1.26.2012 - sign of things to come.
suddenly the world turns over
and everything is out of place,
the reflection that you see is not your face.
suddenly it all comes down
and everyone is on the run,
you can start a war with just one gun.
think you should know by now.
i'm the red headed enemy.
pm.
12.21.2011 - one great cause. one big party. one amazing venue.
This year flew by. I still have to think about what year it is when i put down the date here; half the time I put 2010. Pretty soon I'll be 2 years off with that.
Just turned 24 a few weeks ago and life is good. Playing at the Eve of the Eve at Union Station on the 30th. This is my second year playing the event and I couldn't be happier to be back. I'll open the night up and then the boys from South of 80 will bring it home. Always a great night.
Grab "Stagefright" if you haven't yet by ordering or downloading from the links below. May the new year bring you all a replinished spirit ready to listen to the new music that I look forward to sharing with you.
12.9.2011 - i'm not the one.
Happy December to everyone. I've been keeping busy with new recording projects the past few weeks. I did a few Christmas covers to be seasonal that were a lot of fun to make, especially the folk-spun 'Winter Wonderland', you can hear that playing here. If you'd like an mp3 version of my Christmas tunes, just send me a message with your email address here.
Tonight I'm playing a very unique show downtown with a new friend of mine Tiffany Christopher. She's got a beautiful voice and amazing guitar skills. We'll go back and forth for a few hours, trading songs and helping each other out with a few, as well. It will be a nice intimate singer/songwriter setting. Plus catch performances of a bunch of the new songs from the next album that's just getting started. All are welcome, just click on the link and rsvp so they know how much wine to have...
Happy holidays to all. Go ahead and order a copy of 'Stagefright' for the stockings by clicking below on the album cover. I'll talk to you guys soon.
10.20.2011 - a blazing midwest sky
Off to the races. Tour bus (motor home) packed. Guitar strung. Shoes tied. South Bend bound.
New version of Loyal Sons. Check it out...this weekend only. Readyyy...go.
10.5.2011 - chances
Hope everyone is doing well, thanks to everyone I've seen at the last few shows, we've had some good times. Special thanks to the couple dancing at the Onion Pub a couple weeks ago. Your groping and grabbing will provide all in attendance with humor, and potentially nightmares, for years to come.
If you are in the suburbs this weekend, come check out Jammin' for Joplin at Barrington High School, Friday _ 7pm. The tornadoes in the Joplin region have done more destruction than we can imagine...it's pretty amazing how resilient the people have been down there. Come out and give back while checking some of the new musical talent coming out of BHS.
Check the schedule off to the left for my next shows - hope to see you soon. Friday it's back to the BHS auditorium stage for the first time since Battle of the Bands 2006...5 years ago already...yikes.
8.31.2011 - save your breath
Fall is fast approaching; couldn't be more excited. Almost time for sweatshirts, apple picking, subsequent apple grinding and fermenting for Mr. Solberg's fire water, and football. Looking forward to getting back to ND to play.
Speaking of college, I had the opportunity to record my ND song "Loyal Sons" up in Minnesota with Tim O'Neill from the O'Neill Brothers back in late May. We recorded it and added some mandolin, great drums, and had a violin sit in - it sounds amazing. It's going to be featured on a CD that will be coming out in the ND bookstore in the coming year. Check back for when you can get your hands on that .
For now, I put up my "at home" recording of the song (aka in my soundproof 3x4 ft closet). Which may or may not be where a family of chipmunks is attempting to live this winter. Not if me and James have anything to say about it, though. I'm rambling.
So to recap: new dates, Loyal Sons added, and a look at my most recent recording "40 Minutes to the City." Instrumental for now - we'll see what happens.
If you have yet to check out my CD "Stagefright" give it a listen by clicking down below. Hope to catch y'all around soon.
6.20.2011 - take your best shot
It's been a good summer so far. Been taking a little break from regular shows to catch my breath a bit. I have played at a few awesome weddings, though, recently, and they have been outrageously fun. They also gave me a reason to learn some of those songs I've always wanted to play. Tambourine Man, Mrs. Robinson, It Ain't Me Babe to name a few. Incredibly fun stuff to play.
I've also been doing a lot of writing. I'm really happy with how 'Stagefright' turned out. Ready to build upon those songs and start doing some more recording.
Put up a new song, 'Best Shot.' Song really just came together quickly and I wanted to put a quick recording down. Hope you dig it.
If you haven't gotten 'Stagefright' yet, click below to order or download. Enjoy the summer folks...
5.26.2011 - leaving this town, calling it...
I wanted to thank everyone for all the support I've been getting over the last few weeks. It has been extremely exciting to record these songs, written over the course of a few years, and bring them into one cohesive project that I am proud to call my first self-produced effort at a full album.
It's called "Stagefright" after the eighth track on the album. I've been asked a lot if this is some kind of big stance against a fear of playing or anything, but it's not. It's a song about getting away from something or someone by running --- but we all know you actually never escape your own mental torment, as the chorus tells. Obviously, it's one of my favorite tracks and since I wrote it a few years ago, I knew it would be the title track of my first album.
About half of the tracks my college friends will recognize (in fact, the first three are the three oldest tunes on the disc). The other half have grown out more recently. For what it's worth, both musically and figuratively, I think the first half of the album is where I've been and the second half is where I'm going.
I designed the artwork for the album and, with the help of a good friend and graphic designer from school, the CDs came out great. You can get the album on iTunes as well, but if you want the physical copy, I'd encourage you to order one.
Thanks again to everyone for supporting me all the way through. I hope you enjoy listening to these songs as much as I enjoy playing them and that you share them with your friends.
pat mckillen.
CLICK
TO ORDER OR DOWNLOAD
"STAGEFRIGHT"
today is not my day
(c) 2009 pat mckillen
i hear the raindrops hitting hard
on the roof of this old car,
where the night before i lied
picking stars out of the sky.
these ghosts they choose to hang around,
always lost and never found.
those who see what i've become tell me all i need is love
but don't you wonder where it went?
those few words change everything.
(chorus)
and today is not my
day, it's not my
take my guitar and go sit outside,
gonna strum myself a place where i can hide
songs that lead right back to you,
even if i didn't want them to.
think i'll try to get away,
find myself a better day.
those who see what i've become tell me all i need is love.
but don't you wonder where she went?
those few words changed everything.
and i'm wondering why,
find myself out in these clouds
i'm holding on.
and i'm wondering why these days
have changed, they have changed.
sad, sad
(c) 2008 pat mckillen
here, here's another sad, sad love song
boy meets girl and so on and so on.
could it be any other way?
til you, run along and steal my heart
should've known right from the start
couldn't be any other way with you.
would you come to stay here
would you like to be mine, for awhile, i don't know...
i don't want to leave tonight
cause you made me feel alive
before i found out
i was better without you.
then you, you run along and steal my heart
oh but i'm still holding on,
oh but i'm still holding on to you,
oh i'm holding on,
oh i'm nothing, i'm nothing without you.
here's another sad, sad love song.
boy meets girl and so on and so on...
country song for the city girls
(c) 2010 pat mckillen
a couple whiskeys later and you're staring at the sky
your back's on the pavement and the moon
the moon is on fire.
this is my country song for the city girls.
this is my one more for the road.
this is the late night walk home after one too many and
this is my one last hello.
somewhere out in america they're dancing in the sunshine,
somewhere down in chicago i'll be soaking up the moonlight.
i'm not gonna stop until i can get this one right,
a couple minutes later and your life has passed you by
you stare into the moon and you ask yourself why
all the little things that she might say
all that she does in her mixed up way
another lonesome minute here in another lonesome day.
but she aint comin home
oh and i'm out here on my own
no, no i can't see it all
making excuses
(c) 2011 pat mckillen
past the point of no return.
stand back & watch my bridges burning.
you're watching me, always painting your face,
i'm uncovering mine, hoping i might get away.
as always, it's not your fault.
oh, i never said it was, no i never said it was.
you're always making excuses,
always making excuses.
i'm through with you,
i'm through with you.
past the point, no i won't return.
stand back, can't you see that it's me that you're hurting?
you slip away, twisting and turning under the sun,
you leave me with demons laughing in my head, oh what have i become?
oh, i never said it was, did i ever say it was?
(bridge)
lightning
photograph curled up at the corners,
you and i could make it last, just
wait for the lightning.
little girl climbs up the ladder
chalk dust, mirrors, and rollerskates.
on course, and most powerful,
her life held together by hot pink electrical tape.
wait for the lightning, wait for the lightning to strike
wait for the lightning, wait for...
when the smoke clears his laughter
is overwhelmingly oversized,
she can't help but overturn
her otherwise ornery and angry eyes.
stands tall and waits for his big break,
he wraps shoelaces around his arms.
he carries an angel alongside,
and she carries him up to the stars.
oh no, you promised me,
that you would never leave, that you would never leave
inseperable but seperated
by roads and rivers and jet airplanes.
don't forget where you came from,
and don't forget when it rains...
that you would never leave, that you would never leave.
you and i could make it last.
found
well in the morning i'll come back for you
in the morning i'll come back.
but the morning it comes too soon,
when the morning chases you.
for now i'm off to find a place
where they might listen.
it's somewhere out there, somewhere in me
hoping i might find it.
until i see that i have grown,
until i find my own way home,
until i walk these streets alone,
until i'm found.
well if the city lights are calling, too,
if the city's calling.
when the city lights turn black and blue
you know i'll be calling.
if the morning comes and i'm not there
don't try to find me.
cause somewhere out there, somewhere in me
you're right beside me.
i won't walk away, won't walk away
won't walk away from you.
stay with me
when you needed me,
i didn't want you.
when i want you,
you don't need me.
such a sad story,
what a drag.
gettin lost in my yesterdays,
i'm hanging on to my past.
got nothing else
so i'll try again.
oh, darling, you're all that i need
when i see you,
you don't see me.
you can't hear me
when i'm screaming.
you say to move along,
you say to let it go,
to another one night stand?
i don't think so.
you don't need me...
stagefright
she says i told you,
she says i told you so.
when saying goodbye
hurt so badly,
you wish you never said hello.
shaking with anger,
drowning in insight.
i'm leaving this town,
calling it
stagefright.
won't you please, won't you please forgive me.
cause when the morning and the night time collide
i'm still feeling out the corners of my mind.
it's the same sad song, just with different words
this time.
please come over cause,
cause i'm hungover.
just throwing fuel upon the flames.
just adds you to the list of lonely people
and forgotten names.
she's coming down
with something.
i'm on the ground with nothing.
"don't try to bleed me,
cause i've been here before, oh
and i deserve a little more."
take it off your mind
let's go for a ride,
we won't tell them.
and pull the lights
down off this autumn sky.
and hang them in my room,
so we can see.
and watch this harvest moon
slip past the empty trees.
and now her
sillohuette
in my mind
here
i sleep with you
beside me
in the morning
hours.
oh but time kills
everything
that aint right
now
my whole world's
on fire
from everything i don't
say.
so let me take it off
your mind,
by taking off
your clothes, oh
but i'm not ready,
i think we're wasted
i think i'm wasting my time.
no, i'm not better off alone
oh, no i'm not ready
we're just wasted.
if everything
turns to something,
it won't be long before
something becomes nothing.
and when i
think it's time to go,
she pulls me closer oh
baby lets take it slow.
now sunlight
pours in through my
window,
reveals the empty
pillow
lying next to me.
now her
beside me is
gone as fast as the
moonlight.
and i didn't even say a
goddamn
word.
so let me take it off your mind.
we're just wasting time.
chasing harmonies
i'm cutting my losses,
i'm cutting out the middle man now.
something in your eyes it just
cuts me down.
so i'm leaving boston
leaving this toss-up,
calling it significant indifference.
i saw it there, i saw it i swear,
i just haven't seen it since.
i'm chasing all my dreams
i'm chasing harmonies
i'm chasing what's left of me
i'm chasing harmonies.
i'm changing the channel,
i'm turning a page
on cover-ups, catch-alls and cliches. (sht)
i've done it again,
you're still twisting my words.
so let's cut the distractions
for a minute, quit running around.
i see it there, i see it i swear,
and it's still cutting me down.
you're wasting my time but
no one can change your mind but you
change it all, you change it all
im chasing harmonies
i'm chasing what's left of you and me
chasing harmonies.
(words)
no, you can't see us when we're
running in the sun.
you can't see us when we're
you can't see us.
Check back for new videos and links coming soon
Pat is originally from Barrington, IL, northwest of Chicago. After getting his musical start in 8th grade as the lead singer of a metal band, he was inspired to pick up the acoustic guitar the following year. Since then he has moved from Dave Matthews sound-alike to developing his own sound, style, and voice.
McKillen spent 4 years at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, obtaining a degree in Finance. He became a regular on the campus music scene, starting with house party gigs. He built his way up to being a weekly performer on the school's AcoustiCafe circuit and began dropping the cover songs as original songs began to emerge.
After freshman year, Pat recorded his first EP 'Red Beer', featuring some of his earliest written songs. He continued to play on the scene, becoming known as a Wednesday and Saturday night attraction at Mulligan's and CJ's around town.
During these four years, Pat had the opportunity to open for the acts Lifehouse, Eric Hutchinson, Matisyahu, Tyler Hilton, and Smashmouth. After graduation, he continued to play on the bar scene back in Chicago.
After months of traveling and playing shows, he began work on his first full length, self-produced album titled 'Stagefright.' This album is to be released in early May of 2011 and features songs written throughout the last four years.
'Stagefright' - Pat McKillen
Pat McKillen's first full-length, 11-track album released in May of 2011, including: -Today is Not My Day -Country Song for the City Girls -Found -Stay With Me -Take it Off Your Mind
$11.49
Pat McKillen's first full-length,
11-track album released in
May of 2011, including:
-Today is Not My Day
-Country Song for the City Girls
-Found
-Stay With Me
-Take it Off Your Mind
*Please allow 3-5 business days for shipping*
Can't wait? Search "Pat McKillen" on iTunes
