Tour, album, more recording and finally....a holiday.

Hello! Sadly I've been neglecting my blog because things have been so incredibly busy recently. As you know, the Martyrs and I finally finished recording our debut album and it is now being mixed until everyone is happy… This could take some time, so we have decided to postpone our album launch until the New Year. Also, I’m buggering off to Australia and Bali for a few months to have a little rest, experience a summer, and write a few songs about kangaroos and my love of HRI, so it seemed best to hold off until my return. We will be releasing a single from the album soon, though, so you will get to hear a little taster of what we have spent the best part of 2012 creating.

In October, Tom and I are venturing off to the Netherlands and Germany to play some shows as part of our Eurotour. Sunshine and beers here we come! We'll have camcorder in hand to create a little video of our journey and shows, so if you really can't make it to Europe, you'll be able to watch us from home... Thinking about being on the road again makes me feel all nostalgic for our long drives in America. Not so much for the ones where we didn't see a gas station for 15 hours, though. Huck and the Handsome Fee R.I.P.

Speaking of the Fee, do you remember that fellow Huck? Well he has just finished writing a concept album and has started to play some gigs around Oxford before he begins recording it next year. The Huck Duo (including Tommy Longfellow) played their first live show last night at the Bully, and it was great. Tom and I also played a little set earlier in the night; it was good to have all the Martyrs onstage again, even if it was in our solo guises. Huck's next appearance will be in the bar of the Phoenix Picturehouse this Friday 31st August, while the Duo play again at the Wheatsheaf on the 17th of September.

 And if that isn’t enough then I’ll leave you with the good news that I’ve finished writing my solo album, which I’ll begin recording next month.  Come and hear some of the tracks on Friday 7 September at the last 'All Tamara's Parties' night in the East Oxford Community Centre.

New song and video: 'Tess'

Here is a video of my new song 'Tess' which was edited by Ross Williams. This song will feature on my solo album which will be recorded in the New Year.

Tamara and the Martyrs record Brasenose College Choir

Tamara and the Martyrs record Brasenose College Choir from Tamara Parsons-Baker on Vimeo.

Going to the Chapel...

No one likes getting up early on a Saturday. Especially when it is earlier than they would normally get up to go to work.  But this wasn’t any Saturday. This was the Saturday we would record…members of Brasenose College Choir.

My Producer came to pick me up at 8.30am sharp and we headed to Brasenose College. A big thank you must go to Mr David Balch for meeting us there and helping us set up the recording kit in the chapel.  I use the term 'us' very loosley here. I can wind up a cable but I don’t know what the hellah I’m supposed to plug it into. And what does this button do? Oops!

By 10.00am the choir had arrived and we had set up 16 mics and a whole lot of cables and wires. Jonathan Newell, Director of Music at Brasenose, gathered the choir around the piano and they all started humming their parts.  This is the first time I had heard it in person and it was so exciting.  When I thought of recording a choir for the album I imagined making it happen would be very unlikely.  Where am I going to get a choir? Where will we record it? How will I organise this? Who do I think I am? But it did happen and in the most beautiful and authentic setting. 

By 12pm we had managed to record all their parts a number of times so we could layer it on the final recording. This was all captured by Sam King who floated around the room in his socks filming and snapping pictures of the day. You’re going to have to wait a couple of months to hear the full track, but some of the pictures are here and the footage will be up soon to give you a little flavour of the awesomeness that took place that day.  A huge thanks to everyone involved who gave up their time to make this possible, especially the choir who are made up of very busy Brasenose students.







Photographs by Sam King

Tamara and the Martyrs Album Cover Competition

That's right, we are inviting you to design our album cover. The winning designer will receive a free copy of the album, a t-shirt with their design on it and be invited on stage at our album launch gig to be personally serenaded by the band. Tom said he will also buy you a beer. To enter email tparsonsbaker@gmail.com and we will send you more information.

Recording of recording:

Oi oi! Here's a little clip from our weekend's recording. So far we've laid down the drums, bass, guitars and almost all the vocal tracks.  The next two weeks are dedicated to finishing the vocals and getting some "proper musicians" in to record some cello/violin lines. If all goes well we might actually have managed to record an album in 2 months -- something I never thought possible.  Once we have it all mixed up and ready to burn, we aim to celebrate with a big old release knees-up in June. We'll keep you posted!

Tom and I are opening the Punt tomorrow at the Purple Turtle at 7pm! We'll be busting out some FRESH solo numbers, so don't miss it. There are some great bands going, check out more about the line up here.

Rain Schmain!

Happy May Day! Respect to those of you who stayed out all night in the rain. I got caught in a thunderstorm on the way home from the pub and a friendly milkman gave me a lift. A real milkman in a real milkfloat. Soaked in nostalgia I almost starting singing Doris Day into a gold top as the rain poured down.

But not even a bit of rain can break my mood this week. I had a great day in the studio on Sunday recording my guitar parts for the Martyrs' album. Tom came along to spur me on but instead spent the day swimming in tea and lamenting his hangover. We decided to celebrate the day's success by heading down to the O2 to see Blood Red Shoes, who somehow I'd never heard of. I had to slap Tom for not telling me about these guys sooner…AMAZING! 

Their set up is minimal: drums, guitar, and 2 vocals. But their sound is huge. They can really play. And sing. And basically do everything to the point at which, while you’re watching them, you feel sick with wonder and envy and realise that these things might be possible if you just spent a little more time practicing the guitar and a little less time watching Come Dine With Me. Godammit! Then I saw that ‘Lover’ had received a great review in Nightshift and Karma had been playing its part. Last week I fell off my bike, this week I got a good review. The balance is restored.