@self-tort
If any mixposure member is interested, I have coupons to CDBaby which will allow you to download my EP "Oldest Roadies on the Earth", and my latest CD "Stripped Bare" from the CdBaby website. If you are interested in either, or both, just pm me.
If you're already a member of CDBaby, then downloading is simple. If you're not already a member, you will need to join, but it's a simple thing, doesn't cost anything, and opens up lots of independent music that you might not otherwise hear. I've been with CDBaby now for 10 years and they do not spam you.
So the offers there if anyone is interested. If after hearing the tracks you were minded to leave a review on CDBaby, that would be appreciated, but it's not a condition. Each coupon has a different password enabling one download, so the coupons once used can't be transferred to someone else.
Don't be bashful.
Cheers,
Brian
It's nice to be back to Mixposure. It's been a while since I've been particularly active. I have in recent years been involved in working with David Pendragon who is a producer who was heavily involved in the early years of this site. That plus attempting to run a legal practice makes it difficult to spend as much time as I would like here.
For those who might remember me from the earlier days, I am now recording as "Brian Ralston's Self Tort" rather than "Self Tort" - a significant reason for that was that the most recent recordings have been more "singer/songwriter" than "band" and, perhaps more importantly, my most recent (and hopefully future) recordings use real people playing real instruments.
In 2013 I put together a band to be part of our ABC's "Exhumed" competition and as I mentioned in my penultimate blog we won the Sydney final of that competition. I will be posting in coming days some videos of that night which was one heck of a blast. Sadly the geographics involved with the members of that band did not allow it to become an ongoing thing.
However, in February, 2015 I happened to be playing a solo spot at a gig in Sydney, and after my set I was approached by someone I knew from my past dealings of mixposure, but whom I had not previously met in person. That was Robert Smith or "Robbo" as he's known in here. Rob's sons were playing in a band at the same gig after my set and we talked about getting together. In November 2015 Rob was part of a band that was put together for the launch of my most recent CD "Stripped Bare". We have also played a few times together as a duo and keep talking about putting together a funk band (Rob's call) and a Joe Cocker Tribute Band (my call).
Anyway, I will be posting some tracks of my most recent recordings including the EP "Oldest Roadies On The Earth" and "Stripped Bare". There will be some downloads, but having spent a lot of time and money in getting them together I won't be giving away the whole box and dice for free. Oldest Roadies is already up at iTunes, Amazon etc and Stripped Bare should be up there in the not too distant future. The recordings will include tracks co-written with well known mixposure people such as Melsi, Carol Douglas and Lex Zaleta.
Thanks for allowing me to come back after such an absence.
Cheers to you all
Our Australian National Broadcaster the ABC has, on its youth network, run for many years a competition called "unearthed" seeking young unheard bands.
The Sydney afternoon presenter on 702ABC (who himself played in well-known Sydney bands in the 80s) decided to run a similar competition for more mature musos which he called "Exhumed".
I decided to form a band to enter the competition and we were shortlisted for the Sydney Final which was held at the Basement, one of Sydney's premier musical venues. And lo and behold we won.
It was a fabulous night and now we have to wait to see whether we survive the cull from the 42 regional finalists to the final 6.
In the meantime though, we are part of a People's Choice contest with other regional winners. I am attaching a link where, if you wish, you can go to vote. Needless to say we are "Self Tort"
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/exhumed/bands/
<p>As many of you will know there is a Same Song Madness project going on in here.</p><p>Nigel Potter has posted a set of lyrics and invited members to put their own individual take on the lyrics.</p><p>My version of the lyrics is posted here:</p><p><a href="http://www2.mixposure.com/Self_Tort/song_focus_13801.php">Just Keep Breathing</a></p><p><br />Those who have dealt with Nigel would be aware of not only his talent, but also his support for his fellow indie artists. I have available a backing track without lead guitar and lead vocals if others would like to add their own take to the track. In particular any of the brilliant guitarists on site who want to have a shot at the solo, any vocalists, in fact it's pretty much an open offer if you want to get involved. I'd love to do a mega mixpo mix of the track. If you'd like to get involved PM me and I'll send you a copy of the backing track. If you just want to add harmony vocals to the present track up here just PM me and I'll give you details of where to send you files.</p><p> </p><p>Cheers</p><p> </p><p>Brian</p><p> </p>
<p>I had a quiet morning and, not particularly wanting to head into work too prematurely, decided to have a browse around the net. Every so often I do a google search on myself. It's not so much an ego thing as curiosity. Whenever I do it, and really it's only on boring days like today, I always find something weird.</p><p> </p><p>During today's search everthing started off normal, my website, the various omds I've belonged to over the years, the various sites that offer my CD tracks for paid download, but never send me cheques. I have this theory that there are all these sites out there that each owe me 99c but none of whom will pay me till my account reaches $20.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, nothing untoward had been located until i found this link: <a href="http://pl.ayli.st/Self+Tort#2"><span style="color: #000000;">http://pl.ayli.st/Self+Tort#2</span></a></p><p>It took to a site where there was a long list of tracks I've recorded. There was no rhyme or reason to the tracks there. A couple from the first CD, a couple from the forthcoming CD, a couple of collabs with Lex Zaleta, some recent collabs with Melsi and Saladin, and somewhat bizzarely, a collab which, so far as I am aware has never been posted anywhere apart from the original mixposure site.</p><p>While I was staring at this list a video commenced. It wasn't my video. It was some guy doing a tribute to Ronnie Barker. But if you came in cold you would assume that the video was "Self Tort". The songs themselves don't play. If you click on the link it does a search of Youtube and then tells you there's no video for the song. It then starts playing another video.</p><p>What was particularly strange was that "Bush ****" which has a video on youtube was not on the list, and "What's the Attraction" which also has a youtube video still came up "no video for this song".</p><p>I then decided to do an artist search. I tried Nigel Potter and a page for Nigel appeared with a number of songs whose names I recognised as being Nigel's work. In Nigel's case nothing happened. Each song was noted to have no video, and no other vid opened during the operation. The same thing happened with Lex Zaleta.</p><p>I then tried Texas Jake Lee and "Conversations at the Crossroads" and "Understanding" were listed. I clicked the first track and no video was found. When I clicked Understanding a video then commenced with a guy playing a rock guitar track over a backing track. No identification as to who he was. Quite the contrary the title made it clear it was Texas Jake playing Understanding. If you'd just found the page by accident you'd assume that the video was of Texas Jake (although the German accent might cause you some suspicion).</p><p>When I hit Maria Daines I found paydirt. Actually got Maria Daines video and audio.</p><p>I really don't know what to make of it. If the site was offering free downloads of my music I might have been a bit narked that they hadn't sought my permission to do so. But I'm still a bit narked to have a list of my songs up on a site with my name and a geeky looking guy appearing in a video that people might think is me.</p><p>I imagine Jake wouldn't be too impressed with his name being linked to someone who's not only not him but in a completely different genre. Maria's vids have obviously been taken from youtube and I guess if you post them there you're pretty much putting them in the public domain.</p><p>I was wondering if anyone has any insight into what the site's all about and whether we should be jumping up and down about it or not really giving a toss.</p><p><br />Cheers</p><p> </p><p>Brian</p>
<p>I have just uploaded a demo version of a collab between Saladin de Tolosa and myself dedicated to ladies with turned-up (retrousse) noses.</p><p> </p><p>Saladin will be singing the final version, but at his suggestion I'm posting this demo version. Let us know what you think?</p><p><br />Cheers</p><p> </p><p>Brian</p>
<p>I've done some further work on a couple of my tracks.</p><p>On One Hour With You I completely redid the vocals. There were a couple of unnecessarily aggressive sections in the original vocals, and I've settled into the song more now so it seems to flow more smoothly.</p><p>On "Can't Stop Thinking About You" I again redid the lead vocals (and fortunately they still matched the harmonies), changed the percussion in the chorus section, redid the organ and added a lead solo.</p><p>Both tracks wlll be included on my forthcoming "Tortology" CD, so I would welcome any suggestions for improvement before I commit myself to the necessary financial obligations.</p><p>The songs are on my page at</p><p><a href="http://www2.mixposure.com/Self_Tort/music.php">http://www2.mixposure.com/Self_Tort/music.php</a></p><p>Cheers</p><p>Brian</p>
Man, what a great night. Thanks to all in here who passed on their best wishes.<br /><br />On Monday I performed an acoustic set at The Basement which is Sydney's premier music club. I was knocked out by the support I received from family and friends, and friends of family, and friends of friends. The place was pretty packed and I would estimate that 75-80% of that crowd was made up of my supporters. There is a dining area in front of the stage but the management does not normally offer dining on a Monday night, but when the advance bookings started coming in they changed their minds.<br /><br />There were five acts on the bill. I drew the straw for the first spot which was perfect, because I doubt that I'd have got many to come along to watch if I'd scored the 11pm slot. I did 7 songs, starting with one of my co-writes with the amazing Lex Zaleta - "Once is Enough". The rest of the set was as follows:<br /><br />Six O'Clock Swill<br />Hardie's Men<br />Can't Stop Thinking About You<br />Holding Court in King Street<br />Fetish (yes Gina, I did that for you)<br />and finished off with What's the Attraction.<br /><br />Was knocked out by the audience response.<br /><br />I've posted the raw video of the first song. I will be receiving an audio CD of the set from the club which was recorded directly onto HD and will try to substitute that audio for the current audio which is limited by the age and quality of my recorder. It wasn't possible to get a line into the recorder from the PA.<br /><br />Hope you enjoy. If you do, please send a PM to Lex to let him know. He's been feeling pretty low of late and deserves to be told how wonderful and talented he is. Thanks Lex.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Brian
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