Artist Profile: Ayesha Pike

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Name: Ayesha Pike

Country: England

Instrument: Vocals

Genres: Jazz, Soul

Reverbnation

With effortlessly smooth vocals, this London-born vocalist has to have one of the most beautiful recording voices that I've ever heard. Superbly developed and flawless, her voice captivates and soothes you. 

She went to the BRIT school, known for training talents such as Amy Whinehouse, Adele, Jessie J. and Imogen Heap. She has a music degree, and is currently studying for a Masters in Jazz Performance. This girl is pure talent, and when I came across her Reverbnation profile, I was blown away. I could not believe that she had so few song plays, and so few fans. Hence, I had to do a profile for her. If you do one thing to day, make it be to listen to her fabulous music.

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Songwriting: Which approach to take?

People often ask me how I write songs and if I can teach them how to write their own. The simple answer is no, I can't. Songwriting is unique to each individual person. There will be many books and articles out there on how to write the 'perfect' song, but honestly? It's mostly complete rubbish. There is no single way to write a song every time. 

There are methods out there that say you should take a theme and write as many words as you can think of about this theme on a piece of paper before beginning. Some people do find it easier to do this, and then begin to figure their song out from there, but it is not always necessary.

One method can be to choose the title first. But then, you have to be sure that it is a title that means something to you. Writing songs for songwriting's sake is never going to make a good song. Good songs should touch people, and mean something to yourself so that you enjoy performing them. My song Your Only One was written in this way. I was sitting there, feeling sorry for myself and wishing I meant everything to somebody, when suddenly I thought 'screw this, I don't need anybody, I need music!'. So, I took out the ol' uke and sat down. I messed around singing and trying to find a chord progression that fitted with the tune and suddenly a song was born. 

In general, this is my preferred way of songwriting despite the fact that it has no structure. However, I have also used other methods, such as creating the instrumental part totally before the lyrics. This works because you can create a perfectly theoretically structured piece of music to mold your lyrics around. Helpful, because the music can serve as a huge source of inspiration as to the mood and theme of the words you choose.

There are many other ways that people use too. Sometimes the inspiration just hits you, and you can just write it straight out. Some songs totally write themselves. They key is, not to necessarily take a scientific approach to it. If you do that, your music will most likely be boring. Experiment, let the music flow through you. Often, I pick up my instrument and record me just randomly jamming and singing any lines that come into my head. Of course, this leaves me with recordings of nonsense, but they are like little pots of gold. Each of them has some line in that I can use somewhere, and often more than one. Just experiment, and see what you come up with. 

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Band Profile: Blackbeard's Tea Party

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Members: Dave Boston, Laura Barber, Martin Coumbe, Stuart Giddens, Tim Yates & Yom Hardy
Country: England
Hometown: York
Genres: Folk Rock /Folk/ Ceilidh
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Naturally I'm fond of this band because they're based in Yorkshire, but they happen to be fantastic too. I own both of their albums, have seen them live, and have a T-shirt. Yes I'm really that much of a fan. Anyway, I saw their performance at the Galtres Festival 2011 and I basically fell in love. As a violinist, Laura's performance inspired me completely. Even to non-players, jumping up and down whilst singing and playing long strings of never-ending quavers is certainly something interesting to watch. The interpretations of the traditional tunes are perfect, and fused with a bit of rock is certainly enough to make anybody want to dance. Out of all the bands that played at Galtres, I believed them to be the best. Their stage presence was electrifying.

They are available for events and of course, ceilidhs, and can form a smaller unit if necessary to accommodate whichever event or gig they are playing. Altogether they are a flexible group, and full of energy and life. Perfect listening for those who enjoy a bit of folk music. I highly recommend their new album, Tomorrow We'll Be Sober, which is available on Itunes.

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Artist Profile: Paloma Faith

Note: I do not own this photograph. Copyright infringement not intended; to be used for the sole purpose of education

Name: Paloma Faith Blomfield
Country: England
Birthday: 21/7/1985
Instrument: Vocals
Genres: Jazz, Pop, Soul
Labels: Epic Records
Website | Twitter

A fabulous part Spanish/English singer bred in the south of England, Paloma did a BA in contemporary dance and an MA in theatre direction. She has had many jobs - an actress, magicians assistant, performer in burlesque shows and of course as a musician. Her vocals are passionate and strong, drawing inspiration from blues, soul and jazz singers, but with a distinctive Paloma touch.

She is undoubtedly an inspiration to me. The way that she combines different genres into something unique is simply breathtaking, as is her dress sense. She oozes glamour and sophistication, but yet has a touch of the Lady Gaga about her. Eccentric, definitely. All in all, she is a very talented and unique musician.

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FFS, not ANOTHER blog.

Yes, cyber space is swimming with these things. Places where random idiots can tell you about their miserable existance, or pathetic losers can try to 'instruct you' on how to make your life better. Well that's not what this is. This is my rambling space, yes, but it's not going to be patronizing or 'instructional'. I mean, flipping heck, there's nothing I could really instruct in if I tried. How to dress weirdly, maybe? How to be a sarcastic, opinionated person who thinks hipsters should be shot? No. There are many other people who do that better than me. However, I do need a place to vent at the ridiculous things in this world, so, here. I plan to document my *cough* rise to fame *cough* life journey and musical experience right here.

Maybe I should tell you a bit about myself? Hm, yeah. But then me, ew. Ew, me. Who would want to know me? Ew.

I'm known as Astrid-Gwynedd, a Jazz singer topping the Reverbnation charts in Hull, UK. Yes, I'm British and I Northern England FTW.  I'm Catholic and I believe that everybody in the world deserves to be treated equally regardless of skin colour, hair colour, religion or background - excluding ginger people and southerners :P

I like Classical music, Jpop, Jrock, a little Kpop, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Ska and Swing. I don't like Anime much, but I love Jdramas. Fashion wise, I like anything bright and unusual, japanese street fashions, goth fashion, basically anything that stands out a little.

So that's all you need to know about me. If you like me, read on. If you don't, please get the hell out of my web space.

*Please note, any hate I show against southerners is just a friendly joke. Currently, I am dating a half asian southerner, so obviously I am not a racist towards southerners.

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