English female rock singer
A little bit of inspiration to dream
I’ve been reflecting on my goals and dreams this morning, which has been fun! Even though I’m disappointed about still not finding a guitarist to work with on my album, I’ve still got a sense of excitement about the direction my music and writing is going, and loving the new songs.
Being a bit of geek, I keep track of all this stuff on a spread sheet (yes really!), and as I scrolled down through my ideas this morning, I found the following quote from a UCB email back in February – wow, it’s totally inspired me afresh today:
Between your dream’s inspiration and its manifestation, there’s going to be a lot of perspiration. As every new parent finds out-it’s much harder having and raising a baby than conceiving one. But if you have the passion for your dream, the price tag won’t stop you. You’ll get up every morning, draw on God’s grace and take one more step in the direction of the thing you know God put you on this earth to do.
Loving it 🙂
My inspirations – Ronnie James Dio
The Urban Dictionary defines a ‘legend’ as “someone or something whose coolness extends beyond all space and time.” That, my friends, totally sums up Ronnie James Dio.
According to the BBC’s review of ‘Mightier Than The Sword‘ Ronnie James Dio was “a genius, a gentleman and perhaps [rock and metal’s] greatest voice.”
Sadly, I never met they guy to know whether or not he was a gentleman, all I know was that growing up I was simply awestruck by the quality and power of his voice.
I first discovered Dio in the Holy Diver era. At that time Rainbow was headed up by Joe Lynn Turner and I didn’t learn until much later that Dio had previously fronted Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow as well as Black Sabbath. So my formative memories of Dio were from songs like this:
And of course wishing I could sing like him!
I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing him live twice and it was probably the closest I’ve ever got to hero worship! He was (and still is) one of my most loved and enduring inspirations, not just because of his voice, but also because he simply kept on and on writing and performing really great songs; powerful, passionate melodic and thoughtful. That’s where his main inspiration lies for me; the consistent quality of his output. He was unquestionably someone who discovered their God-given gift and lived it to the max.
A few years back I gigged at the Cheese and Grain in Frome with my old band. It was a great venue, one of the few times we had a decent sound guy; this enormous but mellow dreadlocked American guy with a southern Californian drawl. We sound-checked with Holy Diver and I’ll never forget his reaction “WOOOAH Holy Diver, I was NOT expected that. That was totally aaaawesome”. Yup, you got that right.
Lyrics – Seeing You
Next up in my series of ‘what are Janey’s songs all about?’ is Seeing You, from my album Along the Way and also featured on my first EP, Introducing.
I wrote Seeing You a couple years after I lost my brother. One of the themes of the song is about how we remember people we’ve lost. If we are open to sharing in such a painful time, we can hear so many different memories from family and friends. So, although we all knew him, we all did so in different ways. Talking to people about how they knew him was not only a fond way for us to support each other but, for me, it was a journey of getting to know and understand my brother in new ways.
Lyrics – Time Will Tell
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I often get asked about my lyrics – what they mean, or what a certain song is a about.
So I thought I’d start a little series and post up some of my favourite lyrics over the next couple months. To start the ball rolling these are from my most recent single, Time Will Tell. I was inspired by the writing style of Ronnie James Dio on this song. Maybe you can tell!? Would love to hear your comments. Are you surprised by what the lyrics actually are? Especially if you’ve been singing along something completely different! 😉
(c) Janey Summer 2009
New directions and new songs
Lately I’ve been working on lots of new songs, and a recent change in my circumstances has meant if all goes to plan, I should be able to get into the studio by the end of the year to record and release a new EP. I’m very excited and happy about that at long last!
And I’m loving the new material! I have to warn you tho, my lovely people, that it is a bit of departure from the ‘straight’ rock you might all be expecting from me. It still shows my passion and heart, but its a little more pensive, thought provoking and got a definite ‘alt’ edge to it. Hopefully you will like it too.
‘Live’-wise, the ultimate aim is still to get a band line up established, but so far my efforts in that department haven’t proved fruitful. It’s frustrating at times, but I have too much of a drive and passion to just sit and wait around for other people! So meantime, I’ve decided to strip things back for a while and put together an acoustic set!
Could be interesting – it’s already having a positive impact and and opening up potential avenues for performances in places I wouldn’t be able to get into with a band – including the local prison!
All the while, it’s awesome and humbling to still have new people discovering the music, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the new stuff shapes up – both live and in the studio.
Much love x
Janey Summer 