Wingy Blog

Well, It has been quite exciting the last couple of weeks.

Had this major promotion spree going on, which was quite fun.
And needed in the run up to the FULL CD.
I only have one song to re-record so to send to the guitarist I’m doing the song with (so yes, something special, he’s all the way from Sweden). 2 songs left for me to edit, rest is at studio so the progress is quite okay.

Anyway, so now to show you people the most important things about the promotion that happened.
I hope I don’t miss out any stuff myself, ha ha.

It started with massive spam on twitter by about 15 companies / business things, etc, with a link to my iTunes.

A press-release article
http://seenation.com/view_full_news_details.php?newsid=391399

Also had gotten an interview, and also the feature of the month!
http://www.socialsoundstage.com/wingy.php

Two promotion video’s made for me, I have uploaded them on my Youtube but shall post in here

Had to have a photoshoot too, can be seen on my Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wingy/53215482578#!/album.php?aid=299954&id=53215482578

Also, now on the mainpage of SocialSoundstage as well, with the phrase ‘belgian finest’

And also made it again on Nr 2. on Jango Airplay, last week
http://jangoairplay.blogspot.com/

Thus all is pretty well,
And make sure to follow my twitter or Facebook to keep up to date on the Full CD…Hopefully to be there by the summer holidays!

Best wishes!
Wingy

Well, first things first, HAPPY NEWYEAR everyone!

Here is the picture of the card we used for Christmas this year!

Aslan – Christmas Time 3 by ~MiekeV on deviantART

This is Aslan, a new addition to our family. The people where I go horse-riding had found this little stray one, and we gave him a home (our Puchiko had died the week before. :()…So yes, I love him, and now he’s showing off his dashing (and silliness) on this years cards.

Anyway, it seemed like yesterday I’ve written in this blog, last year, to wish you lot a Happy Newyear and all.
And now a year has gone by and I am doing it again.

Last year I had promised there was a Full CD on its way…It is -not- a lie, it just had some ups and downs, and bumps along the road…Some heavy pits where I’ve gotten stuck in. You know, when bad luck strikes, it never comes alone.

After my unfortunate luck to spend my time mostly in the hospital from February to May, I had some months recovery after as well. And by the time I could get back on track, another unfortunate thing came.
The studio had no more time because of other projects so I had to wait for several months.
Then also struggling with finding a way to live on my own, etc, etc…It has been busy, yes…Anyway

But now we’re both free and it we’ve started again. I have also designed the cover in sketch already.
I have only a few more songs to record here at home then to forward it to the studio, but in the meanwhile he’s busy there, so…yup, hopefully it should be there in a couple of months, or some more…Hopefully within half a year!

All the bad luck aside, there has been some good luck though.
My Bloodwings EP finally hit it off after these two years and I’m doing well on Jango Airplay for example.
About a month ago I even was on Nr #2, that week…

Here is a link to their blog where you can see me mentioned as well, like in the newsletter and on their homepage, etc…
(I must say I was thrilled, been ages I felt that excited).

http://jangoairplay.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

I also been requested to make an intro and an outro for the Daeva Podcast. Sadly enough by the time I finished it the podcast came to an end, but the songs remained.
That is why that I have posted it on youtube to share it with you all.

May you enjoy this, and the other things, while I’m on my journey again with my full CD.
I shall try to keep you all more up to date, and definitely keep an eye on my twitter!

Best of Wishes!
Wingy

To liven up the blog a bit, I am posting an article that I had written for this online magazine.
Sadly enough the project came to an end, and the site also been hacked…Thus I am reposting it here.

The Youth

These days, music has many genres…
These days, music is all about the pop, the rock, the beats, and the drums.
These days, music is mostly about the hypes and the fame…
But these days, many forget where all these styles came from…

Classical music, among these modern genres, is a genre that is forgotten, mocked, and especially amongst youngsters…
But even in these contemporary styles, the classical influence is never far away, many just don’t realize it.

I remember when I still went to the music academy, about 6 years ago, I took a class in “music history”, I loved yet hated that class, why you ask? I loved the thought of the lessons we’d get, and learn about the instruments and their sounds, the uses of them. Learn about the composers, and their works.
Why did I hate it? Because the majority of the class did’t respect any of it at all. Most students were kids who were learning the drums, or guitar, to play in bands…Very few played instruments like I did, the piano or violin.
They laughed and joked about, annoyed others, and so on. The teachers, well, I must say, we had a lot of new ones. And they never really taught us much of anything.
We used to watch movies, that kind of brought in the “classical” element, like ‘Peter and the Wolf’, or ‘Brassed Off’, with Ewan McGregor. Yup, all about the history of music…

Of course, being that type of ‘kid’ wasn’t popular in regular schools either. I exclusively listened to classical music until I was about the age of 14. I was mocked in class there as well, because I for example didn’t know who ‘Shakira’ was at the time. It was then that I went to search around on the internet, looking up the modern artists, and finding many not so hyped ones. Oh, what discoveries I made…

Maybe those kids should’ve learned how today’s music came to be thanks to classical music. “Gods”… Maybe they should have done some research as well. Sometimes the old is mixed with the new, or the new with the old, I find these fusions to be very interesting.

Classical music in modern arranges

Let’s take one of the most well known composers, Beethoven for example.
Everyone knows his stuff, and everyone uses his music. His most used compositions like his fifth symphony, or the Mondschein Sonate. Where would we be without the motifs of those three songs? Many movies, series and commercials owe part of their success to the usage of those.
Remember the artist ‘Thicke?’ He had this catchy song that was a massive hit, called ‘When I get you alone’. And yes, it rides on our Beethoven’s fame, using his fifth symphony.

We also of course have composers like J.S.Bach, my personal favorite. Songs like his Toccata have given life to ‘scary’ moments in movies and the likes for quite some time now. Just grab a good heavy sounding organ and play the beginning and a shiver comes down your spine.

Those composers were often ahead on their time.
And we can’t forget another famous name either, Mozart!
He was a young talent, and died young, writing his famous Requiem on his deathbed. You could perhaps check out part 7 of it, I find it sounds very modern!

Another nice example on how you can mix classical with modern, probably a rather unknown group called Qntal, has a song named ‘Remember Me’, carrying the song ‘Dido’s Lament’ from the composer Purcell.

Modern Goes Classical

Also what we find these days is that many contemporary songs go opera, or that opera turns modern.
Best example is Nightwish with their now former singer, Tarja Tururen. One of the most famous opera singers of Finland also used to be the face of one of Finland’s most well known metal groups.

Metal and opera are a very nice combination, or how about metal and techno? Just have a listen to Snakeskin’s song Etterna.
If you are looking for something nice with a male vocal you might want to have a look at Vittorio Grigolo, In the hands of Love.
Or perhaps you could check out the composer Yuki Kajiura, she has many rapid beat songs, but with classical singing, like one of my favourite songs ever, ‘Salva Nos’, and particularly the Fiction version.

And some others? Well, they make their own mixture, the best example of what I’m getting at is, is of the Italian metal group Rhapsody, they have this awesome battle raging of classical instruments against the electric guitar, in Sacred Power of Raging Winds. It almost feels like you stepped inside some epic musical. If you do decide to check it out, definitely wait until you are six minutes into the song for the impressive flute and guitar parts.

Now lastly, I’m sure everyone likes soundtracks.
It comes down to classical music quite a lot. But if you are looking for some clearly classical inspired ones, you might want to check out the soundtracks of films like, ‘The Piano’, or ‘Pride & Prejudice’…

See?…It is all closer than you think.
So don’t be shy and admit, classical ‘ftw’ (aka, for the win).

Hello all,

I had promised to write another blog, while you all are still so nicely waiting for any progress.
I must say I was planning to do more, but in the end I just took some time to catch up on those long lost 3 months when I was seriously ill.
I also needed some time to recover and build up my strength again by a program started in the hospital, which is now continued by a chiropractor here near me.

And besides, summer months are holiday months, I suppose everyone is lazying about a bit.

But now that silence returns back at home, (dad gone back to work), I hope to get working properly again.
Must try not to get side-tracked by my new kitten Aslan though…He’s a little bundle of energy and when he is playing about you can not get done much either!
I could learn him to photoshop perhaps…He has been keeping me good company when I have been playing my MMO games…He loves Aion as much as I do I think!

Anyway, since I can’t really say much yet about the progress of the CD…besides that I’ll be back recording soon and that I have especially purchased Premium Adobe CS5. So that I could use Photoshop CS5 for the goodness of the cover and the booklett. Oh, and also, there will be a guest guitarist involved probably, one from Sweden, but so far keeping you all in the dark on his name! Hah!

So, now, I’ll just do some random babbles…that’ll go about the title…

What makes an artist?

Why do I want to talk about it? Well, since a few things happened, and when you look around you, there are some fakes and not so fakes…OH, dangerous topic.

Well, recently for starters, a girl that found me on twitter, noticed I was an ‘artist’, or ‘musician’.
She asked me, ‘are you famous…’
I replied, ‘I’m famous to the ones who want me to be, but what matters is just the music I make’.

Why is it important to be famous? I mean yes, you are famous to the ones who like your stuff perhaps, we need the people who appreciate what you make, to keep on going.
If I had noone interested in my music, I would not even dare to start to work on a Full CD.

But lately it is more about the style or the hype than the music you make.
I’m going to get shot here now, but Justin Bieber…Can you call him an artist? I’m not sure…He just sings about la la la love in a cheesy way, dances about girls way too old for him…He does not have a rough male voice yet…He’s just popular…Though I dare to bet it’ll be hard on him when his voice starts to change (ouch).

In my opinion, real artists are the ones that live by their lives experience, by the misery, by the happiness. They create their things on their feelings.
Me?…For me it is convenient often to have my ‘depressing’ moments…I write my music better when miserable, how bad it sounds. I draw more as well, when I feel down…
But also when you are out and about, small things can light up that spark and make you work on something.
Now those are the ones, that are true artists…The ones that create by emotion.

I’d never could imagine to go singing, when my heart wouldn’t be on the right place…When I just want to sing to be in the spotlights, I’d not start or quit…
I must say I love what I choose to do…I can express myself, share things with others…It is a lovely feeling.

And that, is what an artist is…Inspired by life!

For now I will end this blog entry…Hopefully I can write another one soon, but with more updates on how things progress.
Definitely keep an eye on my Facebook page or my twitter account to be more in the loop!

Cheers!
Wingy

P.S. And here’s a vid to keep you all occupied a bit

Hey everyone,

Things haven’t been silent, though maybe they have been a little bit.
I suppose it is how you look at it.

First I’d like to say I’m still trying to find that press-picture about that movie of Keerbergen.
The paper isn’t responding, so I tried another contact form today, so let us hope it works, no?
I’m really curious after the article, and especially the picture!

Now, works have been going quite good on the Full CD too.
3 songs are in and being re-arranged at the studio, and 2 are there for mixing and editing.
And there is a song that will be made in co-operation with a guitarist (keeping him secret for now, cause I can!), and he’s currently working on it too.
I’m curious on the result though, I have no idea on how that’ll turn out. Keeps me well excited!

Sadly enough my work has come a bit to a stop, due to un-foreseen health problems that got me in the hospital a few times.
I was supposed to be standing in the studio this month, singing my heart out to record some vocals already!
So you can imagine how annoyed I am to having to post-pone it! Cause I just adore studio-time…But, gotta be patient!
So I hope to be recovered quickly (once they figure out what is going on)…

Well, though have to admit, now with me not being able to do the proper CD work, as the recording of the vocals, or the left-over tracks, I’m trying to keep things running a bit.

Not only those others are working on the CD, there is also a new site on the way, which will be looking much more professional.
Might be a while still, but something to look forward to I suppose?

And on suggestions and questioning there will be, and hopefully soon, a Wingy merchandise store…
You’ll be able to buy a t-shirt and such of Bloodwings…If it is there, I’ll notify all you lovely people for sure!

So don’t despair, things are still very much alive!
Thus, keep an eye out!

Best of wishes to all!
~Wingy~

Hello everyone,

Thought to write up a little post, just so I can wish you all a Merry Christmas!
And of course already a Happy New Year as well!
I hope you all enjoy your time, with joy and laughter.
That you may have good times with your family, and may you have lots of love!

Let us all of course remember that Christmas is not all about family, gifts and such…
But let us also remember the original meaning of it, the birth of Jesus.

And I bet some of you will also enjoy a white Christmas!
Here in Belgium it will be so at any rate!! The snow has not yet disappeared…
And maybe it might even snow more, but not sure if that snow will stay put though…We’ll have to wait and see!

Also I recorded in some spare time, my Christmas song for you all!
(You can read the lyrics on the youtube page of the video)
So with this…I’m ending my post!

Happy Holidays!