News
July 2009
My goodness but I've been away a while. I've been doing a huge amount of things. I just haven't been very good at documenting them here. The CD release tour in Autumn 2008 went well - not hugely economically successful but that wasn't REALLY the point. We got the music out of our systems onto the computer, onto the discs and then around the country to a selection of live venues in a very successful way. The album I made was the album I wanted to make and I'm very proud of it. It doesn't contain any surefire hit singles which is why you haven't heard much of it on the radio. I'm about to go and start to record another one in August - early days yet but it's exciting to see what happens. This one promises to be very different and not all of the songs are composed yet. They may even be composed in the studio and I'm recording with a band in the room so it will be much more about the sound and chemistry of a band working together than the last CD. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works. The working title is "The Art Of Saving Lives". Always good to have a working title even if you don't end up using it.
Did a whole pile of gigs with David and Andrew Csibi in the spring which were a lot of fun. We ventured into international waters for the first time with a tour of Unitarian Churches in England. Andrew drove, I read the Sat Nav and David translated my directions to precise instructions for Andrew - a real team effort. The music was super and got better as the week went on. 10 gigs in 7 days - exhausting but huge fun. At least I enjoyed it anyway.
And between that, I've been shuttling through a variety of other projects - playing keys for Stewart Agnew, SJ McArdle, Noelie McDonnell, Ronan Swift, Peadar King, Leaving Cert music practical exam students, and Hedda Kaphengst's Serendipity Theatre Group performing music and drama in nursing homes across Ireland at Christmas and during May 2009. Hedda and I are on our way off to Los Angeles on Tuesday to perform our May show to 16 nursing homes in the Hollywood area over 10 days. Better remember to pack my Factor 20 but it's still hugely exciting times. Ronan Swift's CD is finally being launched in Dublin in September - date and place tbc. Sure you know I'll let you know when we know. I recorded the piano tracks for it in 2005 or maybe even earlier, it was finished and mixed and generally forgotten about until we started recording the second one. We hope to have that out on Shandon Records (my label) in the new year.
And this week, I've been doing a music business course run by Music Network - absolutely brilliant information to keep us musical dreamers going with the hard part of actually selling the music. And lots of tea breaks so we actually get to meet loads of other cool musicians too. Today was Online Marketing which it appears is even more of a minefield that I previously thought so the plan is to be more visible on the web from now on. I'd say you'll hear from me a little more too, but only if I have really interesting things to say. I've also started a blog at Josh's World if you're interested in my musings and ramblings. Probably not but I thought I'd mention it.
As you can see, there is nothing to plug whatsoever in this bulletin - I just thought it would be nice to fill you in with some news. I'll let you know how the sessions go. All the best for now, jj
October 2008
On October 29th 2008, Shandon Records will release Asylum Harbour, my second solo CD featuring the lineup of musicians that played the concerts in Dublin at the beginning of this year as well as some other guests. The album is a mix of original compositions mostly written or co-written by me covering the themes of home, identity and the search for calm in this mixed-up world. I'm taking to the road to promote the CD and these gigs are listed in the Concerts page. You can hear tracks from the album at my Myspace Page. This page is about to be redesigned so I'd guide you to the Myspace page for the most in-depth information on the CD. Hope to see you at one of the gigs.
Other News . . .
Thanks to all who supported the David & Josh roadshow over the summer. It was great to get out playing again after a long time being cooped up mixing the Notes Home CD. It's still available from the shop at Davidandjosh.com. It's also now available from I-Tunes worldwide as well as various other digital download sites thanks to our partnership with www.cdbaby.com.
Finally, I've also started gigging with other great bands. Stewart Agnew is a terrific singer-songwriter from Dundalk and I've joined his band to play a lot of new music he's written which we'll hopefully record over the next few months. In the meantime, we're playing in The Spirit Store in Dundalk on 26th October and 15th November, and Bewleys in Dublin on 25th November, and The Crane in Galway on 27th November.
Ronan Swift - whose hiterto-unreleased CD I played on four years ago - is playing a concert in Bewleys on 14th December. I'm playing keys and Eoin O'Brien (electric guitar) and Bill Blackmore (trumpet) make up the rest of the band.
July 2008
The current news is that David MacKenzie & Josh Johnston, in association with Shandon Records (Josh's label) released their 2nd CD Notes Home on June 19th through their website
Josh's own recording and mixing sessions for his 2nd solo CD are continuing apace - concerts around Ireland will happen in October either to launch the CD or to give the band a break from the cabin fever. More details to follow.
February 2008
Josh Johnston & friends have begun recording a 2nd CD. With a different group of friends this time, the project, tentatively titled Asylum Harbour is at a very early stage at the moment. However, Josh is taking what's rehearsed so far to the stage next week to see if other people enjoy the songs and tunes as much as he does. The gig is in Bewleys Cafe Theatre (Josh's favourite haunt at the moment in Dublin city centre, and it's got a piano) on Friday February 22nd. The band are
Josh Johnston - Piano & vocals
Support is by Ronan Swift.
Doors open at 8.30 pm and tickets cost &euro 10. It is advisable to come early and if you know you're coming, it's even more advisable to ring the Bewleys Ticket Line which is 086 8784001. You still pay at the door but this means your ticket is safe until 9pm, after which all unclaimed tickets get sold to people in the queue. Sounds a bit presumptious of me but there's a strict capacity of 50 places in Bewleys and I've heard the music - you won't want to miss this one !
Mark Conway - Acoustic Guitar & vocals
Eoin O'Brien - Electric Guitar
Alex Bajgart - Bass
Beta Bajgartova - Vocals