Safe in Sound

Seasons Greetings Ladies and Germs

Having had a glass of Sherry and reflecting back upon this year, I am still amazed at the turnaround in my Musical fortunes. After having spent the past Seven years or so in a covers band, I felt drained and barely had enough inspiration to pick up the guitar, let alone write a song. Then, a few serendipitous happenings took place and all of a sudden the Creative Juices were flowing again.

The first was going to see Danny George Wilson play a solo gig in March, now having watched his career from the early days I was blown away by how far he come on his musical journey and also by how much he had matured as both a Songwriter and a Performer. After many pints of Guinness that night, I returned home and, very drunkenly, began writing "Ringing like a Bell". This was the first song I had written in almost 6 years! It took about 3 weeks in total to complete, tweaking here and (Not Concert Pitch) tuning there, but, finally, I actually had a finished tune. It may not be a "Straight in at No.1" song, but, to me it was like pure audible gold.

The second happening came by way of MySpace. I decided to post some old demos on to the site for no better reason than boredom and, also, to see how easy/difficult it could be. Now, although I had known Danny for a few years, it was merely the "see each other at gigs and a have a pint" kind of relationship, but, I decided to email him the link to my MySpace page. He wrote back with some really encouraging comments and ended by saying "You should make a record, Go for it". The seed was, indeed, firmly planted.

The third and, probably most important, event was, again, through MySpace. One of the first people I became "Friends" (I still only have 18 Friends!) with was Jim Boggia. Now, for those of you who have never heard of Jim, he is, quite simply a Pop Genius. Not only is he a disgustingly talented and successful musician, but, he is a real FAN of music too. When he ok'd my Friend request, he also answered the little question about "After the Gold Rush" at the end of my "influences" section on the MySpace page. Wow, he had actually read my Blurb!!! We traded a few mails back and forth and, as mentioned in a previous post, one of my songs is now with Jim in Philadelphia awaiting his magic touch.

What I have come to learn over the last 12 months is that there are no barriers, only the ones that you, yourself, put up. Whilst discussing the events of the last year with a good friend over a few glasses of mulled wine (I don't have a problem, honest), he told me that Napoleon was once quoted as saying "There are no obstacles, only the objective". Now, even if the little Corsican fellow never uttered these words, I think they sum up my new attitude perfectly. Besides, any 5ft 2in dude who can wear one of those Tricorn hats and get away with it, must be worth listening to....


Peas 'n' Fluff and a Hippy New Year to all.


Mick