All this summer reminds me of summer. It's summer 2008 and I'm in Leeds, getting ready to move over to Berlin in a few months. Having spent three years "studying" pop music at "music school" I thought the best way to get to grips with it would be to learn a few of my favourite Beach Boys songs. So I did. Here's me getting to grips with singing and songing, but I think they turned out pretty nice.

I did some music for this great three part web series 'Warten Auf...'. Nice chats with german authors. Episode 3 here below, and the others are out there too.

Link to the publishers site: https://www.hundertvierzehn.de/artikel/%C2%BBwarten-auf-%E2%80%A6%C2%AB_2497.html

Over the past few months I have been trying to get back into playing live. I guess its strange that it isn't such a part of my routine of my project as I feel it should be. The classic way of getting out there and spreading the word. "Look it's me and I'm doing music!". 

As a person standing on stage with a guitar and singing songs it's easy to be mistaken as a musician. A singer-songwriter musician. Something I'm not too keen on getting mixed up in. But then again I do write songs and then go and sing them. How is one supposed to expect anything more from this simple format. I had an acoustic guitar and then I added a delay pedal to the chain to jazz things up a bit (not literally). Still not enough. So I went electric, feeling smug with my guitar and amp, and also a few more pedals. Maybe I still wasnt getting the message across, so I bought another amp. Two amps in stereo! Now this will surely do the job and make everything ok. However I still required more, so a loop pedal was brought in to assist me in playing some drum loops I'd made. Damn, now this is a rig! All this shitting equipment. It certainly sounds great, but it's a huge pain in the elbows to transport to a gig - going by public transport very nearly killed me the other day. But I still end up being a person standing there and singing some songs he wrote. Maybe I should just go back to simpler times with an acoustic guitar and a pedal or two. Maybe I need a drummer or a full 16-piece band. Maybe all this equipment I have is there to make up for something I lack as a performer. Or maybe it legitimatelly works to try and set me apart and get my own sound going. Maybe I've just simply not played enough yet to find the magic juice. 

​I'm proud of the album I made 'Go Dream'. I worked my ass of trying to mix the bastard and find the right arrangements. I also shot myself in the foot trying to realise any of it live… it's simply not possible as one man. With a few gimmicks, delay pedals, and drum loops something of the mood can be summoned and can occasionally entertain a few people. I think I have to explore the area of compromise. Take enjoyment from the stripped back nature of my limits. Perhaps it will lead to more natural directions. I'm working on it...