I've been playing guitar since I was 11, so that's "mumblemumblemumble" years now, lol. I remember hearing Queen II, and from the first few seconds of Procession, I knew I wanted to play the guitar. Predominantly self-taught, I've been playing with bands since I was 15 years old. Queen were my first musical love, and remain a huge influence to this day. Over the years I've become a huge fan of Pink Floyd, Muse, Rush, Marillion, Boston, Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson. Although gigging with bands for many years, I was always interested in the writing and production side of things, and, as technology has progressed and allowed, I now write and record songs in my home studio. Modern techniques afford musicians of today the ability to work with their peers all over the world, without ever actually meeting in person, and I have worked with artists in the USA, Canada and Dubai to name a few. The Lucid Dream project is basically the umbrella name, given to my songs, that are sung with whichever vocalist fits the bill and mood of the song. I also work as a "gun for hire" guitarist, and am always open to contributing to other people's projects as either a guitarist, bassist or producer.
The Lucid Dream project originally consisted of myself, (Darren Greaves,) and Graham Rennie. We have been friends since school, sharing similar musical tastes, and we regularly got together, and tried to meld Grahams lyrics to the music I was crudely writing at the time.
Early performances of these songs included stints as such prestigious venues as Outside My House, Sitting on My Garden Wall etc, you get the idea. Anyhow, Graham moved away for a while, so we lost touch for a good few years, until one day, Graham moved back, and got back in touch with me.
Finding out that we both still had an interest in music, we decided to meet up again, and just see what happened. I had put together a mini studio at home, and had been demoing songs (minus vocals, no-one needs to hear me sing!) for some time, and Graham had continued to write lyrics, sometimes with music, sometimes just poetry. The two skills still worked together, so we decided to put songs that had previously only been in our heads, down onto (virtual) tape.
The fruits of those first (alcohol laced) sessions was What The Deuce..? The name coming from American animated TV show Family Guy. (What The Deuce? is a favourite saying by Stewie Griffin, the shows baby character.) The album was a roaring success, selling almost 1 copy.
On that first CD, you can hear the nervousness and to an extent, the naivete. The production could be better, but for a first effort recorded in what effectively amounts to a spare room in my house, it aint too bad.
Buoyed by the success of that debut, we released our second project, Tell Roger Hes Annoying.
This CD showed a lot more maturity. Production and song arrangements are better too. Stylistically, it ranges from the heavy rock opener A Call to Arms to mellower songs like Same Old Sky, showing a more sentimental side, and the 15 minute epic, Irrelevant Nightmares, a multi-segmented take on bad dreams, with sections covering guilt, falling, failure and regret.
With the release of our third CD, entitled Trading Thoughts, we explored even more new ground. The title track was inspired by a trip by me, to the site of the World Trade Centre in New York, and seeing a poem of the same name in a church adjacent to the site. The album contains some Lucid Dream staples of catchy choruses and layered guitars, but introduces some unexpected twists, such as the opener, Got The T-Shirt.
The forth album, Surface Tension, is more of a polished affair than the previous 3 put together, and we are currently basking in the glory of the release of their 5th album, The Empty Quarter, which is picking up good reviews across many rock and musician sites.
During the writing process for the new CD, it became clear that both Graham and I had differing opinions on which direction the new songs should take, and no agreement could be reached. As a result of this, Graham has decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the Lucid Dream project. This split, whilst a shame, has been completely amicable.
Both Graham and myself have done 5 CDs together that we are immensely proud of, and we both wish each other well with our future projects, and Im sure that our paths will cross and well work together again at some point.
Taking this into account, I decided to open up the Lucid Dream project, and use it as a vehicle for my own music, plus any collaborations that I do with other people, so whenever a new Lucid Dream CD appears, it will be myself and one, two or more singers, more than likely including Graham at some point.
I take my influences from a number of bands and artists, notably Queen, Marillion, Rush, Porcupine Tree, Muse, Pink Floyd and Boston.
Many many performances with bands over the years.
Marillion, Pink Floyd, Rush, Muse, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, Queen, Boston
Fender, Gibson, PRS, Ovation and Burns guitars, Vox AC30 & Peavey Stereo Chorus 2 x 12 amps, Zoom effects, Amplitube, Guitar Rig, Reaper, Mixcraft Pro Studio.
