J.C. Schütz. Peacebird. Blog.2012-02-04T10:19:48ZJohan Christher SchutzCopyright 2012, Johan Christher SchutzSPHPBLOGNew Peacebird album!I have just finished demos of 8 songs for my next Peacebird album. It was initially meant to be a mini album, but I couldn't limit myself to writing only 5 or 6 songs...
I always think too big, maybe I'm a megalomaniac!
However, I'm really pleased with the songs, and the new album will be based on the following instrumentation:
Acoustic guitar/Cavaquinho Grand piano Acoustic bass Drums/brushes
If I manage to play well, one of the songs will have me playing piano and singing (no overdubs) for the first time on record. I've done it live a couple of times, and the audience has really loved it. They say they can feel more of "the real me" pouring out from my music when I play the piano and sing. I don't know why, because I can barely play the piano!
=)
Recording is scheduled in Tokyo for March, and release for June 2012. If you haven't heard it yet, the first Peacebird album is available on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/album/peacebird/id468937532 and from all Japanese record shops, Amazon etc. The new album will be more intimate, though. The title is not decided....
Peace! ]]>http://blog.johanchristherschutz.net/index.php?entry=entry120131-0855242012-01-31T00:00:00Z2012-01-31T00:00:00ZSaturday: Japanese radioOn saturday night, January 14, there's a pre-recorded radio special about my Peacebird album at the FM station K-Mix. The program is reprised on the night between January 16 and 17, about 4 in the morning.
I think that in Japan, you can listen on radiko or on your mobile phone. Computers in other countries I think can't access the streaming... Sadly limited Japanese business thinking. English and Swedish radio for example, is listenable online all over the world.
The show, hosted by Yoshi Nagato and Kazuo Dobashi, is about 45 minutes, and contains a long interview with me, interspersed with songs from the CD, and I also sing one song live in the studio!
Peace! ]]>http://blog.johanchristherschutz.net/index.php?entry=entry120111-0337282012-01-11T00:00:00Z2012-01-11T00:00:00ZThe musicalThe website for the musical is up! I chose the working-title A WORLD BETWEEN, a very suitable name I think.
Click the player in the top corner to listen to highlights of the music, in recordings with me singing. I will not sing in the musical! But I made the songs, so I had to make the demos!
I'm very happy with the site, both design and feeling. Let me know what you think!
* Momo -- mezzo-soprano (of East/Southeast Asian descent) * Benjamin -- baritone/tenor (of Caucasian descent) * others -- at the moment unspecified voices.
If you like the songs and the idea, drop me a message from the website. You need to be fluent in English and have experience from performing in Musicals (pretty obvious!) and preferably living in U.K. or Sweden.
Peace! ]]>http://blog.johanchristherschutz.net/index.php?entry=entry120111-0327212012-01-11T00:00:00Z2012-01-11T00:00:00ZBlog updateThe database for my blog is being updated, so all previous posts will be unavailable for some time from now. Please have patience! It's the holiday season =)
Let me take the opportunity to write a little about 2011, a year filled with hard work and wonderful audience reception for my music.
PEACEBIRD
The PEACEBIRD album had a wonderful reception, lots of radio play and I've been fortunate to meet many of my Japanese fans during this year. I'm now writing songs for a new Peacebird album, which is planned to be released in late spring (the recording is scheduled for February and will be done in Tokyo).
THE MUSICAL
I'm just finishing a website for my musical, and will post an update here when you can all enter and check it out. I know that some of you are very very curious, after all I've been talking about it for soon three years.
Those of you who have joined my Fan Club (the VIP CLUB) have already heard some of the songs, as I'm giving away one free unreleased song or recording every month, only to members. You can join here at www.jcschutz.com/register
The recordings for the Musical, have started, and will be finished during 2012. With a little help from Shigeru Umebayashi, the awarded Japanese film music composer, I'm hoping to be able to create the magic, movie-like atmosphere that I wish for, as I'm using Japanese instruments such as Shakuhachi, Koto, Taiko drums and the Chinese Erhu, all some of my favourite instruments in the world.
Japanese Nihonga artist Masako Kurokawa is sketching for the CD design/booklet and we've been discussing the emblem of the Musical, the image with the title (I guess you also might call it a 'logotype'), one single image expressing the essence of the story. As the recording will not be totally finished until next autumn, earliest, we are still on the brainstorming stage.
To be honest, I never thought I would finish the musical. But once I started, it was impossible to stop writing the songs, and here we are... It's my biggest project ever, and I'm so happy that I continued even "when the going got tough". Working with such a project is like entering a different world, and that's hopefully the same feeling it will give the audience.