female fronted rock
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Well what a year it’s been! Loads going on behind the scenes for me, even if it was a bit quiet on the music front – sad face. But I had a blast singing at Bristol’s first #MetalMass in October, as well as a few acoustic slots here and there.
Christmas is the season to give and share, so I’m sharing my music – old school style – with a CD give-away!
If you have a UK postal address, you’re eligible! Woohoo! All you need to do is tweet me @janeysummer with the hashtag #lovecamedown before December 31st to be sent free copy of my first album, “Along the Way”.
Plus I’ll pop in one extra – for you to share with a friend. Enjoy!
Peace and love to you and yours for 2017.
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 – David Coverdale
Yes, it’s the king of hair rock, David Coverdale’s turn in the spotlight of my inspirations this week.
I literally cannot tell you how many times I span my vinyl ‘Come An’ Get It‘ album; signing along with passion and heart yet coupled with pangs of awkward guilt at the content, but loving the absurd cheek of it all the same.
David Coverdale as frontman for Whitesnake was/is unashamedly sexual in his image and lyrics. Ordinarily that would put me off; that’s the main reason I find AC/DC so objectionable (there are other reasons too!), but in the case of Coverdale / Whitesnake, I just couldn’t write it off; I loved that voice, the blues-influences riffs and melodies, Bernie Marsden’s singing guitars – it all had me well and truly hooked.
Oh man did I ever face ridicule for it from my feminist friends; the assumption being that any intelligent woman couldn’t possibly take Whitesnake seriously. The thing is I don’t think Coverdale himself ever totally took Whitesnake seriously. He’s quote as saying ‘a lot of my songs are firmly tongue in cheek.’ Thinking about it, that comment could be tongue in cheek in itself!
I preferred his edgier early stuff, and so my enthusiasm started fade when they moved into the fluffy poodle-haired synth-soft-rock stage in the mid/late 80s with songs like ‘Is this love’ and the remix of ‘Here I go again’.
Probably my all-time favourite song – one that couldn’t in any way be seen as being sexual/sexist – is Child Of Babylon. In my opinion it still stands its ground as an epic classic rock song, brilliantly arranged and performed, and I would love to cover this one day, either live or on a record, and put all those hours of bedroom singing practise to the test.
Lyrics – Stranded
Working on some other things today, I visited my Soundcloud and noticed a comment on ‘Stranded’ saying “Wish I could read the lyrics.”
Well, I am to please – here they are!
Stranded is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek love-sick teen-angsty kind of a song! It was written about the ending of a relationship that was supposed to be ‘just for fun’, but after a while, surprise – I realised I’d got feelings for the guy, and it left me hanging in mid air wondering if he felt the same way. I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one who’s ever gone through that scenario! Thankfully I’m older and wiser now 🙂
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.
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
It’s Christmas!
Well, it’s hard to believe that this time last year I was sending my Christmas message to you from hospital! It was truly heart-warming to have so many encouraging and supporting messages rolling in.
It has taken a long time for me to recover, but am I nearly back to 100%, thank God. As well my health crisis, this last year has been one of massive change for me – saying goodbye to relationships that it was time to move on from, and moving to pastures new. Lots of healing, but also lots of green shoots J
So, it has been a bit quiet on the music front since I released my EP last December. I’m sorry to those that have been eagerly waiting on new things; they are coming along, I promise! I feel confident that 2013 will see things rev up again with my new band, The Avowed.
Thank you all for your support over the last year, for your kindness, your emails, your comments, and the fun and laughs you’ve shared.
I hope that you and your loved ones have a truly blessed and wonderful Christmas – wherever you are, and whomever you’re with.
Peace, love and light to you
Janey x
Janey Summer 