Tribute to Dean

We had a cracking night at Fatboab's in Kincardine last night.After a lot of thought, and changes of opinion, I decided to play my reworked lyric version of Knocking On Heaven's Door in tribute to Dean. To be totally honest, I know it's now cliched to rework this particular song but, when I did it on Thursday, the song actually chose itself, I did the business within 15 minutes and it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

So, here's my version of the lyrics as performed yesterday.

Ma, take these bonds off of me,
I just don't need them anymore
I've got my legs back, I'm gonna run free
Cos now I'm knocking on heaven's door.

CHORUS
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
Knock knock knocking on heaven's door
I'm just knocking on heaven's door

Ma, can't you see the smile on my face
You know I'll love you forever more
Although I've gone from this earthly place
And I am standing at heaven's door

CHORUS

The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green
He leadeth me
The quiet waters by

Dad, the wind blows through my hair
I'm not in pain anymore
You'll hear my laugh in the winter air
And I'll be waiting at heaven's door

CHORUS

Rest easy Deanie and God bless you!

The Coach House, Killin - 14.9.07

Another big, big thanks to all at The Coach House, Killin for another fab night last night (14.9.07)!!

As I said to Kerry, playing at The Coach House is like a holiday for The Shine - the people are so friendly, appreciative and - above all - share our belief in having a party!!

we debuted not only a completely new "unplugged" set for the first half - but also the first of Andy's own compositions.

So, to Kerry, Kim and the whole family - big thanks from all of us! We can't wait to return and please do give us a shout if you need a "dig out" anytime!

N's Studio Tan

So here we are once more, in the playground of the..... High technology studio environment!

I've been having great fun recently working (and ploughing loads of hard earned cash) into what started out technically as a "solo" project. Originally I was going to record this at home on my old analogue set up, then upgraded to digital and was going to simply take WAVs of the drums back home... Now it's all being recorded at Craigmont Studios in Glasgow - my mate Shug's studio.

It's also less than solo now as Iain has made a huge contribution so far - both with drumming and also constructive criticism like "No, that was shite Neil, do it again"!

The first session back in late July was OK but frustrating as I had over ambitious ideas of how much I personally could get done - plus we'd been off the road for a month and I guess I was a bit rusty. We adjourned back on 18th August and things started to come together. Despite being post gig knackered from the Shiny activities of the previous night and a crappy drive through pissing rain, loads more got done at this second session!! Acoustic guitar, OD guitar, some clean guitar, Moog Taurus and electric pipes all went down at this session under the careful control of Dougie and "oor PM"!

One more musical session to go to finish off the clean guitar, do keyboards, flute, vocals and various percussive noises and job's a good un! Then it's over to Colin's creative wizardry for the final mix...

Don't know what I'll do with this album but suffice to say it's 10 tracks of completely original material, not done by The Shine and a real mixed bag of styles... All I do know is it's likely to be called "It Can't Rain All The Time"

Best of love and keep having fun,

N

MySpace & Media!!

Hello! Mr N here....

If anyone reading this is new to The Shine, quite possibly you've checked this out via a My Space friends request. Through my involvement with Gig In The Glen 2007, I've seen how successful building up a good batch of friends can be - so I applied the same principal to The Shine Site.

Every single friend invite has been personally selected by me based on interests, location, gig proximity... AND HOTNESS! Some bands use a kind of "bomber" attack where an automated programme will add countless friends. Fair game to them but I'd much rather have 500 odd hand picked friends who just might give us support at a gig than 5000 who are from Venuzuela, Peru or Siberia! Quality not quanity - that's my theory!! So, if you are reading this because you've linked from My Space - Thank You. Your friendship means a lot to The Shine!!!

In terms of Media, we've got a really cool offer coming up... The new album is complete and, welded to 4 tracks from the previous recording, makes a cracking 10 track CD. The production of the first batch of these CDs is complete, the cover artwork is complete and we're ready to roll!! Here's the deal.... The CDs will be available from the band (signed or unsigned - your choice) for the grand sum of £5!! Let's face it, that's 2 pints in old money!! Or, put another way, it's Stuart's brainchild... Oh no, he invented the £7.5 note!!

What we're also going to do is one lucky person at every gig will get the chance of a free CD. All you have to do is be there and come up and ask me... That's all, no catches, no money... nothing. BUT IT'S ONLY ONE.... Once the freebie's gone, it's a fiver for everyone else!!

Take care and hope to see you at the Alloa Real Ale Festival on 25th May or somewhere on the road in June!

Mr N

Welcome the new Guvnr of the Bottom Line!

Well, it's hardly new any more... I just couldn't be arsed updating this blog!!

Andy, Iain and myself are delighted to welcome Mike as the new bass player with The Shine. A truly awesome player, it's great to have you on board. On the downside, The Shine are now 50/50 Anglo Scottish - on the upside, Mike has the most enviable birthday of the year!!

So look out, we're gonna set a Pidge on ya!!

Here we go again....

What is it with The Shine and bass guitarists?

Sadly, we're about to part company with Stu - after only about 4 months as a Shiny. Nah, Stu'll never stop being an Honourary Shiny!!

Ourselves and Stu have recently had discussions as it appears Soul Inferno have taken on a new lease of life. It's a tough call but we seriously appreciate that Stu was a founding member of Soul Inferno and it would be tough to turn his back on them. Likewise, Andy, PM and I would have the same view about The Shine. Chic and Stu are both absolutely sound guys too (haven't met the rest of the new line up yet) and we seriously wish them every success!

So, anyway, I guess it's back to the "Situations Vacant" columns for The Shine with the job description being "a very tough act to follow filling Mark and Stu's shoes".

It is worth pointing out that there are NO hard feelings in this move and, in fact, Stu will be sticking around for some time to come. It's all systems go for the upcoming gigs and recordings with Stu remaining the "king of the bottom line" until his successor is appointed.

Mr N

Oh dear....

And this is what happens when Mr N has a wee bit of spare time at work.....

The Shine 3rd Demo

After recording our first demo (with our first bass guitarist) live using Mr N's analogue set up.... Then our second demo (with our second bass guitarist - the mighty TSD) using Andy's home digital setup....

We're now ready (with our third bass guitarist) to record our third demo!

For this one, however, we're all off to Hugh Carter's The Practice Pad in Glasgow (photo left). Hugh has a massive pedigree both as a studio owner and a professional musician with both the incredible Abel Ganz and his Stones covers band Sticky Fingers.

Myself, Andy K, PM and Stu are really looking forward to our trip west in April to do it with the pros!!

More later....

Mr N