I'm A Writer

I discovered the other day that the article I submitted to the student magazine has been printed.

I know it's only a small deal but to me this marks the start of my career as a writer.

Of course I'm not focusing my plans on becoming a writer, but I do hope that one day, my writing will contribute to my earnings in some way.

So this is the beginning - hooray

In other news, the new band is having what I consider to be our first proper band practice this Saturday. We have a handful of musical ideas, a few lines of lyrics but a strong idea of where we want to take this so I'm looking forward to a good session.

After The Car

I'm not sure what scares me the most, the chaos that will ensue when we finally run out of oil, the devastation that will be caused by flash flooding and other natural disasters, or having to live in a post car world like the ones described in the book of the above title.

It is actually a great book though - I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in environmental issues.

After reading last night, I couldn't help wonder what my role would be in the new, post car world.

I Could Have Played All Night

So I played in Taunton town centre on Sunday as part of the Christmas lights switch on celebrations.

I was more nervous about playing this show then I have been about any other show I've played recently. Going out the night before had only served to deepen my worries as my throat was feeling like crap and I knew I hadn't practiced or warmed up all week thanks to illness.

But things actually went really well. I felt massively relaxed throughout my performance and really enjoyed playing. I was only onstage for about 30 minutes but I could have happily continued to play for another 30 - 40 minutes.

I think the atmosphere in Taunton on Sunday helped - people were happy to just mill about the town centre, sampling a little bit of everything on offer, whether that was German sausage, French cheese, overpriced sweets or local singer songwriters. There wasn't the need to try and impress an audience, an audience who you have been forced onto in a club, and who are trapped, having to listen to your music for your entire set. People were free to wander around, maybe stop and listen to half a song, before casually moving onto the next attraction.

It was a nice format. I hope I get the opportunity to perform like that again.

I Battle With My Instincts, And The Neon Glare

So I have uploaded the first piece of music to form under the Tapper project. As I am still working hard writing and recording, nothing is completely finished yet so the music I have uploaded is only a backing track to be used in my first demo. It still gives you an idea of where I am taking this project though.

I hope it has uploaded succesfuly.

Please let me know what you think - as I said, everything is still in the development stage so feedback is invaluable.

When I began work on this project, excitement got the better of me and I began trying to rush ideas out. I have decided to take a small step back and take my time to develop some of my ideas. I have set myself a goal to have this project out and on stage by January next year. Up until that point, I will be writing, recording, producing, and uploading the results here for you all to hear.

Liquid Liquid And Other Good Things

It's surprising how busy I have been recently. Busy and incredibly content with it all.

Last night I went to a meeting to discuss the future of Liquid Soap, a (now) student led soap opera hosted on our very own Internet TV channel. My initial plan was that I would be involved with the production of the soap by assisting with the sound recording and post production, however, due to a change in circumstances surrounding the running of both the show and its Internet channel, it looks like my involvement may become deeper if we are to be successful in producing a professional product.

I was sceptical of becoming too involved last night - I have been involved with committees before and they usually create more problems then they solve and and can be very unrewarding, however, chatting to some of the guys after the meeting, it seems like there is a really focused bunch of guys willing to put in the hard work to make this channel a success and the future of the show is looking incredibly positive.

Yesterday, I finally posted my completed proposal for The Appledore Arts Festival. Now I just have to sit and wait for their response which could come any time from now until January. I'm really pleased with how the proposal has shaped up and I've had some really encouraging feedback from those who have read it. I've decided that even if the Appledore people aren't interested, I am definitely going to produce the project in some form, either as the intended installation, or simply as a piece of audio work.

And in other news, I have been gathering some energy this week to tackle a new phase of production on the Tapper project. Having reviewed the demo tracks I had produced, I was unhappy with the quality of the production which I felt was stepping over and distracting from the songwriting. My plan is to take the ideas and sounds I like from the demos I have produced so far, and completely re-write the tracks.

I also feel that I rushed into the project a little, trying to produce too much with too little content. I'm setting myself a target to have this project up and running in it's most basic form by January/February next year.

And of course, I have a few acoustic shows lined up:

Nov 15th - Taunton

Dec 2nd - The Porter

Dec 28th - Mr Wolfes

More details on these events will be posted when appropriate. And I am going to try and post a little more frequently here too - so much going on at the moment to talk about.

Interactive

The songwriting/production/recording of my latest material is coming along really well. I'm actually surprised how organic the sessions are, ideas are just flowing out of me at the moment. Amazing what a change of direction can do for your creative spirit.

My only concern at the moment is how much will I actually be interacting with the technology at my hands whilst performing? And is this even important?

I want this new project to be cutting edge, to be utilising technology to the best of it's ability and pushing boundaries of what one man can do in a performance. At the same time though, I want to keep a traditional song format with vocals and guitar. What's actually happening is I'm creating the music before the performance, and then playing and singing along to a backing track, with only minor interaction when I play something on the MIDI keyboard.

I'm sure I can be doing more to be using the technology creatively, but at the same time, I don't want to draw focus away from the songs, and I wonder whether it really matters that the laptop is really just functioning live to play the backing track? The production is still all mine. I'm still creating and performing music using digital technology?

On a different note, I now have a new myspace profile where I will be promoting the Tapper project.