So, I started learning to play the guitar when I was 14/15 I think. I guess I started because I thought, like everyone else that it was cool, end of.
The thing I didn't realise was that trying to be or even act like a rock star musician (With no following at all) was quite difficult and trying to buy alcohol and cigarettes before the legal age was also problematic and hindered the vibe I was trying to give off. However, this was a few years ago now before it was as strictly enforced and it wasn't long before I was able to grow some mediocre fluff on my face and try to pass myself off as a respectable adult. Of course, all this was way before the days of My Space, Facebook, Twitter or any social media or smart phones. Smoking and getting hammered have also lost appeal in the coolness wars too and quit rightly so.
What I did realise about making music was that It was a fantastic way of escapism that allowed me to reflect, release and express myself when I felt the need. Not being in a great place in my teens, this helped me a great deal and whilst a few of my best friends had gone down some dark paths with some pretty heavy drug use amongst other things, this helped keep me on a (not too bad) one and has brought me to where I sit here today. Through depression, anxiety, loss, it’s always been an outlet that has kept me standing.
I started writing lyrics to go with my random (Grunge like) chord progressions quite early. Growing up listening to Nirvana, Metallica, Bon Jovi gave me a good grounding of angst and love so I just went with that for a while before I developed a taste for folk and that has stuck with me ever since. I actually grew up with the Beattles and sound of the 60's blasting on the speakers in mum’s car but unfortunately these artists were not going to open the gate to the cool club of my generation at the time, although they probably would do now. (Obviously Still Love the Beatles)
I was always told in school I had a knack for a bit of writing (being no good at jack all else) and I was able to let words come to me quite naturally. The only downfall was that I'm dyslexic and anything I wrote could never be understood by a normal living human being. I'm quite happy to say that I'm a lot better these days although it still takes me an age to spell check everything and predictive text really pisses me of dramatically. However, that's basically where it all started.
The last fifteen years have told me that the music business is extremely hard, constantly evolving and that unfortunately many agents, promoters, musicians and bands are unwilling to share information with fellow artists to help them achieve their goals. With the reluctance to share information and see our fellow artist, band have as much or even more success than we have, we hold ourselves and everyone around us back, forever more struggling to be the biggest fish in a small shitty pond whilst wondering around with our eyes closed in a Gallagher stile walk because we all think we’re were pretty special and not seeing the bigger picture that is.......we could get so much further together if we just helped one another out and shared what we find which is the future aim of this blog.
Thanks for reading,
Come back soon and hopefully I'll have something to tell you about :-)