This week has felt a little bit like two steps forwards, one step back! Although I have been really happy how things have progressed in some areas, in others I’ve just felt like things could have gone better… however I think you have to take the successes with the failures and just crack on!
Monday: Monday was a great day as it was my final college showcase performance! I performed a set of seven songs from upcoming album, Chemistry, including Poison with a live band. I really enjoyed performing and getting to show off my songs like that and when I look back on the videos that were taken during the performance, I look the most confident that I have ever looked, which feels like massive progress for me! Check out a clip of me performing Poison with my backing band for the night ‘The Phat Express’, below!
Tuesday: Tuesday was a college day as usual and I used my time to focus on mixing and getting vocals on my track, Alive. We did a studio session on mixing and sorting out the levels of everything roughly, which went well, but then when it came to putting vocals on, not everything went to plan! For some reason I just couldn’t get a good vocal performance and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind! Hopefully, next Tuesday will be a different story!
Wednesday: I spent most of the day finishing my college research project and then went to the driving range to blow off some steam! I also uploaded my Lead Me Down performance from my Liverpool Gig to YouTube 🙂
Thursday: I played golf, had a three hour nap (oops :O) and then got my college research project finished! I also updated my Thursday Twenty playlist on Spotify with all the artists I’m most looking forward to seeing play at Parklife this weekend! Check it out below:
Friday: Another day at college, this time focused on rehearsing with a new guitarist I’m working with for my cover gigs! We’re putting some really cool loop versions of chart songs together so hopefully it will all work out well. I also got banned from Facebook entirely for 3 days for ‘breaking copyright’ when I posted a 1 min clip of my cover of Shawn Mendes’s ‘There’s Nothing Holding Me Back’, which frankly I think is utterly ridiculous! Plenty of artists do covers to try and raise their profile, but now I can’t even send messages on my personal or business pages. What a huge overreaction from Universal Music.
Saturday: Today I saw Oliver Heldens, The Martinez Brothers, London Grammar, BBK, and Wilkinson… and I also rode the really high up swings!
Sunday: Sunday was filled with more great artists, including: Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Mura Masa, Wiley, Flying Lotus, Stormzy and Frank Ocean!
2017 marks the release of my new EP, Experiments, so I am aiming to be gigging as much as possible! I’ll be doing acoustic cover gigs as well as original gigs with my guitarist, so there is plenty of choice!
I hope to see some friendly faces at all the gigs and check out my Facebook page for details of open mics and radio appearances!
With my upcoming single release in November, followed by the EP release in early 2017, I am hoping to promote my new material as much as possible by playing it live! I have a few live shows booked for the upcoming months and I will also be playing as many open mics as possible, which I will post about on my Facebook Page.
If you want to catch me performing a live acoustic set, you can catch me at these venues on the following dates:
In April 2016, I was lucky enough to be able to perform at the Fallow Cafe, Fallowfield, as part of the iluvlive Manchester showcase event. This was a really amazing experience for me as it was the first time I had performed my original songs with a a live band. The crowd was so friendly and supportive, so it was the perfect place to debut my newest single at the time, Not Stupid Anymore. I felt extremely privileged to be performing alongside a group of extremely talented artists and to be invited to do such a great event! Below is a video of me performing my first single, Stuck In Limbo, live at the event.
If I’m being honest performing live isn’t something I find particularly easy! The feeling after I have finished singing is impossible to top and just such an amazing buzz…. but the nerves before, for me, are just dreadful. When I was younger I used to get so terrified that I would cry and run away and then have to sing after most of the audience had left! I finally managed to get over this and work my way up to bigger audiences when I was 17, which was great, but then I got nodules and went to uni, so singing took a back seat. Therefore, whilst I have been writing, recording and generally getting my EP and album together over the past few years I have been avoiding performing a little bit, but I know I need to get back in the game! There are just a couple of issues with this though:
1) I’m very scared and out of practice… (who knows if I’ll cry and run away?!)
2) The piano is the least portable instrument for open mic nights, small gigs and busking…. people with the guitar have it so much easier!
This being said I am currently looking for low pressure venues in and around where I live in Manchester to possibly perform a set in. I’m also considering just trying an open mic night or even karaoke just to get my confidence back up. Learning my songs on guitar is another thing on the to do list, in order for me to be able to just go and play a set anywhere, without having to lug my keyboard and pedal everywhere!
So watch this space…. hopefully I’ll soon be brave enough to be performing somewhere soon!
sally caitlin 