Some Hearts are out to kill...

 
Hey everybody!

It's January 31st, the first new song I've recorded in a while is out now. 

It's called "Some Hearts" and you'll find it on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Spotify and many other online retailers. 

Here are the links: 

iTunes 
Amazon.com 
Amazon.de 


The song was the first one I wrote for this album. It goes like this: 


Look out darling, there's a new heart in town 
It seems to like to drag the other ones around 
Take a warning from a good, old friend 
I've been there before, I know how this ens 

The sun will rise each new day and its light is on you still 
But listen to my words now: Some hearts are out to kill 
Yes some of them are loaded guns, set to fire at will 
So take a close look at our own heart - some hearts are out to kill 

Come on baby, let me hear your voice 
Now don't play games - you've got a choice 
Darkness hides in every other smile 
And don't you wanna walk another mile? 

The sun will rise each new day and its light is on you still 
But listen to my words now: Some hearts are out to kill 
Yes some of them are loaded guns, set to fire at will 
So take a close look at our own heart - some hearts are out to kill 

And wouldn't it be a shame to watch you burn? 
Yeah here's another lesson you must learn 
Things like trust just have to be well earned 

The sun will rise each new day and its light is on you still 
But listen to my words now: Some hearts are out to kill 
Yes some of them are loaded guns, set to fire at will 
So take a close look at our own heart - some hearts are out to kill


Sure hope you enjoy it! 

Dani Arrow

More News From Nowhere

The end of January is almost here, we're heading into the coldest part of the year right now. At least in Germany. The snow doesn't look like it's going to go away for another while. I wasn't gonna write another one of these blog entries 'til February but then I came down with a cold a few days ago and wasn't able to do anything really. No training, no singing, no clear head for writing. It's slowly getting better and I'm drinking a lot of tea right now. Usually green tea with ginger and lemon in the morning and fennel-camomile tea with honey in the evening. Or peppermint. I love herbal tea. There's so much good the earth gives us and I truly believe in the healing powers of herbs. Still I'd rather be somewhere warmer than here right now. Florida maybe. Yesterday, a friend from Florida told me there was an alligator sitting in the pond outside the house so all the dogs and children have to stay inside the house until they figure out what to do. It's not the first time for them that something like that happens, probably not the last. So they're getting the ropes and guns ready.

I didn't watch the Grammys last night. Didn't want to. I figure that looking at the artists nominated and the ones who won these awards over the last few years, it's very much like awarding the artists who made the most money which has nothing to with artistic integrity or good music. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that anyone nominated or winning a grammy has no artistic integrity or good songs, but I am saying that it's not what's being recoginzed at the Grammys. So they shroud the commercial ceremony in appearances by legendary performers to cover it up and make it look like the most meaningful event. Oh well... 

I'll be going back to Hamburg at the end of March. I took a liking to that city. The Pretty Reckless will be playing there around that time, so I might go see them. Taylor Momsen, she's interesting. Taylor Swift is playing in Berlin in 2 weeks. Looks like if you're a young, blonde singer named Taylor, now's your time. ;-) Princess Victoria of Sweden will be in Hamburg soon too. So was Obamas sister. It seems to be the place to be. There's something happening there. I'll figure out what we're into. 

I was passing by a demonstration the other day, I think it was workers wanting more money. I heard two of them talking about a third ones clothes. He was coming to demonstrate in a suit, straight from work I guess. They weren't too happy. Apparently you can only demonstrate looking like you don't have much of anything. And don't miss the keffiyeh. I can't believe some people are actually spending money for clothes that make them look like activists or protesters and then demonstrate 'cause they're not having enough money. What's wrong with you?
I'm following the demonstrations in Kyiv on TV. There's an update every morning. Apparently, last night the protesters cleaned up a government hall in the city center, forcing out the cops who were in it. They want the President to resign. Ex professional boxer Vitali Klitschko is involved too. I heard him say he's ashamed of the corruption and the lies. I'm not there, but from what I hear this feels like the people taking back the power, which hasn't happened anywhere for a long time. That's why this is interesting to me. I hope the good guys will win, and I think Klitschko is a smart guy who's doing the right thing. speaking of boxing, I was recently reading Mike Tyson's biography. It's really an impressive story. I'm not much of a fan of wither Tyson or boxing, but I enjoy reading stories that life wrote. I'm reading a lot of biographies. Just recently finished one on Nick Drake which was quite good, though I wished he had written one himself. Such an interesting guy and great writer! Right now I'm reading "Sentimental Education" by Gustave Flaubert. No one else describes Love this way. I was shocked to recognize myself between these lines now and then, and I'm still figuring out what that means.

 

About music, I've got all the songs I need by now. And a new Martin guitar. Recorded all of them as acoustic demos, now I'm trying to figure out what each song needs. Some piano, maybe bass, maybe cello or violin. It's hard deciding, so it'll take a while before the album's finished. Some song titles: Boneyard, Shadows & Lights, Some Hearts, And Then The Night, Wayward Wind, Trouble, Summer's Gone, Dead End Road...
Soon as I got the recording done I'll be out to play some gigs in and around Germany. I'm looking forward to that, 'cause it feels like I haven't played in forever. 

Alright then, take care everyone! 

Dani A.

It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.

A Marilyn Monroe quote, up there.Or how about this one: "The radio makes hideous sounds!"?
Bob Dylan said that.

"Some Hearts", my new song, can be heard on Hamburg's local radio's folk show on sundays on UKW 96,0 from next week on. Also, internationally, the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation will add it to their folk and singer/songwriter shows which are broadcast in Australia and Canada from next week on. The guys at Folkalley Radio also got a copy, though I'm not sure when they'll play it. Anyway, I'm glad for everyone's support! Thanks a lot.

The song was the first one I wrote for this new album I'm working on. The first full-length album to be released. I've written a lot of other songs and thought about albums in the past, but I never felt completely satisfied with what I had. This time I feel like all those songs have their reason to be there, and I enjoy playing every single one of them a lot. 

It should be on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Spotify and whatnot on January 31st 2014!

That's a Vincent Black Lighning, 1952. Here's some songs to listen to this weekend: 


Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lighning

Willy Mason - Oxygen

Battleme - Hey Hey, My My

Glen Hansard - Bird Of Sorrow

Dave Matthews - Gravedigger

John Lennon McCullagh - North South Divide

Tom Petty - You Don't Know How It Feels

Rodriguez - I Wonder



Have a great weekend everyone! 


Dani A.

2014 - Year Of The Horse

Christmas has been sort of rough. I'll admit I don't like it very much. It's nice to see the family and eat and chat a little, but on Christmas it all seems so forced. Like I'm expected to be all cheerful. Well I'm not, not all the time anyway. Full Moon in two days, and I'm not sleeping well right now. Strange and confusing dreams about the past. Who knows. I think when we're past Full Moon, it'll change. It usually does. This may sound like a negative start for a Blog, but I'm actually feeling quite good. I've felt focused and in good shape for a while, probably as a result of picking up the Aikido training again (I've let it slide in December, too much sh*t to get done). So here we are now, starting again. Take it as another chance. The things you didn't like about yourself or last year, change them if you can. 2014 is a spiritual one, and there are a lot of chances to be taken. If you recognize them. 2014 is the Year Of The Horse. 

Have you ever seen this movie? It has nothing to do with the chinese year, it's just a coincidence. It's about a tour that Neil Young & Crazy Horse did in 1996. An interesting view behind the scenes mixed up with a couple of awesome live cuts. Like A Hurricane. I recently watched it again and realized how deep into the friendship and energy these four guys share it actually goes. It's no secret I'm a big fan of their music. I've seen them in Stuttgart, Germany last year and I will see them in Ulm, Germany this year. I'm feeling quite lucky these guys are still around, as good as ever, and still on the road. My brother Patrick will join me on the way to Ulm. I'm looking forward to that, I love roadtrips and concerts. Do you? Ever travelled far to see a show?

Speaking of road trips and of my brother, in December we jumped into his car and went to Prague. We heard the mighty Black Sabbath would play the O2 Arena there, so we decided to go. When I was 15 and had just started out as a Bass Player, Sabbath were my favourite band. Geezer Butler's sound is just about as good as it gets. I learned a lot from him. Same goes for my brother, who plays the electric guitar (and damn well too, if I may say so) and Tony Iommi. One of his idols. His daughter, Toni Marie Iommi, is a singer too by the way. I talk to her now and then and she's an amazing person. Her single "Parade" is on heavy rotation in Finnland, where she lives now. Go find that on Youtube! My brother plays in a band called [HELL INC.] by the way. Check it out if you like harder metal music. No question we had to go see them. I had never been to the Czech Republic before, so I was eager to travel and see what it's like. Prague itself is an adorable city, so many wonderful buildings, it's almost dreamlike. The city has quite a vibe about it. I sort of felt set back in time a little bit, but comfortably so. Lots of hills too, the roads go up and down, up and down. It was interesting to just drive through all the parts of the city and walk through others. We did a lot of walking, which I don't mind. I like walking. There was a museum of torture hidden in the middle of prague. A small place, but once you bought tickets you'd be taken down into the huge basement where all sorts of cruel torture methods, bones and swords, stories, woodcuts and pictures were ready waiting for you. 

This is an old one, I don't know what year , but it's from an old book about the witch trials and the burnings. Makes you think about how easily all rational thinking can be pushed aside by fear, greed or other emotions. Anyway, Prague was well worth travelling there. I had good company, saw some amazing things and the Sabbath show was really good. 

I also spent a couple days before Christmas with my friend Chris to work on some music. It's more of a Gothic-Rock thing with a bunch of hard cutting guitars and synthesizers. Which is fun for me to do 'cause I've always been doing very organic music. It shows some other options. Some of them I like, some of them I would use on certain projects, not on others. Anyway, we've got about 8 songs finished. Everything recorded but the vocals. We will hopefully get around to doing that early this year, and then get some of those songs mixed and out there. I'll leave it up to Chris. We started this together, but the project is in his hands mainly. The songs will be out when he wants them out there, and that's alright with me. I'm in no hurry.

Talking about getting songs out there: My new single is called "Some Hearts" and it should be on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Spotify and all those online retailers on January 31st 2014. If you'd like to keep in touch, please look at my Facebook and Twitter pages.

It's the first taste of what I'm writing on, a simple song on acoustic guitar with a nice melody. It's also the first new song I wrote in a while, so it stands for a new beginning of sorts. By now, I've got about so many songs written which might see the light of day sometime this year. I'd record them (just acoustic guitar and vocals, mabe a little solo or mouthharp) and then think about arranging them. Some I like to just leave as they are, others might sound better with a little bass, piano or strings on them. I'll see. What I can say though is that I'm proud of the songs, I think I wrote good ones and I can't wait to finish this and maybe even travel and play live for a while. 

You've heard it in the news. You must have. We're slowly gettin' there. It's gonna be good. Less fighting, less hangovers, less accidents. More enjoying the moment, more peace, more laughing. I probably sound like an old hippie right now. Well maybe I am. 


Have a great start into the new year everyone, thanks for reading! 

Dani A.