2014: A Look Back At The Good And The Bad

This year has been a bit of a crazy one, to say the least. Having had a break from the education system does still feel a little weird, it is of course one of the steps I needed to take in my young adult life to find a job. Gone are the days of dossing around playing video games all of the time, as I can hardly find the time for it now despite my massive collection.

The beginning of this year seems a bit of a blur to me now and feels like much longer ago than it actually was. Around January/February time when I was still with the dreaded JobCentre I remember doing some work experience for a month at a shop in Ripley called 'The Original Factory Shop'. It was nice there and I got on with everyone just fine, it was just a pain because of the travel everyday and the fact that I technically wasn't getting paid for it. Though, I did start to learn to drive around this time too. It took me a couple of weeks to get to grips with the basic controls and many months to find more confidence in myself on the roads. I'm still very pleased with myself about my first time passes on both my Practical and Theory. Though, it wasn't till May-time that I actually passed and this was the same time as I was taking part in The Princes Trust Team Programme, which was quite an intense 12 week course. I met many new friends whom I still get on with very well though the Team Programme and hope that before this year comes to an end, that we could all meet up one last time before this year continues on into the next. This year has gone way too fast, it only seems like yesterday it was July.

July was the month I completely ditched the job centre. I was so proud of myself that I had finally gotten myself a job. I had applied for the position before but not given it for god-knows-what reason, I just never heard back the first time around. The second time around I think I got a tad lucky. I had lots of help with mock interviews and I knew just what to talk about. That and I made a point that I had applied before, just to be on the safe side. I still enjoy my job, its just that I'm like most people and don't really enjoy being told off when I feel like I'm working hard, trying my best and most importantly not really doing anything wrong. It may sound a bit cocky but, it's not like I misbehave or indeed that I am a thief. I would never do such a thing. Any money I handle, I look at it and think that it has no value to me apart from my job. It is the price of my job and it's what I get paid for.

This last month coming into Christmas admittedly has been a bit crappy with having so many hours at work. The week of Christmas was especially exhausting as I worked everyday. Yes, everyday. It's my first working Christmas and because it wasn't that busy I actually just found it to be boring. Businesses are slowly seeming to awaken as we now drift away from the festive period and enter into a new year which thankfully means, I will no longer be bored at work.

I have a lot of things to think about next year. I am still pondering about trying to decide whether or not to go back to college/uni, for what its worth I'm really unsure. I really would love to work within the music industry but how can I sustain an income and learn full time at the same time. It seems impossible though, some do manage I feel that I will be one of the ones that will not despite experiences. I'm very stressed at the moment from the amount of hours I'm given, as it seems there are no longer any hours in the day left for myself. Aye, maybe this is just the working way but, it sure isn't any fun.

I hope for another great year next year. As things stand I have no idea what is going to happen. I will probably buy a few things, sell a few things and maybe even get a different job. I really don't know but, it would be nice to have a fixed hourly contract rather than worry about having to work 50 hours a week, its a killer.

All the best for 2015 - Kim

Bloody Hell, It's nearly Christmas

Ahh, this particular November month hasn't really been too good and to top it off, Christmas is well on the way and I'm still in pain because of my teeth. The paid came on all of a Sudden last Sunday, 23/11 and all week the paid has been off and on. But, stupid me isn't registered with a dentist anymore so finding someone to sort out my problem has been a bit of a nightmare and is going to have to wait till Friday! Wonderful. It worries me that I had to go to four different dentists just to finally get an appointment that isn't even straight away though, at least now I actually have a dentist just a shame that they are a fair distance away.

Anyway, Christmas... I still have a fair amount of Christmas shopping to do and thats before paying my dentist bill. I hate to imagine what that is going to be. Ugh. I went Christmas shopping with my parents yesterday, which made for a nice day out around Nottingham city centre. I've chosen a few games I've been wanting as well as clothing and that's all really. I was anticipating a MIDI Keyboard but, the only ones I could find in shops seemed too bulky for what I wanted them for. I would need to fit on my desk, so...

Time Flies When You're Having So Much Fun

I honestly can't believe that this year is nearly over already. With six weeks to Christmas, there really is not much time left at all. This year has been very eventful to say the least as a lot of things have happened. It does seem weird to look back on this year now but, it's all just gone so fast. I received my Prince's Trust certificate today, that was a great reminder of the events earlier this year as it was such a fun course and it's good to still be in contact with most of whom I worked with. I'm well into my fourth month of employment still at the petrol station and I am still enjoying it. It can be a bit of a mad rush sometimes but, it keeps me on my toes. We have a special visitor this weekend that I'm mildly nervous about as it is the head boss and it will be the first time I get to meet him. This week, of course consisting of the big preparation.

I need to remind myself repeatedly to book the 6th of December off work completely so I can go Christmas shopping with my good friend Joanne whom I've known since secondary school. We don't see each other so often these days but, when we do we try to make the most of it and always seem to start from where we last left off. I do miss a lot of my friends at the moment. I'm surrounded by work and I don't get much of a chance to go out. I've only been working 6 hour shifts this week but, I still feel worn down from the weeks before, hence not wanting to go anywhere. I've only just managed to get my sleeping pattern back on track from alternating days and night shifts though, I will probably suffer that again this weekend for the visit. Even though I'll only be in a couple of hours in the morning, I'll be back in later for 10pm till 6am. The thought alone is quite daunting as it is. Altogether it will be maximum 11 hours...

The good news is that I like nightshifts that start at 10pm rather than midnight because I get more time to do things. Time which is much needed.

My Latest Suprise

So, as usual I have left a fair gap since my last post so I have a fair bit to write about. You all know I now have a job and have had one for the last 3-4 months. I have been quietly saving up for a new computer machine with plenty more power. I was originally contemplating spending around 300-400 on a half decent gaming/desktop pc and then sticking in another graphics card that I had donated to me by my friend out of sympathy for not having one at all for my old pc which now may as well be classed as dead. Literally, all it does is blue screen and I can't be bothered to sort it, nor do I have the time or money to waste by just trying to revive it. Long strory short, I took as it may, the easy way out and brought myself a mac. No, I'm not joking.

This is the first Apple Mac I have ever owned and that has ever been in the Keeton household. I have been sparing though, and I have thought this through. Honest.

Right, specs are as follows:

OS X Yosemite

2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB on-chip shared L3 cache

1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Intel Iris Graphics

Two Thunderbolt 2 ports (up to 20 Gbps)
Four USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps)
HDMI port
SDXC card slot
Gigabit Ethernet port
Audio in port
Headphone port
IR receiver


All in all, a very powerful machine and very tiny. One thing I have failed to mention thus far is that I did go for the Apple Mac mini. Which basically means, its not an all in one like most Macs, which I really like. It's incredibly small and extremely powerful. Also, it came with Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage band pre-installed.

I'm a very excited Kim!

OMG THE PIANO GUYS ARE COMING TO NOTTINGHAM, UK!!!

For those of you that don't know, I am a massive fan of TPG otherwise known as The Piano Guys. When I first discovered them it was the beginning of my second college year, when I was studying Music Performance at NCN Clarendon. It was during a composing session, when I'd dozed off to YouTube to take it easy for a while when I found Jarrod Raddnich playing two awesome piano solos on on The Piano Guys Channel. Raddnich was never really a true piano guys member though he clearly had the potential to be. As he was my first view of TPG, he set a great example and I was amazed, instantly wanting to tell friends (even though, they didn't seem to care much). On the same day, I continued to watch through all of their videos, totally engrossing in all of them. Instantly, I found a connection.

I missed out on seeing the guys live this year as they were performing too far away from home. The closest venues were in Birmingham and Manchester, UK. I'm so happy that they are finally visiting extremely local to me. It's almost like a dream. I've been waiting so long already for this and now I know that I only have to wait till June!!

EP Postponed Till idk.

So, over the last 3 months with working at the petrol station I have not been able to even start work on my upcoming EP: Alone or even practice all that much. I originally promised that my EP would be ready by around late August but, I simply have not had the chance to record. I am still in the process of making my new studio set up work purely because of a problem PC which, trust me has many problems leading to BSOD that I still don't know the exact reason for. It will work fine for a while, then after a bit it will blue screen.

I am truly hoping to get this EP out before Christmas if not, then I may have more fun making it in the new year with even more tech behind me. I feel so luck have my job, the hours are alot but, it pays well plus work can be a challenge on it's own. I get to train a new member of staff tomorrow who is on his third week of training. It makes me feel so proud where I stand now that I am in a position to help others.

I'm not going to set any dates this time because I know that I will most probably surpass them. I still have a lot of work to do towards this I just really hope that I can find the time and effort after all these long days at work.

Thanks for reading

Recording Postponed Again

So, I'm still working night shifts at the moment. I had on last might and I have another one tonight that starts in a couple more hours from 10pm till 6am. After that, I will be free for a couple of days. I will have the rest of tomorrow off as well as the following day and most of Thursday finishing the rest of the week with all night shirts. I still have a lot of things to sort out with this new PC, mostly because I lack the effort to do anything once I get back from work. For example, today when I got back I was in bed for 7am and didn't wake up till after 5pm.

I have had a couple of days off last week but, they got occupied by other stuff I had to do/go to. I will get some recording done soon! Hopefully tomorrow...

Back to Recording and Facebook

It's been a while since I have used my promotional Facebook fan page so, today I have finally 1) changed the purpose of it (because before it was a mix of everything I do and now it more focused on my music) 2) Updated the images and text to be more accurate and relevant. I should probably still remove my old photos that are still on there but, I'm not sure. Tonight, I will be out and about and these next couple of hours I will be either getting ready or installing things or transferring files that have key importance so that I can continue recording as of tomorrow. I won't be able to record all day unfortunately as I have a night shift tomorrow, though I am hoping that I can at least get my song, "Work Pays" finished or near as damn it by tomorrow afternoon.

Microsoft Wireless 800 Keyboard

I've only gone and brought myself a brand new Keyboard. I got fed up of looking for half decent ones in Charity shops and just decided to just got all out on something that I will actually like and cherish. I like it that mush I want to keep the box (The box is quite nice...). Anyway, as you may have guessed by my post title, it is a wireless keyboard but, what you may not have guessed is that it also came with a mouse. Both of them work from one USB adapter that's crazy small and fits quite snug hidden in the back of my tower. The funny thing is that my tower's OS is Windows XP and because this is a new keyboard, it seems that Microsoft are trying to remove XP from their back catalog by not stating on the box that it that the keyboard supports it. They only listed OS that are Windows 7 and above. Me not being much of a technology nerd panicked a little after I brought it but, everything is fine now.

All systems Go!

In other news, my bedroom is an absolute mess. My bookcase has wandered into the bathroom and I have stuff everywhere at the moment. Hopefully this will all be sorted by tonight and I'll be able to breathe again soon.

Ahem..

So, recently I promised to release am EP for this month and earlier this week a single too. Unfortunately, the world of Kim has been a very busy and stressful one. I've mostly been working night shifts these last couple of weeks and barely finding anytime to spare though yesterday I was fortunate enough to stubble across a couple of old PCs that have now been mashed together to create a half decent one that I am using now to write this post. Hopefully, I can get some more recording done tomorrow once I've woken up and fully recovered from my shift tonight. At least I have the rest of tomorrow off and Saturday as well.

My original song, "Work Pays" Should be finished in the next couple of days though, now I'm in the process of moving everything over to this new PC of mine. The good news is that my bedroom is looking more and more studio like as the days pass by. Tomorrow I'mm moving my bookcase and pushing my bed (and everything under it) further back against the wall in an attempt to make more space. I'm thinking of getting a new slimmer book case even though now I need to invest in a new qwerty keyboard and a wifi shin dig as this new PC doesn't have Wifi. I'm currently borrowing a good friend of mine's keyboard and his wifi thingy too.

Woo!

Work In Progress

Today I started work on a new song. The riffs and licks were inspired by my first ever full size guitar, my jax ville strat as I picked it up for the first time in a while. I have wrote a few lyrics for but, so far I have only managed to record a short acoustic clip without vocals.

Here are the lyrics I have so so far for this song:

Walking down this lonely road,
I'll drive myself insane.
Doinf nothing but, working, playing hard,
Everyday is the same.

It's been so long since I had a day,
Where I just do stuff for me.
I just need a break, not to stay the same,
Don't take this personally.

Here is the link to listen:

https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/060814-work-in-progress

My First Single

Today is the day, (very late in the day) that I launched my first single 'Secret' for free steaming on Soundcould. This is quite the remarkable day for me. Recording for the song was completed tonight along with starting it. I Still need to focus on the recording of my EP but, I wanted to release this one to see the public's reaction to my break into a solo musicians world. This still feels all new to me and is somewhat surreal.

To listen to my new song, 'Secrets' follow this link:
https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/secret-kim-keeton

Soundcloud Success

This evening, I've noticed a steady increase on my Soundcloud plays and I'm actually quite impressed with how many plays I'm now getting per week. This weeks total 27. It may not sound like a lot at all but, the fact is that I have hardly visited the site or even been all that active in the last week. I have used Soundcloud for about 3 years now so it is nice to see some hard work paying off.

I am honored to have 349 followers and I am so happy that I recently managed to bypass 2000 plays overall leaving my current total plays to 2324 plays. I really am highly impressed and I am so thankful for all of the support I receive. Music is the career that I dream to follow but, in my current situation I can't quite see it though at the moment.

If you missed my announcement earlier on, keep you ears out for my upcoming EP titled "Alone" (DISCLAIMER: May not be the final title depending on what other cool, relevant names I can come up with).

Thank you all, so much!

Here's To A New Start

It's been a busy two weeks at the ESSO Petrol Station on Nottingham Road, Ilkeston for my training, the last couple of days in particular. Today, I have the day off so I will be making he most of it and going to the cinema to see "How To Train Your Dragon 2" with a good friend. Tomorrow, I start my new job properly as I will no longer be on training. My first paid shift is a night shift that technically doesn't start till Tuesday morning but, hey it's all a part of the fun. I will most  likely have trouble getting a healthy amount of rest beforehand but, as long as I don't fall asleep on the job (which I doubt) everything will be fine.

In other news, I've been thinking more and more about taking myself seriously as a solo artist. I hardly have anytime for a full band at the moment and it is already proving difficult to organize any musical get together. I already have a good albums worth of songs that I have written myself, it's just getting around to actually recording them all. Some have been heard before like, Innocent Romance but not many more. At the moment, I have two others recorded that are still unhead/unpublished to the general public. I plan to release them with a couple more tracks as an EP called "Alone". A slightly sinister name but, it sums up a lot of things recently, with the band spiting, song themes and with my new job how it feels with my new kind of social life. Without a doubt, I still have friends and the title may change but, that is the best I can come up with for now.

I will try to post make some artwork for this album soon, I may take my camera out with me today to try to give myself some ideas. It's been a while since I've been out to play with my camera and I've missed the creative freedom dearly. Yes, I will take my little Nikon with me today. I might need a canoe....

Excellent News!

Not to long ago I told you all that I got randomly selected for the Derbyshire Mandatory Youth Activity Programme and that I wasn't very happy with this because I was blackmailed into thinking I would be free of any more of these courses that the JobCentre would direct me too. The Princes Trust Course Turned out to be a great experience but this other one I just knew would have been bad. The main aim of the course being to get involved helping out the community. I myself, am already a volunteer for The British Heart Foundation and in a way was quite offended that I should be doing more. Generally, I guess this course is aimed at people that do nothing whist on JSA who are people I frown upon. I'm not saying everyone that does it is lazy but, it seems that what the 'course' suggests.

I never did really explain fully about the course content. Basically, for eight weeks you will be sent to a charity organisation and work with them for that amount of time whilst receiving help job searching for a couple of hours a week. I think my message is getting more and more clearer of why I though this was all a waste of time but, hey. Now, to explain the good news.

Not long ago, I had an interview at the ESSO Petrol Station on Nottingham Road, Ilkeston. I have had an interview for work there before so the manager knew my name and to my amazement remembered me. The interview went really well and he told me that if I have been succesful I would hear back from him within a couple of days. On Thursday, mid whist I was running around like a headless chicken on behalf of the stupid DMYAP I had a call just before ten in the morning from the manager of the Petrol Station asking for my National Insurance Number. Lets just say things we looking up at this point. Later on in the day he called me back to tell me that he wants me to pop in so that he can tell me the good news. I was ecstatic. I might not have shown it but, this really lightened my mood from all of the stress the JobCentre had put me under.

The next day, I wandered down to 'Work Pays' which is the most ironic name for the company that provides the DMYAP course and I basically told them the good news. I was also told that I was very good at keeping in contact with them, I just kind of thought to myself that it was mostly because the office was just down the road from where I live but at least I got a compliment out of them in saying I am more organised than them. Before my second to last PassPlus lesson, I drove up to the Ilkeston Jobcentre to tell them I could no longer do the programme. At first I thought the adviser I had the meeting with was going to say that I couldn't not do it. Not as a general assumption either, he displayed that in his knowledge I would still have to do the DMYAP. This made me nervous for a second but, then he wandered off to talk to two other members of staff that went on to say that if it is going to benefit me more that it is allowed. I'm just glad I'm nearly rid of them.

One thing that has annoyed me is that for my training, the JobCentre will still be paying me JSA as if I was on WORK EXPERIENCE. The thing is, I'm not on work experience, I'm on training and they will take it under their statistic that another young person has gained employment through me doing 'work experience' though the 'JobCentre' when really it's all a lie. I found this job myself and I do feel like they are taking away a part of my independence by partially claiming that they found this for me. At the end of the day, I'm just another false statistic they will use to encourage someone else to do work experience and it is still all good news.

Back to Normality (The Joys of the JobCentre)

A short update today, really

With The Prince's Trust TEAM Programme over with it's time for me to focus even more so on getting a job even though that now comes with complications. I'm not too happy with how the JobCentre have dealt with me this morning. Before I started the programme I was told that it should mean that I should not have to do anymore courses to do with the JobCentre though, today I was told that I had been refereed to the Derbyshire Mandatory Youth Activity Programme. This has angered me quite a lot as it is yet again giving me restrictions in finding work, I'm sure they don't really think these things through. Ah, well I can only hope that I get a job by the time that I am meant to start then I can simply tell them to stuff it!

The Prince's Trust Team Programme: Week 12

I can't believe that it is the final week of The Prince's Trust Team Programme already. I seems strange that in less than four days it will all come to a glorious end. This Thursday is our Final Team Presentation where every member of the team gives a speech, now I haven't quite got my speech ready yet but I am preparing something else. The other week I started working on an original song to go with my team, almost like a theme tune but also something to commemorate that we have finished the course. I didn't want to make it to extravagant but, enough to show off my skills as a amateur producer that mostly uses Audacity. I probably shouldn't bring myself down so much but, I assume that's what most people think if I'm using free software.

The song is coming along nicely now, even though at the moment it is lacking in the lyrical department in fact I'm missing a whole verse even though musically it is in there. I'm hoping that my Team Leaders will join in on the song featuring for a Rap Battle, it sounds a little immature and maybe a little risky to use for the final performance but, I really think it will go down well and that most people would take it with a great sense on humor. The only problem is that I have two days left to complete this whole song, which only makes it even more challenging. I will be so proud of myself if I manage to complete this on time. I think my team will be too!

#Team160

Here is a snippet of what I have been working on:
https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/team-160

An End To Another Era...

Over the last couple of days I have been battling it out in an attempt to remain in my own my band, the only issue being that I had done nothing wrong. This was a band that I put all of my effort in when it came to the musicality, I wouldn't let one song get past me without sounding half decent. According to our vocalist my main flaw was that I didn't care to attend many gigs, by gigs what was meant was open mics. Now I'm no expert but open mics are NOT gigs but are 15 minuet session windows for locals to play for free to share their music. I understood that it was important to share our music with others but, not at the same three open mics every week, of every month, of every year. This cause much controversy (I lied) over Facebook when I let all of my friends know about the situation and the general public too. I thought it the right thing to do because otherwise I would have suffered whining to myself as no one would talk to me properly out of the band apart from our drummer who appeared to have no say over anything.

I wasn't quiet expecting the large response I received. It made me feel a lot better knowing that I had many friends behind me; backing me up though, it didn't take very long for true opinions to fly out of peoples mouths as more of my friends joined in on the outrage. Personally, I don't blame them and it's not like I should take responsibility for what they have said.

In a way, I am happy that the band has come to an end. In reality, the band Zebra Crossing was never really going anywhere because the main priory was always open mics, not gigs just open mics. All of the open mics were probably even considered more important than practice! An example being when we first got a new drummer we practiced once and the played three open mics, so sorting priorities makes another issue. The good news is that to compensate myself, I took a hold of the official band page. I am now one of the few admins of that page, including my friend Thomas who feels a similar way to me right now in regards to the people involved. Admittedly, we may have took things a little to far by editing up an image and posting it as the pages cover photo, we also changed the logo name to "Zebra Crossed". All in the aid of humiliation.

What makes me feel a lot better is that David rung me last night to apologize for everything. I still haven't heard from Lucy but, I'm not too bothered anymore as I get the message. I'm convinced their was a personal issue but, that's up to her. Apparently, I'm "boring" too. Oh, that really explains why I was one of the more interesting band members.

For anyone who wants to see what the old original page looks like it will still be left up and can be found here.

Honestly, thank you for everyone that got involved for all of your support. Hopefully, I will have another band up and running shortly under a new name and this will go much further. I have some musicians in mind that need popping so maybe, just maybe.

These Months Fly By...

Unsurprisingly it has been a while since I have wrote. I have been extremely busy of late and have many highlights to mention that have gone and PASSED. I may as well go ahead and say it. On 1st of April 2014 (this sounds like a good first line of a joke) I passed my driving theory, following that on the 20th of May 2014 I also managed to pass my practical driving test! Both for the first time. It's good to be able to get about more easily now and I am so proud that I passed both first time around. It doesn't even feel like I had been learning for the last 4 months, it really has flown by!!

In other news, The Prince's Trust Team Programme that I am involved with is in it's 10th week and not too far from being over. Most of the paperwork is out of the way, today as well as tomorrow is going to consist of bag packing in Heanor Tesco to raise some extra money for out Team Challenges next week, though todays collection went towards Diabetes UK. I'm not sure how much we raised today but, the donations so far have been very generous and I'm hoping that we manage to raise even more tomorrow! All of our Team Challenges have been planned and we know exactly what we are doing throughout the week, though I don't want to list them right at this minute. The week after next we have the last load of paperwork to look forward to, that and our final presentation. I'm hoping to produce a song especially for my team but, I want my team mates to help me do so otherwise it seems a little pointless and in some way contradicting or ironic. I know that some of them are interested, I think the underlining problem is that this is something that will be 'out of hours' which could prove to make things more complicated as people have their own commitments to attend.

I managed to get a rough draft of the first verse recorded and even got to show it to my Team Leader today, I'm not totally sure how impressed she was but, she called me talented. It's funny because I don;t see what I do as a talent and never really have. I have learnt most of my trade in the music world, studying countless hours of music theory and memorizing scales and functional chord progressions. I don't find it an insult but, I don't find it an honor either in fact I never really know how to deal with compliments like that. I guess I usually just shrug them off like I did today, blush a little and go back to my usual quiet self.

I'm not entirely sure where this post is leading anymore, it is quite late as it is 23:08 and I can't quite tell if I am just debating with myself or just rambling on. I should probably go to bed now as I have to drive tomorrow. I guess this is a conclusion. Good night.

Princes Trust Team Programme?

I have been quite busy lately, mostly because of a course that I was directed to by the Ilkeston Job Centre Plus. I'm trying my best to fit in some of my recording projects in between the duration of the course but, this is proving difficult because of our 9-5 hours... Well, that and being worn out by the time I get home. Don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly enjoying every moment of this course it's just that it would be better if I were less tired.

The week commencing we start our community project which is to build a sensory garden for the United Response which is a registered charity disabled care home. Over the last two weeks, a team of twelve of us have been trying to raise money to go towards this. It been an interesting two weeks, painting fences, tidying up garden fronts and donation collecting for our tombola/raffle that is still yet to go ahead next week. We also did a sponsored walk all the way around Carsington Waters on Friday which ended up taking around three hours and a half! It's easy for me to say that our residential trip we went on during week two was the best so far. Myself and the rest of my team took part in all sorts of teamwork/team building activities where it was essential for us to plan how we were going to approach the challenges given to us and then fine tune it so the idea works perfectly. Though, this trip did have some individual challenges coincide with it as well. We went bouldering at Roaches Gate and abseiled from the highest point of Millers Dale Bridge in Derbyshire! Both of these were quite scary and for some of us it took a lot more than others to overcome our fears. I, myself got quite scared when I managed to get myself stuck between two rocks that I couldn't quite fit through which made me quite teary. In all honesty, I think I panicked then!

During the residential trip, our team gained its own anthem. Having to travel in a mini bus often with nothing but, the radio we all took a shining to the song 'Timber' PitBull feat. Ke$ha. Plus, our favorite impressionist of anything Family Guy made us laugh and voiced over it. I started to enjoy the tune a little too much, so when I got back I ended up producing an acoustic cover of it. I'll leave a link to my cover at the bottom of the post so you can have a listen if you want to check it out!

Before I end the post I should announce that I hope to release some rough demos soon including vocals that will be home recorded. I suppose the big dream is to one day have my own studio, that way I won't have to call my work demos because the quality would be highly improved... ah, well!

Till the next time!

Links

Timber (Acoustic Cover)
https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/timber-acoustic-cover

Twitter: @kimkeeton

So, the last couple of months have gone by way too fast for my liking. The Christmas period has come and gone and we are already fast into a new year of 2014. As I still remain strong to my passion for music; playing open mics and recording, I've been doing a considerable amount of work for The British Heart Foundation. Before I started working for them as a volunteer, I was sent there by the JobCenter as a work placement and I do quite enjoy it, still, at least this keeps me on my toes as I no longer have a schedule to keep to. 

In regards to recording, between the 21st and 25th of December I managed to record a Christmas song... in which I sang. I was quite impressed with myself that I managed to get the whole recording finished but, I will definitely have to redo the vocals, some other instruments and render the mix.

Here is a link to the track:

https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/merry-christmas-everyone

 For now I'm happy. I made this possible with the layering technique I use a lot recently, it comes in handy when you are the only musician around and when you have a very basic studio setup even though, I still believe the quality that I produce at now is fairly good and only getting better! I have been recording things like this for about a year now, which has gone incredibly fast but, I'm so proud of what I've been able to make and a achieve with the equipment I use.

Also, my band. How can I forget my blessed band Zebra Crossing! We have had a bit of a ride over the last month. In early December we decided to kick out our old drummer, of course leaving us drummerless. This made gigging feel a little tedious for me; being a bass player. The good news is that we now have a new drummer, whom I found and trust more to do a great job. I can't wait to have the whole band play at The Maze, Nottingham at the CHAOS WARS! (Battle of the Bands Heats) and then at The Navigation in early February (see image)

 CHAOS WARS 2014