Hello 2013!

Happy "Belated" New Year everybody! 2013 has approached us! And to begin what I believe is going to be a great year, everything is coming together nicely for my next EP, "The Bigger Picture". There will be some special guests appearances, I cannot mention them for the time being but I can reveal that I will be in Mike Anderson's studio for the next month or so making finishing touches and the odd bit of experimenting with other instruments and tweaking here and there. Let's just say it's going to be a very interesting experience indeed!

A couple of weeks ago I played my very first show of 2013 supporting Matt Bonner. I will be playing my next show on Tuesday 5th February at The Cube in Brighton supporting Graces Collide! Please come on down, you may even hear some new tracks from my upcoming EP!

Merry Christmas and Goodbye 2012!

Well this has certainly been a rather eventful and busy year that has gone by so swiftly! But of course, this is only just the beginning, 2013 is going to be an exciting year! I have much planned and all will be revealed in the new year, video shoot, new EP and many more gigs to come!

I know I said in my last post that this would be my final blog of 2012 but of course, much to get off my chest before we wrap up 2012 before Christmas!

Firstly, a huge thanks once again to Gazz Marlow and Matt Bonner and Danny Dangerously and everyone involved with the past couple of Christmas shows in Brighton and Crawley. I always love Christmas shows and the Christmas ditties went down a treat indeed!

Secondly, for the past few weeks, I was answering a bunch of questions from Rock Britain, in the last week of this section last Friday, I was asked what my favourite albums were of 2012, I may have cheated slightly by saying a couple of EPs! Sorry but I do listen to a lot of those as well, please check out the section here. http://rockbritain.com/2012/12/21/in-collaboration-fin-autumn-ruin-the-lost-souls-club-lewis-mckale-part-4/ If I didn't state your album as one of my favourites of 2012 then I apologise dearly.

And last but my no means least, I did a photo shoot recently, Pat Blann, a very familiar name here of course! He is the very guy who produced my first EP, as well as helping me with some shows I was in and of course has taken a load of my photos and has done a recent shoot for me which you can see on my facebook page, please check it out. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.405388259541351.95023.129606233786223&type=3

Pat should pretty much become my manager! But he has a website for his new photography company, please check it out http://www.dayinthecity.co.uk/

And that's all folks, that's goodnight from me, you've been beautiful! Merry Christmas and Happy New year! See you in 2013!

Christmas Shows 2012!

It's that time of year again! Tis the season to be merry and to get into the Christmas spirit, I will of course be playing a couple of Christmassy shows. Did I say a couple?? Well to kick things off, I will be playing a small warm up set down The Cricketers in Worthing hosted by the lovely Chris Simmons.

I am pleased to announce that I will be kicking off the festivities at The Cube on Tuesday 18th December in Brighton supporting Gazz Marlow who is in the rock band INME. I am indeed very excited about this show, there will be other fantastic acoustic artists such as Matt Carpanini, Kane Le Lacheur, Paul Diello and Matt Bonner will also be providing musical interludes in between sets.
I myself will be providing the evening with a couple of Christmas ditties, I can't give away which songs I will be playing but if you want to find out...come down!
Did I also mention it's free?? For more info on the gig, check out the facebook page here.

And just to give a quick mention that Gazz is set to work on his next solo album, for more details, please check out his pledge page.

And then to conclude 2012 with my final gig of the year at The Black Dog in Crawley. A special acoustic night hosted by my friend Danny Dangerously with a huge line up of great artists all through the evening!
Don't miss it, check out the line up here.

What a way to finish 2012, I can only describe the last year as...up and down...but we can only go onwards and upwards and 2013 is going to be a very exciting year! Already much is planned, my second release "The Bigger Picture" EP will be the next step and much much more to come....
Did I also mention a new music video along the EP's release?? Of course, me and my good friend Rhys Bendix Lewis are working towards a new video for a track from my new EP entitled, "Those Were The Days". Rhys and myself have worked together many times and I am excited about this next one, it will be an epic adventure! You can find out a little bit more about Rhys on his brand new website

www.rhysbendixlewis.com

Hopefully just before the new year, you will also get to see a new set of photos that I had done by my other dear friend Pat Blann, please also check out his new photography company.

www.dayinthecity.co.uk

And that is all from me! See you in 2013! Merry christmas and happy new year! x

A Whale of a time!

I have plenty of updates, I am slightly behind with this internet lark and for that I apologise. So here come the updates...deep breath....

I would just like to say a huge thanks to everybody that came to the Hove Old Market for Whalefest 2012! Also a massive thanks to all the staff and technicians and organisers and everybody that had been working their arses off all day to put it together! And big big thanks to Luke Everitt for all his hard work and making this happen!

Also a huge thanks to all the other fantastic artists that played, Adam Lucas, You Me Tree, Nick Williams, Anna Rice and Jose Vanders! It was truly wonderful sharing the stage with all of them. Such a lovely bunch of people to work with and what a great turn out it was.
I managed to sell a load of "My Fathers Son" EP Whalefest edition CD's at the gig and raised quite a bit of cash towards the charity. A great success it was indeed. Especially when I came off stage and got told by one of the staff that as soon as I was done, someone came to the stall and brought a CD straight away! It's times like these I realise that this is where everything pays off! It's great to hear that people of the general public enjoy what I do and this is why I do it of course.

It was pretty much the biggest venue I've ever played too, I thought I would get lost but it was also amazing to be on that stage knowing that the likes of some of my favourite artists have also performed there such as The Cardiacs, The Vines and Supergrass.

I also had my own dressing room! This is so new to me, it was very different from playing in pubs and clubs where I just arrive at the venue and away I go. But I must say, this is probably my most proudest moment of my career, to have my own dressing room with a picture of a Whale with my name on it!

I'm so proud, it now hangs on my bedroom door at home! (Sorry, I had to steal it!)

Well it doesn't stop here folks, my next EP, "The Bigger Picture", is on it's way! But it looks like you may have to wait until next January for it..but like I said before, I want this EP to be perfect and all good things come to those who wait.

In other news, I did an interview a couple of weeks ago. My very first interview infact, I won't give it away but listening back, I do sound pretty nervous and all I can honestly say is that interviews are pretty hard! Especially trying to think of good answers! Please follow the soundcloud link below to hear the full interview.


And finally as mentioned from the interview, yes I will indeed be supporting Gazz Marlow from Inme at The Cube in Brighton on December 18th for a very special Christmas show! So being the festive season I will of course be playing plenty of Crimbo covers! I will of course mention more details in the next couple of weeks. See you there...with bells on!

Limited Edition, "My Father's Son" Whalefest EPs!!

On 27th October at Whalefest at Hove Old Market, if you come and find me, you can get your hands on one of these...

A limited edition of "My Father's Son" EP. They are £2 each but every penny goes towards the Whalefest charity!

It comes with a hand written track listing and written message by yours truly!

And of course it comes with an origami fish for you to look after.

Want one? Come to Whaelfest on October 27th at Hove Old Market, you better get to me quick as I only have limited copies! See you there :)

Oh did I also forget to mention? I will be doing a warm up gig at the World's End in Brighton on Sunday 21st supporting Matt Bonner! Aren't you lucky?! x

Whalefest 2012 and other bits and bobs!

I am delighted to announce that I will be opening this year's Whalefest Live event at the Hove Old Market n 27th October 2012! I will be playing alongside some amazing artitsts such as Adam Lucas and his band You Me Tree, Nick Williams, Anna Rice and Jose Vanders!

The event is only £7 and all proceeds go towards the charity! Click here for ticket info.
To learn more exciting things about this charity, please visit their website.

I can't even tell you how excited I am about this event, you will be hearing more from me very soon as I have much to tell on my forthcoming second EP. I won't give away too much but all I can say so far is that it will hopefully be finished by the end of this year and it will be entitled "The Bigger Picture EP". I am also excited about getting this finished to share with you all.

To wrap things up (before you crazy kids go buying tickets for Whalefest) please check out a review from the Folk Off Session I played at the Fiddler's Elbow last month, please check it out here.

Thanks to Brian McNamara for the photos, it was a great night and I highly recommend you check out FOLK OFF SESSIONS facebook page for future gigs, it's a great night you definatley don't want to miss out on!

Take of yourself and speak soon x

A first for everything...

I am pleased to be playing the FOLK OFF SESSIONS down the Fiddler's Elbow in Brighton. I will be opening this fantastic night from 8pm, to be followed by some fantastic artists such as, Yourgardenday, Stark and The Move-Ons! It's going to be down the Fiddler's Elbow and it's free! So what's your excuse?

This show also got a mention last Sunday night on BBC Introducing! My very first plug on the radio, please check it out... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7kh please also check out the fantastic track played by Yourgardenday also.

There certainly is a first for everything, whilst we're on the subject...My debut EP, "My Father's Son", has recently been reviewed! This is my first ever review and I got to be honest, I was so nervous about reading it but it's a nice review and it makes me happy that people from outside the UK enjoy it! please check it out, http://englishrockmelody.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/independent-outlook-lewis-mckale-my-fathers-son-ep-2012/

REES Ends The World, 26th August.

A bit of a late night blog entry here, I'll be playing my first ever festival tommorow afternoon from 4.30 at the World's End, Brighton!

It's been a weekend of music so far, please check out these great artists from the line-up!

I will be playing a couple of new tracks from my forthcoming second EP, which I am happy to say is all coming together nicely! Don't miss!

Little Known Session on Brighton Beach

Back in May, this was probably shot on one of the first of very few sunny days that we've had this year, so I thought it would be nice to cheer everybody up and remember that the British summer isn't always gloom and doom! This was a session with the very lovely Little Known Records, I am delighted with the video. Please by all means check out their youtube channel, there are many other fantastic sessions in the pipeline with other great artists, especially the session with Jacko Hooper at the Amex stadium! 

I also got a mention from N'Emerge Talent on their site about my previous stop motion video for "Where Have You Been?", please check it out via this link

Other news to come soon in regards to new music...but in the mean time, I have some gig updates, hope to see your lovely faces there!

29th July - The World's End, Brighton

31st July - The Pav Tav, Brighton

19th August - The World's End, Brighton

Giving INTO the Music! Saturday 9th June, The Loft, Brighton.

Tommorow afternoon I will be performing with an eclectic line-up of fantastic artists at the Loft, Brighton. I will be kicking off this event from 12pm. £6 entry but it's all in aid of INTO giving charity! For a very good cause indeed, I am privileged to be working with this company again to help raise awareness of helping provide education to those less fortunate.

But it doesn't just end there...I will be selling physical copies of my debut EP, My Father's Son, for only £2. But it's a limited edition version, hand crafted by yours truly! It comes with CD version of the EP, a hand written note from me and an Origami Crane Fly, much like the one that featured in my video for, "Where Have You Been?".

All proceeds go to charity, so please come down to the gig and don't miss out. All for a good cause people!

Where Have You Been? The Video...and my theory about Pie!

In the past few months, I have been learning about Origami and Stop motion animation, I have decided to take both those things and fuse them together and this video is the very result of this.

A lot of care and patience has been put into the making of this video and I can honestly say that I am happy with the end result. Even after layers upon layers of valuable cello tape being used and re-used then thrown away on the floor, sugar paper and origami paper being cut up, ripped up and screwed up..the question is, has it all been worth it? I think it's safe to say that the answer is indeed..yes!

I wanted this video to be almost like, a world being created, the background, environment, the animals, everything really! I really liked the relationship between the two main characters, the Tortoise and the Bird and how they meet friends on their adventure running away from a fire breathing Dragon! I was also interested in building the relationship between these two characters without dialogue and even facial expressions!  

This is all rewarding work and from all the comments and feedback given and particularly the last video, I would just like to say a massive thank you! You have all been very supportive and given honest and genuine feedback and without you all, this wouldn't have been at all possible!

Just to also give you all a heads up, I am working on another stop motion...again, not to give away too much, it will be a good 'un! Let's just say it will be my most ambitious work..but I think you will like it!

In other news...was in the studio last week and started work on two new tracks for Little Known Records upcoming album! they aren't finished yet..so just like when I'm making stop motion..you will just have to be patient I'm afraid!

To conclude this post...I had a bit of a thought the other day...I kept thinking about how people say that, "I have fingers in too many pies"...I don't really see a problem with this, I like pie! :) 

My Father's Son, the video.

After a lovely sunny day and much walking on the downs, once again, me and Mr Rhys Bendix Lewis got together to shoot a music video for the track, "My Father's Son". After working with Rhys on, "The Games We Play" and "Lights, Camera, Ransom", we both approached each other and we both agreed on the idea of a music video. And like the previous films, this was a lot of fun and because of the nature of the track, we felt we wanted to do something simple and honest. The finished product has once again gone beyond my expectations.

My legs were very sore the next day, (those hills were a lot steeper than it looks) but it was all worth it! I am very pleased with the end result, the video has a really nostalgic feel to it and the scenery is really beautiful.

It was fantastic working with Rhys as always but it doesn't end here, we have more plans in store! I will not be saying anything for now as I don't want to give away any surprises...

But what I can reveal, is that I am halfway through my next music video for "Where Have You Been?", another stop motion animation that I am excited about releasing!

I will also be recording with Mike Anderson from Little Known records in two weeks, the next month will be very exciting indeed!

Little Known Sessions, Mucky Duck, Brighton, 2nd of May

Keep this in your diary folks! I shall be opening but make sure you catch Lizzie Holt, Peter Bailey and Anna rice, all lovely artists who deserve your support. See you there x

From The Creators Of Lights, Camera, Ransom...

Just a quick update, things here have been a bit quiet but that will all soon change...

My legs have just about recovered from a lot of walking around, up and down the downs outside of London, I met up with a very good friend of mine, Mr Rhys Bendix Lewis, you may remember him from such shorts such as The Games We Play and Lights, Camera, Ransom! We met up to shoot a video for the track "My Father's Son", it's looking very good so far and in the next couple of weeks or so it will be available online for all to see.

Also on the horizon, I am halfway through my next stop motion, a video for the track "Where Have You Been?", it's coming along nicely and it's also helping me maintain my Origami skills! You will see what I mean in the next few weeks I'm sure, will keep you posted.

To round this little update off, to rest my legs from walking so many hills, I then ventured back to Brighton to rest myself on the seafront and did a small session with Little Known records! Videos coming your way shortly. I will also be heading into the studio with Mike Anderson in the next couple of weeks, so new material is on it's way!

And lastly, thanks to all of you who took the time to view my video for "Are You Listening?", good feedback all round. More vids to come, stay tuned!

Are You Listening?

A video that I've been working on for the past 3 months. It's been like climbing Everest, but it's finally over.
This is my first shot at stop motion, a lot of patience has been required for this but it has been really fun! Despite the often stressful times when things kept falling over or sticky tape not quite doing it's job, it has all been worth the hard work I put in.
I had an idea for the story in my head, I just kind of went along with what I could create and what resources I had around me, I feel as a writer this is what help me be keep fresh with ideas and to keep creative. I didn't know what was going to happen next, so even when I was making this, I was excited what was going to happen at the end!

The feedback has all been positive and this is what it's all about for me, entertaining people!

No toys were harmed during the making of this video...and no, I didn't eat that fried egg after I put it on Skeletor!

Another stop motion video is on the way, this time I'm putting my newly found love for Origami to use thanks to Bianca!

In other news, I will heading to the studio in May to record two tracks for Little Known Record's next compilation album. I am very excited to be working with Mike Anderson, who is a great producer and a great friend. The two tracks I am contributing are gonna sound fantastic and it will be a lot of fun. There will be some updates on that so stay tuned.
I also finished filming a music video with Mr Rhys Bendix-Lewis on the downs outside of London, was a very hot day but fun nonetheless. The video is in the process of being edited but will keep you posted on when that is finished also.

Thanks for reading and thanks for the support. x