David Myhr - Soundshine

Soundshine released in Spain! Promotional tour report…

Posted: March 19th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Soundshine released in Spain! Promotional tour report…

They say Spain is the only European country you come back to Sweden from with a jet-lag. It’s the same time zone but still somehow it’s not because of some culture differences when it comes to lunch, dinner, and bar-visiting hours…

Last week I was fortunate enough to enjoy life in Spain since I have been on a promotional tour for the release of Soundshine there which is taken care of by the ultra cool record label Rock Indiana Records. As you have read earlier in the rest of Europe (including my home country Sweden) the record will come out on the English also ultra cool record label Lojinx which I’m talking more about in this previous blogpost.

From Wednesday to Friday I made three acoustic concerts together with Spanish artist Lukah Boo (ex-member of Happy Losers) in Bilbao, Madrid, and Burgos as well as three radio interviews and performances.

The first interview was made by PacoPepe Gil for Plástico Elástico at Onda Madrid and you can listen to it here.  The second one was made in Bilbao by Joseba Martin at Radio Euskadi for the program La Jungla Sonora which you can listen to here (starting at 24.50). In the future there will be a video clip available from this mini concert featuring myself playing no less than three songs on guitar and piano. The third and last interview was and was made by Santiago Alcanda for the program Como lo oyes in Radio 3 (national radio) and you can listen to it here. Also this interview features a small acoustic performance. I happened to film this with my iPhone and here’s the video from this occasion:

 

I also had the opportunity to visit some a couple of record dealers in Madrid that now are selling some Soundshine to the wonderful people of Spain. Below is a picture of Inés from the legendary record shop Escridiscos and a picture of me and Gabriel at Fnac (who you might remember from this previous blog post from Madrid).

 



 

 


I would have loved to write more in detail about the three gigs I made and the great people I met there. The first one in Bilbao, the second one at Moby Dick in Madrid, and the last one at Carabas in Burgos. But I really do need to get back to preparing for this weeks big event: The Soundshine release party in Sweden which also has it’s on Facebook Event.

But at least, in the video below, you can watch the first song from the concert at Moby Dick in Madrid. And if you want to see more the whole concert is available at this YouTube playlist.

Here’s a collection of photos from the same show:

 

I would like to finish by saying thank you to everyone in Spain who was involved in this promotional tour. The great Pablo Carrero from Rock Indiana who put it all together, my tour partner Lukah Boo, the very warm and welcoming radio people I’ve met and all of those who are playing my songs in their programs, the organizers of the different shows, the audience that listened to my music both on radio and in concert, my Spanish friends, and my Spanish family. Muchísimas gracias a todos! Espero que nos vemos pronto!

 

 

 


What I miss the most when traveling in recent years

Posted: December 14th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

When I travel and come to new cities what I enjoy most is to just ”feel the vibe”. The best way to that is often just to walk around a little bit, sit down at some café, grab a bite to eat at some restaurant, and maybe (probably) enjoy a beer or two at some nice bar. With that, my life as a traveller is almost complete. Especially if I’m in good company. I can even do it on my own for quite a while – as long as there’s wifi in the cafés and bars so I still can be in contact with my loved one, my friends and family, my fans, and try to get my career going (for the 20th year in a row!) with e-mails, social medias, and so on… It would take many, many hours to get me bored as long as I have my MacBook Pro, a power plug so I don’t run out of battery, and a high speed internet connection.

As for other activities when coming to a new city I must admit I don’t care much for museums. I often find myself thinking: ”I could look this up on the internet anyway instead of standing in front of a wall and reading a sign…” (is this strange?), my legs get tired, and I start longing for the computer and/or the café/bar/restaurant life that I enjoy so much.

“What about shopping then?” you might ask… Well that’s another area where I easily get stressed, nervous, sweaty, and tired (like every man does, or is that just a prejudice?). Again, I keep longing back to the same things mentioned above. This is even more true in modern times when every city has the same kind of shopping complexes with the same kind of chain stores (H&M, Zara, etc….) selling the same things. Quite frustrating actually!

I do get excited occasionally if there are stores that sell things that are unique and appeal to my interests, like Liam Gallagher’s clothes shop Pretty Green on Carnaby street in London. I mean; who can resist a store that have the good taste in marketing a new ”Lennon jacket” for every season. That’s an example where I don’t mind going shopping. However my wife gets worried and frustrated when I start waving around with my credit card since things there are about ten times more expensive than the kind of clothes she normally buys. So I try to not go there too often…

But the one single thing I miss the most from the last few years of travelling is the record stores that suddenly all just disappeared! Such a tragedy! That was like the ”oasis” in every shopping area where I could sneak in and spend long hours just browsing around, looking at record covers, listen to music, check out rock’n’roll biographies and just enter a room that in itself was a ”world of music”. Today everyone carry their own ”music world” around in their iPhones and that’s of course great (I am one of them) but the expereience is no longer shared the same way and there’s nowhere to spend your shopping hours anymore. The last time I remember doing at home here in Stockholm was at Pet Sounds which can be seen in the video for “Looking for a life”:

I completely agree with what my ”good friend” Paul McCartney said when supporting Record Store Day  a couple of years ago: ”There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record store…” ”…what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place.”

Even in the world’s largest cities the record stores are few and far between. When I come to Tokyo the next time I will make sure to visit a few of the remaining ones. I will take my responsibility to try to keep them alive by buying at least ten CD’s this time maybe for instance Tim Christensen’s, or The Jayhawks‘ latest album. It’s true that I put my CD collection in the basement already in 2003 so the CD’s will ultimately end up in a shoebox. But I miss the feeling of the phsycial CD and the record store so much that I will pay the price. The fact that I’m supporting the suffering artists, producers, musicians, sound engineers, graphic designers, and record label people at the same time makes the decision even easier. After all music matters!

And it’s very likely that this particular time I will stop an extra few minutes in the ”M” section where Aimee Mann, Roger Manning Jr, The Mommyheads, The Mockers, The Merrymakers, and Paul McCartney, this year will be joined by a certain David Myhr! Here below is a recent picture from Shibuya Tower Records, I might even want to try listening to ”disc 9” and see if it’s worth the high price… we’ll see!

What about you? Do you feel the same way? Please share your thoughts as a comment to this blogpost or on my Facebook page.