting the songs out there for you as soon as we are able.

So much to pack into the blog this time, but hopefully got it all in there. Have a fantastic time in the run up the big day on the 25th, hope Santa brings everything you hope and all the musical treats you can listen to without your ears busting!

If you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment below, if you didn't.....go write on someone else's blog!..lol

Till next time, take care and keep smiling.

Baggers