tag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:/blogs/club-notices?p=11Club Notices2023-06-09T12:20:02+01:00Brave New Broken Hearts Clubfalsetag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/72237322023-06-09T12:20:02+01:002023-11-27T17:03:08+00:00Now For Something Entirely Different...<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Best Laid Plans…</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Best Laid Plans is a collection of six songs I have been sitting on for a while. It is well documented, on the website and in one or two interviews that I’ve done, that the origins of Brave New Broken Hearts Club is found in two significant personal heartbreaks. The second of these was the cessation of the charity I had set up and run for nearly 6 years. I had poured my whole self into it, invested it with every bit of life-force I had. The end of it left me burned out, depressed and utterly bewildered.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">The despondency I was to fall into perhaps would not have been so deep had I just been dealing with that blow, as historically I’ve been very resilient but I had started the charity straight off the back of a painful breakup of a 10 year relationship; a ten year relationship that I had also poured all my life-force into. That had also left me exhausted and broken (although I was unaware at the time of just how much). The two blows, probably neither quite enough to take me out on their own, combined together in an axeman’s stroke that took away my last remaining bit of timber - I was felled. This was late Autumn 2019 - as the Americans would have - ‘the fall’!</p><p style="text-align:justify;">By the end of 2019 I was beginning to get anxious, I was under pressure to ‘sort my life out’ - I had been sustaining myself - as I had optimistically waited for one of my many funding applications for the charity to come good - on credit and that left me financially in bad shape. I needed to work out what I was going to do. I found myself with no plan B; I had hoped and expected that the charity would be my thing for the rest of my working life, it had at the time, felt like the culmination of all the jobs I’d done up until that point; all the skills I had learned and the life experience I had accrued. It was not to be. So I was left adrift with no energy, no desire, very little real life-force left in me. Then…</p><p style="text-align:justify;">Well, we all know what happened at the beginning of 2020. The pandemic and lockdown came along; and <i>as</i> unlikely as it happening at all - were the ramifications it brought for me in my depressed state. With lockdown, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders, as it dawned on me that I couldn’t ‘sort my life out’ - no one could! The whole world came into my ‘lane’ it seemed. For someone who didn’t have very much energy to do anything, go anywhere, or see anyone - at the time ‘Stay at home’ was like a prescription from ‘on high’ specifically designed for my wellbeing (in more ways than they meant it to be). The relief I felt was tangible and I fully gave myself over to rest, recovery and restoration.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">As well as spending many hours sitting staring out the window reflecting and journalling I entered into the longest most consistent spell of what you might call ‘flow’ I had ever experienced. Whilst I was coming out of a dark place these songs and the process of making them were a joy to me - in a time of confusion and struggle they helped me explore my thoughts and feelings and feel my way to the start of a narrow path out of the shadow I was under. The process certainly - if not entirely on its own - had a hand in saving me.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">I have to add, that this was not in a vacuum. Due to the lack of income during that final year of running the charity I had fallen well behind on my rent. I am still grateful to this day to my mate/housemate/landlord for the generosity and graciousness with which he dealt with me. As it turned out the perfect solution had presented itself for me to pay off my debt. Before I had started the charity I had been a painter and decorator for many years (one of the myriad of jobs I’ve done to make ends meet over the years) in fact I had decorated the flat I now lived in ten years before, when my mate first bought it! So it was time for me to do it again to cover the rent arrears. I finished decorating and putting new floors in in the first week of lockdown - this is pertinent only because the time decorating had given me hours and hours to listen to audiobooks and podcasts, speakers and teachers. I had picked things to listen to pertinent to my struggle, and to my quest to make sense of the place I found myself as I tried to come to terms with it and to find my way though it.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">All this proved to be a rich source of lyrical inspiration: everything I had been listening to (Brené Brown and Richard Rohr’s work in particular and especially all their Jungian references) along with my own reflections, percolated and fermented in my mind: the nature of disappointment, of expectations and how they set you up for that disappointment; certainty (the absurdity of it); failure, loss, heartbreak and the mysteries that these things can combine to illuminate.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">All this to say that, this collection of songs hold the discoveries I made, the revelations that pain, loss and disappointment in particular, had for me. They reflect the journey I went on … from a place of desolation, rage, bewilderment, resentment, hopelessness - first to a place of curiosity, then to acceptance and peace and then courage and renewed hope…</p><p style="text-align:justify;">This process not only gave me these six songs, for which I am enormously grateful, it brought me towards restoration and it also gave me the name Brave New Broken Hearts Club and is the reason I wrote this:</p><p style="text-align:justify;">‘If you’re being creative, conjuring something, where before, there was nothing; if you’re out in the world trying stuff - ideas, relationships, love... in other words... being <i>Brave</i>…. then you're going to get your <i>Heart Broken.</i> </p><p style="text-align:justify;"> If, when disappointment bites because it hasn't panned out the way you hoped, you don’t stay down but you get up and try again... each time your heartbreak will be <i>New</i>. We salute you, you Brave New Broken Hearts .. welcome to the <i>Club</i>.’</p><p style="text-align:justify;">As you probably know I had already recorded what ended up being my debut album in 2019, at the time with no intention or thought to ‘release it’ - Brave New Broken Hearts Club didn’t exist as such! So having done the solo acoustic thing with that, when I determined to write and record these songs I thought that I’d like to write and record songs as if I was in a band! So I approached it with a completely different mindset - and with very specific inspirations in mind. Growing up I listened to Ska music (Ska and reggae were the predominant sounds coming from the open windows of Stoke Newington where we lived). I also loved The Police and the second hand influences of their music… so I consciously went with this kind of sonic palette, rhythm and feel… I mean… it’s a ‘lite’ version, but the influences are there across the six songs!</p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Second Half of life</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">This song is inspired by a concept of Carl Jung’s expounded by Richard Rohr in his book Falling Upwards. The chorus is inspired by Carl Jung’s words:</p><p style="text-align:justify;">‘We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the programme of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be little at evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.’</p><p style="text-align:justify;">In Falling Upwards - Richard Rohr also references Homer’s Odyssey extensively so that wove its way into the lyric too by way of lines such as, ‘<i>Stumbling through my odyssey, I’m wounded in the fight</i>’ and ‘<i>The road home is calling me, I leave myself behind</i>’</p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Love Remains</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">This came out or my own reflections on the nature of love and suffering. The greatest argument, surely, against a divine benevolent power/intelligence/being is the presence of pain and suffering. How, if divine love exists, could such things be ‘allowed’? Love and suffering, in this context are often set up as being paradoxical… binary opposites… the argument seems to assume that pain and suffering is not only contrary to love but also that the greatness of it, knocks out, defeats, <i>destroys</i>, love. How can love stand in the face of suffering? My reflections took me to wondering on how love and suffering could coexist (a central Buddhist philosophy I have since learned). As with all these concepts I can only say ‘I don’t know’… but for my part I have come to think of ‘Love’, divine Love, as not only capable of standing up, existing, in the face of immeasurable suffering, but actually so much greater than the suffering as to actually <i>contain</i> it… not paradoxical, not binary opposites at all but rather somehow mysteriously and inextricably linked: ‘<i>When all is dark… Still Love remains</i>’.</p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Love Like Love Is Meant To Be</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">This started with the title, which I thought sounded clever. Of course I have no idea what love is ‘meant to be’… but all these songs are more concerned with the questions than the answers…</p><p style="text-align:justify;">‘<i>I have often wondered if love’s not about monogamy</i>’ was kind of the starting point for this song… it is actually something I have wondered about a lot.. isn’t love so much more? Our society's obsession is with only one kind of love - romantic love, and the idolisation of it, and the damaging and misleading deluded representation of even <i>that</i> kind of love seems to obscure any other potentially greater perspective. What if by only focusing on, and being obsessed with a entirely ‘false’ and imaginary version of love - I am denying myself an understanding of something infinitely richer and more rewarding, something that could serve the world so much much better … an understanding of ‘Love Like Love Is Meant To be’?</p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Expectations</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">I have struggled to deal with disappointment all my life… it has knocked my props away time and time again… in big and small ways. This song is inspired by the realisation that it has been my unbridled and naive optimism and my expectations that have set me up for these falls. I am naturally hopeful, naturally inclined towards optimism, but I have been working my way to becoming more realistic, and managing expectations or actually, better said, learning how to not have any at all. At the same time though, I don’t want to be without ‘hope’; which lead me to the question, ‘<i>Can there be hope without expectations?</i>’ my best effort at defining what that would look like is in the next line: ‘<i>simple at excitement, at what could be</i>’. At the very least I would very much like to be able to ‘<i>make plans without the implications of all the ways I think things should be</i>’ because if the world has taught me anything, it is that that way, often as not… lies disappointment!</p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Many Ways Of Knowing</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The title is simply a line that leapt out at me as I listened to The Power Of Vulnerability a collection of teachings by Brené Brown. The teachings are not <i>especially</i> about this idea, it was a slightly incidental comment, but there’s a <i>lot </i>of this kind of idea that is inherent in what Brené talks about regarding curiosity, and the power of paradoxes and the ways of knowing - ourselves, others and the world. This lyric also contains references to a couple of notable quotes, ‘<i>Uncertainty is an uncomfortable place to be, but certainty is an absurd one</i>’ by Voltaire and also a paraphrasing of a quote I have seen attributed to different sources over time but most commonly Mark Twain ‘<i>It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so’</i></p><p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Facedown</strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">This song is a song of defiance … the last of the songs I wrote in this prolific spell as I was coming back to myself and determining not to stay down on the canvas after what I’d been through.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">In the chorus I sing ‘In the arena till the end’; specifically this line and I guess the larger concept of the song was Inspired by another, very famous quote… The Man In The Arena by Theodore Roosevelt. (Brené Brown references this a lot, especially in her work Daring Greatly, but I have been aware of it for many years before reading that and used to carry it around with me as an encouragement in my creative journey - which has often in my life been met with scepticism, and barely hidden incredulity, dismissiveness or at the very least disinterest.) It is a suitable last single of the summer as it kind of sums up Brave New Broken Hearts Club, which came out of me being facedown and daring to pick myself up and ‘go again’ it would have been safer just to go quietly after the charity stopped, but I chose to pick myself up and recover by putting my creative efforts out into the world!</p><p style="text-align:justify;">Inherent in this song is the idea that anything worth doing is risky, that if you live only to not get hurt, to never fail, to never lose, you will never really live. It speaks to the very idea that to be vulnerable is to be courageous, to live wholeheartedly despite the sure fact that you will get your hurt is to truly live . There is a fabulous quote by C.S Lewis that inspired the middle eight lyric :’<i>To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable</i>.’ I was simply applying it to all things - correlating love with all things - to try anything, to be creative, to be ambitious, to be kind - to try anything ‘life-giving’ or valuable to the world is to make yourself vulnerable - but to not be, has an even worse fate!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/72118072023-05-19T08:49:15+01:002023-05-19T08:52:48+01:00Third Spring Single Announced<p>The news is … The third song in my little ‘spring trilogy’ of singles has been announced!</p><p>The Limitation Of Words will be released for your listening pleasure on 26/05/23!</p><p>I am sorry that I can only deliver music digitally at the moment, budget does not allow for physical formats. Don't worry though if you are not a subscriber to any of the digital streaming services, the songs are all available on my <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.youtube.com/@bravenewbhc" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">YouTube</a> channel; I recommend however listening on <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bravenewbrokenheartsclub.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">Bandcamp</a>, as that's where you can hear the highest audio quality versions of my music!</p><p>There is so much more to come this year… a very interesting project to follow throughout the summer… look out for it! (You can hear all my news first by subscribing to the email updates at the top of the home page)</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/72060862023-05-10T08:37:39+01:002023-05-10T08:37:39+01:00New Music<p>I haven't been doing a very good job keeping these notices up to date really… it is a little overwhelming trying to stay across everything!</p><p>Hopefully, you have heard the two latest songs that have come out in the last 4 weeks or so! They're available everywhere (inc YouTube for those who do not use streaming services)</p><p>They're part of a ‘trilogy’ of new songs that made their live debut at the end of last year/beginning of this - So part three is yet to come! Keep your eyes peeled for announcements! Alternatively, if you want to stay in the know, sign up to the <a class="no-pjax" href="https://bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">mailing list</a> on the home page - Subscribers already know the full s.p!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/70363852022-08-12T13:58:51+01:002022-08-12T13:58:51+01:00Roadie Music Interview Transcript.<p>Thanks to <a contents="Roadie Music blog" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://roadie-music.com/entrevista-neil-phillimore-lanca-higher-e-conta-sobre-sua-jornada-de-vida-ate-o-brave-new-broken-hearts-club/" target="_blank">Roadie Music blog</a> in Brazil for this opportunity to chat, especially to Priscilla for the fabulous questions!</p>
<p><strong>During 6 years, you managed an institution that provided songwriting and recording sessions for young adults. How did the idea for the institution come about? Do you think about taking it up in the future in another way? </strong></p>
<p>Ah! This is a tricky subject for me because there’s a lot of emotions all mixed up in it. I originally had the idea for someone else who was interested in working with young offenders on probation. But it didn’t click with him… about a year later I realised it was my project to do, but I didn’t only want to work with young offenders (although we did work with them), I wanted it to be available to all young adults (16-25)! Growing up I was fortunate enough to have many trusted adults show an interest in me and I know the power that it has, and wanted to pay that forward really. My skill set is songwriting and recording and the nature of that creative process and working collaboratively in it provided the perfect environment for trust and understanding to grow. Funnily enough nearly all the artist I was working with when we stopped the session are still in touch with me. Those relationships are real; and they are a genuine joy to me and a inspiration actually. </p>
<p>No I don’t think I could try again… it has taken three hard years working through the disappointment and bewilderment, in order to to let it go!! It’s funny in hindsight though, whilst I was mentoring the young people I was inadvertently mentoring a young part of myself which has enabled me to really approach Brave New Broken Hearts Club with freedom. </p>
<p><strong>Brave New Broken Hearts Club was a project that emerged during a depressive and burnout period in your life, right? When you started it, did you have the idea of creating an entire album or did the songs just come along? </strong></p>
<p>Yes that’s right - it was off the back of having to stop the Charity due to lack of funding. The Charity I ran was to to do with building 1 to 1 mentoring relationship but also the inherent value of creativity for wellbeing. So when I was struggling to come to terms with the disappointment and loss of the thing I had poured my heart and soul into; the thing that felt like the culmination of everything in my life up to that point I turned to my creativity to make me feel better! So I didn’t really record that first album with release in mind - I simply made it to make myself feel better. It wasn’t until a few months later at the start of 2020 Covid came along and lockdown, and I just couldn’t stop writing - and the songs I wrote then - that are yet to be released actually - were me working through that journey of the loss and disappointment and my depression and exhaustion. The debut album was simply all the songs I had written over the previous years that I collated just to record as a way of feeling better! It had the desired effect; making it was great and a real medicine to me - especially as I made it with my friend Pearl who was an alumni of the charity and someone I really love and is full of life. </p>
<p><strong>Your work is very careful in relation to writing and poetics. Tell us about the creation of the name “Brave New Broken Hearts Club”. </strong></p>
<p>Thanks! I appreciate that observation! I am careful in that way yes. Well, reflecting during my depression lead me to understand that there was a path that I was on and where it was leading there would be something profound for me to learn but I could only get to that learning by going along this hard, dark path. So I guess the ‘brave’ part comes from perusing that path, which actually whilst a ‘downward’ path was the path of recovery - acceptance, letting go, unlearning, self-discovery. I guess at the heart of it really is the idea that life will always be full of heartbreak, loss, disappointment struggle but we can be brave enough to still seek life in all its fullness despite the inevitable pain. It is through the struggle that we are strengthened, made humble, and grow. I was aiming at something like that!? </p>
<p><strong>You consider “Higher” one of your best compositions and it is about “getting closer to ourselves”. How did you feel when you wrote it and right now after some time has passed? Are the feelings different? </strong></p>
<p>These are great questionsl! Well I guess the song is about the daily journey, at least my daily Journey; which I want to be all about growth, change, discovery, curiosity - about, sort of ‘losing oneself to find oneself’ and I guess it will always be my daily journey! Ha! I feel less lost now, but no more certain about anything; Just much more at home in the uncertainty! That’s the beauty of where I find myself at the moment that is probably different, I’ve become much more at home living in uncertainty… I’d almost go so far as to say I welcome it now! </p>
<p><strong>How do people receive your compositions? Is there a feeling of exchanging experiences with the public regarding the topics you deal with? </strong></p>
<p>I have had some fabulous responses from music blogs and reviewers. It’s been lovely to feel as if someone has really listened and noticed - like you did when you said I was ‘careful’ with my words … it’s really encouraging. It is very difficult to get much response generally though … I’m still trying to build an audience and it is currently very small! Getting people to listen at all is hard enough! Most of the exchanges and conversations around any shared experience has come from the live shows I’ve done. I’ve been playing house-gigs which are really intimate shows in peoples homes to 10-25 people. That format really suits the songs’ honesty and vulnerability. There have been some really beautiful connecting evenings through those shows more than from the recordings. That said I’ve had some amazing interaction around the song Emma, I reconnected with her family after many years, and had some lovely contact with one of her other best mates at school, as we remembered her together. </p>
<p><strong>Your sound is raw, honest and quite acoustic. Tell us about your songwriting process? Do the melodies come before the lyrics or the other way around? </strong></p>
<p>Eight times out of ten I’ll be playing around on the guitar and I’ll come up with some chords then I’ll experiment with melody until </p>
<p>something memorable sticks. Then I’ll write the lyrics - which I find the hardest part by far! The beauty of this process is restriction! I think restriction is really important to creativity. By coming up with a melody first I restrict myself to what words I can use because from the melody I know how many syllables I have to play with in each line. If you can use any and all words, where do you start!? But if you know you have only 6 or 8 syllables to communicate the meaning you want that line to convey, then you have something to work with! </p>
<p>The most important thing for me is to have a concept, the idea of what the song will be about, if I haven’t got that I can’t write. Which is why I am always looking and listening out for those concepts - maybe a line or a ‘turn of phrase’ in something I read or hear will suggest a song title which I can build a concept around or I am looking out for a general idea or philosophical concept I want to explore. </p>
<p><strong>Your musical work is the result of a delicate moment in your life. What lessons did you learn during the writing period that you would like people to pay more attention to? </strong></p>
<p>I guess for starters the importance and power of creativity generally in our lives! Too many people write creativity out of their lives because the think they’re not creative. Everyone has creativity in them! Choosing what to wear every day is creative; telling your stories in the pub; conversation itself is creative - nurturing it and finding a further, more intentional expression of it only enriches life and it can be hugely beneficial, even healing, whereas repressing and denying it diminishes us and can even be harmful to us I believe. </p>
<p>On a more philosophical level - we are in control of nothing, accept it, prepare your heart for loss and heartbreak as much as it is possible, at least so as you are not ambushed or surprised by it! Then Lean into mystery, humble yourself, embrace uncertainty be curious and remember the ‘greatest block to truth is the assumption we already have it.’ </p>
<p>On social networks like Instagram, you share a lot of reflective texts and use mosaic posts. Do you also take care of the aesthetic part of your work? Is this also a part of your expression as an artist? </p>
<p>Yes it is! Again thanks so much for noticing! I genuinely believe there is no other Instagram account like mine anywhere! It has both a large composite picture that you can see on the grid whilst at the same time having unique compelling content for each individual Post! It was/is a lot of work and It’s a great joy to me! It has failed miserably up to now to ‘play’ the algorithm to increase my followers but I don’t really care! I have been approaching it just like another art project! It was a great help to me when here in the UK we had our second lockdown - I had been writing and recording solidly 2020 then and I was spent ! It was then I decide to release the album i’d recorded earlier in 2019 and threw myself into preparing the social Media (Instagram Mainly) to launch and promote it! It kept me creative and was fun working on a visual medium being a different expression of my creativity and one where I had to learn a lot, to achieve what I wanted to achieve. The grid collage </p>
<p>Image is made up of lots of photos and items which all have a relevance to my life, so for a while, every 9 squares I would do a post #smallthingsbigpicture that was an animation of the bigger collage and tell the stories of the pictures in it. It was a way of telling my story and of allowing people to get to know me and to hopefully connect on a personal level! </p>
<p><strong>Please, tell us a little about your creative universe. Artists and topics that inspire you. </strong></p>
<p>I guess my answers to your previous questions would give an insight as to how I am wired and what interest me… people do! The human condition - the existential journey, my own journey, the inner work - ‘shadow work’ as Jung would call it. Also Love; divine love? Supernatural Love? Metaphysical Love? Whatever it is really! I can’t help think that I t is so much more than what we call it; so much more interesting and world changing than Romantic Love which is where we seem so often to stop in our consideration of it, especially where songwriting is concerned. </p>
<p>So many diverse artists inspire me - but I am utterly in love with the 3minute pop Song format! I grew up listening to the great British ‘Singles-bands’, like Madness, The Jam, The Police, Queen, Elvis Costello, The Beatles … when pop music was a bit more band orientated, they’re all genius purveyors of the 3 minute pop song! I do love loads of bands that do a more cinematic, atmospheric, linear type of thing but I can’t do it, I need the format of the ‘song’ to get my thoughts in order and to capture my creativity otherwise it becomes unwieldy and I can’t pin it down - ah, That’s another example of how restriction helps me create I guess! </p>
<p><strong>Tell us what's coming next. Upcoming releases, concerts etc </strong></p>
<p>I’m not entirely sure of the order or timing of releasing stuff but I have a couple more songs to release this year more or less in keeping with the style and mood I have been doing so far … but I have a number of songs that I wrote during lockdown that are quite different stylistically and recorded and produced more as if I was in a band… and I am not sure when to release them as I am only just getting started really in terms of building an audience I don’t want to pivot too soon and lose people! But potentially I have 3 Eps worth written… but maybe I release them gradually a track at a time … I am not sure. </p>
<p>Live I will definitely be doing more house-gigs (which I alway support with video diaries on instagram - the previous ones are all in the highlights @bravenewbhc) I need to find other ways of playing to more audiences too. I applied to loads of festivals this year and to Sofar Sounds (the secret gig people) but so far no joy! So I just need to find a way to play to as many people as possible for the rest of this year! That’s where I find I’m really connecting with people who are really engaging with what I’m up to!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/70116052022-07-10T13:49:56+01:002022-08-12T10:47:09+01:00Aiming Higher… <p>You may have seen my attempts to ‘announce’ the release of the new single on social media … Heh! Yes the next Brave New Broken Hearts Club release is indeed Higher, a song I have been playing as part of the acoustic set that you may have heard at a house-gig or either of the nights Live At The Hemmy. </p>
<p>It’s not a departure by any means; if you enjoyed All I Have Is Now then you’ll enjoy this one but as for the ‘craft’ of songwriting I think it’s one of my best. If you follow me on Instagram there’ll be little edited snippets accompanying posts as we build up to release day; I’ve isolated different parts of the song, to give you a feel without giving away the song itself. Hopefully that whets your appetite and encourages you to pre-save it on Spotify! </p>
<p>There is always the accompanying call on socials to ‘pre-save’ and really and truly... there is no benefit to you to do so! <em><strong>There is to me though</strong></em>! The more people that pre-save it the more likelihood there is that the evil Spotify algorithm will notice the activity on release day as the song is immediately saved to your Spotify account on release day. This ’activity’ increases the chance of me gaining a place on one of Spotify’s editorial playlists, which in turn helps me get very valuable exposure and traction for the song! It’s very dry and tedious to keep asking you to do it I know… but there is a purpose! I’m not sure why people visit the link and don’t actually pre-save it - if you come across anything that makes you reticent I’d genuinely like to know what it is.. as it might be something I can alter! </p>
<p>In the immortal words of Julia Roberts (sort of) I’m just ‘an artist standing in front of his audience asking them to love him…’ ha! or something like that anyway! As a independent artist with no budget I need all the support I can get to rise to the surface of the oceans and oceans of music out there so if you can spare me 30 seconds… a pre-save could go a long way! </p>
<p>Asides from listening to the music, other easy and free ways to support Brave New Broken Hearts Club are: </p>
<ul> <li>Share the music on your socials </li> <li>Add songs to playlists at home and at your work place. </li> <li>Subscribe to the email-list (and read the emails) (my last one had 95% read rate! Thanks everyone!!) </li> <li>Follow on Spotify and Bandcamp. </li> <li>Host a house-gig </li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks so much!!</p>
<p><strong>Higher will be out on 29/07/22 - you can <a contents="Pre-save here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://show.co/WvA8HR3" target="_blank">Pre-save here</a>!</strong> I look forward to sharing it with you!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/69695962022-05-12T18:27:59+01:002022-05-13T07:49:04+01:00It’s The End of The Tour (as we know it)<p>I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to make this brief - so maybe save it for when you’ve got a comfy seat and a cuppa!</p>
<p> The last four gigs of the tour were a resounding success albeit the last one with a few caveats! </p>
<p>I’m including the two Live At The Hemmy nights in the house-gig tour despite not being in a house! The room is so lovely and intimate it’s not dissimilar to someone’s front room and they were designed as the climax of the tour! </p>
<p>If you’ve been following my video diaries you’ll know that the most common words I’ve used are ‘lovely’, ‘fabulous’ and ‘intimate’ and the final two (legitimate) house-gigs (Islington & Oxford) were no different! Once again I met lots of lovely new people and had a wonderful time (and managed to encourage a few more to sign up to the mailing list! Please do it - there are increasing incentives!). </p>
<p>Saturday and Sunday took me to the Hemmy… my local, with a beautiful ‘boho’ chic upstairs room where I was joined by 30 others each night - which, if I am honest, I am well-relieved at - I really didn’t want to play to a half empty room. </p>
<p>Saturday was the stand out night… I don’t think it could’ve gone any better! For the first time on the tour I played the hour straight through - which gave me a new opportunity to build the atmosphere to an even greater degree. It was hot and sweaty but still the focus was total and by the end of the hour the connection in the room was really palpable. It was all finished off by an impromptu encore; I don’t plan for one so I repeated what was requested - Let Me Love You- or more commonly and affectionately known as ‘That Camel Song’! To which (you may have seen on socials) everyone promptly sang along… they even nearly all managed to do it sincerely (ha ha!) but there was much amusement and it ended the evening on a fabulous high! I never expected a spontaneous sing along at my first ticketed gig - lovely! </p>
<p>However, for what was ostensibly an exact replica gig, Sunday could not have been much more different! Aside from being another lovely evening, featuring the same ‘Phoenix Nights’ light show, it bore no resemblance to the first at all.It was lovely but I had to work for it!! </p>
<p>For starters I had a minor technical fault with my guitar cutting out in the first song - which precipitated me having to stop and change the cable… no biggy - a little bit of banter and a reminder of where I was in the song from my compadre in the audience to much amusement and on we went. Then gradually from downstairs came the loud low notes of… another live performance! A slight muddle with the diary meant the usual covers duo were in! I pressed on for a couple songs after having a chat with the audience about it; but it wasn’t gonna work… so we took a short unexpected break while I went and had a little chat downstairs. So the set came in two halves which I had not wanted to do despite the fact that that’s what I had been doing all tour! </p>
<p>The conversation with the act downstairs was difficult, uncomfortable, a little bit prickly and awkward - not ideal preparation for a vulnerable and emotionally engaged performance! But the second half recommenced - only for me to watch two friends leave one song in to go off to have a chat somewhere else. Now here’s the thing - they’re totally at liberty to do so .. but.. (and I’m slightly embarrassed to say this) I was furious - my inner dialogue went something like ‘ oh I’ll just arrange a nice social date/reunion for your calendar and you can fuck the music off - don’t worry about me!’ Now they may have had all sort of good reasons for leaving but it stung me! So add a little splash of rage to the inner melee! </p>
<p>So you’ll have to ask someone who was there wether it showed at all… judging by the lovely responses afterwards… it didn’t! Which to me is remarkable! It just goes to show doesn’t it!? How many times have we considered ourselves to be transparent and think we naused something up because ‘how could anyone fail to pick up on our agitated/nervous/insert-difficult-emotion-here while we’ve been delivering a presentation,a talk, a performance etc … note to self, they are none the wiser! </p>
<p>I mention this because it was an important victory for me and a valuable lesson! How to deliver something resembling a connecting and emotionally present performance even when there was a whole bunch of complicated and contradictory emotions and a myriad of thoughts whirling around inside - I even managed to remember all the words… which is more than I did on Saturday when nothing stressful at all was happening! Ha… life eh!? </p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who hosted a House-gig; those that came to all the house-gigs; and to those who spent their hard-earned on a ticket for the Hemmy. Thanks for the support and all the encouragement! Until next time!!</p>
<p>you can see highlights from the house-gigs <a contents="here" data-link-label="Spring 2022 House-gig Tour Diary" data-link-type="page" href="/spring-2022-house-gig-tour-diary" target="_blank">here</a></p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/69633622022-05-04T14:18:22+01:002022-05-06T12:50:23+01:00House-gig Tour, Home Leg!<p>Well! What a month April has been. Seven of the ten house-gigs happened in that time (one postponed) taking me from Surrey to Lincolnshire via Wales!</p>
<p>That leaves the last two for this week: Islington on Thursday (conveniently 10 mins up the road!) and Oxford on Friday to finish up!</p>
<p>It all culminates in the first two Brave New Broken Hearts Club ticketed events at the weekend. So I have been busy picking up the twenty-something-year-old PA system from storage (easier said than done, it all so heavy!) making sure it works...and emailing people offering bribes to anyone who'll come!</p>
<p>I have also been on a strict regime of Lemsip, vitamin C and gargling salt water! You just cannot control life can you! I woke up on Tuesday morning with a sore throat... hoping I can stave off a the apparently oncoming cold until after the weekend! </p>
<p>Don't forget the New single All I Have Is Now - which was the song that started the second set if you were at the house-gigs - is out on Friday to coincide with the last gig of the tour! If you'd like to support its release you can 'pre-save' it in Spotify here: https://show.co/3qIYY0i</p>
<p>If your'e in London or fancy a weekend away and can come to the weekend gigs Live At The Hemmy.. hit Events in the menu and you can buy your tickets there! </p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/69479322022-04-14T08:06:37+01:002022-04-14T08:43:55+01:00Waiting and Creating…<p>Here I am In Wales, three gigs into the ‘tour’… waiting… Saturday and Wednesday are the next two. </p>
<p>Truth be told, a few more mid-week dates would not have gone amiss… there is a lot of time between dates on this tour which I largely managed to avoid on the last one. Not that I am complaining! Even though the dates aren’t packed together - because I know what I’m about and have purpose - I feel quite present to the whole thing, the time between dates doesn’t feel like dead time… it actually feels pregnant with possibility. I wrote something new on Monday/Tuesday which feels good; I haven’t written anything that I’ve been happy with for months! I speak about finding/looking out for inspiration on the tour and this one came out of a simple conversation with my Dad over breakfast on Monday! </p>
<p>Here’s to these pregnant pauses! I’m hoping they will bring more opportunity for conversation and inspiration and give birth to more words and music! But <em>also</em>… roll on Saturday can’t wait to play!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/69210602022-03-14T07:00:00+00:002022-03-14T07:00:02+00:00New Song and Live Shows!<p>I have a busy Spring lined up!</p>
<p>You may have seen the call go out for hosts for April's house-gig tour - well that's all booked up now... 10 shows in front rooms from East Horsley in Surrey to Grantham in Lincolnshire! Cannot wait to see you all and share many lovely evenings of music and connection!</p>
<p>Also I have announced my first two 'Headline' shows (sounds a bit grandiose.. just means i get to play my hour long set to you!) It'll be In my favourite local <a contents="The Hemmingford Arms" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://goo.gl/maps/AdNwyaHR3UpbZ1dj8" target="_blank">The Hemmingford Arms</a> in their beautiful upstairs room. Like the house-gigs - an intimate space for intimate songs. I hope you can come! Get your ticket for either the Saturday or Sunday night show. <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brave-new-broken-hearts-club-live-at-the-hemmy-tickets-275448553037" target="_blank">here</a></p>
<p>As if that wasn't enough - to accompany the tour - a new single! A little power-pop effort called A little Piece of Me will be out 08/04/22 - If you'd like to support its release you can do so by 'pre-saving' <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://show.co/P95sXXI" target="_blank">here</a></p>
<p>The first House gig will be 2nd April down in Penge... You can follow my progress on social media where i'll be posting video diaries and pictures throughout the tour!</p>
<p>Hope to see you at The Hemmy at the end of the tour! Tickets again can be bought <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brave-new-broken-hearts-club-live-at-the-hemmy-tickets-275448553037" target="_blank">here</a></p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/68866432022-02-02T18:00:52+00:002022-02-02T18:00:52+00:00Spring House-Tour<p>The call has gone out for hosts, for the 2022 spring house-gig tour! I am hoping to spend the whole of April on the road if possible performing an hour of acoustic Brave New Broken Hearts Club songs in sitting rooms the length of the UK! Let's see what we get... I'll keep you updated!</p>
<p>If you would like to host, <a contents="click here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="email" href="mailto:bravenewbhc@gmail.com" target="_blank">click here</a> and we can discuss possible dates and details!</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/494158/ba9be57351768af6e37f906e8cb16d5bf3cb2a9c/original/img-2132.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/68618282022-01-07T14:45:07+00:002022-01-07T14:48:35+00:00House-Gig Tour Retrospective<p>Firstly... Happy New Year... although - I know - it already no longer feels new!</p>
<p>I realised this morning that whilst I have written a Newsletter to subscribers (sign up on the home page) I hadn't recorded and reflected on the inaugural Brave New Broken Hearts Club House-gig Tour here on the website!</p>
<p>The tour was 8 gigs over 4 weeks 12 Nov - 4th Dec, audiences from 6-18 in front rooms from Essex to Sheffield!</p>
<p>The great beauty of these intimate gigs was the attentiveness of the audiences; I could not have anticipated the generosity and attention I received from people - what a lovely thing! It struck me during the tour that <em>time</em> and <em>attention</em> are two of the most precious things we can bestow on another person - so I really felt the privilege of being on the end of that.</p>
<p>I also realised quite quickly that once you remove the usual trappings of a gig; lighting, amplification and physical distance it is as vulnerable an experience for the audience as it is for the performer! The benefit however is an immediacy of connection and an immediate and quite visceral feedback loop of energy - beautiful.</p>
<p>Also, being on the road, I got to catch up with old friends I haven't seen in many years.. so <em>more</em> connection there... (connection and intimacy were unquestionably the defining characteristics of the tour!) I didn't want it to end if I'm honest, I would stay on the road all year long if I could - So<strong> I will be doing it again in the Spring!</strong> If you are interested in hosting a House-gig... an hour of un-amplified acoustic music in your living room or garden (possibly amplified if you choose to have it in your garden) then <a contents="drop me a line" data-link-label="" data-link-type="email" href="mailto:bravenewbhc@gmail.com" target="_blank">drop me a line</a>!</p>
<p> </p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/68092092021-11-14T17:21:12+00:002021-11-14T17:26:31+00:00House-gig Tour Underway!<p>The house-gig tour is well and truly underway with the two first dates now completed. Friday saw Peckham's finest host a beautifully lit and atmospheric evening in their living room. A unique evening for being opened with the witty and charismatic poetry of Aussie poet <a contents="Phil Wilcox" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.philip-wilcox.com/">Phillip Wilcox</a> - An extra special start to this tour!</p>
<p>A Saturday Central Line trip took me to Epping and on to Harlow in time to watch England beat the Wallabies in the Autumn International rugby with my lovely host before playing what turned out to be a banter-full and connecting evening set for the fabulous women of Essex (and Mark my sole male compadre for the evening!)</p>
<p>There is definitely an increased level of vulnerability to these living room gigs... possibly as much for the audiences as the performer; the simple removal of physical distance between us itself changes the dynamic - strip away amplification and lights too, well... its a laid-bare kind of deal!</p>
<p>But this is what I wanted, intimate, honest and vulnerable songs played in an intimate, honest and vulnerable environment - allowing the shared moment of performance to connect us and ground us very firmly in the present.</p>
<p>Onward tomorrow to the land of song and the good people of Bridgend!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/67825212021-10-21T12:09:47+01:002021-10-22T17:17:02+01:00The Gift of Time<p>It's just over three months since Not What We Call Love was released (feels like a lot longer!) so I thought it was high-time I reflected on it.</p>
<p>Releasing music into the world as an unknown, independent unsigned artist is a funny old thing. Before I say any more about the experience I should start by saying, the fact that I can distribute an album worldwide for $65 is almost unbelievable to me; my 17 year old self for sure would have thought it an impossible dream. If you are a young artist reading this, never take that for granted - it's an incredible thing to be so easily able to make your music available to be heard by anyone... anywhere! </p>
<p>That said, there are of course pros and cons to everything! However prepared you are for your lovingly crafted opus to be lost in the evermore rapidly swelling ocean of new music that the digital revolution has created... nothing can really <em>fully</em> prepare you for the levels of disinterest that you will face! Particularly (as I am sure I am not alone in experiencing) amongst your closest friends!</p>
<p>Fortunately I was at least <em>somewhat</em> prepared as I had gone into this project under no illusions! My philosophy on releasing this music was all about honouring the creative energy and process that had allowed me to make the album in the first place. I simply wanted to honour it by putting the music out with as much conviction as I could; to be courageous enough to say 'This is my music, and I think it is good enough to warrant your time.' In that respect I can say the album has been a great success.</p>
<p>What a generally low key release does mean though, is that when someone does listen and then even take time to be generous with their words - it is a joy of increased measure! It means exponentially more to me now! It has become something to greatly treasure, like anything rare, its value increases! I really feel the compliment of someone taking time to listen, let alone say anything nice. As one of my favourites, Brené Brown, is fond of saying 'Time is a non-renewable resource', I appreciate how valuable time is and the honour that is bestowed when people give it to listening to my songs.</p>
<p>As far as any other measures of 'success' goes... I don't even know what they are, for someone in my position. I mean I set a very vague goal of trying to 'get as many people as possible to hear the album' but I had no real frame of reference or yardstick! I worked out quickly that it is a pointless exercise to compare your own streaming figures to others! So all I have in the end is the phenomenon I speak of above... every single listen becoming a treasure! So from within that paradigm, to say that the number of streams that the songs from the album have collectively accumulated is close to 6000 on Spotify alone means a lot!</p>
<p>To be fair, that number is mostly made up from the singles - which collectively made it on to many Spotify playlists, including, admittedly, some bewilderingly random ones! This is to say that many many of those listen will have been entirely unconscious as people played the playlists while they did their chores, or as the playlist played in the hairdressers or whatever... but still .. I'll take those listens! In all likelihood the truer number of people that have gone out of their way to listen to the album or a single is in the hundreds - but every single one of those hundreds is a gift of someone's time and is a treasure to me.</p>
<p>You can stream Not What We Call Love on <a contents="any streaming platform of your choice" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://bravenewbrokenheartsclub.hearnow.com/not-what-we-call-love" target="_blank">any streaming platform of your choice</a> or <a contents="YouTube" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mJ9S7wSAnXhgzshqJ8n-M6ZVs9_XwptqM" target="_blank">YouTube</a></p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/66516002021-06-07T11:34:30+01:002021-07-04T10:07:44+01:00The Point Of It All.<p>Hopefully you've have seen the news, either from your subscription to the mailing list (in which case you heard it first!) or from social media (Links in Menu) that the debut album is announced as being available from 16/07/21!</p>
<p>It is to be titled Not What We Call Love - inspired by the lyric from Love Is On Its Way : ' Hurt people, hurt people, Love's not the thing that we call Love'. If there is a theme to the album it is Love; exploring its many forms but also enquiring... what is Love... <em>really? </em>Is the thing we <em>call</em> love really love? Or is love much bigger? Not something we muster, or squeeze out but something outside of ourselves? Maybe theres a 'Source' we receive from and in turn then pass on? Is it something that we don't have to <em>strive</em> to give or receive but something mysterious to wonder at... to surrender to? Whatever it is, these songs draw from and imagine all the things it could be, and attempt to conjure the spirit of it. A secondary theme is 'loss'. Love and loss, the two great pillars of human existence it seems to me, unavoidable if you are at all inclined toward existentialism! I hope these songs will give food for thought but that they will also move you, music is at its best when the spirit of it ignites a feeling, resonant beyond words, familiar and mysterious all at once!</p>
<p>As I grow in life I'm certain of less and less... I am not sure I can tell you what Love is; but I am as certain of this as I am of anything: Love is... Not What We Call<em> </em>Love!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/65908262021-04-01T11:16:29+01:002021-04-01T11:16:29+01:00Hold On To The Love<p>So the second single has been out a week. Have you heard it yet? You can hear it on any of your favourite platforms <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://bravenewbrokenheartsclub.hearnow.com/hold-on-to-the-love" target="_blank">here</a></p>
<p>We had a little hiccup with the social media campaign this time as there has been a mix up with the Remixed version which is scheduled for release later in the month. The distributor of the remix identified the original song (which is very different) as theirs and blocked it on social media. Frustrating, but less so when I realised why it had happened, my friend and I are working to get it resolved asap. Initially it felt as if someone way bigger than me had simply walked into my front room, picked up the tele and said .. we're taking this, it's ours! Disconcerting to say the least! </p>
<p>It is all part of this journey. I'm new to releasing my work out into the world, and there are many things I don't know or understand about it! Figuring out and trying to get the various social media and streaming platform algorithms working for you is a tiresome business, some would even say futile, as most of the time they seem to work against you; but you do see some unsigned, independent artists have a win occasionally. Here are two I am particularly fond of who seem to be doing it well: <a contents="George Moir" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/6eNGoUHSDYfXSy5SvnN1Uu?si=sm_nprfPQna5bQg6Z1aICw" target="_blank">George Moir</a> & <a contents="Lizzie Reid" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/0GytihetIdprntMyuyAJm6?si=38F9qgglRHGcFYHZ2i88Bg" target="_blank">Lizzie Reid</a> more power to them!</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/65339962021-01-29T15:34:30+00:002021-02-17T14:35:14+00:00Praise, Plaudits And Playlists.<p>Well it has finally arrived, release day... and with a mixture of relief and trepidation, euphoria and exhaustion I commended my creative endeavour to the 'world'!</p>
<p>I laughed gently at myself during the week after a rare pang of nerves on thinking about the release... I've done so much work and invested so much energy into this day... and yet... it's such a tiny drop in the ocean! Since new year I have mustered 136 instagram followers, 120 Facebook and on only 63 on Twitter! Don't get me wrong I am chuffed to bits with that from scratch; and I have made some lovely new connections... but its small beans eh?! Rather than feel down about that however, I found it strangely comforting. Comforting because it made me realise that it is the act of <em>daring</em> to get behind my own creative expression and say with conviction, 'please listen to this I feel it has value and will add value to your day' that matters; it represents something bigger, bigger than follows, listens, shares, praise, plaudits and playlists ... it represents bold steps forwards in the metaphorical landscape of my personal journey... the same journey that making it was an essential part of!</p>
<p>Even though it will register with very few, and matter to even fewer this first release means a lot in the scheme of me becoming a fuller, truer version of myself... and I think - and I'll whisper this quietly - that it may be that there is no greater meaning than that.</p>
<p>I do hope the song brings something of value to your day - choose your platform of choice to listen <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://bravenewbrokenheartsclub.hearnow.com" target="_blank">here.</a></p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/63684652021-01-02T09:46:35+00:002021-01-02T11:21:02+00:00Doors Open At The Brave New Broken Hearts Club<p>Very Exciting... The Brave New Broken Hearts Club is open for business... Business being comfort and connection through the making and propagation of <em>sweet sweet music</em>.</p>
<p>This website is here for all your Brave New Broken Hearts Club paraphernalia. <a contents="Sign up to our mailing list " data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home">Sign up to our mailing list </a>to be first to hear news, get tickets, receive special offers on merchandise, get gig dates (as and when they come about) and most importantly hear and purchase music. You will also get an exclusive free download of bonus song Tougher Side Of Love! Get ready for lots of new music and videos, all working towards the release of the beautiful debut Brave New Broken Hearts Club album.</p>
<p>Read Neil's first Brave New Broken hearts Club Interview <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://go.shr.lc/3pysxge" target="_blank">here</a> as he speaks to Elizabeth at the Passion and Meaning Blog.</p>
<p>Most excitingly of all... the date for the debut single <strong>Love Is On its Way</strong> is announced: <strong>29/01/21</strong>. you can pre-save on Spotify <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://show.co/qVKcNp5" target="_blank">here</a>. This means A) you can forget about it until it's release - it will arrive in your Spotify account to hear. B) The interaction increase the chances of the song getting onto algorithmic playlists.. and playlist are all important in reaching new ears!</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Clubtag:bravenewbrokenheartsclub.com,2005:Post/64943192020-12-08T15:46:10+00:002021-01-02T11:26:46+00:00'Doors' Opening Soon...<p>If you've stumbled on this site, be excited! It's brand new, for brand new music in 2021.</p>
<p>Register your email address above to be kept up to date about song releases, videos, news, exclusive merchandise and also receive an exclusive free download of the song Tougher Side Of Love.</p>Brave New Broken Hearts Club