‘Down and out to sea’

“It’s a long road, when you’re on your own” (Rambo first blood outro song)

So the 10 track is done.

“It’s a long road, when you’re on your own” (Rambo first blood outro song)

Three completely unheard new songs and the rest torn apart and sewn back together with some new know-how. Things added, ideas developed.

Ranging from zealous foot stomping to heart rending this little collection is something I’m really proud of.
A little short on convention, just the way we like it.

The CD is currently being manufactured in a classy artistic digipak. I don’t want to share too much about the CD as it’s something a little special for those faithful few. It’s the first time I’ve committed to printing a ‘proper’ run of CDs. It made me re-evaluate our connection with music in terms of physical media. Actually really enjoyed doing all the designing and messing with imagery. Featuring cover art from @sarahtommo_ to boot.

Looking really nice. Can’t wait to get my hands on them.

Email richbrownsmusic@gmail.com to get an order in.

Thanks for your support

Rich

Album?

So I decided on pulling together some of the best stuff of the last one and half years (singles, some tracks from EPs) and some new material into an album of some kind.

I asked a little while ago via social media who would be interested in a ‘Rich Brown’ physical CD. I had a dozen responses and after talking to a few people there’s maybe a reason to make a very small batch of 50~100.

Mediums are an interesting topic at the moment. Some people scratch their heads at CDs and buy new cassette tapes. Vinyl sales are at $619.6 million. What a time to be alive.

I have two completely new songs that are ‘under wraps’ so far. That’s a hard thing to do. The first instinct if you have made something beautiful is to shout it from the roof tops. Like falling in love or finding a beer in the fridge when you thought you’d finished them all.

I think I have a couple more ideas to see through and then I plan to comb through the Covid Catalogue and see what can work.

I’m really excited about it. I’m also a little anxious about what to choose. It’ll be almost like an ‘end point’ to the last year and a half of writing. I have written, recorded, mixed and put out 10 original songs within the last year and a bit. There’s also a few on the scrapheap and a few never finished. Ironically here’s a lyric from a song I never did finish to sum it up:

‘Is the sun gonna burn your gut if ya
put down the paper and believe in luck will ya
own the process as you self destruct will ya
find a way, find a way back home’

Gotta keep writing it’s the closest I’ll get to sanity.

‘Live studio 2021’

For my next trick I will whip up a 4 track acoustic/live studio album using only a Rode NT USB and an old Tascam Audio recorder I found at work…

I wanted to capture more of the familiar ‘Brownie Live’ feel that is difficult to preserve on some of the crazy multi-instrumental folk/punk stuff (Pandemo etc.).

A brand new song written at the pub ‘The Cod & Lobster’ in Staithes (Nr. Whitby), a requested love song that was never recorded (I would rather), a song no one has ever heard before (storm) and an acoustic and more gentle rendition of ‘Walking the straw dog’.

I even have a beautiful photo of my amazing and inspirational daughter staring out at the sea. The photo was taken on the same day as the writing of the first track.

All lovingly and obsessively brought to life over the course of a week in the summer holidays of 2021.

Out on the 12th September 2021!

Weston-super-Mare Shanty and Folk Festival 2021

Nothing gets you falling back in love with music more than an amazing weekend down in Somerset playing at the first of (hopefully) many Weston-super-Mare Shanty and Folk Festival 2021 .

We drove down from Sheffield (myself, my best friend Rob Wood and my wife Melissa) and heard some beautiful and fascinating folk and shanties. Watched a regional sing off between competing counties. Hung out with amazing people.

I took this little Tascam audio recorder and managed to capture a feel of some of the open mic sessions and parts of my sets there. Varying success.

Lots of beers, lots of singing (sometimes VERY loud) and some sea air.

Incredible.

Pandemo

Just to provide some visual context. This is the start of lockdown.

Recording harmonies in there was ‘press record and you had 60 seconds to crawl in before the track would start’. Really slick.

Moving from this I decided to promote my daughter to the more spacious loft room pictured and seize control of her old bedroom.

This developed into this:

So the process has evolved making writing/recording much easier. Along the way I’ve read a lot, experimented and come up with my own little method for recording/producing which (look away actual professionals and likely also, future me)… sounds really good.

From songs about envying peoples mental health to cautionary tales about the worrying void that is ‘the media of the future’ to songs questioning your own neurodiversity or individuality. It doesn’t make sense in 2021 for a relatively unknown independent artist to release a 3 track EP. Well here we are :-)

Thank you so much to so many people for your belief and support in my music. Thank you to my wife for being supportive and allowing me to spend an entire week nose deep in strings, menus and microphones in order to make this beautiful mess. Thank you to my friends and brother who have been amazing at giving feedback and suggestions on sound/mix etc. It’s been a big journey and it feels good to share the ending with you all.

Brownie x

Music & Mood

‘don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.’

Charles Bukowski

Always in my mind. This poem means a lot to me. I once got into a big argument with a girl in a pub about this poem. I think I was trying to sound clever by talking about poetry and it back fired big style. She didn’t like the poem because it suggested that it’s unquantifiable. What about all the hard work? What about the dedication to a field? What about musicianship/practice/development?

In hind sight I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Sometimes the best songs literally fall right out of your brain and onto the page. If you acknowledge that the sub-conscious is still part of your own talent/abilities (think John Gray’s ‘Straw Dogs’ - how much of our life is actually consciously planned?). Then why ‘rob yourself of the dignity of your own words?’

And that pretty much explains the reasons and meaning behind ‘fucking the straw dog’. I borrowed a phrase from my Canadian other half ‘fucked the dog’ means ‘messing up’. So owning and taking pride in improvisation as a strength is ok. Especially if you’re s**t at music and don’t know the names of 90% of the chords you use.