Tag Archives: celtic
The Goldblacks recording begins…
Going to be doing most of these kinds of updates in the evenings as the recording heat is from early in the day (like 7 am…sometimes earlier) until well past when I really should have eaten something.
Been not just recording songs but still learning about the entire process, like for instance how to relax and record.
I had been working on the material for months before this week but it’s still easy to be full aware of the recording button that’s just been hit.
Musicians are they’re worst critics but also the more worked up you get the more you can get so allowing for multiple takes and going for walks helps.
Two tracks are mostly done and just need tweaking and two more need more alterations but are essentially done.
You never quite know where it’s going until you start.
I already have unpolished versions of each song that I have been picking apart for a week. And now they are getting updated to pick more.
For bands or soloists I image the social media side of things is kind of the same. Behind the scenes is pretty much me in my corner of the living room fenced in by my music stuff with just enough room to escape if you avoid the Manhasset stand I got…oh, ages ago.
That and an array of drinks. Not booze but, water, coffee and Tulsi Tea which, by way, are King.
I have some CD mock-ups started as well which include this awesome cover art shot by Crystal Freeman…
After all this goes for printing I’ve got some ideas for maybe doing a few shows before the final cd release. I hope to include some other folks on stage too later as well, but I’ll update you on that as things confirm.
For those wondering, I’m still in Cookeilidh and still writing. Not sure about the full involvement of pitch writing at the moment, but I’m still creating and so is Cece.
On the band front, we had a great season just before the new year and lots of shows on for both Robbie Burns and St Patrick’s so I’m already getting that ready too.
The Goldblacks, based on early memories as a kid in the seventies, is more about self expression and doing those songs that wouldn’t fit in a Celtic environment. I’m as proud of it’s scope as I am of my work with the band and how far my stories have made it so far.
The Goldblacks track listing so far is…
She Lives There
Precipice
The Approach
Jubilata
Secret Star
Moonwatcher
Thank you, Blixa
Reason
Take Me Higher
Missed Connections
More to come!
Check me out on Instagram for more clips of early renditions and more at
Thank you for supporting indie music! ❤️
Cheers,
Tom
Straight away, First thing
Good size for mug 🙂
That was my first time using the quick photo feature. Right now I’ve got, well a decent supply of coffee and a 300 page notebook and a bass which is pretty well perfect. I have considered bringing a coffee maker in here too but as Cece is also in here I’m not sure her feelings on me brewing in here at 6am. I could sneak in a Bodum perhaps.
Today we have the Emma and Mandy table read which I’m very excited to get into. With the main shoot for the demo/pilot coming up it will be great to start working one on one with the cast again. With recent events of course things have not been easy. Wolf was not only a great cast member and someone who got our dream and our idea straight away but he was also my Cece’s beloved cousin. We will be doing a tribute to him in the Ollie and Emma WordPress site early next week when we have time to focus on it properly.
I’ve also been working on a new blog story idea that comes from my own background of working in Victoria and living in James Bay where all the big hotels are situated. It’s called Closer to Heaven and it’s a romance set here in working class Victoria, BC. Our city is perfect for that, which I know any local anywhere would say but we are set on the ocean and one of Victoria’s quirks is, thinking of my mention of James Bay, the number of little mini towns within Greater Victoria and how, as I mentioned, the very rich and others can not only live close by but even right next door. This also leads to all kinds of exchanges and therfore story possibilities.
Cookeilidh is also starting up our festival season which is looking to be really busy! After such a supportive crowd at The Highland Games our next show is June 7th at World Ocean Day in Sidney, right down by the water. Moving here almost 30 years ago now from the Mainland to Saanichton it’s great to play only a few blocks away from where I got my first bass!
If you haven’t yet, follow the band on Facebook!
Victoria Highland Games!
Created by TomPogson.com
Celtic Bassist
Victoria Celebrates Canada Day
Everything can just happen with one phone call. This is how it all started for me almost ten years ago now. That was the start of frankly the longest running work I have had to date…my beginning with Cookeilidh.
Dave Cook and I had jammed before in other projects but at that time I was just working, writing, busking on government and playing the occasional open stage gig. I kick myself for this but I had sold off alot of my extra gear so I just had a fretless Peavey Axecellorator Bass, my acoustic guitar and my multitracking equipment for making songs. It’s sounds fancy but there was way more stuff back in the day and this is why the early days is all pictures of me playing that off-gold badly beaten fretless. It is all that existed. Even my guitar bag was multipurpose and hung so low that if I wasn’t careful the bass would hit any curb I stepped over (part reason for its battered look).
Anyways Dave and Kim had just started trying celtic just for fun on the gorge as his wife Kim had gotten into it and people were already liking it (they weren’t busking…just playing for fun) I met up with Dave in a James Bay coffee shop and he gave me a tape. Yeah a tape. It was back in those days. The more we talked about the project the more interesting it sounded. It was a whole world of music I was just being exposed to and playing to that tape became something I did daily just for fun as well as listening to all the celtic music I could find. I use digital recordings on my laptop now to practice to but I still haven’t really stopped since that first cassette that started with Dave strumming some sustain chords and stating “Ok this is Mairi’s Wedding.”
Naturally my role is a little unusual being the bassist in a trad celtic band but for almost ten years now it has worked. There is alot of learning to fill the holes up between the instruments and not crowd them. Some listening to celtic piano helped back in the day as I’m almost just a bigger badder version of a left hand. Mostly joking there but so much is just taking what songs we do and finding how my instrument can enhance it.
It’s like they say about drummers.
It’s good when you don’t notice them. That sounds bad but it isn’t. And now and again we backup guys get our moment.
And when it’s good it’s just priceless!
Got to go practice soon 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
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Stopping to catch up
Sort of a good time to catch up as we are at the start of March. It’s my birthday month (ok that’s self indulgence, I apologize) but sitting on a bus with more posters it’s kind of less imposing though.
I don’t really get concerned about my age most of the time. My main inspirations created their best work past 30 so it doesn’t even phase me.
March is St Patrick’s month and that means I get to do lots of shows with Cookeilidh (presently out in James Bay with posters. ..trying to get to each of Victoria’s micro communities. And there is a whole lot of those. A friend and I were discussing that. It’s one of the cool things about our city and the diversity that’s been here since the Gold Rush but perhaps that’s why travelling across town feels so epic. It’s like you’re going through six towns before you get to where you’re going.
Ollie and Emma is still very much active too with setting up everything with our awesome new executive producer Less Bland Productions and Cheri and I are working not only on that but on creating other pitches that we could also use in the future. Our next skit is slated to be one featuring our two fun surreal elders played by Fred Samuel and Wolf Rick Patterson and we will soon be starting the table reads and rehearsal for that. I get a lot of questions about when do I sleep…i use a memo app so far. Maybe one day I’ll have a secretary with a memo app. We’ll have matching memo apps. That would be amazing.
Oh yeah, and when I have time I’ve been playing around with a little blog story. I’ll try to keep it pretty regularly posted at least until the story is done. I’m typing this on a phone and sometimes the auto suggestions are far more interesting than what I write. I have got to meet that guy someday. Anyways the new blog is at…
https://journalbymax.wordpress.com/
Have to cut this a little short as I’ll miss my stop.
Cheers,
Tom
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Tom's Creativity Blog 