Adam Astbury » Blog

Demo: ‘I Don’t Have The Answers’

Adam Astbury — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:51:17 +0000

I’ve had a lot of feedback so far about this acoustic demo I recorded, particularly with the lyrics (which I’m very pleased with). I’ve discovered that the more honest I am with my writing, the more people seem to relate to the songs. The rule I use now is, if it means something to me, it will mean something to someone else.

I’m happy to say that the songwriting is going very well, so I should have a good selection of songs to choose from when I head back in to the studio in the second half of this year.

Play: Listen to the demo of ‘I Don’t Have The Answers’ for free

I Don’t Have The Answers
Lyrics

The colours bleed, this old oak tree
Sees the seasons change, like the colours in me
And the ground below, was once covered in snow
But the footsteps faded, long ago

Do you have the answers?
Do you have the answers?
I don’t have the answers
I don’t have the answers

It’s out of my hands, it’s out of my control
I’m just a passenger on the journey I stole
The space that I give, is the space that you need
Space with someone, that ain’t me
The mask I display is both crooked and frayed
The boundaries burst and break away
What good is a map if I can’t bury the past?
The defenses I put up never last
And I don’t have the answers
I don’t have the answers

The challenge I face, is the challenge in me
I built the lock, and I am the key
At the end of the race, all the things that I’ve faced
Just won’t matter, all that matters is waste

I don’t have the answers
I don’t have the answers
Do you have the answers?

It’s out of my hands, it’s out of my control
I’m just a passenger on the journey I stole
The space that I give, is the space that you need
Space with someone, that ain’t me
The mask I display is both crooked and frayed
The boundaries burst and break away
What good is a map if I can’t bury the past?
The defenses I put up never last
I don’t have the answers
I don’t have the answers
I wish I had the answers
I wish I had the answers

From then until now…

Adam Astbury — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:20:33 +0000

Hello there fellow people of the tinterweb! It’s been a while since I’ve written anything on here. So I thought it was about time I set down my overworked and road-worn (yet trusty) guitar; and put my songwriting addiction on hold for a few minutes to write about… music… and to also make an attempt at summing up my 2011 with the occasional smiley and the odd musical reference to keep the reader (that’s you) hopefully interested.

A little bit of babble

2011, in it’s 365 days of glory has brought me many things. The biggest of these include; a new start in Harrogate in my own place, new people, a new office in the center of town where I can carry out my day-job duties as one of three directors of a Web Design company, a new album, and finally the awful realisation that I am in-fact lactose intolerant… All of these things (apart from my inability to consume milk, cheese and various other dairy products) has helped to reshape my songwriting, and steered me into a different musical direction. Unfortunately due to the time it takes from writing an album through to the whole recording process, I’m always a year ahead of the listener, so you won’t actually get to hear most of these songs until later this year – when I will (deep breath) head back into the studio to record my next album! The majority of my most recent album ‘We All Fall Down’, included songs left over from my ‘White Noise’ writing period right up until around Jan / Feb 2011… just as my life was beginning to take a new turn!

A little bit more babble

I’ve never been comfortable with writing songs about politics or religion. I believe as a songwriter, that I should only write about what I know; and for me this usually means my songs are largely about relationships, be it family, friends… or the ladies! I like to think of ‘White Noise’, ‘We All Fall Down’ and the next album of 2012 as my own kind of personal trilogy, that moves from a break-up album (after coming out of a long-term relationship), to an album about moving on and putting the pieces back together, all the way through to an album about wanting someone… and making myself the best I can be. I’m an anxious beast(*) and worrying can sometimes rule my life – so not surprisingly, my New Years resolution is to ‘worry less’. The only plus side I’ve found in being a natural over-thinker is it does wonders for my songwriting because I never run out of things to say, so yay to me on that one.

I’m hoping to tour heavily throughout the first half of this year to promote my album ‘We All Fall Down’ whilst giving away free copies/downloads of my upcoming EP ‘My Heart Is A Fire’ in the hopes of cranking up my listener base a couple of notches. But in the mean-time, I’d like to take you through my personal favourite tracks of my previous two albums (I’ll select 3 from each) and tell you a little bit about each one.

White Noise

White Noise, my self-produced album of 2010. The entire album was recorded in my office/easily convertible night-time studio in my hometown of Shotton, Flintshire. Despite the drum samples (which took hours to create for each track) and low budget production this is still an album I’m very proud of – and I like how the rawness of the the way it was recorded seems to bring out the feeling of each song and adds a much needed ‘edge’…

Inside Out

At the time, this was the rockiest song I’d ever written and I wrote this during the ‘angry stage’ of a break-up. To me, a song is a like a photograph, it captures everything about the time it was written and holds it. If I could go back and re-write it now that I’ve moved on, I would probably be tempted as it seems very bitter – but then it wouldn’t be the song that it became and would lose it’s life.

Take These Words

I wrote this song during one of the saddest times of my life. I always try to be as honest as I can when I write, and with this one, I held nothing back.

War Maker

This song almost didn’t make the album as it was written very last minute, but I’m so glad it did, as although I actually added it as a ‘bonus track’ (because bonus track sounds cool and I’d always wanted to do it) it actually became one of the most popular songs from the album and was always well received when performed live. As with ‘Inside Out’, this should probably also be filed under the ‘angry’ category, but it also has a bit of a humorous edge to it… which I can see now was a sign that I was returning to my old self again. This was also the first (and so far only) time where I’d deliberately left a space at the end of certain lines where the listeners’ head would automatically fill in a word with something entirely different – I think it worked; and it was very naughty of me. I shall promptly consume a babybel.

We All Fall Down

We All Fall Down, is my first studio album. I recorded the whole album at Active Audio Studios in Harrogate with Dan Mizen, who co-produced, drummed, slapped the bass, and helped me to achieve the exact sound I was hoping for whilst keeping my sometimes too-many-idea-filled-head under control. I look forward to working with him on my future releases!

Illuminated

This is the first track on ‘We All Fall Down’ and I think the lyrics to this are the best I’ve ever written. I’d had my first real bout of writers block which lasted around 2 months and this was the first song that hit me after this long agonising period, I’ll always remember how I felt when the main melody hit my musically deprived head (flippin’ excited). I was at my Mum’s house in Shotton for the weekend and I remember tapping my foot along with a very loud clock, and I just started playing it almost without thinking. It was very spooky…

This Boat That Rocks

I’m finding it really difficult to select just 3 songs to talk about as I love them all in their own way, but ‘This Boat That Rocks’ has it’s own sound compared to the rest on the album, but strangely doesn’t seem out of place. I actually wrote the ending before the beginning with this one, which is quite odd for me; but right from the start I always wanted the song to be a gradual build that ended with a huge sound collision of guitars and percussion, and with the help of Mr. Mizen’s drumming, that’s exactly what I got!

The Wait Is Over

This is the last track on the album, and I knew from the start I wanted to keep it purely acoustic. Usually when I write a song I can picture what other instruments would sound like on top of it, but with this one I just wanted to keep it in its simplest form. This song is mostly about the lyrics for me and it marks both the end of a time in my life, and a new beginning as it’s largely about moving on. It was only right for this to be crowned the final track of the album.

Well, that’s all from me for now. If you’re still here, thanks for reading! You can keep up-to-date by following me on Twitter where I also regularly post new demos.

http://twitter.com/adamastbury

Peace out

(*)Beast sounds more manly.

BBC York Interview with Jenny Eells

Adam Astbury — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:04:35 +0000

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to BBC York Introducing towers for an interview with Jenny Eells and to perform a live acoustic track, I chose to play the new single ‘My Heart Is A Fire’ from my upcoming EP. The show was broadcast on Saturday 26th November and you can listen to it below.

As promised on many occasions, I finally delivered a muffin to Jenny!

BBC York Interview with Jenny Eells

Pre-order ‘We All Fall Down’ and receive early download of ‘Give Up The Ghost’

Adam Astbury — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 23:08:35 +0000

It’s been a busy few months on the music front, but my first proper studio album ‘We All Fall Down‘ is now available to pre-order. If you pre-order the album, you’ll receive an early download of ‘Give Up The Ghost‘!

Visit my online shop to pre-order!

After purchase, you’ll be notified the day of the album release (7th November) and will be sent details on downloading the album. That’s good isn’t it?

For those of you who would prefer to hold an actual copy of the CD in all of its printed poly wrapped glory, I’m setting that up right now with a printing / duplication company and you’ll soon be able to purchase a physical copy. If you like what you hear, pass it on! If not, just think of all of those other uses for the CD… coaster, toast butter spreader, frisbee. You could even sellotape it to other CDs and make a nice little shiny window display – I’ve seen it done!

But enough of all that… go… listen!

Muffin Lover

Jenny Eells @ BBC York & North Yorkshire aired ‘Pretty Little Lying Eyes’

Adam Astbury — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:45:18 +0000

So I woke up this morning to an exciting email letting me know that my song ‘Pretty Little Lying Eyes’ had been played on BBC York & North Yorkshire Introducing. Along with having my already great weekend brightened up by having my track aired once again on radio, it looks like Jenny Eells is indeed a muffin fan. So in response to my previous statement that I would buy anyone who shares details on my single a muffin… I better get baking! OK I can’t bake muffins, they would probably explode in the oven. If I knew where to send them though I’d definitely post a nice selection because I’m a very happy boy.

Here’s the audio
BBC Introducing with Jenny Eells @ BBC York

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jp6hh

Radio Interview with Mark Pike @ Point FM 103.1

Adam Astbury — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:10:34 +0000

If you missed my interview with Mark Pike at Point FM 1O3.1, you can listen below. Mark talks to me about my upcoming album ‘We All Fall Down’, and airs my new single ‘Pretty Little Lying Eyes’ which is available for free download from www.weallfalldown.co.uk

» Listen to Part One
» Listen to Part Two

New Single ‘Pretty Little Lying Eyes’ out now! Get it free

Adam Astbury — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:48:55 +0000

Hello fellow internet dwellers. My new single ‘Pretty Little Lying Eyes’ is out now! After over a year of writing and having just wrapped up recording, I’m extremely excited to finally be able to get some new music out there to whoever has ears that are willing and wanting to listen!

I decided to make the new single available to everyone as a free download to hopefully build up interest for my upcoming album ‘We All Fall Down’. You can get your hands on it here: http://www.weallfalldown.co.uk/

If you like what you hear, please pass it on and share it with your friends! Who knows, I might even buy you a muffin in return!… you don’t like muffins? Are you mad?

Stay tuned for more details on my upcoming album and random thoughts, or like my page on Facebook. I won’t spam you, promise!

From the studio, Black & Blue

Adam Astbury — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:54:56 +0000

Watch the video of Adam Astbury in the studio recording Black & Blue, a new song from his upcoming album ‘We All Fall Down’.

Help me decide! Pick your favourite song…

Adam Astbury — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:28:27 +0000

Hello there. I need you help!

The full track listing for my new album ‘We All Fall Down’ is almost complete, but I have one song that I still can’t place / decide on. Please can you listen to the 5 samples below (around 40 seconds each) and let me know in the comments box at the bottom of this page which is your favourite on first listen / the one you’d most like to see on the new album.

Your feedback is much appreciated.

THE BELOW ARE JUST DEMOS. The studio version will be recorded once a track is selected

Ready Or Not

When The Sun Comes Up

Where Your Heart Lies

The Wait Is Over

All Over Again

Thanks,
Adam x

Feeling a bit bloggish

Adam Astbury — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:36:26 +0000

Howdy. I’m in the mood for blogging… actually it’s mostly because I’m waiting for a new video to upload to Facebook and I can sometimes be impatient Anyway, the video I’m uploading is an old / newish song that I recorded earlier this evening called “Black & Blue” and it will be on my new upcoming album “We All Fall Down”.

I say old / newish because I did something a little different with this song. Most of it had been written around the same time as ‘White Noise’, but the song didn’t get included in the album because I just couldn’t finish writing it; I just hit a big pesky old wall with it. But I occasionally return to unfinished material, and that’s what I did with this one! but instead of trying to return to the mindset I was in to complete it (almost impossible), I decided to try and add some light to it by writing an ending point with elements of hope and metaphorical treacle which I sometimes like to do to mask my meanings. Is it naughty to make you figure them out? That’s not important, as I mentioned in a previous post, finding your own meaning is what’s important.

The lyrics to this song were probably the most difficult I’ve written, ever. Both in how personal it turned out to be and the length of time it took to finally bring it to an end. I’m quite proud of it and thought I’d share them, video after the lyrics

P.S; If you’re not already a fan of my Facebook page, pretty please check me out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adam-Astbury/37215675248 and become a fan.

Black & Blue by Adam Astbury

You’ve changed so much, can’t love, can’t trust
But we’re both the same
Shut down, in despair. Rebuild, repair
As we both change lanes

My hand, in your hand, bare foot, in the sand
Where we carved our names
A house on the hill, broken window-sill
Where we watched the world go by

These dreams were made for two
I woke up, broken, black and blue

Fall into me, put back the pieces that you stole from me
You hold up your hands, “I’m sorry can we start again?”
“I can change, yes I’ll change, we can go back to how we were”
I’ll say no, I’ll say no, but this is how it feels to hurt
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but this is how I feel inside

Shiver, in the cold
A secret’s been told and the world comes down
Warm breath on the glass
Tracing lines with your hands
Of the path I made, to you

These dreams were made for two
I woke up, broken, black and blue

Fall into me, put back the pieces that you stole from me
You hold up your hands, “I’m sorry can we start again?”
“I can change, yes I’ll change, we can go back to how we were”
I’ll say no, I’ll say no, because I stopped running months ago.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but this is how I feel inside

I can finally sleep tonight
Because I’ve found someone that made me believe
Although I know, she’s not mine to have
I’ll take the light that she shines on me

Those golden rays, lighten up my days
With a message of what’s yet to come
A candle burns from green to red
It’s not ideal but I’ll rest my head

Fall into me
I needed time but now I’m free
Hold up your hands
Say you’ll take me as I am