Tina Boonstra posted on December 20, 2011 11:31
I caught up with London based singer songwriter, Shane Beales after his acoustic gig in Liverpool last week, where he performed his new album to an excited crowd rammed into a tiny cafe, heres what he had to say.
How are you finding performing Tel Aviv?
With other stuff I've done, I've written a song and then recorded it, it was complete way before the recording stage. Tel Aviv was written as I was recording, so sometimes it wasn’t completely obvious how to approach these songs live. I discovered them live for the first time along with everyone else at my album launch and then acoustically in the gig I did in Liverpool.
What gigs do you have planned for the new year?
I'm playing with Hannah Atkins in Manchester supporting her album launch on the 15th of February at the Band on the Wall, then I'm in Birmingham and Bristol after that.
What are your favourite gig venues in London?
Zigfrid Von Underbelly, where I did my album launch have a great night called Folk and Dagger, The Bedford and The Regal Room also have great songwriters showcases.
Do you remember the first gig you ever went to?
I remember falling asleep at a Cliff Richard concert in Perth, I was really young. It was just a late night, sorry Cliff.
What music is influencing you at the moment, who are you listening to?
Bon Iver's self titled album is definitely my album of the year, The National's last two albums, High Violet and The Boxer are also great.
What's been the highlight of this year for you?
Tel Aviv is definitely the highlight for me, being in London is hard work, but to get something finished that I'm proud of feels great, oh and performing New year on New years day, that felt great too.
Well that’s all for this year then, I'll be posting again once we've all recovered from Christmas and new year. In case you were wondering, I did ask Shane what would he'd be doing if he wasn’t pursuing music, it led to a very strange conversation about a parallel universe where he'd embody all his wife's characteristics, bizarre. Anyway, check out Shane Beales' new album at www.shanebeales.com its fifteen minutes long, so blink and you'll miss it; but I'll leave you with this video, watch it now, or on new years day, or both.