Growing less and less poetic ...

but £175 to fix a windscreen wiper?!?!?

Come on? Give me a break.
It's Christmas.

Tonsillitis

I meant catch it without sticking your tongue down someone's throat, which I now realise, you cannot and I didn't have it.

END.

Today is or is not the ....

Finish that sentence ....


I had a fortune cookie last night and it said ... appropriately "You will be successful in your work", I'll take that any day over "Have a good meal and have a good day".

This morning I woke up realising first that I had an incredibly sore throat. Then instantly clicking on to a conversation I had last night with Webby about the tonsillitis he's suffering from.
I don't know if you can catch tonsillitis from someone who has it but if you can then I bet I've got it.
I have a cold too, a bad one so I'm drinking Lemsip Max Strength.
I just made copies of my documents to send off to my estate agent which will go out now.
I have to go to the bank.

Later.

DEATH

Just kidding, I'm not feeling that deep this morn...afternoon.

I only just realised how long it's been since I posted here and how much things have changed (1 month or so?).
I haven't seen 3/4 of the rest of my band in this time, I've done things that I won't do again, I've done things that I definitely will do again, I've been on a date, I've become my own business, I'm moving into premises mid December, I've played a few shows, I've snapped a few more guitar strings, I've bought a sampler, I've done jury service, I've learned about bankruptcy, I've began managing a second band, I've learned to hate the sound of my own voice saying "Hi, I'm the promoter".

There's other things too, things I'm not ready to think about yet.
I miss playing my own music right now.

I don't miss living in my car.

Goodbye Sheffield! Hello new life!

After Saturdays onslaught of the Carling Academy (with my new favourite type of Subway, The Subways) I played in Sheffield yesterday, at The Boardwalk.
Was my first time there and I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Century Kids for having me as their main support and thanks to all of the people that stood at the front and watched my set. It made the trip down more than worthwhile.

On my way to the venue I stopped by Yellow Arch Studios and had a vocal lesson with Ali Heath Cook.
It was the first vocal coaching session I've ever had and I think I really learned a lot, at least now I have a better idea of how to practice and warm up/down. I even learned my range, which I'm going to continue to push to expand.

All in all, an amazing weekend.
Thanks to Si for making the trip with me.


I'm planning to start tracking new acoustic demos today or tomorrow.
If you want to watch check out stickam.com/jacksummer
I'm probably going to do the whole thing live on webcam.

Myspace.com/JackSummer

These days are not grey, but blue.. with clouds.

I used to associate myself with GREY. Not because I felt I was boring, infact I find the colour grey to be something else completely. Now I see a blue sky clear ahead, there's still grey clouds in the distance but when wont there be?
As I have come to realise, "Baby likes a blue sky", and of course, I don't mind if it's going to rain on me sometimes.

There's a lot of things that I learned a long time ago, things that I believed I was putting into practice ... or practicing what I was preaching, but maybe I wasn't. Things I don't need to run away from. Everything can now be, more or less, peachy.

There are a LOT of new songs that I'm getting ready to record. I understood today what each album I've done in the past has represented. They've literally been the soundtrack to the years of my life.
If you've in any way been a part of the last year of my life then there's something in this next record solely about and for you.

The third album is sometimes the best...

Rash decisions are not WISE

There's been a lot of upheaval in my life and in the lives of those around me recently. This week infact there's been a huge upheaval in my own city. I still haven't figured out where this all leads me in the grand scheme of things.
Something that this upheaval has brought to my mind is the use of my own name.

Almost everyone in my life knows me as Jack Summer, and that's something that now unsettles me.

I've come to the decision that I no longer wish to link my life to my music.
I feel that there will be a time when I don't want to play the music that Jack Summer is all about, but I'm sure I'll still want to be involved in the creation of music. If your music is your own name then you can't separate from that. What happens if I want to split up? For instance.

Maybe I'll resolve this issue in my mind, Maybe I'll reinvent myself, Maybe I'll cease to exist.

What is new?

Well the last couple of days I've been recording the Champagne Charlies, 3 tracks that are sounding great.
We'll be recording the rest of the guitars and maybe the vocals on Monday and you guys will get to hear them soon enough.
I'm enjoying the production side of this job a lot as well as working with a group of really funny guys.

This is my first Friday night off in a long time, I just wrote another new song and I'm going to play with the keyboards again now and see if I can come up with another totally useless tune that no one will ever hear :]

My business is still going really well (HeartRock Music for those of you that don't know) and other than all of this work I'm planning to get the band back into rehearsals to work on a new live set for some of the upcoming shows that I'm booked for.

We'll just see how everything goes.

I'd give it back, but it's more than I have.

Looking back on my last post -

I WAS RIGHT!

All is grand, well pretty much.

I wrote a new song today, well, completed a song that i've been working on for a while.
I'm thinking about recording maybe next month. I have a lot on so it's just finding time to work everything through.

Other than this I'm anticipating the start of the new football season, little pleasures.

The luck of Jack

I'm going on holiday in a couple of hours. A good thing too because I really need to chill after this last month.
I honestly have the worst luck in the world. Honestly.

That's okay though, the broken back window of my car can be fixed when I get back. My ears will work again when I get back and I won't have to listen to this constant white noise much longer. I'll find myself much less stressed out by the extra work I've put on myself to get my business off the ground. I'll get to work on new recordings that will push me further than I was ever meant to go.

So it's cool. Don't worry about it, I'm not worried.

Well maybe a little.

Food poisoning man !!

I spent two hours waiting to be seen in the shittest NHS hospital in Britain last night & today I feel even worse, more calm but worse.
I hadn't been sick since my bout of illness last Easter when I was found to have Gilbert's syndrome flaring up so I guess I was due a bit of ill health.

I'm anxious to work on some new recordings because the songs I'm coming out with are the best. I'm still not fully prepared to take them to studio though. I have a lot of different ideas I want to work with and I've got to get my head around that.

I'm getting bad reviews for songs that I didn't want reviewed at the moment. Apparently I rely on session musicians on my recordings because I'm not good enough to do it myself. Shame people are so small minded to consider that maybe I do - do it all myself. I've found that working with a label is just as much a curse as it is a blessing, I'm ready to go it alone again.

Nothing like bad press to lift the spirits.

I've changed a lot - again.

Fuck it, more soon. Again.

On Tour: Norwich

We're at a sleazy internet cafe in Norwich now.
That's about it.

Bright Future In Sales

MY SECOND ALBUM "THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR" IS NOW UP FOR PRESALE

and if you live in Newcastle you can get it at my album launch tomorrow night. It's £5 plus £1 worldwide shipping.
I only heard the finished product last night and I'm super pleased with it. I hope you will be too.

Take a chance and support independent music?

C'mon

We're getting older, son

First off I'd like to say that it's not my birthday, but this is something that's just come into my mind and I'd like to share.

It's understood that very young people (I'm talking between say ... ages 4-18) get excited about the occasion that marks their birthdays, with good reason.
It's also understood that the general population above this age bracket get to feeling quite saddened by the fact that another year has gone past that they'll never see again. I guess they have good reason too - because no one wants to feel like they're getting closer to death?

It seems to be the truly intelligent human that can live in a middle ground of quiet acceptance and simple joy. My theory on the matter (now that I think of it) is that if you live right, know that you arent't wasting time, know that you've actually done something worth doing this year - and I mean really worth doing, then you can look forward to the next year of your life and wonder misty eyed what the year ahead holds for you. My "belief" is that there'll be a moment as I pass through these years where I can finally accept that I will die, and live out the rest of my life in the best way of all - without the fear of regret.

The hardest way to make an easy living

Everyone's always looking to get a contract, forget that!


I was really looking forward to seeing The Streets this Monday but the need to make a living has prevailed and I'm stuck with more important things to do.
To make up for it James and myself are planning a pilgrimage to Edinburgh to see Tom Waits in July.

Thursday coming I'll be playing @ 13th Note in Glasgow (hopefully with my band in tow) so let me know if you're from the area and can make it.

Team Sheet

I sit here with the tracklisting for my second album "The Major and the Minor".
Narrowed down to 10 simple songs from a possible 18. How would I feel if I didn't make the team? I doubt there's an easy way to let the others down and let them know that yes, they'd come a long way but they didn't quite make the final cut. We're sorry, better luck next time. I can say however that they each hold a special place in my heart and that though they may be gone they are most certainly not forgotten.

The game that I'm fielding this team for isn't a cup-final, nor is it a 1st place decider, nor for that matter is it a relegation battle. In my eyes the team that these songs play for are simply looking for a playoff place, a chance to be a part of something greater.

More often than not, it's down to the decisions that the manager makes that pushes the team as far as it can go, and like any good team It's bigger than it's individual players.

Scouting for cash

I'm here rooting around trying to find things that I can sell rather than thinking of the usual crazy schemes to make money.

Today I figure having less is having more.

Hit the ground running ...

I learned a lot about myself in the last twenty-four hours.
I learned that I'm here for the long haul, and I'm not about to go running away now.
I'm here to stay, and with more motivation than ever.

So then, when you know that - and you can say it to the world:

What more is there to say?

Back for a day

I got back home late last night and I'll be leaving again tomorrow morning for the Scotland dates.
So far, tour has been amazing. I love being out there and meeting so many new people.
As always I have plenty more stories to tell (but I'll save those for a later date).

I'm really worn down, it's not easy eating right on tour and I think it's catching up with me.
Thanks so much to everyone that's given me somewhere to sleep or food/hot food while I've been away.
It really helps me to remember that there are a lot of good people out there.

The "Tonight Becomes Today" video should be around pretty soon. Keep an eye on my myspace page and it'll be there.
The next single that comes out with the album will be a song called "I loved life, I lost". I dunno, maybe the title will change for the single but that's what I'm calling it as an album track. The day I got home from tour I'll be leaving again to go down south where that track is going to be remixed at a better studio. Something I'm quite looking forward to 'cause I haven't had a chance to do that in the past. The day after that we're shooting the video for it in Hastings. I love that place.

On with Scotland, if you're in either Paisley, Glasgow or Edinburgh this weekend then it would be great to see you at a show.
Hitz radio are coming along to Glasgow through the day to do a video interview and acoustic session so that should be fun.

Laterz

x

Touring

I'm packing to go away on tour for another three weeks.
I don't feel excited or anything. I can't remember how I'm supposed to feel or how I felt the first time I went away like this.

I'm playing the Mixtape for Mellisa gig in Sunderland tonight then I'm in Nottingham tomorrow. I just snapped a string on my guitar while getting ready and I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get a spare in time for the gig tonight with it being bank holiday but it's cool.

Everything's cool, I think.

The closest of calls

The entire last year of my life flashed before my eyes.
I'm still finding it hard to take it what's gone down in the last six hours, but I'll try my best to put this into words.

It was a complete fluke accident and I can't even blame myself (really).
Those of you that are familiar with who I am and what I do will probably know that I do all of my own recordings and that I've been recording my second album since the beginning of November. I do my recordings on my Apple Powerbook which is cool because I can take it with me wherever I need to be. Well tonight my laptop had the mishap of being involved in a run in with a glass of coca-cola (like I said - it was a fluke accident and could not have been forseen). It went dead instantly along with the complete masters of my new album and everything else I've recorded in the past year.
Spending hours trying our best to come up with a solution made me question everything I've ever believed in and ask myself some pretty big questions which I guess I can share:

1: What did I do to have this happen?
2: Am I going to be able to get the last year of my life back?
3: If not, how long will it take me to do this again?
4: DO I REALLY WANT TO DO THIS AGAIN? Or AM I GOING TO?
5. Where do I go from here?


The answer to question four was no. Something that I've been stuck with all night.
It was the first time in my life that I've actually felt like I needed to justify doing what I do.
I knew that I certainly wasn't going to record this album again. If I did still do an album it would be something new and completely different, but even then, I don't feel like I have it in me right now to write a new album.
So I went back to where I was a year ago. Do I leave and go traveling? Maybe, I do.


Several hours and two car journeys later. The laptop is internally dry and we've narrowly managed to salvage the masters of my album onto an external HD. I have more on my mind now that I've gone through this tonight.

Where should I be? And how much faith do I actually have in what I'm doing?

All I can say right now is that I believe that time will tell.
What else can it do?


This aside I'm looking forward to going out on tour next week. Maybe I'll find some truth's there.

A conscious decision

It has come to my attention of late, how much I currently use of the world's resources and how little I actually give back.
With the time I'll be spending touring this year (polluting the air in our Fiat Punto) I've made a conscious decision to go vegetarian, for at least the time's that I'm on tour and from now until I do go on tour. I'm going to start slow and give myself time to adjust (it is a big step for me!).
There are a lot of other things I'm planning on changing in my routines but I'll leave that for another day.

So if you see me eating something that isn't vegetarian, feel free to ask me why?
Or kick me.

Jack

06:50 & Plans

Yesterday was pure class.

I agreed to help out at our local YMCA building supervising a group of about twenty - 8-11 year old kids smashing hell out of a bunch of drums and guitars. I don't remember the last thing I did that felt that rewarding. Enthusiasm is something that should never be taken for granted.
Every one of those kids had something to bring to that group and they all knew it. It was no place for shyness, and I'm proud to have been a part of that.


I have lots of plans at the moment, hopefully most of them will come in to fruition.
I'm going to make this a pretty exciting time to be alive.

Music Video Shoot

It looks like a damn "Top of the Pops" show.
But it was actually pretty fun to do.


It's for the single I Have out on March 25th. There should be more and more footage from it going up soon.
The finished video should take a good few weeks, but I reckon it'll be worth it.