We reported in the last newsletter that Steve and Marina signed a contract with Tiger Aspect Television but the project never came to fruition and the powers that be decided to go with Pete Waterman instead. That is incorrect. In actual fact, the song was submitted to Tiger Aspect for a television programme featuring Justin Lee Collins called "A Song for Justin". The programme which was broadcast recently followed Justin's attempt to sing in Eurovision. The confusion arose due to a poorly worded notice from an entertainment industry service to which Steve subscribes, and that Tiger Aspect were in no way responsible for the confusion that ensued! Steve's song 'Reset Switch' has received much praise locally but it was not selected by Justin who ultimately went on to contact Ronan Keating to write a song for him.

Steve has had a lengthy conversation with Tiger Aspect following the broadcast of the programme and it seems that his lyrics may have been found to be a little too serious for Justin to use. Naturally Steve is disappointed by this, as it was his belief at the time of writing the song that the UK was poorly regarded by Eurovision for not taking the competition seriously enough. Of course in the confusion Steve wrote the song thinking it was for the UK, whereas Justin was attempting to represent Ireland and maybe this was also a factor in the decision not to use the song.

Reset Switch on Exeter FM

Last night, James Santer aired the song on Exeter FM and ventured that its omission was an "absolute disgrace" and that he thought the song was "brilliant" and then joked that perhaps the reason it was not selected is that it was "nowhere near rubbish enough!".

If you'd like to hear the broadcast please click here.

We have edited most of the song itself from the podcast as it is still available as a free download from the links below.

Reset Switch (Eurovision demo)

Please right click here and select "Save Target As..." from the menu which appears in order to download the mp3

Reset Switch (Exposed)

This is a free bonus track which is a very much stripped down version of the original, if you'd like that too then right click here and select "Save Target As..." from the menu which appears in order to download the mp3

You may remember that at the end of last year, Steve teamed up with Marina Costigan to produce a demo for submission to Eurovision 2010. They both signed a contract with Tiger Aspect Television but the project never came to fruition and the powers that be decided to go with Pete Waterman instead. It was part of the deal that the submissions to Tiger Aspect TV were kept out of the public domain until a song had been chosen and made public by the organisers, but we are now in a position to release the demos as free downloads. Steve wrote 'Reset Switch' especially for Eurovision 2010 and tried to strike the right tone and style for the competition to give it as much chance of winning as possible... not perhaps his normal style of writing! Naturally we think Steve's song is better than the official one, but please download it and let us know what you think!

Reset Switch (Eurovision demo)

Please right click here and select "Save Target As..." from the menu which appears in order to download the mp3

Reset Switch (Exposed)

This is a free bonus track which is a very much stripped down version of the original, if you'd like that too then right click here and select "Save Target As..." from the menu which appears in order to download the mp3


We wish Josh Dubovie all the best in the competition.

Steve played at the recent benefit concert at The Corn Exchange which raised nearly £1500 for the children of Haiti - a fantastic effort by Kiss This,The Reoffenders, El-Cojones and everybody involved on the night.

He is due to appear as a guest at one more charity event for Shelterbox to play his new single 'New Friends' specially written for the Help for Haiti charity. The event is taking place on 26th Feb at Exeter FC, Exeter. Details on www.help4haitiexeter.co.uk

The single is available from www.bigdstudios.co.uk

A recording of a joint interview at Exeter FM with Rich Elgar from Reckless and Pete Knaggs from The Cadence is on the audio page.

Steve is due to appear as a guest at two charity events for the Haiti Earthquake appeal to play his new single 'New Friends' specially written for the charity.

19th Feb, The Corn Exchange, Exeter.
Details on www.lemonrock.com/kissthis

26th Feb, Exeter FC, Exeter.
Details on www.lemonrock.com/recklessexeter

The single is available from www.bigdstudios.co.uk

A new year brings fresh enthusiasm and hope for things to come. With that in mind we are running an advertising campaign on Exeter FM which will last up until the end of February. If you'd like to hear the commercial you can either tune in to Exeter FM of course on 107.3 or listen online at exeter.fm or you can hear it right here on the audio page.

After a very hectic Christmas Steve has finally found time to record and mix the song that he performed OpenMic 2009. You can download it for free from his MySpace page.

We know Steve would love to hear what you think of the song, and in true andabrek style, to see if you get what the song is about without giving you any clues!

We're still awaiting news regarding Eurovision 2010. After the hectic rush to submit the demo and sign the contract with the TV company all has gone quiet. Let's hope no news is good news!

Hi

Well it's nearly the end of the year and probably the last update from me until 2010.

I've been so busy I still haven't managed to get 'round to recording the podcast or the OpenMic song which so many of you have requested, but I'm hoping to do at least one of those things very very soon.

andabrek is still going strong and recently I've been getting some very positive fan mail - wow, I can't believe I'm typing the words "fan mail" in my own newsletter!

The most exciting news though is that I have teamed up with the gorgeous and super talented Marina Costigan and submitted an entry for next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
I'm afraid the song itself has to stay under wraps as part of the conditions of the competition, but we'll let you hear it just as soon as we can.
All I can tell you for now is that it sounds nothing like andabrek!

If you'd like to listen to the song I recorded specially for BBC Radio Devon a couple of years ago, (which was also considered by Cliff Richard's management for a Christmas Single!) then please click the icon.

I hope you all have an utterly brilliant Christmas and that all your heads don't hurt too much on New Year's Day ;o)

Stephen James

12/11/2009 Close - but no cigar! A personal message from Steve.

Hi everyone

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that voted for me, I know a few of you that voted many times. I really am so grateful.

I led the regional vote and then joined the national table in 2nd place. The night before the vote closed I had slid to 4th, but then with all your help I moved up the table again to 3rd place which is where I finished.

Sadly that means I didn't make it through to the national final but it was a close run thing. Bearing in mind that
over 10,000 people entered the competition and I almost made it down to the last 30 in the over 25's...
not a bad result!

By coincidence I also came 3rd in the "Exposure Award" (ooh err! - I think they mean publicity) for the South West region for which again I thank Vic Morgan at BBC Radio Devon, James Santer at Exeter FM and Graham Russell at
Palm FM. A little extra thanks has to go to James Santer for allowing me to mess with his schedules and put in a last minute appearance on his show the night before the vote closed in order to rally more support.

Thanks again
Stephen James

Steve had a great time on Tuesday on Exeter FM. He was on air from 8 til 9pm and had a lovely relaxed chat with James Santer and played a couple of tracks from 'andabrek' as well as his own acoustic version of Howard Jones' hit 'What is love'.

Last night Steve recorded three interviews with Graham Russell at Palm FM. One is online at http://www.palm.fm/p/the-7-11-evening-show, one should be going out on air tonight at about 8:45pm, and the last one tomorrow night at the same time. As well as chatting to Graham about andabrek and OpenMic 2009, Steve specially recorded three acoustic songs for the show: Angry Man from andabrek, What is love (as previewed by James Santer) and Candle in the wind. You will be able to hear "Angry Man" as part of tonight's broadcast and "What is love" tomorrow. We're not sure when "Candle in the wind" is being broadcast!

Tune in on 105.5FM or online at http://palm.fm

Steve really needs your vote to help him through to the national finals, so please come along on October 31st to
St Georges in Bristol and give him your support. You can buy tickets on the website by clicking here.

Since receiving the glowing appraisal of andabrek from the music industry professionals at Caragan Music (click here to read the full review), Steve has been selected by the judges of this year's OpenMic competition to go through to the regional final in Bristol at the end of October.

Steve said "I'm very excited about this opportunity. It gives me a chance to bring andabrek to an even wider audience as well as representatives of record labels, and if I am lucky enough to win then there is the possibility of a high profile single release".

Steve needs your vote to help him through to the national finals, so please come along on October 31st to St Georges in Bristol and give him your support. You can buy tickets on this website by clicking here.

Steve, playing just piano, has teamed up with Dr Dave Sanderson on guitar and they have created an acoustic selection of material from andabrek. Dave is a very highly regarded and respected musician from Exeter and Steve is thrilled to have him on board.

Last night, the Exeter Picturehouse saw the world premier of the acoustic set, and the performance was enthusiastically appreciated by the crowd. After the show Steve and Dave received alot of praise for the music from members of the audience. Steve said "I'm totally delighted at how this went. It's fantastic to be playing my music live at last, and its a joy to be working with someone of Dave's calibre. He has brought so much to the arrangements of the songs to make them work acoustically. It's always nerve racking to do something for the first time, but now I can't wait to do more".

Last night, Steve was interviewed about Andabrek by John Hogarth on Torbay's local radio, Palm FM. A recording of the interview is on the audio page.

We received the good news today that Andabrek has made it's first sale in the US.
It's particularly satisfying as there has been practically no promotion in America yet.
When Tom Baker came into the studio way back in 2002 to record his bit, as he was reading the script, he drew breath in a manner reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter describing 'a nice Chianti', and said 'the Americans will love this'. Well here's to the first...
Every journey starts with but a single step!

Last night, Vic Morgan broadcast the full interview with Steve which took place at the launch party on 6th April at The Showman. It's over ten minutes long! You can hear a recording of the broadcast on the audio page.

Last night, Steve appeared on James Santer's show on Exeter FM where he chatted to James about the album and played two tracks from it. Steve was also given the opportunity to play two other tracks that were influential or meaningful. His first choice was 'New Song' by Howard Jones as the song that influenced him the most as a musician and explained that the song had opened his eyes to a whole new way of thinking. Steve's second choice was purely of the moment; he chose 'About my Garden' by unsigned artiste Bryn Morgan Evans in memory of Norah Andrew who sadly lost her battle with cancer earlier this month. James will be featuring tracks from the album for the rest of this week on his show which starts at 8pm.
You can tune in on 107.3FM or stream the show on www.exeter.fm

09/04/09 Launch party

The album launch took place at The Showman in Cowick Street, Exeter, Sunday 5th April. The event was a fun filled evening including an exclusive video where Stephen James talked about the album and gave the guests an insight to what lies behind the songs. That was followed by a full length video accompanying the album and there were competitions and prizes too. The event was well attended by many of Steve's fans and special guests were Vic Morgan and Kirstin Neilson Hunter both presenters from BBC Radio Devon. Vic Morgan (who won the totally loony launch the album competition) made a short speech in which he said that he hoped that the album got the success it deserved and that if anyone deserved success it was Stephen James. Vic broadcast a short feature on Steve on the breakfast show, Wednesday 8th April, including playing an interview which took place at the launch party and will hopefully be playing tracks off the album when he's back on his regular late night show in a couple of weeks time. You can hear the broadcast of the interview on the audio page.

Albums were available on the night and were snapped up by the fans, and those sales have been followed up by further orders over email and facebook.

01/04/09 Andabrek launched today

The album was supposed to be released on 17 March, which would have made it exactly 25 years since the release of another very significant work. Having missed that date the aim was then for a release on 19th March to celebrate Patrick McGoohan's birthday. Failing both those dates, April 1st seemed particularly appropriate.
It's an important family anniversary.