03/06/10

Well it come to an end :)

This will be my final blogg post

every thing has bin handed in, evaluation done, still plodding on with eat dr. ape and im realy looking forward to Glastonbury.

its bin the best of times and its bin the worst of times

This is JP Parsons signing out for the last time!

Take care all :)

31/05/10

Hi guys

Well on thursday I had my graded unit interview, I think it went really well :) i dressed the part, and delivered my presentation with great confidence. Apart from one YouTube link not working it all went to plan!!! i really couldn't believe it! i think my interviewers got a real good idea of what i want to achieve in life and my personality came across really well :)

Also in Saturday Eat Dr. Ape played a charity manorial gig for our old lecturer how unfortunately past away. I think it was a great gig and we performed really well.

HND is almost over ... really hope i get on to degree because im really starting to look forward to it!

speak soon

JP

25/05/10

it has bin yet another couple of busy weeks for me with college work, college performance and a degree performance but its all good practice for the stress of being an in demand session player.

on the 13th I played Bass in Paris Afshars degree project, the gig i feel went really well and i approached the whole gig with a very professional attitude which is vital in todays session scene.

last Thursday I played our metal gig for our final HND Performance, i think it went realy well and was very entertaining to the audience. It was also a good mile stone for me as i now know that i have the ability to play both drums and the bass as part of the same performance which i feel could be a very useful sales point for me as a session player.

cheers for now JP

10/05/10

Well now thats bin a busy couple of weeks!!!

We released our Love and Lust in Wonderland album on the 1st of may at the Twa Tams in perth and my god what a great success it was!!! had over 200 people through the door and apparently it was the busiest night the pub has had in years! The we wen on tour, playing gigs all over scotland as amazing and we had sold out of CDs after the 2nd gig!! We also got reviewed in the Daily Record which was amazing! such a brilliant review with this amazing quote "No monkeying about - A Major should sign these boys!"

College presser is starting to build up now but i suppose its all good practise as being a session musician means that you have to deal with stressful situations all the time. In graded unit i have been putting together my portfolio and in my eyes i feel it is going to be a great tool to help market myself.

tonight im off to dundee to rehearse with the degree project that i am performing in as the gig is on thursday. the whole degree experience has disciplined me in getting the job done even when i hate the music, a vital quality needed in a session player.

thats all for now

see ya!

24/04/10

Right so the album launch is a week today, to say im slightly stressed would be a huge understatement! over the past week we have been practising loads and just getting everything ready for the big night. Today me and chris went around town and started putting up posters and we have also bin in contact with a lot of newspapers, magazines, radio stations and even TV stations! I feel I have gained some valuable contacts from this that may help me a lot in my session career.

I have also been practising a lot with the degree band i am in and i feel this is helping my reading of notation a lot. Reading notation is a must when it comes to being a session musician so i feel is experience will be very helpful to me.

Rhythm Wave rehearsals are starting to heat up not as Glastonbury is looming but at least it is preparing me for working under presser.

In Session skill we learnt some more about production and what actually goes into making a hit record.

well thats it for me... will hopefully speak soon, busy couple of weeks coming up with album release next week and tour the week after.... but its all good practise... and a hell of a lot of fun!!!!! :)

byeeeeeee

10/04/10

Hi guys

Well thats me back in perth after my holidays back up in Shetland, wasn't too bad I suppose haha!!!

Right well all the news iv really got is Eat Dr. Ape news, so sorry no change there. Our album launch is now just 3 weeks away, and it is safe to say that we are now getting rather stressed out to say the least. We have made quite a bit of progress though, on thursday I finished off our PLL registration so I now have a full registered personal account with PLL which is going to work in my favour when trying to get session work as it shows that I have taken the time to make sure payments are done with the correct method. Also I submitted our album to 40 different online download sites including iTunes and Amazon, this will make sure that our music is easily accessible. Our photo shoot also went surprisingly well and our album artwork is being worked on now as we speak.

so its all very exciting times :)

speak soon

JP

23/03/10

hello there

Sorry for the late blog entry but this month has bin sooooo hectic!!!!!

1st things first our college gigs last wednesday were absolutely amazing! everything came together and all our work payed off! it showed me the importance of putting on a great stage show...an hell we definitely but put on 1 hell of a show!!!

also earlier this moth I went to see "Beauty and the Beast the musical" which was preformed at Centre Stage in Kilmarnock. I thought it was unbelievable and it has really inspired me to look into possible pit musician work. I have been researching into lots of different musicals and I have even started to learn a few to try and get the feel of played for that kind of material. I am also looking into more musicals to go see in the future :)

As for Eat Dr. Ape news we have been incredibly busy getting everything sorted for our album launch on the 1st on May at The Twa Tams in Perth. We have now also a manager to help us escalate our career as we are all 101% committed to this band. It has been a very good learning curve for me as well finding out all what goes into a proper high quality album launch. So we have two support acts, Feelfree Conspiracy and acoustic artist Liam Quinn, we also have special guest appearances from Burlesque performers Miss Whisky Blitz and Scarlett Flame.

Its Gonna Be Amazing!!!

So yeh hopefully see you soon

JP

21/02/10

Ello Ello

well well what to talk about today

iv gained a lot of industry knowledge over the past couple of weeks, from recording an album to starting a publishing company.

last week we started recording the new eat dr. ape album Love and lust in wonderland at a top recording studio Lofi in glasgow. Lofi's previous artists include the ting tings, the strokes and twin atlantic. The experience iv gained from being in a professional studio i feel il be able to directly apply to my session playing. even though i was recording on bass i feel this will benefit and help me get "doubling" sessions.

We head back down to the studio tomorrow for another two days and the album will be finished tuesday.

We also have gig at The Admiral in glasgow which will increase my gig experience.

We turned down a record deal not that long ago due to the contract not being fair so that has helped me understand contracts a lot more and also led to us starting "EDA Publishing" our own label. starting this label has taught me a lot about the business side of music for PPL agreements to CD Pressing and album launches.

as for college i had a good graded unit lesson :) i managed to get the fake session job that i had to pretend to be interviewing for, so now i feel i could confidently sell my musical abilities to musicians looking for session players...... session skills was a wast of time with sound production students taking an hour and a half to set up a studio and leaving us with only 15mins recording time!!!!!!!

but yeh thats about it

see ya

JP

31/01/10

Right it has bin a while hasn't it!!!!! i do apologise.

well happy new year and all that jazz

well since my last post iv bin pretty busy....played drums in the xmas panto which was great coz it gave me a good insight into what a proper session is like. Also Eat Dr. Ape played a few more gigs on the run up 2 xmas which was smashing to ( i do love to gig ).

An now its 2010... wooh!!!!!

So far this year has started off with a bang! since i got bak for lovely sunny Egypt things have bin crazy. to start with i had my Beatles presentation which i think went well apart from my small technical hick-up in the middle.

Then had Eat Dr. Ape gig in Glasgow at Macsorleys which was a good way to get back into gigging after xmas... there was a good turn out and got payed in beer :) We also played a gig in dundee at hustlers a couple of weeks ago, and i must admit its bin one of my favourite gigs so far, there were plenty of people there and the sound was AMAZING!!!!!

We've booked into Lofi Studios again, this time for a week in February to record our 7 track album titled "Love and Lust in Wonderland", i can't wait to get back in the studio... its such a good feeling to hear the songs you've worked so hard on come together and its a great experience that will help prepare me for studio session work i may get in the future. We also have a gig in Aberdeen this wednesday coming at Cafe Drummonds which should be good because its a larger venue and it gives us a sense of moving forward as a band.

This friday i had one of the greatest industry experiences of my life..... i got a job roadying for The Prodigy at the Caird Hall in Dundee. It was a totally amazing experience and i learnt so much about the sheer about of organisation that goes into putting on a huge gig like that. I did every thing from unloading there 3 artic trucks to setting up there lighting rigs and dressing rooms........ also watching the gig from stage side was pretty cool too :P

Got a new band at college ...... we're doin glam rock which is great fun coz its really testing my drumming skills and i can feel myself becoming a better player because of it.

well thats it for just now.... I WILL be back next week!

Byee