CD Launch Gig

Launch show went very well last Saturday night and we played to a packed pub and sold a box of cds. Thanks to everyone who came. With Andy now away for three months it will be just three of us doing the shows and rehearsals minus bass. I'm going to miss our mixing and recording sessions, so it will be a good time to work up some new songs. This is the first track from the album, 'Missed You by a Mile' a folk influenced song about love at first sight. Also reminds me of a song by Steve Miller Band which I haven't heard in years from the 'Journey From Eden' album.

Long Distance Love - debut album

After three years writing, recording and mixing, evenings and weekends, the debut album CD is ordered and being manufactured. Ready for the Heartshaped Buttons gig at The Four Chesnuts Pub in Chichester on the 30th November where we will be playing both acoustic and electric sets including all thirteen tracks from the CD. Thanks to the band and the guest musicians who played on it. All I can say is...PHEW!

Pre-historic expression

Talking of pre-history, I love these cave paintings. Brings to mind a song ‘The Caves of Altamira’ by one of my favourite song writing partnerships, Donald Fagin and Walter Becker.

On the stone an ancient hand
In a faded yellow-green
Made alive a worldly wonder
Often told but never seen
Now and ever bound to labor
On the sea and in the sky
Every man and beast appeared
A friend as real as I

Chorus:
Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall
When there wasn't even any hollywood
They heard the call
And they wrote it on the wall
For you and me we understood

Shaped by Hand

On the subject of shaped flints. The things you can find just lying around these chalk downs. This arrowhead over 5,000 years old was found near Chichester, so beautifully worked I wonder if the person who made it was very much different to us? Were they happy or sad, did they sing to themselves while they sat chipping away at this stone? Well they didn’t have thousands of years of technology and an Ipod/pad plugged in their ear but what skill!

Heart of Stone

I do like to be beside the seaside but just a mile or so to the north the hills are alive with the sound of music, well in my head anyway. This chain of chalk and flint ridges run from Eastbourne to the Itchen Valley in Hampshire. A great place for walking and getting creative inspiration. I don’t take a note book, I just go over words and tunes in my head and if I remember them when I get home, then that’s a good sign. If I don’t and it’s gone then the idea probably wasn’t good enough anyway.

Live at The Richmond

All tuned up, set list printed and ready to (gently) rock The Richmond. After weeks of solid sun, it has started to rain but don't let that put you off coming. We will play some warm and suuny songs.

Live at The Berkeley Arms, Bosham Sat. 20th July

In a semi-acoustic mood, the band squeeze into the end of The Berkeley Arms, Bosham to play a selection of our original songs. Jimmy - get your brushes and Hot-rods out!

Woolstock - on the day

Great day at Woolstock with wall to wall sunshine. We played a good set and loads of people turned up to support us and the other bands. Thanks to the Hsb brigade at the back who sang along to our songs. The organisers reckon the event raised between £3500 and £4000 pounds for the 3 local charities.

Nile Rodgers

I love the songs, his production and guitar style, and as a guitar player, he is a major influence on modern pop music. I’m talking about Nile Rodgers and Chic. Watching them at Glastonbury on the TV got me dancing around the sitting room with my Jack Russell jumping up my legs. Although I don’t think it was necessarily the music that got him going.
Although the songs are simple and the chorus was often sung over the same chords as verse, you don’t notice because your ear just follows one top line hook after another and every top line instrument be it vocal, guitar, horn or keys, leads you to the next. I know some people could not stand disco, but I love dancing and Nile Rodgers and writing partner Bernard Edwards were kings of disco music!

Woolstock preparations

As part of the promotion campaign for Woolstock, the organising team all pitched in with brushes and paint-pots to produce these fantastic board cut-outs which will be strategically placed around Fishbourne to advertise the event at the Woolpack Inn. Unfortunately I was rehearsing with the band that evening so missed out, but I’ve got to say how great they all looked particularly the one in the fish-net stockings which you can’t quite see in the picture!

Woolstock Music Festival

The band are playing at the Woolstock Music Festival in Fishbourne near Chichester for the second year running and I had fun producing another poster based on the ‘sheep dude’ character I designed last year. This year it is part of the Festival of Chichester so we hope to attract even more people and make a good sum of money for charity. The supported charities are Breast Cancer, Chichester Down Support and St. Wilfrid’s Hospice. Two of which are particularly relevant to me because, relating to matters of the heart, my dear Mum, Peggy, who became so ill with breast cancer, could not have been looked after and cared for better when she stayed and eventually died at St. Wilfrid’s. This one’s for you Mum.