New website shop + other news!

 Hey everyone - nearly time for Christmas! I for one am rather excited, I have bought lots of cool presents for people, which I can't wait to give to them! Plus I'm also getting a new acoustic, a LOVELY Martin DXK2AE:

My new guitar - click picture to see it in all its glory! :)

 My first bit of news today is that I've changed my website store from Bigcartel to Bandcamp. Why, you ask? Well, Bandcamp I feel gives me that extra bit of flexibility, plus no limitations (Bigcartel is crippled unless you want to pay 10$ or more a month, which I feel is a bit extortionate.) The new shop can be found at http://marcreeves.bandcamp.com/ , this URL for the shop will soon be changed to www.musicstore.marcreeves.co.uk to help streamline the whole navigation process.

I've also updated a few bits and bobs on the website, so check it out at www.marcreeves.co.uk . I've added Facebook 'like' buttons to most of the pages, to make the place feel more homely for you FB nuts out there! :P

That's pretty much it, other I'm now on the bill for tonight's Christmas Acoustic Rooms show at the Rescue Rooms, Nottingham.

I hope you all have a brilliant Christmas and New Year!

All the best,
Marc.

PS. I almost forgot to add, I'm offering anyone who signs up to my mailing a list a 20% discount code off my album! Also if you can post this info on your facebook, blog, website etc, then you can get an extra 10% off! These codes can be redeemed at my online store ONLY, on both CD's and downloads. You will be sent the code by email once you have subscribed to my mailing list, or once you have provided proof (in the form of a screenshot or link to the post) of the info you have shared.

This offer will only be available until February 1st 2011, so get your vouchers now!

album is now out on iTunes!

Okay, so my album has been out on CD & Amazon MP3 since the 10th December, but today it was finally published on iTunes!

I myself am a CD man (and I do recommend getting a CD, I think it's a lot nicer to have something you can hold in your hands), but if zero's and ones are your thang, then you can buy it from iTunes here:

http://itunes.apple.com/album/perfectly-fine/id402513567?ign-mpt=uo%3D2

You can also get it from emusic here:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Marc-Reeves-Perfectly-Fine-MP3-Download/12219164.html

and Rhapsody here:


http://www.rhapsody.com/marc-reeves/perfectly-fine-2

and Amazon MP3 here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfectly-Fine/dp/B004B5PDD4/ref=dm_ap_alb1

It will be available on 7digital and Napster soon too, so look out for those!

Hope you've all had a good week,

All the best,
Marc.

What a night! The story of my album launch @ the Rescue Rooms' Acoustic Rooms...

So I Had an AMAZING night at my launch party last night - the whole thing was a resounding success and a great start to the launch of my new album, 'Perfectly Fine'.

The turn out was great, and it made me so happy to see all my friends, musician friends, and family all there supporting me and the other artists who played. I want to thank everyone who came so much, as you all made the night one to remember, and created a fantastic atmosphere - as did the support acts.

My friend Gerry Trimble opened the night with his Folk-punk (or anti-folk, if you like) music, pouring out his heart into his words and his energy into his playing, doing his own material, and even a nice rendition of Death Cab for Cuties 'I will follow you into the dark' (which is a personal favourite of mine.) He proved a great start to the night, and set the pace for the music to follow.

Gerry Trimble

Next up was Angelo Panzera, another good friend & awesomely talented musician. He writes beautiful singer-songwriter style material, that draws you in with his great vocal and use of chords/finger picky stuff. He does a wicked version of The Strokes' Someday (which he totally makes his own), which he played during his set, as well one of my favourites of his, 'The Traveller'.

Angelo Panzera

Jonathan Millett was after Angelo. This guy has been much talked about at the moment - and unsurprisingly so, with his brilliant Jeff Buckley meets Ray Lamontagne vibe, which was in full force tonight. Everybody kept asking me 'who's that guy?', and then I proceeded to rave about his music to them :P

Jonathan Millett

Lastly, before moi came onstage, The Golden Troubadours came on to wow everybody with their utterly serene, soul tinged vibe. They're a four piece acoustic group, with a bassist, rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist, electric/slide guitarist, and acoustic guitarist. I saw these guys at a gig at the Maze I did not too long ago, and haven't been able to get enough of them since. They are simply awesome!

The Golden Troubadours

  And so finally, I proceeded to do my thang! It being my album launch, and it being a lovely evening, I got totally lost in my performance and just went for it! It really felt like the best I've ever played, and the reception from the crowd was overwhelming, I was so humbled by it all! I even got two encored, which was awesome :) I also managed to shift quite a few copies of my album, which was great, and I got loads of nice comments from everyone.

 I did a mixture of songs from my new album, plus some new material I've written, as well as a couple of covers, including my rendition of Katy Perry's Hot 'n' Cold, Teenager in Love & On my Way by Ben Kweller.

Me! (Marc Reeves)

Many thanks to Danielle, Regan, Ellie & all the other people at the Rescue Rooms & Acoustic Rooms, for letting me do my album launch there, and putting their faith in me to put on a good show! I hope you all enjoyed the night :)

PS. I have two more gigs this week, one at The Greyhound in Beeston on Thurs 9th Dec & one on Friday 10th Dec at Ryans Bar, Derby. Both are gonna be awesome, so I advise you to come check them out, they are both FREE entry :)

You can find more details on those events either on my gig calendar (on this blog to the right) or on facebook @ www.facebook.com/marcreevesmusic

Pics of my new album + promo material. Excited? absolutely! :)

The copies of my album arrived the other day (snow related delays with the post meant they came late), just in time for my album launch party, and the official release on the 10th December, worldwide!

Here's what it looks like: (Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images)

 Also, here's some pictures of my new business cards and promotional flyers:

My launch party is this Monday (6th Dec) at The Rescue Rooms' Acoustic Rooms. You can find more about it in this post

New studio gear purchases

Just thought I'd do a quick post about some new gear purchases I've made. I recently bought some new monitors for mixing - the Alesis Monitor One MKII's, the passive model with the Alesis RA100 amp. These are great budget range monitors - not just for the money, although they are very well priced, at around £120 for the monitors and £130 for the amp. For the price they have a pretty neutral sound - there's not much low end here though (drops off at 40hz, so if you do sub-bass stuff you may want a subwoofer) and the top end is possibly a little hyped. The stereo imaging though is really good, and they seem pretty easy to mix on so far. Here's a picture:

 

I've also picked up a Trace Elliot Supertramp Twin guitar combo amp. This is an amazing sounding discontinued combo from Trace Elliot It has a valve preamp section with a solid state power amp section, and a very lush built in reverb, and an overdrive and distortion. I just love it for it's clean sound though, it's a very coloured, gritty tone that sounds great through my pedalboard.

As well as that I bought a bunch of rockwool slabs from studiospares, and made my own broadband absorption panels to treat the acoustics in my studio. It's gotten rid of some flutter echoes and deadened the room a little bit, so it sounds slightly roomy still but a lot tighter. I didn't want to go overkill with treatment, as I like a roomy sound, I just wanted to tighten it up by cutting down on the reverb a little.

Lastly, I bought a new pickup for my acoustic guitar. The Dean Markley ZH-1 I was using was OK sounding, but being a magnetic pickup, it was purely picking up the vibrations of the strings, so it sounded a little 'electricy'. My new pickup, the LR Baggs M1 active, is another magnetic soundhole pickup, but it is a special type of humbucker, that actually picks up the vibration of the wood as well as the string, so it has a more natural sound. So far it's been working great for live use :)

Perfectly Fine ALBUM LAUNCH PARTY, 6th Dec 2010

 

Acoustic Rooms Presents....

Marc Reeves' 'Perfectly Fine' Album Launch Party at The Rescue Rooms (Nottingham)

6th December 2010 - FREE ENTRY - 7:30pm onwards

Happy hour prices on drinks all night!

With support from:

The Golden Troubadours

Gerry Trimble

Johnathan Millett

Angelo Panzera

It's going to be an awesome night, really can't wait. You'll be able to pick up a CD copy of my album for £4, before the official release. I'll be playing you all some songs from the album, plus some new material I've been working on. All the supports are awesome, entry is FREE, and you can get my album early :) You can't beat that for value! So don't miss out on this one!

New album, 'Perfectly Fine', out December 10th 2010

So, I'm not doing very well at this blogging thing. I doubt I'll ever manage to regularly update it as I haven't really got the time. so here's a quick update for you:
My new album Perfectly Fine will be released on December 10th 2010, via my website, www.marcreeves.co.uk, cdbaby.com, iTunes, Amazon MP3 (here), and all other major music download retailers. It contains 15 tracks that have been recorded, mixed & mastered entirely by myself at my home studio over the course of a year. I hope you enjoy it :)

All the best,
Marc.

PS. The acoustic guitar has been finished for some time now, and I have been playing it lots. Turned out to be the right move re-spraying it, as it looks pretty nice, and still plays and sounds rather good. It's by no means a Martin or Taylor, but it's a very playable guitar which sounds very nice. In combination with my new LR Baggs M1 Active pickup I bought recently, it's a great guitar to gig with, which makes such a difference after gigging for so long with a rubbish guitar!

Acoustic guitar respray project

Okay, so once upon a time, my mother gave to me her acoustic guitar. It was a lovely sounding guitar that I wanted to play live, rather than the piece of rubbish I have been using! Problem was, this lovely acoustic guitar was all pink and sparkly. Okay, in itself there's nothing wrong there, but it's not how a true gangsta like me rolls! Something had to be done, or otherwise my manliness and street cred were at stake!
So, long story short, I decided to sand it down and re-spray it blue (well actually a warm red was my first idea.)
I forgot to take pictures at the start, and before I started spraying it blue, so I do apologise, but above are some pictures from when it was about half done. It's almost done now :) Just got to do another coat tomorrow, and then add the finisher, finishing coat thingy stuff. Hopefully the weathers okay, so I can get it done by tomorrow, or thereabouts.
I will post pictures when the guitar is done, and seeing as I have just invested (cough *ebay* cough) in a digital video camera, I will have to film some videos of me playing some stuff on it. I hope the tone is not destroyed :S
Anyway,
ta ta for now,
Marc.

New album 'Perfectly Fine' progress, out Dec 2010??

Well, for those of you that don't know, I'm working on a new album entitled 'Perfectly Fine'. It's a poppy, folky, slightly rocky, mellow album. It will feature around 14 tracks, maybe slightly more, maybe slightly less. I have written and recorded 20 in total.
It's all in the final stages of being mixed and mastered right now, with around 10 tracks already done. Once it's all mixed and mastered there will be plenty of referencing to do (after all the mix stage referencing I've done!) And yes, it's all been recorded, mixed & mastered by myself (hence why I have been going crazy the last few months!) I would not recommend this approach unless like me you are very interested in sound engineering and mixing. It is an endless struggle, although it is immensely rewarding.
Then after that I'll be shooting some photos for the album artwork with my good friend Simon Feerick (also the drummer for local Alt. Rock band Adarna, which, on a side note, if you ever see them on the bill for a gig, go check them out, they're great.) The artwork will then be printed and the Cd's will be pressed, as well as a digital release through iTunes and amazon MP3.
I'm shooting for a December 2010 release, but at this stage it's hard to tell if it will be before then or after that. I will keep you all posted anyway. I will be doing a mini UK tour if funding allows, and I will be holding an album launch party in Nottingham (no venue confirmed yet, I have several in mind.) At the launch party I would also like to showcase some of my favourite singer-songwriters of the midlands, although there are so many that I love!
Anyway, I'm rambling again, only meant to do a very brief update! I have a 18 songs to learn for a wedding I will be playing at with Mood Indigo (featuring Steve Pinnock, also one of the owners of Nottinghams' Central Music Venue and Bar!)
Off I go :P
All the best,
Marc.

2010 Update, video shoot and more :)

Well, it's been a long time since I last updated this blog (August 2009! :O), so I thought I should do a quick update on how my career is going etc.
I had planned to become a frequent blogger, and use this as my kind of central news hub or whatever you want to call it, but really I'm much more active on facebook nowadays :P Kinda funny since I used to hate it so much, but it's a really useful tool for musicians to network with.
Anyway, recently I had a video shoot for Nottinghams Evening Post. They do a monthly feature called This is Live on their website and in their paper on local musicians, and I managed to get myself a spot on there!
I did a live acoustic version of my song Shadows (which will be on my new album 'Perfectly Fine', more on that in a bit), and then had a short interview for the video. I also had some pictures taken, and will have a printed interview for the paper.
I will update this post when the video is up on youtube and the This is Live site :D Apparently it will take around two weeks for it to be done :)
It was quite a weird experience to say the least, seeing as I've never done anything like that before. I'm not sure how the performance will turn out, as I didn't feel totally comfortable, so I think I forced my voice a bit :S I think it went alright though, I'll let you be the judge!
One thing that annoys the hell out of me is that my nerves always seem to manifest themselves with DMS (Dry Mouth Syndrome), and so when I was doing the interview I had a horrible dry mouth, which always makes me feel self conscious! I'm still proud of myself for doing it though, and hope you all enjoy it when it's out, feel free to let me know what you think I did well/could have done better.
Also, I had a gig at The Bodega Social in Nottingham the other night, as part of their new Creative Notts sessions. It's a free live acoustic show, as part of Oxjam. The first one took place outside in the beer garden, and had a great atmosphere, and some amazing acts, including the fantastic Boat to Row as headliners. You can find some youtube videos online of their performance. I may link to some on here too.
Unfortunately for the show I was involved in things had to be moved inside, due to potentially bad weather and other reasons. It still didn't hamper the mood though, there was an awesome vibe going on and some great acts, in particular I was very impressed with Cecille Grey. Local Math/Prog/Metal/Hard to define rockers Ocean Bottom Nightmare pulled off a great acoustic set, which was a considerable feat considering their genre. Liam o Kane provided some Ska/Reggae infused acoustic tunes, all lead by his fantastic voice! The guy can really sing!
My set went pretty well I think, although my rather terrible acoustic was annoying me to no end! I have a great sounding Freshman acoustic, which was given to me by my mother. I don't use it live though as it is pink and sparkly (haha)! I was thinking of buying a new acoustic live to replace the crappy one I'm currently using (some budget Stagg that I won back at college), but then I thought why not re-do the paint job on the Freshman?
So that is what I'm attempting to do! I have sanded down the first layer of the finish, and am going to re-spray it. I think maybe a dark glossy red or something. Any suggestions would be appreciated :D
Anyway, I'll probably post some pics of the guitar when it's done, but for now, I'm out!
Thanks for reading (if you got this far :P)
Marc.
www.marcreeves.co.uk