First things first, this doesn't mean I will never perform live again. I just wanted to clear that up before I get to write about something on my website.

What it means is that about two years ago I did my last gig. At the time I thought I might take a couple of months off, but as time went on I realised a few things about performing live. The first is that I was finding it harder to replicate the songs that were starting to feature on record because there would be so many guitar parts and vocal harmonies for the sort of gigs I was doing. The second reason was that I found it sometimes disheartening to travel hundreds of miles to perform to (sometimes) ten or twenty people when a record would be listened to by hundreds (if not thousands of people). The final reason is that the longer I have not gigged, the more nervous I've become about returning to the stage. I've been booked for gigs and I've looked for gigs, but the closer they have come I have found the prospect of playing fills me with dread!

As I wrote at the start of this piece, I might return to gigging one day, but at the present moment I've no thoughts about it. If one of you reading this can come up with a solution, please get in touch!

 

So now what have I been doing since I stopped gigging? Well, I wrote SARTORIAL (along with three singles I'm proud of) and I've been writing for (and producing the work of) My Beautiful Umbrella, and with all that stuff (mostly) wrapped up by about March last year I decided to take a break from writing and recording. The month off I planned became four months and I still stayed away from the music, satire and comedy.

Last October, I started to get the feeling that I might have a new single inside that needed to come out so into Plantagenet Studio I went and the result was CHARLIE THE UBER MAN. It didn't stop there though and an outburst of inspiration brought forth the next album, another single and the solid groundwork for another one and a half albums. I'm so thankful that I took the rest and waited for ideas to grab me as I figure that I now have enough decent material to last until late 2019 (at the earliest)!

That's not to say I won't be back in the studio as there will be mixing, blending sounds, harmonies and all those exciting recording things. I am also optimistic enough to feel that one or two good songs will also jump out to say hello!

  I hope that you've enjoyed this new (revamped) website. I've had some help by the folks from PCR and I like the fact that it's simpler and a lot less cluttered.

 

 

NEXT MONTH: A LOOK AT THE NEW CD - The tales behind the songs and the making.