Hard Times

This album was almost completed on time!

We decided to spend the months of July and August recording the album, with the intention of  getting it manufactured when we went on our summer break at the end of August.

Chris and I set down the basic rhythms tracks for each song, which I then built up into the full recording by layering guitars, mandolins, voices and fretless bass. I'm pleased with how smoothly the project went, but when I listened to the first master I realised that I'd missed a couple of instruments off. Nothing that the untrained ear wouldn't notice, but we noticed and that had to be changed. So we missed our first deadline.

We finally sent the master copy and artwork off in mid-November and copies are now winging their way to radio stations and magazines across the UK. This is my first release in "digipack" format and I think it looks great (and sounds great too!) It will be available on iTunes etc just before Christmas.

Here's the back cover

Other People's Greatest Hits

And why not?

The Eagles' first UK album was their greatest hits album. So I thought- why don't we call our first album our greatest hits?  One problem- we don't have any hits, great or not so great, so I thought- why not release an album of other people's greatest hits?

Genius.

Here's the front cover image

And here's the back cover with the track listing

Band update

It's been a while since my last post on here so I thought I'd update on what's been happening (or not happening)

We finally released the album and it sounds great. 13 tracks of DCB skiffle bliss (or whatever you want to call it) However it has not been easy getting gigs for the band in the last year. Most bookings tend to be at the weekend and our bass player's main band takes precedent for his services, so trying to find a date when everyone is available has been problematic. We've decided to limit the Dave Clemo Band's appearances for the forseeable future.
The band (now known as the DCB) will play a few shows in our hometown during 2014, mostly on Friday nights, leaving Saturday nights free for our other projects, more of which later.
Earlier this year I recorded ten tracks for Vince's solo album and we played a number of shows getting the material ready to record. The album will be called "Tartan Paint" and features Vince singing and playing mostly traditional Scottish folk tunes, plus one self penned track. We played some shows in Corby, which has a large expat population and we go down really well there, so we'll be playing a few shows as The Tartan Painters during 2014.
Dave Walker is continuing to play in a number of bands and is also busy recording tracks. I'm looking forward to hearing them.
Back in May I had a phone call asking if I could play the Whitby Gospel Music Convention and very short notice, so I went up and played a set of songs that they hadn't heard before and that has given me some ideas for a second Gospel Album that may be recorded next year.
I also had an invite (out of the blue) to play a gospel music festival in Norway and Chris and I went over in November and played three shows in all. Our music was well received and who knows, we may get another invite in the future.
Then earlier this year I gave some of our CDs to a friend to review, and his positive comments encouraged me to embark on my third studio recording in as many years. I've just released an album of original songs and will be spending most of my time and energy promoting it during 2014.

So while the DCB is taking a back seat, we will still be busy on our own projects and will be getting together from time to time to entertain you all with our 21st Century Skiffle