SAY CHEESE!

So as anybody who's anybody will tell you, publicity is an important tool when participating in the commercial arts! So I took a walk near the Slieve Blooms area in sunny Laois yesterday with a very talented photographer and of course "Mrs. Markievicz", my Hagstrom guitar and we proceeded to do a photoshoot in a beautiful forested area. It was peaceful and yet eerie. But the dappled sunlight gave us the opportunity, well Maria (The professional!) to experiment with the contrasting sunlight.

I'm not a "photo" person per se, but Maria put me at ease and made it fun. She's laidback, albeit still very professional, with a sense of humour so where I originally feared feeling like an eejit in a forest devoid of a guitar amp, I actually really enjoyed the shoot. Dare I say, I actually felt like a rockstar!
And the photographs are fantastic! We went back indoors to produce the would be CD cover inlay for "HERESY" and she absolutely blew me away with the designs she is working on. The woman is also a graphic designer par excellence. I originally gave her a semblance of an idea I had and she has taken it to another level altogether. I'm thrilled with the results so far and I can only imagine what she will come up with in the meantime! Here's a couple of tasters:



   And of course, her fantastic graphic design:

 

 

See, bloody brilliant. These photographs are the copyright of María J. Guillén. She can be found on Facebook and she will be getting plenty of well deserved publicity on my new website. 

 

HERESY: The End

I have set up my own website recently, philmccleanmusic.com, so I haven't really found the time to update this blog recently! Apologies for this but I'm back! I'm thrilled with the site itself. I have uploaded the entire "HERESY" e.p. and the first six posts of my blog describe the story that is contained in the six songs.

I've always wanted to create a conceptual piece of music, but when creating the story, there was always a case of too much of an idea, if that's possible, for me to control. My plebeian mind struggled with the massive foundation I had set out with and turned into a mess of ideas that never really meshed together. The intent was there but the talent was not. So I took a simple story idea and incorporated biblical elements and ideas into it, whilst trying to keep the plot small and simple enough to follow whilst trying to balance that with making it big enough to hold someone's attention. It is basically a treatment of a story on the website's blog, contained in the first six posts. I revisited it and completed the ending today. One I'm quite proud of actually.

I don't think the majority of people who've visited the website have actually "GOT" the idea of it. It's just a case of clicking "play" and passing their ears over it, instead of reading the story, which is unfortunate as to truly appreciate the songs, I feel, the story is paramount to them. Either way, thanks for taking the time to read and or listen to my work.