the boy who kicked pigs returns

Very excited that Kill The Beast's The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, that had an amazing & critically acclaimed initial run in Manchester last year, is coming to London in a matter of weeks to play at the famous Jacksons Lane theatre, before heading up to Edinburgh's Pleasance this summer.

I'm editing the tracks at the moment. The soundtrack was composed primarily on an old casiotone keyboard, which had a gloriously editable sound though produced mad amounts of hiss and kept switching itself off. The score was composed after listening to a lot of old Hammer Horror soundtracks, as well as loads of Bernard Herrmann, who is kind of the master of simple, unresolving diminished melodies and harmonies that swing between disconcerting & lush - I'm always trying to do that...

This was what working on the score back then looked like - note the League of Gentleman box set, their music was another key inspiration -

After watching a runthrough last Sunday, this is what working on it now currently looks like -

You can hear a bit of the music in this teaser trailer - but more importantly, you can see a snippet of the show, which is a really well-written black comedy, created by a group of great performers complimented by fantastic design:

Get your tickets here - http://www.jacksonslane.org.uk/whats-on/event/2013/the-boy-who-kicked-pigs/

the first sunday of lent

It is Lent again, and as always for Lent I give up notwriting, and I write something everyday. Writing a sentence still counts, as does editing existing work or writing the music for some existing lyrics, though a whole song is advisable, or a story, or a paragraph of a story / verse of a song.

This is my Lent diary so far. When I'm a bit more comfortable with these I will put some listenable recordings up.

LENT 2013

11/2
CLEAN MONDAY

Songs written with Fellswoop : THE HOME SONG, DIVOT IN YOUR HEART

darling whenever
the wind shakes the heather

->

a hole in the pavement trips you up

12/2
SHROVE TUESDAY

Wrote melody and guitar part for WISHING WELL (lyrics I wrote a few days earlier, then workingtitled DEATH BY DROWNING)

the interlocking web of teardrops

13/2
ASH WEDNESDAY

Wrote a song, 'CHARM'; just the lyrics and a vague sense of the melody

for sinners we’re beginners
but we’ll learn quickly

14/2
FEAST OF ST VALENTINE
Wrote a song, 'BE MY VALENTINE MRS MILESAWAY'

a little time in space

15/2

a meteorite explodes in Russia

recorded / wrote music for BE MY VALENTINE MRS MILESAWAY

16/2

mixed messages from the universe

17/2
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

wrote melody for / recorded (accapella) CHARM - renamed it SINNERS

then, later, wrote the guitar part - just realised it's quite similar to the melody for the Valentine song - that is the danger of Lent, especially when you don't have access to instruments...

wrote two verses, something as yet unnamed

inkblots face off blank stares

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✈ & ✈ & ✈