I got booked to do a run of cover song shows in an upper-scale hotel in Stuttgart, Germany. Cover gigs are a whole other breed of shows than what I’m used to. Firstly, they’re long. You play three sets, roughly 45 minutes each per night – if not longer. Secondly, I got spoiled rotten with … Continue reading Gallivanting #4: Stuttgart
No matter how far away a gig is, so long as it’s in Germany I’ll go. That’s the new, borderline psychotic deal I’ve made with myself. It’s justified 8 hour bus rides, each way, in the span of a single day with only a mantra in my head for comfort – “suffer now, money later. … Continue reading Gallivanting #3: Mannheim & Wuppertal
When the album was done the idea was to celebrate and rest my undoubtedly fragile, if not faltering mind in a sleepy Spanish village. Albums are a tricky thing to finish. Every decision is final, until it isn’t, and you wake up in the dead of night convinced church bells may just work on the … Continue reading Gallivanting #2: Arcos de la Frontera
Before you read the essay, here’s a video intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsfqe5Ko4Ik This is an article about you, me, music, money and muses. At the end I’m going to ask for some cash for an idea I’ve got festering. It’ll be a tiny sum, and you’ll get something in return, but it’s best I say that part … Continue reading Why Patronage?
The smartest thing you can have in the working musician game is a booker. I don’t have a booker — not being particularly smart, and, as such, I find myself on a seven and a half hour journey to Germany’s Herzland (heartland) for a one-off show in a place I’ve never heard of: Marburg. Steph … Continue reading Gallivanting #1: Marburg
Originally commission by Mimi-Hearing-Technologies, 2018 Joining a rock band when you’re eleven plays havoc with your ears in the long run… evidently. After countless sessions, wherein my fellow miniature punk peers blasted our amplifiers, and assaulted our instruments, I was left with continuous ringing in both my ears. Tinnitus is terrible, there’s no way around … Continue reading The Five Stages of Hearing Loss
Athens of old was a melting pot of new ideas, emerging from the minds of many philosophers who walked the ancient city’s cobbled streets. One such scholar, provocateur and convicted criminal was called Socrates. Despite the fact he was convinced he knew absolutely nothing, he is thought of today as one of wisest people to have … Continue reading The Story of Socrates: Finding Wisdom in Ignorance
Originally commission by Mimi-Hearing-Technologies, 2018 Without a word of French, somehow I still dither on the brink of complete blubbering mess every time I listen to Jacque Brel’s “ne me quitte pas”. The Francophone, chanson singer lays claim to a wide breath of musical influence, with Nina Simone and David Bowie noting him as a … Continue reading The Impact of Music on Emotion
Originally commission by Berlin Logs, 2015 There’s nothing pleasant about moving house. Lugging hefty mattresses onto cramped, ill-equipped buses is bad enough, but that all-knowing Germanic glare adds a whole new dimension to the trauma. All you can do is hang onto the belief that it’ll all be worthwhile once you’ve arrived, sighed and then … Continue reading Kurfürstenstraße: Living on Berlin’s Red Light District
Originally commission by Berlin Logs, 2015 There comes a stage in every man’s life when he’s faced with a difficult employment related dilemma. Clutching a heavy guitar case, I gazed over the alcohol section of one of the more frugal supermarkets in Berlin contemplating my own. “One or two bottles? Sternberg or the cheapest Spanishesque … Continue reading Singing for your Supper: Busking in Berlin
