Hi there!


WHO AM I?
My name's Michael, I'm in my early 30's and am originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland.  I write my own songs, sing, play acoustic guitar, trumpet and a few other bibs and bobs.  A lot of my musical inspiration comes from my homeland and also from recent/contemporary Irish/UK artists - such as Brian Kennedy, The Corrs, Eddi Reader, Boo Herwerdine, Fairground Attraction, Van Morrison, Mark Nevin, Donal Lunny, etc. If you've heard of any of these guys, you're probably on my wavelength!  I also have various favoured Australian artists too, particularly 'acoustic' based performers such as Vika & Linda Bull, The Waifs, etc. 


WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE
One of my goals now is to start up a contemporary acoustic folk/rock band here in Canberra with leaning towards Irish artists and music.  The plan would be to play my own original material, but there would also to mix in covers by other similarly styled artists (such as the ones I've mentioned above).  Nothing too 'fiddly-diddly' though; I am more interested in the rock end of the spectrum when it comes to these artists, not the traditional folk end.


HAVE A LISTEN TO MY SONGS
On my website here, you can hear snippets of the recordings on my demo CD.  So please browse around, have a listen, and get a feeling for what I'm doing and what I'm into.  All the songs here are crappy home studio quality only and have been knocked up just by myself using whatever skills I happen to have and using the basic equipment tools I have in my spare room.  Any 'real' instruments you can hear are being played by me, and the rest is made up with 'fake' instruments playing parts I have sequenced on my computer.  All up, they sound pretty daggy and unprofessional, I know!  They're all rather quiet and restrained performances.  In essence, my aim with starting up a band is to take this sort of material out of the artificial environment of my home studio and get it into the real world with live musicians.  A lot of people have said my songs remind them of early Brit invasion rock/pop; but I dunno about that myself!

If you don't like my basic sound/style or material after listening to my samples, then I guess don't bother reading any further!


HOW WOULD IT WORK?
Most of all I want to have fun, share music with other like-minded musicians, and see where this can all go.  First up, I'd expect the main focus of the band would be to get together regularly (probably weekly) to rehearse and make music together for own enjoyment.  What we might then eventually achieve out in the real world gigging around town is something that could be decided later down the track after we see how it all comes together.


WHO AM I LOOKING FOR?
What musicians/instruments am I looking for to make up this band?  Well, anything and everything really!  All I have is myself so far, and my own guitar playing skills are fairly rudimentary.  So, I'm looking for the obvious - players of drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, etc.  But also anybody who's multiskilled and has talents on other instruments that would suit the modern celtic theme.  Backup vocals too.   Plus, I could definitely could use musicians with skills and ideas when it comes to writing/arranging  - as there would undoubtedly be opportunity for collaborative/co-operative efforts when it comes to taking my (and others) material and re-working it to suit the band's make-up.


SOUNDS GOOD, WHAT NEXT?
So, if all this sounds like something you might be interested in; pls drop me a line and tell me about yourself, and we'll arrange to hook up.  My email address is hazelglow@yahoo.com.

Thanks for dropping by! 

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