joeonmusic

[joeonmusic]

Beast Mode is out today!

Yesterday I held a listening party on Bandcamp to celebrate the release of my new EP, Beast Mode, and give people some insights into the songs. I thought I'd share my notes for those who couldn't make it, so you can read as you listen along. The EP is produced by Chris Marney (referred to as Chris throughout here).

Pass the puffer is the first track and I wrote the lyrics after reading about an episode of Spy in the Wild on BBC. It was narrated by David Tennant. In it, the dolphins pass round a puffer fish and get blissed out from small doses of the lethal toxins. I did a bit more research on dolphins and put something together that’s not supposed to be political or animal rights based, just observations of strange behaviour.

The music was written a while ago, and I added the guitar and dolphin samples a bit later. I think my producer did a good job in bringing out the bass notes a bit better than I had it in the original mix - that’s never my strongest point. 

Fed to the tigers is probably the saddest song on the EP. Again, in terms of the music, the guitar was the last thing I added and I think it gives it an extra dimension with the tremolo weaving in and out. The lyrics explore how a zoo came to decide to kill a 2-year-old giraffe. Marius the giraffe was born at Copenhagen zoo, but he was from the same gene pool as too many other giraffes in European zoos so was no use for breeding the next generation and it costs money and requires space to keep such animals. They didn’t want to sell him to some private collector or a circus so decided the most humane thing was to kill him and feed him to the tigers. I don’t make a judgement, just think it’s a dilemma that’s worth thinking about…

Cyborg (broken animal) is up third and it’s less of a story than an exploration of these around adding technology to humans and animals. There’s a philosophical element to it in terms of how we should feel about experimenting with impulses going straight to the brain to control movements and things, plus a bit of a fear of what if it goes wrong and robot-insect armies start attacking us!

Musically it is the probably the closest to dance music through parts of it, although there’s a really brutal guitar solo in it to throw you off. You can hear what Chris did with the remix a bit later for a different take on the song.

Sweet Kiss of Death (or the story) was suggested to me by my Twitter friend Stephen Haggart. There was a horse (Sweet Kiss) that won a race, but the jockey died on his back some time before the end. I decided to write the song from the point of view of the horse who was henceforth nicknamed Sweet Kiss of Death.

I wrote the music for this a couple of years ago, but played around with it and added the weird talking bass sound to get away from it being too traditional a reggae sound. I’ve always loved reggae and those who’ve listened to my earlier albums will have heard elements in those from the genre. Also from my band at uni, we had a dub reggae stage, influenced by Boo Radleys and other 90s bands who added it into rock/indie.

The cyborg remix is not the first time my voice has been put through a decoder. The Invisible squirrel also did it with the remix of Trace in 2022: Listen here for that. I love what Chris did with this. It has a very different feel from my version, while still being recognisable. The guitar solo's gone, but there are some really gnarly synths to give that menace still.

Radioactive hybrid terror pigs was originally released in October 2022. It was the first song Chris mixed for me, so I thought I’d bring it back, as it was just a single, so has never been on Bandcamp. It was fast and punky all the way through before, so I slowed down the verses and chopped up the guitar line, adding a few synth elements, too. 

I read a story about how the wild boars moved into the contaminated land without feeling any ill effects and made themselves at home, inter-breeding with the domesticated pigs that had been left behind in the desperate aftermath of the disaster. The title’s a little bit sensationalist, but when I read it, I just thought that has to be a song! Thematically it fits perfectly with this EP.

I hope you enjoy listening to the EP. Please buy a copy on Bandcamp if you can, or just share it with people who you think will like listening to it. Word of mouth and recommendations from friends are the best promo in the world.

#singer songwriter #indie music #songwriting #new music #electronic #cyborg #dolphins #zoo animals #sweet kiss #remix #radioactive

[joeonmusic]

The stories behind the songs on my new EP out on 3rd January

I don't send postcards anymore when I go on holiday. I used to before I could WhatsApp every vaguely interesting thing I see to the person most likely to appreciate it, but I like the thought that people showed they cared by sending them even when the cards frequently arrived after they'd got home.

With these songs, I'm sharing stories about places I've discovered with listeners who I hope will find them interesting, even though I haven't been there in person. I want to take my listeners on a journey in a "wish you were here" kind of way, giving them a snapshot, so they can read more about it if they want.

First up on the EP is Skeleton Lake, which was the newest song on the EP, written in September and released on soundcloud as a demo on Halloween to give people a taster of my new stuff while I was waiting for it to be mixed properly. I read about Roopkund Lake in the Himalayas and was immediately fascinated by the mystery surrounding it. There's something about that part of the world and the mixture of the spiritual and the danger of those imposing mountains that really captures my imagination, so this rather grizzly end that so many people found on the shores of a lake 5,000 meters above sea level grabbed me as pretty amazing to look into (from afar). The story's put onto a riff-laden Bowie-esque guitar song with a bit of swagger. I kept it fairly simple on this one, but with hooks that I hope will draw in lovers of retro-ish rock.

Track two (meandering Lights) was originally going to be the lead track. The riff is recycled from one I wrote and played in my last band in Russia about 20 years ago. It sounds very different now to how it did then and and I re-wrote the lyrics to give it a more interesting story. This time we're off for an extra-terrestrial encounter with J Allen Hynek, the debunker turned UFO encounter classifier, after whose work close encounters of the 3rd kind was named (he even made an appearance in the film). This is the most musically unusual track on the EP with some samples, keyboard parts and guitars heavily laden with effects. I wanted to create something that felt other-worldly, as well as telling the story of Hynek's conversion into believing the stories told to him by expert witnesses of craft that couldn't be created by human technology of the time.

Track three takes us to Bangkok for a bit of retail therapy, no wait... what's happened to the shopping mall? Catfish rule the mall is a song about nature reclaiming a very unlikely place. A dispute led to an arson attack on a shopping mall, which was then abandoned roofless and filled up with rain during the monsoon season. All this water meant it became an attractive place for mosquitos, which didn't sit well with the locals, who put various types of fish into the water to eat the larvae and control their numbers. These fish found it an ideal place to live and thrived there, swelling in numbers until anyone going in would be amazed at the numbers of fish in the water. Musically, this song features a descending riff in the verses over a 6/8 rhythm and overlaid layers of guitars and keyboards that are supposed to create a slightly underwater feel. The chorus features some of my favourite slightly odd chords, like B♭dim7 and C#m7(♭5) and the song ends with a coda that gets more frenzied and deranged - it was the last part that I came up with on the song and probably my favourite bit.

The fourth place to (not actually) visit is Utopia, which despite being a very common concept all over the world has never actually been created anywhere, as I say in the song. I guess dystopia is a lot easier to imagine and agree on what it is, which could be why we always seem to be living somewhere closer to that even though you'd think we'd want to avoid it. Thomas More came up with his original version of Utopia in the sixteenth century and many others have created their own literary versions. I'm sure we all dream of living somewhere peaceful, with more equity and fairness, but we're stuck in a system that is very resistant to any such changes. I wish I could send you a postcard from Utopia and invite you all to join me there, but it's not happening any time soon. This is a slightly more standard indie-sounding song and has been compared to blur in how it sounds (although that could mean anything with their eclectic back catalogue in my opinion).

The final journey takes us to the gates of hell, and it stinks. A dirty bluesy (mixed with low-fi American alt-rock slightly reminiscent of Pavement) song tells how Soviet scientists drilled into the desert in Turkmenistan and accidentally opened up a massive fiery sinkhole. The Darvaza Crater, as it is now known, has been burning for about 50 years and you can smell it before you see it, hence the name of the song, Darvaza Stench! Again, my favourite part is probably the coda when I let rip with some frenetic guitar work and what seems like a sedate menacing song bursts into fiery strumming and smashing cymbals.

I hope you enjoy listening to this EP as much as I enjoyed creating it and will consider buying a copy on Bandcamp. https://joepeacock.bandcamp.com/album/postcards-from-places-ill-never-go-to

If not, then please at least check it out on Spotify if that's where you listen: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/joepeacock/postcards-from-places-ill-never-go-to

#singer songwriter #indie music #songwriting #new music #alternative rock #diy music #Skeleton Lake #darvaza #Hynek #close encounters of the third kind #catfish #utopia #Youtube

[joeonmusic]

My favourite music released in 2023

Doing end of year lists is always tricky. You get influenced by what you've heard most recently and there are bound to be things you think afterwards that you should have included on reflection, but here's a dozen of the artists I've listened to on repeat this year (in no particular order).

First is the incredible Amelia Coburn, who I've actually managed to see live twice, too! I planned my holiday around being back in Birmingham to see her in April at Kitchen Garden Cafe and she certainly didn't disappoint! If you haven't heard her music, she's a folk-influenced singer-songwriter, so live it's just her and a variety of stringed instruments. On record, she tends to add other instrumentation and the see-saw single released this autumn was quite a spooky affair featuring something like a xylophone, drums, bass piano and electric guitar, as well as ukulele. I absolutely can't wait for her album to be released next year. I think it's going to be really special. https://www.ameliacoburn.co.uk/

One of my favourite sets at Glastonbury (on TV) was Queens of the Stone Age, who absolutely smashed it. They played the best songs from throughout their career, but the songs from the new album absolutely stood up next to those. Nobody else sounds like them and Josh Homme has such a versatile voice, as well as one of the tightest bands in the world. There's no such thing as a formulaic QOTSA song and no lazy chords strummed in a way you've heard thousands of times before - they kick arse and constantly delight.

My connections to Stoke are pretty strong. I studied there, my wife grew up there and still has family living in the area, but until recently it wasn't really known for great indie music. One band I've discovered on the new indie scene who I really love, though is The Dread Kaili who are very difficult to find much out about, but write brilliant off-kilter tunes. Their album III came out in June and listened to it loads over the summer. With song titles such as 'Crazy as a shit house rat' 'What Fresh Simulacrum Of Hell Is This' and 'Tycho's Golden Nose', you can probably tell that this is not your standard indie pop. It has just the right amount of weirdness combined with hooks and great melodies to keep me coming back. https://dromarecords.bandcamp.com/album/iii

I really wasn't expecting Blur to release a new album this year, but I am very glad they did. As soon as I heard the first single, I knew this was going to be a special album, and I wasn't disappointed. In the maturity they now have, they have a great understanding of what they do well and how to bring the best out of each other. Damon and Graham have been producing brilliant music outside of the band for years, but this is the best album they've done together for a long time. My favourite song is St Charles Square, but there are many highlights.

3 Little Wolves are another band that have a connection to Stoke, as I was at Keele with Paul, the lead singer and main songwriter. I've seen them play live a few times in Birmingham and even supported them in a gig this month with my duo The Missed Trees. This album has been a long time coming. It was a couple of years and a few lineup changes from when they released the first single Darkside, so most of the songs on the album had already been released albeit in different versions. There weren't many surprises, but the songs were excellent and good to see them finally being released as a full album. The next album will be much more of a collaborative affair with guitarist Leong more involved in the songwriting and from what I've heard from the live shows there are some strong songs to come! https://3littlewolves.bandcamp.com/album/fires-in-the-night

Before I discovered the new indie scene on Twitter and realised how much great new music there is, there were a few bands that shook me out of thinking there's not much new stuff I like. One of those was Fontaines DC and their lead singer Grian Chatten immediately struck me as a songwriter that stood out. The band met through their love of poetry and his lyrics have always been brilliant. His first solo album, which came out in June, is much folkier in places than Fontaines DC, but has a real variety of styles while still being full of clever lyrics and interesting melodies. I absolutely love it.

Another folk singer in the list is Ellie Gowers, whose 2022 album was one of my favourites of that year. She's only released two singles this year, but 'The stars are ours' was most definitely a highlight of the 2023 for me. A beautiful song about the right to roam and protecting people's rights to camp on Dartmoor. The choral version is my favourite, I think, and I can't wait for her next album. Last time she played in Birmingham, we supported her at a sold out gig at Kitchen Garden Cafe. I would love to play with her again, but I expect her next album to be much bigger and her to deservedly become a star. https://elliegowersmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-stars-are-ours-ep

Next up is another star from the 90s who's still producing brilliant music. PJ Harvey spent last year focusing on her writing, but this year she released the sublime 'I Inside the Old Year Dying'. The guitars chime in almost a shoegazey way at times, there's a haunting quality befitting of such a title and it sounds like nothing else, as all PJ Harvey's albums do, including sounding nothing like any of her other albums. I don't know how she does it, but every time we get a new fresh sound and yet it's totally her sound and utterly compelling.

The last established artist on the list is also someone who's been part of two of these albums. Graham Coxon's new project is called The Waeve and sees him teaming up with Rose Elinor Dougall to produce a highly acclaimed debut LP that absolutely blew me away when I first heard it. There are elements of so many different genres in their songs and the twists and turns keep you guessing in every song. Nothing feels old and tired. I genuinely love it as much as anything Graham's done in or out of Blur.

I saw the incredible talent that is Silvi live for the first time this year. She came down from Scotland to play a gig in Oxford and I couldn't miss this opportunity to hear her sing live. It was also a chance to meet a load of people I'd only ever previously spoken to on Twitter for the first time IRL, as everyone was there for this. Her vocals are absolutely outstanding, but she's not just a singer, she is also a talented songwriter and fully in charge of making sure her songs sound exactly as she wants. This is paying off, as she is recognised more and more as one to watch with a genuine chance of joining the more established artists in this list as a big musical star. https://linktr.ee/silvimusichq

I am enormously grateful to Joe Adhemar for the kindness he's shown me in helping me get to grips with recording as a DIY musician. I have immense respect for him and we have developed a long-distance friendship (meeting in person for the first time this year), but that's not why I chose his album for this. He is incredibly talented, both as a musician/songwriter and producer, so you always know that his work delivers high quality songs that sound great. The Synesthete sees him teaming up with guitarist Jim Sanger who adds some biting guitar riffs to Joe's songs that are largely sophisticated synth pop/rock with nods to Peter Gabriel and Giorgio Moroder, some strong indie influences, but also bluesy touches. The song that stood out to many on this album was Hopper, with its Stranger Things motifs and hooky chorus, but I know Joe himself feels there are a lot of other stronger songs on the album. I recommend you check it out. https://joeadhemar.bandcamp.com/album/the-synesthete

The final artist on the list produced the biggest album, but it's not quantity over quality. Blokeacola is a songwriter I've been following and enjoying his music for a couple of years now. This year, he released the epic 30 songs that make up Quasars and Fluff. He often takes quite a minimalist approach to his songs, but they're rich in clever lyrics, great guitar playing and strong melodies. I can't possibly do justice to the whole album, but encourage you to take a listen: https://blokeacola.bandcamp.com/album/quasars-and-fluff

I've really enjoyed taking time to discover lots of new music this year. My list takes in established acts and those with much smaller audiences, but to me it's all just as exciting to listen to and worth time and effort in discovering. Make your new year's resolution to listen to and support new music this year. There are loads of talented people out there whose music deserves your time whether or not they're supported by a big label.

#indie music #new music #best of 2023 #music

[joeonmusic]

I've not released an album this year!

I always push myself and set very high goals, but if I don't achieve them, the only person who really cares is me, so this year I have been going through a gradual process of realising I can be a bit easier on myself. The image above shows what I have done this year: I've included the Postcards EP, as it's out on 3rd Jan, so all the work was done this year, then there are two EPs by my duo The Missed Trees, a single that came out in January and an EP that I released in August. There's also a photo of Louisa and I playing a gig - we've done fewer of those than I'd hoped we would, but each time we play, we develop and improve, so maybe next year we'll do more and reach new audiences across the country. I'd love to play at a festival.

The start of my "career" of releasing music was very prolific in terms of the amount of material I released. I was basically pumping out more than an album a year, plus EPs and singles. That was almost keeping up with my songwriting (although not quite).

This year, I haven't released any albums at all. Why not? Because it didn't feel like the right thing to do. I needed to be a bit kinder to myself and work in ways that fit with the other demands in my life. Also, there are bands with big followings for whose fans an album is a big event and they all rush to order the vinyl, but I haven't achieved that kind of appeal. I decided to concentrate on releasing less in a more focused way.

I am not a vinyl lover, so I don't understand the mindset of those fans who are very well and, although in a way it would be nice to have physical products to sell, it kind of goes against my desire not to have a negative impact on the planet. Producing loads of extra plastic isn't great, even if some of it is cherished and frequently played, so I struggle with that feeling, too. One day I might prove myself to be a massive hyprocrite and do it anyway, as a few people have said I should do a "best of" considering all the stuff I've released, but at the moment I can't justify it.

For the moment, I want to release EPs of 3-5 songs with each one having a concept behind it, giving a focus to the collection of songs and a reason for them to be together. The Missed Trees released to 3-song EPs; Animals and Resist and my solo Curse of the Mind EP was based around ideas of what can go wrong, such as brain washing, mental illness, hallucinations and things like that. The next EP from the Missed Trees will be called Solitude and feature songs about being alone or cutting yourself off from society. Before that comes my next solo EP, the cover of which is in the image at the top.

5 songs makes it basically about half an album, so it feels fairly substantial in terms of what it can cover. The title; 'Postcards from places I'll never go to' is a bit ridiculous, but it gets across the idea that these are all about places that are a bit weird and out there. I wanted it to be a bit like a travelog, but of the places I explore in my mind when going down internet rabbit-holes. I really hope people enjoy it and get into the weirdness and fun of the stories. There's a bit more rawness in some of the music than on the last one - I actually scream before launching into a guitar solo!

The tracks are:

Skeleton Lake

Meandering Lights

Catfish Rule the Mall

Utopia

Darvaza Stench

I'll go through and talk about each of them and what they're about before release day. For now, please pre-save the EP or follow me on Bandcamp to be notified when it goes live:

#Youtube

[joeonmusic]

New EP 'Resist' from The Missed Trees out on Thursday

My alt-folk duo released our debut EP back in April to some great feedback, as you can see in this blog post I wrote back then. At the time, I said we were deciding whether to release an EP of songs we had been playing for a while called Solitude, or to go for a more political EP - well as you can see we've gone the later.

Earlier this year, I was incensed by the rhetoric of the government, as they were trying to whip up anger about vulnerable people arriving on our shores in the most desperate way to deflect from their failings. They made it a specific pledge to stop small boats and spent a lot of time and effort dehumanising victims of global issues, like the climate crisis, war and poverty, which have been largely caused by countries like ours. At the same time, these privileged, wealthy politicians, who are so detached from the everyday life of normal people, were making it impossible for anyone to arrive here legally to claim asylum, thereby forcing more people onto small boats and into the hands of criminals.

The song I wrote is not really an angry-sounding protest song. I went for a more subtle approach with a very melodic classic-sounding English pop/folk song, but with some biting lyrics. For example, the second verse goes:

"We are told there's not enough to go round/ We must close the borders while children are drowned/ But bad guys come in private jets not little boats"

I take the lead vocal on this with Louisa playing fiddle during the verses and then joining me to sing harmonies in the chorus, which goes:

"The wealth won't trickle down, oh no/ It's offshore anyway/ Look good by setting up a charity/ It's good for their ego, but why not just pay taxes?"

I love Louisa's fiddle solo in this song, where she double tracked it to play a harmony with herself. I think it sounds great, although we won't be able to replicate it live unless we clone Louisa.

The second song on the EP is called Guilty Bystanders and is based on a story about the black British activist Olive Morris. I read about a short film that was made about her and it immediately sparked my interest, so I read up a bit more about her and wrote the song very quickly.

Olive was in a record shop one day when she saw a man being pulled out of his car by the police, who thought it must be stolen. He was a Nigerian diplomat and, because the racist offiers didn't believe a black man could possibly drive this car, he was being brutally mistreated. Olive stepped in to try to stop this, but was beaten and arrested herself. The horrendous incident made Olive even more determined to fight injustice and she became a prominent activist in Brixton up until her tragically early death from cancer.

In the song, I contrast Olive's bravery and determination to stand up to protect someone else's rights with the crowd of bystanders, who were happy just to watch and let it all happen. As the final lines say: "We need to be more like Olive Morris when they're trampling on our rights"

See the trailer for the film here:

The third song is called Bunker. It's a song about Vladimir Putin inspired by a Russian friend who told me his nickname was "бункерный дедь" which translates as Bunker Grandpa. Far from being seen as the macho alpha male that he always used to try to appear as, he's now seen as a sad old man cowering in his bunker getting more paranoid and scared of everyone as his health deteriorates.

I felt this was a better way of standing up to him than just talking about the massive corruption he's overseen and benefitted from, or talking about his horrendous human rights record. He doesn't care about truth and will use an army of bots to fight back and make people doubt such things are true. However, like all dictators with fragile egos he hates being mocked, so I hope you enjoy listening to a song half in Russian and half in English. It's my little attempt to show solidarity with the Ukranian people and also the Russians who hate what he's done to their country.

You can pre-save the EP here.

We're playing a gig to launch the EP this Thursday 28th September at one of my favourite venues, Kitchen Garden Cafe, so if you're in Birmingham, please get a ticket and come and see us.

#singer songwriter #alt folk #songwriting #Olive Morris #blm #black lives matter #refugees welcome #small boats #tory corruption #vladimir putin #ukraine #russia #stop putin #fuck putin #Youtube

[joeonmusic]

My new EP 'The curse of the mind' is out

Release day is here and everyone can finally get their ears round my new EP. I am super proud of it and think that the work done by Adam Whittaker on mixing and mastering it has really shown off the tracks to their best potential. Last night I was explaining what the songs were about to some friends and I feel I should write it all down to help those listening to get inside the stories a bit better.

First up on the EP is Thought camera, which is the one that most people have said they feel is the strongest and catchiest song. It's the one getting most radio play. In terms of the lyrics, it's a song about privacy and the desires by the powerful to monetise our thoughts. Nikola Tesla had an idea for a thought camera, which would project our thoughts onto a wall. Now social media is big business - monetising our anger from us posting our thoughts online. I wonder why Elon Musk is so keen to throw money at Twitter - he named his car company after Tesla, so does he want to use that to help control our thoughts?

It's an unsettling song with a jittery beat and guitars adding menace with distortion and tremolo, but also quite a catchy pop tune in places.

The second song is called Poltergeist and is inspired by a book I read called The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale. The book explores one particular case where a woman reports being haunted by a poltergeist, but there's a lot more to it than can be explained by the supernatural. I included some of the themes from that in the song, but I also added a few bits of personal experience on exploring the supernatural at an impressionable age and (probably unrelated) psychological problems.

Song 3 is in an odd time signature - 5/4, which gives it a slightly strange, unbalanced feel. It's called Cult of fake heroes and is about brainwashing by authoritarian regimes. I use the story of Pavlik Morozov, who, according to the propaganda of the time, informed on his father for anti-communist activities and was a model soviet citizen brutally murdered by others in his family for what he'd done. His story was then told by Stalin's regime (despite the dictator being scathing of him when he initially heard the story) to inspire others to inform on family, friends and neighbours during the red terror and he inspired patriotism in pioneers and schoolchildren. My favourite part of the song is the coda and the lead guitar part I played over that, which I think really stands out.

The final song called 'The outsider' is very different and is some people's favourite on the EP. I created it by using fragments of guitar parts, which I chopped up and then put back together. It's not my usual way of writing and I'm not sure I'd ever be able to play it live. The lyrics are about the outsider artist Henry Darger. He suffered traumatic events in his childhood, which affected his ability to interact with people. He had very few friends and mainly kept himself to himself, working as a janitor and then locking himself away in his room. It was not until he became very ill and was moved into a hospice that his artworks and graphic novels were discovered. He's acknowledged as the archetypal outsider artist.

I really hope you enjoy listening to these songs. If you feel you want to support me in being able to create more music, you can buy a copy on Bandcamp. It would take 100 people paying the minimum price for me to break even, which is pretty unlikely, but would be very nice if it could happen:

#Youtube #singersongwriter #newEP #indie music #birmingham

[joeonmusic]

A tale of three EPs (at least)

I can’t believe it’s been six months since I released anything as a solo artist. In my head, I had planned to release at least one album and be well on the way to releasing another by now. I have all the songs written to have done that, but the issue is finishing them to the level where they can be released.

Fortunately, I have found a couple of people to help with that. The first EP that will be coming out is due some time in the second half of August (date TBC) and has been mixed and mastered by Adam Whittaker @mixedbyadam​ on Twitter, or his website is: https://www.mixedbyadam.com/. It’s finished and I think it sounds amazing. It’s definitely not me playing it safe, but then I never really do! The EP is called The Curse of the Mind and has 4 songs called Thought Camera, Poltergeist, The Cult of Fake Heroes, and The Outsider. I did a poll on Twitter to decide which cover to use out of a few I’d drafted and this one won:

In no particular order, it features

- a song in 5/4 time

- me singing in falsetto

- samples of my guitar parts chopped up and mangled

- a quite orchestral arrangement

- plus themes around privacy, brainwashing, an artist unable to face reality and the boundaries between “spirits” and mental health issues.

It doesn’t sound like a recipe for commercial success, but maybe it will find a niche and people who love those kinds of things.

The next EP after that is the second EP by my alt-folk duo, The Missed Trees, and is being mixed/produced by my good friend Chris Marney, who also did our debut EP, Animals. As with our first EP, it has three tracks, two of which are recorded in full and the third needs one fiddle part recording to complete it. The EP is called Resist and the tracks have all been played live already, so those who’ve been to our gigs will know them: they’re called Little Boats, Guilty Bystanders and Бункерный Дедь (Bunker Grandpa).

This EP should be released mid-late September and I’ll write more about it nearer the time, but here’s a first look at the cover:

Thirdly, I have sent the first two tracks off for another solo EP to be produced/mixed again by Chris. I’m still toying around with titles for it and finishing off bits of recording, but the tracks will be (possibly not in this order): Meandering Lights, Catfish Rule the Mall, Utopia and Darvaza Stench. They’re all linked by being somehow very distant/hard to imagine in everyday life. Any suggestions for a title? Hopefully, it’ll be out sometime in November with a bit of luck and perseverance.

There are two other EPs which are at an earlier stage - one for The Missed Trees and one more personal solo recording. I don’t want to make any promises yet on when they’ll be out. It feels good that I am making progress and moving forward in the creative process. I really want to share all these songs with other people. It seems selfish to keep them to myself.

[joeonmusic]

One week on from the release of Animals

After releasing a single of EP, you quite often get a bit of a dip in mood. The excitement of getting it out and that rush of initial comments is gone and something you’ve been focusing on for so long seems so fleeting in the minds of others.

We released Animals last Friday and got lots of lovely comments about it, so to remind myself of those and also possibly to encourage a few more people to listen to this EP, I thought I’d share them here.

They were all made by music lovers on social media, rather than critics. I haven’t managed to get quite as much coverage of this release on blogs as I would have liked, but it was still gratifying to see the reaction it’s had amongst people who’s opinions I respect.

“Absolutely stunning. Been on repeat all morning”

“One of the best EPs I’ve heard in a long long time. Love the song choices the swapping of lead vocals on the first two tracks and the sharing of the vocal in track 3. Laurel Canyon/Nashville vibes - Fantastic!” 

“Check out the gorgeous new alt-folk EP from @TheMissedTrees! Gorgeous harmonies, stunning lyrics, lush violin - sublime songwriting all round!”

“Gorgeous stuff from @TheMissedTrees A touch of All About Eve and The Mission at their mellowest about this to me. Really lovely”

“I love the two voices together.  Really compliment each other. Proper English folk vibes. Su-bloody-perb!”

“BRILLIANT from @TheMissedTrees. A cracking EP - Favourite track “DIAN”

“Congratulations @TheMissedTrees on an outstanding debut EP! 

Beautiful songs, vocals and arrangements in every track. I love folk music and this is really up there for me, there's a kind of "Englishness" in the vein of Roy Harper to it that I adore! Absolute class!”

"@TheMissedTrees loving your new EP. Beautifully crafted songs and I really enjoyed listening just now as I’m out walking my dog”

As well as the virtual event of releasing a digital EP, we also played a gig to launch it in front of real people, playing two sets at The Warehouse Cafe in Digbeth. We now have enough original songs to release a full album and play a mixture of covers from folk and other styles of music. You can see clips of us playing the three songs from the EP below.

One of the reasons for releasing the EP (making lots of money is certainly not going to happen) is to have a good recording to help us to get more gigs. Generally, we’ve had good attendance when we play live, so we’re keen to do more this year, both in Birmingham and beyond. These are tough times and many venues are struggling to keep going, but we believe that live music is such a valuable part of life and we always do our best to get people along when we play.

Next comes our decision of which songs to release next. My thoughts were to go for a 4-track EP called Solitude next, but we are also thinking it might be good to release an EP of more political songs called Resist. I’ll let you know when we decide... 

#TheMissed Trees #altfolk #birmingham #livemusic

[joeonmusic]

Debut EP coming from The Missed Trees with a gig to launch it!

I’ve been playing in a duo called The Missed Trees as well as releasing material as a solo artist for nearly a year, and next month will see the release of our first EP. For someone as impatient as me, it’s been a long wait to get this out, but our first three songs are recorded and the final touches to the mixing and mastering are happening right now.

It will come out on 21st April and then we have a gig scheduled for Saturday 22nd at The Warehouse Cafe in Digbeth to celebrate releasing our Animals.

Playing gigs with Louisa as The Missed Trees has been one of the biggest pleasures I’ve had musically. In the past I’ve played in rock bands and there’s obviously a great buzz and energy you get from playing loud and I wouldn’t rule out doing that again. However, being able to hear everything and the feeling of  blending the sound of your voice or instrument perfectly with someone else is really special and the reaction we’ve had from audiences has been brilliant.

When you start off, it’s hard to reach far beyond your friends for the audience, but we were lucky enough to get a support slot with the fantastic Ellie Gowers for a sold-out gig in November, so lots of new people were introduced to some of our songs that night. Since then, friends who didn’t go that night said that their friends (who don’t know us) have quite spontaneously talked about how good we were, which is extremely flattering.

So, what can you expect from our first EP? There are three songs and they’re all linked to stories about animals, as the title would suggest. 

The lead track is called Dian and is written in tribute to the passionate conservationist Dian Fossey, without whom there may not be any mountain gorillas left in Africa. It’s my wife’s favourite song and is very simple, but striking, with beautiful fiddle playing bookending some of the best vocal harmonies I’ve written.

After that comes the the song Sacrificial Bees, which I always joke about as “another one of those songs about mummified bees that you must be sick of hearing by now.” It’s played in open D tuning and again features Louisa’s fiddle playing prominently at the start with harmonies in the verses, but fiddle coming back in the chorus to add more of a feeling of bees! I’d be very surprised if you’ve heard something else that sounds quite like this song.

The final track is Big Mary in which Louisa takes the lead vocal in a much more sparse arrangement. It’s a tragic story about a circus elephant who was hanged in Tennessee after trampling her cruel trainer. The fervour of the mob for revenge creating a ridiculous cruel spectacle that put the town of Erwin to shame.  

We can’t wait to share these songs with everyone. Those who’ve been to our gigs will have heard them, but very soon anyone with access to a streaming service will be able to hear them anywhere in the world. We plan to release another two EPs this year with luck and a bit of hard work and hope to play lots more gigs, both in Birmingham and, hopefully, beyond!

[joeonmusic]

[joeonmusic]

My new single On Fire Again is out next Friday

#youtube

[joeonmusic]

Ten highlights of my musical journey in 2022

Jan 26th Tom Robinson quoting my lyrics back to me

Remember party gate? We’ve changed PMs a couple of times since then, so it feels inconceivable that it was only in January this year that the stories about the Tories breaking lockdown rules and partying like there was no pandemic were all revealed. Anyway, Mintball (Sean Buckley) and I collaborated on a funky song satirising the government and rushed it out hoping we’d release it before Boris Johnson was forced to resign (in fact he clung on for months afterwards, but it felt like he had only days left).

Anyway, we got a good reaction to the song, even if it wasn’t as big as I may have hoped, and my favourite thing was when Tom Robinson tweeted this to me: 

"We thought nobody would dob us in - we are the ones that call the tune"...

For such a legend of the music and broadcasting world to acknowledge your work and quote your lyrics back to you is a massive compliment and something I will always treasure.

19th March Solo gig Artefact - audience reaction

I’ve done three gigs supporting Grant Sharkey in total and this one at Artefact in the Spring was my last. We played in the back room with its perfect acoustics and got a full room of people - even running out of chairs, so some had to sit on a rather cold floor! Anyway, Grant had been talking about involving the audience, and I took this onboard, by not writing a set list, but putting the songs on cards and letting them choose which ones I sang and in what order. 

I haven’t done it again since, but for that one, it really worked and did indeed break down the barriers between performer and audience. I also had a really powerful moment when performing one of my saddest songs as someone in the front row had tears streaming down her face! She loved the song and it touched something deep inside her, which was an amazing feeling. This was me before heading to the gig:

28th April Trace remix

Not long after the war in Ukraine started, things were looking bleak in the world, I was worried about my friends in eastern Europe and the possibility of Putin using nukes. I was also trying to find ways to help, so was about to drive to see some Ukrainian refugees when a message pinged to me from the Invisible Squirrel that he’d finished the remix of my track Trace. 

I listened to it in the car on the way to transport clothes and support to some desperate people and was blown away by what he’d done. For a while, I felt the buzz and excitement of music in amongst all the gloom. It was special.

Watch the video for the song here: 

30th April Reaching number one in the Cool Top 20

It’s lovely to be written, or talked about and I’ve had some great coverage this year, from being interviewed on Adrian Goldberg’s Brum Radio show and by Kirk on Duggystone Radio, a YouTube interview with Martin Holley and a great feature with Sam Lambeth in Louder Than War. To actually feature in a chart at number one is really amazing for me, though. I have great respect for anyone who gives up their time for free to do radio shows, podcasts or blogs for free in the name of promoting independent artists, and Cool Top 20, run by the wonderful Lean, is one of my favourite blogs, with a weekly chart that you can listen to as a playlist. I have discovered loads of brilliant artists through this blog, so to have been number one in their chart twice is pretty mind-blowing for me.

CoolTop20 has been updated! And here are our suggestions for the #festivalseason 2022! Give them a listen here: https://t.co/WEuEyimuxk The talented Shayan Regan is in our spotlight: https://t.co/n4ecaYi9Ux#cooltop20 #musicblog #NewMusicAlert #indiemusic Enjoy the weekend! pic.twitter.com/LSbrNzsBiT

May onwards Rehearsing with Louisa and shaping our sound

Up until this year, I had been doing all my original music as a solo musician, which is great in many ways, because you can do exactly what you want with no compromising with band members and waiting for them to do stuff. I really wanted to add another element to my music, though and had missed that feeling of playing with someone else and bouncing ideas off them, so for a while I’d been trying to get Louisa to play fiddle and sing with me. 

She finally agreed to start rehearsing with me in the spring and I have absolutely loved working with her on creating our sound as a duo. I have listened back to some of our rehearsal recordings in wonder - absolutely loving the combination of our two voices, or just her voice and my songs. It gives me such pleasure to play with her and we’ve had such lovely comments about how well we compliment each other at gigs that it feels to me like this was meant to be and I can’t wait to release some recordings next year. I really hope people will be as blown away by our songs as I am. 

12th June Two artists doing covers of my songs

As I mentioned earlier, I love doing recordings of other people’s songs, so I have done covers of songs by independent, unsigned artists, such as Penfriend, The Heavy North and Sam Lambeth, as well as more established and famous ones. I also did a cover of a song by 3 Little Wolves of the single Fractured (a bit) and then was blown away when Paul reciprocated with a cover of 100 Doors. Check it out here:   

After our mate @joe_peacock ‘s rendition of ‘Fractured (a bit), thought it was only fair we return the favour… here’s a little electric piano version of ‘100 Doors’ 🚪 If you don’t follow Joe already, check him out… he’s a great guy and the biggest genre-hopper we know 🐺🐺🐺 pic.twitter.com/t7F4AV1rqn

However, that wasn’t the only one. My first big single ‘Is not Everything Morbid?’ would not have sounded like it did without producer Joe Adhemar, but for him to then decide to record a cover, too, was incredibly humbling and flattering. As you can see from this, the single was largely his work in terms of the piano playing, anyway:  

So...apart from getting the song title wrong (Is Not Everything Morbid), I had a go at performing @joe_peacock's track today. Warts n all, #murderedsongoftheday - Hope you like it https://t.co/rWwketqTOQ

19th July Releasing Mirror Neuron Generator - listening party

I guess you could say that this album was a bit of a risk. Having made some kind of name for largely guitar-based songs, I did an album with almost no guitars on it at all. The influences were more Prince and Prodigy than Pixies this time. Also, I went from having a talented producer (Joe Adhemar) making sure everything sounded right on the previous album to doing it all myself, apart from the final mixing and mastering. How would people react? Well, in terms of Bandcamp sales it was a complete flop. I hardly sold anything. This might be because I didn’t stagger the releases - it went onto streaming platforms on the same day and the incentive of a free lyric book and 3 extra tracks wasn’t enough to tempt people into paying for it. However, lots of people said nice things about the album and I did a pre-release listening party hosted in In Your Ears Radio to introduce all the songs, which was really fun to share the album for the first time and chat to people directly about the different themes in the album. You can read about that in this blog post here: https://at.tumblr.com/joeonmusic/mirror-neuron-generator-out-tomorrow/2w5uj7vg1nf8

6th August #MurderedSongOfTheDay meet up

I have no idea how many songs I’ve posted on this hashtag over the year, but it’s a lot. I love trying out different songs and I’ve done everything from Bernard Cribbins to Bjork, Buddy Holly to Bob Marley etc. In August, Stevie T arranged for the people who love sharing music on Twitter in this way to meet up at his house and all play together in person. It was a fantastic occasion and meeting Stevie and his family, Scott, Ady, Cathers, Ian and Rich was such a joy. 

The only slight downer was those who couldn’t make it, especially James who was one of the original instigators of the hashtag and has such a fantastic voice, which I was looking forward to hearing live. We sang through the night and had a great time - lots of laughter and a real feeling of shared love for music.

Love version of Is Not Everything Morbid by the awesome @joe_peacock 👌 #MurderedSongOfTheDay #MurderedSongOfTheDayLive pic.twitter.com/R4TUcCmjb1

5th November Review of RHTP

I’m not sure if there is a right way to release singles. Most people put them out on Fridays to catch #NewMusicFriday fever on Twitter and some people go for long periods to promote them and get a buzz going, plus as many pre-saves as possible. I did neither of those - released it on Halloween, two weeks after uploading it and had a really long tricky name for this song, which I thought DJs would probably hate having to say! Nevertheless, it got a really good reaction. I was especially pleased with this Tweet from Top of the Radar, which totally made my day: 

https://t.co/lCh9srx3so@joe_peacock is an artist with a unique style & twist on combining music with storytelling! Radioactive Hybrid Terror Pigs catches you from the second you read the title (I hear you nod) & I guarantee you'll be singing that line all the way through! #TOTR

November 17th Missed Trees playing to a sold out Kitchen Garden Cafe

Every gig I have played with Louisa has been special. Our first one at Artefact was small, but a lovely, intimate way to get started with playing our songs to people. The Warehouse Cafe is a special place for me, due to my connections to that building and the people there. We played to a good-sized crowd and there was a wonderful atmosphere. Our third gig was the most magical and introduced our music to a whole new audience of people who’d never heard us before. 

Supporting Ellie Gowers was a brilliant experience and getting to see her perform afterwards was a treat in itself. We played a short set of our seven strongest songs and the reaction was fantastic. Kitchen Garden Cafe is an absolutely lovely venue for a gig (especially acoustic ones) and I hope we’ll be back there again very soon. 

It’s been a great year full of highs and I feel very lucky to have found such a great community of new music enthusiasts to share this journey with. I’ll be doing plenty more in 2023, with the first releases from The Missed Trees and new solo single being finished for release as we speak and at least one album to come out. I hope you enjoy listening to it all as much as I enjoy making this music. Cheers - here’s to another year of fantastic musical adventures!

#singersongwriter #diy music #indie #new music #altfolk #acoustic #birmingham

[joeonmusic]

The Missed Trees play live at The Warehouse Cafe

While I haven’t stopped writing and recording songs as a solo artist (watch this space for a new release before the end of the year), I am thoroughly enjoying playing with the incredibly talented Louisa Davies-Foley in The Missed Trees, so would love you to come and see us play this Friday at The Warehouse Cafe in Digbeth.

Our first gig took place at the lovely Artefact in Stirchley in July and since then we have added a few more songs to our set, as well as working on the ones we played first time round. If you have listened to any of my music, you’ll recognise the storytelling songwriting style, but with harmony vocals or the addition of Louisa’s beautiful lead vocals and fiddle playing, it’s a much richer sound than I can achieve on my own. Sometimes when I am playing the songs I get quite lost in the sound and can’t quite believe it’s me that wrote and is performing this music.

There are some more upbeat songs, but this is the one I consider our most beautiful and possibly the saddest (video taken from the previous concert)

The Warehouse Cafe is a great place that’s very dear to my heart, as I used to work for Birmingham Friends of the Earth in the same building and love the ethos of the place. I am delighted that we’re playing there and can bring music to people in the centre of Birmingham on a pay as you feel basis. We know there’s a cost of living crisis at the moment, so we don’t want anyone not to come and see us because they they wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of a ticket. We’re sure that there will be people there who will enjoy the music and be able to make a contribution to our costs in rehearsing for and playing this gig. 

We want people to hear the amazing songs we’re playing and to tell more people to come and see us next time. We hope to do many more gigs in 2023, as well as recording and releasing music for people to enjoy listening to wherever they are. See you on Friday!

#alt-folk #Birmingham #live music #warehouse cafe #friends of the earth #acoustic #gigs in birmingham

[joeonmusic]

Mirror Neuron Generator - out tomorrow

On Tuesday I did a Listening Party for my new album with an exclusive first listen via soundcloud for those who took part. Thanks to In Your Ears Music Radio for hosting it and doing such a fantastic job of promoting unsigned artists like me. 

With the album coming out tomorrow, I thought I’d share those tweets here for anyone listening to get the commentary:

#SummerSessions The first song on the album was also the first single. 100 Doors bridges this album with the previous one quite well because although it’s got a disco feel, it has some guitar. The arrangement is quite sparse, but I've been told it's also quite catchy.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions 100 Doors is based on one of the most famous prophetesses of ancient legend, but also our desire to have someone to tell us what will happen in the future, especially when you’re going through dark times and want easy answers.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions I’m particularly proud of this guitar solo. I was kind of having a break from that instrument on this album, but sometimes it really does add something special.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions track two is called Inner Spaceman and lyrically is about having to deal with what’s going on in your head when you’re own your own and probably shouldn’t be.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions It started as an instrumental track called Barren thoughtlands and the music conjured this idea of desolate wastelands, but then with an element of seeking a way out and some brighter spots.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track three The haunted everything is about the slender man. This is a much more modern theme than most of mine, but I love the way it’s a mixture of folklore and internet trickery.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Musically, it’s influenced by the trance techno I listened to a lot in the ‘90s, but also Transglobal Underground and that kind of tribal storytelling around the campfire. It also started out as an instrumental track, which was called "The trail leads upwards".

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track four is Inquisitor, which you’ve guessed it is about the Spanish Inquisition (or the man who led it - Tomas De Torquemada), which is something nobody expects on an album, right?

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Musically, it’s quite influenced by trip hop - obviously the theme is very dark and I even get into a bit of spoken word, rather than singing, which is something I’m not overly comfortable with. There's more of that on one of the extra Bandcamp tracks, though!

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 5 and you finally get to hear what Trace sounded like before the @invisibleSqrl got his paws on it. He didn’t keep much of the music, as you can hear, but I love what he did with it. The remixer's job is to transform a song, and he certainly did it.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Despite that, there are still things I love about the original. I am quite proud of the string part that I wrote on this and some of the vocal harmonies. It's a song about the origins of art.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 6 is Forgiveness Powder, which was the last single to come out, but has surpassed the first two in terms of streams. My mate in Russia mixed and mastered it and I love what he did.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions The theme is pretty dark, as usual. A woman called Mary Blandy was tricked by her lover into poisoning her dad because he wanted the dowry for marrying her. Not what you'd expect from a track with that kind of backing, but the speed suggests getting carried away.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions I like the description that @SharmanSomerset gave it: “It’s like Blur and Goldie had a baby”.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 7 is another disco-influenced song called Enheduanna. I kind of had the idea that this would be a Boney M style anthem about an Ancient Egyptian priestess - you tell me if that's what it sounds like.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions I'm not kidding myself that it will reach that level of success (huge hit), but it’s not as dark as the other songs and is supposed to be a bit about girl power and drama!

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 8 is probably the outlier on the album. It’s the slowest song, in 6/8 time, and has been compared to a song from avant-garde musical theatre, although I was thinking jazz/torch song.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 8 is probably the outlier on the album. It’s the slowest song, in 6/8 time, and has been compared to a song from avant-garde musical theatre, although I was thinking jazz/torch song.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Mass Exodus is the only track with someone else playing. @mikeyj_music added a cello part over one part of the song, although it’s a little bit low in the mix. On the last album, @JoeAdhemar actually did a lot more than produce! He's a very talented musician!

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions It’s a very tragic story about the murder of Hypatia of Alexandria by an angry mob whipped up by religious fervour. It led to the collapse of a beautiful, cultured and civilised city and I see many parallels in it.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Track 9 is a more positive song. Calypso through the oceans is about the French explorer Jacques Cousteau and how he transformed people’s understanding of life under the sea.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions I think it’s important to highlight heroes as well as villains. This song has a bit of a baggy feel to it for me, taking influences from Manchester bands without copying anything too closely.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions The final song on the album is called This is not a good idea. It’s another cheery one!

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions It focuses on childhood fears of nuclear bombs and the dread that everyone’s now so obsessed with their individual pleasures that they can’t be arsed to leave the world habitable for our children. On days this hot with many places in Europe burning, it's quite apt

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions When @3LittleWolves1 listened to this final track Paul suggested I should do a shorter radio edit to get airplay, but I like the epic 5 minutes and the space it has.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Thanks for taking the time to listen to my album. Please buy a copy from Bandcamp if you can. It’s got 3 totally exclusive extra tracks, plus the @InvisibleSqrl remix of Trace and a lyric book.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions I'm really proud of this album. Thanks to Rob of @palstar_records for mixing and mastering 9 tracks. I know it has its imperfections, but that's just going to be part of what I do unless I suddenly get rich or sell hundreds of copies, so I can afford a producer.

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions If you haven't checked out my previous album and want to hear what I sound like with a brilliant producer (@JoeAdhemar) working to make the songs more polished/better formed, listen/buy it here: https://t.co/1zLeCFIH4P

— Joe Peacock (@joe_peacock) July 19, 2022

#SummerSessions Great album that by @joe_peacock He really is trying something different with his music n should be applauded for being so brave... Nice to read the Stories behind the songs 👍👍👍👍🎧🎧🎧 ..

— Moby T and The Ukraine People 🇺🇦 (@Mobytanner) July 19, 2022

#listening party #newindiemusic #singer songwriter #mirror neuron generator

[joeonmusic]

10 days until the release of Mirror Neuron Generator

My third album comes out in ten days time on 22nd July. It’s called Mirror Neuron Generator and it’s quite a leap from my previous releases. While the first previous albums occasionally veered away from indie rock into other styles, this album almost completely discards the guitar in favour of exploring beats, baselines and synths.

The album opens with 100 Doors, the acclaimed first dark disco(ish) single, which was released in March and quickly became a favourite on indie blogs, stations and playlists. I wrote about it here if you want to read up on the theme behind it. From there it takes listeners on quite a journey through ambient soundscapes, trip-hop, techno, avant-garde and even drum n’bass.

To explain a bit about the title, which seems to have most people a bit confused, mirror neurons are little understood, but seem like a very important part of the brain. They seem to help us understand others by mirroring feelings and actions, so I thought that was a great thing to get from art. If people connect with music, they must see themselves in the feelings or experiences they imagine the people in the songs are having. Music can and should be both about feelings and energy, but also something very cerebral, so that’s what I am aiming for. If my music can generate these connections with people and places from throughout the world and throughout history, that’s great.

Although musically, this album is a bit of a departure, the storytelling is as strong as ever. The lyrics tell stories of things that I come across that fascinate me in some way; from ancient authors, artists, explorers and fraudsters to fictional internet characters. There are also a couple of songs, as always that draw on my own experiences. I’ll delve a bit more into the stories of those songs over the coming week leading up to the release date.

The album is being released on the same day on both streaming services and Bandcamp. Joe doesn’t wish to produce CDs or vinyl, because as a committed environmentalist feels there’s already enough plastic in the world without him adding to it. Instead, Bandcamp purchasers will receive extra tracks and a lyric book, which they can download and print out if they wish.

There will also be an opportunity to get an exclusive listen to the album with my commentary and undivided attention to answer your questions about the songs on Twitter in a listening party next Tuesday at 8pm. Look out for full details soon.

Don’t forget to pre-save the album here for streaming https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/joepeacock/mirror-neuron-generator

or even better go to my bandcamp page and follow me there: https://joepeacock.bandcamp.com/

#new music #new album #singer songwriter #eclectic music #indie music #birmingham

[joeonmusic]

The Missed Trees to play debut gig on 9th July

After recording three albums as a solo artist, I am now playing in a duo. Here’s the press release for our first gig, which will take place at Artefact in Stirchley on 9th July. I am really excited to share the songs we’ve been working on at this and more gigs around Birmingham over the coming months.

The Missed Trees are an alt-folk duo from Birmingham consisting of singer-songwriter/ guitarist Joe Peacock and vocalist/fiddle player Louisa Davies-Foley.

They first played together in August last year, supporting Grant Sharkey at a gig in Digbeth Community Garden, but have been rehearsing an extensive set of original songs over the past few months to establish a place as one of the city’s most original and intriguing new acoustic acts.

Joe’s lyrics go to places other songwriters fear to tread, with stories about animals, adventurers, asylums, hermits and whatever else piques his interest. He has recorded three albums as a solo artist, but now teams up with Louisa to bring another dimension to his songs. They use carefully crafted harmonies and fiddle parts to augment and add new possibilities to his creations.

This first gig as an officially named duo will be a first chance for music fans in Birmingham to hear their unique take on acoustic alt-folk. Joe and Louisa will both play a few songs solo as well as a set of compositions as a duo.  

I previously played at Artefact in March (again with Grant Sharkey) and love the fact that the acoustics there mean you can play without any amplification, as it’s such an intimate yet echoey space. There’s only space for a small audience, and you feel that they’re very much part of the gig in such a tight space. I was really happy to make this the venue for our debut gig and am sure it’ll be a special occasion. The audience can pay as they feel, so nobody’s excluded from attending and there’s no worries about booking tickets.

#acoustic #duo #alt folk #gig #Artefact #stirchley #birmingham

[joeonmusic]

The story behind Forgiveness Powder

My new single is coming out on Friday 17th June. Musically it breaks new boundaries for me, as it’s the fastest song I’ve done and definitely sounds different to any of the other singles I’ve released. 

In terms of the topic, it’s a true story taken from the dim and distant past once again. One day, I was going down an internet wormhole about women who’d been hanged, but professed their innocence (as you do), when I was struck by this title – “Miss Blandy and the forgiveness powder”. I read about it and immediately thought: “This would make a brilliant subject for a song.” 

The tragic event happened in 1752. Basically, this woman called Mary Blandy got tricked by a charlatan into poisoning her father because he wanted to get his hands on her dad’s money. She was an only child and had a very close bond with her father, but had been unable to find a suitable husband earlier on in life, so when she hit her thirties, it was time to step up the search for a suitable husband. In order to encourage more suitors, her father offered a dowry of £10,000, but unfortunately this attracted the wrong sorts of suitors altogether!

Captain William Henry Cranstoun was exactly the sort of rogue any woman should steer well clear of. For some reason, this very well educated woman fell head over heels in love with this short ugly gambling addict, even though he was already married and her dad strongly disapproved of him. It didn’t end well for anyone, so there’s definitely a moral in there! He persuaded her that if she gave her dad a magic powder, he’d forgive him and let them marry. Unfortunately, that powder was not magic, it was arsenic and Mary was hanged for murdering her father, while Captain Cranstoun fled the country, but then succumbed to a nasty illness a few months later and died in just as much agony as Mary’s father did from the poisoning. 

Be careful who you trust, especially where money’s involved, seems as relevant now as ever, when there are so many scammers around and the internet makes it easier than ever to reach vulnerable people. There are plenty of toxic men around, too, so I hope that this centuries-old tale will still resonate when set to some serious banging beats.  

#singer-songwriter #new music #new single #new album #poisoning #toxic men #charlatan