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| EMILY'S
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Snake-charming
[04.12.06] |
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After
3 nights in a creatureless cabin with air-con and TV
to celebrate pressing my new album, we returned to the
ants and spiders and 37 degree heat in the shack.
Then last night there was a thunderstorm and while the
rain poured in through the gaps in our tin roof, I played
guitar to a carpet snake in the sitting room who, clearly
unimpressed with my singing, buried itself firmly in
the woodpile.
Obviously snake-charming isn't my vocation. But these
are just the sort of life experiences I'd be missing
if I was back in London watching Big Brother, which
I will be in only 3 weeks time. Back to civilisation.
Ummmm... |
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Hallelujah
[19.11.06] |
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On
the radio they're playing Jeff Buckley's version of
'Hallelujah'. I think of the 824 takes or whatever it
took for his producer to put the vocal together. So
Jeff was a perfectionist? Ummmm… I thought I was
bad.
The good news… Little Bill the supermarket frog
came back home last night after weeks of absence. I
was sure Dudley must have eaten him, but there he was
sitting on top of the toilet cistern waiting patiently
for me to lift the lid so he could climb down into his
pipe. In case you're wondering, I am fully aware of
how ridiculous it is to be fond of a frog but I reckon
in life it's generally better to be sentimental than
indifferent.
The other good news… we've finished my new album.
It's called 'Keep Walking'. 12 songs mixed, mastered
and otherwise set in stone. We're packing up the shack
and heading off up the coast to Rainbow Beach for 3
days of pure, unadulterated luxury (air-con and TV!).
Can't wait.
Songs from the new album will be up soon…
Hope all's well in your world.
em xx |
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No
time for fear
[10.11.06] |
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I
will not pass away like a cloud
But die like a raindrop
Hitting the ground
And the truth is
I'm already falling
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Why
am I doing this?
[05.11.06] |
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Some
people love it. Some people spend half their lives in
recording studios. 428 anxiety attacks later and we're
half-way through mixing my second album and I'm wondering
why I didn't become an accountant. Ah, the joys of being
a perfectionist who isn't perfect!
Up in the top paddock Hugo and Mischief are oblivious.
They have the all-important fuck-it factor, essential
if you want to lead a happy and fulfilled life as an
overweight goat. Not that I want to be a goat - maybe
just a frog or a bird or something… |
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Dudley's
Return (another snake story)
[24.09.06] |
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Here
on our farm we have dogs and chickens and goats and
cows and - this being the Australian bush - a farm snake.
Dudley is a 6 or 7 foot long carpet snake formerly thought
of as gay until his girlfriend arrived on the scene
and lots of small Dudleys started appearing… all
of them christened Dudley's Daughter or Dudley's Grandson
depending on size and attitude.
Now personally I can deal far better with the hopping
spiders or hopping mice here (I guess the kangaroos
started it) than I can with a snake. I've been known
to hyperventilate in the Reptile House at London Zoo.
I couldn't watch the credits to 'Blackadder'. And no,
in case you're wondering, I don't give a shit what Freud
had to say about it. He was a very confused man with
an overactive imagination.
Anyway, last year Dudley was banished from the farm
for eating a chook (a chook – as opposed to a
chick - is a female with feathers). He couldn't very
well hide the evidence, there being a bloody great chook-shaped
lump in his body, and he was banished to the bush. All
his friends and relations moved in, but Dudley was nowhere
to be seen.
Until a few weeks ago when, armed with mop and bucket,
I was cleaning out the packaging room when I suddenly
realized I was standing a foot away from the biggest
snake I've ever seen, sliding up the wall. Considering
the circumstances I was extremely brave (squealed ohmigod,
dropped mop and bucket, and ran away). It turns out
Dudley has returned from exile. I hope the chooks are
keeping an eye out... |
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News
[06.09.06] |
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Aside
from telling you about frogs in shopping bags and
snakes under boxes, I thought I should let you know
I'm recording a new album (and making more goats cheese
- who says a singer-songwriter can't multi-task?).
I've been asked to play in The Borderline Singer-Songwriter
Festival in London next year so I'll be back in the
UK with my band for the last 2 weeks in January and
doing some other UK gigs then. If you want to know
when and where, you can join my mailing list at www.emilymaguire.com.
I'm also heading to New York for a couple of Manhattan
dates in the first week of February - my first gigs
in the USA. All support would be very welcome.
Hope all's well in your world.
em xx |
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A
frog story
[23.08.06] |
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Last
week I took a frog to the supermarket.
I'm standing there trying to look normal, as you do
at check-out counters and customs, and suddenly the
check-out lady shrieks and drops one of my recycled
shopping bags in horror. "A frog!!!" she yells
to the entire supermarket, hand clapped to her heart
as if she's about to keel over.
"A FROG???" I yell back, feigning shock and
surprise like I'm someone civilised who lives in a normal
house of bricks and mortar where frogs and other WILDLIFE
would never dare hop, step or slither (definitely not
a shack on a farm with walls made from potato sacks).
With the check-out lady and most of the customers watching,
I sheepishly wander off into the shopping mall to dispose
of it. "In a pot-plant", she helpfully suggests.
A pot-plant? Are you kidding? He's a small green sentient
being! How can I possibly leave him there to face certain
death in Nambour Plaza?
I came back to the counter and told the lady firmly
the frog was coming home with me. Where he lived very
happily for 3 days in the water tank with big brother
Bill (our resident bullfrog) before making a bid for
freedom onto the bathroom floor. Spring is here and
the snakes are waking up. I hope he finds a safe place
to hide.
...… actually a few days later (having failed
to find another suitable shopping bag?), he reappeared
in the tank where he's remained ever since happily hiding
in a pipe. We've christened him little Bill (I wasn't
feeling very inventive that day) and so far the Bills
seem to be tolerating each other. At least big Bill
hasn't eaten little Bill which is a good start for any
friendship. It's a brutal world out there in the bathroom... |
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Famous
last words
[09.07.06] |
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Empty
of creatures? This morning a pigeon walked in the door
of the shack. Being from London, I don't mind pigeons
as long as they're outside (preferably in Trafalgar
Square). But this one struts in like it owns the place,
wanders round the kitchen, shits, then into the sitting
room, shits, inspects the studio, shits, before making
bravely for the bathroom (as if it still needed the
toilet?).
It turns out to be a racing pigeon that got lost on
its way down to Brisbane. It's not impressed with my
sunflower seeds and its shit is bright green so maybe
it's used to being fed on pure steroids. Right now it's
been banished from the shack and is probably wandering
around outside trying to decide which way is south.
While preoccupied with the pigeon, we also discovered
today where the snakes are sleeping - or at least one...
right next to our bed, in exactly the same place it
was evicted from just before I left for London. Obviously
this is one stubborn python - at some point in the past
3 months it has climbed back up the hill (avoiding 5
dogs, countless crows and kookaburras), into the shack,
up the spiral staircase and back into bed under a cardboard
box on the sleeping platform.
For sheer determination and perseverance, we have decided
to allow it to stay. This is a fairly dramatic decision
considering I couldn't even look at snakes on TV before
I came to live in Australia and now I have one curled
up less than 4 feet from my bed. Ummmmm... it's dark
now. Ill let you know how it goes.
em xx |
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Back
in the shack
[07.07.06] |
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On
Tuesday morning I got on a plane at London Heathrow.
On Wednesday evening I arrived at Brisbane, Australia.
We drove north up the coastal highway then turned off
inland, driving up into the hills til we hit the dirt.
In the morning I opened my eyes. For the first time
in 3 months, instead of a dark, closed room with the
sound of tube trains and police sirens outside the window,
all I could see was sunlight pouring into the shack
and the sound of crows, butcher birds and our dogs barking
outside.
Hours later, jet-lag kicks in. All I want to do is watch
films, drink coffee and put off unpacking for as long
as possible. The shack is cold, covered in dust and
mouse-shit, and strangely empty of creatures: so far
I've seen only one ant, one cockroach, a black beetle
and no spiders at all except the spindly ones that don't
mind the cold in the bathroom. It's mid-winter here
in Australia. Bill the bullfrog is fast asleep in the
toilet cistern and the snakes are sleeping somewhere
else.
Apart from the sound of the birds, there is silence
in the valley. No cars, no sirens, no voices. Today
in London they held a 2-minute silence at noon. I feel
a million miles away. |
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End
of UK tour
[21.06.06] |
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I've
been meaning to write for ages but instead, after doing
18 gigs in 4 weeks in May 2006 (my first proper nationwide
UK tour), I've done sweet FA for the past 10 days. The
tour was a great success - lovely to see so many old
friends and new faces at the gigs... the support was
much appreciated.
Gig photos are up on my website. Ive also put together
a tour photo-diary from
31 days on the road with my Aussie bass player and drummer.
Next week I'll be on a plane back to Australia to sweep
out the shack, record the next album, book the next
UK tour and make some more goats cheese to pay for it
all. After 3 months away, I can't wait to get back home.
Some good news today... the first track from my next
album has been playlisted on our regional Australian
radio station ABC Coast FM. They've been playing my
songs since I first went to Australia 3 years ago and
started recording with producer Christian Dunham. This
is not because we bribe them with my goats cheese. Honest.
Hope all's well in your world.
em xx |
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Snake
story
[13.03.06] |
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If
I had a body like Salma Hayek, maybe I'd be happy to
adorn myself with a giant yellow python, but as it is
I can barely look at a snake on TV let alone live with
one.
You'd think a farm in the Australian bush might not
be the best place for a snake-phobic Londoner to live.
And I thought so too last week when our new shack-mate
decided to make her grand appearance at my birthday
dinner draped casually over the overhead light as if
she'd been resident for weeks. Especially when it turned
out that she HAD been resident for weeks, calmly shitting
all over the floor… and I've been blaming the
chooks (no I didn't know that snakes shit, did you?).
And goddammit, she's allegedly harmless so now I've
got no justification for being terrified, and to top
it all (remember this is my birthday) here is my very
calm and composed best friend Aki who tells me how lucky
I am to have the perfect-sized resident mouse-catcher
and how she wants one too to take home with her (oh
dear it's conveniently out of reach). Yes this is the
sort of people you meet in the Australian bush.
Anyway, I managed to get my head around it staying by
a) deciding it was female (dunno why but a girl snake
just doesn't seem so bad?) and b) by christening it.
Last year the farm had a 7ft resident carpet snake called
Dudley formally thought of as gay until lots of small
Dudleys started appearing, so we called our new shack-mate
'Dudley's Daughter' and I was beginning to think we
could be friends as long as she stayed exactly where
she was but then she disappeared… WHERE???
I'm leaving for London in 2 weeks… sirens and
traffic lights and brick walls and concrete and grey
skies and pissed nutters and junkies and snake-free
streets. Bring it on… |
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New
video
[20.02.06] |
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We
could have waited til a record company decided to spend
$100,000 on a video but fuck it, life's too short to
pay for record companies, so we made our own...
'The Real World' video
Thanks for watching - next time it'll be REALLY expensive
I promise.
Emily |
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Bach
or Bob Marley
[18.02.06] |
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If
I was stuck on a desert island with nothing but a stereo
and only one CD, it'd be a very hard choice to make
between Bach or Bob Marley. Both make me feel like everything's
alright in the world or even if it's not, that I can
deal with it anyway.
I watched this film the other night called 'What the
Bleep Do We Know" with all these eminent physicists
talking about quantum physics and how the mind can affect
reality - basically confirming Buddhist theories which
was nice to hear.
So when a brown snake appeared on top of the cooker,
I closed my eyes and tried very hard to think about
molecules and emptiness, but when I opened them it was
still there... I guess I wasn't thinking hard enough.
By the way, 'brown' isn't just a colour - 'brown' means
'Eastern Brown' or 'King Brown' either of which mean
get the fucking chopper out here if it bites you cos
you've got less than 1/2 hour to live.
Anyway, after that we had a plague of toads in the shack
and I was beginning to think a flat in Camden Town might
be a nice place to live, but then the stars came out
and I remembered you can't see the Milky Way from London.
And yesterday I recorded some guitar tracks for album
no.2 in our new, blue, live room which made me very
happy indeed. Shaktu Recording Studio is well and truly
born. I think I'll stay here for the time being...
Emily |
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Creatures
great and small
[04.02.06] |
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The
other day I discovered that ants can swim. Now I’m
sure I’m supposed to be telling you how I’ve
been hanging out with Craig David at the Met Bar and
recording in some Caribbean studio with Brian Eno, but
the reality is that right now I’m here on a farm
in the Australian bush and my major concern is avoiding
snakes in the grass and sharks in the sea (a girl got
eaten a few weeks ago just down the coast from here).
The walls of the shack I live in are made from recycled
potato sacks from the local shop (rendered if you want
to get all technical), the tin roof came from an old
post office in a neighbouring town, and 3 huge tree
trunks hold the whole thing up with a spiral staircase
in the middle leading up to a sleeping platform.
It was built by Christian Dunham - my partner, producer
and bass player. We call it Shaktu, it being shack no.2
on the farm. There’s no TV, rainwater for drinking,
a bathroom with a floor made from riverstones and resident
bullfrog in the toilet.
We like to think it’s our shack, but actually
we’re outnumbered a billion to one by other sentient
beings who also make a mess and pay no rent. Toads,
frogs, spiders, ants, geckos, dogs, chickens, bats and
the odd snake come and go as they please. The mice have
made a nest in the piano, with a second home in the
stereo for weekends. We also have a family of antichinas
– sort of pointy-nosed, hopping mice – who
enjoy running up and down walls squeaking and nicking
important pieces of paper for their nests (or for the
sheer fun of it?).
In the midst of this minefield of Mother Nature, we
run a recording studio and record label. Some days –
like today – when it’s 100 degrees in the
shade, I think we’d do better running a sauna.
Other days, I look out at the wooded hills that surround
us and think – yes, maybe I wouldn’t run
the risk of stepping on a king brown snake on Oxford
Street, but fuck it, this is the Garden of Eden after
all.
If I bump into Craig David in London, I’ll be
sure to let you know.
Emily |
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Recording,
domesticating and people I love
[30.01.06] |
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It’s
Monday in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and the sun’s
going down on another day of my attempt to become a
domestic goddess… the shack is gleaming clean
(bar about a billion ants and several hundred exceptionally
stubborn spiders), and I’ve spent the day since
dawn transforming 300 litres of goats milk into the
best feta cheese in Australia (yes I’m quietly
confident as you can tell!).
All this after spending the weekend getting rather over-excited
in the studio recording the rhythm tracks for album
no.2 with the genius of bass player/producer Christian,
drummer Shane and sound-engineer Pix. Ummmm, that was
the easy bit… I'll keep you posted on progress.
It’s dark now and time for bangers and mash (do
you say that in the States?) so my last thought of the
day goes to my very small niece Joanna, who has just
had her first birthday, and is 18,000 miles away in
Bristol, England. I miss her loads and her mother even
more so – can’t wait to see them when I
go back for my third UK tour in May.
If you're just waking up in the northern hemisphere,
have a nice day.
Emily |
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Songwriting
and staying sane...
[14.01.06] |
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Today
was a good day. It started off badly when I discovered
the decomposing body of a bandicoot under the couch
(yes, complete with maggots and ants) and a dead frog
behind the toilet, but then the sun came out and I wrote
a new song.
Now I’m sure there’s writers out there that
can bang out songs 7 days a week but my muse seems to
be a bit more erratic – in 1998 I wrote about
50 songs, last year I wrote 2. I still don’t know
why but I’m learning to relax about it. Maybe
it’s staying sane… someone said to me recently
you need to learn how to be safe but out of control.
That makes me think of that fine line between being
a genius on the pool-table and being too pissed to see
the ball. Bit like songwriting really, if you know what
I mean. Anyway, it’s a new day now and I still
like the new song so you never know, you might just
hear it on my next album.
Hope the sun’s shining in your world too.
Emily |
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Parrots
and daiquiris
[08.01.06] |
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As
usual, it being summer here in Oz, it's been boiling
hot so I spent Christmas in a creek and New Year at
Woodford Folk Festival drinking gallons of water and
my first, second and third daiquiri (one of my many
New Year's resolutions is not to drink daiquiris in
105 degree heat much as I might think it a good idea
at the time).
Now it's back to reality, and back to the shack to finish
the video for 'The Real World' and start work on my
second album, that's if I can hear myself above the
racket in the trees outside - it's lychees season and
about a hundred parrots are out there stuffing themselves
morning, noon and night...
Wishing you a very happy new year.
Emily.
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