New Website!

Like I have mentioned to you guys before, I have been working on creating an official Audrey Wilsen website with Mike Brits lately. We have been discussing a few different ideas and designs, and after a lot of back and forth (sorry Mike) we’ve landed on a nice little something that I am very happy with. So from now on, all updates, videos and songs will be posted on the new website (click the picture above or go directly to the blog), and this blog will no longer be active. Thanks for the company so far, I hope you will keep following me in the exciting time to come!

Lots of love,

Audrey

Mike Brits Photo shoot

I really really really don’t have time to sit here and blog right now, seeing as I am leaving for Norway tomorrow, and I haven’t finished packing yet. Or tidied my room. Or emptied the fridge. Neither have I checked in, or printed my boarding pass. But I just couldn’t help it – the laptop was RIGHT there and I wanted to share some of the results from the photo shoot I had with Mike yesterday! We had a great, but freezing cold day in Sefton Park, where I had never been before, and in addition to getting some great shots out of it, I got to climb a tree and  get nibbled by a squirrel. But yeah, without further due, here’s five of those great shots, all curtsey of Mike Brits Photography.

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Photo: Mike Brits Photography

Hair & make-up: Vanja Andersen

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I hope you like! I have allowed myself to get five more off him, so it’s just a matter of choosing the right ones. But anyway, I need to get back to business. Until next time, as always, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care, and have a safe drive/flight Home For Christmas! ❤

xxx
Audrey

Confession: My new baby <3

I am currently sitting very comfortably in a cosy living room in York, looking out the window at the wind. So relaxed, this was such a good choice for the weekend after a long, stressful, super hectic week! I’m writing the last part of my Context essay, due on Thursday, and actually enjoying it. The essay task is Analyzing myself and my own promotional material in the context of genre – it’s hard, but very very interesting! Right this second I’m obviously taking a little blogging break, to come with a little confession. Visiting my boyfriend’s family was the reason for coming here this weekend, but not the only reason… Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I said I had made the mistake of trying my friend James’ electric guitar and I was in love? That I really wanted an electric guitar now? Well… Something was indeed waiting for me when I arrived last night…

Could it be…

It could!

Needless to say, Audrey is a very happy camper! How SEXY is this guitar!!! Ghaaah…

Yeah yeah yeah, so I’m a massive poser. What else is new?

It’s so new and shiny and awesome, and I can’t wait to get back and try it out properly in my room. Now I really have an incentive to get better at playing! It’s coming home with me for christmas as well, it’s even getting its own boarding pass – Meet Mr. Extra Item Seat! Haha, no, that’s not me being ridiculous, you can actually get an extra seat for guitars etc. and they require you to print off a boarding pass in that name. Point is: Happy days. That is all. ;-P

I hope you are all well and not too stressed out about christmas and everything that comes with it. I am embracing it to the full these days – I had a bunch of friends over for a cookie baking night on Thursday and it was such a good night! It’s my December 1st tradition, I always make a dough the size of my head on November 30th and have people over the next day.

 

So nice! ❤

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Anyway, I should get back to my essay, so until next time, as always, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care, and enjoy December in all it’s lovely madness! ❤

xxx
Audrey

What we do in rehearsals (exclusive sneak peak)

So, I’ve been talking about my awesome and super talented band and how well rehearsals are going for so long now, so I thought it was about time I gave you a little exclusive sneak peak at what goes on within the walls of Music Room 5 every Friday afternoon.

Ahhh, I love my band.

😀

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

Art. Love. Local. Video!!

Here’s the video of my first gig in Liverpool; Art Love Local at The Brink on November 10th! Enjoy! =)

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We played 4 songs;

(at 00:45:) You (written by Audrey and Julie Lund (with kickinthebutt from Kenneth Hollås) in…2007…?)
(at 05:00:) Free (Written by Audrey (with kickinthebutt from Dan Drumm) in 2011)
(at 08:33:) Like The Wind (Written by Audrey in 2008)
(at 14:04:) With You Gone (Written by Audrey and Tash McCammon in 2009)

With me on stage I had, as you can see, the awesome Obadiah Jones on acoustic guitar and the lovely Ellie Redgrave on backing vocals. We had a great time, and I’m looking forward to playing there (and other places) again real soon! Keep an eye on the Concerts corner of this site for updates about gigs to come! =)

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

I, Volatile

I want to tell you a little bit about a project I’m suddenly a part of. I do keys and backing vocals in a band called I, Volatile, which is fronted by this sexy woman;

Photo: Allegra Whitehouse Photography

The music is very different from the stuff I normally do, and I love it. It’s quite heavy, and Sunni’s “heroes” are bands like System Of A Down, Incubus, A Perfect Circle, stuff like that. Sunni was on the same course as me my first year at LIPA, and is an Oslo girl. She’s moving back at some point next year though, and I’m looking forward to getting more of both her company and the work! Last week was pretty intense, since she was only here for a week before our first gig, which was at Zanzibar on Saturday. One week to learn 6 songs, with all new musicians – it was hard work, but fun work! And the gig – oh my, good times!

Photo: Allegra Whitehouse Photography

Playing keys in a band makes me feel so damn cool. And like I mentioned in my last post, I even made (kind of) a mowhawk for the occasion. I thought I was super cool (and so Rock), until someone had the nerve to call me cute. Hmmmph.

The day after, I woke up totally looking like Tim Minchin.

We actually have another gig tonight, we’re doing an acoustic set at Parr Street Studios. So if you’re in Liverpool and have no plans for the evening, come down for a drink and some music! It will just be Sunni, James and myself on stage, so pretty chilled. No need for a mowhawk today I think, but I will do it again at some point. Loved the change! ;-P

Oh, and we’ve got a Facebook page too! It’s right here!

Have a great Thursday everyone!
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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

Art. Love. Local. Photos! =)

On Thursday, November 11th, I did my first proper gig with the mini band (minus Laura). It was at a night called “Art. Love. Local.” at The Brink, a lovely dry bar in Parr Street. The atmosphere was amazing, and the audience was absolutely beautiful. Especially my girls on the front row, who came down to see me even though they were all ill and knackered. ❤ Much love ❤

In addition to my own gig, I also performed with (half of) the band I, Volatile, and enjoyed some wonderful performances by artists such as Joe, Ellie & Moorea and The James Whitehouse Band, who are all in a picture or two below. All in all it was a great night, ‘big up’ to the hearts & heads behind Art. Love. Local. for having me! And of course, to Ellie and Obadiah, thank you so much for being awesome! ❤

Here are some of the photos from the night, courtesy of Allegra Whitehouse Photography.

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you feel like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

Random

I have so much to blog about…!

It’s been crazy busy in Audrey land the last couple of weeks, hence the absence… I’ve rehearsed, gigged, had lots of awesome coffee with lots of awesome people, knitted, started going to hot yoga, had a wannabe mohawk for an evening while playing piano in a rock band… Busy busy times! I will get to all of that, promise – I even have pics & a video (and great memories) of my first gig that I’m dying to share with you all! But for now, I’m gonna leave you with a little bit of fun, at least I think so. I shamelessly stole this from my favorite blogger, but only because I loved the idea. So here’s a bunch of random lists, because I felt like listing things. Feel free to share a list or two of your own in the Comments! I like lists. =)

Some of my favorite bands right this second:
Some new, some old, some re-discovered;

• Bon Iver
• Everything Everything
• Kings Of Convenience
• Noah And The Whale

Random things I’ve done:

• Rapped in a Bunad (Norway’s National Costume) on stage
• Had cognac with Wu Tang Clan (and I’ve got the pho-tos to prove it. But they’re ugly, so I won’t post them.)
• Been hollered at in New Jersey
• Been shat on at Liberty Island
• Gone scuba diving in Jamaica, even though I am kind of scared of water (even swam through a ship wreck…!)
• Been in an R&B group

Things I’m excited about:

• Concerts to be played
• Songs to be written
• Friends to meet
• Christmas
• Marit Larsen’s new album
• The upcoming photoshoot with Mike Brits, and the website he’s making for me

Things I miss:

• Living with cats (buhuuuu!)
• Norwegian chocolate
• Too many people to name ❤
• This guy:

Things I care about a whole deal:

• Kids (they are amazing.)
• Knowing the industry I hope to be a part of (The Big Bad Wolf known as The Music Industry)
• Lyrics
• Justice and open-mindedness

Things I don’t really care about at all:

• Football
• A tan
• Who Justin Beiber is dating (and how to spell his name. It’s either right, or it’s not. I could have looked it up – but I don’t care.)

And finally, my favorite list of Things; These are a few of my favorite things:

• Creating music
• Performing
• Being an Auntie
• Chinese food
• Owls
• Awesome people
• Life
• Krispy Creme Donuts
• Hot yoga
• Homemade hats
• iPods full of new(ly discovered) music
• Lists

Any surprises there…?

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you’re feeling like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

One of the best of them all

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; The amount of insanely talented people in this place makes me dizzy. One of the best of them all is this guy;

Mikhael Paskalev.

He is technically not here anymore, since he graduated from the music course this summer. But once you’re a part of LIPA, you are always here even when you’re not, in one way or another. We all still sing his songs, after the many concerts we had the pleasure of whitnessing, and something tells me we’re not gonna stop doing that any time soon. Listen to this one, and I’m sure you’ll understand why.

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Mikhael was today announced as something called “Untouched of the week” by one of Norway’s biggest radio stations, and that’s a pretty big deal. For the Norwegians out there, the interview can be found here, and for the rest of you I’ll translate the highlight; where they describe his music as “timeless pop with a nerve of restlessness and a mild form of insanity.” Best description ever.

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If you like what you’re hearing, you can find Mikhael on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Vimeo, Youtube and Urørt, so there is really no excuse to not check him out. Which you should. Cause he is amazing. Sigh.

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you’re feeling like brightening my day… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey

Happiness is a journey, not a destination

I know a few people who would shake their heads at this, and they are probably the people who could use some perspective…

Ever since I found this postcard in the gift shop at the New York Library a couple of years ago, it has been hanging on my wall to remind me. Because it’s so easy to loose track of things, to fall into a thought pattern that is far from productive. Too many people wait their lives away, leaving no time to enjoy where they’re at. Then realizing, when they get there (wherever “there” is): Now what??

I refuse to be a NowWhat-person. Now What is almost as bad as What If.

❤

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Until next time, remember to Subscribe to this blog (top right corner), follow my Tweets and Like me on Facebook, and drop me a comment or two if you’re feeling generous… ;-P

Take care! ❤

xxx
Audrey
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