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19/08/2011: BARON ZERO COMING SOON TO A WEDDING NEAR YOU

It's now official !

I have my first engagement as a wedding singer and will be playing for my lovely sister in law's wedding (well, actually more like the pre-wedding barbecue but BBQ singer did not quite have the same ring to it) at the end of September.

Which means one month of furious reherseal left before and many, many questions about what will be the best songs to play. I have given it quite a lot of thoughts and I actually plan to share some of these in a future post.

But in the meantime, here is the setlist I have been working on; as you will see it includes a few new songs:

1. One (U2 cover)
2. Umbrella (Rihanna cover)
3. Let me entertain you/Sympathy for the Devil (Robbie Williams/Stones cover)
4. Papparazzi (Lady Gaga cover)
5. Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover)
6. Haven't met you yet (Michael Buble cover)
7. Street spirit (Radiohead cover)
8. I will survive (Gloria Gaynor/Cake cover)
9. Long Train Running/Unpeu de ton Amour (Doobie Brothers/Telephone cover)
10. Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel cover)
11. Yellow (Coldplay cover)
12. Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
13. It ain't over till it's over (Lenny Kravitz cover)
14. I love rock'n'roll/We will rock you (Joan Jett/Queen cover)

I'm sure there will be more hesitations and probably some last minutes changes. Did I forget anything ? I'm still wondering if I should add granny's rap from the Wedding Singer movie (now what you hear is not a test I'm rapping to te beat ...).

17/08/2011: WHAT, BARON ZERO NOT DANCEY ENOUGH FOR ADAM LAMBERT ?

I have been a regular user of MUSIC XRAY since its foundation (as a matter of fact I was already a customer of its forefather, Platinum Blue, which commercialised the first Xrays); although it offers a number of other services the main benefit is that Music Xray acts as middle-man between independent musicians and the industry, mostly A&R and labels but also placement specialists or radios.

Even if your song does not get picked, it is still worth investing money (some applications are free, some not, in any case Music Xray take a fee of 4 USD on all of them) to get professional feedback on your craft.

Here is an example of feedback I just received from Jonathan McMillan who works at a (undisclosed) London rock label:

"Hi, thanks for sending over your song. Unfortunately this isn't the kind of song we're looking to release. However, there's some really nice bits to this tune, and there's clearly a lot of talent here. I think it's important that you work on the arrangement of the song and decide really what it is you are looking to accomplish with it. I would really take a second look at the panning which is going on throughout and if you feel it's really important to you then I would suggest toning it down somewhat as it feels quite uncomfortable to listen to.Great bass work anyway but like I said, decide on the direction your going for and focus on it, you can't please everyone, a non commercial funk tune is better than a funk tune which struggles to try and be commercial. All the best guys".

Clearly not all reviewers take the time to give such details (they are more often from the "thanks but no thanks" school of feedback) but when you get this kind of input, it is very useful.

Also through the service I proposed NO EASY WAY a few days ago as a new song for ADAM LAMBERT. Although it did not get picked (I still think he could have made something quite interesting out of it), I got this nice message from KYRA LAROCK, the A&R in charge of that particular ad:

"Thanks for the submission. Great song. Adam Lambert's team is actually looking for a pure dance song, believe it or not. This is not quite dance enough. If you have anything else more along those lines, please do attach to this submission. Thanks!"

Well, I might need to unearth these old dance tracks I started a few years ago !

08/12/2010: "ME, MY GIBSON AND I" SOMEWHERE IN INDONESIA

I'm playing an impromptu solo concert tomorrow evening in Indonesia. Very much "me, myself, my guitar and I". It was something of a last minute decision under popular pressure and I did not really get enough time to rehearse half as much as I should have.

But then again knowing me, if I had enough time, I'd be rehearsing forever and never actually get to play !

Here is the set list that I'm planning to play tomorrow:

1. One
2. Umbrella 
3. Let me entertain you
4. Somewhere only we know
5. Street spirit (Fade out)
6. Yellow
7. I will survive
8. Enjoy the silence
9. Faith
10. Apologize
11. Ne me quitte pas

ENCORE (as if):

1. Wonderwall
2. Just like heaven
3. The winner takes it all

But the big question really is: should I wear a moustache or not ?

10/12/2009: SOMEBODY TELL ME, WHY ARE SAD SONGS ALWAYS THE EASIEST TO WRITE ?

I have always wondered why it is a lot easier to write sad songs than happy ones. I had another example last week-end: as I went probably through one of the worst times of my entire life (don't ask), 2 different songs seemed to compete in my head.

The first one (A LOVE) LIKE AN OCEAN will have to wait for better days. The second one FALLING APART has been haunting me for a week since I came back from Thailand. Here are the complete lyrics:

FALLING APART (BARON ZERO)

Why can’t you see brother that I’m falling apart / Underneath the silence where I've chosen to hide / I'm like a drowning man caught in a rising tide / I've been living my life like I'm playing a part / And I'm falling apart

Why can't you see mother that I'm falling apart / So short of all the dreams that you saw in your child / Despite all the promises however hard I've tried / Maybe you will agree your son was not so smart / And I'm falling apart

Why can't you see my love that I'm feeling apart / Pretending to be free when you're not by my side / After the pain is gone, nothing's left to subside / Only the emptyness eating away my heart / And I'm falling apart

Why can't you all just see that I'm falling apart?

I'm falling from grace / Falling flat on my face / Falling on harder times / Falling way out of line / Falling down on my knees / Falling far from the trees / Falling short of my dreams / Falling into the stream / Falling without a fight / And falling out of sight / Falling without a word / Or falling onto my sword / Falling badly behind / Slowly out of my mind / Falling down from above / And falling out of love

Falling just for a kiss / Falling just for a kiss / Falling just for a kiss / A few seconds of bliss

And I'm falling apart

But as for you my son you'll always be a part / Of every breath I take, each beating of my heart / And for you I decide to make a brand new start / To do the best I can / Reach for a helping hand / Hoping that in the end I'll stop falling apart 

04/12/2009: THE TRUTH MY LOVE IS I'M FALLING APART

Sitting in the airpoort in Bangkok with the feeling that despair is rushing towards me like a dark tsunami.

This one might be called one day "Falling apart":

The truth my love is I'm falling apart / although no one can see what is broken inside /I live my life like I'm playing a part / Pretending to be free since you have left my side / But the result you see is I'm falling apart / Behind all the laughters where I've chosen to hide / There a darkness in me which is drowning my heart / as I'm drowning slowly like in a rising tide

16/09/2009: FINALLY GETTING TO RECORD MY VERY FIRST SONG IN FRENCH

I'm finally getting down to recording my first song in French ... and it is not one of mines !

For the last few  days I have been working on an acoustic version of NE ME QUITTE PAS from JACQUES BREL which will be played for the first time at the opening of the DIOR store in the new ION ORCHARD shopping mall this Friday.

How did I get to work on this ?

I found out las week end (courtesy of FaceBook) that DJ Inquisitive was looking for some French music to put together a DJ set for the event and contacted him. In addition to sending him some tracks covering the last 40 years in French music (from Edith Piaf to Yelle through Francoise Hardy, the Rita Mitsouko and Noir Desir), I have also suggested to send him an exclusive cover of Jacques Brel's song. Which I now need to finish (and which I will off course post after the opening).

 

13/08/2009: DON'T BLINK OR YOUR LIFE MIGHT PASS YOU BY

Amongst all the TV series I have seen in the last few years, CALIFORNICATION is easily the best one.

The first season was brilliant, focusing on the sexual highs and lows of HANK MOODY, the one time wonder, self deprecating writer played by David Duchovny. But the second season is quite simply fan-tas-tic ! 

Picking up where the first season left things, it shows Hank Moody struggling to live "happily everafter" with the woman of his life despite all his good intentions.

In addition to being hilarious, it also covers more serious grounds especially when Moody finds out he might have testicular cancer.

I have to admit I feel quite close to the Hank Moody character, without the screwing around but definitely a lot of the screwing up. And the latest episode I saw (IN UTERO, episode 10) got me thinking: what if you blinked and missed your life ? what if you took all the wrong turns ? and what if you blew all the chances that came your way. This is definitely a thought that comes to me quite often at the moment.

So I did what I do in such a case. Which is to write a song about it.

Here are the first verse of BLINK (working title obviously) which came to me yesterday in the whiteness of my bed sheets and the darkness of my thoughts:

I was blinking with the sun in my eyes / I didn't see my life pass me by / I was standing on the edge of a knife / I didn't see what happened to my life

Do you get that feeling sometimes ?

02/06/2009: INSPIRATION TAKES STRANGE TURNS "THE RETURN OF THE MONCHICHI"

Some songs can litterally take years in the making. Here is a song which has now taken almost 7 years (!) to move from an idea to a bassline ...

I remember when I first listened to LENNY KRAVITZ's album 5 (I think I was still living in London at the time); besides FLY AWAY, one of the tracks which really got me kicking was STRAIGHT COLD PLAYER. A simple riff, a hell of a groove and Lenny's voice singing one line over and over (you guessed right, "I'm a straight cold player").

So I decided to do a song with the same kind of spirit. Strangely enough, the first thing to come to me was the title "THE RETURN OF THE MONCHICHI" (see photo to the right - don't ask, it's a long story). But for a long time all I had in my head was a bassline which did not convince me completly.

And then last week-end, the breakthrough !

As I walked into the kitchen to fetch myself a glass of water, here it was: the perfect bassline. I kept humming to myself, hearing in my head the different instruments joining in one after the others. And then I forgot it !

But since I'm of the opinion that good ideas always come back in the end, I did not panic (well, maybe a bit) and surely enough it did after a few days. It will still take a few weeks to put things together, but I guess after such a long time we can all wait a bit ...

Stay tune for more to come

29/04/2009: DOWNLOAD BARON ZERO "POSITIVE REMIXES" FOR FREE

Here are finally the different remixes of BARON ZERO "POSITIVE" which were put together by the gang at RemixFight, along with the original version:

 

• BARON ZERO Positive (original version)
• BARON ZERO Positive (Rinkydink Positive in Cambodia remix)
• BARON ZERO Positive (Fix-a-lot Magnetic Resonance mix)
• BARON ZERO Positive (UnDesirable Good Times remix)
• BARON ZERO Positive (Rewind Personal Armaggedon mix)
• BARON ZERO Positive (DFF Sound System remix)
• BARON ZERO Positive (Artemis Strong Waiting Room blues)
• BARON ZERO Positive (Artemis Strong Negative discharge)

If you like what you hear, don't forget to check the rest of BARON ZERO tracks.

And feel free to leave comments on the orginal or the remixes.

27/02/2008: TIME TO WARM UP THESE STRINGS !

In case you have been wondering whether you favourite Baron is still part of this world, fear no more ! I'm busy rehearsing for my acoustic solo performance with more than a hint of panic.

As the time is getting nearer (Easter is less than one month), I'm starting to seriously doubt that I will be ready !!!

But as usual if I have to go down, I will try my best to go down in style.

Here is the set list I'm working on:

1. One (U2)
2. Mr Jones (Counting Crows)
3. Enjoy the silence (Depeche Mode)
4. Wonderwall (Oasis)
5. Street spirit (Radiohead)
6. Long train runnin' (Doobie Brothers)
7. Firebird (Baron Zero)
8. Behind blue eyes (the Who)
9. I love to rock you (Joan Jett/Queen)
10. New day rising (Baron Zero)
11. Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel)

Bottom line: me, my guitar and a dozen great songs.

What can possibly go wrong ?