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hello hello...

this plan of giving away the free promo cd's got a little side tracked as i had to go to hospital the day after i collected them..

..anyways if you want a free copy of the First Thoughts promo cd, all you have to do is go to the forum on the interact section of this site and post a request for it in the "Free CD's" thread..

..have given heaps out in the last week, hope you all enjoyed it and that it's got you just bursting to spend your hard earned cash on the album in July ;-)

lastly, if you asked for a cd and you're not likely to see me (being in a foreign country etc.) then log onto the forum and send me a private message or email with your address and i'll mail it on, or turn up at your door for dinner...

right it's 8.18am and it's thursday morning which means only one thing...i just finished work n I ain't back again til Sunday nite...let's see what sort of mad episode unfolds this weekend, you don't even want to know what happened last weekend but thanks to those of you who came to the two gigs..and the "STORM" that unfolded after on saturday..

shout outs to Barr for starting it, Sweeney for taking the hit, Flah for hitting the floor, Harry Snr. for calming Harry Jnr. and special thanks to Nailers for giving us somewhere to go and chill after...

and of course THANKS HARRY...even if it's just cos me an' u didn't get a box in the head when all the rest of em did hahahahaha...

i'm gone..have a good weekend and i'll talk to you sunday nite

the main burger

back again...long long story involving tubes being put into me and everything but i'm home from hospital now and ready to roll...

..will be playing support to Gorbachov in the Gingerman tomorrow nite..I'll be going on about 9.30ish I suppose and doing a few tracks from the ep and probably a cover or two n all...

..Saturday nite I'm in Tramore in the Shanty..kick off there is about 10 or so and I'll be doing a full solo set..plenty of originals and no doubt more covers..

right I gotta go quick..Barr is waiting outside and I'm in Barry's print shop getting this message up quick, I'm off home now to get the strings on the guitar and write a set list for tomorrow nite..

PS: Apologies for the delay on the promo cds. I was in bits.

Hi folks,

Neils is in hospital for a few days - nothing serious so relax. Then again Neil always accepts cash donations so like if you want then send him money.

Seriously though he is laid up for a while in hospital and he just wanted me to let you know that he won't be able to get those CDs out to you for a while based on this.

I'll keep you posted.


Stay sound.


Niall
Site Admin.

just stuck up demo versions of 2 of the songs from the ep...go to the Music & MP3 section and take a look or even a listen...you will need RealPlayer to listen to them as they are streamed only..

think of these as first thoughts...it's on the way ;-)

collecters beware: ok...to begin promo for the July debut ep "first thoughts on forever" this week I'm gonna be pressing about 100 copies of a single called "first thoughts..."

This single is not for sale...it's something I'm gonna be sending around to radio, labels and attractive female fans as a build up to the ep launch..the tracks are already available for download on the site, the listing is as follows:

1. Mo Chairde Go Leir
2. Pull Me Up
3. Vision Inc.

Of these 3, only Vision will be included on the ep itself..this disc is really just an introduction to my music for those of you who haven't already been introduced..I'll tell you when to start ringing WLR and Beat100-102 demanding plays ;-)

There will definitely be a bunch of copies set aside for the people who were first to join up on the forum..it's growing quickly and I really appreciate the interest, and there is a memberlist so I won't be forgetting who was there for me when I had a forum and I needed people to join lol..first in line are those who have posted something :-P

And last but not least...here's a preview of the cover for it..I'm still not 100% on the one I'm using as a working design for the ep but this one will do nicely to begin with methinks..btw if anyones any good with design I'm accepting any submissions for the ep cover :-)

Here it is..100 copies only..instant collectible



















PS: Thanks to Cephas Jacob for the artistic direction ;-)

Eamon Thomas McGrath
(13th August 1953 - 10th April 1999)

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to the forum...don't forget to stick a little avatar (that's a pic to you and I) up on your profile n' if you're too lazy send a picture on to me and I'll resize it and stick it up for ya (as if I don't have enough to be doing)...

so what have I been doing...well I've been rehearsing a little with my cousin as I hope to have him play on a couple of the tracks on the ep...I've been passing my driving test (FOURTH TIME AROUND)...I've been writing a little bit more of The Boy Who (with some excerpts on myspace profile, might stick 'em in the forum too tho I kinda keep it seperate to the music) ... I've been organizing some more studio time to get more done (now that the cash flow crisis is over) ... I've been setting up some real audio versions of the songs from the ep so I can stream them on the site... I've been replying to your kind and bizarre comments on the forum (love it) and some of the mails too...

so that's the latest...I'm gonna go to bed now in about 40 mins time and when I get up I'll get the wheels in motion and the show on the road so I'll have something to report back on Sunday nite when I'm on again...

Monday morning...6:58am...none of you are even awake yet and I'll be heading home to my bed in 62 minutes just as you're getting into the car to go to work...so here's what I have to say while you snooze...

...First up I will be posting some of the demo tracks this week to give a taster of what the songs on this ep are gonna be like. Will be just me n the acoustic as a sampler, I'll be streaming the final versions of the songs later on down the road...

Not a whole lot to report this morning, in the last few days since I posted I have been working on getting my name out there on the web..promoting the site and getting people to come visit etc. Thanks a lot to the first 20 registered users on the forum btw..you are all duly noted in my little notebook under the section "people to remember when I am rich and famous"...it's a refreshing change for me aswell as I'm usually adding names to the "people to have disappeared" list lately..

Things are going pretty well with the promo so far, I'm listed 3rd, 4th and 19th in a google search for my name thanks to me being a featured artist on Bearshare and Unsigned Ireland..this might not sound very impressive to many but those of you who are familiar with search engine ratings etc. will agree that I have been a very lucky boy to get that highly ranked in such a short time..

..I'm now on MySpace also..I have an official-ish profile in the music section which I am using to promote my songs and link to this site..it's available at www.myspace.com/neilmcgrath... I also keep a seperate profile where I can post absurd blog entries and other random shoals of nonsense that are too bizarre for posting on this website..that one is available by clicking here

...Don't know if you're a MySpace registered user but if not you should check it out, it's a good laugh meeting all the other nutcase faces with their MySpace places..

Right I'm gonna grab myself a cup of coffee..oh one last thing..if you are visiting the site because you saw a link to it at another bands forum called "Check it out" or something similar, then I can only apologize on behalf of the ex drummer/current tea maker (Big Mac on this sites forum)..Macco took it upon himself to bombard other bands sites with messages telling them to visit this one so I can only imagine how popular I am with them now lol...He texts me (proud as punch) to tell me he's doing this and then I tried ringing him to tell him to at least put the message in an APPROPRIATE forum and not into another bands GIG LISTING forum but most of the damage was done at this stage...so apologies all round if my name appears on your site...lol nah I ain't a bit sorry really cos it's just too funny but I have to say so don't I...anyways I'll try and keep the Big Mac on a tighter leash and I can only offer my own message board to any affected bands as a promotional tool which they can use...if they've got similar DEMENTED fans willing to go on a posting frenzy...

Hello again folks...

...great to be back after my recent battle with the vomiting bug..it kicked in about 10pm on Friday night and I'm only coming around now..I'd love to be more dramatic about it and give you a really detailed description but I'll save that for my memoirs..thanks to Barr for treating me like a leper during the entire episode..wouldn't even collect the bike from the house for fear of infection..who brings him in to get the dodgy pedal looked at this afternoon tho...exactly.

Anyways the real reason I'm posting this is to say that I got accepted on unsignedireland.com over the weekend, so I am pleased to join only a handful of acts around Ireland being promoted from their site. Gotta say I'm really pleased to be included on this one, the site itself is excellent for what it does in promoting unsigned artists but aside from that I'm excited about being listed amongst some fantastic irish acts..there is some seriously hot competition out there at the moment and if you get a chance then definitely check out a couple of the acts on this site...the only others ones that are from my part of the world are Duped and Robert O'Connor, both are very popular here in the south-east and I have a great deal of respect for them myself because they're real people with some great songs..so yeah check out this site and watch me rub cyber shoulders with the top of the pops...

http://www.unsignedireland.com

PS: I'll be back on later to reply to some of those beautiful forum postings that some of you beatiful people (and Macco) posted...had almost forgotten the "Queen St. Sessions" until someone voted "Eatin' Crisps" in their top 5 of my songs...will have to try and get that up on the site for a while this week...

Check out the new forum on the Interact section of the website, register and leave a posting too if ya get a chance...

...my new contact mail is there aswell... info@neilmcgrath.com if you want to contact me directly for anything in particular...

First up I wanna take a moment to pay homage to one of my musical heroes, Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G. who passed away 8 years ago today. Biggie was without doubt one of the most talented lyricists ever (aswell as the greatest emcee of all time) and probably one of my biggest influences since John Prine or Bob Dylan when it comes to songwriting...I doubt you will hear it very much in my music as I am obviously not a gangsta rapper but anyone who is close to me will testify that they have heard "Party n' Bullshit" or "I've Got A Story To Tell" at least 150 times whether they wanted to or not...

...so if ya don't know, now ya know...

Secondly, thanks to those I was speaking to for all the positive feedback on the site..the message board should be here this week so you can post on that...unless the feedback takes a turn for the worst between now and then, in which case I'll have the extra expense of bribing people to go on the board and say nice complimentary things about me..not that I'd be the first one round these parts to think of such a thing ;)

How and ever...as regards the music I think I'm back in studio this weekend, if not then next...I'll stick the "Artist" demo on the site this week anyway...as for a live performance I believe I'm doing a night very soon with both Gorbachov and OneFortyNine, will let you know where and when that's happening as soon as I know myself...speaking of OneFortyNine just saw their pics from the Bar Fly gig in Liverpool last weekend, I hear they went down very well there and the pics look like it was a good nite...g'wan the international local bands...that's something else I gotta get on this site aswell..a links page of local bands because I'm hearing some seriously good music lately from local bands..the competition these days is hot as balls to say the least..

..and on that note I'll exit..back soon with the message board..

o.k. just to elaborate a little more on that first posting and let everyone know what the plan is for the coming weeks and months...

Recording: I'm currently recording the ep with Dave Howard in Kilcullen Recording Studios...the way we've been recording so far is for me to lay rhythm guitar and guide vocals over a click track..after that then we can add in Alan's drums and Jim's bass and whatever other instruments are on the track..not sure if we are going to be doing all seven songs this way, will see how it goes for 2-3 and look at things after that..also I am considering a different studio for some of the tracks, the main reason I have gone with Dave Howard is to get that warm and intimate acoustic sound that comes from recording there, it was absolutely perfect for the songs that I wanted to have that feel but I am not sure if that's the sound I want to get on all of the tracks...again I'm gonna see how it goes with that one and think a little bit more about it...

In the next week or so I'm gonna put some rough cuts of the songs up just as samples, 2 or 3 of them with just acoustic guitar and vocals to give an idea of how things are coming along..am pretty happy with how Artist Of The Century is sounding so far so will probably put that up first..

first thoughts on forever ep: the ep will have 7 songs and will be on sale for about 7 euro, you'll be able to buy it here on the site and also at gigs. The ep is basically an introduction to my music, aswell as selling it I will be hoping to either negotiate some kind of distribution deal for it or better still some interest from record labels...needless to say there will be copies sent to radio stations around the country and anything else I can do to promote it really..

Realistically speaking I am looking at a summer launch, probably sometime in mid to late July this year...I will be speaking plenty more about the ep in the next few posts anyway so I will literally keep you posted..

live performance: At the moment I'm doing some support slots for a couple of bands I know...a 40 minute set before the band...just me with the acoustic and harmonica playing the tracks from the "first thoughts" ep with a couple of covers thrown into the mix also...feedback has been pretty good so far with regard to the songs, I do plan to have the band join me for the gigs pretty soon but I will be sticking with the acoustic set for the next couple of gigs anyway..

Thanks to Gorbachov and OneFortyNine for the last two supports slots, and apologies to OneFortyNine for having to pull out of the gig in Philly Grimes...as you could see during the soundcheck I was struggling with the flu..nice one to OneFortyNine singer John O'Hanlon for filling the slot with an impromptu acoustic session before he went on with the band...looking forward to the next gig :)

neilmcgrath.com: gotta say I'm pretty pleased with the site so far, we had a couple of major changes in design during the month of February, and really it was just a case of getting ANYTHING up asap in order to meet the deadline...in the next week or two we hope to put on a couple of more sample tracks to listen to, a forum for visitors to leave their messages, some listings for live performance dates and a bit more artwork and design around the menus and pages etc. All in all the site is a work in progress at the moment but it's coming together nicely now...

..and that's it for tonite/this morning...back with more soon

take care

Ladies and sentimental men welcome back to the new neilmcgrath.com...has been a long time coming I know (and I know it's 5 days late too) but here we are so let's not dwell...

Firstly, I cannot thank Niall Roche enough for getting everything up and running, he has been at this for about the last 10 hours now and is pretty much ready to kill me if I say another word to him...

...Secondly I just wanna say thanks to everyone who has been hounding me for months about what I'm doing and when I'm gonna get it done, I really appreciate the interest and encouragement, I just hope I can deliver the goods in the coming months and make a decent record everyone enjoys..

..so about THIS RECORD...I'm basically recording a seven track ep called "First Thoughts On Forever" which will be launched independantly and available from this website and wherever else I can arrange...it's gonna be a solo effort as far as the songwriting is concerned, but I have enlisted the services of my fellow TooSkin BlooSkin members to play on the tracks themselves...

In the meantime, check out some of the older demo's myself and the band have done in the Music & MP3 section...I'll be back tomorrow with more updates about the site and the ep and everything else that's going down...

take care..

PS: Thanks Harry, you know who you are...