Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I’m based in Edinburgh Scotland, although I’m originally from Northern Ireland, and I lived in the US in between! I’d played some instruments when I was a kid (piano and cello, believe it or not) but I wasn’t very motivated and spent most of my time avoiding them and doing other things. When I was 16, my cousin showed me a few riffs on the guitar and I was hooked – for some reason (maybe all those childhood music lessons) I seemed to be able to pick things up really easily on the guitar, and before long I was in a band with a group of friends from school. We managed to get some local gigs. I’m sure we were terrible at first, but we loved it and kept doing it for the next fourteen years!
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: I listen to a pretty eclectic mix of artists and genres – Tidal has a really good algorithm for recommending things I might like, so that can take me in all sorts of directions! Recently I’ve listened to John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Jethro Tull, Bruce Springsteen and a South African band called Beatenberg… a little bit of everything!
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: I grew up listening to a lot of rock and blues music, which I’m sure comes through in my playing and song writing, but probably my first and main influence on guitar was Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. I was mesmerised by the way he played, the emotion he injected into just a few notes, and how the guitar interplayed with the vocals. It’s because of those Dire Straits albums that I’m playing guitar today.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘The Great Adventure’. Is there a story behind it?
A: It’s quite a happy tune (which is a little different from some of my songs!) It was written and recorded in a single afternoon as a birthday gift for my wife. She wasn’t looking forward to being a particular age, so I thought I’d try to get her to look at things from a different perspective! It’s a pretty simple song (there’s only so much you can do in an afternoon). I came back to it a few weeks later with a view to developing it further before releasing it, but it felt just right as it was – sometimes it’s better to keep things simple, rather than overcomplicate them for no good reason. Maybe there’s a life lesson there!
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: Yes – I’m planning on releasing my third album in 2023. I’m not exactly sure when in 2023, but I think I’d like to get it out there by the summer. I’v got the material, it’s just a matter of finishing it!
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: I tend to write about stuff that’s a bit more real-life than a lot of writers do – I try to to stay away from the ‘oooh oooh baby let’s groove the night away’ sort of vibe, and write about people and circumstances that I experience or hear about. As a result, some of my songs have a more melancholy edge to them, but I try to make sure that people are left with a sense of hope at the end, because I firmly believe that there is always hope. Whatever the themes though, the guitar will always be central to my songs – at heart, I’m a guitarist, and that’s how I express myself best…
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: I love music, and I love playing the guitar most of all, so I guess the answer is yes! I get a real buzz from creating songs and hearing the finished product, so it’s definitely worth the time and effort. It’s really gratifying that other people around the world want to hear my songs, but even if they didn’t I’d probably still do it!
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Sometimes I’ll have an idea for the theme of a song and I’ll just start writing some thoughts. I have a journal with a lot of scribbled lyrics in it – some finished, some not. Every now and then I go back to the journal with a guitar in hand and see what happens! At other times, I’m just noodling around on the guitar and what I’m playing suggests a mood or a theme – I’ll do a quick recording to capture it before I forget it! Sometimes I’ll just keep working on the music until it’s done and ready to go – then I’ll sit down and work out the lyrics. Whatever way it happens, it all comes together in the end!
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I’m very pragmatic about my music career – if it works, it works, if it doesn’t it doesn’t! So from that perspective, I see it as something to enjoy rather than endure. As for the rest of life, I’m like everyone else – there have been ups and downs, love and loss – nothing worse than anyone else on the planet. We’re all in the same boat, and I guess that’s what lies behind most of my songs. What does it mean to be human? How do we cope with it? Where’s does our hope lie for the future?
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: Again, I just love playing guitar, so any chance I get to record or play with other people is a high point for me, but I’d be in trouble if I didn’t mention my family – my amazing wife, son and daughter are definitely the highlight of my life – after all, ultimately life is about relationship, right?
