Whilst The Nightwires are still gigging, I’m also trying to step up my number of solo gigs.

It’s a completely different feeling performing solo but I have to say, it’s giving this “jaded” musician, a bit of his mojo back! It’s been great playing some of my new songs and seeing which ones work best. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the comments I’ve been getting, as my solo songs do tend to be on the sadder side of the positivity spectrum!

Thanks to all the people who have seen me perform recently in Loughborough, Wirksworth and at The Derby Folk Festival. Look out for updates on further solo shows soon.

Another new song!!

“All The Things” is one of my favourites to sing, out of this batch of new songs. It’s actually pretty simple in its structure, as it’s the same four chords all the way through. Despite the fact that I bemoan that very thing in most modern pop songs, sometimes simplicity wins. It’s all about the melodies and words. I do get slightly uncomfortable in laying out feelings and emotions so rawly, but hey ho. That’s what music is about for me.

Here is a live performance of another one of my new songs. “Where Do We Belong” was inspired by Physics. I did A Level Physics. I got a grade “N”

For Near miss…

There are loads of these new songs. Whilst they keep coming, I’ll keep recording them.

Here is a live acoustic version of my new song “Try To Forget”

Here is the official audio for my new track “Try to Forget”

This is the first finished recording, from the songs that I have been writing over the last few months. This one in particular, became a bit of a labour of love. It’s taken a lot of nerve for me to put my voice and lyrics so upfront, but sometimes you just have to go for it!

I will hopefully be doing a few solo shows over the coming months, in an attempt to try out some of these songs and see how they go. I’ve never been so prolific!

Hello

It’s been a bit quiet on the website front. That doesn’t mean I’ve not been busy with my music, but real life pressures have meant that I’ve not been able to update “the socials” as much as is necessary in this day and age. However, as artists, we have to remember that we can still be making art, without the need to tell everyone that we’re doing it. We have to make the art for ourselves primarily.

As I have some new projects on the horizon (more on that soon) I thought it was time for some new promo photos. Any excuse to look moody!! These sorts of things make me feel slightly uncomfortable, but I think Mrs Clements has done a decent job of making me look ok.

I’m holding my 2012 Gibson J45 Standard in these shots.

Here is a new instrumental track I’ve been working on. “Robots Can’t Dance” partially came about after I’d been listening to a lot of songs by Buckethead! If you don’t know who he is, you should really check him out.

As usual, all the instruments are played by me and I also did all of the drum programming, using EZDrummer by Toontrack.

After a bit of a hiatus, Under the Influence is back with Episode 10.

Rob Lane and I recorded this on 9th June, the day of release of the new album by one of our favourite bands, Extreme. We discussed how we got into the band, our love for Nuno Bettencourt and Pat Badger and I got to drone on about my Washburn N2 guitar!!

A little noodle, using my 2009 PRS DGT into my Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley Amplifier. Backing track supplied by Elevated Jam Tracks.

Jamming over a Buckethead style backing track, using my PRS RH2010 Special.