Hello!
I just added a couple of photos in the Jess & The Paige Boys section of the gallery of me with my new Ayers guitar. http://www.ayersguitars.com.au
Ayers are endorsing me.. which is very cool and my guitar is a real beauty. See the inlay around the edges in paua shell ..it catches the light on stage. I have a lovely carved wooden sound hole plug imported from the US as well. But apart from the look, it sounds beautiful with a lovely tone, not too bright, just right. Ayers guitars are all hand-made.
I particularly like this one as it has a narrow neck for my small hands, so it is going to save me many aches and pains from straining to reach. I also have songs in different tunings so now I can take my trusty old Seagull acoustic and my Ayers on stage as well, ready to switch songs without having to re-tune. It is also really light and, as I busk a lot, it makes life so much easier to lose a couple of kilos. Also, the case is very light and strong and serves fine as a flight case too. It is a medium priced guitar with a top of the line sound and construction. Good gear makes everything go more smoothly . J x
March - Corinbank Festival... this was beautiful and had some amazing musicians. Canberrans are so hospitable and friendly! Next Festival we are in is the Banyule Festival on March 15th - free!!.
March - I am getting a new website soon - it will have the same address but it will have a few more pages and I will be able to upload photos from gigs etc more easily and have info about my other projects and the band.
Look at www.freeweb.com/cannonandpaige which is the website for my Jazz covers duo with the amazing guitarist, Glenn Cannon- we are playing occasionally at a lovely waterside restaurant in Williamstown.
Another project very close to my heart is the one co-writing songs with piano genius, Luke Howard. We are at The City Library in a couple of weeks at lunchtime.
Feb - St Kilda Festival was a blast - huge, busy, vibrant, lots of great bands and my brother played as a Paige Boy for the first time. We have a new drummer, Jason Sbriglio who has a great feel ( talking about drums!). Add bassist Steve Cannatelli, guitarist Terry Hart ( who also plays keys which we will add very soon) and bro Josh on harmonies and shaker.. so the sound is filling out now.
Jan 11 - St Kilda Festival News- The lovely organisers have just announced the line-up for The St Kilda Festival and I am delighted to say that my band Jess and the Paige Boys are performing on the New Music Stage off Acland Street, at 12.50 p.m. Sunday, February 11. This is the biggest free festival in the Southern Hemisphere and is draws over 350,000 people on the day. So come and see my band's set if you are there! ( See link at top of page to vote for me to win the BIG one! ) J x
Jan 1 - 2008 plansMy first album! Tentatively titled "Little Fish". I have started recording and all going smoothly, should be ready for release in a few months. The songs are poignant and beautiful. I have a grant from the Young Australian's Foundation to assist me with recording. Very helpful!
Also I have plans to record and release tracks (maybe an album) of songs written with Luke Howard, who is a really wonderful jazz pianist. We have been working on songs together and I think they are something special and different. His delicious chords make it so easy to write... I am also about to start a duo with amazing jazz guitarist Glenn Cannon, recently returned from freelancing in Paris. We will see if we go beyond weddings and such with this. ( I have enjoyed playing at a few weddings solo this year.. the people have been so beautiful and warm and it has been an honour to be part of their weddings! )
I have three festivals lined up with my Paige Boys in the first three months. A new one near Canberra - Corinbank, which is an immersion festival and sounds absolutely gorgeous with a water slide and pristine forest. The Banyule Festival is a large community festival in the north of Melbourne. And the other festival has sworn me and my manager to secrecy as the line up will be announced on January 9th. It is pretty exciting, I will have to let you know later on.
December 20The Sydney gig was sold out and I wish I had taken 3 times as many CD's.. if you missed out on one.. please get it through JB Hifi downloads. Lyall came down a couple of weeks ago and we did a string of gigs here together as well. My 18 year old brother, Josh, even got up and did some harmonies. He can really sing.
November 11 2007 I am going to perform at The Vanguard, Newtown, Sydney to support the wonderful Lyall Adonis and the House of Kings at their EP launch.
September 19th Manchester Lane BIG GIG! Don't miss it!!
This is a very special gig on the 19th September at beautiful Manchester Lane in the city (New York Style dining and show) with internationally acclaimed pianist, Luke Howard, accompanying me on the beautiful grand, we will unveil the songs we wrote together recently. Making it even more special is the fact that I will share the stage with the wonderful songwriter, Lyall Adonis (you may have seen him - he made it the Idol Top 20). Nick Roy's amazing trio will kick it off... if you have seen him before you know what a dynamic, soulful and exciting songwriter he is!. He is on my top Friends, take a look and a listen to his performance on "Rove". I will also have a trio for my songs from my forthcoming album.
AugustThis is a gig I've been planning for a long time with two of the best blues and roots acts around. Jason Lowe is coming down from Newcastle and he's getting quite a bit of airplay on Triple J at the moment. The Teskey Bros are my favourite band of brothers.
June
This month I am being featured by the Australian Independent Recording Association (AIR) along with a few other Aussie artists.
I'm also starting to record my new album - yay!
May
I just got the third pressing of "Under My Skin" and have ordered more of "Back of Our Minds" as these are popular at gigs.
My Thursday night "Jess and Friends" sessions at The Spleen Bar in the city are a lot of fun. I meet great musicians every week there. Let me know if you want to play :)
April 2007 Just added my video of Under My Skin to myspace. Check it out :)
Tour with Steve Romig. March 14 - 23 Following on the heels of my "Under My Skin" band tour in November, I went back with Steve Romig (Dad) solo to Sydney, Port Macquarie and Wauchope in March.March Woo hoo! Cover of Rolling Stone magazine! My track Under My Skin is, anyway, and my photo is in the article inside. This is due to a story on the JB Seed which has helped me and some other emerging Independent Aussie artists to blip onto the public radar.
Also this month.. the 25th March "Launch of Legends" on The Max, Foxtel .. footage from my gig and I was interviewed afterwards, so I should be there somewhere.
And Australian Musician magazine is out free at music stores like Allens and Billy Hydes and and has an interview with me and John Butler (pic on my photos page)!
February 21: I am excited about the series of international busker gigs I have organised at Manchester Lane, every Tuesday in March.
Performers: Magical MC Benjamin Hutton, Miss Polly Waffle & juggling Eric the Red, acrobat Max Xtreme, Jessica Paige, Japanese Blues Cowboy - George Kamikawa, Bonjahbango, Entertainer/MC Wylie J, didge player Nik Didge, Indigenous guitarist Dave, Dan - International Foot Sack Champion, violinist Rupert G and Santos.
Jan 9My song is on rotation on Qantas Domestic in-flight radio sandwiched between Gwen Stefani and Guy Sebastian!Jan 1 2007 Melbourne's biggest newspaper, The Age, interviewed me about my busking and ran the article today. A good sign for the year ahead. I am making plans to record the album - due out early 2008. (It takes a long time to get the $ together to promote it!)
Channel 31 Theatre Sports - I sang on 2 episodes of this show. I was also interviewed on the show of an Aussie icon of radio Barry Bissell's Top 20 Countdown ...
December 8 2006 Jess and the Paige Boys recently won recording time at SoundHeaven in the Blue Mountains.The studio is a mudbrick haven on a mountainside and we went there on the way home from Sydney and we put down 3 band tracks and I demoed some of my new solo songs.December 1My song Spirit People is now up on Triple J's Unearthed website with two more tracks. We played at Southbank Markets today, in Brisbane, straight after John Butler. It was great to meet him and be able to thank him in person for his help with the tour.
November 30Awesome gig at The Rails in Byron last night!I did 2 radio interviews today, one at 4ZzZ in Brisbane and another on Coast FM (ABC) by satellite all around the Brisbane, Sunshine and Gold Coast areas.
November 23VIDEO HITS!This Saturday am, Channel 10, word is that there will be segments from my video and info about the JB Seed Grant.Sydney tonight! If u r in Sydney ..put yr name on my email list for next gig! CD's have been selling like hot cakes at gigs. Must get some more pressed.
November 17 2006 Am off to play at The Golden Vine in Bendigo tonight.. EP is now launched.. go into the world and spread your message!! I have been sick and got out of hospital last Sunday and was a tad worried for a while that I would have to be propped up on stage..BUT recovered in time..And now I feel pretty much 100%. It's all in the timing :)
Nov 12 Interviews & RadioThere is a lot of interest in the EP, so this week I did interviews with TimeOff and Rave Music Press (Brisbane), The Gold Coast Bulletin and Beat Magazine (Melbourne). An editorial ran in Drum Music Magazine in Sydney too. I had a radio interview on Joy FM and Pulse fm Geelong.
Oct 17Listen out for my single on radio from now on ..
This from The Music Network...JESS WILL ROCK YOUR WORLDOne of the JB Seed grant winners, Jessica Paige is set to release the first track from her debut EP Under Skin, through Sound Vault Records, to radio this week. This 21 year old Melbournian singer/songwriter will rock your socks, with one the most heavenly voices we’ve heard all year and gorgeous lyrics to match. With a tour starting November 16 and running through to December 3, it won’t be long until Jess blows you away.
AlsoAn awesome time was had by all at The Loft at Warrnambool and we plan to return next year.
Musicoz finalists have been announced and a song I co-wrote with the very talented Jesse B. was a finalist. Listen to it on www.myspace.com/jessicapaigemuso now.
October 4Triple J Unearthed - demo of Spirit People - leave a review if you care to.
September 15My song has been selected as a Top 40 pick on KICKRadio.com and it is being played to subscribers in over 30 countries to music fans worldwide.
September 10 2006 My song Under My Skin just won the Compo10 song competition. This is an unusual competition in that only the entrants can vote for the winning song. The competition is run by an avid music fan from Finland. September 7Launch of Under My Skin: Thursday 16th November at the beautiful Spanish Club in Fitzroy, Melbourne. ..
September 1Wow! Best band gig yet last night! The place was packed and many compilations went home with the guests.
August 27Welcome to Paige Boy, Rob Murray! Rob is now harmony specialist and second guitaristand he plays bass as well. All at the same time.Using his feet. He's from the country....!
August 2Roocast interview - I co-hosted Roocast with regular host Martin Cooke.... He is funny.
July 20: JBSEED GRANT I am very thankful to the JBSeed for selecting my band for a grant to help with the November tour & the EP launch. Musicians John Butler, his partner Danielle + Missy Higgins + managers Phil Stevens and Correne Wilkie (manager of the Cat Empire) contributed this year as well as some other very generous industry people. It's really exciting for us, it means the tour can be advertised and my single will get out .. it's a great boost in more than just financial ways. It's the faith and the idea of paying it forward that is so exciting. Thankyou!! xx
July 1 2006: My Dad has just won another international song award- the Unisong International Jazz/Blues category. Check him out on www.steveromig.com. Go Dad!!
The gigs at The Carlton Music Room and The Hifi Bar were awesome - the biggest we have done so far! Our set at The Hifi Bar was filmed for SBS TV and was aired on May 6th.
There are also many Indie radio stations and magazines around the world starting to help me by reviewing my CD and adding my tracks to their playlists. See my Links page.
AND
My debut EP "Back of our Minds" sold out so I got another run done. So now you can buy them at gigs again. You can also download all the tracks on various download sites ( with a small charge). And eventually some money will find its way back to me. I believe.
My Blog (on-line diary) is on my page on Myspace where I will be letting you know about the Melbourne music scene, good places to go in Melbourne for very important things, like chocolate and chai... And all the day to day stuff an Indie muso goes through to get stuff happening. It's easy to sign up to myspace and get access to millions of "friends".
Come back occasionally to check out new developments! Leave a message in my guestbook if you like. I love to read your messages.:)
Cheers, Jess
