Is My Baby Ugly?

Hi there,

I have often compared the process of creating a CD to having a baby. So here I go again - my brand new EP 'Out of the Blue' was an emergency Caeser after a prolonged traumatic labour. Forceps and drugs would have been most helpful. But the musical offspring eventually showed its head and I'm now a proud parent.

After all the hard work to get to this point you'd think Mum deserves a rest, right? No such luck - now the really hard work begins. Time to show it around and have people coo and fuss over the newborn. Except in the case of the musical baby, you're not guaranteed positive reviews. The neighbours who think your baby has a funny shaped head will still do the required fawning and praising in your presence and maybe only behind their hands to their spouses will mention your baby's likeness to Yoda.

The CD however - that piece of art that you poured your life experience, heart and soul into - is ripe for the picking on. Once it's released into the world, anyone with access to a pen or keyboard has the right to slam and damn it, and by extension, you. When my first single 'Celebrity' was released (we're talking the '90s here!) the first review published was glowing. The critic completely understood the sarcasm intended in the lyric. He praised the production, the singing, the lot and I was on Cloud 9. Then came the rain. Reviews stormed in and they seemed to be either disastrous or dazzling, with no middle ground. This Cancerian had to learn how to bunker down behind that outer shell we're famous for.

Well it's that time again folks. Copies are going out to professional reviewers as we speak. Wish me luck!

If you want to have a listen for yourself - after all, I care more about what you think - you can listen to the new EP here:


Cheers, Amanda

The Name Game - Hairy!

Hi there,

What's in an album name? I mean what was Adam Ant thinking when he released 'Dirk Wears White Sox'? Oh that's right, it was 1983. A decade for great album names, like Jermaine Jackson's 'Let Me Tickle Your Fancy'. I can see how the 70s could sire REO Speedwagon's 'You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish'. But what was Paul McCartney's excuse with his 2012 offering of 'Kisses on the Bottom'?

So, I'm trying to come up with the name of my new EP. My first album was called 'Amanda Easton'. Well I'd run out of creative energy after writing all those songs! The second was 'Chanteuse' suggested by an audience member. I like that one but the pronunciation caused consternation among radio DJs everywhere who ended up calling it 'Chantoozie'.

I have been stewing on the name for the new EP for quite a while. Mentioned my dilemma to husband, as he was hanging out the washing this morning. He said, quite out of the blue, how about 'Out of the Blue'? It's the name of one of the songs on the EP and it has double meaning...

Around 10 years ago, during an annus truly horribilis, I felt that my head was on fire so I dyed my hair flaming red. Fast forward to two years ago and life delivered me another corker to send me running for the dye bottle. (At least it wasn't a tequila bottle - we all have our particular coping mechanisms!). 
'Blue Velvet' I now am and 'Out of the Blue' is the name of the new EP.

If you'd like to be involved in it, please check out my crowdfunding link: www.pozible.com/amandaeaston and check out this little vid:

Cheers,
Amanda

Size isn't Everything!

Christmas tree has come down, time to make plans! I've been talking a bit about making Album No 3 up until now, but I've changed my mind.

Remember, back in the day, when you used to buy singles? As in the plastic variety, not the downloadable doodads. For an artist, it was a big deal to release a single and get the physical product manufactured, distributed etc. You'd usually have at least two singles from the album and then release the album (LP) itself.

Some people opted to release EPs instead but I always found them annoyingly short. As a listener it meant I had to get off my bottom after only 15 or 25 minutes to press the repeat button or change the disk, compared to the at least 40 minutes playing time you'd get out of an album.

Well a lot of this is irrelevant now isn't it? I know one of my greatest enjoyments is making playlists for my plethora of music-playing gadgets, from a selection of my favourite digitised songs. I can make that playlist as long as I like. And so you could say that whether the artist chooses to release a single, an album or EP is really irrelevant - as a fan I can choose to cherry pick my favourite tracks from my nearest download etailer anyway.

I got to thinking, I don't HAVE to release an album. In fact, if I opt to go for something closer to an EP, I can actually do releases more often. So... from now on I'm going to be talking about my upcoming EP 1 in a series of 3, although let's hope I can come up with a more interesting title than that. And I will probably make the plastic version as well as the digital doodad.

I know there are the purists out there who still like to hold those shiny disks in their hands...but just think of all that exercise, getting off your bottoms and (hopefully) pressing the repeat button on my new EP!