ally's journal

hi. i've come back from japan full of wonderful memories, lots of cds, pocky chocolate, t-shirts, dirty laundry, sweet gifts and a nasty cold! i've spent a lot of today sleeping trying to get over it before the album launch party tomorrow (friday) night. i might just sound like barry white did when he wasn't dead. so, i hope to see some familiar and not-so-familiar faces there. i'll try my best not to sneeze on you if you come along.

i'm looking ahead to gigs later in the year and there are some being booked in europe and hopefully asia. if anyone has a good suggestion of where to play in london, please do let me know.
aaaaaaaaaaa tissue.

ally.
ps. i'll write more about the japanese tour and put photos / video etc up in the next few weeks.

there’s another new song been added to the player over at www.myspace.com/allykerr . maybe you can check it out if you have a few moments. i hope so :)

i’m looking forward to heading off to japan. got a few things to do still before i can go to bed, but i’m sure i won’t sleep much. i hope i can sleep on the plane coz i’m really rubbish at that. oh, an eye mask. i knew there was something i forgot. i really struggle to sleep on planes.

oyasumi and to those in japan i’m looking forward to playing for you :)

i 've been really busy lately but i'm happy to be putting all my energy and attention into the album and everything that goes with the release. i'm just planning out the rest of the year and building slowly, chipping away gradually. it feels good. well, the album is out in japan today. i don't think the shops are open yet, but when they do open in the morning the album will be there:) i'm really happy that this day has finally come and i can't wait to fly over and play the shows. to those who go and buy it, i'm very much obliged. it’ll be available everywhere else on 14th april with completely different artwork.

staying with the japanese theme, i bought a takemine guitar that i really love. i've never had much choice when it comes to guitars; it's only been yamahas that i was able to pick from and the two that i have aren't that good really. but i decided to invest in an excellent acoustic and found a lovely second-hand (but sparkling and almost new!) takemine. it's also been really great for me because it's given me more motivation to practise my playing. maybe in the way that people pick up dogs or cats and give them a cuddle, that's how i feel everytime i walk past my takemine:P hopefully it'll be receptive to some songwriting collaboration. i really would love an apple touch mp3 player coz my old player is broken:( if i can sell some copies of the new album maybe i can get one:P

yesterday i wrote a small article for a newspaper here in scotland. the piece was about five tracks that influenced my life, so i'll be sure to put it up here once it's published. it was fun, though incredibly hard to choose just five so i just picked a kind of cross-section i suppose.

on tuesday a video is being made for a new single which will be out on 28th april. the song is track four from the album and is called "there's a world". my friend nigel will be directing so it should be interesting to do. hopefully there will also be another video or podcast in the not-too-distant future.

have a good weekend, whatever you do:)

i've had far too much coffee. i'm jittering away here, listening to music loudly with my headphones on and ocassionally clapping and bursting into song. my feet are tapping involuntarily and for some reason i have a strong desire to wrestle a gibbon. very strange. anyway, i wanted to share the front cover of my new album, out on april 14th on much obliged records. the japanese artwork will be different and it hits the shops over there on 15th march on star sign records / ultra-vybe. new songs from the album will appear on myspace probably about a week before the japanese release. yee ha:)

this was saturday night at barfly with paul, andrew, al and jim. was nice to play with a full band again. it's been a while. hopefully play more gigs like this in the future.

here's a couple of photos from last night's gig with billy boyd (actor best known for being in lord of the rings and now a member of the band beecake) and duglas t. stewart from bmx bandits. both beecake and duglas were playing at the weekly event i run here in glasgow called viva melodia. it was a really great night. thanks to big tony from neon tetra records for the special effects here:) i'm playing a full band gig this saturday at barfly in glasgow so come along if you can.

forget ancient ruins in turkey or an incredible sunset in the alps. a cheese and ham toastie (with a well-dressed side salad) can be a thing of real beauty:) this is from the doublet bar in glasgow.

everything i've learned i have forgotten

some days are better than others. an obvious statement of course. the last few days i've struggled. i always think when i blog it should be an accurate reflection of me and what i feel. i hit a low point on saturday and it continued through sunday and yesterday. i'm okay now. i think sometimes i just get the black cloud that obstructs all that i can see and i become sad and i can't shake it off. i can't help it, it's always how's it been. my imagination is often my downfall. i can use it positively to make songs but it can go to the dark side and i obsesss about events that i cannot control and that are irrational to logical minds. in one of my favourite films, sideways, miles is warned by jack not to go to "the darkside" and i can relate. it's hard sometimes. when i was a boy i used to imagine all sorts of terrible things that might happen, purely coz my imagination was too active. i learned over the years to stop myself falling and to control and use this imagination for the good so i wrote little stories and comedy. later the outlet was songwriting. all of that was my therapy. but sometimes i still slip up and i don't want to emerge from the duvet. i'm only human. so, i suppose i wanted to blog about it because lately i've only blogged when i've been happy. wow, i was in a fantastic mood when i last blogged! what happened?:P

i think at this time of year i become slightly fearful. maybe it's because we're slipping into another winter when the sky becomes greyer and the days shorter. my friend suggested a bulb that artists use to create an artificial daylight when they paint, so i'm going to invest in one of those. it'll hopefully become the sun in my flat.

on a postive note i recorded a second version of a demo that might end up being a fully-realised track on the third album. i mentioned it last time, it's called "man's man". i was thinking seriously that i could still stick it on the second, as-yet-to-be-released-long-overdue album, coz i really love it. but i think i need to lay that album to bed and say goodnight to those songs. this track (man's man) is going to be a part of my new project, and i'll keep writing and amassing songs for the next record, whenever that'll see the light of day. it's almost definite that the second album - off the radar - will be released at the end of january/early feb. thank goodness (for my sanity) for that.

i'm listening to an american artist called m ward right at this very moment and i love this song, it just makes me feel alive. maybe coz he's just sung the line "god it's great to be alive, takes the skin right off my eyes, to think i'll have to give this all up some day". he sings it with such conviction, it's fantastic. so, i'm feeling very good just now, i'm not sure why but i'm riding with it and not questioning it. i question enough in life to start doing it when i'm feeling happy and content. that would be an act of madness. i'll tell you what's been happening just in case you're interested. i don't mind blogging, i enjoy it if i'm in the right mood. some people think blogging in general is self-indulgent nonsense and that's fair enough, a lot of it is. but i like to read the blogs written by people who create work that i like, plus there's a small x at the top right hand corner of the computer screen that is always there, like a virtual emergency exit if it all gets too much.

i swam today. i'll be honest, i'm really not a swimmer and this is all very new to me. it's all quite embarrasing. or it would be if i could see more than a foot ahead of me when i'm ploughing my way through the water. i keep to the side, out of everyone's way and swim out as far as i've worked out where it gets scarily deep then turn and swim back again. embarrasing, but like i say, i can't see a damn thing so i don't get embarrased at the time, only when i visualise myself which is what i'm doing now so i should stop. it's the breast stroke i've been doing and i'm getting better. we did have swimming lessons at school but i really hated it and the highlight of those excruciating excursions was getting a roll and sausage at the end. not at the end of the pool, eating lorne sausages in the shallow end would have been frowned upon i'm sure. i mean of course at the end of the morning's swimming lesson, once showered and dried we got to buy a roll and sausage in the cafe with the money our mums had given us. life was simplier then of course, but these kind of little rewards still keep us all going. another reward after the swim today was partly roasting myself in the steam room. if you'd stuck a fork in me after i'd been in there you'd think i was ready to be served up with new potatoes and garden peas. but i love that kind of relaxation, just as i loved the hot springs in japan. i'd really like to go to a genuine sauna in finland some day..

which brings me on to another reason i feel contented - i recorded a song (actually two songs - one was an instrumental) coz i've now got a wee set up in my flat (thanks to miguel) that enables me to record. so two nights ago i decided to get creative and, equally importantly, to get productive so i took the music of a song i'd written and fleshed out the lyrics and recorded it, just with guitar and vocals but some harmonies as well. i really like it, it's called "man's man". listening back though i realised the song would make little sense to anyone unfamiliar with what i'd thought when i'd written it. that's a very clumsy way of saying no one would have a clue what it's about except me:P so i need to revisit it and revise some of the lyrics. but i'm happy with the verses and chorus and harmonies and some of the lines. i'm a talkative typer tonight huh? i can't remember the last time i droned on and on like this. keep your finger hovering above the x.

to record or not to record, that is the question just now. wow, it's nearly 1am but that's when i started recording "man's man" the other night. i think i'll leave it though for now. this swimming business has made me a little soft and sleepy. i like that feeling. tomorrow edinburgh beckons; i'm looking forward to playing there, it's been a while. oh, wow. larry sanders is about to start on itv4. that's my cue to leave!

let me introduce paul and iona. at the last gig paul played mandolin and iona provided vocals during my live set. they're great friends of mine and have been superb in my newly-formed backing band. check out their band doghouse roses:) www.myspace.com/ukdoghouseroses

i look a bit like a strange indie-pop cowboy in this photo. shorter hair is the future i reckon....

there's a new live video up at www.myspace.com/allykerr , it's a song called 'future mending' and it's on the debut album (neon tetra version only) as a demo. i really wish i'd recorded this song properly for the album but i'm thinking of including it on the third album, whenever that will see the light of day. the second album is done and dusted and will be out before the year is up. i'm almost certain it'll be callled "is it too late to work for NASA?".

anyway, more importantly than that is why do so few places serve hot coffee any more! i'm not a complainer about service, it's just not what i like to do. i'm not confrontational and i'm rubbish at speaking up but i'm getting so fed up of being served lukewarm coffee. coffee should be piping hot and served in a small cup that you can comfortably pick up without suffering third degree burns!

anyway, even more importantly, i'm delighted that some spanish friends of mine (cineplexx - they're in my top friends on myspace) are playing at my weekly music night "viva melodia" this sunday. also on the bill are the most excellent st deluxe and amazingly it's all free. i'm looking forward to it:)

i just had some cheese so in an attempt to increase the chances of having a crazy dream tonight. late night camembert munching is the new rock 'n roll.