This is just a short message to give you all a little mp3 Christmas present and to wish you all a Merry, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – all the best in 2010!

I played a few songs on the very first Alison Curtis ‘Christmas Party’ show on Today FM last week – we all had a blast – and here’s a seasonal mp3 to give you a taste of how the whole thing went:

Link: I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake

I took this from the stream, so the quality isn’t great, but I might have it pristine for next year

Mind yourselves people.

B.

Today FM are great in fairness to them.  They had ‘Breakdown’ as the song of the week on the Ian Dempsey show the end of November and now meself and herself are heading in the Alison Curtis ‘Christmas Special’ show* the 17th December. She’s doing the mince pies etc (herself is, like, not Alison), and I’m doing the tunes.  There will be a small studio audience and Christmas cheer will no doubt abound.

Go Christmas!  Yeah!

*I was hoping they’d call it something funky, like ‘Alison & Eds Happy Christmas Hoe-Down’, but they don’t seem keen on that for some reason. Or maybe they’re just crrrrraazy busy and don’t have time to be answering dorky suggestion emails from me.

ANYWAYS!

I’m doing two of my own, and two Christmas tunes also. I’ve picked one of the Christmas tunes, but have no idea what to do for the second one.

So. Open to the floor. What do you guys think I should do?

I presume I’ll be able to record the thing somehow, so for those of you who aren’t able to tune in we can get it up on the web for your listening pleasure.

All good here with the Billy Coleman experience, I’m busy dusting off various pieces of equipment that haven’t seen much use in the last few months, but pretty soon, I’m going to be back making some new tunes. Oh yes. And I’m looking forward to it too…

In the meantime, things have been fairly slathered with graaaavy in a pretty good way with the new ep and ‘Welcome to the Breakdown’. I’m doing another few radio things over the next few weeks, but it seemed to react well to being Ian Dempseys ‘Song of the Week’ there last week, even though some listeners thought it sounded like Madonnas ‘Material Girl’.

Seriously. See what you think…

Some people are craaaaazzy.

Totally epic song to be compared to of course. Always knew I had great taste!

Anyhoop, in the meantime, I’m embarking on another ‘3 gigs in 3 days’ adventure, and hope especially that those of you in Dublin can make it out to the Academy 2 gig this Saturday (28th).

This’ll kick off a series of dates I’m doing with Roesy in particular. A true gentleman, not to mention a great songwriter, I encourage you all to check him out if you haven’t already – http://roesymusic.net/ – dude uses the same WordPress theme I do! Excuse me while I nerd, nerd, nerd, neeeeerrrrrdddd….

Anyway, live dates:
Dundalk – 27 Nov 2009 20:00 The Spirit Store – Supporting Juliet Turner
Dublin – 28 Nov 2009 20:00 Academy 2 – Double Headliner – SINGLE LAUNCH TOUR w/ GDC and Alan Marshall
Dundalk – 29 Nov 2009 20:00 The Spirit Store – Supporting Roesy – The Spirit Store
Kinsale, Cork – 13 Dec 2009 20:00 The Spinnaker – Supporting Roesy – The Spinnaker
Clonakilty, Cork – 15 Dec 2009 20:00 De Barras – Supporting Roesy – De Barras
Cork City – 16 Dec 2009 20:00 An Cruibin – Supporting Roesy – An Cruibin
Cavan Town – 4 Mar 2010 20:00 Chapter 1 Cafe – The Acoustic Corner

Over and OUT. For now. Watch this space for more awesome radio stuff that people are talking about, but not confirming and swearing on their mothers graves will DEFINITELY HAPPEN. Yet.

B

Thank you one and all. You rock !

You Rock !

It’d be great if we could get some more people to play it though, so, if you’d like to help out, you can do so by requesting the song from the following text numbers.

Today FM: 085 4100102
RTE 2fm: 51552

Regional Commercial Stations:

4FM: 53544
Beat FM: 085-1029103
Spin South West: 085-7102103

Local Radio Stations:

98FM: 53981
Cork 96FM: 085-7379696
East Coast FM: 083-3399103
FM104: 087 6797104 / 53104
Galway Bay FM: 085-7700000
KCLR 96FM: 083-3039696
Limerick’s live 95FM: 085-1719595
LMFM: 085-1000958
Phantom 105.2: 083-3111052
Q102: 085-7102102
Red FM: 083-3173336
Spin 103.8: 085-7111038
WLR FM: 083-3333975
Newstalk FM: 53106

And obviously, then you’ll Rock too.  Fact.

You Rock !

The new single ‘Welcome to the Breakdown’ is hereby released !  What fun…

It’s all about getting laid off and spending the ill-gotten-gains recording and making music.  You can buy it by clicking on the download link on the music widget you can see to the right of the screen or, if you’re in ROI you can buy by texting ‘music 4175′ to ‘57501′.  Texts will cost €1.

Everyone who buys the single will get two bonus tracks.  Simply mail your receipt/pin number (depending on whether you bought by widget/sms) to admin[at]bcoleman[dot]com.

As it’s a somewhat recessiony kind of a tale I put together a flash video to go with the song.  It features Brian Cowen, man boobs, the invention of NAMA, a strangely Star Wars-y like Banker creature, a new Super Hero for the Times We Live In and builders arse (blink and you’ll miss it).  Oh, and there’s ninjas.  And a dust up – along the lines of the gunfight at the OK Corral, only the offensive weapons are hurleys and sliothars.  Those poor ninjas didn’t stand a chance…

It’s come out a little clunky, by virtue of the fact that I gave myself a month to figure out how to use Flash.  Not because I like putting myself under pressure or anything, it’s just that’s how long the free trial of Flash lasts before you have to hand over some serious wonga to Adobe for the full version.

Funk that for a game of soldiers…

Anyway, warts (and there are many, many warts) and all.  Here’s the vidjo.

Finally, I’m doing a fair few gigs over November – full listing here.

We’re still beavering away on this stuff, but seeing as I’ve been quiet blogwise for far too long I said I’d fire on in an update of where things are at at the moment.

The new single, ‘Welcome to the Breakdown’ will be released October 30th on downloadmusic.ie. If you’ve caught a gig of late you might remember that this is the one about getting laid off and shouting “HALLELUJAH” at the thought of finally having time to finish off your second album . Details on how you can buy the single at the bottom of the post.

Speaking of gigs – here’s a few, more to follow over the coming days…

• DUBLIN – Wednesday, October 28, 2009 – Zodiac Sessions Halloween Party @ Bruxelles – Harry Street, D2. Set: 10:00 PM
• DROGHEDA – Thursday, October 29, 2009 – The River House – Marsh Road, Drogheda, Co. Louth. Set: 10:00 PM
• DUBLIN – Tuesday, November 10, 2009 – Ruby Sessions @ Doyles Pub – Fleet Street/College Green, Dublin. Set: 9:00 PM
• SLANE – Thursday, November 12, 2009 – Boyles, Slane @ Boyles – Main Street, Slane, Co. Meath. Set: 9:00 PM
• DUNDALK – Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 – The Spirit Store Downstairs – Georges Quay, Dundalk, Co. Louth. Set: 9:00 PM
• DUBLIN – Saturday, November 28, 2009 – Double Headliner @ Academy 2 – 57 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. Set: 8:00 PM

If you happen to catch a live gig currently there are pre-release copies of the new ‘Black & Red’ EP available, containing ‘Welcome to the Breakdown’ and a few other aural goodies. The EP will be available from mid-November from iTunes etc.  Here’s the artwork, which may ring a bell with some of you, apart from the colour that is… .

TO BUY THE SINGLE:
Text ‘music 4175′ to ‘57501′ to purchase* a pc download** copy. You can pre-order these and it’ll be fired on to you on the release date.

*Texts cost €1, which includes operator revenue share.
**To download direct to your mobile text ‘music 4175 m’ to ‘57501′.

Hope you’re all keeping well and looking forward to the onrushing winter. If that’s possible. Anything’s possible if you try hard enough. I think.

Three items for your attention !

1. Gigs – September
2. EP – coming atcha. Real soon !
3. For those of you who missed it – T-Shirts !!

First things first…

I’m off on a jaunt around Ireland over the next few weeks, trying out some new live things and ironing out the cracks in some others. If you feel like partaking in the jollility, the dates are as follows:

• Clonakilty – Wednesday, September 2, 2009 – The Sitting Room Sessions @ De Barras – 55 Pearse Street – Set: 9:00 PM – Tickets: €5
• Cork City – Sunday, September 6, 2009 – Cheeky Sunday Social @ The Slate – Tuckey Street – Set: 9:00 PM – Tickets: FREE
• Dublin – Tuesday, September 8, 2009 – Ruby Sessions @ Doyles – Fleet Street/College Green – Set: 9:30 PM – Tickets: €6
• Dundalk – Tuesday, September 15, 2009 – Supporting Dave Geraghty @ The Spirit Store – George’s Quay – Set: 8:00 PM – Tickets: €13
• Mullingar – Thursday, September 17, 2009 – The Yukon Bar @ The Yukon Bar – 11 Dominick Street – Set: 9:00 PM – Tickets: FREE
• Dublin – Sunday, September 20, 2009 – Amnesty Fundraiser – The Button Factory – Fade Street, Temple Bar – Set: 8:00 PM – Tickets: TBC
• Cork – Tuesday, September 22, 2009 – Fred Zeppelins – 8 Parliment Street – Set: 9:00 PM – Tickets: TBC
• Limerick – Wednesday, September 30, 2009 – The Articulate Sessions @ Bakers Place – Tait Square – Set: 9:00 PM – Tickets: FREE

There will be a new ep in the very near future. Things are being designed and ordered mastered and purchased to bring this to reality as we speak. Those of you familiar with my urges in the direction of spray paint splotches will be pleasantly surprised ! More splotches on the way ! There will be four tracks on it:

1. Welcome to the Breakdown
2. Crossfire
3. Didn’t Mean to Make You Cry
+ Secret Bonus Track

You’ll have to buy it to find out what the bonus track is…

Ooohh the suspense…

In the merchandise stakes, should you be so inclined you can now avail yourself of a specially designed bcoleman.com t-shirt. They look delicious. Check ‘em out: http://bcoleman.lightholderproductions.com/shop.htm

That’s about the size of it. When more excitement happens, you’ll be the first to know. Though, if you follow me on twitter (@_billcoleman) or fan me on facebook (www.facebook.com/billcolemanmusic) you’ll probably find out even quicker. If that’s possible.

Anything is possible, really… Whoop !!

B

Available in Male (S, M, L & XL) & Female (S, M & L) cuts.

You can lay your paws on one of these beauties by clicking the image above, which will take you along to the Shop on bcoleman.com where you can do the whole Credit Card/Paypal thing (make sure you enter your size requirement in the ‘notes for seller’ box thingy).

OR

You can catch me at a gig, that way you can figure out which size will fit you best in person, so to speak.

At the moment, here’s where I’ll be over the next little while. For those of you in Dublin, the Bewleys show is TONIGHT ! I’ll be on about 9:15 if you’re around.

• DUBLIN – Friday, August 7, 2009 – Supporting Brian Canavan @ Bewleys Cafe Theatre – Grafton Street, Dublin Tickets: Pay What You Like
• DUNDALK – Wednesday, August 12, 2009 – Tall Poppy Club Anniversary @ The Spirit Store – Georges Quay, Dundalk, Louth Tickets: TBC
• CLONAKILTY – Wednesday, September 2, 2009 – The Sitting Room Sessions @ De Barras – 55 Pearse Street, Clonakilty, Cork Tickets: €5
• WATERFORD – Thursday, September 3, 2009 – The Candlelight Sessions @ Phil Grimes Bar – Johnstown, Waterford Tickets: FREE
• CORK – Sunday, September 6, 2009 – Cheeky Sunday Social @ The Slate – Tuckey Street, Cork Tickets: FREE
• DUBLIN – Tuesday, September 8, 2009 – Ruby Sessions @ Doyles – Fleet Street/College Green, Dublin Tickets: €6

The free T-Shirt goes to PAT KENNY, whose comment made me giggle most. It makes more sense when you understand that it wasn’t really Pat Kenny making the comment, which was why I giggled so much. Thanks to everyone for your comments/entries. Sorry you couldn’t all win, better luck next time

I supported the guys in the best little venue in Ireland’s northeast (The Spirit Store), just recently and just before soundcheck they concocted what I think must be the most awesomest sandwiches I’ve ever seen in my life.

Photographic evidence, as promised, of sandwich prep:

For the culinary-minded, these sandwiches consisted of, white bread, butter, baked beans (cold), turkey slices, cucumber, pickle, tomato and there may or may not have been some salt and pepper floating around in there also. As you can see, they were prepped on tour flyers (in case the table was dirty, obviously). Oh ! And there was cheese ! How could I forget the cheese !

Beat that Bono.

Yngve and the Innocent are doing a mess of dates around Ireland at the moment. They most remind me of The Band, and I would highly recommend you catch them. There’s probably a date near you if you’re in the country – here’s their myspace, and their schedule:

25 Jul 2009 20:00 The Chestnut Birr, Offaly
26 Jul 2009 20:00 Dolans [Upstairs] Limerick
28 Jul 2009 20:00 Whelans Dublin
29 Jul 2009 20:00 Roisin Dubh Galway
30 Jul 2009 20:00 An Crusicin Lan Cork
1 Aug 2009 18:00 Castle Palooza Festival Tullamore, Offaly
2 Aug 2009 20:00 Grange Music Festival Grange, Sligo
22 Aug 2009 20:00 229 London
26 Sep 2009 20:00 The Good Ship Kilburn, London and South East

Over and out, for now…