The never-ending to do list

Hello again. It’s been a while.

Just realised how much there is to catch up with around here. I appear to be in deficit of 9 song’s worth of write-ups. Plus the “recent music” promo isn’t the most recent music.

Crikey.

Ok, a brief catch up then. I do intend to do some work around here tidying and catching up soon, but this little blog post will be in lieu of that for an undetermined while.

The headline is that I have been busy with work, family and study. Unfortunately over the last year-ish, music has taken slightly more of a back seat than I would have hoped. But there’s still stuff on the go. I’m going into the studio at the end of February, I have a few radio appearances and gigs booked in, and I’m weighing up releasing the audio from last year’s NAG Listening Room as a live acoustic EP.

Longer term, I am keen to make a Pedestrian zero album. I’ve started some outline planning, but I need to work out a financial plan, ultimately.

Watch this space, I guess.

Hope you’re all doing well.

Over three years of this nonsense

Ok ok, it’s not nonsense.

But we made it to three years. 37 songs are now in the can (although only 35 have currently been released). I wish I had some kind of insightful reflection on that, but I really don’t. I can say that I have enjoyed it. It’s fun to think back to when there was only one song and I couldn’t wait for that song a month playlist to fill up.

I kind of took an unintentional break over January and February. Partly because I was trying to work out whether I should do something different. I’m still kind of undecided on that point, so I headed back into the studio last week. Stick with what you know I suppose.

As for the two unreleased tracks… Well, one has only just been finished (which was quick work on Paul’s part let me tell you). And the other is getting a video. I decided to wait to release with the video, for reasons that are unclear even to me. I’m actually half tempted to release them out of order. I guess watch this space.

Finally, I realised I should give this site a little more love. This will take a bit of time to get up to date. I have 4 singles, an EP and a sister EP to write about still. I started by getting the most recent single, These Ghosts, sorted. That way the site at least looks current!

I think that’s about it. See you soon.

How I decided to ditch singles for a few months and make an EP

Picture of the cover of Tales from an Age of Mistrust and typographic t-shirt/poster art

Good day, good day.

Since it’s too regular an occurrence to merit much mention any more, I’ll skip past the lack of recent updates.

I do have some news though. In addition to three new releases I haven’t mentioned in a blog post yet, I have ducked out of the single release game for four months in favour of recording an EP. The long and short of it was that we weren’t able to record in May because Paul was too busy, and I noticed that of the dates he gave me for June, three were consecutive.

So a hectic week of writing ensued and then we ensconced ourselves in the studio from Thursday to Saturday with Ally, Phil and Han and made Tales from an Age of Mistrust. El and Sam from Paper Scissors Rock collaborated to make the artwork so that we could make some physical stuff. And now I’ve done the unthinkable and have started a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo.

I’m equal parts scared and excited at this prospect, truth be told. It’s already doing better than the singles have, but I have to make a bunch of stuff, and there’s always the question “what if it tanks?” hanging around like a bad smell. Still, I think on the whole it’s better to branch out and try new stuff, even if you fail.

So there we have it. I’ll be back to singles in September I should think. There’s four songs on the EP, so it still works out at a song a month – you didn’t get swindled!

Needless to say, it would be great if you could check it out and bung a few quids my way. But only if you want to.

Let’s speak soon, yeah?

Bianniversary

Oops. I did it again. It’s been a busy few months since Nostalgesics was released. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking with it.

So we passed the 2 year marker. 24 songs have now been released (25 actually, but who’s quibbling). For now I’m keeping straight on. I’ve managed to miss February, but I have two studio dates booked for March, so we’ll keep up.

The three releases I’ve missed on here are

Folding Flags [feat. Ant Martin]: readlisten
Dressed in the Dark: readlisten
QGD: readlisten

There was a vague plan to compile the first two years of a song a month into something physical. But I haven’t had time to get very far with that. Any ideas or suggestions about what form this should take will gladly be received though.

Hopefully speak sooner next time 😛

Don’t worry, I didn’t lose my way

We’re still on track. The last few tracks have been a bit behind, but we’re still recording one a month, so you’ll still get your fill! Paul’s a busy chappy and there’s been a few tweaks to make. But When Did You Lose Your Way? is now out. 22º Halo and Hold Your Nerve are on their way.

So.

Listen

Read

Don’t forget, you can also get all of these on the usual digital channels.

See you soon.

 

Where are we?

Since I’m so wonderful with this at the moment, here’s what you need to know.

Recorded May/Released June track (released in July, obvs)

Struggle Street by Roo’s Radio

Recorded June/Released July track (recorded in July, obvs)

Hair Trigger by Pedestrian zero

I reckon that gets you up to date. Other stores are of course available. Probably.

In other news, there are two more singles in the bag. They’re both Pedestrian zero. The first, When did you lose your way? should be with you in the next week or so (don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list if you haven’t already). The following single, 22º Halo, was recorded today and will arrive in due course. It’s a banger by the way 😛

‘K we’re done. Have a great week.

Lyrics – Hair trigger

I just realised that it was a thing once-upon-a-time that I would type lyrics of as yet unreleased songs into this box on this webpage and hit ‘Publish’ and then you would read them. Well my friends it is now a thing again!

Before I hit you with the lyrics to a song which literally got recorded today (and literally got written this week – oops), I’d better give you a run-down of what has been up.

There’s been a longer than usual break in releases, for which I apologise. But it’s about to get good really soon. We recorded a new Roo’s Radio track back in May and it’s very very close to release (we’re just sorting out the artwork). Then we took a break in June because of various things. This means that there will be two songs recorded in July, to catch up. So there’ll be three songs along in a closer space of time than you’re used to. Which will make up for the bigger gap I hope.

Anyway, once again I wasn’t as organised as I had hoped I might be, so I’ve ended up writing and recording a song in less than a week. I’ve generally been pleased when this has happened in the past. And I think I am again. So without further ado, please enjoy (or not. But hopefully do) the lyrics to Hair Trigger

Hair trigger
Just what is this supposed to be? It’s really not enough to be setting me off
This barely veiled hostility; a dagger right in front of me – tell me to stop
Just tell me one more time
And I will try

Just what were you expecting me to say?
I would have had this any other way
Believe me it’s not easy, believe me it’s not straight
Believe me I’m not done with this today

With all of my excuses, all the apathy and enmity burning me up
I’m finding less and less of who I want to be and I’ve had enough
I think I’ve had my fill
And I won’t lie

Does it really make it better?