Before 2020

New Studio

A home extension provided the space for me to set up a new studio ('The Cave') and get back into recording again.

To get to grips with the new music software, I wrote various instrumentals in a piano-jazz-trio style, but injecting some rock, funk and classical elements.  (Because why not?)

It's not exactly commercial, but it's different!

'Beach Trip' later reached the semi-finals of the UK Songwriting Contest (instrumental category).

Children's Book

Partly as a tribute to my recently departed dad, I wrote a children's book, 'The Gorilla Babysitter'.  

It's available on Amazon, but you're welcome to read a sneak preview here first.

Here's the blurb:

There are thrills, spills and lots of laughs when Mack the gorilla has to babysit for a lion cub.

Spurned for being 'strange', Mack spends his time alone, tinkering with machines and eating mince pies. He's never done any babysitting in his life before, but single-dad James needs to go hunting and is desperate for someone to look after his young cub Ruby.

Mack jumps at the challenge with so much enthusiasm that the day spirals out of control, leaving Mack and little Ruby in mortal danger! Will the villagers help? Or will Mack have to fight alone? And what will James say when he sees what's happened to his lovely house?

This joyful tale of fathers overcoming their problems will appeal to everyone from 6 years upwards.

'The Serious Years'

For about a decade, the demands of my young family and an increasingly challenging day-job had to come first, leaving little time for music or writing.

However, I did relieve the stress occasionally by hiring a drum kit at a nearby rehearsal studio and bashing the hell out of it for a couple of hours.

I've always loved the drums (especially Neil Peart during Rush's 'Moving Pictures' era) but I'd never really played before, so the studio offered me lessons.  I declined - as you can probably tell from the clip!

I'm sure instrument lessons help students develop faster, but I wanted that extra sense of achievement you can only get from using your ears and your brain to work things out for yourself.

Jamming

Another little high-point was meeting up with my old drumming buddy, Nick, for a jam in 2011.  Here's a clip of me showing off with the 'auto-wah' feature on my guitar effects unit.

BBC Sitcom Broadcast

The competition win led to a full episode of 'Nice Device' being commissioned, developed, performed in front of a theatre audience, and broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland (6th July).

Spying an opportunity, I submitted some of my music to the producers.  They were impressed, and commissioned me to write the theme tune and some stings for the scene changes.

The show was sufficiently well-received that Radio Scotland chose to include a clip in their highlights programme, 'Choice Cuts', the following week.

BBC Writing Competition Win

I entered a BBC Talent radio scriptwriting competition run by BBC Scotland.  My sitcom 'Nice Device' reached the shortlist of three, so I was invited to the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow to develop a 10-minute excerpt with two producers and (later) a cast of five actors.

On the evening of the competition final, the three excerpts were performed live in front of a studio audience and the judges chose 'Nice Device' as the winner!

Session Guitarist

I contacted up-and-coming composer, Paul Leonard-Morgan (now a BAFTA winner!), and he invited me to his studio in Glasgow for a day.

In the morning, he hired me as a session guitarist to play on an advert that he was recording for Radio Clyde. 

Then in the afternoon, I realised that the reason Paul was going places was that as well as being an excellent musician, he was a fantastic salesman too. 

We went round to Radio Clyde to deliver the advert in person, and Paul sold it effortlessly to the station boss. 

Then I sat in amazement as Paul sold me to the boss!  At the time, Paul was considering farming-out composing work to collaborators (like me), so he picked the 3 tracks from my demo CD that he thought would make the best impact, and played them to the boss while skilfully bigging-me-up!

What a professional.  And what a great lesson: it doesn't matter how good you are, you've still got to sell yourself. 

(Or find others who can do the selling for you.)

Short Films

Using my new-found soundtrack skills, I composed music for various short films, including 'Divine' by Angela Murray which won Best Short at several film festivals.

One producer asked, 'Can you do jazz?'. 

Oh dear.  I hadn't really tried much jazz at that point.  But I gave it a go and the result was 'Hustle'.

Music for the Media

I was keen to understand how soundtrack composing works, so I studied a course on 'Music for the Media'. 

It was fascinating learning how to fit sound to video, and capture a mood with music.  I wrote lots of short pieces in all sorts of styles for all kinds of purposes.  Here are some of them.

Songwriting

I moved into a flat with a former bandmate, Keith, and we spent a lot of our spare time songwriting.  We wrote about 30 songs together, and our quirky melodic pop-rock got some glowing reviews on student radio.

Unfortunately, we failed to find a good rock singer (this was pre-social media), so we ended up using my guide vocals on our recordings.  Oh dear.

I've never liked my singing voice, so I won't subject anyone to it here.  Instead, here's a cool guitar break from our funk-rock anthem 'War of Attrition'.

Live Gigs

As a student, I had great fun playing guitar in cover bands around Edinburgh. 

The first one was a party-rock band called 'St. Vitus Danse' (don't ask).  Nick (drums), Matt (bass) and Jolyon (vocals) all shared the same flat, and we used to rehearse there twice a week.

Playing with the windows open, we regularly attracted a small but noisy crowd on South Clerk Street outside.  Hopefully they were shouting for more.

The flat's entrance was dominated by a floor-to-ceiling poster of Jimi Hendrix.  Every surface was littered with empty beer cans, and there was a strange smell that it was best not to ask about. 

Going round there on a Friday night, I almost felt a bit cool... while also feeling utterly relieved that I didn't have to live there.

First Scriptwriting

Inspired by the Channel 4 TV show, 'Absolutely', I started writing comedy sketches.  I sent a few off and was delighted to receive some positive feedback from Paul Mayhew-Archer.

First Recordings

Having blown all my savings on a 4-track tape recorder, a drum machine, and a £65 bass, I set about writing and recording my first tunes and riffs.  Looking back, they were primitive but enthusiastic.  Here's a snippet.

First Guitar

For my 15th birthday, I was over-the-moon to receive my very own electric guitar.  It was a cheap second-hand Les Paul copy, but it stayed in tune and we were all very pleased with it.  My parents became rather less pleased after they bought me an amp the following Christmas.

First Inspiration

As a kid, I was introduced to music by my dad.  He used to play acoustic guitar and he had a large eclectic record collection.  Some of it I wasn't very keen on, but I loved his Queen and Quo albums. 

I remember lying on the lounge floor with my ear up against one of the speakers, trying to pick out the separate instruments.  Probably not a great idea.