2022 Round-Up
Recording
- 13/05/22: My 5-song EP Clearly Opaque released
Playing Live
- I did 41 live performances in 2022.
We started the year still under Covid restrictions and then things opened up. Along with the regular open mic nights and a couple of private parties, I played live on the radio three times. There are various live videos of mixed quality on You Tube and Facebook featuring some of my performances. See Live for links and details.
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12 official videos made for You Tube |
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10-years in the wilderness - Recording Sessions
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Acoustic blues and me Electric blues and me Hair Ten years in the wilderness Celeb
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15/12/22 - 10-years in the wilderness - Session 2:
I've had a bit of a gap since my previous session, but am now ready with new songs and some crazy ideas. We put the vocal down on, 'Celeb' and built the basic track for, 'Acoustic blues and me'. A really good session. Kevin will do some work on both songs before I return to the studio in the New Year.
22/09/22 - 10-years in the wilderness - Session 1:
Back in the studio with Kevin Jones. My mantra is to keep on pushing the envelope and see where I can go with it all. I had an idea to take an old recording of mine (Always there) from 1993 and make a new song out of it called, 'Celeb'. We chopped up the original song and I took it away to work on the lyric and other ideas.
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Born grumpy - No. 15 365 Radio - The Official Legacy Chart
25/12/22:
I've slipped to No. 19. Looks like 15 was my peak, but thank you to those who voted, it's very much appreciated.
18/12/22:
A third week marching up the charts and 'Born grumpy' has reached No. 15. Thank you for all the support from Dawn Parry at 365 Radio and everyone who gave me a vote. x
The thing with charts is, it's all about next week and can one continue the momentum upwards.
Vote 'Born grumpy' please
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Born grumpy - No. 18 365 Radio - The Official Legacy Chart
11/12/22:
After lots of plays and support from Dawn Parry at 365 Radio, 'Born grumpy' is a now at No. 18.
A big thanks to everyone who gave me a vote and to Heather for stoic work, rounding up loads of votes. x
I just need everyone to vote again and see what I can do next week. A lot to ask, but I'll be very grateful for any votes.
Vote 'Born grumpy' please
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Born grumpy - No. 29 365 Radio - The Official Legacy Chart
04/12/22:
After lots of plays and support from Dawn Parry at 365 Radio, 'Born grumpy' is a new entry at No. 29, shoehorned between, Half Man Half Biscuit and Bruce Springsteen!
A big thanks to everyone who gave me a vote and to Heather for rounding up a lot of votes. x
Now, I just need everyone to vote again and to gain more votes, so I can maintain and hopefully improve my chart position next week. It's all go you know.
Vote 'Born grumpy' please
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95.9 Hailsham FM with Des Parker
03/12/22 - Saturday Acoustic Sessions - Live on the radio -
Heather and I were back for a couple of hours of live radio fun with Des and Cowboy Geoff.
I performed five of my songs with just guitar and voice and Des played a further three of my songs from CD. Heather did the same and we all chatted. We're getting to be regulars and enjoyed it.
I like to be sad (with bespoke lyrics for Des & Heather) - Ghosts - Unwanted fruit - Cry - Toast for one (with fun BVs from Heather) and the following recorded versions direct from CD: Home (my Christmas song) - Born grumpy - Emotional clickbait
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More 365 Radio Plays by Dawn Parry
Friday 18/11/22:
Dawn played 'Born grumpy' and then reviewed, 'Emotional clickbait' with Steve Lillywhite. Sadly, they ran out of time before they could chat about it, but she did say they both loved it. Thanks Dawn.
Thursday 17/11/22:
Dawn played 'Little red car' - Ooh ah. Thanks Dawn.
Wednesday 16/11/22:
Dawn Parry played 'Toast for one' this morning, just as I was serving Heather her breakfast - yes, you guessed it, it was Toast for two today! Thanks Dawn.
Tuesday 15/11/22:
Dawn played 'Chocolate' this morning - my attempt at producing a radio friendly song. Thanks Dawn.
Monday 14/11/22:
Dawn Parry has played 'Born grumpy' several times over the last week and this morning she played, 'Remember'. Thanks Dawn.
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Radio Plays and Review by Steve Lillywhite
Friday 04/11/22 365 Radio:
Here's an audio clip of Dawn Parry & Steve Lillywhite reviewing my song, 'Born grumpy’ on Dawn's Friday morning show.
Steve's had a long & illustrious career, having worked with some of the biggest names in the music biz.
Along the way, he produced, 'Fairytale of New York' for the Pogues and mixed, 'The Joshua Tree' for U2.
I was therefore rather chuffed to hear him talking about my little ditty.
Tuesday 01/11/22 VYPA Radio:
It was great to hear Paul Huggett playing my song, ‘Take my hand’ - Cheers Paul.
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95.9 Hailsham FM with Des Parker
01/11/22: 'First they gave us BoJo - Then we got Liz Truss' - Politics on the radio -
I edited up a second video from my session on 22/10/22 with Des Parker and added it to You Tube.
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Nostalgia - playing live - 31/10/16
31/10/22 - I like to be sad -
Despite the fumbled lyric on the first line, this is one of my fav live films, as it captures the essence of playing to people who don’t want to hear and in this case I think I won them over...
There are well over 100 videos out there on You Tube featuring me and my songs live.
Sadly, most of these feature audio recorded by the phone/camera, which picks up all the noise (cough, chatter, coffee machines, other people joining in on guitar and vocals etc) in the immediate vicinity.
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A song of faith and or hero worship from 1989
29/10/22 - Mr Preacher Man -
A bit of archive and nostalgia from when I was young er.Once upon a time, many years ago I used to go to Kilburn every Tuesday and watch Neighbours featuring Kylie, Jason & Mike (whatever happened to them).
After the show we went down into the basement and made records (tapes) featuring my songs. Here’s one, with period photos: Stella (vocals) - Don (recording) - John (lead guitar).
Great memories, sorry about the lo-fi sound, but the master got damaged, so this is off an old cassette (thanks to Kev for giving it a tweak).
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95.9 Hailsham FM with Des Parker
22/10/22 - Saturday Acoustic Sessions - Live on the radio -
Heather and I were last minute stand ins for another act who'd had to cancel due to Covid.
I performed four of my songs with just guitar and voice and Des played a further three of my songs from CD. Heather did the same and we all chatted. It was a bit crazy and chaotic, but we both enjoyed it.
Guardian angel - Acoustic blues and me - Funked up country (with updated lyrics about changing prime ministers etc) - My mum, Alzheimer's and the care home and the following recorded versions direct from CD: Excuse me - Take my hand - Emotional clickbait
Here's a video from Facebook filmed by Heather featuring Acoustic blues and me. x
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Video for You Pick Acoustic
01/10/22 - Take my hand -
Thank you for the commission to the 'You Pick Acoustic' You Tube channel. 'You Pick Acoustic is a mainly acoustic music channel for independent artists creating original songs. It releases an exclusive video on the first day of each month'.
Thanks to my team: Kevin Jones, Simon Farmer & Heather
By the end of October the video had received 94 thumbs up and 14,275 views - thank you x
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10-years in the wilderness
26/09/12 - 26/09/22:
I hadn't written an original song since 1998. In September 2012, whilst staying with my brother and his family in Australia, I used his guitar to complete two new compositions, 'My mum, Alzheimer's and the Care Home' and 'Life's a race'. I returned home to England and really wanted to record the new songs. I did a bit of research into local recording studios and found one down in Eastbourne.
Since then I have been flat out making music.
Six Albums: Me and my Martin, Stories to be told, View from a window, The last song, Standing room only, Journey Part 1.
Seven EPs: Dangerous moonlight, Then & Now 1, 2, 3 & 4+1=C, Journey Part 7 & Clearly opaque. And a two song single.
Many videos for You Tube and 676 live performances.
I’ve met some fabulous people along the way, some of whom have leant me their talent and contributed to my recordings - thank you so much.
My mantra is to keep on pushing the envelope and see where I can go with it all. I will be back in the studio working on my next EP, '10-years in the wilderness’ very soon. Here’s to the next 10-years....
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Videos for Then & Now
11/09/22 - Simple message -
I wanted to complete a video for each song featured on my four, ‘Then & Now’ EPs and this is the final one - mission accomplished. It’s a simple song of faith and hope for our current uncertain times.
Film: Whilst on holiday in Malta, I broke into the unfinished and derelict Festaval Hotel in Mellieha, which has some brilliant graffiti and shot some footage which I’ve used in this video.
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Videos for Then & Now 3
15/07/22 - Unwanted fruit -
A new video featuring some of my cacti and about the life of a singer songwriter who realises that no one hears, or notices him and without patronage, no one ever will. But that’s ok, he’ll just keep on doing it his own sweet way and that’s because he loves it.
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18/06/22 - Saturday Acoustic Sessions - Live on the radio -
I performed seven of my songs with just guitar and voice and Des played a further four of my songs from CD and we chatted. Great fun.
I want to sing along - Journey - Cry - My mum, Alzheimer's and the care home - On paper wings - Dangerous moonlight - Take my hand -
and the following recorded versions direct from CD: Born grumpy - Emotional clickbait - Chocolate - Toast for one
Here's a two part You Tube playlist, featuring the music and the chat - only 47 minutes in total. x
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Videos featuring sax by Simon Farmer
20/05/22 - Playlist -
My good friend Simon Farmer has contributed some fabulous saxophone parts to 15 of my songs. Each one has a (strange, weird, quirky) video and the playlist is in the order of recording, between 9/09/18 - 28/04/22. Please give them a view/listen - It'll only take an hour or so!
What's in a life - Cry - Stories to be told - Dangerous Moonlight - Little red car - Born Grumpy - Coronavirus - My old normality - Inside of you - The door - Remember - The only problem is - Home - I want to sing along - Take my hand
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Videos for Then & Now 4+1=C
17/05/22 - The only problem is -
Sometimes I start a conversation with this, am I stuck in a loop, or just a procrastinator? Well, at least I wrote and recorded the song and made the video, which features some strange bits of film and an eclectic collection of my art from across the years.
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Videos for Clearly opaque
02/05/22 - Take my hand -
‘Looking for a friend to take my hand’ - This song is about a lifetime of looking for approval, probably going back to my dad. The video features a high speed slide show of photos from my live performances between January 2019 and April 2022. My music mission seems to be about the search for some kind of magic approval, which will never happen, but still I keep on doing it.
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Videos for Then & Now
10/04/22 - Stories to be told -
A concept song inspired by Alice in Wonderland, with added psychedelics and composed whilst fuelled on strong coffee. Ballad man meets girl and they share a mic, add some smooth saxophone and then switch to proto-punk with an old school guitar solo, before returning to ballad mode for the outro - It’s time to put the kettle on.
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Videos for Then & Now 3
04/04/22 - Inside of you -
I'm in a sitting around waiting to finish my latest EP, 'Clearly opaque' mode. So, decided to make this video for a song about wanting, desire and chances.
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Videos for Then & Now 4+1=C
09/03/22 - Sugar monkey and nut pig -
A bit of bouncy rock and roll exploring various passages from my life. I must confess to being the Sugar Monkey. But, who is the Nut Pig?
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Just the songs
02/03/22 - Cry -
Song 2: A new project and a new You Tube channel - a space for my songs, featuring just vocal and acoustic guitar.
I love the production side of making music and have worked with some great engineers over the years and they have helped me produce my songs with a full palette of sounds and arrangements.
I'm also interested in the bare bones of a song, in my case, one acoustic guitar and a vocal. With this in mind, I've set up this YT channel to feature some of my songs in that format. There's no hiding place and you can hear every imperfection and there's no clever videos, just a single photo.
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Videos for Then & Now 4+1=C
18/02/22 - Remember -
A film featuring various East Sussex War Memorials and a song about a young soldier, sent to fight for his country, his experience of war in all its ghastly horror and then battling with reintegration into a society that doesn’t really want, or understand him.
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Just the songs
04/02/22 - Dangerous moonlight -
A new project and a new You Tube channel - a space for my songs, featuring just vocal and acoustic guitar.
I love the production side of making music and have worked with some great engineers over the years and they have helped me produce my songs with a full palette of sounds and arrangements.
I'm also interested in the bare bones of a song, in my case, one acoustic guitar and a vocal. With this in mind, I've set up this YT channel to feature some of my songs in that format. There's no hiding place and you can hear every imperfection and there's no clever videos, just a single photo.
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Videos for Clearly opaque
28/01/22 - Emotional clickbait -
I wanted to write a serious song about the world today from the perspective of an older fella like me. The constantly evolving pressures we operate under in this internet age and the whole social media experience that goes with being on-line. It's a scary place, with traps everywhere trying to catch you out and unknown entities trying to steal from you. At times, it's just exhausting and stressful and makes me want to run for the hills. But, I'm still here battling with it and determined to maintain some level of control over my world. I also wanted the song to be fun, have a cool groove and a weird video which asks questions.
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Videos for Clearly opaque
20/01/22 - My only hero -
Chelsea football fans, father & son 1967 - 2022: This song is about my boyhood football hero, ‘Peter Osgood’ and how I now meet up with my son, under Osgood’s statue outside Chelsea’s ground at Stamford Bridge - and we share the visceral experience of watching our team together. The film footage of us is from 1995, interspersed with photos from across the years.
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Videos for Clearly opaque
14/01/22 - Don't look back -
Song two on, ‘Clearly opaque’: Get your boots on - we had some fun filming this on the daily dog walk, marching up and down the Cuckoo Trail. No dogs were harmed in the making of this video.
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Videos for Clearly opaque
09/01/22 - I want to sing along -
This will be the opening song on, ‘Clearly opaque’: A little film to go with a song, originally written for a songwriting comp on ‘Talent is Timeless’ and featuring a beautiful sax solo by Simon Farmer. I had a lot of fun dipping into my folder of unused film footage and trying to create something akin to the weirdness of dreams - mine can be very weird and exhausting.
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Clearly opaque - Recording Sessions
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I want to sing along Don't look back My only hero Take my hand Emotional clickbait
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13/05/21 - Clearly opaque - Released on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon & Digipak CD:
All done and dusted and I'm very pleased with the finished songs. Thanks to Kevin Jones, Simon Farmer and Heather. x
28/04/22 - Clearly opaque - Update:
Simon has finished his sax parts for, 'Take my hand' and Kevin has given the drum & bass parts a makeover to work better with Simon's new horn parts. Kevin then mastered the finished EP. I'm sorting a small run on Digipak CD and will then decide on a release date. Very pleased with the whole EP and am producing a video featuring, 'Take my hand', so every song will have its own distinct video on You Tube.
06/04/22 - Clearly opaque - Update:
Kevin has finished the first four songs, and they all now have their own video. My tame sax player has been busy elsewhere, and I'm just waiting on his part for, 'Take my hand' and then we can finish the EP and plan a release date. I've kept myself busy making videos for some of my previous songs (see above).
11/02/22 - Clearly opaque - Session 4:
Since my last session, Kevin has finished, 'Don't look back' and 'Emotional clickbait' and I've made videos (see above) featuring both songs for You Tube. Today, we recorded guitar and vocals for, 'Take my hand', the fifth and final song that will feature on the 'Clearly opaque' EP.
11/01/22 - Clearly opaque - Session 3:
Simon Farmer has done a wonderful soprano sax part for, 'I want to sing along' and Kevin has now completed the first two songs ('I want to sing along' and 'Don't look back') ready for final mixing. I am using these versions to make a couple of videos for You Tube.
Today we started recording 'Emotional clickbait', which I intend to be a bit different. We got the basic guitar down and I did the vocal, which was fun and quite challenging.
17/12/21 - Clearly opaque - Session 2:
Since my previous visit, Kevin has done some great work behind the scenes on the first two songs. Today, I recorded the proper vocal for, ‘Don’t look back’ and the guitar and vocal for, ‘My only hero’. Three songs down and that leaves two on the drawing board (in my head).
30/10/21 - Clearly opaque - Session 1:
I’d been writing some new material, so it was great to get back into the studio with Kevin and start a new project. We put down the guitar and vocal for, ‘I want to sing along’ and the guitar and a guide vocal for, ‘Don’t look back’. A great first session.
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01/01/22 - Looking back & looking forward:
2021 - Two years of Covid uncertainty and no end in sight! On the positive side, the restrictions of lockdown and the closing down of the outside world has led to what has probably been my most productive and creative period. I’m determined to continue in this vain and am excited by my latest project, ‘Clearly opaque’. Lots of plans - Stay safe - Happy New Year. x
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2022 Diary: 2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
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