Miriam Clancy

Department of Hearts

Grover the dog <3. My dog died while I have been in New York. He was in Snells Beach, New Zealand with an amazing adopted owner, Debbie. Twas the saddest thing ever, and happened the day before I went into the studio to record. I now have a dog sized hole in my heart.

Grover the dog <3.

My dog died while I have been in New York. He was in Snells Beach, New Zealand with an amazing adopted owner, Debbie.

Twas the saddest thing ever, and happened the day before I went into the studio to record. I now have a dog sized hole in my heart.

♦ 5 months ago

Gear.

So to

My first show in LA is tomorrow - at the Hotel Cafe - and I have been on the hunt for an amp…oh and a guitar. Just to make sure nothing’s too easy, I’ve left it till the last minute. Luckily, with the wonders of the interweb and craigslist, I’ve it sorted so am picking up a Vox this arvo.  Also I have a show at El Cid the following week, pretty cool place - its an old flamenco venue. Fitting, really. 

Down the road from where we are staying also happens to be this - a wall, which has become a tribute to the sadly departed indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, whom is/was a huge influence on me. The artwork was the cover for his record Figure 8 and is usually strewn with messages but due to a lame tagger they repainted it recently. Sad/happy to be here. &lt;3 

Down the road from where we are staying also happens to be this - a wall, which has become a tribute to the sadly departed indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, whom is/was a huge influence on me. The artwork was the cover for his record Figure 8 and is usually strewn with messages but due to a lame tagger they repainted it recently. Sad/happy to be here. <3 

Recording with/for other peoples

Last week I was in at Roundhead Studios recording a mountain of keys - rhodes, harmonium, hammond, piano and synth - for a new band The Grand Design… added some bv’s too. Jared played drums with me on tour and turns out he can play nearly every instrument around too. And write songs. So him and uber singer and co-songwriter Matt Rhys are said new band and got me in to pad it out. Working at Roundhead is like hanging at a clubhouse for geeks, free license to geek out amongst friends, good times engineers.

This, my set up for the day. Mass excitement. 

Anyways, that new album will be mixed in a couple of weeks and it’s sounding pretty mint. Will post something up when it comes to hand. 

Also added some files (I mean, bv’s) to Greg Flemming’s new album too. The wonders of modern technology meant I could do it wherever my gear was (in Point Wells 2 weeks ago) and email, whilst sucking up the max-d nation’s broadband per wav file. Still, working on my own is like a singing stab in the dark but its crazy cool and I don’t mind. Comp queen!  One of Greg’s songs I liked in particular sounded rill Tom Petty - dark in it’s storytelling and fairly gritty. 

Nothing is the same

I am at this minute in a small artists house built by Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood, and will be for the next few weeks. It was pretty eerie upon arrival last night, steeped in old ghosts of the golden era of film. I left New Zealand  over a week ago and whipped through a quick tour of the northern island of Aotearoa, with me were a bunch of great and talented people making the long drives short, and the chilly but people-d gigs fun. Here’s looking at you New Plymouth! Highlight gig - who knew! <3.

So indeed this week shall be good - I am singing on a track by composer Mario Grigorov for a film with Jon Voight, finishing some demos, buying a new (old) electric guitar and revelling in the surround sound of 24 hour sirens, all outside my window.

Tour shots.

Photos courtesy of Sean Aickin at UnderTheRadar