Happy Father's Day!

FREE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE NOW! 

Get your free copy of my song "My Hero" on Bandcamp. 

I wrote this song for/about my wonderful Dad - Fathers Day is just around the corner you know.... 

Hope you like it, let me know what you think! xx

http://meghannclancy.bandcamp.com/track/my-hero

NEW EP - LAY IT ON THE LINE

NEW TRACKS OUT NOW!!

Find my new EP 'Lay it on the Line' on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify.... all that stuff. CDs available to order from www.meghannclancy.co.uk

You can also read more about the artwork here, in a blog by the fantastic Inspire an Image Photography. 

MUSIC VIDEO

And check out the new music video for the lead track "Off Limits", made by the supremely talented Ben Holden (Fleetfoot Studios)

Hope you enjoy the music, feel free to drop me a line and share your thoughts!

Spring, Spring, Spring!

- Name that musical! (If you got my geeky show-tune title reference, congratulations. You are officially awesome). So, it's been a while since I last blogged (is that a real word?), it's about time for a little update!

Emma Stevens Support

First and foremost, some info on my next gig. I will be supporting the wonderful Emma Stevens when she comes to Newcastle on her UK tour. The gig is on TUESDAY 15th APRIL AT THE CLUNY. I'm really looking forward to seeing Emma and her band play live, watch the video below to get an idea of her sound.

Tickets are £12 on the door or £10 in advance - or I can sort you out with a sweet deal - get in touch on Facebook or email me at info@meghannclancy.co.uk

Grassington Festival

Another gig announcement - I will be performing at the wonderful Grassington Festival in June! Not only is Grassington my home town (home village?), but it hosts a fantastic arts festival for 3 weeks every year, this year headliners include Heather Small and The Boomtown Rats, as well as comedian Omid Djalili. 

I will be playing at the Octagon Theatre on Sunday June 22nd, at a variety evening with spoken word from Ray Snape, and more music from local legends Slack Alice. 

Check out the full programme and book your tickets NOW!

Baby of the Storm

My last few posts were all about my charity single, 'Baby of the Storm'. I am pleased to tell you that so far we (including gift aid), we have raised over £450 for the Disasters Emergency Committee! Thank you so much to anyone reading this who kindly donated to the cause, and anyone who watched and shared the music video, I hope you enjoyed it :)

BUT - it's not over yet. The DEC do some really invaluable work. One of their biggest recent appeals is the Philippines Appeal, which 'Baby of the Storm' is all about. However, any money donated will not go just to that, but to new and ongoing appeals, such as the Syria Crisis. To quote their website:

The DEC brings 13 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis: Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision; all collectively raising money to reach those in need quickly.

So, dig deep people!! If you would still like to make a donation, please visit my Virgin Money Give page. And if you didn't see the music video yet, here it is!

AND REMEMBER - if you donate, as a huge thank you from me, you get your very own download of the song.

Peculiar Disco Moves

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter (if you don't you totally should...) then you may have seen I have recently become the newest member of the band Peculiar Disco Moves. Described as "a bunch of North Eastern waifs and strays who form highly addictive pop songs with off-the-wall lyrical tirades", I've had a lot of fun with these guys so far! Already played a couple of gigs, I'm still trying to master swapping between tambourine, cowbell, and the shiny new synth they've lent me, whilst also warbling over the top and sporting an extremely sparkly disco ball-esque dress. The new single 'Lost For Words' is out on May 9th, and last weekend we shot the official music video, which features outfits and instruments in the style of various decades. 80s was particularly fun... Apparently my ability to keep a serious face is impressive. Must be those years of practice with my sister of who would win the game of 'whoever laughs first loses'.

I will of course let you know when the video is out! And if you can come along to the launch, it's May 9th at the Mining Institute in Newcastle upon Tyne. Keep an eye out for other future gigs too :)

Things are also going well with the Shoeshop Quartet girls, we may have seemed a little quiet as of late but we've been working hard on getting a new website together, which we will share with you soon along with some other little treats...

New Song Collaboration

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was approached on SoundCloud by a fellow musician, a producer based in Indonesia. We have been working on a co-write, which you can listen to a taster of here! 

It's been an interesting experience writing in a new way, and something I would like to do more of. Give it a listen and let me know what you think of it so far :)

New Live Videos

Courtesy of Musical Allsorts Presents, here is a new live video of an old favourite track from my debut album - Neck of the Woods. Check out their other videos, lots of talented people on their and well made films - they even do reviews and shop sessions now - if you're a musician based in the North East definitely get in touch with these guys!

And finally...

Two silly videos of me and Jen Armstrong. Jen is a SUPER talented singer-songwriter, and one of my best friends in the whole world. She came to visit me a few weeks ago and we got a little, shall we say... giddy. Children of the 90s, you will appreciate this:

And if you have no idea what's going on in this last one, shame on you... go and watch some Father Ted now. RIGHT NOW. I apologise in advance for my accent. I am in fact half Irish - which must be why I sound so damn convincing....

ENJOY! And I will be in touch soon. And hit me up about those Emma Stevens tickets - TUESDAY APRIL 15TH AT THE CLUNY! 

Bye for now :) x

Baby of the Storm - OUT NOW!!

Get it here!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MeghannClancy

I'd like to once again say a massive thank you to the people who have made it happen - Liam Gaughan for recording and mixing the track, Jonny from Softwhere for producing a spectacular video, Jon Paylor for his photographic contributions, and finally my Dad for sparking the idea and giving me an important starting place (the title)!

Here is the video - please share, and leave a comment to let us know what you think!

See the post 'words, words, words' for the lyric.

For those who are interested, here is some background of how I went about writing, recording, and releasing the song.

The writing process

It was hard to know where to start. I decided to do some research online, and immediately discovered a mass of heartbreaking stories - just type "Typhoon Philippines baby" into Google and you'll see what I mean. Stories of women having to walk for miles while in labour just to get to the nearest makeshift clinics, with few medical supplies, often with no power, clean water or proper lighting, some even without a roof, fighting against the consistent rain with only a tarp overhead. Stories of the struggle after the babies are born, like exhausted parents having to use a handheld pump to help their new born breathe as it is the only ventilation support available. But heartwarming stories too, of 'miracle babies', and the couple who named their son Yolando, the masculine version of Typhoon Yolanda - "it's because we don't want to forget what we had to go through and because we got another life" (father, Meller Balabog).

These stories had a huge influence on what came to be 'Baby of the Storm', as I have absolutely no personal experience of what life must be like in the aftermath of such a massive natural disaster. I don't have children of my own, but being an aunt and seeing my sisters give their children everything that they possibly can, to give them the best life that they can, provided me with the vital link that I needed to relate the stories to something personal. I have tried my best to put myself in the shoes of one of these mothers; it is always challenging to write from someone else's perspective, and this is certainly the most challenging song I have written so far. I have no experience of what life must me be like out there, nor do I have any children of my own; I do have several nieces and nephews though, so this was my strongest emotional connection to imagining a little bit of what these mothers, wanting the best for their child, might be feeling.

From there, I did some free writing, which led to my first chorus that I wrote sat on a train - it was catchy but horrendously cheesy. Still, a good starting place - a couple of the lines made it into the chorus as it is now! I started getting frustrated though, when I couldn't find anything to fit with the chorus that I had. So I played around with some chord progressions, and did a lyric writing exercise I have been experimenting with called 'object writing', which helps generate very sense-bound language. I ended up taking many of these initial phrases and using them to start each verse (such as "I wish the first sound you heard was laughter", "I wish the first face you saw was your father's", and so on). These phrases, along with the chord progression and bits of my original chorus, led to a brand new melody and the rest of the words. I wrote most of it sat on my bed and wouldn't let myself leave until I'd got it out!

Sadly, a more recent Google search has shown that the struggle continues into the new year for the babies and mothers born when the typhoon hit, and for pregnant women preparing to give birth now.

“Many [expectant mothers] have lost their homes. They are now living in unhygienic environments. There is still debris in many areas of Tacloban”

"The babies’ deaths were likely related to the health of their mothers rather than the lack of access to medical facilities… a shortage of adequate shelter and proper nutrition following the typhoon could have affected the pregnancies". 

Taken from an article by Chris Larano. Read in in full here.

Recording and Music Video

Once I had the song, just a vocal and simple guitar accompaniment, I left it at that to reflect the personal, intimate relationship between a mother and child. Now I needed to record the song, and who best to help than Liam Gaughan? He also recorded my album 'Take Flight'. Liam is a fantastic engineer, and also very sensitive to connecting the emotion of the song, which was of paramount importance in this case. We simultaneously came up with the idea for the tune at the start to be played by a music box, as it seemed so fitting. A bit of editing and mixing followed, and that was that.

Next up, I really wanted a music video, as a strong visual image could lend itself to an even stronger emotional connection to the song's message. If you have followed my music over the past few years you will know I have collaborated a few times now with 'Softwhere', on their songs and on my own. Rather than performing live, 'Softwhere' put their songs to video, and have produced some really interesting and moving videos. I couldn't think of anyone I would trust more to making a fitting music video, and thankfully Jonny agreed. We both decided it would be particularly powerful to include some real news footage from the Philippines. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain any video footage (copyright issues were an absolute nightmare), I did manage to get access to lots of fantastic photographs, I owe a huge thank you to Jon Paylor, a family friend who also happens to be a Royal Marine, and took loads of great photos when they visited the Philippines to help build shelters just before Christmas. And a big thanks as well to all those photographers who made their pictures available through Flickr Creative Commons (see video for individual credits).

Release

The next question was how to release the song. I have self-released music twice before - my single 'Neck of the Woods', and then my album 'Take Flight'. Both times I used standard digital distribution methods, paying a small fee to get my music up for sale and streaming on the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and so on. But this time I didn't want to do that, for a few reasons. First and foremost, I wanted the charity to get as much money as possible, without a sizeable chunk going to the stores (iTunes takes about a third, I believe). To further this, I also wanted people to have the option of how much they wanted to give, rather than pay a standard 79 pence. And, I wanted the charity to get the money as quickly as possible - as anyone who has ever self-released music will know, it takes several months for you to even find out how many copies you have sold, let alone get the money through for it. I also wanted people to feel secure about where their money was going - directly to the charity - rather than going through me first and then passed on. 

I did quite a bit of research into various options, and the best way to achieve all these requirements was to set up a charitable giving webpage, with the added bonus of Gift Aid. There are many to choose from, and I looked into a few - Virgin Money was high up on the list of the maximum amount going to charity, not that there was much in it, then what sealed the deal was the page layout and the connection with YouTube as I really wanted the option to embed the video on the page.

So, that's it - and you can now visit the page! If you donate as little as £1 (or as much as you like!), you will receive an automatic 'thank you' email containing a link to download the song. Any support is appreciated. We can all do a little bit to help these mothers, babies, and their families. PLEASE SHARE with others you think may be interested in the cause. Thank you for your support! x x x

Words, words, words

Baby of the Storm

I wish the first sound you heard was laughter

But the thunder overhead rumbled to your core

You were born amid panic, disaster

Forces of nature at war

I wish the first thing you felt was happiness

But there was fear and sadness all around

You should be lying in a cradle in the nursery

Not on a make-shift bed amongst rubble on the ground

But all you need to know 

Is that I am here to comfort you and keep you warm

And all I want is to shelter you

My baby of the storm

I wish the first face you saw was your father's

His hair was dark and his eyes were kind

But I don't even have a photograph to show you

He lives now only in my mind

I wish the first thing you knew was security 

You'd want for nothing and your needs were all fulfilled

But the life I planned has been swept away

I don't know what future we have left to build

But all you need to know 

Is that I am here to comfort you and keep you warm

And all I want is to shelter you

My baby of the storm

Darkness may be all around in this unending night

But you cast a light, you shine so bright

Yeah you cast a light, you shine so bright

And all you need to know 

Is that I am here to comfort you and keep you warm

And all I want is to shelter you

My baby of the storm

My baby of the storm

It wasn't meant to be this way

It wasn't meant to be this way.

© Meghann Clancy 2014

Baby of the Storm - to be released THIS FRIDAY - 24th January 2014.

I am excited to announce that my new single, to raise funds for the Disasters Emergency Committee, will be released in 2 days time!

On the day I will write a new post with details of where to get it, and where to watch the music video. Not long now....

It all started with a text...

Thu 14 Nov 18.48 

"Meghann you should write a song and call it 'Baby of the Storm' all the money to go to Philippines, what do you think?"

Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines on the 8th November 2013. The following week my Dad sent me the text you see above, after watching a news story about a baby being born amongst rubble in the aftermath of the storm.

What did I think? - Challenge accepted. 

So, all I had to work off was a title, but that was a start. 

I'm very pleased to announce that from that title, a song was born. I recorded it just before Christmas with Liam Gaughan (one of Newcastle's finest producers). Since then I have been working on the music video with massively talented filmmaker/musician Jonny from Softwhere. Everything is almost ready to go, and should be available in the next couple of weeks. 

I just wanted to give you a heads up, and once it's out there in the world please, please share it with everyone you can - all proceeds are going to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) - let's raise as much money as we can!

Details to follow about where you can view the video, donate and download the song.

We're all really excited to share it with you. For now, I leave you with an incredible photograph that we have been lucky enough to use in the video. Photo taken and passed on by Jon Paylor, just one of many he took on a recent trip to the Philippines with the Royal Marines. 

Watch this space...

Photograph ©Jon Paylor Royal Marines 2013