new elephant friendly url: http://sideshowmanny.wordpress.com

I'm not much of an activist, I don't think it's always a good idea for musicians to get too preachy, it's the thin end of the Bono wedge...
I had the sideshowmanny.com url registered through Go Daddy, however, after reading this article - bob-parsons-godaddy-ceo-elephant-hunt, I decided not to renew it with Go Daddy when the time came.
So I let it expire but Go Daddy still own the url (there doesn't seem to be an easy way to register it through another company at the moment).
Which means for the time being at least, the url for the site is: http://sideshowmanny.wordpress.com

It's more to type but at least no elephants will die in the process.

The Comeback Tour

Next Saturday night (the 18th) I will be coming back out of hiding and playing a set in Fubar in Clausen (It's between the Pyg and Maybe Not Bobs).

I will be playing a set and also Ross Steele (a fellow Scottish crooner) will be playing a set, both will be assisted by the able lead guitar skills of Eddie "Skippy (he's the best)" Leonard.

And that's not all! There will also be an open mic slot where local talents are invited to get up, sing a song, tell a joke, juggle flaming daggers or tame lions, whatever your talent may be!

So a full nights entertainment, which will kick off at 9pm. Feel free to spread the word, the more the merrier!

"Writing a New Score" on Dalecast #783

Back from holiday again to find that Steve's played another song, "Writing a New Score" on the show - merci buckets mon ami! ;)

The site - http://www.dalecast.co.uk/
The feed -

The show - http://www.stevenwheatley.co.uk/dalecast/episodes/dalecast783.mp3

Writing a New Score

My friend, Richie Babel, seems to be well and truly back to being his cocky little frontman self again but that's not the Richie that inspired this song.
This song was written from the perspective of the more pessimistic, downbeat Richie, when his band wouldn't let him sing or use his songs and he would say things like -

The other side of this though is that I now fing that when I'm writing something, I'm more likely to abandon it and discard it as another cliché, i.e. "you've been there and done that a thousand times ...".

And I find myself playing the chord that sounds best, looking for the next part of the progression and thinking "well, yeah, that's OK, but it's a bit obvious isn't it"

And my personal favourite :-D -

...you're mostly left with 1-4-5 and sometimes the minor second and a bloke that can't sing to save his life.
The same certainly goes for the entire album I wrote.

So here it is, "Writing a New Score", the first recording of the new guitar as well. hope you enjoy!