MyGen
Profile Generator
When I was growing up I was pretty much glued to my radio. Even when I was supposed to be sleeping, I usually had an earpiece in, and would fall asleep listening to the fuzzy feed from Radio Luxembourg.
When my parents gave me a stereo deck, I practically lived in the attic with a stack of old vinyl albums inherited, scrounged, or bought from second-hand shops. All my pocket money was spent in the newsagents, where you could buy ex-jukebox singles for 45p each (when I was little I thought that's why they were called '45s)!
The child of an actor and an artist, I was lucky to have a pretty 'hip' upbringing. My parents and their laid-back friends had excellent taste in music, playing everything from Woodstock soundtracks to T Rex at the parties I was allowed to hang out at. My mother's record collection in particular had a big influence on me. In addition to classical recordings, she loved Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver, Carole King, Queen and Glen Campbell. Happily, I immersed myself in an ocean of folk pop, progressive rock and west coast rock, and gave myself a pretty good all round education in the era-defining classics of the time.
Once people realised how much I loved music, they started donating heaps of records to me, and I quickly put together what I suppose you could describe as a 'quirky' collection, which ranged from Neil Sedaka to Genesis, and everything in between. I think the first album I went totally mad for was 'Nursery Cryme,' which instilled in me my love of prog rock, and particularly Steve Hackett in later years. One of my best memories ever is of sitting on a swing in a park beside the River Wye, watching the sun rise over the misty meadows, whilst listening to Steve Hackett's album 'Defector' on my Walkman. It felt like flying.
The first time I attempted writing harmonies was when I was in primary school, when I wanted to sing along to the songs on the Simon and Garfunkel album my mum played a lot. However, the songs were in a key that was too hard for me to sing, so I just made up a tune in my own range that I could sing alongside theirs, without actually knowing that what I was doing was writing a harmony. Thus was born my obsession with vocal harmony, and from then on there was no stopping me. I wrote a whole bunch of songs in my teens. I'd wait till all my family was out of the house, dig out my battered Kays catalogue guitar, and write my own tunes, recording harmonies using two ancient mono tape recorders, placed side by side. The only trouble was that the two machines played at different speeds, so with each vocal layer the recording would speed up a little, until I ended up with a recording that sounded like chipmunks! Thank heaven for multi-track software today!
Growing up in the Welsh countryside, with a circle of mountains for my back yard, and also in Herefordshire, in a beautiful river valley, I always related to songs about rural life, and I guess that drew me naturally to both folk and Country music. I've always loved the way many artists in these genres put their heart and soul into their songs: their unadorned, uncontrived lyrical honesty is always something I've found appealing. I think that's also one of the reasons I like Myspace so much. Here, to a large extent, you can find many people who make their own music without any pretension or constraint. So many Myspace artists are just making music for the sheer love of it. Some of it may be unpolished: more than a little rough around the edges, but it's HONEST and I love that. There's this great revolution going on - it kind of feels like a re-awakening, where suddenly real people are sweeping music off the conveyor belts and giving it genuine feeling again.
With the advent of high quality home recording software, and the infinite arena of the Internet, anyone and everyone can express themselves - it doesn't matter how well, or even whether anyone else likes it - it's just great that they can do it and share it online in a few moments. It's the ultimate 'great gig in the sky.'
I'd always dabbled on the edges of music - for years setting down songs that I shared with no-one. When I was older, I got into work writing promotional material for other people's music. It was undeniably very rewarding, but I couldn't help the nagging feeling that I was on the outside of somewhere wonderful, looking in, with my nose pressed up against the window.
When Matthew Jay , a singer/songwriter I greatly admired, died suddenly in 2003, aged only 24, it was something of a wake-up call for me. It made me realise that everything could be gone in an instant, and that we can't keep putting things off until tomorrow, because, without sounding morbid, tommorrow might never come, so it's better to seize the moment while you can. I therefore figured it was time I started working on my own songs in earnest.
I have since been lucky enough to meet and work with some great musicians, who have been wonderfully encouraging, and have taught me a lot.
After gaining experience of playing live with Kimbara , and Smoky Terrain, I am now concentrating on writing and recording original material; working primarily in collaboration with Massive Electric Storm's front man Charlie Allen , whose multi-instrumental and production skills have opened up a whole new world for me, in terms of making real the music I have always dreamed of.
My biggest influences still remain within the seemingly opposing genres of alt/prog rock and country-folk; with musicians and bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, Talk Talk, The Carter family, The Roches, Glen Campbell aand John Denver being amongst the most prominent in inspiring me, musically, lyrically and vocally.
I write mostly from an autobiographical standpoint, about city life, love, friendship, insomnia, and the habitual abuse of good quality navy rum.
