10th Feb 2008...
Happy new year... though I am a tad late. I couldn't wish you happy new year on new year's eve because I was halfway over the atlantic on my way back from a kick-ass trip.
I haven't written much more lately, been too busy, but I do have a small collection about 3/4 done and I might start doing some recording next time I get a long weekend that coincides with some down-time.
29th Sept 2007...
Certain things define us, I think. We think of ourselves in certain ways; we see ourselves as part of a whole, based on things we know or have grown up with. For me, one of those things was having two brothers. I was one of three boys (and a lot of girls).
Recently one of my brothers died, one to whom I owe a dept I wouldn't have known where to start repaying had I tried. I think I love music like I do because of him. And that, in turn, has shaped so much of my life. I can't imagine it not being there. I could talk and talk about all of this, but I don't think anything need be said but one thing.
Thanks, Wally, for the evenings spent listening to vinyl at your place.
04 July 07...
I am still writing, it seems! I have finished the last set of musical endevours, but I am still throwing a few ideas around inside my rusty innards. I'm not sure where they are going yet, I can't see another album's worth being in there. But perhaps what people of my generation would have called an EP. I don't even know what they are called these days? It was maxi-single for a time, I believe. Now? I don't know. Anyone?
I'm just going to keep writing until I see what I have, if anything.
22nd May...
Finally got all of the lyrics posted! Hope you enjoy them. Both of you.
10th May...
Well, it's done and done. The samples are loaded (though I have remixed some of the tracks since then!) the cover art is finalised, the lyrics are going to be posted soon, and I have started to tentatively let it be heard. So Introspection Blues, the new album, is as complete as it's ever going to get! Today l drove to dublin for a job interview and listened to it both going and returning, and both times it pretty much filled the entire trip, which is always nice. I tried to listen as a listener and ignore the mixes and performances and every other thing I usually drive myself nuts over. And I have to say - I liked it!
It sounded like a progression, musically and emotionally, from the previous album, and that's the point, really, isn't it? I hope you enjoy what you hear. I worked a long time to arrive at what's here now, even though the actual recording and final writing session were pretty easy. Prior to that though... Well, I've said all that already.
30th April...
Well, I have all of the recording done. I am mixing and trying to get the vocal reverbs and such right (I hate over-saturated 'verb like you can't believe)... and it's all falling into place! I think it might even be done by the end of the week if I can get enough straight hours to get through the ten songs. I'll have the updates on here as quickly as I can for the "masses" to view.
25th April...
Well, that album is almost done! I guess I only needed to really get the ball rolling. Three songs completed, and the rest almost done; just awaiting vocals. It's even got a title and a cover shot in mind!
It's sounding good, too. Mind you, after two years of waiting, it should.
23rd March 2007...
More writing, more recording. It's moving along nicely now. I almost have the song list complete. The few songs I am salvaging from the old project suddenly seem to make more sense, now; it's like they fit in here better than they did in the old one. So, perhaps rather than this new batch of songs being late, those were just early. Whatever it is, I like the results. I see the way the album should sound, and, more to the point, I hear it, and it sounds good.
16th March 2007...
Jesus has it really been this long again? Have I really been writing for so long?
I guess so. But I had this sneaking suspicion all along that something was wrong, and it was. I was writing dead songs about dead feelings and dead events. I couldn't sing the songs and believe in them; the moment was gone. And so I resigned myself to throwing it all away and looking down a big empty hole at nothing but failure, a lot of wasted time. And then a chance remark from a very dear friend changed it all...
"Write about where you're at now."
It was so simple, so obvious, I just hadn't seen it. I was too busy trying to salvage yesterday's news. So, I have written three or four songs in the last week or so, and between those and what's being kept from before (they weren't ALL dead!!) I almost have a new album together. A far better, stronger, more relevant album, about where I am at now, in every way. I hope to star recording soon, and wrap it all in a few weeks. But we all know the best laid plans...
Still ...I feel like this is it, i see the album, I see what I am trying to say, and damn it I am actually SAYING it (a rare combination of events!!) and when I get like that I just steamroll till I am done. I should have seen the lack of steam-rolling on the last project for what it was; dispassion. This time I have it though. I really think I have it...
25th July 2006...
I've been busy since I've been back here, as you can guess by the long gap.
I have moved house, written more songs, started listening to a more rootsy sound like I haven't had the ears for in many years. I'll get back to that if it amounts to anything.
I have the new album, called Hang Up Your Guns, almost done. All the music is complete (but for a few solos) and now it just needs the vocals. Along with this site update, there will hopefully be some lyrics added, and then samples as they are ready.
It's funny, but making this one has been the total polar opposite to making Out Of Order. Dealing with feelings rather than events, I guess, is harder to pin down. It's more difficult to get the words and moods right, I suppose.
23rd january 2006...
So I have about 8 good songs for the new album, and the rest are currently murky clouds floating about inside my head. Recent events have made it easier to write, giving me the last few things I needed to say, giving them a focus and a direction. So if I can clear some time between work, my daughter, and more work then I'll get some recording done soon and see if I really have something here. Me being me and working arse-about-face I already have the cover made though! It's a start!
Oct 6th 2005...
Some more writing done, not much recording. That day is coming, though, when I pick up the guitar and just lay down track after track and before I know it, I am hearing the album. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks...
Sept 9th 2005...
Well, another day, another few updates, and another day I put off starting recording. Thing is, I know once I actually do get started, it'll go fast, and it'll also kick my ass to finish the rest of the album, and beginnings are difficult times, as someone once said. It's high time, though, and I am feeling bad I haven't started yet. Guilt is a very powerful persuader. And I know I just need to start, and it'll snowball.
Let's see, its Friday night now, and I'm done with work for a couple of days, so perhaps this weekend will see that start happen. Then, over the next couple of free ones, get some serious work done.
Sept 1st 2005...
And another new look to the site. I think I have tried every design under the sun. Twice. If this doesn't hold water, I'm giving up and paying someone else to do that damn thing!
So, what else? Well, the new album is coming along but man oh man it's painful. Much harder than Out Of Order was. But that's okay, nothing good is free. I have most of the songs finalised now and have made an effort to start the recording process in earnest. That's the easy part though; it's getting them written right that kills you.
April 18th 2005...
I think this site might finally be looking the way I want it. We'll call it a work in progress though.
But what have I actually been doing?
Well...
With the Out Of Order album done and dusted, I hit a looong dry spell, the longest I have ever had. And it was starting to worry me. I wrote a couple of songs then, Beneath My Wheels, The Road To Boston, and they seemed to kick start something.
The other songs I wrote with these didn't really amount to much, and I knew I hadn't written the song yet, the one that kick-starts a new project. It may not be the best song of the bunch, or the most important, but it's still the one that makes you see something, see a larger picture. And this time around it was one called Real. In this I addressed that fear I felt, that uncertainty, at trying to find the new songs, at trying to get back into that place.
None of this stuff is posted here yet, but it will be as soon as the whole thing is done.