I’ve updated the site. I hope you like it. The appearance is a little more modern and I’ve stripped out some of the content to make it a bit leaner. I will be adding more at leisure as the year goes on (2017 that is).
This last year, my music site’s been a bit neglected as my eye was mostly on my two business sites. The time has come to give this a bit of TLC. All my albums are now on Bandcamp and you can access them from the home page. The ‘freebie’ for joining the mailing list has changed to an EP of tracks from our Fringe show a couple of years ago, Stories My Killer Told Me. This EP has two tracks unavailable elsewhere: I Am Not The One For You and Portobello Slam.
The main musical activity this year has been recording the Heaven Sent album with Gerry Callaghan. To say this has taken a little longer than we expected is to invite mockery from those in the know, but suffice it to say the world isn’t holding its breath for this, it’ll be ready when it’s ready and Gerry has brought care and expertise to this project way in excess of anything I could have done as a producer. We’re going to do justice to this collection of songs and we’re going to be proud of it when it’s out. We plan to complete the recording of tracks in January, including some trumpet from Phil Ramsay, with mastering in February. At the same time we’ll be working on a video with Terry Dray of Scratch for the song End of Tears.
Di Williams tribute
Another thing I’m pleased with for 2016 was creating a tribute site for Di Williams. The full story is here. I plan to do a bit more to promote her memory next year.
Solo gigs
I’ve enjoyed a steady calendar of solo spots at Phil’s Pressure Valve events during the year. These give me a chance to ignore set lists and play what I felt like on the night, whether it’s reviving old songs of mine like Leaving and The Desert Was Better, or a crazy range of covers from the Incredible String Band’s Hedgehog Song to David Bowie’s Lazarus (two days after his death was announced).
Instrumentals
I’ve been working on lots of instrumentals during the year, in the hope of getting some licencing for TV or film. I’ll post some of them on the site eventually.
Mailing list purge
A few months ago I took the radical step of clearing out my mailing list and inviting everyone, if they were still interested, to join a new one. It seemed like marketing suicide, but I wanted to know that anyone I emailed had at least a passing interest in my music. I’d accumulated a substantial list when a friend promoted me on Reverbnation, but most of these were ‘tit for tat’ additions where someone became a fan in reciprocity for me becoming a fan of theirs. They’re all gone now. The list is substantially smaller than it was, and I know almost everyone, but I’m happier that way.
I hope you like the new site – if there’s anything you’d like me to post about or music you’d like to hear just let me know in the comments. 2016’s been good for me personally, but pretty dire for the wider world, let’s hope for a better 2017!