After having a chat late last night with a friend of a friend in a bar I was duly informed that, "Blogging is the way forward, screw the websites, get writing, you've got stories to tell." The advice struck a chord with a me: I do like writing and the 400 gigs that I've played over the course of the past two years has yielded numerous stories of the strange, trivial and comical, much of with I believe would be of some interest to people that come to my gigs, or to those that have found me intruding in their night out with my foghorn voice.
I'm going to be updating the blog at least once a week, possibly more, with tales of what I'm up to in my music job (I hesitate to use the word "career" just yet.) and fill in with little anecdotes from my nights out gigging around. Essentially all the bits the the people in the crowd don't pick up on. You may even find yourself the subject of one of these blogs.
2009 ended on a high at my regular late night spot, Snug Lounge Club in Nottingham, after a year which saw me play everywhere from a beach in South Wales on congas to playing the ladies section of Marks and Spencer in Meadowhall!
It also saw the iTunes release my debut EP "Another Late Night" a full ten months after I had finished recording it. Self financing projects is always a drawn-out ordeal and I learnt a lot from eventually putting it together. The year also saw me have a two month hiatus from singing live due to me being diagnosed with a polyp/cyst on my vocal chords which had to be removed. Thankfully the operation was a success and after a few weeks of bruised jaws and sore throats I eventually started getting my voice back, after which I made a complete recovery in July. They also must have fitted me with a Frankie Valli falsetto whilst I was under, because I certainly didn't have one before the op. That being said, my talking voice is now slightly higher than before, one of the effects I was told the polyp caused.
I had a busy summer and a busy rest of the year which saw me able to take two weeks off at Christmas before seeing the new year in on stage at Snug with friends and family around me. I was joined onstage, not by drunken punters for once, but by Mr Rich Hewitt on the percussion box, giving me a bit of backbeat to play to and some bass for everyone to dance along to. Expect to see Rich sitting next to me tapping along at more gigs this year.
2010 got off to a productive start, with me demoing seven new songs for my next EP:
"The One That Got Away", "Goodbye To England", "The Days Don't Change", "I Think I'll Go Home", "Big World", "It Could Be Forever" and the epic "It's Not In Your Eyes. I manged to get hold of an Apple Mac and put the basic piano, guitar and vocal tracks down over two days at my house. I can confirm that recording and producing is a solitary experience and I can now empathise completely with Wayne, who suffered many agonising hours auto-tuning me on the Another Late Night EP. I'm hoping to save up enough money to do five days straight in the studio sometime in February and get another EP into your hands by March. But these things never go to plan!
The gigs have been flowing in nicely as well for the new year. The University of Nottingham have said they wish to continue the Sunday Soundcheck night at The Den on the Uni Campus, and that'll be kicking off on January 31st at 9pm, with me and Scott doing the acoustic duo set, with cheap drinks offers and lots of students. It's down for every Sunday night and we're hoping to start something off and give students a proper reason not to get up for a Monday morning lecture.Lazy pot-noodle munching boggers.
Donations are welcome towards the recording of "The One That Got Away EP" (working title, I hasten to add.) I'm off to play Snug again now, definitely my favourite place to gig and certainly the most appreciative.
I'll keep you informed.
Tom x
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