Hi there :)
It has been a very long time since i actually wrote a Blog as I am often either too occupied or I find it hard to put into words what I am doing with my music. An EP is definitely on the horizon of being released, that is for certain. Sometimes it is hard to also put into music what you hear in your mind and heart as sometimes the sound escapes you as you start to structure and choose what feels right to get your message across. Maybe I think way too much and try too hard, but this is due to wanting to have this EP to the best standard I could possibly do. After all, it is only myself who is at the helm steering this sound. I do sometimes miss having a band around me; members to springboard off, especially a bass player who often inspired me to write lots of songs in my previous band. Then sometimes I don't miss having a band, as it began with an understanding that I steered the sound and songwriting, only to have the feeling of not being appreciated and being always the first to be attacked if others didn't feel involved enough. Even though the people who attacked me didn't know how to begin with silence to then create a structured song. Anyway i digress and sometimes it is good to look back, but on this occasion it isn't. On a more positive note, at least there is only myself beating me up when things are not going to plan lol! Having time to reflect on my musical path has inspired me to move into a stronger direction with She's Got Claws. The first album I treated as a way of putting the feelers out to A. Which songs people reacted to the most; B. Which direction to take with further projects and C. What still speaks to me after 2 years of listening to this album. Blind, Fake and Dreams in Cold Storage were the ones people reacted to in a more positive way. Tell Me and Always have made quite a few people weep, which is good if it is a release of bottled up emotion but this is not the path I would like She's Got Claws to take. So the new EP is more like the former songs mentioned, where the electronics move you with an underlying emotion which I hope won't have people in floods of tears. There are links to tasters of 3 of the songs on my Soundcloud and my Music page; Manchine, I Die For You and Hurt Beat. Yesterday I decided to pull Renewed as I felt it was not falling into line enough with these 3 songs. Today I can announce it is now going the way I have had in my head for a long time..phew! :D When you hear the new EP I truly hope that you will like and appreciate the path which I have chosen for She's Got Claws. Maybe I should have taken this path initially, but then this is a new project and it can take time to see your true focus and goals musically. I am not from the many production houses who churn out soulless sounds, this is all from me and me alone. Something that is not as acceptable and embraced in this plastic society as it should be, as music is so tragically disposable . Most people would prefer to spend £50.00 on a computer game than just 79p for a song from a songwriter who needs the money more than a huge corporation. I hope I can count on your support when this EP 'Synthetic Emotion' is released. I unfortunately am not blessed with stupid amounts of money in my bank account to allow people to have my EP for free, like certain bands can. So please show your support for someone who needs it. Thank you :) xx Micci xx
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Since February i have had a lot on my plate to deal with and have found it very hard to carry on writing, as time was something that i could not find.
I would like to thank everybody who has sent me very encouraging messages, your support is truly appreciated. I am overwhelmed by the hundreds of messages across the globe giving me the fight and focus i need to carry on writing my second album. I am pleased to inform you that i am back on track writing this album. There will also be more photos and videos coming too. Remix work is also something that i would like to do, as i used to do this in my other bands for other artists. If you would like a remix of one of your songs, please get in touch with me. In the meantime my last album is still available to buy online from most online stores. You can listen to some of the songs on my music page plus the direct links are there to take you straight to purchase the entire album or at least a few of your favourite songs. Bye for now, Micci xx She's Got Claws From the beginning of this year i knew this would be a challenging year as i have an album to complete, but i was not prepared for what was in store in late February.
My partner had a seizure as he walked up our hard wooden stairs (no carpet) and fell the full way as he was fitting and crumpled with a loud bang into a ball at the bottom of the stairs. This was 11:30 in the evening on the 24th February. When he has a seizure you never truly know what to expect, i.e., if he will have a long seizure or a short one, but this one was not only a seizure, this involved broken neck bones and head injuries. He started to have seizures from the age of 17, but since being with him he only had jerks and restless sleep, until a few years ago when he had a full seizure which lasted over 6 minutes, then had another one a few hours later in the hospitable, where the neurologist strapped to machines and sedated him. We he had his first seizure in front of me i was completely confused, was this a stroke, a heart attack? He was turning blue and stopped breathing at one point. I cried down the phone to the emergency services, not knowing what to do. I never believed that this would happen to him, he had signs for a few years but nothing came of them as he often slept and was fine afterwards. I did research into epilepsy and knew i needed to prepare, even though we were both confident that the medication he was and is taking would prevent them. How wrong we were. I am glad i researched as this help me to deal with this, even with the added trauma of the fall. All you can really do is hold the person's head to stop them from rattling it on the floor and talk to them, saying their name over and over again, giving comforting words. He soon came around after a few minutes, which was a relief. I kept reassuring him that the ambulance was on its way and to not move. The blood was flowing from his head wounds and nose, so it was hard to stay calm inside seeing all the damage. However i did not show any panic and kept giving him warm smiles of reassurance. He is now recovering and is making good progress. He needs to rest, which is not in his vocabulary as he is always on the move and does not know how to shut off from work and ambition. He had to wear a neck brace for a few weeks and now he has just a faint bruise around his eye with uncomfortable pain still from his neck and back, but this is only to be expected. The Doctor try to refrain from expressing panic, which he failed in doing so, as he confirmed that my partner was a hair's breath away from being permanently in a wheelchair. His Doctor told him he must have had an angel watching over him. This is my life at the moment, watching and caring for my partner. I will not deny not to you or to myself that i am frustrated that i am not able to fully concentrate on my music at the moment. I am determined to remedy this as soon as i possibly can. I think this sounds very selfish, especially with all the recent trauma. I am still being tortured by the sounds of my partner crying out as he fell down the stairs and the bangs he made. Every time i leave him to shower for example i hear these sounds, i am not sure i will ever stop hearing those cries. It is hard to carry on with my music, although some would say that this is the perfect time to write. I wrote a song called Always for my last album after his first seizure with me, my partner does not like to listen to this as it is about the possibility of losing him and i am asking him to always stay. Being on my guard to make sure that this does not happen again is, i know, holding me back, but i cannot and will not let my guard down again. I have a song that i feel is the best song i have written. It is sat there as a file on my lap top in Logic pro X, waiting for my attention. It is strong, i know this already and this is a huge step for me to admit that any of my songs are strong or even good enough for others to listen to. My partner pushes me to be the person he knows i could be, as he sees me, even when i don't. Now Spring is here, i hope this is the silver lining around this cloud, and the warmth of the sun will inspire me to breath again. Micci Lou xx Hello!
I know it is a belated well wish, Happy New Year to you! :) I never truly know what i am going to write as a Blog, i just hope my fingers make some sense of all the doodlings in my head. So Christmas was a new beginning for many ways for She's Got Claws, mainly due to receiving a Mac Book Pro for my main amazing present, thanks to my partner Chris, who is lovely (at times) not because he is spoiling me (well that goes a little way lol) but because he supports me and believes that whatever i turn my hand to i can achieve it. (It is a gift to have someone in your life who stands by you, even when you are not sure exactly what you are about to encounter when you make up your mind to learn something new.) My Mac Book Pro is now running Logic Pro X on the latest OS, (Mavericks) 10.9.1. This has opened a small can of worms as the audio driver is not as yet compatible with this update, so my writing has come to a halt until Apple sort out the bugs in their recent updates. They are about to release 9.2 hopefully with all bugs eradicated. I have to laugh and drink a little brandy, or i would just sit and cry lol :) Away from this to keep a kind of perspective on all things annoying, I also received another gift of John Foxx's music. Chris played me a video previous to buying this for me, a song called 'Underpass'. He decided to play this to me as i am showing signs of 'Foxx' in my new material, which i was completely unaware of. Underpass is fantastic! When the keyboard hook comes in.. well what can else can i say but... OMG!! There is a remix of Underpass on You Tube which starts off a little slow burning but once it kicks in it is breathtaking! WOW! Now i am wondering why the hell didn't i know of him before?!! For many years i have loved electronic music, thus my adventures into all things tech with my writing. I started to grow a love for this style when i first heard Nine Inch Nails back in the late 90's. Trent inspired me to kick out the rule book and learn to produce and write with feel. To people who go by the rules, this is not acceptable as i have had a few people talk down to me as they feel all music should have a certain production which everybody should have, which is petty and not in keeping with the whole expression of any kind of creative art. No matter what text book idiots think of my creations, i was signed to Earache Records with this approach. (See SGC About Page) At the same time of loving all things NIN, i fell in love with The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy as they were at the time throwing away all the rule books of writing and producing dance music, just like Fluke and Atari Teenage Riot, to name a few. Chris's childhood consisted of listening to OMD, Gary Numan and Human League, this i have also adopted, as they were part of the pioneering years of electronic pop. If you love electronic music then you need to listen to the masters of this genre to find your own individual style, not just fall in line pedalling the vacuous noise which the charts are swamped with today. Why have i never been aware of John Foxx?! I was aware of Ultravox (Vienna, Sleepwalk) but only with Midge Ure, i never knew Mr Foxx was the original vocalist. I listen to him and i feel my music has a relevance, not just me losing my way, a foundation has already been created for my approach and style. I thought i would be forever stood on the outside without any understanding from anybody other than Chris. Plaza, Underpass and No One Driving are hook ladened with sounds which drive shivers up my spine leaving me with happy goose bumps! I have never felt so thrilled to listen to what i deem as new music since the first time i ever listened to This Wreckage by Gary Numan, Zoolook album by Jarre and The Man Machine album by Kraftwerk! - These guys know what melody is and how to use it in a constructive way, i just wish production houses of today would stop churning out soulless noise and take a step back to listen to how it used to be done, if they don't then the noise they create will be lost and dated without any credibility to last over 30 years like the music created by Gary Numan, OMD and John Foxx! John Foxx - Metamatic... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWQ7O3DAPl0 I am creating a Playlist of all the coolest music on my You Tube profile, from John Foxx to Ladytron to Numan to Chemical Brothers.. something there for everybody with a love for all things electronic :) So please subscribe so we can stay in touch and share each others videos and music. Micci Lou xx www.shesgotclaws.co.uk So this is Christmas, what have you done? Another year over, a new just begun..
Well that pretty much sums it up, but then John Lennon is one of the greatest songwriters ever! If only we could stop wars, but then we would have to abolish our Governments as they are the ones who put us on the front line to fight their squabbles. (I love to rant lol) I digress.. So... Hope you are having a great Christmas and are looking forward to 2014? Is it just me but does it feel like a "here we go again with another year to get through" maybe it is just me being a pessimist. Right so, what have you planned for the New Year? I am just trying to adjust to bringing in a new year, although there are some firm plans already in place for She's Got Claws; . A single release ... Early Summer 2014 Album No:2 release (Name not confirmed yet) ... Summer 2014 Live performance videos ... throughout the year, please keep checking She's Got Claws' You Tube profile So did you buy the Christmas single, Can we hope for Christmas? I haven't heard anything from my distributor as yet but then it is the holidays and things tend to slow down. Hopefully i will be able to give some money to Save The Children, this depends on sales. If you have supported this charity by purchasing this song from iTunes, Play.com and/or Amazon, then i would like to say a huge thank you to you. You have made a lot of people's lives more bearable in these times of austerity. If you haven't got around to it then the Christmas single is still available to buy from as little as 69p. It isn't going to break the bank, it only takes one minute of your time to give others hope and a brighter future. Your support is truly appreciated. Please check out the direct links on the dedicated Christmas page on my website. So here's to a brand new year with lots of new exciting adventures for us all! All the best for 2014! Micci Lou xx She's Got Claws is donating money from the sales of her Christmas single to Save The Children, to help the families who are living in poverty in the UK. Over 1..6 million children are affected by these times of austerity and the harsh cuts that this coalition has forced upon us, leaving families going without basic needs such as food, warmth and shelter. Can We Hope For Christmas is available to download from iTunes, Amazon and Play.com. Please show your support xx
If you live in the north of London then you will be able to get your hands on this magazine, The Muswell Magazine. December's issue features a full page interview with me talking about all things Christmas, including my Christmas single release called 'Can We Hope For Christmas', which is available to buy now from iTunes, Play.com & Amazon from only 60p! Links are on my 'Christmas' page. This was a fun interview to do as the questions are quite random, for eg., if i was stuck in a lift who would i not like to be in there with? My answer: Anyone who doesn't know what a bar of soap is and a screaming kid. What would your answer be? So if you can grab yourself a copy i would truly appreciate it if you could send me a hard copy of this too so i can place this in my folio. - Micci Lou xx Hi Guys and Gals, So Christmas is almost upon us! It's very easy to ignore it then the panic starts when you realise you only have a few weeks left before Christmas Day and it's your turn to have the family round for the festivities. It's 3 weeks to Thanksgiving, which is a sign for us all that Christmas is in sight! I always love to watch one of my favourite films around Thanksgiving called 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' wih John Candy and Steve Martin. If you haven't seen it, get the uncensored version of it, Steve Martin flips many times in it and it's hilarious to watch! It's about his desperation to get home to his family for Thanksgiving, with the ingenious and hilarious help from John Candy. I wont say anymore as i'll spoil the ending. :D Right i shall get back to the reason why i'm blogging. There is only 3 weeks to the official date of She's Got Claws Christmas Single, 25th November! So it is now time for a huge push by my PR Company, Manilla PR Ltd, who are doing a fantastic job of securing live radio interviews, Skype interviews and Magazines. Here is the latest, Steve from Street Voice UK interviewed me for his Fanzine. Loved the questions, he's a great guy who has supported my music for many years throughout my musical adventures with my last band Paparazzi Whore. Please take a look at his latest interview with me :) http://wp.me/p3EpVl-3s This is a snap shot of the beginning of Street Voice's interview with She's Got Claws. Steve certainly knows how to get the fires burning within with his questions. I enjoyed giving him my brutal opinions (but necessary as it needs to be said what others are only thinking) on X Factor and all things Christmas. This snapshot can also be seen on my 'Press' page on my website, where you will see the latest magazine clippings. So don't forget Guys and Gals, 'Can We Hope For Christmas' is on pre-order now and the official date for the release on iTunes, Amazon and Play.com is 25th November 2013. Bye for now!! :) Micci Lou xx Hello :)
Just preparing the website for something that i am bursting to tell you about! At the moment i am not at liberty to say as i know how this will be received by many if i did mention it now. Has that given it away? To people who know me they will just roll their eyes and know that this was inevitable as there is a 'something' that i absolutely love and turns me into a big kid, has this now given it away? I don't think it is a good idea to say anymore as i am too tempted to say :) All i can say is that i am very excited and a lot of people will not see this coming. Change of subject... Have you taken a peak at the new photos that are on my website? If you haven't seen them here is a link to my [Photos] on the SGC website. The colours for She's Got Claws are naturally greens and blues to represent the eyes of the cat (yes i know some cats have amber eyes but this isn't a favourite colour of mine) so when O-Ten approached me to do this shoot in red, well i was curious to see how they would turn out and how they would fit within the whole image of She's Got Claws. I personally think he has done a fantastic job, what do you think? If you are on [Facebook] then there is an album dedicated to O-Ten's photography of She's Got Claws, plus it will give you the opportunity to have a look at my [Facebook] page and to maybe ['Like'] it? :) The next Blog i write will reveal what i was trying not to talk about in the first paragraph of this blog lol! She's Got Claws' website is being updated this month with lots of new photos (including the ones just mentioned) and professional photos of Mau Studios. Keep also checking the [News] page for updates. If you have joined the [SGC mailing list] then you will receive a personal e-mail from me telling you all about what is happening for the rest of 2013 and this 'something' that i can't wait to tell you about ;) Ooh almost forgot .. have you had a chance to listen to 'Wreckage to the World' remix of Blind by Ziplodocus? It's on SGC's [Home] page. Shaun also played guitar on a few of the songs on SGC's album, hopefully one day soon he will do the same again. So thank you Shaun for a great remix. Bye for now! Micci Lou xx *All links are in square brackets within the Blog - [Facebook] Hello :) Just revamping my website and had to put this quote somewhere as i do not want it to be forgotten. I embedded it on my Home page as i was blown away by it. If you haven't had the chance to see this on the Home page, here is your chance to read it now. I hope it gives you the inspiration to keep going and believing that one day all your hard work will pay off. xx “Singers, Musicians, Dancers and Actors, are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime. Every day, they face the financial challenge of living a freelance lifestyle, the disrespect of people who think they should get real jobs, and their own fear that they'll never work again. Every day, they have to ignore the possibility that the vision they have dedicated their lives to is a pipe dream. With every note, they stretch themselves, emotionally and physically, risking criticism and judgment. With every passing year, many of them watch as the other people their age achieve the predictable milestones of normal life - the car, the family, the house, the nest egg. Why? Because Actors, Dancers, Musicians and Singers are willing to give their entire lives to a moment - to that melody, that lyric, that chord, or that interpretation that will stir the audience's soul. Actors, Dancers, Singers and Musicians are beings who have tasted life's nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another's heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, God, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes.” |
She's Got ClawsHi and welcome to the She's Got Claws' Blog. AuthorMicci - Songwriter & Producer for She's Got Claws "Gritty and engaging synth pop" -The Electricity Club
"A one woman electronic powerhouse" -Electronic Sound Magazine
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