The Happy Village Shoesmith

On the hunt again...

2012-06-01T08:26:00.002-10:00

Well, I lost the job. But that's okay because it turned out to be a..., errr, a fucking colossal fist fuck up my arse that caused me a stroke, fucked up my brain and just sucked every last living bit of spirit out of me. But...after a few days free from that shit, I will be great. I'm going out to my sister's ranch to rest and recover and then we're going to meet a healer who will hopefully help me through all of the tumult in my life as of late.

I know I'm not an incredibly passive person, and what I know I do indeed know. When I'm around some old stupid people who are unable to change their antiquated and ineffective ways they always panic and think that they will become unneeded. Well, that's life so just move over you ineffective and more than inadequate fuck. God bless him because Lord know he really needs it as he has a staff of employees who are underpaid, mistreated and quite upset that the person who organized things and improved on daily procedure (moi) is gone. I wish them well and hope they will all move on to better situations as they certainly deserve to be.

Cheers!
Harry

LISTEN ALL YOU LIKE, HOWEVER COMPLAINTS MUST BE DELIVERED TO MY LEFT EAR YOU CHEAP BASTARD!

2012-03-11T15:11:00.001-10:00

HaHa! Yes, the whole album is up on SoundCloud now and available for listening. If you like what you hear go and get it! I changed the cover artwork especially for this version since I was getting a bit tired of seeing my mug strained and posing. The new cover, as seen below, features a somewhat scruffier me with a severe overcoat and gloves.

I will be posting additional tracks from THE LiNE sessions eventually but I just wanted to get the album up there for now. If you're too fucking cheap and don't want to help a brother (or sister depending on what day it is) out this is your cheap-ass alternative! I hope you like it...cheap ass!

Here's the link to go and listen to the album: THE LiNE

Things are back on track...again.

2012-02-17T12:18:00.002-10:00

Hello! Things have been going well lately and I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying my new job. I also got paid a very nice compliment by several people I work with. One day I knocked over a stack of shirts with my arse and she asked, "What happened?" to which I replied, "I knocked them over with my big booty!" To which she said, "What booty? You're so damn skinny, you don't even have a booty!" I guess it's true that people who've been relatively heavy most of their lives can never find it in their consciousness to think of themselves as skinny and I still don't see it in spite of having lost over 60 pounds since 2008.

A few years back when I was working at a furniture store, I had the pleasure of working with some really big samoan guys who were just the kindest gents you'd ever want to meet. As per usual we would all go to lunch together after we unloaded the truck. Well, one day I didn't feel like eating since I was fearful of gaining weight. This one guy named Tupu who is about 6'7" said this to me when I told him I wasn't going to eat out of fear of getting fat again. "You fucking skinny ass people piss me off!" To which I replied, "Did you call me skinny?" Sad, but true.

Well, I would still love to lose 25 pounds more so that I will be at what I call my ideal weight 160! Is that too much. I am 6'1" so I am worried that I may resemble a walking stick eventually, but I'll worry about that when I get there. At least I'm doing it sensibly with exercise, good eating and a clear mind. I hope I get there by at least June. Happy 50th skinny arse is what I want to hear on that day!

TTFN,
Harry

The (NEW) Human Adventure is beginning again!

2012-01-31T18:57:00.002-10:00

Well Boy and Girl...not plural...my new job begins tomorrow and I can honestly say that I'm bloody nervous and antsy right now.

I certainly hope that I don't bugger this up and that I'm able to do a great job! I'm very excited about this new adventure and to be in charge is something that I've wanted for so long! I am praying for guidance and help along the way and will be keeping my mind open and positive.

Now, yes, I have my musical career but that certainly isn't helping to pay the bills so I've got to live in the real world and work in the real world. Wish me luck every one (and I mean that figuratively)! Here I come world...put up your dukes! Let's go! WOOF!

Danko,

Harry

The New Single Release

2012-01-12T16:07:00.002-10:00

HAPPY? is the new single. Decided to try something a bit different with this single release. There will be no duplication of the album version on the single as I have remixed and extended the track. A very simple video has been produced to accompany this extended version, which is sub-titled THE MORE THAN HAPPY REMIX. Since there were very few extra tracks left over from the recording sessions, this release will include only one non-album track; a very short (falling out of) love song entitled 5 WORDS TO SAY GOODBYE. The single will drop tomorrow on Noisetrade.com for free download and WHEN i WAS A BOY will be deleted. (See the sidebar to the right of this page). HAPPY? is the second single from the album THE LiNE.

Both the video and download will be active tomorrow. I hope you like it. Check out and Like my FaceBook band page where videos for other previously unavailable tracks have been uploaded. You may also purchase the album directly on the FaceBook band page.

Thank you for your support and kind words of encouragement! Here's to a happy and productive 2012!

Harry

DIGITAL BOOKLET LINKS

2012-01-05T06:31:00.002-10:00

Here are the links for the two digital booklets that were made in conjunction with the album and first single. Simply copy the links below to your browser and download them to your computer. You can also drop them into iTunes. Enjoy! Also, per a request from my friend, The Donna, comments have now been enabled. Bang on!

The link for THE LiNE:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12729358/The%20Line%20%5BDigital%20Booklet%5D-rev.pdf

The link for WHEN i WAS A BOY:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12729358/WHEN%20I%20WAS%20A%20BOY-BOOKLET.pdf

Another year. Almost done.

2011-12-27T06:46:00.001-10:00

...and thank God for that! A few highlights aside, this has been one shitty year. Okay the highlights: Lots and lots of classic Jerry Goldsmith scores finally saw the light of day. Ditto for John Williams, from whom we actually received two new masterpieces (WAR HORSE and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN) along with the release of his complete score for 1941 and an additional release of the actual film score for NOT WITH MY WIFE YOU DON'T, which came from the good folks at FSM. Sadly FSM will no longer be releasing CDs via their label but the signs do look good that FSM mastermind Lukas Kendall will continue to "fight the good fight" and get many more film scores released through other channels.

My album came out earlier this month and has been receiving positive notices and moderate sales which is more than I could hope for considering my tiny little "Dog & Pony Show" setup. Some very pointed observations regarding lyrical content, production sensibilities and tone in general have been made by several listeners and it's good to know that my message hasn't gotten muddled in spite of it coming from my warped mind.

I've already completed the remix for the next single, which will be HAPPY? I've decided to try something a little different with this single and will only be releasing a new extended remix along with a few non-album tracks. No single release of the album version since it already exists on the album. No point in overkill, right? It shall be released in either late January or mid-February.

I've been making and posting a few videos on my Facebook band page of material new and (mostly) old. I've found it a perfect venue to get some of the stuff that's been sitting around forever out there. While my video productions are modest affairs, with mainly still images, they're communicating what I want and who could ask for more than that. I'm still debating what route I should take with HAPPY? and if I should make a video or not and whether I should appear in it at all. Go and take a look at my vids and hopefully you'll enjoy the music as well.

Well, as this fucked up year closes and another, hopefully full of promise, approaches I can't help but get misty when thinking of everything that has transpired. Good and bad. For whatever it was, I'm just bloody thankful that it's almost over. Here's to 2012 and I hope I can get to Arizona, California, Ireland, New York, Houston (or wherever I'm meant to be) before the world is supposed to end in December of 2012...if those Mayans got it right. I don't want to be stuck here in Hawaii in 2012 and if you saw what happens to the island in the movie 2012 you know what I'm referring to. I don't like "normal" heat so I know I won't enjoy being reduced to kindling on VOLCANO LAND.

That's it for now kiddies. I hope your New Year celebrations go off without a hitch and that all of you have nothing but good coming your way! Wish me the same please cause boy do I fucking need it!

TTFN,
Love to you!
Har

More album crap.

2011-12-12T12:28:00.000-10:00

CD Baby.

2011-12-06T08:17:00.001-10:00

The album which is also available at CD Baby who has also distributed the album to Amazon and iTunes and it's also available on my Facebook Band Page. Use whichever method to purchase you prefer. I am letting the album samples play out in their entirety for this week and then later after Saturday will include short samples so go and have a listen and if you like what you hear, HEP A BRUTHA OUT! Cheers!

Here's the link to my CD Baby page:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/harrisonshinn

Harry

THE LiNE HAS ARRiVED!

2011-12-05T19:46:00.001-10:00

The Album is now available on Amazon.com and iTunes. The past three years that it took to finish this album were long and tiring. I'm very happy with the final result and that's some kind of first since I'm never happy with anything that I do. I sincerely hope that you like it!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/harrison-shinn/id485595823

Had to re-upload this short viddy since I removed all of my personal stuff from my general YouTube channel. All of the other stuff can be found at my new channel. HarrisonShinnMusic.

Album is up at Amazon Worldwide!

2011-12-04T00:16:00.001-10:00

Although it won't be ready for delivery until the 6th, the album is up at Amazon.com as of now. You can listen to samples on the album page. That sure was fast!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Line/dp/B006HP6RTA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322991822&sr=8-2

This is the link for the US release. A simple search will bring up the album in your region of the world. Bang on!

More album news

2011-12-03T18:33:00.001-10:00

Just received word that the album was delivered to Amazon MP3 today and that's very encouraging news. If it doesn't hit iTunes on the 6th at least it may be available by the date I had planned on Amazon. Suddenly I feel better! The link to the booklet will go live whenever the album drops! :-)

Although I started backing up the hard disk masters shortly after the album was finalised there are still a number of tracks still on the hard disk so I'm probably going to have to back those up soon and erase them to make room for any new material I may feel inspired to record. As I have stated before the next project I want to work on is a ballet and I anticipate that taking a while to do since I've only written a few pieces for it and none of them have been committed to disk. I have time though and I'm in no hurry to jump into another project since THE LINE isn't even out. I just need to rest and let the batteries recharge!

Peace Out!
Harry

THE LINE Digital Booklet

2011-12-02T11:54:00.003-10:00

Because the distributor was unable to include the Digital Booklet that was created for the album it will be made available for download at no extra charge. It features photos, lyrics and song information. The link will become active once the album has been released.

I was also informed by the distributor that there could possibly be a delay in the album being available on the 6th. That, unfortunately is out of my hands as I have delivered the master to them and they have already delivered it to iTunes, whose schedule is either within 2 days or 4 weeks. Here's hoping it won't be too long. Fingers and toes crossed! :-)

Harry

The Album Is On Its Way!

2011-11-29T16:13:00.000-10:00

Just delivered the master to CD Baby so it should be good to go on 6 December! I'm trying to find a way to include the PDF booklet that I created but if I can't include it I'll find another way to distribute it.

The Album Just Grew Another Leg!

2011-11-24T01:21:00.000-10:00

I wish I could contain that little monkey who goes by the name of "inspiration" but sometimes he just gets a bug up his arse and has to run. Yes, I've added another track to the album and unlike the "Interlude" that I had intended on also including but later removed this one is a go! It's called "Nostromo" and was inspired by the novel from Joseph Conrad. It runs 7:17 and is more along the lines of an art song as opposed to pop. I was very excited to finish this one and surprised that it was done so quickly considering its adventurous nature. This song is also very special to me since the film version was the last project that my favourite film director, Sir David Lean, worked on before his passing. I've always been curious as to how the film would've turned out. It would probably be another of his widescreen epics but alas we'll never get to see it. Maybe someone else will take up the call? The logo above was actually created for when the album was going to be called "Nostromo". But when it wasn't completed back when I was working heavily on the album I simply put it aside and thought I might revisit it later. It is a bit of an unusual song and may be a difficult listen to some. However, I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. No single potential but worth listening to on a good set of headies!

The album now runs a nice and full 47:07. Anyway, Good Night and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

WHEN i WAS A BOY Preview Clip

2011-11-20T21:23:00.000-10:00

Here's an excerpt of the first single release from THE LiNE. This song will be available for free download on 29 November. The album will be released on iTunes on 6 December.

Album Completed and Single Release!

2011-11-14T23:54:00.003-10:00

Hurrah! All is done! Mixes completed and everything is good to go! As for the short instrumental track that I just added, it may be deleted from the album and included on the single release. When I listened to the completed album with the new track included, it just didn't flow well so I'm still uncertain about its fate. As far as the single release is concerned I am still working on a remix of the track and will be including two or three non-album tracks. The single will be WHEN I WAS A BOY. The album version of the song will be available on NoiseTrade.com for free download and through other outlets as a paid download which will include the album version, extended version and two or three non-album tracks. December is right around the corner! :-)

Late P.S. (19 November)- I'm not really happy with the extended version of WHEN I WAS A BOY so it may not be released.

Final Final Mixes?

2011-11-14T19:17:00.000-10:00

14 November 2011; finally done with the album! Added another track that is a short instrumental piece. Pray that this is good to go! :-)

Final Mixes?

2011-11-09T19:06:00.000-10:00

Finally got through a massive mixing session that's taken the better part of 4 days. Are these mixes the "final-final" mixes? I don't know. I'm editing and compiling them right now into a final version of the album and hoping that everything is good to go. Yes, the CD-R says FINAL MIXES, however I have about 3 others that also say that from 3 to 2 months ago. With these mixes there were changes done to the songs either vocally, instrumentally or editorially and I've just got to live with them for a few days before they are really "final-final"! I think I'm pretty much there...especially after taking such a long break since actual recording ended. Anyway, my ears are pretty much shot! I tried to include one more song but have been having a hell of a time getting a lead vocal down on it. It's a short track and was just written and recorded yesterday, but the voice just refuses to cooperate and since the song is fairly sparse in it's instrumentation I wanted to vocal to really stand out. Who knows, right? There's still a month or so left so anything can happen!

Album Stuff

2011-10-10T13:17:00.000-10:00

Okay, good things have been happening so it looks like I may have to push back the release of "THE LiNE". Just adjusted the promo banner that was up on Twitter, which read 6 December 2011 and now states COMiNG SOON. This is what the banner looks like. Gives me more time to remix and maybe even add a few more songs...haha!

Remixing and Editing

2011-10-02T10:39:00.001-10:00

Still working on remixes and doing some digital editing to tighten up a few tracks. The official release date is 6 December. An EP will be available for free download and I'm still trying to firm things up with iTunes for the full album release.

The EP will feature one of the tracks off the album and two non-album tracks. I still haven't decided which track from the album it will be.

Had to change my twitter name from @darthcubby to @therealhashikun since I was getting a few "gay-bears-sex" related tweets my way and I didn't want that crap on my account. I mean, come on, "cubby" is what I think they were feeding on and anytime I made a mildly or outrageously dirty posting I would get all of these sex related tweets from people and I did what anyone decent would do....BLOCK! But it was getting tiresome having to block someone at least once or twice a day, but it was all made suddenly clear when I did a Google search on "darthcubby". Of course my name came up and so did a tumblr account that had pictures of big, burly, naked, gay men. YIKES! Not really against this type of stuff (I mean, honestly, how could I be, have you seen me?) but I just didn't want to be a part of it. I think writing the words "fuck" and "cunt" is about as far as I'm willing to go.

So if you'd like to follow me on twitter, where I have been called "hilarious, touching, wonderfully uplifting and provocative" Wait, I think the last three were about the film SAW", not about me. Anyway, the first one applies, if your type of humour borders goofiness, mild salaciousness and slightly scatological then I'm your boy! Go ahead and follow me by clicking that tiny tab to the right of these posts that say FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

@therealhashikun will shock, amaze, disgust and delight but never disappoint you! Rock on piglets...and I mean "piglets" in the nicest possible way one could refer to people as swine!

Till later,
H

Album cover art

2011-09-12T08:13:00.002-10:00

Although the title kind of got leaked a few months back when I posted the pic of the Angry Bird glaring at the rough mix CD, the final title was still up in the air. I'd tossed around a couple of them but thought that this was a better summation of everything that had happened over the last couple of years.

THE LINE represents a lot of things but it's mostly about the things that have forced their way into my life and over the proverbial "line". There was actually a song called "The Line" on the album at one time but it evolved and changed into another song on the album which is entitled "Last Goodbye". Here is the track listing for the album which will be released in December. No actual date yet, but look for it in that month.

Happy?
Colours of Night
When I Was A Boy
Dream of You
This Time
Never Again Will I
Falling Away
Remember
The Line Across Hope
Last Goodbye

Final Lineup Complete!

2011-09-10T14:05:00.000-10:00

Okay. Did a final lineup mastering to CD and on my Mac at 1411 kbps and am just living with these mixes for now. I can already hear a few things that I'm going to have to fix or redo but it's good to have most, if not all, of the recording completed and out of the way. I did write and record one more song that I'm thinking may end up being a part of the line up as opposed to being relegated to a hidden track or a b-side. Haven't really decided what the first single is going to be so I'm going to consult a few people to see what they think.

I'm working on getting things set up with CD Baby in order to get the album up on iTunes as well as a physical release but that will be done within the next few months or so then the album should be good to go in December. I'm thinking of recording a few Christmas songs to throw on board as a bonus too, but only for download and not on the album proper.

The other thing that has me excited about this project is that it's got a "normal" run time, roughly 40 minutes so it's not like RENDER in pushing the 70 minute mark which is just way too long. That run time works for RENDER because it dealt with so many different energies and went to so many different places but with the new album, the energies are definitely coming from a similar place so it doesn't need to be as long. Like I had said, I've managed the art of the 3-4 minute pop song and also, yes, these can all be categorized, if you must, as pop.

Right now I'm trying to get things like artwork and the PDF booklet together so that's occupying a lot of my non-studio time. There have been other things that have been taking precedence lately: My Uncle Gordon just passed away two days ago so I've been in a very dark and sad place these past few days. However, I didn't let it overwhelm me too long and I got my act together this morning in order to do some digital editing and fixing so that I could get the CD ready for me and the others I've chosen to let have a listen.

Till later,
Harry

2011-09-07T13:19:00.004-10:00

And now the moral dilemma...

How does one go about updating their sound without appearing as if they've sold out? That's been on my mind with this new album. I'm very close to finishing it up so that it can be out for Christmas but I'm just a little concerned that some might see it as me trying to appeal to a demographic that I've never given a second thought about previously. That's not to say that the songs are bright, poppy confections but the overall tone and sound production is something that most people don't connect with me. Maybe it's a good thing as this may surprise a few people and show that I'm more than just doom and gloom, although there is a fair share of that this time around as well. Ultimately, it'll all be clear in a few months.

Harry

MY NEW LOCATION

2011-08-04T10:56:00.003-10:00

Greetings from Jupiter's Moon Io. It's so lovely up here and I can actually see the edge of the universe from my new home in Targa 16 (that's the housing area I live in). The air is a bit thin but for the most part it could be worse; at least the allergies are no longer an issue.

The gang from Saturn came by yesterday and we caught a movie together (JAWS vs RAMBO). It's amazing what can be accomplished today with 3 billion dollars, shitty writing and a 12-year-old boy’s penchant for masturbation. The score by Hans Zimmer's clone 214 was all right, but nothing like his original person used to write. What's more, the shark still looks fake.

Wearing my standard issue single zipper black jumpsuit with two drink dispensers and moist towelettes.

Okay, enough of this nonsense...

Still writing and recording and hoping for an end to this ordeal soon but I don't want to finish it angrily since that aspect of things will haunt me for a long time so I've got to be certain that I've made the best chicken salad from the chicken shit I've been handed...not a reflection on the song quality or subject matter, just some recent events that have been bugging the fuck out of me!

Oh, better go now, Mongo is here from Elysia 12 (just down the block and to the left of the movie implant house).

Love you and wish you were here!

Harry :-)