Shevlin's Blog. All the banter i'm having and or had. Hurrah!

So it’s taken me a while to get round to writing the first new blog of the new year…3 months to be exact. In those months there has been a lot of exciting new  things happening, which i am excited about…hence exciting! I’m babbling. 

First off Backfire (Set Them All Alight) is being released through Di Di Mau records which we couldn’t be happier about. They are the home of A Plastic Rose and Dutch Schultz so I reckon we’re in safe hands. The single in question will be physically released on the 18th of April and the single launch itself (which is being held in No Alibis) is on the 14th of April. More info about how and when you can get tickets will come shortly! 

Also in April in and around those dates there is the Backfire tour, and the confirmed dates will be at the bottom of this blog. 

On the 21st of March i’ll be interviewed live on ATL to coincide with some live sessions I recorded there along with Adam Devenney. And the following week on ATL, Backfire will receive the exclusive first play.

Also on that date (28th of March) the video for Backfire will be released, and no doubt spammed everywhere. The video was shot by Will McConnell and involves me larking about in a forest with puppets…interesting stuff. 

In other news, i’ve been asked by a very cool publishing company (which i can’t name as of yet) to head to London/Bristol/Bournemouth for a series of songwriting sessions along with some production work on new tracks which should be sweeeet!

I think that’s most of the stuff thats going on right now, that i’m allowed to talk about, so i’ll just end this thing with a few dates and pointing out that The West Wing is the most addictive series in the world. That is all.

Saturday 19th March - Cellars Bar, Draperstown, Oxjam gig W/Strait Laces, Bomb City 7…etc.

Sunday 20th March - Ballydugan Mill, Downpatrick, W/Clown Parlour and Comedians!

Monday 21st March - ATL Interview and session tracks.

Monday 28th March - Backfire video is released.

14th April - Single Launch, No Alibis

16th April - 13th Note, Glasgow

17th April - Bannermans, Edinburgh

20th April - Whelans, Dublin, W/A Plastic Rose

31st May - The Bedford, London 

This year has been amazing for myself and Paul Campbell. A lot of new opportunities and a lot of new friends. We thought it would be a nice end of  year gesture to show our appreciation to everyone who has helped us out over the past year…since individually thanking everyone via email and what-not would take another year i’ve basically just included a list. (Apologies if any names have been left out!) 

Thanks to:

Andrew Cameron,

Jonny Clements

Ric Moore

David McCracken

Claire Campbell

Nigel Glover

Stephen Lewis

Rory McConnell

Bernie McAllister

Stephen Rainey

Volume Control

Frankie McClay

Karen Kirby

Stuart Bailie

Will McConnell

Gerry McNally

Reuben Skinner

Lewis Turner

Paul McNeilly 

Terry Shevlin

Marion Shevlin

Simon Shevlin

Neal Calderwood

James Doherty 

Rick Swann

Deirdre Melvin

Jane Woods

Patrick Kane

Debbie Smith 

Calvin Forbes

Berkeley Edwards

Amy McGarrigle 

Gilbert Campbell

So, once again thanks to all these people…I really hope no one has been left out! 

Seasons Greetings and all that, Merry Christmas and see you in the new year! 

(It’s going to be massive!)

Its been a while since i’ve posted and that so this blog should be brimming with information and fun. Though I can’t really be bothered enough to write loads so i’ll keep it short-ish…

Firstly, last night we had a very successful “Belfast invasion of Glasgow”. Myself and RAMS’ pocket radio flew over and played in “Nice n Sleazys” with Glaswegians Rory Butler and Roman Road. The gig was sweet, great crowd and RAMS, as ever, rocked the place. 

Also last night was my very first ever TV debut courtesy of Irish Music programme “Blas Ceoil”. The show featured my new song “Timetables and Useless Things” and you can watch it again on BBC iplayer here: and here’s the link for my performance on “Blas Ceoil” if anyone missed it last night!      http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w6ghy

In other news I’ll be heading into the studio at the beginning of December to record my latest single “Backfire (set them all alight)” which will be released through a local label…but more of that later!

Also i’ll be recording some cover versions for Panic Dots versions podcast…and i’ve already recorded my christmas one!

Thats as much as i can be bothered writing apart from the usual “dates for the diary”:

Novermber 22nd - Live chat with Stuart Bailie/BBC Radio Ulster/10pm  

November 25th - Speakeasy (Queens Student Union)/Radar. Doors 9pm. 

December 17th - Oh Yeah Centre/YouAreFestival with/Silhouette, Kasper Rosa, Rupture Dogs. 

Hey.

So Lift Up Your Head has been successfully recorded and released, available for 79p on iTunes! Bargain. Along side that the B-Side “Peace of Mind” is now also finished and you can get your hands on it for free by inviting your friends to the Paul Shevlin Music page and then emailing info@paulshevlin.com with “Free Track” as the subject.

Since I’m very easily bored there will be another single coming out soon, accompanied by some very exciting news. But we’ll just have to wait that one out! ho ho

I went to see Scott Pilgrim v.s the World the other day, and its great! Go see it…really!

Foy Vance - Stroke My Fire = tune. 

Upcoming gigs…

September

18th - Oh Yeah Centre Birthday Gig W/Panama Kings, Colly Strings, Matrimony, 1930s, Settle for Jess. 3-7pm. tickets = £5 (All ages)

28th - Auntie Annies Oxjam gig. W/Stillpoint, Breaking News. 18+    9pm

October

23rd - Sligo Live Sessions/The Clarence Cafe.

November

18th - Nice n Sleazys  W/RAMS pocket radio, £5 18+   7.30pm 

So after 2 stressful days of recording, the new single “Lift Up Your Head” is finally ready! I have to say though I have never dreaded anything as much in my life as i did returning to the studio on the 2nd day for fear that the track would sound like arse. 

Although, thankfully the stress was getting the better of me and i’m happy to say the track is sounding sweet! Very poppy…but who doesn’t love a bit of pop? eh? 

I can now take a bit of a breather for this month but we still have interviews to complete and single launches to organise. But its all fun fun fun. I also need to finish home recording the B side “Peace of Mind”..which is proving to be quite difficult also. 

Why is recording never straight forward???

So yes, finally after agonising months of having a horrible, cheap looking website…thanks to the skill of my own brother we now have a slick, sexy one. Don’t believe me?

www.paulshevlin.com - See?! 

The idea of having a site like this was pitched by Mr Jonny Solari and I thought it was cracker. So i nabbed it. With his permission though. 

So in other non-website-related fun here is a gig list. 

July

22nd - Oh Yeah Centre (Belfast) - Therapy Tribute gig w/mojoFury, Axis Of…

24th - Eagles Rock (Draperstown) - Glasgowbury w/Fighting with Wire, Duke Special…

August

14th - Belfast - Street Pianos. 

Yes, this is a short list. The reason being we’re taking a break to hit the studio and record a new single and possibly a video for said single. 

So my first blog, eh? Wow. This is a momentous occasion. 

Basically this lil’ole blog will feature all the up and coming things for the current month and then occasionally i’m sure will feature a rant or two and show me as the bitter character i am.

This month we’re gonna be having some fun on the 24th  when we will be playing Glasgowbury Festival in Draperstown! Fighting With Wire will be headlining alongside General Fiasco and Duke Special. 

On the 26th i’ll be participating in a tribute to the NI band Therapy? in the Oh Yeah Centre. I’ll be playing with mojoFury, Axis Of, Cara Cowan, SilhouettE…etc All 10 of us will be covering a Therapy? song and it will be a great night! 

This month me and the lads will also be recording our next single. “Lift up your Head”. So look out for that mid-August. 

Finally no blog would be complete without a small rant so…how about those Spanish devils putting Germany out, eh?!