swimming against the tide
Here are a couple of very different musicians -one famous, one not so famous. But they have both vexed and shocked the music industry by 1) occaisionaly being outstandingly brilliant in their craft ... 2) scaring the whoopsies out of the major record labels by choosing to sing songs about matters that do not exploit either their sexuality, the 'mating game' ,involve the illicit use of drugs or support the standard 'crash and burn' pop or 'rock and roll' lifestyles.
...and 3) making their former industry financial backers and promoters wet themselves in blind fear and panic by choosing to sing songs about personal freindships with a 2000 year old Judean hero who happens to be still alive (despite a 1,500 year media smear campaign caused mostly by by religious bigots who twisted his words in their own desperate attempts to control -through man made rules and hypocrisy -an uncontrolable god and anyone trying to find him.... but, as CS Lewis often used to covertly say of him in his Narnian childrens books "He's not a tame lion", and he often turns up in the most unlikeliest of places as you'll soon see).
These musicians deliberately swam against the current and are beating the odds by proving to be exceptionaly strong swimmers.
The first candidate for our 'swimming against the tide and surviving award' is UK musician Chris Wickland. Our paths have crossed a number of times in the last twenty years -we first met while working together briefly in 1990 when he was a teenager with a musical dream and a passion for 'the real Jesus', I was in my early twenties with an identical dream and passion though my musical gifting was more geared towards the lyrics than the guitar. We bumped into each other again in 97 as he was preparing himself to go 'full time' with his music career though this time we both had wives and young children and while my songwriting days were put on the backburner Chris' accelerated, recording and producing under his own name and under his band name Metamorphic. I had the pleasure of witnessing (and acting as a stand in roadie for ) one of his early solo concerts at a school hall in hampshire one night and was realy impresssed by his professionalism - his batch of songs on that particular tour were more pop than rock and though the vocals on his studio mix lacked the vocal power and energy so evident in all his live sets what realy shocked me then was his seemingly new found ability to dance like a pro , keep perfect time and hold his vocal notes while squeezing out complex guitar solo's all at the same time. He had transformed from a teenage dreamer into a seasoned pro and his talents as a lead guitarist have made him a highly sought after commodity in the last decade.Chris has just recently returned to the UK after recording a long awaited new album in the States , we've offered a mostly instumental portion (-to avoid sudden culture shock and heart failure) from his previous works to test out your speakers with our 'jukebox' above. So up the volume, press play and watch those record giants run!
Chris Wicklands previous websites are in the process of being brought down, re edited and refurbished. Chris is currently in between projects so for future tour info and bookings you can contact Chris direct via email at: metamorphicproductions@hotmail.co.uk
Hopefully, there should a major announcement soon disclosing some of his 'future plans' - apparently it may even include an exclusively non-exclusive multi million pound distribution deal with an exclusively non exclusive website famous for it's Swimming and Originalty awards... So stay tuned to follow Chris career with a new update to our Swmming Against The Tide Awards due for 2008 .
'Its been seven years and fourteen days' since I last listened to our female contenders cds and this Irish industry rebel is no stranger to controversy . The media made her out to be a villain after she burned an American flag on stage a few years ago -which was nothing compared to what Paul Huson (Bono) once did to one fans Irish Tricolour when he misinterpereted Sunday Bloody Sunday as a 'Rebel song' (Bono grabbed the fans flag and asked him what he saw, when the fan answered "green, white and gold" Bono's enraged response was "all I see is fe@*^@g red!"..... and so did the flag once rammed up the appropriate oriface.There is a moral attatched to these controversial tales somewhere but I can't remember if it was in the first ammendment or the first commandment...)
I bought her first three cds (and just like U2s first three cd's her lyrics were full of hidden references to and quotes by shh...'you know who' ) but then lost track of her career after the 'Emporers new clothes' faded from the charts.Well guess what!.. she is just about to release a new double cd with plugged and unplugged versions of new songs recorded in London and Dublin with some truly briliant, beautifull ,moving and propheticaly inspired songs which will surely drive the worlds modern day religeous and political hypocrits and pharisee's absolutely nuts! Former record bosses and collegues begged her not to do it but we think this new collection is destined for success despite having been heavily inspired by biblical prophets.
Yet despite the albums prophetic nature it is not 'religeous' or overtly judgmental, but it is very 'Poetic' and does give a slightly more intelectual window into what - as Chris Wickland might say "is just a living faith".And just in case you still haven't guessed her identity.... Its Sinead O'Connor.We've included two tracks from her forthcoming CD -' Isaiah, if you planted a vinyard' -a brilliant adaptation of Gods pleas to Judah and Jerusalem with a fantastic modern age twist on their identities set to make grown Israeli and Palestinian men cry . The second track by Sinead is entitled 'Jeremiah, Something Beautiful' - and it is.
We highly recomend the new CD due out world wide by the end of June 2007, and.... if you want to cry some more then check out the new videos on her official website with links to more samples on her 'MySpace' site..
Mairtin O'Riain June 2007
