David Myhr - Soundshine

Two hour long Skype interview with @davidmyhr streaming from Hawaii today!

Posted: May 19th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Two hour long Skype interview with @davidmyhr streaming from Hawaii today!

Get ready for a two-hour long interview streaming on-line today! I will be talking about my new album Soundshine but also reminiscing the years with The Merrymakers.

Lots of my new music (but also from my old band The Merrymakers, Jellyfish, and Paul McCartney). Check it out and join the chat!

Rocker and singer-songwriter David Myhr is our musical guest this Saturday afternoon on The Time Machine discussing his album “Soundshine”. Join us in the radio chat room and listen at http://ttm.popchats.com/

2 PM – Hawaii Time

5 PM – West Coast Time

8 PM – East Coast Time

1 AM (Sunday morning) – United Kingdom Time

2 AM (Sunday morning) – Sweden Time

9 AM (Sunday morning) – Japan Time

10 AM (Sunday morning) – Australia Time


David Myhr hand-picked by The Word

Posted: May 12th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »
I’m happy to announce that my song “Got you where he wanted” has been hand-picked by the influential British music magainze The WORD and is featured on their free, 15-track CD featuring “the best new music of right now”. This CD accompanies the June issue of the magazine and is out now in the U.K. (It’s worth buying solely for finding out what John Lennon wore at the beach!).
On this CD I’m in good company with many great artists like Kathryn Williams, The Black Seeds, The Heartbreaks and many more. Like for instance the great Gaz Coombes who used to front one of my favorite bands from the Britpop era – Supergrass.
So big thanks to THE WORD for picking my song – and a big welcome to the supposed hordes of readers who stumbled in to my web page after having heard my song or seen the video. Please feel free to browse through and enjoy old blog posts and also to follow me (and say “hi”) on Facebook or Twitter. And find out how to get your copy of Soundshine here!
Thanks also to my European label Lojinx who made my album available in the U.K. Read about the signing here. I’m fully aware that selling pop music to Great Britain is somewhat like selling sand to the Arabs. But I must say I feel that there’s a lack of current melodic guitar based pop out there – especially of the happy, uplifting kind. So my album Soundshine is my way of trying to contribute to the genre. Some, like for instance Real Gone, hints I might have succeeded; “Soundshine does exactly what it claims – twelve pieces of great sounding pop which mostly act as a welcome ray of sunshine”. Also, Americana-UK reports “doctors in Sweden prescribe this CD as a cure for seasonal affective disorder” which I talked about in my previous blog post.
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine, it’s THE WORD – love!


americana-UK.com: “Doctors in Sweden prescribe [Soundshine by David Myhr] as a cure for seasonal affective disorder”

Posted: May 5th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on americana-UK.com: “Doctors in Sweden prescribe [Soundshine by David Myhr] as a cure for seasonal affective disorder”

So what’s the world like after the release of my solo debut album Soundshine a little more than a month ago? Do people talk about a “before and after Soundshine” effect? Maybe it’s too early to tell… ?After all the sound of the album is what I usually call “timeless” (sounds better than “dated”, doesn’t it?) and therefore I hope it will live on for years to come.

What I do know is that I have extremely fond memories from the  “Soundshine release tour” that took me from a solo show in Osaka via a show in Tokyo with a backing band consisting of Japanese musicians early this year to the odd gig in Turku, Finland, followed by a small solo tour of Spain (Bilbao, Madrid, Burgos) together with Lukah Boo. Then it was time to throw a big release party in my home town Stockholm and shortly after that fantastic night when my U.K. label Lojinx put together a magic night at Borderline in London where I shared the bill (see video clip here) with Farrah and Pugwash. I’m already looking forward to new live shows!

Since the release I’ve received messages from happy record buyers both on Facebook, Twitter and e-mail saying incredibly nice things about the album. (You can be one yourself – no matter where you live – by ordering it from the David Myhr Store!). And that’s really what makes it all worthwhile. It’s such a thrill knowing that the CD is now spinning in car stereos and the mp3’s streaming out of computers and iPods in the U.K., the U.S., Japan, Spain, Sweden, Italy, France, Germany, and hopefully many more countries. I want to thank you all for those messages  – your feedback means the world to me! Please keep the thumbs-up coming for a year or so in order to avoid me sinking into the post-production-depression that I’ve been fearing since I started the recordings two years ago.

There’s also been a bunch of reviews – above all in the blog world – and I thought I’d share some of them with you. Starting of today with a review from americanaUK written by David Cowling that gives Soundshine a 7 out of 10 saying it’s “sheer unadulterated pop music, sheer unadulterated delight” and that it contains “a kaleidoscope of major chords, of bouncy melodies with everything fine-tuned for pleasure”

He mentions the fact Peter out of Peter Bjorn and John co-wrote ‘Icy Tracks’ which he calls “the snappiest song” and that it “sounds like an amalgamation of the Jayhawks, Matthew Sweet, Elvis Costello and Big Star“. The review finishes off by saying that “doctors in Sweden prescribe this CD as a cure for seasonal affective disorder”. That sure as hell would be a good sales boost!

Read the whole review (and feel free to share it with others) by clicking the picture below

 

 

 


“I’ve suffered for my music… now it’s your turn!” – Soundshine out today!

Posted: March 26th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , | Comments Off on “I’ve suffered for my music… now it’s your turn!” – Soundshine out today!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Here we are now… this is it! Today’s the day! The wait is over! My solo debut album Soundshine is released!
I could go on forever about how happy I am, how proud I am, how fourteen years have passed since I last, as an artist myself, released an album. I could talk about all the hard work behind the recording, about all the talented people who helped me to make the music come alive and made the sound shine. I could talk for hours about all the millions of creative decisions that were made along the way, the ups and downs, about periods of excitement, but also about struggles and periods of doubt. I could write in length about how incredibly difficult it has been to find the right record labels for me, and what a relief it was when I finally did so. And I could go on about the craziness of putting my own personal economy at risk by recording and releasing this album in an era of ongoing devaluation of music. But instead of all this I would simply like to quote the great Neil Innes saying: “I’ve suffered for my music. Now it’s your turn!”
You can start suffering right away by listening through a four minute teaser of the entire album in a “don’t bore us – get to the chorus” fashion…

You can now also support the music and get your own copy of Soundshine (digital or physical) by clicking “Store” above (shipping all over the world). You will also find it on iTunes Store, or through my various record labels Lojinx (U.K./Europe excl Spain), Rock Indiana  (Spain), Thistime Records (Japan), or my North American distributors Kool Kat Musik, Scandipop , or CD Baby.
For those of you who would have preferred me to write about some of the stuff mentioned above I encourage and welcome you to browse through the old entries in my blog here on my official web page which covers my activities over the last twelve months and to follow (by “liking”) and read my status updates on my Facebook page that goes back 21 months which was when the first notes on Soundshine were recorded.

Swedish release party for Soundshine in Stockholm on March 21!

Posted: March 20th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Swedish release party for Soundshine in Stockholm on March 21!

After having celebrated the release of my album Soundshine in Japan in January which was documented in a series of blog posts starting here and and in Spain just last week the time has now come to my home country Sweden! This will be celebrated on March 21 at a restaurant on hip and happening Södermalm, Stockholm, called Strand Hornstull.

You can read more about the release concert (in Swedish) by clicking the poster below or join the Facebook Event here – and everybody’s welcome!

 

I will be performing with a full band which of course always is a luxury. This time the band is consisting of  Johan Bergqvist (The Genuine Fakes), Robert van der Zwan (Poplabbet), Michael Ottosson, Erik Jonsson (The Fix), and Zacharias Ahlvik. The show will feature guest appearances from a couple of my co-writers on the album, Peter Morén (Peter Bjorn and John) who co-wrote “Icy Tracks” with me and Stefan Petersson (Mother James) who co-wrote “Wanderlust” with me. Both potential future singles according to rumors within my own band! Also Jenny Sandgren who sings backing vocals on “Got you where he wanted” will help us out on the particular song.

The album is released in Sweden by Lojinx – a label which I’m very happy to have signed with – this coming Monday and it will be distributed in Sweden by Border Music. Also Lojinx is releasing the album simultaneously in the rest of Europe (excl Spain). Pre-orders can be made already now (shipping all over the world!) at the store on this very web page.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Soundshine released in Spain! Promotional tour report…

Posted: March 19th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Soundshine released in Spain! Promotional tour report…

They say Spain is the only European country you come back to Sweden from with a jet-lag. It’s the same time zone but still somehow it’s not because of some culture differences when it comes to lunch, dinner, and bar-visiting hours…

Last week I was fortunate enough to enjoy life in Spain since I have been on a promotional tour for the release of Soundshine there which is taken care of by the ultra cool record label Rock Indiana Records. As you have read earlier in the rest of Europe (including my home country Sweden) the record will come out on the English also ultra cool record label Lojinx which I’m talking more about in this previous blogpost.

From Wednesday to Friday I made three acoustic concerts together with Spanish artist Lukah Boo (ex-member of Happy Losers) in Bilbao, Madrid, and Burgos as well as three radio interviews and performances.

The first interview was made by PacoPepe Gil for Plástico Elástico at Onda Madrid and you can listen to it here.  The second one was made in Bilbao by Joseba Martin at Radio Euskadi for the program La Jungla Sonora which you can listen to here (starting at 24.50). In the future there will be a video clip available from this mini concert featuring myself playing no less than three songs on guitar and piano. The third and last interview was and was made by Santiago Alcanda for the program Como lo oyes in Radio 3 (national radio) and you can listen to it here. Also this interview features a small acoustic performance. I happened to film this with my iPhone and here’s the video from this occasion:

 

I also had the opportunity to visit some a couple of record dealers in Madrid that now are selling some Soundshine to the wonderful people of Spain. Below is a picture of Inés from the legendary record shop Escridiscos and a picture of me and Gabriel at Fnac (who you might remember from this previous blog post from Madrid).

 



 

 


I would have loved to write more in detail about the three gigs I made and the great people I met there. The first one in Bilbao, the second one at Moby Dick in Madrid, and the last one at Carabas in Burgos. But I really do need to get back to preparing for this weeks big event: The Soundshine release party in Sweden which also has it’s on Facebook Event.

But at least, in the video below, you can watch the first song from the concert at Moby Dick in Madrid. And if you want to see more the whole concert is available at this YouTube playlist.

Here’s a collection of photos from the same show:

 

I would like to finish by saying thank you to everyone in Spain who was involved in this promotional tour. The great Pablo Carrero from Rock Indiana who put it all together, my tour partner Lukah Boo, the very warm and welcoming radio people I’ve met and all of those who are playing my songs in their programs, the organizers of the different shows, the audience that listened to my music both on radio and in concert, my Spanish friends, and my Spanish family. Muchísimas gracias a todos! Espero que nos vemos pronto!

 

 

 


David Myhr interview for J-Pop World

Posted: March 2nd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on David Myhr interview for J-Pop World

Any plans this weekend? If not, it might be the perfect moment to read the brand new David Myhr interview for J-Pop World!!! Just click on the screen dump below… enjoy!!!


Free download of Soundshine opening track “Never mine” (stripped down version)

Posted: February 22nd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Free download of Soundshine opening track “Never mine” (stripped down version)
With the release of my solo debut album Soundshine only a month away  I have a special surprise gift for you all to enjoy. Together with my U.K./European label Lojinx that will launch Soundshine throughout Europe I am today sharing with you a free download of the album’s bittersweet opening track “Never mine” in an alternate, very “stripped down” version – or “unplugged” version if you prefer:

This version has no drums or electric guitars and a lot less overdubs than what you will hear on the album. Although not fully as “naked” as my earlier acoustic cover versions of ABBA’s “Happy New Year” and Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers”.
The song is one of my personal favorites on the album and I sincerely hope you will like it too!
If you are Japanese fan who already bought the album on it’s pre-release in December  – this is your chance to discover an album track in a new way!
All you have to do is click on the “Get it now”-button above and it will ask for your e-mail address. A second later you’l have an e-mail in your inbox asking to confirm and the download begins! I would be thankful for any help from all you early followers in spreading the word. One way to do this is of course to use the “share”-button on the widget above – or this whole blog post with the buttons below.
In any case – thanks a lot for your help! Now please enjoy and “sing, sing, sing, sing…”!

What I miss the most when traveling in recent years

Posted: December 14th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

When I travel and come to new cities what I enjoy most is to just ”feel the vibe”. The best way to that is often just to walk around a little bit, sit down at some café, grab a bite to eat at some restaurant, and maybe (probably) enjoy a beer or two at some nice bar. With that, my life as a traveller is almost complete. Especially if I’m in good company. I can even do it on my own for quite a while – as long as there’s wifi in the cafés and bars so I still can be in contact with my loved one, my friends and family, my fans, and try to get my career going (for the 20th year in a row!) with e-mails, social medias, and so on… It would take many, many hours to get me bored as long as I have my MacBook Pro, a power plug so I don’t run out of battery, and a high speed internet connection.

As for other activities when coming to a new city I must admit I don’t care much for museums. I often find myself thinking: ”I could look this up on the internet anyway instead of standing in front of a wall and reading a sign…” (is this strange?), my legs get tired, and I start longing for the computer and/or the café/bar/restaurant life that I enjoy so much.

“What about shopping then?” you might ask… Well that’s another area where I easily get stressed, nervous, sweaty, and tired (like every man does, or is that just a prejudice?). Again, I keep longing back to the same things mentioned above. This is even more true in modern times when every city has the same kind of shopping complexes with the same kind of chain stores (H&M, Zara, etc….) selling the same things. Quite frustrating actually!

I do get excited occasionally if there are stores that sell things that are unique and appeal to my interests, like Liam Gallagher’s clothes shop Pretty Green on Carnaby street in London. I mean; who can resist a store that have the good taste in marketing a new ”Lennon jacket” for every season. That’s an example where I don’t mind going shopping. However my wife gets worried and frustrated when I start waving around with my credit card since things there are about ten times more expensive than the kind of clothes she normally buys. So I try to not go there too often…

But the one single thing I miss the most from the last few years of travelling is the record stores that suddenly all just disappeared! Such a tragedy! That was like the ”oasis” in every shopping area where I could sneak in and spend long hours just browsing around, looking at record covers, listen to music, check out rock’n’roll biographies and just enter a room that in itself was a ”world of music”. Today everyone carry their own ”music world” around in their iPhones and that’s of course great (I am one of them) but the expereience is no longer shared the same way and there’s nowhere to spend your shopping hours anymore. The last time I remember doing at home here in Stockholm was at Pet Sounds which can be seen in the video for “Looking for a life”:

I completely agree with what my ”good friend” Paul McCartney said when supporting Record Store Day  a couple of years ago: ”There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record store…” ”…what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place.”

Even in the world’s largest cities the record stores are few and far between. When I come to Tokyo the next time I will make sure to visit a few of the remaining ones. I will take my responsibility to try to keep them alive by buying at least ten CD’s this time maybe for instance Tim Christensen’s, or The Jayhawks‘ latest album. It’s true that I put my CD collection in the basement already in 2003 so the CD’s will ultimately end up in a shoebox. But I miss the feeling of the phsycial CD and the record store so much that I will pay the price. The fact that I’m supporting the suffering artists, producers, musicians, sound engineers, graphic designers, and record label people at the same time makes the decision even easier. After all music matters!

And it’s very likely that this particular time I will stop an extra few minutes in the ”M” section where Aimee Mann, Roger Manning Jr, The Mommyheads, The Mockers, The Merrymakers, and Paul McCartney, this year will be joined by a certain David Myhr! Here below is a recent picture from Shibuya Tower Records, I might even want to try listening to ”disc 9” and see if it’s worth the high price… we’ll see!

What about you? Do you feel the same way? Please share your thoughts as a comment to this blogpost or on my Facebook page.


Soundshine due for release in Japan on Dec 7!

Posted: November 24th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

I am very pleased to be able to announce that my “upcoming” album Soundshine ACTUALLY is “coming”, finally!!! The first country that will have the album in stores is Japan and the release date is Dec 7, 2011. The album will be released by the fine label Thistime Records.

…on its output called Power pop academy.

As some of you may know my former band The Merrymakers had some success in Japan in the late 90’s when we sold more than 100,000 copies of our albums and our song “Monument of me” was a huge radio hit. I had the fortune of going there five times with the band during that period until things calmed down. We made promotional tours doing radio interviews, and in-store performances, signed CD’s, played a showcase gig (with ex-Jellyfish Andy Sturmer on drums!), and so on… I developed a long term love affair with the country and Japan has a very special place in my heart. Through the years I have found so many wonderful people there and things don’t get worse by the fact that I have had the luxury of having a few of my songs released by Japanese artists like Puffy, Miku Kakoi, Sarasa IFU, Yuko Yamaguchi, and Tokio.

As everybody know 2011 has been a year of terrible catastrophes for Japan and my thoughts and deepest concerns have since then been with its people and my heart goes out for all of those who have lost their loved ones.

After such an enormous tragedy the event of releasing my album suddenly can feel even smaller and more unimportant than before when looking at things in a big perspective, but nonetheless it’s a long-awaited (at least for me personally) “comeback” on the Japanese scene as an artist. Way too many years have passed since the release of the Merrymakers last album Bubblegun. I’m looking very much forward to trying to spread some “soundshine” and joy in Japan and I will also be going there for a promotional tour to support the album in the very beginning of January 2012.

The Japanese version of the album will have of two bonus tracks. Both are songs that I originally wrote for the phenomenal and famous Japanese artist duo called Puffy (a.k.a. PuffyAmiYumi). The first one is an exclusive “for Japan only” song called “Boom Boom Beat”.

Feel free to check out Puffy’s version as well (that was produced by former co-Merrymaker Anders Hellgren and me) in this live performance:

The second bonus track is called “Record Collection” and it’s a song I’ve written together with the extremely talented and succesful Swedish songwriter Peter Kvint who I had the pleasure to get to know during a songwriting camp in Tokyo a couple of years ago. Puffy released it earlier this year as their 15th anniversary song which was kind of logical since in their version it was called “Happy Birthday”.

So in some funny way my new versions will by “covers” of my own songs. Confusing indeed! I had a lot of fun returning to the songs again, and recording them in my own way and the best thing is that Ami and Yumi from Puffy were kind enough to lend their vocal services adding some background vocals to these versions so the two bonus tracks will be “David Myhr feat. Puffy”.

More about my songwriting for Puffy in an interview from 2009 in a Puffy fan site called PuffyAmiYumiWorld.

For those in the rest of the world who are very eager to hear the album, or are in desperate need for the ultimate Christimas gift – please feel free to investigate the possibilities of international orders either from Thistime Records Onlinestore or here at CD Japan. But rest assured that there will be a European release in the spring of 2012. To stay tuned for updates, just subscribe to this blog and “like” my Facebook page.