ALPACAS, CHOCOLATE BARS AND SERVICE STATION STOP-OFFS

With so much happening and so little time to write about it, I thought a little summary of the past week's events and a little update on some of the experiments was the best way to tell you about the first official tour week of 10,000.

The week saw me visit so many counties in Ireland, not necessarily stopping off in all of them but I have performed or stopped off to promote in Dublin, Tipperary, Monaghan, Wexford, Cork and Louth since my last post. The 1,000 kilometres travelled experiment is already well over 1,000 and with visits to Galway, Donegal and possibly Antrim this coming week, the experiment is going from strength to strength. Whilst being on the road is expensive, (diesel, food, tolls), nothing beats getting out there, talking to people and being able to perform for them or even just tell them about 10,000. I have just accepted that I cannot afford to be embarrassed about handing out flyers with my face on them or sticking them to random notice boards, doors and walls wherever I go!! The last place I got to stick one of my flyers is on the noticeboard in some fairly stinky mens Gaelic football club changing rooms in Monaghan!!!


Have you seen this face...!!


I got to perform at the legendary Ruby Sessions in Dolyes Pub in Dublin during the week. I had waited so long to be invited to perform that I actually built the sessions up in my head and on the night didn't perform to my best, which was dissappointing for me but I accepted that there will be good days and bad and that performance for me just wasn't up to scratch. A few hours of frustration then I let it go.

Ruby Sessions Website

Ruby Sessions Performance

 After a few hours sleep in a questionable 'hotel' in Dublin west, we were on the road early to visit C103 in Mallow. There was a storm warning issued but it didn't cause us any bother except for a few big puddles on roads into Mallow and Fermoy. C103 were one of the first radio stations to play 'Moody Blues', my first single. I always feel my late grandparents are looking after me, getting so much play in their home county. I feel part Corkonian so it was great to get down there to say hello and thank you.





Me and Colum McGrath C103



We were straight back in the van by 12pm and on our way to Wexford. I called into say hi to Tony Scott at South East Radio who again have been supporting my music since the very start. I can only imagine how difficult it is sometimes for head's of music deciding on what music to playlist, especially coming from independent artists who may not ever have been heard of in their locality. It takes a lot of courage to take a gamble on someone unknown so I am always very aware of that!



Me and Tony Scott South East Radio



On Wednesday night before I performed at the Sidedoor Sessions in Wexford's 'Chocolate Bar', I listened to singer/songwriter 'Charlie McGettigan' feature 10,000 on his radio show as his CD of the week. I had a lump in my throat listening to a writer I always admired talk about my music so highly. I have great belief in my ability as a songwriter but it just brings it home when someone so experienced makes a point of letting his listeners know so much about me. We drove home after the gig in Wexford, at which stage we were exhausted and tired of service station tea and deli grub!

There was lots of admin catching up to do on Thursday morning so not much time for rest. There were lots of emails awaiting responses and still some CD deliveries and posting out to do. I also popped in to the drivetime show on Dundalk FM for a chat and a song. The rain poured out of the heaven's on Thursday night as I rehearsed with the boys in Drogheda. I love rehearsing and getting into the songs, working out new ways of delivering them and hearing them performed as a group and not just alone as I would more regularly hear them!

On Friday, I had another private function to perform at in the afternoon, which was a good distraction from 10,000 for a few hours. I was a little nervous ahead of my gig at the Spirit Store as I had discovered during the week that the gig I had organised could not go ahead as planned due to the venue renovations not being ready in time. The gig suddenly became a free acoustic set in the bar downstairs and it took a little bit out of me to get my head round the fact that my 'hometown' gig was not going to be what I had hoped for. To my surprise, it was actually a super night. Myself, Dave, Aaron and Tadhg worked with what we had to work from in a confined space and put on a really good show. Lots of people turned up and it really was just like singing the set in someone's sitting room. The atmosphere in the room was electric and we had a great night all round. The nice thing being that a lot of people turned up to the bar not expecting entertainment and found themselves involved in the gig. We sold loads of cd's and the feedback was brilliant! The best part of the night where the moments when the audience were singing my songs with me!! Couldn't believe how many people knew the words..

There wasn't much sleep before we were on the road to Longford to visit Charlie McGettigan who asked me to be a guest on his Saturday Show on Shannonside Northern Sound. I was feeling very very husky and my vocals were weak so I had three cups of honey and lemon before I left the house. I actually don't like the taste of honey but it certainly helps. Some chewing gum and warmish water also helped improve things along the journey. I sang three songs on Charlie's show much to my surprise as I didn't believe my voice was going to hold up!

Me, Charlie McGettigan and guests!

From there we meandered the roads of Co.Cavan and Monaghan to get to the Tydavnet Show in north Monaghan. We made the mistake of going through Cavan town on the way and the fleadh traffic delayed us by about thirty minutes. It was a beautiful day and the same has to be said of the people at the Tydavnet Show. They went out of their way to say thank you and make sure I was looked after. Thanks to Joe who made things easier for me too by keeping his PA set up for me to use. I got chatting to country performer Brendan Shine who said he heard me performing on Charlie's show on their way to Tydavnet so he gave me a great plug when he started his performance. I got to wander round after my performance and spend some time chatting to the locals. One little girl spotted me, which was a weird moment and her Mum called me over. They told me that 'Moody Blues' is a great 'milking' song and that for me was the best moment of the week!! I left Tydavnet with my faith restored in the kindness of people and the reminder that it's the simple things that count. I got to pet an 'Alpaca' while I was there too and took home some home-made local Irish whiskey marmalade and pineapple chutney courtesy of 'Pollocks Pickles' Co.Monaghan! Yum!!!

The 'alpaca' I met in Tydavnet!

On a final note for this week, the success of 10,000 is going from strength to strength. I have managed to achieve 735 broadcast minutes from airplay and interviews and live performances. 'Something Has Changed' had 23 plays on regional Irish radio over 3 days alone!! Newstalk 106 are going to give it it's first national radio spin this week so looking forward to that. The 1,000 kilometres travelled is getting smashed and 1,000 live audience is doing so well, already at 620. So things are great and having a little bit of rest today gives me a chance to recharge the batteries for week two!

Till next time xxxx

THE BATTLE

It's the end of week 8 in the 10,000 project and whilst I know as well as everyone else how time flies, it is really hard to believe that I am two thirds of the way through the project!  There have been a series of highs and lows over the last few weeks and sometimes easier to avoid updating the blog than having to try and condense it all into a few paragraphs..

For those of you only coming to the blog for the first time, 10,000 is the title of my debut EP, officially released on August 10th and it is also the title of the project I have created to make the release a little more interesting and successful. The overall concept is to bring the EP to the attention of 10,000 people through 10 smaller experiments. All of it is inspired by Thomas Edison who said "I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work." For me, success in the music industry is all about having great music and great ideas and of course luck. I have faced the fact that having a lot of money is going to buy opportunities regardless of the standard of what I produce. I am not in a position to buy my way in so I have to think of other ways of building interest and support for my music. This project has its supporters and it's critics. That's how it should be..

Here are the 10 experiements and a little update on them:

1. 1,000 SALES - There were 200 pre-orders of the EP before it went on sale as a download last Friday. I spent the last few days of last week getting those 200 out (post and deliveries) but have no idea yet how many have been downloaded since the release on Friday as the sales reports take a week or two to process. I sold an additional 10 physical copies since Friday. Long way to go so will have my work cut out for me to really sell hard at gigs, on the road etc..

2. 1,000 KILOMETRES - Currently stands at 250kilometres. This experiment got off to a start two days ago when I travelled to Clonmel to gig at the Clonmel Busking Festival. We drove down in the evening and came back up afterwards as I had a wedding to play at on Saturday afternoon. With a gig in Dublin tonight and a visit to Cork and Wexford this week, I am confident we will have reached 1,000 kilometres travelled by next weekend. It is important to note that it is essential to make the most of the distance travelled by advertising the project as we go. I am going to organise branding of the vehicle we are travelling in with the 10,000 info to make the most of every 'traffic' opportunity. I have also organised flyers to hand out along the way and at stop offs etc..

3. 1,000 LIVE AUDIENCE - Currently stands at 230. This experiment only kicked into action at my London Olympics gig last week when I performed in Olympic Park on the Bandstand/Spectator Experience. It is difficult to put an exact figure on the audience but to say there were 150 people is a very fair amount. I got to perform all tracks off my EP and was my very first gig in the UK so it was a good start. We did a headcount of 80 people on Friday night when I performed in Eldons Bar in Clonmel. 

4. 1,000 NEW FACEBOOK LIKES - My singer/songwriter page on FB had 840 'likes' when I started the project. It currently stands at just '868', an increase of 28, which is a disaster really. I have found myself posting less and less on my page when I should be posting more I suppose but the FB page 'posts' policy changed just I began this project and it may be a case that the only way to achieve this target is to pay to advertise my posts. I hope to achieve it by genuine interest and support so hopefully over the two weeks of the tour I can build on thisfigure and then see where I stand in the last 2 weeks of the project.

5. 1,000 NEW TWITTER FOLLOWERS - Currently at 230 on this experiment. On twitter, you notice that spam twitter accounts start following you and just as quickly unfollow you. There are also ways and means of getting yourself instant followers. A lot depends on how much time you spend on Twitter making contact and asking for RT's. I know I haven't been giving it sufficent time every day although I also want to build this up through genuine interest and support and I am still confident it can be achieved in the time frame.

6. 1,000 BROADCAST MINUTES - Currently stands at over 500 mins. (around 520 mark) This experiment really has renewed my support of some Irish radio stations who really do all they can to support new Irish music and it was the experiment that concerned many people in the industry who gave me feedback when I launched it. As a member of IASCA, I am very aware of the debates that Irish radio does not support it's own independent acts. This is very true of some of the bigger stations. However, the good news is that there are lots of community, regional and local stations who are only too happy to introduce new music, playlist it and or organise interviews with you! To know that since the launch of this project, I am well over half way there to 1,000 broadcast minutes is something I am really proud of!

Thanks to Kildare TV who added to that figure this week:
KILDARE TV INTERVIEW

7. 1,000 WORDS PUBLISHED - This target was reached by the second week of the project and continues to generate interest. I will do a final total of words publised at the end of the project to see how much it was surpassed by.

8. 1,000 FACES - Lots of work being done on this as we speak now that the tour is underway. I have about 900 faces to photograph over the next 4 weeks!!! The good news is that some large groups of people have expressed an interest in getting involved so going to be out in force hopefully taking the photos of sports teams, dance groups, knitting classes etc etc.. It's a lot of fun and looking forward to getting stuck in!

9. 1,000 ARTISTS - I made a decision to delay all work on this until the tour is over. There is a lot of time invoved in this one and will need a clean few weeks, where I am not on the road or preparing a release. It has been started but I felt it important to tackle it all in one go at a later stage in the project!

10. 1,000 YOUTUBE SUBSCRIPTIONS - I actually don't know what to say about this one. I really wish I had chosen something else!!!!.Not being an active youtuber I think I got this one very wrong. However, I know that with some thought and some creative ideas, it may be an experiment I can find a solution too...


Well that's the project up to date! There are some flourishing experiments and some failing.. I have put myself under a lot of pressure, which some days I find overwhelming. However, I am stubborn, possibly unrealistic at times. While I use my head the odd time, I follow my heart mostly. Only time will tell which of the two have the greater impact..

Till next time, thanks for reading xx