Sometime during the front end of January 2006 I began the process of recording stuff for this new collection of songs I had in my head. I wasnt quite sure how they would shape up, but I knew I wanted to record them my way. Call me a purist but I really feel that soulful music works best when it comes from there. To me that means committing to things as they come out, not just with the writing but also with the recording. In my head the first take-more often than not-is usually the best take simply because, if youre not too over familiar with what youre going to be playing, youre not concentrating on playing it right. And as soon as you start trying to play it right its not coming from the soul. So, most of the stuff on this collection of songs is kinda fumbled, but in a good way, I hope. The bits that sound like mistakes arent mistakes at all. Theyre what came out there and then as part of the performance. Its a really honest way to record and boy does it keep you on your toes. The guys whove contributed to this recording know this as good as anyone. Im sure it can be frustrating sometimes, but hopefully its worth it. So what you get is what I call warts an all recordings. Real performances, simple production, no quantizing, or auto tuning, just real music, played from the heart, with the odd mistake left where it belongs, in the performance.
What I call 'great' songwriting has to touch you and invariably - for me anyway - that means it's about telling stories. The narritive is what connects with people and that's what I try to put into my songs. It's funny how Myspace is changing the way music is consumed. Gone are the days when you had to pander to some label, cap-in-hand. Asking if they will publish your material and 'give you a break'. I almost stopped writing because of all of that shit. Now people search out for what they're interested in and people don't need some label to tell them a songwriter touches them. All this kind of sets songwriters free from the publishing grail (because that's what you're supposed to aim for isn't it?) and alows them to just do what they do, write songs. If one person puts my song on their page or sends me a comment saying they like what I'm doing then I'm happy, very happy. Because that's all that really matters. So, if you have sent me a comment thank you. It means much more to me than you imagine.
I'm working on the new album at the moment which seems to be going really well. i'll be posting stuff up onto here as and when I have finalised mixes available so watch this space if you're into what I'm doing. The new stuff leans a little more to the country feel and tells some interesting stories (i think). Thanks for reading.
