Pic:  Alex rehearses for his Bush Hall gig in November 

Afternoon,

Pic: Me singing The Shame in the rain thinking ‘no no no’

First of all – listen to the Open golf coverage on the BBC very carefully and you will hear tracks from Call Back in there, it is the ideal accompaniment…

Well, we’ve been beavering away at Alex Cornish HQ stuffing envelopes, arranging couriers, tweaking press releases, co-ordinating with radio pluggers and press pluggers, so that CDs are in the hands of people who might write something nice or not so nice, or play the first single on the radio. This next week the music video to The Shame is being edited. Getting some new photos done, new website is being built, already putting together string arrangements for the Bush Hall show in London in November, and, well, basically, it’s all a bit boring, because what I really want to be doing is working on the next album, the next project, the next thing…it’s such a laborious (and, initially, thankless) process, but if you didn’t do it, then the music would largely go unnoticed. In the true spirit of the DIY approach I have in my bag at all times a few copies of the album, press releases, envelopes with stamps in the event that I receive a message from someone wanting a copy to review or to listen to.

In other non-AC related music news, I used Spotify for the first time yesterday – what an amazing thing. I’m not so sure the financial side of it works out right, but it’s incredible, a jukebox with every record ever made pretty much there, ready to be played anytime in your home. I ended up flicking through tracks, Led Zep to Lissie, Beach House to Cherry Ghost, one after the other. I also quite enjoyed some of the T in the Park footage – Kasabian actually looked quite good – weird, always thought they were rubbish, but they seemed very good. There you go.

Hope you are all doing well despite the rain, thinking no no no no it’s the shame shame shame, standing here in the pouring rain. That’s what I’be been thinking.

Alex

Pic:  Me recording Like John Lennon Said on tour at the end of last year

Hi All,

Just a note to let you know that I have put up for free download the original take of Like John Lennon Said off the new album.  It was recorded with one microphone stuffed on top of the piano lid in our room backstage at Royal Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool last year before my set on the Alison Moyet tour.  I had literally just written it, finished the lyrics in my notepad and sang it there and then.  Hope you like it.  It’s much better than the album version – raw.

Don’t forget to snap up those tour tickets.  Lots of promo coming up on the new record in the next few weeks (including a song being included on the Word Magazine covermount CD (Sept. issue) out in August). 

Anyway, good weekends one and all.  I am taking it a little easy this weekend as the last two involved too many gigs and too much driving…

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://alexcornish.com/?page_id=67 (RIGHT CLICK AND ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD)

Alex

 On our travels PG noticed this nasty cash machine scam and took a pic.  Sneaky.

Really excellent news about 6 Music. I don’t think it’s a final decision, but it’s good all the same. Hopefully it’ll stay that way. Looking back on this perhaps in a year or so there may be a silver lining to all this, namely that because the profile of 6 Music has been raised so much, and I think listening figures are up by 40% or something (?) then the new and/or more cutting edge music (i.e. not your mainstream stuff) will have more people discovering it.

When we were on our way to the Dermot O Leary session the other week, we got lost and I asked a guy in the BBC building where we needed to go and he showed us the way to the right building (yeah, we were that lost, wrong building…) and he was asking about me ‘Oh, I am Alex Cornish (who?)…’ etc. and I asked about what he did. He was in strategy and he made a joke about not being the most popular person at the moment. I laughed (’not surprised’) and told him that I wouldn’t be on my way to Radio 2 but for 6 Music. He appreciated the point, and all power to him for listening. It seems they have actually listened. And that is a good thing. There was a concern all the support, all the emails and forum posts to the BBC Trust would be ignored, but they haven’t Good for them and good for us all for taking the time to say something. Just shows. If you stand up and speak out things get done.

Alex

ps amazing weekends at Cornbury and Kelburn!! 1,000 miles, hot sun then torential rain, little sleep and two lovely gigs. Jackpot.

Pic:  What I might look like in a fishing boat

Bevis and Simon are up and tomorrow and we are going to do this:

- Go for a run…because Simon is training for a 10k and I said I’d take him for a 5 mile run. The only reason I run is because a while ago, well quite a few years ago, I didn’t do any exercise, drank buckets of beer, and I weighed a tonne, so I run so I don’t get fat again, that’s it. Bevis is lucky because he drinks buckets of beer and actually gets thinner. Doctors are doing tests on him. For that and other things.

- Rehearse…we are playing Solas Festival on Saturday at 5.30pm, but playing as a three piece because Paul is off to watch someone called Stevie Wonder (nope, not heard of him either), in London. We’ll work on the arrangements a little. It’s possible too that after we’ve played Solas we might head up to a beach hut and play there later on too – someone’s party…shall see. We need plugs and I’m not sure there are many to spare…

- Have a BBQ. Now this was a good idea, but the sun seems to have had enough of shining in a hot way in the last 24 hours. Idiot Sun.

- Then on Sunday we are playing Hazy Recollections at the West End Festival in Glasgow at Glasgow University Union, on around 4pm. I have got rid of all my tickets but I am sure there’ll be some on the door if you fancy coming down. I think it’s a mere £8 and there is a load of quality music on the bill.

And that’s that for this weekend. Next weekend it’s off to the Cornbury Festival, playing the Caffe Nero tent on the Saturday evening (5.30pm), then on the Sunday we are off to Kelburn Garden Party to play Sunday evening.

And that’s my next two weekends neatly and eloquently summarised. Or, to be more to the point, four festivals, a run, a BBQ, a rehearsal and a party all in five days.

Have good weekends, Will keep you posted via twitter…

Alex

ps saw a van the other day, on the street, parked up, similar to Rosie. She was a beauty, red, 6 seats, funny tyres, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a lump in my throat, or maybe that was the cheese sandwich I was eating.

Last year we played the Kelburn Garden Party. It was AMAZING. You ALL HAVE TO BUY TICKETS!! Seriously, it is awesome, incredible setting, very chilled out, small, great location, there’s even a waterfall, views of the sea, and, of course, I am playing there on the Sunday…

Alex

ps for those of you down south, come to the Cornbury Festival on the Saturday, 5.30pm, Caffe Nero tent…

Pic: Alex and his band rehearse for Alex’s Christmas Extravaganza

Okay, some of you saw my email. I am putting on a special gig, like the one at St Giles last year, with strings, the band, backing singers etc. The venue is Bush Hall in London, which is an expensive place to hire so it has to sell out. Capacity isn’t actually that big (350), but I am putting the tickets on sale early enough. If you don’t get paid for a few weeks or want to pay later email me at bellevuerecords@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll reserve a ticket for you.

Onwards,
Alex

Am pretty tired today. We need to do radio mixes of the singles to make em sound really good, to really stand out, so we arranged for one of the songs to be mixed on Monday and yesterday by a producer in London. I came down yesterday to lay down some new vocals and to finish the mix. Got the 6.20am train down then the 11.50 sleeper back. I must have slept in a wierd position because my left leg is killing this morning. Ow. Anyway, the mix sounds really really good, wish I could mix that way, one day.

Thanks for the emails re the London Christmas show. I am thinking Bush Hall at the moment…

Onwards,

Alex

ps new website is being built this week.   Sorry it looks so shit at the moment…soon it will be a beauty…

On 2 June 2010 Rosie the Van, registration number BD02UOU, was taken away for burial, presumably in a landfill site somwhere in South London. Her organs are to be donated to younger models. Presumably her alternator will be stripped out and sold for great profit, because it was only purchased a few weeks ago for frickin’ 230 big ones.

Rosie was built by LDV under commission from the Royal Mail. She was red. She had strange small wheels. She also had 6 knackered seats and space for lots of packagesand letters. After 6 years loyal service for Royal Mail, she was retired and found herself for sale for the bargain price of £1300 in the east end of Glasgow. It was on the autotrader website that promising Edinburgh based singer songwriter Alex Cornish discovered her. “When I first saw that picture I knew she was what I had been searching for. The picture was a bit grainy, but I could see through it” says Alex. “She had a few bits of rust, needed a bit of work, but she worked, she worked for me”. And that was that. She embarked on a 5 week tour supporting Alison Moyet, four headline tours, countless one off gigs and weekends away, she went to many music festivals, Rockness, Sellindge, Wychwood, Kelburn Garden Party, WhatFest (driving courageously through more mud than the worst of Glastonbury), Celtic Connections, recording sessions in Ardgour, nr Fort William, gigs in Ullapool and Inverness, sessions for Radio 2, BBC Radio Scotland, Radio 1, and 3 gigs short of a Caffe Nero tour. Although she was FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE and BROKE DOWN a few times, she will always have a place in our hearts. Hopefully she will look back during her final hours on this earth and all she has done in her life and be proud of her efforts. Tonight we will have a dram of Bowmore and toast Rosie, more than a little post van.

Rosie the van is survived by Alex Cornish and his band.