Gigs and things

The press for the single has increased to a marginally more healthy level. All of these reviews are incredibly positive. The marks don't drop below 4/5 and the Organ review claimed: "If we still had Singles Of The Week around then no doubt this would be this week's...this would be single of most weeks". Sweet. So then to the links of doom: Organ, Stereokill and Beat Surrender. I think for the album I might have to get someone to help with the PR. Maybe it'll be easier to 'work' an album as they're much more frequently reviewed than singles. But some of these sites, publications and DJ's I'm banging my head against a massive wall made out of old promo CD's trying to get them to play/review it. I think perhaps releasing it myself wouldn't be so hard if I had some help doing the PR. That's probably the plan. I'll just have to find £100,000 million to finance someone to talk to the NME for me.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Manchester show. I was awful. The weekend was awesome. I got to spend it with some friends I've not seen in ages and if I'd not have been playing we might not have got together. However, I've lost my passion for playing to people. In that format at least; just me and a guitar. I've had enough. Those songs. Played by me. Anywhere. I don't find it enjoyable anymore. I'm still doing Indietracks as that will be different and I'm pretty sure playing in the sunshine at at festival at 12pm is slightly more enjoyable to playing on a damp Tuesday night in...Chelmsford. I'll still probably play on my birthday. Other than that though, for the time being, no more gigs. I'm not having fun doing it, so I'm going to stop. I might get the band together now, rehearse properly and build up to releasing the album that way. I've played more gigs in the last six months or so than a lot of bands manage in their careers so I've nothing to regret on that front. One day I'll play lots again but right now touring/gigging can go fudge itself.

By the way, for those of you who remember the post about a change of career, I'm going to be a psychologist. Hopefully rising to the title of Lord and Master of Psychology to the Universe. Either that or I'll get a 2:2 and end up working pushing trolleys round ASDA car park. We'll see, I guess.

Single release week of doom

So this week the single came out. It's been well received thus far: Manchester Music, Leeds Music Scene and All Gigs all ranging from 4/5 to 4.5/5. I also got this awesome review on a French blog by a chap called Lyle who works very hard behind the scenes at DiS. I understood about 2% of this till I translated it but it is indeed very positive! Radio play is all hanging in the balance at the moment but I've had some positive emails from people at Radio 2 and XFM so fingers crossed. I guess the muted radio play is something you get with releasing a song that is in no way ever likely to be considered a single by anyone, ever. Still, the reviews have all been pretty glowing which has been pleasing. I really think what I'm doing now is either a 9/10 to people or 1/10. I think the middle ground is being eroded which is very pleasing. I'd rather be loved by 100 people than deemed "alright" by 150.

You can buy the downloads of the single from me here: loyaltrooper.bigcartel.com

For those who haven't used bigcartel.com before, it basically works around PayPal so if you have one of those accounts then it should be simple. I'm only charging £1 for BOTH the single ('The Doctor') and b-side ('Crystal Missile'). 50p per song? Hell yeah! That's excessively good value. This is one of those "credit crunching deals" that morons in advertising are always going on about. I'll be emailing the tracks directly to you after purchase but please don't be annoyed at me if it takes me a few hours or so. I'm away all weekend and playing in Manchester tomorrow night so internet access might be limited. But rest assured you'll get them as soon as humanly possible. Plus, if you'd like the artwork I'll email that to you too.

The reason I've chosen to go this way is that I earn about three pence per download off iTunes. iTunes take their administration fees, the company I go through to get the songs onto iTunes take their cut and then, eventually, I get a percentage of the money. The last statement that I got from them nearly made me weep with pain. Even with successful numbers of downloads the amount I 'made' out of it was appalling. That and frankly, without any form of promotion, being on iTunes I'm merely a statistic. Big successful acts maybe make money off digital download sites but for me at this stage, I'm making didly.

So I figured I'd try this way of doing things and see if it works. Plus, I am all about the DIY. I do everything for my music so I ought to get the money. Idealist? Yes. You can also now buy last years EP directly from me as that's obviously better for me too. The independent shops are a different story to my feelings on download sites though. It's important for me to have a relationship with shops and to, in some small way, help support them and direct business towards them. I love record shops, well, the good ones. However, if you want to spend £5 to get EIGHT songs of mine (EP + single) then I'd strongly encourage you to do that!

The final part of the May tour diary, patiently uploaded by There Goes The Fear, is available here.