hi, sinead here. i've been silent for a while so i thought i should let you know whats been going on and what i think i will be doing over the next while. some of you probably know i have been doing a small number of acoustic shows during the summer. like last year, i have been playing with steve cooney (gtrs) and kieran kiely (gtr, kybds, whistle, flute) and we have really really enjoyed ourselves. some of the venues have been really beautiful and this weekend just gone (aug 15/16/17) i was in holland, firstly, for the pinkpop classic gathering, followed by a show in the paradiso in amsterdam. next night we were in antwerp at a beautiful open air arena in a park in the suburbs and it was a kind of magical evening. for a change, i did a solo version of the old song 'troy', with me playing electric guitar, in amsterdam and antwerp and it seemed to go down well. funny thing is that troy was the first ever hit that i had when it was released as a single in holland in, i think, 1987. as far as i remember it got to no 3 in the charts at the time which was amazing cos the song was about six minutes long. the song always seemed to have a special connection with the netherlands and certainly in amsterdam and also in belgium the following night the audiences reacted really well when i played it.
there is just one more show to do and that is in grief en see in switzerland on sept. 4. in some ways i will be sorry but i also want to spend plenty of time with my children, like i did during the summer, cos they will be starting back at school in early september. i did a vocal last week in a studio in dublin for a re recording of my song this is to mother you. the idea came up cos i was approached by the gems charity organisation in new york which concentrates on helping and supporting young girls in nth america who have become the victims of child trafficking, especially for sexual purposes. gems helps to rescue the girls, provides safe homes for them, arranges counselling to help them take control of their traumatic experiences and helps them with education and training opportunities. it also provides programmes to enable law enforcement people to reach a greater understanding of the victims of child trafficking. anyway, the gems people thought this is to mother you would be a particularly appropriate song to musically spearhead a campaign to raise awareness, and funds, for their work. they were also interested in two other vocalists being on the track so we suggested mary j blige and santigold as collaborators and, thankfully, both were really enthusiastic and will be doing their vocals in new york in the next couple of weeks. the new version of the song is produced by doc mckinney and ali shaheed from tribe called quest. i think it sounds great. keep an eye out for news about when it will be available for download.
what else; i have been writing and co writing and demoing new songs and i am really anxious to get on with making the next record. a few people have heard some of the demos and seem to be very excited about them, maybe in the next couple of months we might make two or three of them available for streaming on the site. anyway, i am hoping the record will be made and mixed by the end of this year, at the latest, and that way we will be able to get it out on sale, download and physical, sometime in spring of 2010. and who knows, at that time and afterwards, i might be out on tour with a full band doing electric and acoustic stuff.
i am also going through some recordings from the live sets i have been doing during the summer and i will probably have a couple of those things up on the website for streaming and/or download over the next couple of weeks. i know everybody likes to hear 'extra' bits and pieces so i am going to try to have stuff flowing through the site over the next while.
once again, thank you all for your support and interest in what i do, i enjoyed all the shows during the summer, i am excited to be on the verge of recording new material and i just hope that everybody will like it. look after yourselves.