On launching a new album & getting back on the road...

It’s kind of late in the year to be wishing you a bright and happy 2012 but here I go…

What a wonderful year it’s turning out to be so far!

Already it’s brought me stunning new albums from some of my favourite artists Julian Gaskell, Myshkin and Truckstop Honeymoon… Having passed my driving test in December I have my first car & am about to drive five thousand miles around Europe in it with my friends Brigid Kaelin & Becca Williams. There are some exciting projects in the pipeline that for now I’m keeping schtum about… and my new Pledge Music campaign, launched this week, to fund the release of my sixth album CONTRABAND has raised almost 30% of the money i need in just three days!

This album is different to any other that I’ve ever made for a number of reasons, not least in that right from the start and throughout its production it’s been an album about community. Here’s how it's beginning to take shape…

Peer Production & The Listening Committee

In August 2011 I sent an email out to the group of friends and musicians I have begun to think of as my ‘listening committee’. In the email I invited people to download a whole bunch of demos – all the material I’d written last summer – to help me to choose the songs I’d take into the studio. I think of this process as ‘peer production’ and of the album as ‘solo-collaborative’. It is the first time I’ve ever made a record in this way.

In November I travelled to Leeds on a packed train and spent two days at Valley Wood Studio. Here, with the expert help of Barkley McKay who recorded No.5 and Wife, I laid down thirteen tracks in two days. My good friend Nick Blacka came and played double bass with me. We worked incredibly quickly, capturing live moments of genuine intensity and raw versions of the songs I’d crafted.

The rough mixes of the album are now in the hands of a whole bunch of my favourite musicians and songwriters around the world, many of whom have been kind enough to offer their services as ‘guests’ on particular tracks. (I can’t wait to hear what they come up with!)

New Pledge Music Site

This week I’m opening the album ‘community’ up wider, to include everyone who has ever listened to my songs or been to a gig. I’m doing this by setting up a Pledge Music Site and inviting people to help me to put the album out either by becoming a ‘patron’ in exchange for incentives, or by sharing links and spreading the word about the album. As part of the process I also made a video, featuring my photographs, on which you can hear an unmixed track from the album.

We’ve produced a limited edition postcard about the pledge campaign that i’ll be bringing out on tour with me in the uk this spring. If you can’t get to the gigs and / or you’d like me to send you a few to send on to your friends and family just let me know! If the campaign is successful, I’m hoping to raise money for the Royal Society of Musicians, a very special charity who helped me to get back on my feet again in 2011.

* * *

There have been times this last year that music has been impossible for me. So painful that even the word itself was something I couldn’t bear. The only music I could listen to at times was birdsong. And then, only the scraping and chatter of sparrows under the eaves or the all-night ululations of the hoopoe.

2011 was not an easy year for me. I spent a month in Spain last June where I began, very slowly, to pick up the guitar again. For a while I couldn’t sing and so I picked out fragile patterns whilst the rain hammered down outside. Eventually these small patterns became songs which in turn have become CONTRABAND.

I learnt a lot of things whilst I was away. I learnt that pride sometimes needs to be swallowed and I swallowed a lot of it…and in the process I learnt how to ask for help, (as I am doing right now through Pledge). I learnt that the world can be very stark and also heart-breakingly beautiful. I swam wherever I could swim, in storms, lakes and shallows and among pink oleander blossoms. I picked ripe cherries, ran on dirt roads and walked on canal towpaths. I greatly enjoyed the company of women and learnt the value of true and generous friendship. I cried a lot, and, eventually, I learned how to laugh again.

This hasn’t been an easy album, but I hope that this will make it one that carries with it strength, wisdom, richness, grace and hope.

Finally…

I’d like to share some of the comments that have been coming through with the pledges people have been sending, because they’ve really moved me. I’d also like to say a very sincere thank you to all of those incredibly kind people who’ve been involved in the project so far, in whatever way, shape or form. This continues to be an amazing and humbling process for me.

Hope to see you somewhere along the road,

Kirsty x

‘I'm excited to be a part of a new project!’

‘A true pleasure to support you, Kirsty. Many thanks for the beautiful music’.

‘We need and love your music!’

‘One of the greatest, undiscovered, song writers I have the pleasure to listen to.  Keep making that music which makes us feel so much!’

‘Delighted to know you are back on the music scene’.

‘Your music is magic. We love you’.

Ps. If you haven’t already signed up to the mailing list, you can get a free download of an album demo ‘dust rising’ by doing so at pledge here!

Your patience has finally paid off

Do you remember way back in February when we asked you to be strong and not succumb to the temptation of voting for Jackson Browne in the IMA Vox Pop?

Well, what did we tell you? We actually won the darned thing, didn't we!...No.5 by The Hobopop Collective is officially this year's IMA Vox Pop winner in the Best Live Performance Album category.

Interestingly, over 75% of the vox pop winners, voted on by around 57,000 members of the public from around the world, were different from the releases and songs selected by the panel of industry experts.

We'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone out there who managed to resist the finger-magnetism of the Jackson Browne button & voted for us this year. We're very proud of you. You did well.

By the way, just in case you've been in deep space or hibernation recently, we did an interview with the IMAs that they lovingly posted for us on their website. Nice people, those IMA people...

european tour dates march/april 2011

we start our spring tour of germany next week, with brief hops to switzerland and the netherlands while we're out. hope to see you there!

for full details of the tour, visit http://www.kirstymcgee.com/live.html

hobo-house concerts

in this “new depression era” the house concert is proving not only to be a fantastic experience for artists and audiences alike, but a real lifeline for independent musicians who still like to concentrate on the quality of their songwriting. if you’ve made it to this page we hope it’s because you are considering inviting us or one of our delightful, house-trained contemporaries into your home, and to that end we’d like to give you as much information and guidance on house concerts as we can.

credit is due to house concert pros and excellent musicians danny schmidt and jack stafford, from whose websites we have gleaned (or simply lifted) a great deal of what follows here.

other useful information can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/house_concert

and for those of you who do the couch surfing thing:

http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=12850

WHAT IS A HOUSE CONCERT?

a house concert is a concert given in your home, or shed, or basement...

house concerts can be one of the most intimate and immediate settings to hear music. on the european mainland - and espcially in north america and canada - they are more common than in the UK, although the idea has been growing here too in the last few years. basically you invite a group of people to meet a touring artist who you are hosting for a night. in the course of the evening that artist will give a concert, in exchange for which your guests will make a donation towards their fee.

artists love house concerts because it gives them a direct contact with a genuine listening audience, and audiences love them because of the informality and opportunities to interact with artists and with their local community.

if you live somewhere beautiful and/or convenient, or if you love introducing your friends to music you care about, or if you just wish that your favourite songwriters would come to your town or village, then perhaps considering hosting a house concert would be for you. 

IT’S NOT COMPLICATED

there are no hard and fast rules about hosting a house concert, but keeping it simple is often a good idea. as long as you have a space that can comfortably accommodate at least 15-20 people and a couple of musicians then you can host a concert.

you don’t need a sound system (unless your space is big enough for 50+, and in those cases many artists can bring their own), and you don’t need to cater for everyone (unless you want to). a simple ‘bring your own drinks’ policy is enough, or if you feel more adventurous a pot luck supper (for which everyone brings a dish) can work very well.

invite your guests for 30-60 minutes before you’d like the performance to begin, to give them time to arrive, meet and greet one another, have a drink and settle in before the music starts. artists will have their own ideas about how long to play for, but two sets of 40-45 minutes is typical, with a break in between.

WHAT DO I NEED?

not a lot, actually, but here’s a checklist of basic requirements:

1. -a house with a space in (underneath / attached to / round the back of) it that will hold upwards of 15-20 people.
2. -a circle of friends and contacts who are interested in coming to see artists play in your space.
3. -enough things for them all to sit on.

pretty much everything else is optional, depending on your own preferences and those of your guests.

PROMOTING & TICKETING

if you have a good network of music loving friends the chances are you won’t have to do much in the way of promotion. most artists will be able to send you posters if you want to open advertising to people you don’t know, too, and will list the show on their website, offering an option to contact you for details should anyone be interested in attending.

enthusiastic word of mouth is by far the most effective way to get folks to come to a house concert you are hosting. share some CDs around among your friends, talk it up and urge folks to visit the website and check out some more tunes. most artists will have some resources to help you with this - photos, free downloads, press quotes (there’s lots of stuff for example on the right hand side of this page, and on the press page of this site) - to help you put together an enticing invitation to send or email to your friends and family and colleagues. if you're excited about the house concert then spread that excitement among your friends. they'll be intrigued, at least. then it’s down to the artist to win them over, all you need to do is make them curious enough to give the music a try.

one note: it's important to make sure, in the promotional process, that your guests understand that this will be a house concert, and not just a house party that has some music going on in the background.

tickets aren’t usually necessary, but it’s a good idea to run a list and get RSVPs from people who intend to come to the concert. collect names, numbers and email addresses, so that if anything changes you can let everyone know, and so that you know who to expect on the night. that way you will know when you are full, too. people do cancel though, so keep a list of people who wanted to come that you had no room for - spaces can open up again. 

apparently, evites allows you to create and track invites online, and of coursefacebook’s event system can be a very powerful organisational tool, too. it can then be linked to and promoted through the artist’s own page(s) on facebook.

WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY?

well, of course we all tour to make a living, and yes, we all have CDs for sale, but we do need something to keep us going. 

house concerts are by their nature inclusive, and everyone is in a different situation financially, so organising payment for artists on a donation basis is often much more pleasant for everyone. typically a host will collect a suggested donation from the guests, either at the door or during the break. the suggested amount might be something like between £5 to £10 per person.

the important thing is to be clear with people from the start. be sure to mention in any invitations or promotional materials that there will be an expectation of money at some point during the evening. setting a suggested donation helps to formalise this gently, and make it clear that the artist does need more than simply some contributions towards their expenses. most people find that having the money pot at the door is the least intrusive way of doing this on the night. it also allows people to add more on their way out, if they have had a truly unforgattable evening!

most artists understand that house concert hosts are not professional promoters and will not ask you for a guaranteed minimum, but it is important to be communicative and let artists know in advance of the show if you think the attendance will be low, say, below 15-20 people, as it will help that artist when planning and financing the tour they are about to embark on.

THE HOUSE CONCERT EXPERIENCE

we really can do no better that to quote danny schmidt outright here:

“here's what's wonderful and unique about house concerts - there's no bright lights or raised stages to divide the artist and the audience. we are all sitting together in a room sharing and listening and connecting. there's a bunch of songs i'll only play in this sort of setting. and a bunch of stories and song explanations i'm only comfortable sharing in this intimate sort of setting.

“and just in general, there's something very real and tangible and human about the whole set up that can be very moving and touching and inspiring and invigorating. and that goes for me as much as for any listener. probably more so.”