THESE SILVER DARLINGS

Its not a Tee Pee time of the month again. February seemed to be bypassed but its back with a vengeance. Following on from January's "Ada Lovelace" instalment March goes back to a theme more open and ambiguous. Thank christ. Not A Tee Pee has been great for dragging me kicking and screaming out of my comfort zone. Ever since I was sixteen I seem to have limited myself to one style of song writing, I don't know why but the best songs that meant the most to me have all been about... well me. Yup thats right I'm a self obsessed bastard. Well thats not entirely true. They always say write what you know and always be honest, but this can lead to your material turning stale as your life goes the same way. If my heart is breaking the material will keep flowing. If not then my mind goes dry. There was a time when I had only written 3 songs in 4 years in my capacity as a singer songwriter out with Bench or Katerwaul. Since we started Not A Tee Pee last Oct I've at least been forced to write a song a month, a good way to keep the creative juices flowing.

So joining my Tee Pee collection of His Sighs & Silhouette (Mud), No Sleep Till Val Halla (Vikings) and Ada Love Lost (Ada Love Lace) is These Silver Darlings. In a way to adapt to being out of my comfort zone I've tried to write a story as I would a film. With short films I am used to cutting bits out to fit the running time or to tighten up the pace. Its the same with writing lyrics to the chord structure of a song, in this case an alt country ballad.

I came up with the idea of a couple at breaking point. We jump into the story in the aftermath of a terminated pregnancy, Charlie and Jenny don't know what will become of their relationship. Jenny feels she has done the right thing for her and her quality of life, but Charlie does not see it the same way. His feelings are conflicted. Has Jenny murdered their unborn child? Has she stolen an opportunity for him to become a father? Its hard for him to hate her when he loves her so much.

In the lyrics I've used the moonlight as the link to the "Silver" theme. The way the moon can seem silver, the way it reflects off of the metal on Charlie's car or the way the dried tears on Jenny's face glint silver in the moonlight. The last but the most relevant of all the Sliver metaphors is in the last verse. We cut fifty years into the future and Charlie and Jenny celebrate a silver anniversary. Is it their marriage or the anniversary of this event? I've left that open, but joining them are their two kids, raising a glass to their parents and toasting their love for each other. Charlie and Jenny however have not forgotten their children's older sibling that never was but in a way it has made them stronger and in some way has helped keep them together.

I have decided that I'm going to try and design artwork for every Tee Pee song I write and "These Silver Darlings" is the first. Above you'll see what would most probably be the sleeve to the single and below is the artwork for the lyrics.

I am really enjoying these Not A Tee Pee collections and long may they continue as they challenge me Sonically, Lyrically and now Visually.

Tim

THESE SILVER DARLINGS

Its Midnight and Charlie's hands, wring the leather of the wheel

The moon it highlights the silver and the steel

The scenes of the night play out like a movie in the dark

What has she given up? The fear or the spark?

Its Midnight and Jenny stares at the lake, in a blanket of fear

The moon it highlights silver salt from her tears

The life that is lost, may tear them apart

What has she given up? The end or the start?

She feels so lonely

He is so angry

She feels so bad

But life sometimes can be that sad

Now Fifty Years on, Charlie raises his glass

To his wife Jenny and their kids who have grown up at last

But what of the first, never got the chance to be born?

A life that was lost, for a love to live on.

They are so happy

These silver darlings

Dance in the moonlight

It takes some time to set things right

February

Just finished the first draft of lyrics for a new Katerwaul tune. Its called February and its about… well February. February 2011 to be exact. Without coming across like a total winge its just about how February always seems to be the longest month despite it having the least days in it. And its never an eventful month and wish it’d just fuck off already.

FEBRUARY

February glows through the thunder and snow

On the distant horizon love’s tangled branches grow

This violent mist blankets the fields below

The February sun will never show

Your breath will escape your lips

Into the night and into the mist

February waits like a haunted freight

Clicking down rusted tracks across a burnt out state

Fraying wires overhead infuse these fields of hate

February will always come too late

Your breath will escape your lips

Into the night and into the mist

I will take your hand and into mine

And we’ll watch as lanterns kiss the sky

NO MORE SHALL WE PART

Shaun Hughes is due to start shooting his unconventional western in April. And to try and generate interest with some familiar face actors I cooked up these two designs as teaser posters. I can’t give too much away but I can tell you I will be composing the Music for this exciting project.

From Across The Sea: The Last Coffee Shop In Paris

The Last Coffee Shop In Paris is a film project I started in 2004 during my time studying my Masters at DJCAD. It is initially based on Kevin Gillespie's short story "The Last Coffee Shop In Santiago". A story about a man's quest to find his girlfriend in the Chilean city of Santiago. With only the knowledge that she works in a local coffee shop and a polaroid of them in better times, he braves the foreign country to try and persuade her to come home. I found that "Santiago" was a compelling story about culture shock but also the similarities between what we call home and what others also perceive as their home, that no matter where you are in world the same things you find so familiar also happen in places so foreign to you.

After a few drafts of the script I was ready to begin production of a short film based on "Santiago". I considered changing the location to Barcelona or Madrid but funding issues hampered the project and it shelved. Now almost six years later I have adapted this once again into a feature film. I have added two new characters and this time changed the city to Paris. The film now also deals with the themes of loneliness and what people do to be happy or in some cases just to be close to someone.

This film is still in the pre-production stage and we are trying to gain funding to get this film off the ground, but here are three teaser posters I designed just to generate some more interest and have something to show other than just the script.

We hope to have shot this film by the end of the year.

His Sighs & Silhouette / Not A Tee Pee

MUD 01 the first collaborative compilation from Not A Tee Pee can be downloaded for free here.

My contribution is a Murder Ballad in the vein of Nick Cave. Drums and electric guitar were recorded live in the Katerwaul HQ before over dubbing vocals, violin and acoustic guitar at home. This was my debut on violin. In fact it was the first time I'd even picked one up. It was Rae's Grandad's and it was lying about the flat. I tuned the bottom string to the root note of the song and placed masking tape markers (Shhhh don't tell Rae) to all the notes I'd worked out fit the song. I hope I've not upset any classical music Elders.

Drums and Percussion - Nick Morrice

Vocals, Guitars and (horrible) Violin - Tim Courtney

His Sighs & Silhouette

The stars are hiding behind the clouds
And the rain beats down onto the mounds
Of earth piled by her beautiful body
My god how she loved her Woody
Clementine lies amongst the grieving timber
That same forest where he placed that ring upon her finger
Woody labours his trowel through the slimy bog
His sighs and silhouette lost amongst the fog

Oh Woody, your jumper soaked in blood
Oh Woody, your knees submerged in mud
Oh Woody, how can it have come this?
Your lips still taste of her last kiss.

She somehow reminds him of their first child
Asleep lying perfect and motionless, her skin so mild
The raindrops that glisten and trickle down her neck run clear
Her throat cut from ear to beautiful ear
Woody wipes the rain from his former wife’s face
He lowers her into the soup her hair floats to the surface
“Goodbye my Clementine I will always love you”
And then she was gone without a word spoken more true

Oh Woody, your jumper soaked in blood
Oh Woody, your knees submerged in mud
Oh Woody, how can it have come this?
Your lips still taste of her last kiss.

As Woody turns to the car parked on the hard shoulder
He slips in the sludge as his head collides with a boulder
His body slides through the streaming mire
To be drowned with his wife as the water grows higher

Oh Woody, as you sink in the grime
Oh Woody, you and your love entwined
Oh Woody, what have you gone and done
The dirt and the worms will inherit your lungs

Mark McCabe's "When I Grow Up" EP

Recently Mark McCabe has been working on the follow up to his Debut Album "Is That How You Really Feel". Instead of rushing things and throwing everything he's written since into another Album; he's taken all his best material (including a sublime cover of The X-erts "Just Go Home") and whittled it down to his strongest 5 recordings. It would be tempting to tell you its not as good as the Album (that I recorded and produced) but I would be lying through my chompers. Instead what Mark has done has probably produced a mini master piece.

Mark's lyrics have always been the biggest draw for me but he's reinforced them with a maturity vacant from his previous material. The instrumentation is more stripped down and bare than the full on Folk-Punk he was trying to create. Instead his life experience of moving to Paris and the bare resources afforded to him have carved a troubadour out of him. The EPs two last tracks, tear jerker "Salt & Pepper" and the nostalgic bird song of "Trains", are ones that stick with me after listening and have me humming down the street.

On a rare visit to his native Scotland Mark asked me to quickly draft up some artwork for the EP. I was more than happy to. With the title of the EP and its nostalgic undertones, it seemed to be tailor made for my current work of Nostalgia and harks to childhood. So I asked Mark to bring me one photo of him as a child that would everything up. What it would say about him and his record and maybe even his childhood. He came back to me with him dressed in a crudely improvised BATMAN costume. The theme of playing dress up and pretending to be some one you don't want to be/pretending to be something you're not fascinated me. The trees and the rain for me symbolise every tree you've climbed as a child, but the rain also portrays every task or trouble you've had to face, maybe ones that would often have you looking back to those simpler times when you'd actually live for everyday, just to get out and climb those trees for fun and not for wealth or status.

Mark's EP has no set release date but look out for it in the future.

Not A Tee Pee

Just finished writing my song for the 1st Not A Tee Pee compilation. John Hekert came up with the idea of keeping all of his musical friends in touch by writing songs to specific themes. A new theme will be announced every few months and each theme will be released as a compilation on Band Camp.

The current theme is "Mud" thanks to Ry Walker. I decided to write a murder ballad. and here it is. I recorded this with Nick Morrice the other night, playing drums with brushes. A far departure from the raging drum parts with Katerwaul. More information on the release soon.

His Sighs & Silhouette

The stars are hiding behind the clouds
And the rain beats down onto the mounds
Of earth piled by her beautiful body
My god how she loved her Woody
Clementine lies amongst the grieving timber
That same forest where he placed that ring upon her finger
Woody labours his trowel through the slimy bog
His sighs and silhouette lost amongst the fog

Oh Woody, your jumper soaked in blood
Oh Woody, your knees submerged in mud
Oh Woody, how can it have come this?
Your lips still taste of her last kiss.

She somehow reminds him of their first child
Asleep lying perfect and motionless, her skin so mild
The raindrops that glisten and trickle down her neck run clear
Her throat cut from ear to beautiful ear
Woody wipes the rain from his former wife’s face
He lowers her into the soup her hair floats to the surface
“Goodbye my Clementine I will always love you”
And then she was gone without a word spoken more true

Oh Woody, your jumper soaked in blood
Oh Woody, your knees submerged in mud
Oh Woody, how can it have come this?
Your lips still taste of her last kiss.

As Woody turns to the car parked on the hard shoulder
He slips in the sludge as his head collides with a boulder
His body slides through the streaming mire
To be drowned with his wife as the water grows higher

Oh Woody, as you sink in the grime
Oh Woody, you and your love entwined
Oh Woody, what have you gone and done
The dirt and the worms will inherit your lungs

Available for download here

Katerwaul's "Valley Under A Concrete Sea"

***KATERWAUL SIGN TO BRAVE OR INVINCIBLE RECORDS***

Another thing I didn't manage to sing and dance about on my blog due to laptop theft. BOI are an independent record label based in England-shire. They signed us in May and "Valley Under A Concrete Sea" is our first release through them. No prizes for guessing what the songs are about. Being signed to a label that actually "gets" your music and "gets" what you are trying to achieve, not just musically but artistically through recordings and art work, has been amazing. It was their idea to release the single on a CD-Vinyl and their idea to release with art work. You hear such horror stories about bands that don't get to have their songs to sound how they want and the art work to look how they like. With BOI we've just been working as usual, writing and recording our music the way have been, and I design all the packaging and artwork. Then BOI do the rest. Legends, absolute legends. This is a business of course and there is a financial side, but the return we've had for the small slice of profits have been worth more than money. With the label sorting out our marketing and online presence etc we can now forget about all that side and just concentrate on making noise.

You can download Valley Under A Concrete Sea for as little or as much as you like here.

Our album Here There Is No Why is also available on itunes thanks to our friends at BOI.

Distant Street Lights Video

Codes In The Clouds – Distant Street Lights (iambic Remix) – Official Music Video from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

After seeing Olafur Arnalds live in Peacock Visual Arts Centre in dec 2007, it ignited a love affair with Erased Tapes records. It seemed like a record label made just for me. The following February I was lucky enough to attend an Olafur Arnalds show at the Monto Rats in London. That's when I saw Codes In The Clouds for the first time. Then they were up and coming and still finding their feet. Now flash forward almost 3 years and we're all good friends, Katerwaul playing 4 gigs with them. This year I nominated my services to make them a music video. I'm not sure they took me entirely serious. I had an Idea in mind so I pitched it to Shaun. He loved it and so we got writing. Ciaran sent me one of the latest Remixed versions of Distant Street Lights, probably to call my bluff. But by June we'd done it. Factotum Films had finished their first Music Video.

Casting the male role was easy. Our good friend Martin Murphy has known and worked with us for years, Shaun and Martin made the short animation "Toshiba60". We sat down one day and did a screen test reading various materials with Martin. As usual I was reading all the female parts. Martin's audition was a great success and we let him sweat all of a couple of hours before telling him the part was his. We decided to use this exercise to get back into shooting our own material so we borrowed a camera and DOF adapter from our usual cinematographer Dave and we used my camera set up as a second. The idea was to film both character perspectives with each camera. Richard stepped in to light our subjects so it was all in place... oh wait we hadn't cast a girl.

We had already started shooting and we still didn't have anyone to play our female lead. It was by chance I was borrowing a tripod from Topher Henderson, a local photographer, that it hit me. Bex, his girlfriend so innocently not knowing her life was going to change forever! We managed to guilt her into it and the rest was history.

Distant Street Lights was a fun experience. We always wanted it to be back to basics film making like we did a few years ago only employing the experiences we have gained since. It took 2 days to shoot and about 4 days to edit.

We were sworn into secrecy by the bands management to not show anyone this video until they could secure an exclusive and then use it as a promotional tool. Not bad for messing about one weekend, and the band themselves not thinking I was being serious. Ciaran claims that Stephen hit the roof with excitement after seeing it. Not sure how true that was but after seeing him watch the ENGLAND vs USA world cup game, I can certainly imagine what that may look like.

So finally after months of secrecy its finally been announced and premiered. So I hope you all enjoy it as much as we had making it.

Special thank you to;

Martin John Murphy

Rebecca Prentice

Richard Browne

David Falconer

Caroline Smith

Rebecca Wheeler

Rae Duncan

Sam Brill & Jen Mullen

Also to Robert, Ciaran, Stephen, Jack, Joe, Rob and Dan and everyone else at Erased Tapes.

9 Months In The life Of Tim Courtney

So what the fuck have I been doing for the past 9months? The small minority of folk who follow this blog will notice that I've not posted anything up since my exhibition in January. Thats a long time. Surely there's been things happening with the Band? An Artificial Light was supposed to be released in June/July, no?

The truth is I've had a very busy past few months in my creative life. So why the lack of blogification? (That's a word now I invented it and if 4chan pick up on it they can blow me.) In April my laptop was stolen. Along with the master copy of An Artificial Light. Rendering the past 12 months almost void and the 6 months of editing a waste of time. Yes yes I should have backed up I know that. But don't call me stupid, this was an error forced by lack of funds. I spent so much money buying my laptop in the first place to afford a 2TB+ hard drive to accommodate these massive project files. It sucks I know, I just hope the tiny fix that junky bastard got from pawning my life away was worth it. He did return one day to get the rest of my stuff but I scared him off with a swift cough "ahem" I said, "Aw fuck" he said then ran down the stairs.

Bottom line news update; Insurance companies are useless, credit cards are NOT covered by theft and you'll always need your parents. I'm 27 years old now and it did not feel too good to have my Father lend me money to replace a laptop that was not covered under my insurance policy. Apparently a laptop is a luxury item and it being worth over £1,000 needed to be itemised. Oh well. Its better to pay for 2 laptops than not have a means to make your art and films right?

So this quick post is a heads up to the many posts I'm about to put up to make up for lost time now I have a shiny new macbook pro.

A Life I've Lost

In a weeks time not only will I be a whole year older, a whole year wiser and fast approaching my next milestone birthday; but I will be celebrating the opening of my exhibition "A Life I've Lost". I'll be exhibiting illustrations, photography,film and music at kilau coffeeshop and art gallery on little belmont street aberdeen.

It has been a year since I got the nod from the curator to exhibit my work. And it will be my first solo exhibition since my Masters show in 2005. But what a year it has been for me creatively. I've managed to release an album with Katerwaul and successfully design the artwork and packaging. With promising reviews in The Scotsman and online, a successful support slot with codes in the clouds in Aberdeen and Glasgow, I've considered it a great triumph. Whilst all this was going on I was writing and preparing to make a new short film. On the eve of the album launch I was busy doing screen test and casting the film. The film is now well and truly underway with the editing already started.

I don't want to give away too much but by trauling through the this blog you will undoubtably come across work that will feature in the exhibit, but I have a few surprises in store also. So if you're reading this right now I here by invite you to the opening night. Sunday 31st January, Kilau Coffeeshop & Art Gallery 9a Little Belmont Street Aberdeen 8pm. If you can't make it the show will be up for eight weeks from the 31st January till the 28th March 2010. Most work will be for sale as well as the deluxe & standard editions of Katerwaul's "Here There Is No Why".

I hope to see you all then. In the meantime why not enjoy a sneak preview of my new film, "An Artificial Light" out later this year, by viewing the trailer below.

An Artificial Light (Trailer) from Tim Courtney on Vimeo.

An Artificial Light Polaroids

Throughout the shooting of my new film "An Artificial Light", which still hasn't wrapped, I've been taking Polaroids when I can for my exhibit in Ki:lau. Here are a select few as a sneak preview.

Auld Lang Syne

I've recorded a version of the traditional scottish ballad/poem "Auld Lang Syne". It was recorded for the next annual Ki:lau christmas charity CD available from the Coffeeshop at somepoint in the next two weeks. If you can't wait I've got a link that only lasts a week and you can download it along with the Katerwaul entry "December Doesn't Hurt". (Can you see what we did there? Cheeky fuckers that we are). Any way get it from here CLICK ME ASSHOLES!

Tim

Maybe Next Time Things Will be Different

31st January 2010, the day after my birthday, will see the opening of my first solo exhibition since my Masters show in 2005. The as yet untitled show will be based around my recent Katerwaul artwork and photography. My new film "An Artificial Light" will also steak a lot of interest on the walls of Aberdeen's leading Coffeeshop & Art Gellery; Ki:lau.

Editing on my current project is going well but I've still to shoot a couple of more scenes. Instead of sitting on my hands I've started i

nstead to edit what I do have and its looking great. I thought I'd post up some of my recent poster work for both "An Artificial Light" and my soon to be released collaboration with Shaun; "emily". As usual feedback is more than welcome.

No doubt I'll fill you in with more details on my show as they make themselves known.

Tim

Mother

This is the new film by Writer Director Shaun Hughes released under our film collective; FACTOTUM FILMS. I don't want to spoil it but I think its brilliant. The film features a brand new score by me. I played all the instruments that include; Guitar, Bass, Drums, Music Box as well as vocals (although they don't feature in the film). The one instrument I didn't play was the violin; that was supplied by the chirpy Louise Mackie. I got her in one day to just play single notes and heaps of horrible noises. It was a homage to the Joker's theme in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" and the end scene in Scorssese's "Taxi Driver", an almost atonal pedal note that delves into chaos. I love writing film scores for Shaun!

Shaun asked me, as well as writing the score, to come up with a 70's style jazz song for a dance sequence. So I wrote a piece inspired by some Nina Simone, Nick Cave and Vincent Gallo. Its called "Unrequited". I wanted to write lyrics that tied in with the film but came from the two female character's point of view at the same time coming across as a generic 70s love song. Shaun decided to cut the vocals as the lyrics were deemed distracting and almost too literal, a view in which I agreed entirely when seeing it in context. But here are the lyrics for those that are curious and give a shit.

"Rest with me

I'd rather be here

In the breath of morning light

Than part form your side.

Suckle me

And tend to all my fears

Reality wont fade my dear

Cradle me

Cradle me

Cradle me

Cradle me in your arms"

I plan on fleshing out this 2 min song into something for my solo album which hopefully will be underway by the new year.

Back In Action & Ready For Danger

Hey its been a while. We must catch up. So here's the run down of the past five (fucking, shitting hell has it been that long??) months.

Katerwaul: It was a pretty busy Summer. The album; "Here There Is No Why" was released on 22nd June. Our launch night was a huge success. It was held in the quaint little coffee house "Kilau" on little belmont street in aberdeen. Ashley Park and memebers of Y Change Costume treated us to a Musical Banquet. We then went on to promote "Codes In The Clouds", a Kent quintet on the amazing "Erased Tapes" label. They were touring to promote their album "Paper Canyon" which is out now and is fucking stonking. We played with them at the Tunnels in Aberdeen on the 22nd June and then in Glasgow's 13th Note on the 23rd. They were top notch guys who were a lot of fun to play with and we had some great banter. I talked to Stephen about possibly doing a wee video project for them and discussed with Ciaran about singing on a remix album for them. Its all speculation at the moment but who knows what the future holds??

After that we managed to kick back and have a well deserved break. We've played a couple of gigs since but with our schedules in life being so erratic at the moment we're just going to see how things go before getting back to things full time.

In the Mean time you can grab the deluxe edition of art work from Blurb here

Tim Courtney (Musician): For one night and one night only I came out of singer/songwriter retirement to play close friend Mark McCabe's leaving gig in Art Gallery, Project Slogan. This was a great fun evening and I even aired a couple of new songs. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but I've decided once I have some time I'm going to start recording a solo Album. Yes that's right I'm very egotistical like that.

Tim Courtney (Filmmaker): "An Artificial Light" is well and truly under way. My laptop died a horrible death upon the first day of shooting so excuse the lack of hurrah when principal photography started. While my laptop was off line I decided to start a production diary so I'll see if I can get some pages scanned in if I get my geriatric scanner working with my shiny new debt laden Macbook Pro.

After going through casting hell I managed to start filming a month behind schedule and its safe to say this is the hardest production I've ever had to put on. With Pamela my leading lady moving away weeks after we beginning shooting we've had to really move things along very quickly. But now Pamela's parts are all in the bag and most of Davy's scenes also finished, all we need to do are some external shots with Davy and the opening scene with a little boy. One problem though, I'm still a little boy short to film this. More news on that to follow.

Tim Courtney (Human Being): On a personal note; myself, my girlfriend Rae and best buddy Topher went to the Philippines with my folks in Sept. Now normally the weather is great that time of year. But as everyone has been made aware, with all the GREEN campaigning and comparing of carbon footprints and hemp ASDA bag for lifes, global warming is starting to take its toll on the lesser countries that just don't really effect us so why should we care? type places. Well we were in one. Having dodged one Typhoon already we arrived in a wet and windy Manila. We spent most of our time wandering around shopping malls or walking through the hot rain. Rae and Topher took a while to adjust to the staring and general alien feeling of being and Ethnic Minority (now you know how I feel). Me and Topher got a few nice pics that I'l l have to get my lazy ass into gear and get them onto my new laptop and onto my blog. But no doubt you can see some on Topher's lovely flicr page here.

Rae spent a couple of days in hospital on a drip which was nice as I got away from my nagging Father and got to watch some cable TV away from the rain. Then another Typhoon hit just before it got really hot and sunny then wet again and then we left. Despite not sounding like it we actually had a great time and its always great to see my Family and be a part of an ethnic majority for a change.

A few days later after we were in the safety of our environmentally naive country a massive Typhoon hit destroying my Grandmother's home and killing many people. I shat my pants a little as my parents were still out there at the time but luckily non of my family were hurt.

So... there's been rock and roll star-esque touring, accoustic singing and song writing, typhoon dodging and filmmaking hell. All squeezed into five months. That aint too bad.

Tim Out!