11 Years

It's incredible that it's been eleven years since I blogged. Very strange, how bizarre?

Once I was a musician, then I became an actor, now I'ave became a painter.

Interesting, very strange, yet it all seems quite natural.

Funny, as I became an artist I completely stopped music. I changed. 

I had sudenly lost all interest in the things I loved the most.

I stopped playing piano, I stopped playing guitar, and I even stopped writing songs.

I needed to paint, and paint and paint, and paint some more. 

Was I trying to play catch up between Art and Music? Hell no.

There was a new me being born...

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Road Dogs

There I was, on the road, in a 10 - piece multi-racial, Top 40 funk band.

Fresh out of 1st year music college.

Gigging was fun, gigging was addictive. 

It was "summetime and the living was easy", even the ugly musicians got laid every night.

Most musicians loved it and so did I. 

But I could see my future, and it wasn't looking pretty.

Life was unsafe sex, hard drugs and that good ole fashion rock n roll.

By the time we reached Montreal, after driving 5 hours from Toronto,

 it was obvious the drummer was an alcoholic.

I had to get out of there, I had to get back home.

 Unlike the other musicians, I was determined that going forward, I needed to play my own music.

But first we had to get away from the groupies...

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A L 101 (Acoustik Love Vol 2)

It was live, it was all the way live. I was singing and playing, with the best musicians. 

Anything could happen. I might notice someone playing Violin in the audience and call them onstage. 

 There was the night Jeff Burke (Bassoon) walks in, just as I'm about to start my set.

 We never knew what would happen next? And it was Pure Magic.

Life on the edge in the element of surprise. And everything we play, is sheer perfection... 

 

On stage, playing Piano / Guitar while singing, I felt right at home. 

 Inside I might be consciously focused on the usual, things like:

 

not forgetting the words, is the microphone close / loud enough? 

 is my guitar in tune? etc... 

 But none of that really matters when you're in good company.

In my case I was supported by the best of the best. 

 The core group was: 

Leh-lo Tony Rabalow on Drums, Roger Williams on Bass, Tom Mckay on Guitar,

Dave (Soulfingerz) Williams on Keyboards. 

 Oh yeah, back story: 

except for Tom, me and the boys used to hang out at the gym after school,

We played in a funk band back in the day.

 During the 1st year Music Program at Humber College. 

 That summer I went on the road with a Top 40 and never looked back. 

I hated school. I didn't want to learn what they were teaching.

 I couldn't be a Machine...

I

 

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Acoustik Love Volume 1

After Electrik Sex Musik I was burnt out, the last thing I felt like doing was promotion... I needed to do something new. One day on Queen St west I ran into Roger Williams (bass player). Roger told me Tony (Leh-lo) Rabalow (drummer) was hosting an open mike at the Cameron House. I decided I would go and try out some new songs, I would sing them while playing guitar or piano just to see what worked. Most of the time when I went on stage, at some point other musicians would just join in. There were no rehearsals just spontaneous jamming, there was no way to predict what would happen. In hindsight, this was the best thing that could have happened. Fortunately I got the idea to pay the Soundman to burn a CD of each performance. Musicians would literally walk in off the streets, like what I was doing and join in. There was no way I could have planned this. This was life on the edge, there was no telling what could happen? https://fineartamerica.com/featured/julie-anderson-stormm-bradshaw.html

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Electrik Sex Musik

Electrik Sex Musik was my first album. It was to be my calling card, or so I though? Over the course of several years, on my days off from being an Extra and sometimes Actor in TV Film and Commercials. I would ride my bike across town, to Soundproof Studios at The Beaches (Queen & Victoria Park). Mainly I began by tranfering the basic tracks I had recorded / sequenced on my Ensonique ESQ 1 (synthesizer keyboard), and Kawai R50 (drum machine), into Logic Audio. Then I would record all the instruments: guitars, bass, keyboards etc.. singing all the vocals harmonies. It was a labour of love. Just me and the engineer / studio owner Stefan. The process: lay down the basic track, get a recording, go home smoke some weed listen to what I had, adding the parts I heard until each song felt complete. Once I reached 11 songs I decided the album was done. What I learned was the art of imperfection: whenever I got to the point where one - three changes were necessary to make a song sound perfect, that's when it was time to I stop. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sam-cooke-stormm-bradshaw.html celebrity pop paintings

Back In The Game

It's been a while, like 10 years. Took some time out to paint. Now I'm back in the blogging game... Sometimes one has to stop the routine in order to grow. Where did I go? What did I do? In time all will be revealed. For now I will be learning how to navigate this site. So much has happened, so many tales to tell. What more can I say. I bid thee WELCOME... https://fineartamerica.com/featured/fela-stormm-bradshaw.html musician paintings