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Well now.  The last time I wrote a blog was October 2021.  Nothing like keeping it current, eh? 

I’m not even sure blogging is still a thing.  How and ever.  Here goes…

Being single is one of the most empowering things you can do.  Look, I know.  I just used the ‘e’ word, but stay with me.  There is NOTHING like having your own space.  I have learnt this the hard way.  I have a brilliant little boy who follows me everywhere.  ‘But that’s adorable!’ I hear you exclaim.  Not when you are trying to have a glorious deep bath or a difficult poo.  Three years without a solo toilet break.  ‘Mummay?’ ‘Mummay?’ (that’s how he says it) ‘Mummay, I need some mulk.’  ‘Mummay, Octonauts, Mummay, Paw Patrol’.  Adorable.  But also intensely annoying.  Wee pet.

So, I have taken myself off to a rather lovely hotel in Perth for a mummy-moon.  Just me, wine and my room.  Two nights.  An entire kingsize bed just for me.  Quite appropriate in Perth.  It’s been years since my last tour, since seven weeks of being on the road and on the rails, being looked after and essentially living in hotels.  By God I miss it.  Someone bringing me breakfast.  Someone making my bed.  People smiling at me and asking me if there is anything I need.  So weird.  So lovely.

But I digress.  I’ve been single quite a few times throughout my chequered love life.  Sometimes by choice, sometimes not.  Being single is odd.  It’s just you.  On your tod.  And people don’t know what to do with you.  Oh God, where do we seat her in the restaurant?  Is she OK?  Is she going to cry and start throwing things?  Why is she alone?  Why is she here???

Let me explain.  Like Jennifer Aniston in her 40s, I am very much choosing to be single.  I love it.  I don’t have to watch football.  Ever.  I can listen to the music I like, at whatever volume I choose.  I don’t have to cook dinner every night.  I don’t have to wash up if I can’t be arsed.  The laundry can pile up sky high until I am ready to do it.  I don’t care.  I can make time to write.  I can put together radio shows.  I can take Alexander to the park, or the beach, or granny and grampa’s garden whenever I want.  I decide.  Everything.  

Let that sit for a minute.  Everything.

Now, for those of you who are shaking your heads pityingly and thinking I’m missing out, think again.  I have tried relationships.  Some short, some long.  I have been proposed to five times.  All by men so far.  But why would you tie yourself to one other human when there is so much out there to be experienced?  I don’t get it.

Monogamy leaves a lot to be desired.

I have pretty much failed in every relationship I have had, except the one with myself (and now the one with Alexander where failure is just not an option).  I still don’t much like myself or what I see in the mirror, but, and it’s a really big butt, I’m beginning to appreciate myself.  And that’s a start.

Well, hullooooo there.  It’s been an exciting few days again, right enough.

‘Yes It Is’ entered the iTunes Alternative Chart at #44 which made my week and ‘Song to the Siren’also made an appearance at #166.  One reviewer even called this release ‘a double A-side in the truest sense.’  

I will most definitely take that!  

That’s me all done for 2021 – for those of you enquiring, I can categorically assure you that there will not be a Christmas single.

My next project is the album.  A proper Kate solo effort.  Yikes.  I am not going to use anything that has gone before, so literally nothing has been written yet, musically or lyrically, I’m challenging myself to get the instruments back up to scratch (accordion and guitar).  Most of the people I work with these days are proper professional musicians who honed their skills in their teens and then never stopped, they kept playing daily throughout their 20s and 30s to get to the level they are at now, where the instrument becomes an extension of the self.  I, on the other hand, probably let my own skills slip a little during my 30s, I was busy teaching languages and giving private lessons but somehow didn’t manage to make the time to really keep my own skills up at the level I would like.  So, this winter will be the winter of practise!  

Don’t hold your breath for this album, I’m aiming for 2024.  I want it to be the best it can possibly be.

I actually just wanted to let you know that there are a couple of new interviews up on the reviews page for you to have a giggle at and if you haven’t heard the new releases yet, please do follow the link over to your favourite streaming service and, if you like what you hear, you can grab a copy from Amazon or iTunes.

It’s been a wild ride this year (just the way I like it) so here’s to 2022 and whatever excitement she may bring!

What more could you possibly want?  I’ve been busy of late.  I’ve been interviewing some really interesting people for the Album of the Week spot on Celtic Music Radio, do tune in on a Saturday at noon for some chat, I’ve learnt a lot in the last couple of weeks!  You can catch up on MixCloud if your Saturdays are full – celt95fm | Mixcloud

I also had a ridiculously good chat with an old pal from my university days in Glasgow in the early Noughties, Kathryn Smith.  She is a clinical psychologist who hosts her own parenting podcast.  When she asked me to come on the show, my initial reaction was ‘NO WAY!’  I didn’t feel remotely qualified to talk about parenting.  I’ve only been a mum for 2 years and 2 months.  But she encouraged me to have a go as she wanted to talk about life and the challenges of fitting parenting into the whole equation and it really turned into a brilliant chat.  If you’ve a spare 47 minutes, make yourself a cuppa and click here:  Truthbook (buzzsprout.com)

Last, but not least, my final single of 2021 is ready to be released into the ether…

I really, really LOVE these songs.  They take me to my favourite place, the studio, being plugged into my headphones, with a producer inside my head telling me exactly what to do, zoning right in, being truly in the momentand having not one single care in the world.  I need to do this again.  Soon.  

The A-side is for my dad.  It’s one of his favourite Beatles songs.  He let us listen to them when we were tiny and they’ve been inside my head ever since. 

The B-side is a bit weird.  David’s production reflects this!  There is plenty of space, as if you are staring out across a wide open ocean, but the double-tracked vocals make it feel like my voice is giving your ears a big musical hug.  Humour me and listen with headphones and you’ll maybe see what I mean.

You can pre-save and get a sneak preview here:  https://kate.ffm.to/yesitis

I’ll sign off now, I have to pick the wee man up from playschool, but I just want to thank you for reading, listening and just being there.  It’s so good to feel connected even at a distance.

Kate x

I entered the official UK Charts at #177 on Friday!  I’ve recorded a Top 200 hit! 

I know.  I can’t believe it either.

Angus (the producer) please take a bow.  

I have a wee radio interview today at 3pm to talk all about it.  I’m not quite sure I know what to say, so I hope he asks good questions!

If you would like to help at all here are two things you can do:  

1. If you listen to a radio station that accepts requests, request ‘Caroline’ by Kate.  This will help me to reach more ears!
2. Tell your pals!  The old-fashioned way.  Ring them up and talk to them.  Posting on the socials doesn’t really work, as people aren’t really invested and are just scrolling past.  If you actually tell someone, they can hear from your voice that you mean it and that they really should check it out!  Then, if they really like it, they might consider downloading it, which helps me head back up the charts (I’ve fallen back off the list…) 

100 streams = 1 download

… and let’s be real here, only a #superfan like Kev (actual legend) is going to stream it a hundred times in a row!

This has been the most exciting weekend of my life to date (including childbirth, festivals and touring) so thank you for all you have done to support me.  I literally couldn’t have done it without you.

Kx

PS  I promise to stop annoying you on social media on Thursday…  All of the data is collected for Friday’s official chart after lunch on a Thursday!

Good morning!

Hope this finds you hale and hearty and enjoying the summer.

It’s an exciting week for me, I’ve a new release coming out on Friday to mark the ten year anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death. She was the exact same age as my little sister and I still can’t believe she’s gone.

Here is a wee interview (including the songs) explaining a bit more about what I’ve been up to recently: https://m.mixcloud.com/…/derek-mccutcheon-interviews…/

Here is the link to iTunes (you can pre-save the song now by clicking the link) : https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id1570666345?app=itunes                   

*** This will go live on FRIDAY. ***

It would really mean a lot to me if you would download the song ‘Caroline’ (and the B-side ‘Gotta Have You’)

Hazel sings backing vocals, my big pal Angus Lyon plays accordion and piano (and did all the production) and the lovely Anna Massie is on things with strings (mainly guitars).

Here’s how you can help:

1. DOWNLOAD THE SONG ON FRIDAY MORNING 

2. SEND THE LINK TO A FEW PALS AND FAMILY MEMBERS

3. POST THE LINK TO YOUR FACEBOOK ON FRIDAY MORNING

4. OR IF IT’S EASIER SHARE THIS POST – If you don’t have iTunes or any other way to buy the song:

5. PUT IT ON REPEAT  ON SPOTIFY!

If enough people download the song on Friday morning over their cornflakes, I have a chance of making it onto the iTunes singer/songwriter chart. That would be a bucket list  for me!

It’s been ten years since this song’s inception;  my friend David McSweeney wrote it for Amy just after she left us in 2011.  We recorded a version at that point, but it just sat in my laptop doing nothing.  I was back in the studio at Gran’s House working on some other stuff and we revisited ‘Caroline’ in 2017 and gave her a fresh lease of life!  It’s only just been mastered by Chris Waite, ready for release.  It’s taken me ten years to get this right so please be kind!

Kate x

[… a short ‘essai‘ at explaining the mind/das Gehirn/l’esprit/de Geest/den Sjel/der Geist…]

The Levellers sang about Zeitgeist…

I want to write about Geist.

Many of the great Creatives (writers, artists, photographers, musicians, chefs…) of our times have suffered from mental ‘illness’…

Burns, Baudelaire, Vian, Van Gogh, John Lennon and most likely Dylan, Shakespeare, Mozart and Beethoven too…

Dealing with mental ‘illness’ is like dealing with the sun or the heat. Sometimes it is just too hot to feel this alive. I am constantly pulling myself back, thinking before I speak or act, holding myself in, conforming, abiding by ‘the rules’ and ‘getting back into my box’ when often I just want to run about naked, screaming into the void… (… a pillow works too…) … and why shouldn’t I?! Why should I smother the creative impulses within my soul?

Luckily I am an intelligent woman and I have learnt to close my eyes, take several deep breaths and return to my cage – ‘normality’ – to ensure that I am ‘accepted’ by my peers and society at large.

Had it not been for my unquenchable thirst for knowledge and my voracious, insatiable hunger to understand WHY I feel the way I do, I would be lying drunk in a ditch gibbering about monsters under the bed, or I would already have stepped off the l/edge… (I have been teetering on the brink several times ; utterly unequipped to deal with my own thoughts and feelings, yet still unwilling to leave…).

So, I developed a coping strategy. I talk. I tell everyone how I am feeling. If someone asks me how I am, I consider the question, take my own sweet time and then I tell them the truth. I tell them “I don’t know…” or “I feel a bit mental today actually”. It makes most people extremely uncomfortable and they tend to flinch, avert their eyes or run away, which is fine as I don’t have a lot of time for most people anyway. In the words of the ornery Dr House ‘everybody lies…’ Small talk is anathema to me.

When I feel an ‘attack‘ coming on … (that’s what it feels like, a physical assault: paranoiaextremeanxietylikesomeoneiscomingtokillyou…!!!!!) … my breathing quickens, my heart starts to palpitate, I break out in a cold sweat, I often cry quietly or sob extremely vocally and, la pièce de résistance, go beetroot and blotchy (always a good look). However, I have learned over time to ‘feel the fear‘ and accept it. Unlike the Balrog, it will pass. It will. It will pass.

I close my eyes and I breathe. That is all. I centre myself, just as Andy* says (he is a great teacher). I go right inside. I tune in to the world and forget about myself. I listen to the small noises surrounding me. I listen to my breathing ; the most natural thing in the world… and I wait.

I wait for my breathing to return to its natural rhythm, I open my eyes, sit quietly for a moment, stretch and go on.

It works. It is the only thing that actually works (for me).

No disrespect to anyone to whom I have spoken in the medical profession (psyche nurses, support assistants, CBT therapists, doctors, GPs…) but honestly the only thing that works and continues to work for me is re-learning how to breathe and doing it for 20 minutes every day.

It is so simple and it costs nothing.

There are around 17 million Americans taking Venlafaxine [a.k.a Effexor] at the moment. That is more than 3 times the entire population of Scotland. Seventeen million people suffering. Right now.

[you do the maths… http://www.drugs.com/price-guide/venlafaxine]

So let’s embrace the crazy! Every single one of us is unique. Refuse to be put in a box and labelled as ‘ill’. Listen to the voices in your head (then tell them to fuck right off). It’s your mind and your choice whether to do what ‘they’ tell you, or not. You have a choice. You always have a choice. To live and act responsibly (and keep breathing) or to give up and lie in that ditch with the monsters. Worst case scenario? Go to bed and wait it out. It will pass.

Sit down, be still, take a deep breath ; then get back up and keep going – one step at a time – because life is so beautiful. It would be a shame to waste it.

*Andy lives here: www.headspace.com

…written by Kate Morvern Reid at Balos on Crete on the 25th of July 2015.