The other day I posted a ‘bootleg’ recording from about 2015. Hearing that reminded me that I made a big decision as a singer round about then. I started singing in my own accent.

For years I had done what lots of British rock singers do and sung in an American accent. Partly this was habit, partly this was to make things easy as there really are some vowel sounds that sing better with that accent.

Singing with my own accent is one of several things I try to consciously do with my singing voice these days. I also try to avoid techniques that sound overly forced and unnatural like too much vibrato. I try to maintain a speechlike quality, while not getting away from the fact that it is singing not spoken word.

It feels more honest. I think it also helps my voice sound like me, rather than trying to sound like someone else. Rock music is full of ‘good’ singers who all sound the same.

These decisions aren’t without their drawbacks. My first print review referred to my ‘mockney’ accent. It isn’t ‘mockney’ it is my actual accent. I can only assume that the reviewer was so used to hearing American sounding voices they were confused.

A review of my album Demon expressed surprise that my slightly speechlike approach fit the music. Apparently not considering that this might be deliberate choice (A mistake 95% of reviewers seem to make is to assume that the musicians were trying to accomplish something that they weren’t).

However, when I listen to my music now I can confidently say that it sounds like me. I found my songwriting voice on my second album, Ironbark. I found my singing voice three years later on Fit the Fourth.

(While we’re at it, I found my attitude to recording only on Demon, after years of trying to sound like someone else, it is that album that sounds closest to what was in my head).

Do I have a point? I guess that singers should sound like themselves. The most successful signers are not best by any technical measure. Many of them are technically bad. But they all sound unique. And almost all of them are divisive with as many detractors as fans. So I shall continue to attempt to entertain and alienate in equal measure.

Anyway, here’s the song that got me thinking this:

Back in 2015, round about Christmas time, I played a private gig at the birthday bash of one of the many people I know named Andy.

I just rediscovered the ‘bootleg’ style recording of that gig that I thought I lost years ago.

It was a fun night. As well as my little acoustic set, Matt Stevens played a set full of guitar loops and beer quaffing and a gentleman named Robert Ramsay cast a spell.

Yes, an actual spell was cast.

The gig was notable because my set included the first ever public rendition of my song Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.

It also included a performance of my song When Will I Get My Jetpack? This is a fun song that has been lurking about for ages. Because it has never fit into a wider project I’ve never got round to recording it.

Maybe one day.

In the meantime, here is the dodgy acoustic version of that song to put in your ears!

I’ve put the whole set up on bandcamp for my subscribers to enjoy. Or at least to listen to.

Thanks for listening!

Studio selfie!

Bit tired – hence my slightly knackered looking face.

I have spent a big chunk of Saturday working songs for three – yes, three – different projects.

I’ve got a song from my next full length album to a good enough state that I shared it with the Evil Record Label Boss. He said nice things (though mostly about the bass and drums, which were played by other people).

The new album is taking shape nicely. It’s the most rocky album I’ve done so far, with more distorted guitar than any others I’ve released. Not full on metal or anything, but a bit louder fuzzier than the others.

That said, there’s also plenty of acoustic guitar on it as well.

Depending on the final track listing I decide, it might end up being another long album with only 5 actual songs, like Fit the Fourth from a few years ago. Two of the songs combined come to about 32 minutes, which I almost enough for an album all by themselves. Then I’ve got three or four shorter form songs to choose between to complete the thing. Including a finished version of this song from last year’s FAWM:

I’ve also been working on my next subscribers only ep – more info on this over the next few weeks. Basically bandcamp subscribers get loads of extra stuff, including a whole actual EP of songs that aren’t available elsewhere.

Well, I say EP. This year I have a lot of songs. We might be in album territory. Which means this year might technically be a two album year…

Aaaaaaaaand for the third project, I’m doing a bit of production on a friend’s album so have put a bit of time into that as well. Busy busy. New music soon!

Songwriting selfie! Here’s my stupid face – and also a deliberately blurred picture of some lyrics. Cos guess what? I’ve finished the lyrics for my next album.

The last song that needed words was the big long twenty minute proggish number that will finish the album. Turns out it’s a sort of hymn to being an indoors kid and getting lost in scifi and fantasy novels, computer games and stuff like that.

The theme of the album is probably escapism and how important it is. But as I haven’t finished recording the vocal parts yet I guess that could change. We’ll see.

More importantly, I have lyrics! The album is completely written, most of the recording is done except for vocals and a some guitar parts. There will be a new album. (There’s even an outside chance it will be finished by the deadline. but don’t tell the Evil Record Label Boss that).

I’m writing this early on a Saturday morning. By the end of the weekend it will be half way through FAWM and if I’m to stay on track I need to finish three song demos in two days.

I’m tempted to create some false jeopardy by not doing this and ending up behind. Cos that will create drama. But there’s a very real chance I won’t need to artificially engineer that situation. Last weekend all I needed to do was record songs I’d half worked out over the previous week. Now? I’ve got little snippets of ideas and that’s it.

Here’s a video diary vlog thing from the last week. As you can see, not the most productive of weeks. Though I do have a ‘big riff’. So that’s promising. There will be at least one song this weekend.

The first four songs are pretty strong though, in my opinion. Here they are:

I Have A Mask – this one is about wearing a mask and faking your entire life. Being a science fiction fan, I never think in metaphors and was literally thinking of some weird non-human creature pretending to be a normal person.

Bilge Rats – This is a big loud song in 4/4 about rats leaving a sinking ship. Sort of a ripp off of Therapy?. Remember Therapy?? Great band.

Dance on the Tree – sort of a rip off of latter day Opeth. One of the pictures was of a scary looking tree. I assumed it was a tree used for human sacrifice and wrote accordingly.

High wire act – If I had to call FAWM quits for whatever reason, I’d still call it a success cos of this song. I’m really happy with it. This is a good song! Twisty riff, silly solo, singalong chorus. It is well good (I am biased. But it is good).

It’s February! And that means I’ll be writing 14 brand new songs, as I’ve tried to do every year for the last 12.

As a warm-up I wrote a new song, Faceless Men.

You can hear it over on bandcamp (it’s up as a pay-what-you-want download):

Faceless men was inspired by a picture one of my ‘fans’, Barry shared. Last November I put out a call for weird pictures that might inspire a song. Lots of people shared them, and this was Barry’s contribution:

I assumed that these faceless men were a weird cult who decided to hide away in a bunker until the inevitable apocalypse had passed. They’re down there now, eating tinned food and refusing to admit how scared they are.

There will be more FAWM songs! Here’s a the latest studio diary which will tell you more:

In my last post I shared the highlights from the first 6 months of 2020. Let’s take a look at the rest of the year.

July

This month saw the release of three – yes, you heard me right, three! – bootleg releases for my lovely subscribers. This included two acoustic songs that were previously unreleased, a draft mix of a new version of my song ‘Through These Veins’ and a bootleg recording of an entire acoustic duo set Gareth and I played in 2017.

August

In August I had a go at creating a lyric video for my song Satellites. I’m quite happy with how it turned out.

September

My mate Graham shared a photo and said ‘write a song about that’. So I did. Here it is:

October

The main problem during this month was the Union of Bloody Andys.

But also in this month I released my new version of my song IronBark. Which is well good and you should listen to it.

November

Inspired by Graham’s picture challenge, I asked for more pictorial inspiration. Here’s another song inspired by a picture shared by a lovely online person.

December

The Union of Andys were vanquished (and a couple of hundred quid was raised for charity) when I released my first, last and only Christmas single ‘Our Very Final Christmas’.

So there we are. 2020 is done. Was it a good year? No, no I don’t think I’d say that. Was it a productive year? Yes, I think it was. I wrote and released some music I’m really proud of and I think that’s helped me figure out what 2021’s music will sound like.

2020 also saw all sorts of silliness committed by my ‘fans’, not least the nonsense with The Union of Andys. That was a lot of escapist fun that helped make an unpleasant year more bearable.

Huzzah for music and silliness. Hopefully there’ll be lots more of both in 2021.

We’re nearly at the end of the longest year I’ve ever lived through. Yes, I know it had the normal number of days, but didn’t they stretch out? Didn’t they expand to make way for the anxiety, boredom and horror of the last twelve months. 

Not a good year in many ways, and I know I am lucky to have had a relatively easy time of it compared to others. But also, musically a relatively productive year. Let’s have a little recap, shall we?

January

2020 was the tenth year of me releasing music as a solo artist. Ten years! So naturally I released a digital ‘best of’ compilation that came with a pdf download of my gig diaries. The gig diaries are entirely true and factual. They covers such topics as:

• The rituals and chants Bad Elephant Music artists engaged in after the label’s first showcase gig
• The Demon that haunts a music pub in Watford
• Praying Mantis Dave, the seven foot tall insectoid biker with whom I have a blood-feud
• That time I turned into a bird and flew away after a gig. 

February

For eleven years I have been taking part in February Album Writing Month (FAWM). 2020 was the first time I completed the challenge and wrote and recorded 14 brand new songs in the month of February. 

Needless to say, I was very happy about this. 

Partly it was successful because I filmed every song. Why would that help? It meant I was forced to put up with a single take of the vocal and guitar parts, which stopped my procrastinating and trying to fix mistakes. 

Here’s one of my favourites:

March

Lockdown kicked in and we were all stuck indoors. I got a new studio mascot and tried to spend as much time as I could in the studio. Which definitely worked out well. 

April

April was all about studio work. I had written all those songs in February and decided on the mad idea that these would form the basis of that year’s Subscriber’s EP. 

May

May saw the release of that Subscribers Only EP and yearly ‘Indoctrination Guide’. Here’s a page of lies from said guide:

It also saw the release of the first new single from FAWM, Racing Gravity.

June

This was a very busy month. I did a livestream concert, I engaged in a bit of t-shirt related weirdness [see pic below] and I released Skeletons, the second lockdown single.

All in all, the first half of the year was quite productive despite the weird awfulness of the outside world.

Here’s the final episode of the studio diary for 2020.

Out of the frying pan, etc etc etc.