The Blog of Canadian Singer/Songwriter KIRBY
Congrats to Dave Thomas!
He sent me a what I deemed to be my favorite name and won himself a great bunch of prizes.
Say hello to Johnny #5 or #5 for short.
Thanks to all of you who entered! Stay tuned for the thank video from #5 and myself!
Kirby
I just came across this in my back log of videos:
Blog 1…I got as far as 1 “Recording Blog” before it, like the record itself, fell to the way side. Lost in a myriad of last minute tours, scheduling conflicts with the studio, re-recording guitars, more rescheduling, more guitar issues. Frankly it’s exhausting to think about.
When you plan to do a record, or at the very least say to yourself, “Hey self, its record making time…let’s DO this!” You get this surge of energy, this up beat tempo, you just wanna grab whatever instrument and BANG! BANG! BANG! song after song out of yourself til your head hurts and your ears are bleeding brain gew.
Exciting as hell.
There you are, sitting in your family room in your underwear humming new melodies, “Ladeedah, ladeedee!”, maybe you accidently get walked in on by your landlord who begins laughing hysterically at your scantily cladness, but still thinks your song sounds great, though maybe you wanna shut the actual door while your “creating”.
Then you demo.
Oh demoing…the chronic masturbation of music. Self-serving and fun, but can get boring if that’s all you do. I demo/record tracks as part of my writing process. When you plop in a new back-up harmony to a chorus you just wrote, man it just comes alive.
The energy you get from this process of creating, its something you want to last forever, like your first love. But as time passes, deadlines get pushed records get shelved or put on hold temporarily, this feeling of amazing…wanes. The excitement for the songs…just isn’t the same. It’s like, you started dating your girlfriend/boyfriend…and MAN when you first met it was (high pitched voice) “HAWWWWWWWWWWWWT!!!”
Now, its mostly asking them not to fart in bed, pick their nose when you’re friends are over, “Holy shit, did you empty the milk and NOT put in a new bag”, “Why don’t you take me out anymore?!”, “Can you PLEASE for the love of FUCKING CHRIST NOT clip your toenails in bed?”, beige underwear kinda days. Make sense?
The trick, at least as far as I can tell with music…is to keep it in the “I totally got to touch her boobies” stage. That’s my favourite part. Well the most fun part.
It’s not like I don’t love these songs anymore, I haven’t even released them yet, so right now…it feels like there was never sex, just beige underwear. Its taking so long I haven’t even hit the hot lingerie stage of releasing the tracks.
What have I been doing?
Well, recording, touring, more recording. You think at this point I’d have a bazzilion songs done. But in reality we are still tying up loose ends on the new EP.
I had planned to finish the Leominster EP in March and be touring it by now, so if you’re as frustrated as me, I’m sorry.
In the mean time I have posted some fun demos and have also tracked a new split EP with Trevor Howard
All of this and the Wicked Romeo Tour to boot.
The record at least, will be mixed when I’m on the road and I should have songs for all of you when I get back on Aug 15th.
Talk soon.
Just saw this on Hypebot. She more or less explains a return to busking or street art via the web.
Yes, I name my computer. Here is a typical conversation when someone is told I do this:
Friend – “Wait a minute, you named your computer…Ted?”
Me – “Yup. See, Ted’s your buddy. Teds your pal. You gotta question, you ask Ted.”
Friend – “Okay….so….you gave it a guys name?”
Me – “Yup.”
Friend – “You…are totally weird man.”
This has happened countless times over the past few years. Friends giving me a cock-eyed look as I explain the name of this inadament object to them. Alas, the time has come to put Ted out to pasture and begin a new era.
Say hello to my new 15″ MacBook Pro i7:
Who Am I?
“Why have a name?” you say. Well, in my world, my computer is everything. My studio, my design station, my networking device, my contact to all of you etc, etc. Its a big part of my life. Think about a sailor having a ship without a name or some 50′s greaser not naming his sweet, sweet ride. This is no different.
So I put it out to you. Pitch me your BEST name (one per entry) for this little guy and I’ll give YOU:
I’m stoked to see what you guys come up with, me and the compy can’t wait.
GOOD LUCK!
Here are some tips to win:
How To Enter:
Reply in the comments section of this post or email me at kirbysings@gmail.com
CONTEST CLOSES July 16th 2010, 12:00am EST | WINNERS ANNOUNCED July 16th 2010
Alright everyone, as we inch ever closer to that name change to Leominster, the first step is to combine the two names. So if you see “Kirby Of Leominster” on a poster in your town or local pub, safe bet is that I’m playing there.
Now, maybe you don’t like the name. Maybe you think it looks too much like “Kings Of Leon” only longer…like I do. But it is a necessary evil I’m afraid and its happening.
“How dare you!” you scream from your cubicle, family room, Starbucks chair. Well, to quell that dismay I thought it would be fun to compile some covers / rough tracks that I’ve done in the past year, ZIP it up into a cool little download called Kirby of Leominster | MP3 Grab Bag #1 and post it for you and your ears.
I track all the time, writing, demoing, sometimes doing cover songs to get over the monotony of writing or get past a block. (Writers block is a myth by the way, but we can talk more about that later). At least if I’m recording, even a cover, I’m still doing something.
Let me know whatcha think and be sure to drop me a line on “The Book”.
Click The Pic To Download
Kirby Of Leominster | MP3 Grab Bag #1
1. Spinning
2. You Are My Sunshine
3. Name (GooGoo Dolls Cover)
4. Trees Lounge (Hayden Cover)
5. You and I (Ingrid Michaelson Cover)
6. Love For Christmas
Thanks for all of your continued support!
Kirby
Hey everyone,
Its been a busy few weeks. Gigging, in the studio working on the Leominster EP, filling in as bass player for my friends Blind Mule while Tyrone (their bass player) recovers from injuries sustained from getting hit by a cab. (He’s okay, but his summer is shot.) Busy, busy, busy.
Needless to say I’ve barely found the time to talk to you. And its one of my favorite things too.
When I do have spare time, I have been checking data. Data about where in the world you readers are coming from. Super nerdy, but fun. And as I gear up for my last official tour as KIRBY I like to nerd out and see where all this web traffic comes from. Plus I think its cool to know someone in South Korea has spent time reading this thing!
NERD ALERT!!!
****************
Below are the top 10 countries for Kirby: Tour Music, Life readers:
NEWS: Tour Info & New EP
***************************
Tour dates are coming soon for my last ever solo tour as KIRBY (I`m not going anywhere, just a name change. More news on my new band LEOMINSTER later) so if you want me to come play in your town, drop me a line.
I’ll also be putting out a new split called the Wicked Romeo EP w. Trevor Howard. 6 New songs from both Trevor and myself, I’m super stoked. Trevor and I toured eastern Canada in 2008 and it was awesome and the Wicked Romeo Tour is going to be even better.
Its been almost 2 years since Kirby:Tour, Music, Life launched and we have readers from all around the world. You guys rule! Thanks to all of you for continuing to read my rabble and take interest in what it is I do.
Talk soon.
Kirby
EDIT: Just wanted you all to know I sent Jon’s reply reply off to the man himself!
Anyway, on with the blog…
As many of you read last week, a very special person who shares my name sent me a harsh Facebook message criticizing my virtual life. My cheeky reply sparked a good friend of mine Jon Reid, to write his own.
This beautiful piece of type will be sent off to Sir John Kirby of Asstown as well as any others you out there want to come up with. I encourage all of you to come up with one and send it to me: kirbysings@gmail.com
Dear Mr. John Kirby,
Thank you for your message. At first I was reticent to respond to your exceptionally well-worded condemnation of my (our) name and my (loser) life. I applaud your ability to both use a computer. I am also thoroughly impressed at your penchant for typing your name into search boxes. You sly, magnificent bastard. I assume you were also under some manner of mind-control device that you inadvertently (definition: without knowledge or intention) assumed control of your Facebook account to perform such actions.
I take all criticisms of my online profiles quite seriously, and thus researched a solution to the illumination of my page. Facebook’s FAQ did not provide a solution, but fortunately I was able to locate my computer’s user manual. The solution is to take the power cord to your monitor, splice it at an angle and place the grounded end directly on your tongue. Its effectiveness is tripled if you perform this while soaking in a bathtub.
I am not familiar with deed polls, however I did take an impromptu “dude poll” amongst friends and the results were as follows:
As you can see, the results were overwhelmingly in favour of you being a douche, asshole, and that you require physical recourse directed towards your anus.
I wish you luck in your pursuit of a name change. According to a quick census search (I’m learning how to type my name into search boxes also!) there are 987 John Kirby’s in the United States, which empirically translates to roughly 19,000 potential John Kirby’s worldwide. I have not yet consulted with these other John Kirby’s, but rest assured we will be ensuring that you are never allowed to regain your previous name. The douche quotient of our eponymous club has unfortunately reached its maximum limit, so I’m sure you can understand our decision.
Regards,
John Kirby
Please check out more of Jon’s awesome writing.
It seems another John Kirby is upset with me (John Kirby) because of my online life and is going to change his name. He’s also an ass, did I mention that?
Now replying cleverly is one thing, doing it without proper context or spell checking and having to resend it after you correct it, that can kill any effect at all.
Never Proof Your Own Wrok
Oh well.
Enjoy!
John Kirby (The Assey One)
Me…on my second draft…and still, spelling errors.
Ever wonder how my tour plans start.
“Well”, I say, “Kirby, this new Leominster record is taking a wee bit longer than you thought and if you don’t get your ass back on that trail, all of these lovely people in Canada are gonna forget about you.”
Enter Joey, “Ooooooyeahhhh!!!” My wonderful booking agent.
I say, “Joey, its that time of year again, time for me to get back out on that dusty trail and play.”
JOey says, “Kirby put some pants on and come see me when I’m not in Church…better yet I’ll email you the schedule we talked about.”
BOOYEAH! Right in the inbox a day or so later I get my schedule.
Now its just time to confirm dates…and tell all of you when I’m coming!
