Verity's Blog

Amazing Exhibition...

On Thursday 6th December I highly recommend that after work you make your way to 67 Rose Street in Bo Kaap to Galleria Gibello where photographer Caroline Gibello and artist Alexander Krenz will be having a joint exhibition of Angel images.  Both of their work is inspirational and uplifting so I know it will be a very special evening and I am excited to be peforming my new song "Angel" for the first time at the opening.

Visit www.carolinegibello.com for more about this amazing photographer.

It's my album & I'll cry if I want to ...

Today is my last day in studio and I am feeling very emotional. I can't believe that it has taken me two and a half years to get to this day and I have to say that I am having trouble letting go. I keep being reminded of my five week walk across Spain, where for the first four weeks all I could think about was reaching the end, and then in the last week all I wanted to do was slow the process and enjoy every step because suddenly finishing meant the end of the experience.  I am physically and emotionally exhausted from the last three months of recording but at the same time I can hardly sleep at night because I am so excited by how it is all sounding and that every song has found its perfect voice.  I know this is really only the beginning of the life of the album but today I am looking back on the road that got me here and shedding a few tears of gratitude.

Blessed doesn't begin to describe how I feel to have run with a crazy idea and to have had so many awesome people step up and support me and make this possible. Not only have we recorded the album but I have ended up becoming a speaker on thinking out the box and I get to share with thousands of South Africans the power of our dreams to change our lives. It has been such an unexpected journey and far tougher and more amazing than I could ever have imagined when I started. Sitting in studio today wanting it to never end, I need to say the biggest thank you to every single person who has shared this road with me and made this dream a reality. You have helped me to do things differently and to make a difference along the way - what a ride!   

As today draws to a close and we shut the studio door and say goodbye to this part of the experience I will be stepping onto a new road of designing the album sleeve and then posting each of you your copy so you can forever know that because of you all of this was achieved.

Nearly there... or are we?

Time is marching! Have been in studio continuously since last Tuesday and it feels like we might be seeing the end in sight. I'm not sure that we will have everything done by Wednesday but we should have broken the back of it at least! Over the weekend I was lucky enough to have Melissa Van Der Spuy come in and play piano for Forever In Me and Devastation and it was awesome to have her add some of her magic to the album. I now officialy have nearly every musician and producer I have ever worked with represented in some way or another.

At this stage I have no concept of weekends or evenings as they are just more time we can be in studio working on finishing the album. Paul and I are in a definite rhythm and amazingly after three months holed up in an airtight room we are still getting on really well and laughing lots which has to be a good thing. My voice keeps coming and going but we are working around that and Paul keeps plying me with lemon and honey with the odd tot of whisky to keep things interesting!

Here's the week ahead and what ever musical magic it may hold!

Thought for the week

Any thought thought,
Allows for the possibility of its being so.
And every concept must be achievable,
As the very thinking of something,
Suggests its potential to be.

                            

Verity

Great SA Movie to watch - Big Fellas....

Last week I had the pleasure of going to the premier of a proudly South African film BIG FELLAS and was completely blown away! It is an hilarious road trip movie that follows two wannabe film makers (Colin Moss and Ross Garland) on their journey of trying to find a BEE partner so that they can receive funding for their film.

The film is amazingly edited and beautifully shot with a stellar cast of some of SA's finest actors and comedians (Cokey Falkow, Marc Lottering, Louw Venter amongst others). The script has fantastic pace and brilliant comic timing, not to mention a killer soundtrack featuring top SA bands that adds so much colour to the story! I thought it was a fantastic preview of the kind of films we can expect to come from the new generation of SA film makers and a much needed departure from stories dealing with our past. It is wonderfully irreverant and the audience was in stitches from beginning to end.

Big Fellas released nationwide today, so do yourself a favour and round up some friends and make a night of it to go and laugh at the lighter side of living in the new SA and walk away feeling proud about the boundless talent we have in our beautiful country! www.bigfellasmovie.com

Last leg of the journey...

I have just finished packing for what should be my last trip to Joburg to finish the album! I have had three weeks away from the songs so when I hit the studio tomorrow I am sure I will be listening with new and refreshed ears. In many ways I think I want to stall this process because once it is done I am not sure who I will be. I mean, who is Verity when she isn't selling an album that doesn't exist?

The last two years of my life have been hugely defined by this project, and so as I watch it starting to all come together I do wonder where it will all lead from here. I guess the mystery is all we ever really have and that at least keeps things interesting! Here's to the next week of music, magic and mystery...

Thought for the week

A friend exults in your success,
Despairs at your failure,
Holds your hand through the good times,
And carries you through the bad.

                         

Verity

First Gig - First Steps...

Today it is 4years exactly since I played my first ever show with a live band at Mercury Live.  I remember so clearly the thrill of being booked to play the Uncircled gig and having to rush to put a band together. My good friend David Foster pulled in with his band to come to my rescue and after two rehearsals we were apparently ready to go. I had David on guitar, Jan Krynauw on keyboards and from DNA Strings – Iwan on drums and Jaques on bass.  It was a mad scramble to send out emails and sms's to tell the world I was finally ready to perform and I can still remember going to Mercury to collect the posters and seeing my name in print for the first time ever - surreal.

While collecting the posters I got chatting to a guy who was asking lots of questions about my music and when I eventually asked him what he did, I was rightfully embarrassed to realise I had been chatting to Theo Crous from the Nude Girls!  I think he found my naievity entertaining and offered to come play guest guitar on “Wherever Love Goes” at the show.  And so, four years ago I stepped onto stage with some amazing musicians, a huge crowd supporting me and a healthy dose of guts,  and started to truly follow my dream.

It has been quite a journey since and looking back I am in awe of the twists and turns it has taken me on. It hasn't always been easy and there have been days when I thought I didn't have another step in me, but here I am four years down the road and about to finish my album.  Thank god for first steps and for life coming at us one day at a time!

Another note from the universe...

A main "criteria of consciousness" for the human experience, is never having all you want.  For as one dream comes true, another swiftly takes its place. Not having all you want is one of life's constants.

And learning to be happy while not yet having all you want (which, as you can see, is constant), is the first "Criteria of Joy." Nail it, and for the rest of your life people will be asking what it is about you.

Desire, is a beautiful thing.

    The Universe

Thought for the week

I am waiting for an uncertain future,
And that waiting arrests my living.
If I can learn to live in this certain moment,
My future will become a certain now.

                           

Verity