T-Shirt
We are launching a series of T-Shirts via Teemill, based on images from the photo archive of John Ellis. The first one is now available here:
Rock ‘N’ Stroll
Rock ‘N’ Stroll is a ‘walk and talk’ with UK guitarist/songwriter John Ellis around locations that have played a significant part in his life as a musician. It’s 2 miles over 2 hours and is suitable for wheelchair users. And all attendees receive a copy of John’s solo album Sly Guitar
My Life In Negatives
John Ellis has created a new show called ‘My Life In Negatives’. It features projections of images from his photo archive, stories and original songs. Performances have started but John is looking for more venues for the show. If you would like a copy of his EPK for the event, click here:
“What a brilliant evening at the Wanstead Tap in the company of John Ellis, a musician with a truly remarkable career. A perfect balance of chat, songs and photos from his own extensive archives kept the audience enthralled and wanting more”.
A song for every chapter
John Ellis is writing a new album of songs based on the content of each chapter of ‘A Gift Of Serenity’. If you’d like to read the book go here. He’ll be posting them to his Soundcloud page.
John Ellis Full Biography
If you are interested in the music of John Ellis, you might like to check his biography.
New Release on Chanoyu Records
Infinity Drive is an album of demos originally created for The Stranglers. Released due to demand from Stranglers fans, the 12 songs were written, played and produced by John Ellis with lead vocals by Paul Roberts. The project was funded via Kickstarter.
Handwritten lyrics
We have now added handwritten lyrics, signed by John Ellis, to the Chanoyu Records shop. It can be any of John’s lyrics written for The Vibrators, The Stranglers or solo projects. These were a very popular reward among our Kickstarter supporters.
The infamous Christmas Ghost story
I often get asked about a Christmas Ghost story I wrote in 2012 as an homage to the great Charles Dickens. It was done in the form of a Facebook blog and many people added comments which helped me to develop the story that ran for a couple of weeks. People often ask where they can find the full story, so I have uploaded a PDF which should do the trick.
Here it is.
Hope you enjoy the journey.
John Ellis Collaborations
Over the last 40 years John Ellis has been collaborating on projects with musicians, artists and film-makers. He has now created a page dedicated to this body of work.
The Music Photography of John Ellis
I have created a gallery of just a few of the thousands of photographs I have taken as a musician. Mostly of people I’ve worked with such as Peter Hammill, Peter Gabriel, The Vibrators and many more. I am hoping to do an exhibition and book one day.
Blues and Folk Guitar Workshops
John Ellis teaches a regular monthly Beginner Blues Guitar workshop at The Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch, London. They are a lot of fun. If you would like to buy a ticket as an interesting gift or just buy one because you want to learn about playing blues guitar, here is the workshop page link. These workshops are also great for employees looking for an interesting event for their staff. These workshops can be delivered on company premises.
Guitar Access
Check out the site for John Ellis’ guitar teaching. Lots of how-to’s and tab.
Wabi Sabi 21© and the Gallery Music Series
We have now made available all the tracks from the Gallery Music Series and Wabi Sabi 21©. These represent the electronic side of the music of UK composer John Ellis.
You can stream the full length versions of all tracks and you can also buy individual tracks.
Music in the New World.
Do you love real music?
We are clearly at a major turning point when it comes to the interface of artists and the people who like their music. Without your support, musicians and songwriters like myself would find it almost impossible to carry on the creative process. Traditionally, record labels, publishers and agents etc were the ‘middlemen’ in that process.
But for most of us those days are over. And that means that artists and fans are now working much more symbiotically. Fantastic!
So here are a few ideas for those of you who want to help and support emerging artists or those of us still dedicated to exploring new musical landscapes.
CROWD FUNDING
Consider supporting a project. It doesn’t have to cost a lot and you receive special stuff and opportunities from the artists.
GIGS
Support your local venues. It’s simple. Just turn up and have a good time. Local acts get a place to play. Bigger acts give local acts a chance to support. Suggest artists you’d like to see play there.
HOUSE CONCERTS
Why not put on a gig in your home. There’s lots of website support if you want to give it a try.
BUY FROM THE ARTIST
If an artist you like is selling their music from their own site, please make that your first choice for purchase. It might cost a little extra but it makes a massive difference to the artist who can put that money back into the creative process. Also leave lots of feedback. Artists like to know what you think about their work.
CHAMPIONS
Artists are not superhuman. We need support. If you really like a particular artist tell the world through your social media. Ask your local venue to book them or get your local radio station to do an interview. Maybe you have a relevant skill or service you could offer to the artist. They are usually very happy to repay in kind.
So……as the great Wilbert Harrison once said “Together we stand. Divided we fall. Come on you people let’s get on the ball and work together”
Pidgeon Holes & other dilemmas.
So……….you learn to play guitar and you listen to lots of different types of music and you end up creating something that is , hopefully, unique music. Now, at some point you think “I’d like to do a gig or 2 or even make a record”. That’s the easy bit. And now for the dilemma.
Now you find that you have to give your work a ‘genre’ label. For you, it’s just the thing you do, but Outsideworld must know which mental folder to stuff you into. Are you rock, punk, blues, flamenco, skiffle, surf etc?
You’ve got 2 choices. Find a pidgeon hole that might vaguely have space for your type of twanging OR tack on your own little box. In fact if you are a truly creative musician you will be tacking on lots of different boxes. Now, as we know, pidgeon holes have to have a little label stuck on the front because the makers of those boxes assume the visitors to said boxes are too stupid to work out for themselves what is in the box.
So here is the current over-a-cup-of-rosie-lee conversation at Chanoyu Towers. What should we write on the label when we stuff SLY GUITAR into our new pidgeon hole, because there sure ain’t one around with room for us!
House Concerts
John Ellis, the founder of Chanoyu Records, is now available for house concerts. They are a great new way of connecting musicians to their audience. You hire John to come and play, then you can invite your friends along for an interesting evening of performance, stories from life on the road, Q&A session and some teaching if you’d like to develop your guitar playing skills.
It’s up to you whether or not to charge your friends.
Contact us for more details.
Free instrumental music downloads.
A number of tracks in various genres are now available from the FREEBIES page.
They are free for personal enjoyment. However, if you work in TV, Film or Computer game production etc these tracks might be what you are looking for. Please use the contact form to get in touch with John Ellis at Chanoyu Records.
The legendary JImi Hendrix Welsh National Anthem hoax.
A few years ago John Ellis was asked to provide a little bit of audio for a friends website. He didn’t know what was about to happen.
Fraudulent Gurus – Saku Rado
The ritual of Saku Rado is a blessing to all the peoples of earth.
The Fraudulent Gurus perform Saku Rado once every ten years in serene celebration of joyous being through infinite sustain.
