here's to 2012

WOW WEE,

another year has gone and done it. what a year it was. for me, i don’t know how im going to top it. 2012 has its work cut out for team NOH i tell ya.

i just wanted to wish everyone of you loyal subscribers a very very happy new year and the best of luck with everything you wish to do, and may you be fulfilled and happy in whatever it is you get up to.

please keep in touch, spread the word and continue to support my musical adventure, it would mean very little if i didn’t have someone to share it with.

Thank you. T, M, L, O, A, G, C, A, C, G, T, J, F, L, A, D, E, N, L, W, T, J, L, D, B, S, L, J, L, G, R, L, D, J, G, E, Z, D, D, A, R, D, E, M, J, J, D, D, Z, M, S.  I have endeavored to wish you all a happy new year hope you find your initial, if not, i am sorry some emails are riddles, let me know you will not be left out if i can help it!

peace and much love,

N xxx

come over to the official NOH facebook page and click ‘like’ to keep super up to date this year CLICK ME

Hello, Hello, Hello.

So for the past few weeks i have been sitting hoping, waiting, wishing for the day i got to share this with you guys! Christmas came early last night when this little preview went live for all your wonderful people to see.

This a preview clip of a full length release that gives you an insight into me my music and the things i love.

I hope you guys enjoy it and share it and spread it around. p.s are you guys on twitter?? go to @naoimhohagan and tweet me what you think. or facebook? go to www.facebook.com/nohmusicpage and say hello. Be in touch.

YOU have a great day!

xxx

Dear YOU

Welcome to the blog.

i just wanted to say hello to all the new members of the blog. i decided to get myself a wee clip board and print off my own mailing list sheets and physically get the wonderful people at the gigs to sign up. facebook and the like are fantastic but the old school methods sometimes work the best.

i really appreciate your support and i am aware of every single one of you and i really like that i know who Im communicating with.

last night i played a really intimate chilled out gig at In the Shade Studios. If the O Hagans get together in one house the guitar usually comes out and im normally asked to sing a song. Its always nice as your family always make you feel very welcome. I got the same feeling last night at In the Shade. John Giffin and his daughter Courtney are both really talented musicians and together run gigs at their recording studio in Markethill. I had a blast playing the show, thanks to the Giffin’s and everyone who came, hope to see you again. Some footage from this show will be out soon.

In the mean time  have a look  this video of the a song I wrote a few weeks ago. This was taken from a show at the Black Box.

N xxx

so you guys!! i have to say this weekend i played the gig of my career (thus far)! however, let me let you in on the events leading up to this momentous occasion in the NOH adventure!

picture by: Tony Webster, Bigbad Llama

last week i began the task of booking up a few dates in December for a tour i intend on commencing.  my life is music, my passions however revolve around board sports. i snowboard, i skate and i surf. now i am by no means worth watching at any of thee aforementioned activities, but i do them because i love to, and frankly thats all that matters, right?

i have decided that i would like to connect with the very people i gravate to, and in a selfish sort of way i want to make this musical adventure of mine as much fun as possible at all times. so i am going to be playing some ‘in store shows’ at a few surf and skate shops in the north of ireland. the board shop tour will commence in december so watch this space for details.

picture by: Tony Webster, Bigbad Llama

one of the surf shops i contacted was the very well known ‘Troggs’ surf shop in Portrush. i have been visiting the store for many years now. a typical visit goes something like this … go in fall in love with everything in there, and walk out with some new wax as once again i have left mine in craigavon!

i called Troggs last week to inquire about a gig. i got speaking to Andy (the owner, and one hell of a lovely man), who went on to offer me the best gig i have ever played! on the phone he listens to me telling him who i am (probably in a manner spoken so fast and with some much enthusiasm its barely understandable) and asks a few questions, the first being “are you any good” to which i reply “you will have to be the judge”!  Andy offered me a chance to play a very exclusive set at the NI screening of a snowboard movie called the Art Of Flight. Now folks… this movie is truly amazing! i know you don’t have to be a snowboarding to appreciate this, even my mum has been telling her friends how good it was.

picture by: Andy Hill, Troggs

so in essence (and make a note, this my perfect gig), i got to play my music, at an event ran by a surf company who were showing a snowboard movie that was created by and for my favorite things, in a beautiful theatre in portrush that was packed with passionate people, people like me, who loved the whole experience! I mean i was in HEAVEN.

picture by: Andy Hill, Troggs

i also got to meet one of the UKs top female snowboarders miss Aimee Fuller! this lady can shred!

aimee fuller, andy (troggs) hill, NOH

so yeah, saturday night was EPIC and then sunday was amazing as it was my most awesome mums birthday. so we ate cake and made her feel very special! which frankly shouldn’t be a once a year thing, my mum is the greatest. more cake and love in abundance from now on! i love you mama

mum and mini noh '86'

xxx

will and I

Well, i really have been very, very excited to share this with everyone. I finally got the oportunity to work with film maker Will Mc Connell of Bandwidth Films a few weeks ago and most of what we filmed has yet to be released but some of what we done can now be shared!

I have been watching the In Store Now series since its first upload! i am lucky number 58 and there has been some great names that have gone before me! So pleased to have gotten to work with Will and join the Bandwidth family. Thanks Will, hopefully the first of many projects together!

For anyone in town on Wednesday the 23rd of November. I will be playing the Green Room Cafe, Black Box (thats at the Cathedral Quarter) with Allie Bradley and Shauna Tohill (AKA Silhouette). Starts at 8pm sharp.

So here you are, head over and watch the latest NOH offerings. I hope you enjoy and share them on yourself.

N xxx

Never to shy away from a challenge i was only to happy to get on with it, with the help of a few friends and my mum!

We spent days on this!! i reckon each crane took about 5-8 mins to complete! I decided to use magazines so that each one was completely different and it also meant that mum got to get rid of her old garden and interior home magazines in a more productive way than simply binning them. (thanks mama)

Last Wednesday night i counted the box of cranes to discover 210!! just enough! and spent all day Thursday getting them ready for location. Paul wanted 5 cranes on a meter length of string! This meant 40 strings needed to be made up! Putting them on the strings was know where near as tricky as making the cranes in the first place! They looked so pretty! I was getting really excited about it all and on Friday headed to the location, which was a very special place, for many reasons but one of the reasons was its age! The location was a house build in the 17^th century and it truly was a walk into the past as parts of the house where so old. I loved it being a history geek and couldn’t help but let my mind run wild when stumbling upon some really old furniture and nic-naks. We set up the courtyard of the house with the cranes and it started to look just as Paul had imagined. I was singing among a world of paper cranes, and occasionally it was as though they wanted to take flight when the wind blew through.

Wednesday was spent getting 90% of the shots and then the final day of the shoot the following Wednesday seen the final wee touches added, with a very special appearance from an Irish show-band legend and my inspiration my grand father fergie o hagan. Although granda isn’t with us anymore the song was written for him I felt his presence should be included.

I cant wait for you all to see it, and shortly you will be able to. Keep a check on the Facebook Page to get updates and find out how you could be part of my very first music video! A major thank you to Paul McParland for working with me on this and making such a beautiful concept come to life!

N xxx

ahhh the smile is a biggy when i think of the week i have had!

in the last post i was talking about the filming of a project im doing with Will McConnell AKA Bandwidth Films. We had to hault play on the second day of shooting due to weather but we knew that the week was going to give us a pocket of sunlight and we decided to chance our luck on Wednesday. SO, armed with all the recording equipment, guitar, sandwiches, a best friend (to drive) and my skateboard we headed for the coast to begin a day of skating by the ocean and playing on the beach!

The weather was class, just enough of the right elements to ensure Will was happy and i was safe HAHA. After having a drive around some of my favorite coastal roads up north we picked the best ones and i hopped out to carve them up. Will was armed with his camera and filmed me from the car as a cruised in front and behind. It was mental the more i think about it but what fun! The cliffs the wind, the sky the sea! Only one situation could have made me happier and that would have been riding the waves below!

We filmed all day long and caused a few estranged looks from tourists who weren’t planning on seeing us as part of their tour! In all it was a really amazing day. I cant wait to see the footage!! OHHH WWEE.

I got home Wednesday night and immediately had to get my head in gear for the next project i was to begining on Friday. A few months ago film maker Paul McPartland dropped me an email asking to meet up and have a chat about some work we could do together. Paul is someone i have always known but not realised i did… Hes the No Alibis cameraman and producer of one of my favorite home grown music videos (of local singer songwriter Ciaran Lavery). I was over the moon to hear what Paul had to say and we arranged to shoot a music video on the 27th of October. The catch was Pauls concept was paper cranes, you know, origami cranes… and he needed no less than 200! EEKKKKkk.

N xxx

Ha, I had an entire piece all typed up there and i don’t know what i hit but it decided to delete all my chat and send yal the picture instead… so here it goes again.

have you seen this somewhere before...

The last blog was all about last saturday being my most busy in ages… however i think this saturday could be up there. i must say though i am never happier than when im busy with the things i love. being completely consumed in my music and all the fun things i get to do through it is a great way to live i think. this saturday seen the beginning of me filming a short movie with will mcconnel the brainchild of Bandwidth Films.

this movie is going to give you and anyone else who fancies a look an idea about who i am and how that affects my music and in turn shapes my life. we began shooting on saturday as i said and decided to play some of my newest tracks in some of my favorite places. a few very different places seen me and the band play some tunes. it was really fun. also made a few new fans. a couple having some food in a particularly cool restaurant (my favorite in NI) where enjoying the music so much they approached me to ask when my next gig was! i was only too happy to tell them that my next gig was taking place that night in the black boxs little brother the green room cafe! gareth and rachel my newest ears said they where going to go along and as i looked up from a sound check that night there they where!! AWESOME folks indeed!

zach and me at the green room

the green room cafe had to take the title as the most fun gig to date! loved it. such a cool place, packed house, everyone listening, getting involved and more than happy to have an NOH sticker at the end! it was one of those hour long sets which meant a few choice covers, some of which where decided by twitter follows a few weeks ago! im not a massive fan of covers but when i have to i do like to give them a little twist which keeps it fun. rolling in the deep by adele went down really well, i was so pleased. We give it a bit of a sinister feel which people seemed to really dig! YEOW.

Sunday was meant to be day two of filming but the rainy weather put a hold on things. Next day there’s a break in the storms its the north coast for some skating! cant wait!

new gig to be announced very soon.

n xxx

I had thee busiest saturday ever i think, well in a long time anyways. i played 3 sets in three rather cool locations. first up was Starbucks Coffee house in my local shopping centre, Rushmere. I remember being in New York and applying for a Starbucks gig to be told that the waiting list was 4 months long… WHAT. I only had 90 days! so when i approached the staff at Starbucks Craigavon i was thinking to myself at least my ViSA wont run out here…As it turns out they don’t get too many requests and where only to happy to have me come in and play. I was very excited and loved watching the look on peoples faces when they figured out where the live music was coming from! I had a blast. I wanted to stay all day but after an hour I called it a day and enjoyed a wee carmel macchiato on the house, YUMMY!

After a few photos with the staff and NOH stickerage around the place i headed straight for set number 2 at Mahvash Interiors Open day. This is a lady who has some of the most beautiful furniture and works out of a log cabin nestled beside Lough Neagh! its picture perfect and when she asked me to play for her open day i was only too happy. I set myself up among my favorite pieces and pretending i was playing in my future living room! i would love to live in a log cabin!

Then it was a few hours break before set number 3. Number 3 was going to be my most exciting as it was a house party! I had been asked to play it a number of weeks back and loved the idea so said why not! Lots of happy people only too willing to listen and show their appreciation. I loved it! It certainly wont be my last house party thats for sure! Got a few clips from that and a rather funny group effort on a cover that always goes down well… watch this space.

More pictures and videos will be popping up in the coming weeks! I got me a sweet little tripod for my iphone so now im recording everything and anything..!

Also last week was my 25th, eek, to lighten the mood i had a big party where we got really, really mucky quad biking!! UNREAL!

see you real soon.

n xxx