In his teens, twenties and thirties Phil Mellen, alias BlackSheepLad, played and sang in various bands (Rainmaker, Serious, Hat Band, Excalibur, The Grapefruit) to little success. So he settled into a successful 25 year career in education.
In March 2020 he became ill with Coronavirus and this led to ongoing health issues and redundancy. The period of imposed isolation and inactivity lead to a burst of song-writing inspired by lockdown, love, mortality and binge-watching zombie TV programmes!
Some of these songs made it onto his first self-released EP ‘Sleeping alone in the daytime’. One of the songs written and recorded was ‘Better this Christmas’, a throwback to the great Christmas songs of the 70s and 80s. Now re-released with a new arrangement and mix for Christmas 2021, it attempts to bring new hope after two years of COVID restrictions and will also try to raise money for the NHS and in particular for research into Long Covid. The song makes good use of bells, strings, brass and guitar solos.
Phil sings and plays guitar, drums, keys, bass and various ukuleles. His influences include John Bramwell, Prefab Sprout, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Folds, Elbow, Cherry Ghost, Lloyd Cole and Neil Finn.
His final single before the release of his début album is "Another Love Song". Inspired by his wife, who has already inspired a number of songs in his repertoire, this catchy uptempo song with country guitar vibes is sure to be another number one in the Wobbly Music Top 10 in coming months!
Melancholic in places, reflective and angry in others, this song plays out the rollercoaster of emotions of a relationship hurtling towards the end of its life. Ridiculously catchy, you’ll be humming this all day after just one listen! Beautifully melodic, the gentle rhythm betrays the anger hidden within the track’s lyrics, building into a crescendo of guitars, drums, mellotron and harmonies.
Songs on this EP should be those that have the longevity to push BlackSheepLad beyond anything you can imagine. I can see these songs being used many times and for many things. I use the songs to just relax and the same time put a smile on my face,
Another lovely release from BlackSheepLad
“Pantomime” has an eerie atmosphere to it, bringing a new level to
Phil’s music that we’ve not really seen before! The vocal melodies in
the chorus are great, and the track sounds fantastic. Another great tune
in BlackSheepLad’s discography!
This is wicked!
Top song and video!
Love it!
Great lyrics,
wonderful rhymes
c/w Wintering (Remixed)
OUT NOW!
New Version.
OUT NOW!
"Ridiculously catchy"
OUT NOW!
5 nostalgic tracks including the popular song, "Livedo"
OUT NOW!
c/w Black Shuck
OUT NOW!
The result of binge-watching too many zombie movies during lockdown.
OUT NOW!
Coming Soon!
Watch This Space!
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