EP out on Eyeless Records, Sept ’24
Very happy to tell you I’ve got a 6-track EP coming out on Fri 27 Sept, on Eyeless Records. It’ll be on all the usual digital platforms, but also a limited-edition cassette release – a preview track (single, even…) will be out before then, maybe quite soon. Much more on this to follow… x
new album: ‘To The Outer World’ released 23 Apr ’21
Bandcamp / Spotify / Amazon / Apple Music
It’s here… New album comes out today – a full-length studio recording with the band and various guest musicians, and some of my best songs yet: hope you enjoy (you can stream it on any of the links above). xx
“Envy The Birds” out 26 Mar ’21
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon
The 3rd and final single from my forthcoming album To The Outer World releases today… It’s a longer track (5mins, which is a lot for a guitar band), goes to some interesting places without losing the groove.
Did an interview recently with Muso Muso magazine – read it here. I don’t normally swear that much – answering questions about my music, anyway – but seeing it out there in someone else’s font, it seems a bit excessive. Didn’t register it at the time, for whatever reason – my mood was fine, pulse and brainwaves normal… maybe it just looks worse to me, I dunno. See what you think.
EDIT: Just to add, Graham Duff’s Mixtape on Slack City for 24 March played “A Friend From Far Away” – listen to the whole show here.
“A Friend From Far Away” out 26 Feb ’21
Bandcamp / Spotify / Amazon / etc
The 2nd single from my new album’s out today (LP to follow Fri 23 April). It’s available from all the usual online sources, but I’d recommend the Bandcamp version, which comes with several extra tracks – a stealth EP, even. As before, it was recorded punishingly loud at Church Road Studios with Julian Tardo – hope you enjoy.
Oh yeah, here’s another no-budget DIY video to go with it, what I done all by myself (meant to make something a bit more extravagant this time, but lockdown II squashed that idea)…
“Something That Can Help” out 29 Jan ’21
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon
First of three singles – next one follows in about a month. This one’s my last word on a pet subject – a focused, direct guitar number (another last word, possibly). Hope you enjoy.
New EP “The Seizure” released 8 Nov ’19
Bandcamp / Amazon / Apple Music / Spotify
This EP marks a new departure: if you can make out the text on the back cover, you’ll see there’s an actual band involved. We recorded three tracks from our current set, pretty much live in the studio – barring vocals and a few guitar overdubs – then the final track’s a collaboration with Mik Hanscomb (Junkboy) in a lighter vein.
For more detail, I can’t really do better than the RingMaster Reviews interview I did recently, which covers everything…
Or there’s a review on Plugged in Brighton – “The familiar is twisted and distorted. Music comes from the shadows. Sonic exploration in every sense. Recommended.”
A good end to an interesting year!
(Except it’s not over yet – there’s a live session on Resonance FM to come, among other things…)
x
new EP due 8 Nov ’19
pre-order on Bandcamp here
This is the first set of tracks I’ve recorded with the band – at Church Road Studio here in Brighton, earlier this year – loud and (pretty much) live. There’s also an acoustic song featuring Mik Hanscomb on 12-string guitar: you get the whole spectrum in this EP’s 20min run-time.
It’s available in all the usual online places from 8th Nov, but you can hear a preview of the longest, strangest track on the player above.
New album “Vanishing Island” released 3 May ’19
Bandcamp (includes bonus material) / Amazon / Apple Music / Spotify
Yes, that title’s a dig at Brexit, but there are no overt protest songs this time round: these are complex emotions, for complex times… The kind of feelings that don’t even have names – but you know them when they hit home.
I’m very happy with this one, and hope it’s as enjoyable a listening experience as it was to make.
new EP “Disquiet” released 19 Oct ’18
Bandcamp (includes bonus material) / Amazon /Apple Music / Spotify / Resonate
Here’s the follow-up to Ugly Scene (released earlier this year).
Where that one was… well, ugly… this is the mirror opposite. It’s mellow, but be warned: the tracks get freakier as it progresses. Again, the clue’s in the title. Enjoy x
new EP “Ugly Scene” released 11 May ’18
Bandcamp (includes bonus material) / Amazon / Apple Music / Spotify
Not Too Far
The Wrong Side
Ugly Man
Damn Storyteller
City Consolation
Out today: the loudest and most obnoxious set of recordings I’ve done in quite a while – it felt like that kind of time again. The follow-up, hopefully due later this year, is already finished and takes a different angle… it’s called Disquiet. But for now, hope you enjoy these dispatches from the feedback frontier x
“spins and spins to weave a heavy and complex sonic web” – indiebandguru.com
new EP & gigs (April-June ’18)
There’s a new EP due on 11 May in all its ugly glory… I got tired of introspective stuff and dialled up the noise/sarcasm/repetition. It’s also, for the most part, very… direct. Here’s advance word from xsnoize.com.
I’ve already recorded the follow-up, and that’s different again. Meanwhile, think of this one as an outburst of protest – although the final track may be one of the prettiest things I’ve ever done. A conundrum, for sure (but not too much of one… it’s getting playlisted a lot, which is very welcome).
Gigs are lining up – solo, as a guitar/drums duo, full electric band – and dates so far include:
Another improv gig, as described previously, in the Wildcard Quartet:
Mon 21 May, Short Steps presents @ Fortune of War (Brighton) – w/ Ja Sputnik, Noisferatu & Pete Wiseman
Mon 28 May, Mr Wolf’s (Bristol)
Fri 22 June, Real Music Club @ The Brunswick (Brighton) – w/ Andy Roberts & The Boy In The Cupboard
More tbc for June onwards. Ugliness, ugliness everywhere (and I love it)… x
EDIT: you can hear a track from the EP on Indie Arena Radio’s Mixcloud here
EP launch & gig
My new EP comes out today (25th Oct), and I’m doing a gig on Sun 29th for Brighton Noise to mark the launch. It’s beyond cool to be asked to play by them – plus ChrySalliss Presents – on a bill with Cali Santo and local legends The Long Goodbye.
Following that, there are more gigs across the UK: check back for updates.
EP can be found on Bandcamp here
plus Amazon, Apple Music & Spotify
LILITH – Oct 30th – new single out today
My 2nd single released on The Animal Farm comes out today. It can be found on Amazon, Spotify, my Bandcamp site & others. I’ll also have a few promo CDs on hand at the Halloween gig I’m playing.
Lilith: 1st review (Monolith Cocktail, Oct 9th)
Take a look at this – the other artists are very check-outable, too, loads of stuff to read / listen to – give your mindbrain & earbulbs a treat.
(Just as well I take note of these things, as the review seems to have vanished. I’d think it was my imagination otherwise – MF In The Future)
SINGLE RELEASE & LAUNCH GIG
In The Evil Empire is released today by The Animal Farm – it can be bought on Bandcamp, Amazon and all the others. I even have some CDs, but those are for sale at gigs.
Speaking of gigs, there’s a launch event in 2 days here in Brighton – Phantom Hound #1 in Kemptown. The venue (At The Coach House) is unusual and the lineup’s great. Also, it’s free.
Here’s the single’s artwork in all its splendid ugliness:
a new lyrics video: see here!
This is the lyrics video to forthcoming single In The Evil Empire, due to be released on The Animal Farm in 2014.
Scrutinize it.
Happy Blank Page: 2013
2012 was bipolar – but I’d do it all again
Well, that was a… colourful year. And who could ask for more? Rather that than the alternative, which is a dreary thought. Death!
So what happened? (I’m still asking myself that, so this summary is as much for my benefit as anything else.)
1) Released 2nd album. Got more, and better, reviews than #1 – which was kind of the idea.
2) Did a brief and eventful tour after release – pretty much broke even: another first. Played a fair few other gigs, mostly solo, some with…
3) A band, which orbited around the songs for roughly 8-9 months and then exploded. With hindsight, it was never going to last, but during that time we played…
4) Live on BBC Introducing: The South (and the single got a little air-time too). This was exciting.
5) Did some more on the writing front, including an anthology on Kindle. My shady publication history can be partially untangled here, for anyone who’s into the minutiae.
…Besides these bare bullet-points, I’ve just kept on doing it, “it” being more songs. Met some potential collaborators in the last couple of months, had a few tantalising overtures; again, I’m not going into detail yet for fear of The Jinx; in this game, so many promising set-ups tend to evaporate without warning.
But it’s promising just the same. And it’s been a blast – on a gross venal level, the trickle of royalties makes filling in an income tax Self Assessment form such a thrill.
Joking aside, I’m still fuelling off the highs and regret none of the lows – hope you (whoever you are) likewise. Happy New Year.
Unpeeled album review + TOUR NEWS
The 13th August update of Unpeeled has very positive things to say about Glow in the Dark – “once in a blue one, you come across something of genuine interest”, for a start – and I’ve taken the liberty of quoting the entire review somewhere on here. Go to the site, though, it’s all good writing (and they clearly have excellent taste).
Tomorrow sees the first date of MINOTAUR – South Seas Live in Sheffield. Facebook pg for that specific gig here.
Wish me luck – or a gloriously messy death. x
GLOW IN THE DARK out today – reviewed by Whiteboard Project
GLOW IN THE DARK – album #2 – is now available from Bandcamp, Amazon, Spotify & the rest. My advice is get it from Bandcamp, where it comes with extras.
It’s been reviewed by Whiteboard Project, here. (Scroll down, it’s the second or third item.) It “will infuriate some and delight others […] Highly recommended”. Amen to that.
On top of this, I’m part of a brief tour from 15th – 19th August.
Brighton Souce & Ringmaster Reviews: Glow in the Dark x2
Two more reviews for Glow in the Dark, first from Stu Huggett in Brighton Source magazine:
…And second from Ringmaster Reviews, here. An ambivalent one, this – “at times not easy to get a handle on”, but “to ignore it would be a mistake”… and “a sinister caress with less than healthy intentions which leaves one rattled but needing to feel its shadows again”(!). Still, it’s in-depth, which is aces with me. And uncertainty isn’t a bad thing… I’ve evoked some colourful images in the writer’s head: my work is done.
more press & BBC session news
Here’s another write-up for Hard Science from is this music? Good again: I’m a punk poet prepared to push the boat out, it sez. Damn right.
The BBC Introducing: South session takes place next Sunday, 24th June – more details as soon as I have them (probably tomorrow).
GLOW IN THE DARK album: first press coverage/BBC gig
Here’s a nice write-up for the upcoming album at indiebandsblog.com …
And here’s one at withguitars.com
Appreciated, as ever. Live, the gigs are gradually pencilling in, circling like corner-of-the eye spectres… Also, just been offered a BBC radio session, so more news on that soon.
28 May: HARD SCIENCE released today
My latest single – taken from upcoming album Glow in the Dark – is now available. It can be found on Bandcamp – plus Amazon, Spotify, iTunes etc (frankly the Bandcamp version’s better, because it comes with extras).*
It’s been trickling out through various cracks in the internet already, which makes a nonsense of an “official release date”… Unless you’re Metallica, or someone equally lawyered-up… But anyway, here it is. It’s officially official.
EDIT: another review just in from Access All Areas Music
*Well, it was better – till I deleted it just now (June 2021). The B-side can now be found on the album – as can the track itself.
