It’s the end of the year as we know it… and i feel fine

As 2019 comes to a close this is probably where I should provide some sort of retrospective infographic showing the number of gigs this year, the amount of time rehearsing, songs written, etc etc. However, unfortunately I only started tracking data since I started this website, an ‘annual’ retrospective of the last three months doesn’t quite have the same panache!

But it has been a phenomenal year for me, my aim going into 2019 was to get an occasional showcase gig and if i’m lucky, to appear at one festival. Instead I am playing almost exclusively at showcase sessions, support slots, gigs, or festivals, i’ve recorded and released my own EP with brand new songs, filmed a live performance of my EP, performed at a dozen small festivals and closing the Saturday acoustic stage at Wokingham Festival.

If you’ve met me more than a few times you’ll have heard that i used to be in a band, since the band split I had a couple of solo gigs, but I pretty much had 15 years out of performing live, I kept playing and kept writing, life carried on. My best mate Phill Cooper, who you may know as The Grand Old Uke of Dork, and I talked about various things to provide the creative / performing outlet and we talked about doing an open mic.

I wasn’t on facebook at all at the time so I was completely reliant on Phill to arrange everything and do all communications, the poor guys was texting me back and forth for hours each week as we try and align the planets for a day we can both play. We played a few times at Martyn’s Open Mic, then Phill found Abi Powell who ran quite a few open mics with prebooked slots in and around Bracknell.

We started playing for Abi regularly, often twice a week! We then met other promotors, who are also performers, and widened our circle. After Phill sent me a couple of videos of my performances that people had live streamed to facebook and there were comments asking who I was, I thought it was about time I created my own facebook and let Phill get released from the burden of being a completely unpaid booking agent!

Last December we discovered Graham Steel through artists promoting their nominations to his annual music awards, I messaged Graham asking if i could play at his showcase sessions at the Acoustic Couch (a great live music venue in bracknell), I was booked in January and since then I’ve worked with Graham extensively for bookings, for promotion, and for developmental support.

That takes us effectively to 2019, thanks to spotify i have some humbling stats on the streaming of my EP since its release in Sept.

I want to end by thanking every single person who has come to one of my gigs this year, bought a CD, or streamed my music, and a special thanks to Phill Cooper as without him literally none of this would have happened and i’d still be only playing in my living room.

2019 has been a musical cracker! Here’s to 2020 being even better!