What a Shiny week!!!

So, pipped to the post by big Mr W... All I can say is what a week!

After a couple of weeks getting psychologically prepared, 7.15am on Tuesday 22nd February we were on the Real Breakfast Show with Ewen & Cat. Not only was this a fantastic opportunity for Andy, Stevie, Iain and myself to perform acoustically to potentially the biggest audience ever - it was also a great opportunity to visit my good friends Ewen & Cat in their own environment.

Somebody Told Me is not the easiest song to sing at the best of times but at the crack of dawn before I'd had my usual 16 coffees, I was scared! Boy was I scared!! The outcome was with the exception of a dry throat meaning the fumbling of 2 words, we played a blinder! The sound was great and the balance of all instruments & voices both on air and on the video was exceptional!

Amazing experience for us and one we can't thank Real enough for! I have to say though, ALL the acts on Scotland's Real Talent were fantastic! Best of luck to everyone...

So how could the week get any better?

Here's how.... My best bud and lead guitar hero Andy and I trotted off to the Alhambra in Dunfermline to see the incredible KT Tunstall on Wednesday night.

This was the first time either Andy or I had seen KT and all I can say is WOW!!! Utterly amazing gig and we both came out full of ideas of what we could do with The Shine (no, not a full set of KT hits).

So, back to the mundane next week....

Take care, peace & best of luv,

N

Video killed the radio star?

Last Tuesday morning at very early o'clock, me and the other Shiney boys trekked our way in to deep, dark and dangerous Easterhouse to the home of Real Radio to perform in the "Scotland's got Real Talent" spot on the Real Radio breakfast show, with Ewan Cameron and Cat Harvey.

Having eventually found the studio and got in, there was merely time for a very quick coffee after Neil tuned his 12 string guitar (yes it takes at least twice as ling as a standard 6 string, thank you for asking), a quick run through our tune to warm up and it was off into the Live studio, with Andy on 6 string acoustic, Stevie on very quiet electric bass and yours truly on the thunderbox/cajon/commode, depending on who was trying to slag it off at the time.

Ewan and Cat were most welcoming and after a short interview and a bit of travel news it was down to a wee bit of unplugged playing. We had deliberated long and hard on the choice of tune that we would play, and like a woman out shopping for shoes, we inevitably, after much trying and testing, plumped for the first tune we thought of, our slightly swingy and utterly acoustic version of "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers. If you've ever seen our acoustic set at the Coach House Hotel in Killin, you'll have a good idea of what we did with this classic.

We played our little hearts out- Neil commented afterwards that it was the most terrifying thing he had ever done, and this is a man who has a pet chainsaw! You can check out our performance on video at http://www.realradio-scotland.co.uk/presenters-shows/shows-xcyr/real-radio-breakfast-with-ewen-cat-eubf/scotlands-real-talent-sap8/the-shine-perform-somebody-told-me/dkzbz6xg/ Reaction to the appearance has been stunning- thanks to all of you who got in touch. It was great to share the experience with a large proportion of the population of Central Scotland.

The kicker is though, that unknown to us, the performances are being judged this Monday morning by Michelle McManus and a journalist from the Sun and the Daily record, choosing the 3 top performances for a playoff on Friday next week, with the opportunity to play at a charity gig for CHAS (Scotland's Children's Hospice) as the prize. I'm not sure what to think of this as we'd all love to do the gig, but given the talent on show and the diversity of the acts from large choirs to soloists and the ubiquitous Bongo Terry, I don't envy the judge's task.

That's not to say we won't be a tad disappointed if we don't get picked, but it's a 1 in 6 chance so who knows?

Watch this space for further updates.

Later dudes,

The Shine