Belgium says I’m an extraordinary boy: album reviews & interview
Album review by The Viking in The Wilderness above – archived here, as it’s on facebook and therefore subject to be buried in the newsfeed.
Elsewhere in Europe, I’m “scandalously ignored” – Music in Belgium says so. (And who am I to argue?) A very nice review of the album in French.
Whisperin & Hollerin reckons “he keeps on churning ‘em out, and amazingly, without any dip in quality” – yes, well… when I have my next nervous breakdown that’ll be why. There are worse ways to spend a life, of course.
V13 kindly asked me to write about the 8 albums that changed my life – see me speak my brains here.
More words to follow, hopefully.
LP track by track & interview
Thanks to GBHBL, who not only interviewed me following the LP release, but published some track-by-track notes that I wrote about it.
Interview link here. “I ended up in Brighton, like so many drug burn-outs and rejects from the capital, and got my act together. The music, hopefully, takes care of itself.”
Track by track here. “I once had an idea for a live show at the Brighton Fringe Festival but couldn’t work out how to do it without somebody getting killed … This turned into a song… which is one of the most upbeat things I’ve written“.
Overdrive interview &c &c…
Hope & Ruin gig went well – although enough’s happened since that it now feels like a vague, fond childhood memory – and the band gets ever more awesome: from early next year we’re doing more gigs, with new material to play.
I’ve got another meaty interview in Irish rock zine Overdrive – read here. Also, German indie radio’s NBT put Disquiet at 55 on their 410-album Best Of 2018, which as plaudits go is pretty heady: some of the names I beat are big and legendary (of course it’s not a contest… is it?… but a gong’s always welcome).
Anyway, big plans for 2019, including a new solo album and our first recordings as a group – starting February, probably. Here we are in that happy era of five weeks ago:
l-r: MF, Barney Guy, Stephen Bad Mother-Folker
xx
3(!) interviews & 1 EP review, Oct ’18
So the new EP’s bagged me several more interviews, following on from Big Issue North and AltCorner… with, if I say it myself, very little repetition and zero rambling.
There’s also a review, courtesy The RingMaster: “a mix of challenge and seduction but most of all a fascination leaning towards needing more”… Hey, I’ll take it.
Here are the links:
Sonic Shocks interview “my feet were floating a couple of inches above the floor and everything was blue round the edges”
Whisperin and Hollerin interview “I got a lot of abuse growing up in England with an Irish surname, so it feels good to parade it now”
Riff Media interview “I’d be seduced by power […] my hands coated with blood and my soul shrunken to a burnt piece of popcorn, then end my days in front of a firing squad”
…There’s stuff about songwriting, inspirations and the dodgy reality of being an independent artist in 2018. Also, the EP’s being streamed by Puregrain Audio, here. So yeah, you can listen and/or read as the mood takes you – with more to come yet.
Big Issue North interview, Oct ’18
“this little honesty nugget could poison my future…”
The link above takes you to a lengthy interview I did with Big Issue North recently (then had to keep quiet about for a while). It was a buzz, and hopefully makes a good read – covering such things as:
What informs your music and songwriting?
What’s on your rider?
and
What’s your worst lyric?
…among others. A lot of words, so I’ll just leave it there for you to take a look.
