So
when did the guitar start to feature again?
Ah it was always there. Whenever I was home I’d pick
it up and play a bit but never really thought about throwing
myself into it like I have now. I really picked it up again
when I packed in rowing in May 2003, that was a major change
of lifestyle for me. When you go from training 3 or 4 times
a day 7 days a week to not doing anything, it’s a
major shock to the system. So to help me make the transition
I
planned a trip to Canada for a year. I headed off in September
2003. I still had no clue how much the guitar would feature.
Then I met Sam de la Haye a singer songwriter from London
and we did the Toronto music scene together. Played a pile
of gigs in TO, met a pile of artists and got involved in
a great music community called Coffeehouse.ca. This is
when I made the transition from athlete to singer/songwriter
(is
that what I am??)
Did you do any recording in Canada?
No. I recorded a 3-track demo with Steve Shannon (producer)
before I went to Canada and used it to shop myself
for gigs while I was there. Actually, I did record
there.
I met a moviemaker, Tess Girard, who asked me to
do some music for a short movie she was making called “Solstice”.
I’d never done anything like it before so it was
a great experience and she’s asked me to work on
a new movie she has coming up so I’m really
excited to get my teeth into that one. So what about the new album?
Booth Avenue! It’s a 10-track album, so it’s
got 10 songs on there, 10 great songs, if it wasn’t
mine I’d definitely buy it. Ha Ha!!
I recorded it with Steve again. He really brought the
songs to life and heard things in them that I never
would have
heard. Honestly I do really like it. When I started
into the project I had a totally open mind as to what
it was
all going to sound like and I think because of that
each song has its own identity. I didn’t want to approach
it with solid ideas of how I wanted everything to sound;
you can’t stifle the creative process like that. What/who, do you think, was the biggest influence for
the album?
S**t I dunno. I guess personal experience. Most of the
songs are about
stuff I experienced along the way told in honest
plain and simple English. There was no thesaurus
involved. I wanted to get away from masking the message
and just lay it out in black and white, so yeah it’s
emotional and honest. What’s
the plan for Booth Avenue now, actually why Booth Avenue?
I lived on Booth Avenue when I was in Canada
and I wrote most of the songs there, so I
thought “why not?” Plan?
What’s a plan? ? I’m just gonna gig my ass
off get it into as many people hands as possible and What
will be will be!! I have no illusions of grandeur. I really
like the album. I think it’s a very strong record.
But I also realise it’s the starting point for MANY
more recordings and now with this under my belt I’m
really excited about the future. What is in store for the future?
Dinner,
I’m starving. Wanna eat?
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