New year is a great time to look back over the last 12 months and
reminisce about what was good, what was bad and what was possibly missed all
together! I'll split it up by month both to make sure it stays on track and to
make it a bit easier to read (and write!)
January
 |
| Posing with Phil Lynott! |
Exactly one year ago today I was jetting
out to Dublin for a Christmas present holiday with Kayla. It was amazing! they
have a completely different attitude towards live music over there. In what
could and should have been one of the quietest weeks of any year, there was
live music on in every pub and bar every night, and sometimes all day too. I'll
never forget walking through Temple Bar at 10pm on the Saturday night and
seeing buskers lining the streets playing to audiences of up to 50 people. If I
did that in Wolverhampton... Well, let's just say I wouldn't expect the same
reception.
After the trip January was quiet, though I
did play at Tattoo Freeze in Telford later in the month, which is always good
fun. It's always a bit of a surreal experience trying to drown out the sound of
roller derby with American Pie!
February
 |
| The Replicas live at The River Rooms |
February saw my return to The Robin 2 and
The Replicas return to The River Rooms. It's actually the last
time the band
played a public gig outside of Codfest, which is something that I'm hoping to
address this year (we have what might be classed as an AGM coming up next
week!). I remember thinking that, having been so busy in 2012 (I posted
something on Facebook about the amount of gigs I had played in the year and how
I had only had around 2/3 weeks without a gig throughout the year) I seemed to
be lagging a little at the beginning of the year. There were a number of
contributing factors to this in my opinion, ranging from less gigs to play due
to 'the economic climate', to the fact that I was working more during the day
in schools and planning a wedding (February ushered in the 6 month countdown!)
March
 |
| Celebrating my birthday |
March was equally quiet. I celebrated
becoming
technically closer to 30 than 20, but on the gigs
front it seemed things were starting to dry up for me. I hadn't played any gigs
for other promoters for a long time, and it seemed that all I had left were my
own open mic nights and coffee shop visits and the odd private booking.
 |
| The Pied Piper |
April
However, as spring came around the corner
it seemed to pick up a bit. I had a new open mic in Cannock to
host, the first
of which went pretty well, The Replicas were back out for a wedding gig and I
travelled to Worcester to support my good friend
Brains for Breakfast on his UK tour to promote his EP. It was one of those gigs where I sit down after it and realise that I need to go and play more, for new people, in new places, just because of how much enjoyment I get out of it.
May
 |
| The Black Friar |
In May I did just that! I played my first
ever wedding fayre, which was interesting, if not particularly fruitful. I also
finally got to play at The Madhouse in Burton Upon Trent after a verbal
agreement with a promoter the previous year (when I supported Amy Wadge and
Pete Riley at The Robin 2) and it was one of the musical highlights of my year.
The place is perfect for the folky sort of gig that it was, and the audience
were really into what I was doing. I never been called for an encore as a
support act before!
I also played my first gig in a new
recurring venue, The Marches in Ludlow. Again, it's a really nice place and
just suits the style of music that I play. I've gone on to play there a number of
times and have dates booked in for 2014 already (you can find them on my
website - If you aren't there
already!). The Replicas were out for a party in Coventry (on possibly the
smallest stage ever) and I also played at The Jazz and Blues festival at The
Black Friar in Newcastle Under Lyme.
 |
The Cavern - before the drinking
started! |
June
June was a little quieter, though I did
manage a return to Compton in the park, which is always a good thing
to do as
it's both a cool outdoor venue and for a great cause. I also had my stag
weekend in Liverpool, which involved a great Friday which culminated in me
getting far too drunk in The Cavern Club and missing the rest of the weekend!
My best man called it a successful stag. I guess I'd have to agree. It did make
me want to play at The Cavern though (potentially both solo and with The
Replicas), so there is something to aim at.
July
 |
Choosing just one photo
was hard! |
Considering July was the month that Kayla
and I got married and went on honeymoon, it was also pretty busy musically. The
Replicas played a wedding a mere stones thrown from my old college in Digbeth
and I played a couple of great outdoor gigs, including a sweltering Grassroots
festival in Appleby Magna and Birchover Carnival, which was a brilliant little
festival based on a campsite (though Kayla and I did wait for nearly an hour to
get a pizza!)
I also played my first ever in store gig
at Vinyl and Vintage in Wolverhampton. It's a great little place it you like
vinyl (and vintage clothes I guess, though as it's not really my thing I
couldn't comment on how 'good' it is for that).
Finally the day arrived, and what a day it
was! Less than 24 hours earlier we had storms and thunder and lightning, but
the day of our wedding was a scorcher! People actually went home in the evening
to get changed into shorts and t-shirts! I couldn't possibly have imagined it
going any better, not even in my wildest dreams. I know it's a cliche, but it
was definitely the best day of my life.
From a musical point of view, there were
some cool elements too! The Replicas (accompanied by Simon Hough depping on
bass) surprised me with renditions of 'The Perfect Sacrifice' and 'Where We
Came From', which was a nice touch by them. Then I got up and played 'Don't
Forget' with the band as a surprise for Kayla, and frankly I enjoyed the full
band version so much I might try and get a sneaky recording done of it if I
can!
August
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| WMF @ The Horn & Trumpet |
I had a gig the night of my return from
honeymoon - no rest for the wicked! I also had what is possibly my longest
drive for a gig to date, hitting the road for a nearly 8 hour round trip to
Skegness! It was good fun (and good experience) for me to travel like that, and
as I quite like driving and road trips, it was enjoyable. It was nice to walk
out onto the beach an hour before going on stage too!
I did my first 'booked busk' outside
Molineux stadium the day after too, which was really good fun. I had to shoot
off straight after I had finished though, as it just so happened that it was
the same day as the Codfest tickets went on sale. They sold out in a few hours,
and thus commenced a few weeks of heartbreak, upset and arguments on Facebook.
Though it all worked out in the end.
I then had the next contender for longest
drive to a gig when I played all day at a wedding in Hull. I left the house at
9am and returned in The Small Hours (see what I did there!) of
the next morning. It was great though, I was really looked after by the wedding
party. I played before and after the ceremony, then put background music on
while they ate, played again as the evening guests arrived, played the first
dance (Ben Howard - Only Love) then DJ'd all night for the reception. It felt
great to be working so much!
That weekend I returned once again to
Bakewell Music Festival. I have to admit that I was a little worried about my
act being stale there - I'd played each of the last four years and my set, at
least the originals part of it, hadn't changed too much. These doubts were
proven to be unfounded though, as I had a great reception once again and sold a
load of CDs and merchandise!
Also in August, I had my first ever double
up with The Replicas, playing myself during the day and then with the band in
the evening at a wedding in Ludlow, which was great fun for me, and I also had
my first gig at what has become another recurring venue for me, The Old Stag's
Head in Penn. Finally, I returned to Worcester Music Festival to play once more
at The Horn & Trumpet for Sun & Stars Management. It was another really
great gig and fantastic reception. It still amazes me that WMF gets such a
great response in every venue, considering that it spans the whole place!
September
 |
| The Replicas @ Codfest |
September means only one thing for my
musical year - Codfest! Every year after Codfest we sit back, relax and say
'how can it possibly get any better than this?' Then every year (so far) we
have somehow managed it. This year's Codfest was, once again, amazing from start
to finish. It also kicked off a run of 4 gigs in 4 weekends for The Replicas,
which in itself was a great experience for me. You always worry about people in
bands that spend too much time together and whether the fun will 'dry up', but
it never seemed to happen over those 4 weeks. We just had great fun and put on
some really good shows.
In other news, I started a new open mic
night at Sunny Bank Caravan Park in Lapley.
October
 |
| Busking @ Molineux |
October saw something of a wind down in
terms of gigs. Due to an error on my part, the new open mic nights at Sunny
Bank were cancelled and, other than trips to The Marches and Molineux for some
busking, October was very quiet.
November
 |
| New website poster! |
November was busier. The Replicas played
two gigs in consecutive weekends and on the third weekend I travelled to
Kenilworth for a private party, only to discover that my capo was missing from
my guitar case (I won't go into details, but lest just say I won't be letting
anyone pack away my guitar case for me after a gig again). After failed elastic
band and pen botch jobs, I finally decided to just roll with it and see what I
could do. I played all the capo-less songs I know, I played a few others a bit
lower than they would normally have been played and I did a little bit of
transposing on the fly! It worked out fine and the audience (luckily a
particularly drunk audience) were more than happy.
I also launched my new website in November
after a few months of planning, designing and editing. I'm pretty pleased with
it.
December
 |
My view of the stadium during the game. Look at all
those people! |
The lead up to Christmas meant something
of a busier schedule for me, with a last minute 'Winter
Wonderland' wedding my
first stop in Stafford. It went really well, and with the venue making promises
to recommend me in the future, I'm hopeful that more will come up there.
After a long absence, I returned to The
Crown once again for open mic night. It's started really well, and has been
booked to take place on the first Thursday of every month starting in February.
I also made a return to the Birmingham music scene at TALK bar, where I once
again met up with Brains For Breakfast and watched his set. We have to stop
meeting like that!
One of my favourite gigs this month, and
this year really, was my neighbour Ed's birthday party. I got to play a load of
songs that I wouldn't be able to play anywhere else, some that I've not played
for years and some that I've never played before! I also played on the pitch at
halftime for a sell-out crowd at Molineux. According to official statistics, I
played 'Where We Came From' to 28,598 people! Nothing like ending the year in
style!
So that's it, my year in just over 2000
words. It's been that biggest and best year of my life to date, one where I've
got married, seen and done new and exciting things, played at new places for
new people. I've travelled further, played for longer and performed to more
people than ever before.
2014, you've got a lot to live up to.
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