2013 - Shark Invasion - Schizophrenic

"I want to be riding the bow wave not ski-ing behind the boat.."

The last 6 months have been mayhem, I finished recording the album and managed to have a break-down just in time for the festive period. I still managed a few gigs but as per usual I had to stop everything that was going on till I had recovered. I describe it like your laptop crashing, sometimes it won't work till you take the batteries out and wait while the system re-boots, hoping that all the work you saved is still there.

But then 2013 came around soon enough.

The snow brought some inspiration and I started writing and recording again while making contact with the outside world to get the album - 'Schizophrenic' back on track.

So, here I am.

I once again have help from the Arts Council of Wales to release, promote and tour the album so have a million and one things to organise so that it can have the best chance of survival in todays music market.

  

This is how my list starts : 

1) Arrange to obtain artwork from Sheree Murphy for album cover 

2) Meeting with Amy Wadge to organise digital release, media promo, endorsements and tour. 

3) Obtain stems for mastering from Rich Thair

4) Contact RT marketing and promo for press releases

5) Contact Donal at Hafod Mastering to arrange session

6) Send work across to Laura Poole to start formatting the booklet and CD/DVD covers

7) Start work with Daz @ Ctv to create visuals and obtain finals for DVD

8) Send logo ideas to Trish McParlin for final artwork

9) Contact Byron Morley to build new website

10) Speak to Alun @ Cadno music to purchase equipment

and the list goes on.....

I've also managed to play an amazing gig at Chapter Arts centre, Cardiff, for Disability Arts Cymru and a private party at the Forge, Machen. Many other gigs coming in thick and fast.

You all know what I'm like with this blog, the only thing I can promise is that I'll be consistently inconsistent in posting but I hope that you'll all join me in the journey.

Big Hugs....Dai. x

Mad as a March Hare

Shark Attack

What a start to the month of March.

(click on links to visit pages)

I received my Arts Council of Wales grant which then allowed me to start the organising of getting my album launched. Once I had made appointments with everyone involved I proceeded to start ticking things of the list. If I wanted to just record and create a simple album it would have been finished by now but obviously I want it to be the best I can possibly create so firstly arranged for my website to be overhauled and created anew so when I launch the album everything will be available from daisharkey.com. Thanks to Byron at Business Beacon he gave me a plan of what the site will contain and is in the process of building it although it won't be made public till the launch day.

I then went down to see Amy Wadge to make a plan of promotion and release. Of course her expertise and experience made this a breeze. She has already put in place many mad but wonderful things that will make what I've created a national buzz. I'm not going to say too much till it happens as I like the element of surprise. Lets just say it's beyond my wildest dreams and the wildest of nightmares of others. I can confirm though that my album will be on sale all across the country in supermarkets as well as all the usual online sites and download music providers. 

amywadge.com

I then went to visit Sheree Murphy to arrange the artwork to be contained in my book and for the album cover which is absolutely amazing. Her work is dark, quirky, slightly odd, perfect for a Sharkey production.

The album cover is amazing and very clever. What I can say is that Sheree created it by creating a multi-medium painting, then projecting a mugshot of me on to the painting, highlighting some of my features and then took a photograph of the image produced. It blew my mind. So clever, so deeply thoughtful and produced an original image that is both deep and thought provoking.

She is in the process of producing the rest of the images to be used for the book and for publicity purposes. (can't wait)

Sheree Murphy - thedryingroom.com

I had another meeting with Amy to work through a formal press release where I may add I met the most talented Ryan Ashley, what an amazing voice and glad to hear Amy has some new 'Spice' in her life, I'm sure all will be revealed in time.

I then went in the studio with Rich Thair to grab the unmastered stems of my album and to catch up on the gossip. Glad to hear Red Snapper are on a tour to promote their new creation of a soundtrack to the Senegalese film Touki Bouki that has been remastered by Martin Scorsese.

While in the studio I was overjoyed to have a phone call from Melanie Santorini to confirm that I had been accepted for a grant from Time to Change Wales to put on two gigs with a focus on addressing the issues of mental illness stigma and discrimination. An obvious choice of a personal topic that I have great understanding and experience of. I'm so looking forward to organising these. More about this to come in later blogs.

That same evening I was honoured to play a session at Parc Howard House for Llanelli Multicultural Network. A fantastic evening, big hugs to them all.

Then heading slowly towards the end of the month I was privileged to play a gig with Three Smiles Wide at the Golden Lion in Carmarthen.

Dai Sharkey

Three Smiles Wide

Another fantastic night surrounded by great musicians and dear friends and family.





The following week I was in the mastering studio with Donal Whelan. Hafod Mastering is set in a lovely secluded spot just outside Cardiff where all manner of mastering wizardry goes on. A long.....very long day resulted in Donal being my mastering therapist and I'm sure both me and my album infected his brain for many days after. (sorry mate) But the end result being a truely magnificent sounding product. Just awaiting some tunecodes to be added and job done. One major step in the direction planned.

Donal Whelan

The man and his magic

Wizardry

The Shark Attack

 Then to round the month off and celebrate Easter - he has risen - was an amazing gig at The Kilkenny Cat for Llanelli Music Scene alongside some excellent talent from the area.

Stand up and Shout

Ive stolen a hat.

Steve in his cell

It seems that April is going to be as busy but it's all happening around me so I'm taking it easy, getting as much rest when I need it and totally appreciating the support from everyone involved in this journey.

Happy Easter all. Dx

Some rehearsal and experimental recordings

Easter beauty.

What can I say....EGG. 

Daffodils at Hafod

Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29)

post script: forgot to also mention that I've had a new t-shirt logo created by Trish McParlin and now have my social web pages managed by Online Secure Management to take the stress out of controlling so much online traffic.