Guy Nottage

Carousel EP released!

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:45:08 +0000

I’ve been quiet on here for a few months, but I’m delighted to tell you that my new EP Carousel is out now and available for digital download from iTunes, Bandcamp and Spotify! The EP comprises six brand new tracks of mine, plus a bonus track of my recent collaboration with the brilliant Steve Hatch. I really hope you enjoy them, and I look forward to playing the songs live at a venue near you soon.

Happy new year!

Click on the icons below to download/listen to Carousel from iTunes, Bandcamp or Spotify.

Listen to ‘Dust On The Shelves’ from Carousel:

New EP coming soon….

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:40:28 +0000

My new EP Carousel is coming soon and will be available digitally. Artwork all done, just have to finalise some of the mixes. It does take a while when you’re doing everything yourself… Looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Tracklisting

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:25:12 +0000

Tonight, I finished the final lyric for the album I’ve been working on all summer. All that’s left is to record all the vocals, a few overdubs and to mix it all. Anyway, here’s the tracklisting, in order of conception:

Dust On The Shelves
Little Ealing Lane
Let It Burn
Nelson Road
The Nights We Burned Like Sirius
Polaroid
Westway
Still Your Lover Tonight
Same Direction
Get Me Out Of Here
Neon Kiss

Shedding off our histories

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:36:56 +0000

Played a couple of gigs over the last weekend – Saturday night at O’Grady’s in Great Yarmouth and Sunday afternoon at the Turnstone Charity Day in Hopton-on-Sea. O’Grady’s was where, as a gangly fifteen year old, I played my first ever gig, fronting Allegro (although the pub was then called Casper Jack’s), so it was quite strange to return to that same stage. Maybe more on that when I have more time, but as it is I’m still finishing off the lyrics to my album, which has to be finished in just over two weeks!

It was a very enjoyable weekend, and I haven’t played back to back gigs for a long time…actually, I’ve just checked and I did it in March this year, so not that long ago. Still rare, and a nice way to spend a weekend. Anyway, my personal highlight of the weekend didn’t come from my own performances, but from Distant Sun (who I was supporting on Saturday), who surprised me with a fantastic cover of one of my own songs, ‘Dust On The Shelves’. I’d never been paid the honour of a band I wasn’t in learning, interpreting, rehearsing and then performing a song I’d written, and it really was one of the most amazing feelings. Try it some time! It took me until the second line until I realised they were playing my song, but I got my camera out as quickly as possible to capture the moment. I’ve missed the first verse, and the sound quality doesn’t do the performance justice, but here’s a video of the performance:

After you’ve watched the video, check out Distant Sun’s stuff here.

Setlist:
I’m Looking Through You [Beatles cover]
Slough
The Bends [Radiohead cover]
Get Me Out Of Here
A Case Of You [Joni Mitchell cover]
Dust On The Shelves
Feena Roulette [Turnstone cover]
Let It Burn
The Nights We Burned Like Sirius
Encore: I Will Take You Home Tonight*
*with Lewis Hickin and Rafe Garforth

Recording

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:34:36 +0000

I haven’t been particularly efficient at blogging on here recently, as most of my time has been split between recording and producing my album, and ranting about the appalling reaction from the Conservative Party to the recent rioting in England. I’ve lived in Ealing, which was badly affected by the riots, for four of the last five years, and only moved back there a week or so before parts of it were smashed up and set alight. Thankfully, I missed it all as I’ve been spending August back in my home county of Norfolk, working on a new album of songs, which should be ready by October.

For the musos and geeks, I’m using a very simple home studio set up – Logic Pro on an old 17″ MacBook Pro, 2-input M-Box 2 audio interface, Joe Meek ThreeQ preamp/compressor/EQ, guitars, uke and vocals recorded with a sE4400a condenser mic, and using a MIDI keyboard for everything else. I don’t have any pics at the time of writing, but I’ll post some next week. I haven’t really been recording much, to be honest – most of the time has been spent building up backing tracks by cutting up drum loops and using software instruments. It’s sounding different to my previous stuff – less folky, more polished and, hopefully, more interesting. I’ve got eight backing tracks started so far – I won’t bore you with the titles, but most of them are songs I’ve been gigging recently, and there are a couple that have never been played live.

As much as I’m enjoying the project, I am becoming somewhat obsessed with it – I keep having dreams about the songs, and can’t really turn off at any point. The only reason I’m writing this blog is because I’ve decided that I have mental fatigue from the many hours of staring at the Logic ‘Arrange’ screen with a pair of headphones on, trawling through thousands of drum loops to fit a four-bar fill before the chorus. Anyway, I’m now off to forget all about it by going to watch Jukebox Jonah & The Random Rummies at O’Grady’s in Gt Yarmouth…

Charity Day at the Dock Tavern

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:47:40 +0000

I’ve just checked my “Gig History” Excel spreadsheet (for PRS purposes, of course – nothing to do with me being OCD…) and it turns out that last Sunday’s gig at The Dock Tavern, Gorleston-on-Sea was my first in my hometown of Great Yarmouth for almost five years. Interesting facts aside, I was on the bill there as part of the pub’s annual charity day, raising money for Great Yarmouth Alzheimers Society and Cancer Research UK – all tirelessly organised by my old friend Chris Smalley.

I must admit, I was somewhat nervous about the fact that on the bill I was sandwiched between classic rock bands, and worried that my light acoustic offerings might be a lull in the day’s proceedings. However, a few songs into the set, it became apparent that the audience were one of the most receptive I’ve played to as a solo artist, and it was a real pleasure to entertain them for 45 minutes in the East Coast sun. In keeping with the feel of the day I’d planned a set full of covers, so I was very pleasantly surprised to have some of the audience calling for me to play my own songs, and even more delighted that they went down so well. The highlight for many may have been when I called my friend Steve Dunn up to the stage (he’d forbidden me to do so beforehand, I might add) to join me for a rendition of Take That’s “Patience”, FaKingFuck-stylee (Steve on vocals, me on guitar). It went down so well, I couldn’t get rid of him – the audience called for another song, so we stumbled through another Barlow classic, “Back For Good”. With the cheese dripping down like the Summer sweat on my brow, I remarked that old rockers at the back would probably see to it that I never played the Dock Tavern again…

The audience enjoying the sun and music at the Dock Tavern

Following the set, I manage to sell all of my CDs (wish I’d have brought more along now), with all the money going towards the charities. The CDs raised £31 thanks to a very generous audience, and in total the day raised a fantastic £1200. It was a real pleasure to play the event, along with three excellent bands – Hold Cot Ground, Stealer and Live ‘n’ Loud, and I can’t wait for next year’s Charity Day. Chris Smalley, the staff at the Dock Tavern, all of the bands and everybody who came along deserve a huge pat on the back for putting music to a good cause and creating a really enjoyable day in the process. See you all there next summer.

SETLIST:
Jackie Wilson Said [Van Morrison cover]
Ziggy Stardust [David Bowie cover]
The Bends [Radiohead cover]
Don’t Let Me Down [Beatles cover]
Distant Sun [Crowded House cover]
Dust On The Shelves
You Can Call Me Al [Paul Simon cover]
Patience* [Take That cover]
Back For Good* [Take That cover]
Honky Tonk Women [Rolling Stones cover]
Let It Burn

Encore: By The Time I Pass Through Slough
* Steve Dunn on vocals

Woodbourne Weekender Festival

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:57:22 +0000

Last weekend I curated a mini-festival in a back garden in Streatham, South London, in aid of my friend Nadine’s birthday. This was my first attempt at anything like this (I was also had to sound engineer, compere, and of course perform), and, thanks to having some really talented friends (as well as sympathetic weather), it was a brilliant day.

The day kicked off with thirteen year-old Harry Malik easing people in with some saxophone versions of Blues Brothers songs. The laid-back vibe continued as Cameron Ford (musical director of Chico The Musical, in which I played Jeremy Griffin) and Zuri Osterholt performed a set of chilled-out cover versions.

Cameron Ford and Zuri Osterholt

As with any self-respecting festival, the umbrellas were forced out at this point, but luckily we were only subjected to the lightest of showers – no Glastonbury-esque mudbaths this year. Joe Spencer’s subsequent quirky acoustic pop set found its perfect setting in the late-afternoon sun, with beers flowing and the barbecue sizzling in the background.

My own set followed – a mixture of originals and covers designed to crank the energy up a little as we hit the evening. It would seem that I cranked it a little too much, breaking not one, but two D-strings during my set! I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. My old bandmate, Distant Sun’s Rafe Garforth followed me with a very sunny, upbeat set – mixing Razorlight and Killers covers with self-penned numbers, including a couple of songs I used to sing when I was in Turnstone with Rafe back in the early 2000s.

Me, after breaking the first D-string

Next up was the comedian Jools Constant, who performed a short, intimate set as the audience relaxed on the garden. This was followed by my good friend Steve Hatch, who played his set of country songs as the sun sank in the evening sky. I joined him onstage for a rendition of a song we co-wrote earlier this year, called ‘Southeast By Miles’, but his festival moment came with the closing song he has now become synonymous with – Hank Williams Jr’s ‘Family Tradition’.

Before the headliners, Jools’ friend Al performed an unscheduled erotic poem that was certainly the most surreal moment of the whole day, but also added to the day’s magic somehow. Then the sky faded further, candles lit up all across the garden, and the incredible FaKingFuck – that is, myself on guitar and veritable Renaissance Man Steve Dunn on vocals, singing a smorgasbord of cheesy boyband / girlband hits from the late-90s/early-00s – took to the stage. The audience (mainly girls in their mid-20s that would have been the key demographic of such music when it was released) seemed to be enjoying the set, until we launched into our cover of B*Witched’s monumental number one ‘C’est La Vie’,

FaKingFuck wow the crowd with their impeccable pop sensibilities

at which point they exploded into life and filled the garden from that point onwards with atrocious dancing and singing that wouldn’t sound too dissimilar to Cher’s Believe if auto-tuned. We performed a three song encore that was cruelly cut short by a neighbour yelling out “who the fuck do you think you are?!” and threatening to call the police. “Who the FaKingFuck do you think you are, love?” I should have replied. It was a brilliant day, and I must say felt proud to have enough highly talented friends to be able to put on such a day. Roll on Woodbourne 2012…

Joe Spencer brightens up the afternoon with quirky pop

Rafe Garforth

Steve Hatch plays the sunset slot

Dock Tavern Charity Music Day

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:26:20 +0000

Just a quick post to remind people of the second Charity Music Day at the Dock Tavern, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk – taking place on Sunday 24th July (from 1pm). Four acts, including myself will be rocking the Dock to raise money for Cancer Research UK and Great Yarmouth Alzheimer’s Society. I was there for last year’s event, and it really was a great day – sunshine, beers, great music, and a really good atmosphere. The other acts will be Live ‘n’ Loud, Stealer and Hot Cold Ground – I’ve only seen Stealer live, but if they’re anything to go by, it’ll be a very entertaining day!

The Good Ship / Molloy’s

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:22:14 +0000

I played the Good Ship in Kilburn, north-west London on Tuesday night, and despite the earlier thunderstorms, tube delays and general post-Glastonbury malaise, it turned out to be my favourite gig of the year so far. “Howling Springbok” Daniel Parkinson joined me onstage for a couple of songs, adding his blues harp licks and flat cap to proceedings. It was only his second gig with me, and his first in front of the legion of South African friends he brought along with him, but he sounded far better than I ever did with the harmonica rack.

Onstage at the Good Ship, London with Daniel Parkinson

It was a good turnout, a good atmosphere, and, unusually for me, I’m fairly sure I made no mistakes during the whole set…..I don’t think that’s ever happened before.

Setlist
The Nights We Burned Like Sirius
By The Time I Pass Through Slough*
Let It Burn*
If I Could Make Myself Love You
Little Ealing Lane
You Can Call Me Al [Paul Simon cover]
Dust On The Shelves

* with Daniel Parkinson on blues harp

Playing the last ever Molloy's Open Mic

The following night I played the last ever Open Mic at Molloy’s in Bath. During my 9 months living in Bath, this open mic has been the regular social event for students on the MMus degree, and has offered a great opportunity to road-test new songs and get feedback from other songwriters. It’s also been really good for getting drunk and singing really loudly to my good friend Steve Hatch’s version of ‘Family Tradition‘ (Hank Williams Jr). I really want to put that song into my set, but I’m scared it won’t ever work outside of that very pub on Barton Street. Anyway, we ended the era on a high, with awesome performances by Cameron Ford & Zuri Osterholt, Matt Young, getBeRned, Cherley Kane, Steve Hatch and myself. I played ‘You Can Call Me Al’, and managed to get the whole pub singing along, which was pretty special. Wednesday nights will never be the same again…

Welcome!

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:37:39 +0000

Welcome to my new website! It doesn’t look much yet, but I guess I’ll figure stuff out as I go along. Hopefully it all makes sense to you… I’ll be updating all my music news here – gigs, recordings, etc., as well as blogging on anything musical I feel like writing about.

Some of you may know that I’ll be recording an album of songs over this summer, so I thought it’d be interesting to write a blog on that – it may even give me extra motivation to get stuff done… I’ve taken a month off, but am now getting started on it. I have a shortlist of 16 songs to use for the album, but want to write at least 5 or 6 new ones. For anyone who knows my songs, I’d love to hear which songs you think should be on this album – it’s always good to get outside opinions.

Anyway, I have a gig tonight at the Good Ship in Kilburn, supporting the awesome Slides, so I’m off to practice my set one last time. Enjoy the site, and please do let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve it. PTFO.