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
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!
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!