i've been playing around Birmingham since 2014 after a 10-year break from recording and live performances. i don't know why i stopped writing and playing but i know i suddenly felt vulnerable when i had a guitar in my hands. i don't know where this feeling came from because music has always been important to me. and then in late 2013 my boss at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath Birmingham suggested i take the guitar and singing up again. i played at the cafe a few times and it all took off again from there.
i started playing the guitar and writing songs in my teens like a lot of kids and apart from the 10-year break it's something i've always done since. i value creativity and personal expression and they've always been at the centre of my life. like many singer/songwriters i've played pubs and clubs and open mics and the occasional outdoor event and it's what i'm doing now at venues in and around Birmingham. i get so much out of playing live these days it's hard to imagine that 5 years ago my guitar was packed away out of sight in its case and i hadn't the slightest inclination to pick it up and play it again.
i used to play 3 or 4 times a week between 2014 and 2017 anywhere i could get to but my spin on things recently is less live and more studio. i still play once a week say even though developing a sound through recording is uppermost in my mind of late. my favourite live moment was back 2016 when the bar manager of the Dark Horse asked me to stop playing Rubber Doll because it wasn't what he thought the diners there wanted to hear. Rubber Doll is a song about sexual dysfunctionality and i can imagine it upsetting some people.
i have a wide base when it comes to influences from rock to pop to hip hop and house and i'm always finding new music to listen to so tomorrow i might be into Romanian micro house and a week later tropical trance.
i play three Fender acoustics. a really old Fender dreadnought that has amazing sustain. a Fender CD-140SCE and a Fender CD-160SE/12-string. i record using my iMac with GarageBand at the moment and i hope to upgrade the software soon.
i love art and design and writing is also important to me.
