Year: 2007

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Busy times…

Sorry for the lack of interesting blog stuff of late. Much going on, but not really a) time to blog or b) stuff that’s bloggable.

For the last week I’ve been moving house, which has been exhausting, but also a great chance to purge all the crap I’d stored up over the years. So off went 3 bin-liners full of clothes to the charity shop, boxes and boxes of books, endless car-fulls of paper and cardboard to the recycling centre, all my vinyl to a talented E-bay-monkey-friend who’ll dispense with it all for me… I highly highly recommend having a stuff-purge if you find you’re getting bogged down with things. It’s something i should’ve done YEARS ago (yes, yes, mum, I know you been saying it every time I’ve seen you for the last decade…)

The purge hasn’t ended, and there’s more stuff to go (given that the room I’m now in is so full of my stuff I can hardly move… But all in good time.

On top of that, I’m still finalising details for the European tour in March, sorting out accommodation, official forms from the tax office so I can actually get paid in Italy, juggling canceled flights with more trips to scatter my possessions all over London.

it’s all a bit busy and a bit mad, so if you’ve been trying to get in touch with me over something, do email again, or call my mobile…

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Spoke too soon…

While tidying up today (more on that in a later blog) I found a load of copies of Grace and Gratitude! Yay!!

So it’s back being orderable from the shop, if you want a copy. Or, let’s make this easy, you can just click the ordering button here and get it for just £9 inc. worldwide P+P!





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Bass-Monkey Radio!

I often get asked by bass students of mine about where they can hear more music with interesting bass playing, so here’s a link to Bass World Radio – a Live 365 station that plays lots of bass-centric stuff, including lots of me, rather pleasingly! They’ve got a MySpace Page, and a MySpace Blog for the top 40 of that week, as voted by listeners…

Check it out!

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Grace And Gratitude Sold Out!

Grace And Gratitude is, I think, sold out on CD. I’ll have a look and see if I can find any more copies, but at the moment, it looks like the ones I’ve just put in envelopes to send out to people who’ve ordered them are the last ones I’ve got! How bizarre… I’m sure I’ll find a load of copies under someone’s bed somewhere in the world at some point, and be able to sell those on, but for now, I’ve taken it down from the online shop.

Of course, it’s still available as a download, and also from iTunes, should you want it! And hopefully I’ll repress soon enough – I like it too much not to have it available on CD. Oh, there are probably a couple of copies available via Cd Baby if you want one…

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House concerts – how it works…

Thursday night’s gig in Petersfield was fun, though to a tiny audience. Playing to little groups of people is always fun, though in a setting where more are expected, it’s not usually all that financially viable. So there’s the trade-off – fun gig, but no way to make a living. Which is where house concerts (like the one pictured) come in.

House concerts are a way for musicians to play to little groups of lovely listeners, in comfortable surroundings with lovely food and drink and make it pay. it’s a chance for people with moderately large houses to present their favourite music to their friends (unless your favourite music happens to be Beyonce, Elvis, The Polyphonic Spree or Cannibal Corpse – too expensive, too dead, too large and too loud, respectively).

How does it work? Well, I come to your house and play to your friends – either you can pay me to do it as a gift to them, or you can get them all to make a donation to make it happen… if you’re going the donation route, I’d need some kind of guarantee (which is going to vary depending on how far I have to travel to get there, and how many people are going to be there – the more people, the better the opportunities for selling CDs…)

I can bring my little PA with me, if you don’t have anything for me to plug into, so all i need is a little bit of space and a plug socket. It’s great fun, and it doesn’t take a massive amount of space – it’s doable even with 15-20 people in a moderate sized lounge.

So, if you’re interested, email me, and check out these links to a couple of american sites on how to put on a house concert – link 1 and link 2.
And this UK one from Acoustic Routes magazine – which looks pretty comprehensive.

Go on, you know you want to… i’m booking them now for the UK in april/may, and for the US in May/June…

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booking gigs…

Been a rather frantic time for gig-booking, trying to fill in extra dates on the European trip for March, and getting dates booked in for the UK in April when i get back… Been chasing some more masterclasses, and have been invited back to my old college in Perth, Scotland – just need to sort out the date. I love going back up there – it was a great place to study, and as I’ve said before, the head of bass there, Pete Honeyman, not only taught me how to play, but taught me how to teach – he was very ‘hands off’ in that it wasn’t about just giving us some piece to learn and ticking it off, but more about pointing us in a creative direction and letting us run with it. It’s an approach that definitely favours players like me, and can be uncomfortable for players that want to be spoon-fed, but it definitely produces more creative thinking musicians than doing graded exams does…

So thanks, Pete – there’s your blog mention – see you soon! ;o)

and the rest of you, email me if there’s somewhere near you that you think i should play, or a festival you’ve got a contact at that might be cool for me this summer…

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Duke Special video for 'Freewheel'

here’s the video to ‘Freewheel’ by Duke Special – Duke Special, AKA Pete Wilson, is a genius. Pure and simple. I’ve known him for years, been listening to him play since he was in dreadful bands he’s rather forget ever existed, and now he’s on the brink of a major breakthrough. Go and buy the single, or download it from iTunes or wherever. He’s great. Go on, do it!

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All four solo albums up on iTunes

Finally, I’ve succumbed to the digital revolution and all of my four solo albums are now available on itunes. The following links work if you’ve got itunes already installed on your computer –

this goes to my artist page there, with links to all four album downloads

And Nothing But The Bass
Not Dancing For Chicken
Grace And Gratitude
Behind Every Word

I also found a handful of copies of And Nothing But The Bass on CD while I was in the US – if you want one of those, email me and we’ll sort it out. They are £10 each including worldwide P+P.

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