New Dan Verkys Exhibition – Launch Date Feb 20, 2016!!!

YesterdayCheck this out if you’re anywhere near Romsey next weekend for the launch, and through March for the length of the exhibition!!!!!

It’s always a pleasure being asked to be involved with such a talented man as Dan Verky’s creative pursuits, and I know for a fact that he’s REALLY going the extra mile to put on a real show. I’m totally excited to see everything he’s cooked up!!!

As it happens I’ll be polluting the airwaves with some instrumental acoustic music as well, but don’t let that put you off. Just make sure you come cause it will be a cracker!!!

Some new live appearances and more!!

Hey friends, hope all is well out there!!?

As of today, Mr Rob Lundgren sang his final stuff for the next album and it’s sounding killer!! Now we’re at the stage of Skube and myself adding / tweaking guitar bits before mixing and mastering gets underway. Too early to say when this baby might be released, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted!!

I’ll be playing live acoustic at The Eltham Hotel, here in Melbourne on May 27 at 8pm!! Click here for directions and note that there is very likely to be more events happening that same week.

Also, I was recently asked by my mate Dan Verkys, the fantastic fellow that does the artwork on music releases for me if I’d like to play some tunes at his forthcoming exhibition called Chaos Dreaming, which is running at the Mad Gallery from August 16 – September 16. You should definitely make sure you get along to this if you’re in Victoria over that time. This man is an amazing talent!!!! Click here to RSVP via the Facebook event!

Promo poster and video below:

chaos_dreaming

“Resist to Exist” cover art, tracklisting!

Resist to ExistThe new release, “Resist to Exist” is currently in the mastering stage and will be coming to you asap!

It was recorded at Red Planet Recording in Hobart (by Stew and Jake Long), and also at my home in Melbourne, Australia, mixed by Dennis Leeflang, will be mastered by Andy Van Dette, and the cover art, is by Dan Verkys.

Joining me on the tracks as always is my bro Mathew Szkup (drums, guitars, backing vocals), Paul Jolley (keys), Lyris Hung (strings), Brian Sanders (cello), Adrian Bryan (strings), and Dennis Leeflang (tribal drums), and tracklisting follows:

“Resist Opus”
“Music is Free”
“Friendship Song”
“Born”
“Gossip Train”
“Ascend”
“Gift of Life:
“Influenza Blues”

Sadly for me being a real music love that is totally into physical releases, the way things are in 2014 it just couldn’t happen for “Resist to Exist”, and therefore this will be released via the usual digital outlets only. I will try and throw in some extras for anyone that wants to buy it direct from me as opposed to going through iTunes and the like though. More on that soon!

New CS music news / Full length Feckers track!!

Hey all,

Just a quick note that as long as all the planets align and nothing goes wrong, I’ll be handing over the new songs to Mr Andy VanDette for mastering late next week when I’ll be also posting cover art and track listing!! As a writer I feel I’ve really raised the bar since my last releases, so to say I’m looking forward to people hearing them is an understatement!

On another note, here’s a full length track from The Feckers album “It’d Be Rude Not To” that we released last year.  It features my cuz Irene Slade on vocals, Mr Dennis Leeflang on drums and myself on guitars and bass, and was mixed and mastered by Mr Stew Long at Red Planet Recording with artwork by Dan Verkys. Enjoy!

EP Recordings!!

Happy to announce that I’ll be putting out 3 digital EP’s in the very near future (early part of 2014 at this stage) and at the moment I’m recording for the 2nd and 3rd ones!

Here’s a sneak peek from yesterday:

 

Also on another note, I was stoked to be able to not only attend, but also play at my mate Dan Verkys‘ exhibition late last month in Lancefield, Victoria at Mad Gallery!! I got to debut some of my own songs that I never thought would make it to the stage, and also played some instrumental versions of some cover songs. The works are at the gallery through November, so make sure you get along if you can!

mad_gallery

“Like Yesterday” – Out now!!!

like_yesterday_lower_res“Like Yesterday” is the new single and it’s out now!! This one is also the last in the acoustic run of singles. It remembers and says thanks to my parents and talks about what life was like when they were here. To me, music, and especially rock music is about baring your soul….. after all, whats the point of listening to someones music if it isn’t honest? With this song, I don’t think you could get a more personal song or a song that I believe in more.

I get goosebumps looking at the artwork that Dan created from my concept idea. It really is beautiful. Strangely, the concept for it came from the photo of me with the guitar which existed before the concept, although it looks like I knew exactly what I was doing and was posing accordingly. As usual, Dan was able to take my Tasmanian gobbledy gook and knock it out of the park with another amazing piece of work.

I remember showing my Dad the music for this song before any lyrics existed as I had just gotten strings from the amazing Lyris Hung on a couple of my songs (having real strings in my music was always a dream when I was younger, but one that I was never really sure if it would happen), which in retrospect was a real special thing having him hear the music for this one. Obviously the song wasn’t intended to be what it is back then, but I’ll never forget that night. That was one of my favourite things in the world – just hanging over a couple of beers, playing music for each other and catching up. Will miss it a lot.

In loving memory of my folks, Bysh and Irene Szkup. Much thanks to Dennis Leeflang (mixing), Lyris Hung (strings), Andy VanDette (mastering), Dan Verkys (artwork) and Ren Reich (engineering) on this one especially. It’s available in the STORE here at CS-Songs.com, as well as iTunes and all the usual digital outlets that stock our stuff!

October Happenings!!

Starting to get the itch again as far as getting out there and playing after an interesting few months!! So far I have these with more to come – will be rescheduling the intended Feckers duo gig that we had to postpone recently!!

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cs_palace_hotel_march_2012Saturday, October 5thEdwards Place – Free
Playing solo acoustic from 8pm as part of Rockshow!!
48 Edwardes Street, Reservoir, Victoria, Australia (Get Directions)

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Sunday, October 13thMad Gallery – Free (I think)cs_palace_hotel_march_2012
Playing some backing tracks for my mate Dan Verkys‘ exhibition launch!! Dan does the artwork for every bit of audio I release I love his work so much. Make sure you get along to this as he’s a huge talent and a great fella too!
19 High Street, Lancefield, Victoria, Australia (Get Directions)

 Dan Verkys Exhibition

More dates to come, and a new single as well!!!! After that one I’ll be putting out some full band electric music!!!

 

 

New Feckers single out now!!!

This is the fourth single that originally was due to be released before our album “It’d Be Rude Not To” in March. Sometimes things happen however and the song tells YOU when it’s coming out, but anyway it’s finally here!

Once upon a time I was going to do this song solo having had the bulk of it sitting around a long time before it was decided we would do it Feckers style. It features a great singer and infectiously enthusiastic guy in Carl Lindquist from Sweden, and also our old friend David Austin from New Zealand who we had written a few things with back in the early 00’s. Due to those songs not ever really happening, we wanted to finally have something with all of us playing together and this is it!

Also joining those two lads are myself and our resident crusher of heads on the kit, Mr Dennis Leeflang who also mixed the track.

As usual, artwork by Dan Verkys and mastering by Maor Appelbaum. I hope you enjoy!!