No.1 in Belgium!!! Eurovision! Learning to speak german. First video...

HALO! It's official, I'm going to Oslo for Eurovision 2010! Yikes!

I co-wrote the Eurovision song for Belgium this year and after 48 hours it's already gone to Number One in Belgium i-Tunes chart! Yeaaaaah!!! The song is called "Me & My Guitar" and is performed by Tom Dice. VOTE FOR BELGIUM!!!

http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/12545/

We've been having lots of meetings recently, discussing things like our first music video for the first single "Eskimos To Astronauts". We've been working with a cool video director called Sandra Marschner from Katapult films. She's directed videos for Tokyo Hotel, The Rasmus, Marilyn Manson and loads of other bad-ass acts. There is a cool idea that she has developed for our first video idea based around some cool little creatures called "jumjums". Any thoughts would be nice:

I recorded a little sneak preview video of the first single yesterday on my macbook. It's very happy and dance-able? I that even a word? Who knows... I even tried to speak a little german. Tried is the primary word:

COMEDY BEAR COSTUME - EPK - EUROPEAN SONGWRITING MARATHON - PHOTOSHOOT...

Woopie Doodie! We have an EPK! An officially finished EPK all sparkly and beautiful! Big spanks to the team behind this video :) It was shot in London, Hamburg, Exeter, Leeds and Scarborough, and basically condenses all my musical adventures over the past 11 years into a few wee minutes. Clever eh? You can watch it, rate it, date it here:



I got back last week from an absolute marathon of songwriting - 3 weeks trecking across europe writing with some of the biggest producers and songwriters in the biz, including the teams behind Marit Larsen, Skunk Anansie, Novastar, Amy Winehouse, The Sugarbabes, Leona Lewis, James Morrison... The list goes on I won't bore you. All nice folk. Yipeeee! I think we now have a first single, it's the big song i've been looking to write for about the last 11 years :) Now I think we have it, all will be revealed keep ure panties on! We're recording it properly next week. I didn't get to see much of the cities I went to, but I did take a few pics. I took a gondala from hamburg to oslo, then to brussels, then rotterdam, then back to brussels (stupid i know), then smokey london town, a bicycle to berlin and then back to my little pad in hamburg! Wowie wow! Tired? Yes. Happy? Very. The new songs rock. Here are a few pics of my journey:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148214&id=506532821&ref=mf

In other news, a friend of mine had a big gig recently, and asked to go onstage and dance like a mother funker in a comedy bear costume. Fun times! How to get lady attention very swiftly, wear a comedy bear costume. Try it, it really works :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJ6jKD7Evw

I had my first ever real photo-shoot with a proper team a few weeks back, a stylist, make-up dude, lighting rigs the works. Bit weird. Friggin cool though. We got some surreal pictures for the artwork and for the website. Like semi-iconic pics? They actually make me look pretty dapper! Ha! OMG! Amazing location for the shoot. It was like a fairytale fantasy land. Quite trippy. Like vogue meets hobo. Very me really :) Perfecto location. It was actually this antique collector's house. Was insane. The family were loveies though, made me honey tea and shit. High-five! My management took a pic on a camera phone that you can see below, chow chow amigoes for now!!!

Abbey Road / Mini Tour of Germany / EPK!

Just got back from a mini-industry tour of Germany. From Berlin to Hamburg, then Cologne and Munich! Was awesome. We played stripped down acoustic sets with just cello, piano and guitar - it went down really well, smiles and clapping and laughter and drunkardness :) We've had lots of great offers from some important industry partners already and we've only just got back from the tour! Well well worth it, thanks to anyone that came down and everyone that made it all happen...

We recently went to have a look around Abbey Road in London which was freakin amaaaaazing - We are looking at doing a live recording / live dvd showcase for the industry in early 2010 and Abbey Road seems like the ideal location. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! Exciting!

And finally, we recently shot an EPK and it has just about finished being edited. Looks really cool, can't wait to reveal all.

Band Rehearsal - Live Footage - "She Is Love"...

Live on Balcony TV...

Just finished a long week of co-writing in london. Was good fun, worked with some amazing writers and wrote some wicked songs. Also played on balcony tv hamburg a few weeks back, it's now on-line - I even spoke a word or two auf deutsch :) Heading up to my hometown Scarborough to play a show in a little wooden boat tomorrow - fun times! Then back to hamburg to work in the studio on the album - we're doing string arranging at the moment which is my fav, I luuuuuuuuurve strings...

Twitter...

Just a quickie to say I have succumbed to twittering :)

http://twitter.com/ashleyhicklin

Let's follow each other!!! But not in a weird kinda way :)

Record Deal Signed!!! / Yamaha Guitar Sponsorship

It's official! We signed the final paperwork for our record deal with Ferryhouse Productions / Warner Music! All very exciting. There will be a signing video on-line shortly. 2010 is gonna be a fun year working with this team. Looking forward to touring the record, which is starting to sound wwwwwwicked. Franz Plasa is a musical genius!

In other news I have my first sponsorship deal :) Yaaaaay! Big smiley face! Yamaha guitars sent me a new CPX15N Acoustic and it's absolutely bloomin beautiful. Probably the nicest guitar I have ever played, and i've played a lot of geeetars. Massive thankyou to the peeps at yamaha. Go buy one just like mine you won't be disappointed...

Festivals & Recording in Hamburg Videos...

Just finished another week in the studio in hamburg, we have seven songs down on our debut record. We're having fun with our crazy-ass producer Franz Plasa and his team. This is a video from the studio courtesy of Petra, thanku :)

We also played Conincx Pop Festival a few weeks back which was amazing, we have some rough little handy-cam videos of the show and also the roadtrip to Holland!

This City Wears A Secret - Live From Hamburg...

This is a live recording from Hamburg of a brand new track written yesterday "This City Wears A Secret".

Video is a little rough but sound is okay for a "home" studio recording :)

Lyrics are ppppppretty, and were a joint effort between myself and Kim Sawford...

Enjoy!

CITY SHOWCASE / Publishing / Sponsorship Deal...

This last week or so has been mental. Gigs nearly every night of the week, radio interview slots, and lots of industry interest.

We've been asked to perform at not one, but TWO of this year's London "City Showcase" Events. This event showcases up-and-coming musical talent and has unearthed the likes of Newton Faulkner, Bens Brother, David Ford and Amy Winehouse in recent years. If you can come down then please do!

June 3rd 2008 1:30PM -
Timberland Store - Regents Street - LONDON, South

June 6th 2008 3:45PM -
Ben Sherman Store - Carnaby Street - LONDON, South

There has been quite a bit of publishing interest in our album "Parrysland" which we have literally only just finished, from some massive publishers and some smaller ones two.

We have also had some quite exciting news regarding a clothing sponsorship deal, some massive brands being talked about, and a lot of money being talked about. Scary shizzle. Guitar endorsement is also on the cards, but I don't wana jinx that one coz I really want some new toys to play with. Ha! I've been playing the same Eko acoustic for ten years! No joke! A hand-me-down from my dad. If anyone can pull-off a guitar endorsement, it's our manager Kevin Reynolds who is working his little cotton socks off for us. Big respect :)