About

ItS ALL ABOUT CONNECTION

Induced by a mixture of life events, stressful work-social situations and an obsessive approach to music, I suffered from a 5+year bout of severe social estrangement where I could no longer connect with people as I previously had done. My senses became hyperactive, I became hyper-aware of surroundings, and I became hyper-aware of myself and others. My social state was one of constant discomfort and tension. This turned into awkwardness and anxiety. Aside from gritting my teeth through it at work and through paying gigs, I pretty much went into a state of social shutdown and isolation. At its worst point I thought I’d never truly connect with another human being properly again. This in turn probably fed into some past social challenges I had faced as a kid, which then recycled a sense of doom. After the EP’s I was receiving calls from major touring agencies in the UK and the USA expressing their interest in the project, but the irony was that I was more concerned with how I could best manage my predicament, and I was seriously considering living a hermit lifestyle.

The good news is that I’ve well and truly began to work my way out of it step by step. I’m now at a place where I love meeting gig goers, band members, and like minded musicians. I’m connecting again. I’ve been able to use music and songwriting as a form of catharcism. Songwriting helps me make sense of things in a meaningful process, and I’m endeared by other musicians/songwriters that also use it for such purposes.

I want to celebrate this positive change, embrace this journey, and share gratitude for those that kept in touch one way or another, despite the difficulties. I also want to reach out to others that are experiencing, or have experienced something similar to me. Maybe we can share some hope. I think doing it on a local level, at pubs, jam nights, gigs, rehearsal rooms, one to one, is where its at. I’m fortunate to have had experiences of being in bands that have gone top 40, have played television shows, played big festivals, supported huge bands at arena shows and I’ve sessioned in the studio and on the road for wonderful artists, and though I’m hugely grateful for those experiences I feel that it’s its far more fulfilling to serve ones purpose, to stand ones musical ground, and to collaborate from the ground up.

I also want to reach out to others that are experiencing or have experienced social exclusion from their peers, like I intermittently experienced at school and in my local area growing up. I’ve anecdotally observed correlations between social psychological issues and social traumas. Again I feel the way forward is to share.

I’m also now in the midst of family life, with a new born baby named Evie and a dog named waffle. I’ve been encouraging my partner Kelly into singing alongside me as well as partaking in some songwriting collaboration. She’s got a much more natural voice than myself but she went through two near fatal car crashes in her early adulthood - “she’s got more metal than Robocop” Emily Breeze - which completely derailed ideas of performing gigs. Despite this she’s determinedly built herself back together over the years, and even started to lead a church worship choir before meeting myself. Now she joins me at jam nights and gigs up and down the country.

WRITING/RECORDING PROCESS

Initial ideas often start while singing and playing guitar/keys or stumbling upon a sound/part. This is often the cathartic part of the process, the making-sense-of-things part. Then I’ll build on those ideas with rough arrangements and structures. I’ll start recording at home or whatever space I find myself in. Often I’ll build the track up (texture) by playing various instruments including drums, bass, synths, guitar, percussion or whatever else comes to hand. I enjoy mixing midi ideas with live parts, especially interspersing midi-drums/drum-machine part ideas that I might tap in live with my fingers, with snippets of real drumkit lines played live. Sometimes I’ll bring in musicians in to add a or more consistent live feel to an instrument or to add a different flavour. I do use pedals, keyboard fx, and room mics to capture effects and ambience while recording rather than leaving it all to plug-ins. As cliche as it is, I use cheap keyboards bought from charity shops; there’s always one super usable sound, and instruments that I might have temporary access to - then I’m recording on the fly. Though eventually I’ll produce a rough mix of the tracks, I’ll go through the final parts of the process by handing it over to a mixing engineer (TJ Allen), or sometimes I might collaborate on the final mix prepping if a track needs some fresh ears.