The calm before the storm

The question is, will there be a storm, or will it stay calm?
The Rocket Swing was made with a bunch of  Nova Scotians and with a guest from Toronto. And I am happy to announce that JeeWee Donkers will accompany me on various string instruments on the release party on February 1.
The Nova Scotians Christina Martin, Dale Murray and Brian Murray were busy with an album around the time we recorded mine. Christina Martin’s It’ll be alright will be released on February 24 in Canada and on March 20 in Europe. They will tour Europe in the spring and play my home town (!) on May 20.
Matt Epp from Toronto sang a guest vocal and recently released his EP Luma. He will tour Europe in the spring too and play at Live Stage Marnix in Ede on April 16.
And finally, JeeWee will release his new Live Poets Society album The Road Ahead with Peter Holen just before or just after this summer.
When you do the math, you can see why there will be a storm. Hold tight!

Christina Martin:
http://www.christinamartin.net/
http://www.theaterzaalspectrum.nl/programma/christina-martin-itll-be-alright/

Matt Epp:
http://www.mattepp.com/
http://livestagemarnix.com/

JeeWee Donkers:
http://www.sugarbeat.nl

Diftong:
http://www.diftong.nl

Hi-ho here we go

February 1 is coming closer and that will be the day! Mailings about The Rocket Swing release are buzzing around Europe. Requests for info are coming in. New connections are made on social media. And - I am so happy about this - the album will be for sale in the Lucky Dice webshop, which in my opinion is as close to Americana Heaven a person can get in this little country: http://www.luckydice.nl.
All this brings me to the question what to do with this blog, once the CD has been released? I think I will go on using it as an appendix to my newsletter. That way I can send fans short and factual news in an e-mail and write some background in this blog. I will shorten the title to "The Rocket Swing", leaving the link as it is.
Remember, as from February 1 The Rocket Swing CD will be for sale. It has been a blast making this album and I am so proud of it I almost burst.

What if...

There were stacks of CD's and vinyl everywhere. Between them was a desk and I sat on one side of it, thinking how to get The Rocket Swing into the right stack. We talked about possibilities for promotion of my new album. As far as I had any suspicions about what people call The Music Industry, they were not confirmed in this conversation over coffee and speculaas. I handed in my darling and asked for an opinion. The first “objective” opinion after all the praise from loved ones and fellow musicians.
Back home, I spent some aggravating hours with the nerve-racking What if ... question looming over me. Then my phone made the you’ve-got-mail-ping. And guess what? The e-mail said: “It's a good album. Well done. Congratulations.” Phew! That was a boost for my confidence. Now, I can’t wait to find out what 2015 will bring. In the meantime: MERRY XMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Love you all!

The cutting edge

My CD-collection is getting completely out of hand. The good thing about it though, is that you see how other artists do things. I found some good examples of how I wanted the artwork for The Rocket Swing. An all carton sleeve with two pockets, one for a CD and one for a booklet. So we went looking for a company that could make that. Easy, no?
We got some offers that made clear that sales department people had not even read our specifications. Well, we found companies in the US and Canada that can do it. But then we’d have to deal with shipping costs and import duty and all that.
We opted for a native manufacturer who needs a custom-made paper trimming knife to make what we want. Life is never easy, but there you go. I am just glad we decided to take our time and schedule the release for next February.

Like it or not

Today, October 27, I am releasing the song Dying of the Light. A song with the chorus by Dylan Thomas, who was born this day 100 years ago. The track is from my album The Rocket Swing, that will come out in February 2015 on Come Undone Records. The song is dedicated to Fleur Mainville who plays fiddle.
You can help us promote it by listening to the song or watching the video and:
Buy the song by dowloading it from bandcamp: http://diftong.bandcamp.com/
Like the video on http://youtu.be/WsSgtffcPTM
Like my Diftong page on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diftong
Share those links with your social media friends and ask them to do the same.
Tell your friends and family about the song and ask them to listen/watch.

Thank you.

Fleur

Things have taken a dramatic turn when Fleur Mainville who plays fiddle on three Rocket Swing tracks, was taken to hospital with serious health problems. This happened soon after the recordings were finished. Fleur had been treated for cancer before, but it returned and she has a real fight on her hands.
I am planning the release of a song about untimely death, a song that features Fleur. Which gives me an eerie and powerless feeling.
There is a "Friends for Fleur" event planned on October 29. https://www.facebook.com/events/835111796512334/. If you are living in Nova Scotia or PEI, go there. It features awesome music. And all I can do here is dedicate my song Dying of the Light to Fleur Mainville on the 27th. So that is what I am going to do.

Dying of the light

Two blog posts ago, my entry Wrapping up had it's picture modelled on a famous photograph of a famous person. I asked you who that person was. Nobody came up with the right answer. It was Dylan Thomas.
There is a song on The Rocket Swing called Dying of the Light. I was struggling with the chorus for this song, when I remembered a poem I had read in my Dylan Thomas Omnibus. I looked it up and saw right away that I would never be able to find words that were as good as his. So I decided to use his lines for the chorus. Which makes Dying of the Light a tribute to the work of this great poet.
Next October 27, we will release the song and a video to go with it. Dylan Thomas would have been 100 years old in 2014 and there is a celebration planned between October 27 (his birthday in 1914) and November 9 (his dying day in 1953).

http://www.dylanthomas.com/2014-centenary/