A long, long time ago, in a previous life, when the possibility of becoming a rock legend seemed the only worthy aspiration for a northern, rebellious teenager, I was in a band.
My band, Miles From Home, was THE best undiscovered band IN THE WORLD! So good that our music was even played on local radio station Metro Radio! (I know right!?)
We were huge! Regularly playing to tens of people.
I happily mis-spent my youth travelling around the north-east in battered old vans with my three best mates being ‘paid’ with free beer. We practiced every Tuesday and Sunday (without fail) and played a gig every weekend. It was epic! We wrote our own songs (because we were super-legit) and recorded a couple of EP’s, one of which was bought in bulk by a lovely middle-aged Chinese guy in a Walkabout pub (true story).
Looking back, we might not have been to everyone’s taste. But we absolutely loved creating and playing our own music to anyone and everyone who would listen. Miles From Home will go down in infamy to the select few that managed to keep up with the angst filled fury and erratic performances.
Twelve years later I find myself a lot more grown up with a ‘real’ job and all of the responsibilities that come with ‘working for the man’. My younger self probably wouldn’t recognise me, and if he did he would probably be inspired to write a song about it (titled something edgy like ‘Head of Sell-out’).
One thing that never left me though, was the want to create and play quality music. At home I’m never more than a few feet away from a guitar (this probably says more about the size of London properties over anything else, but you get my point). Noodling away on my guitar is something I have always done as soon as I have a spare two-minutes. And that urge to create music is always niggling somewhere in the back of my mind.
“Three years ago on a hot summers evening, after a few beers with said three best friends (and multiple new recruits), I vowed to do myself a favour and write some proper music”
So three years ago on a hot summers evening, after a few beers with said three best friends (and multiple new recruits), I vowed to do myself a favour and write some proper music. Not just mess around. But actually write, record, mix and master a full album of material. I gave myself the deadline of my 30th Birthday as I can’t think of a more apt way to see out my youth than actually seeing through a childhood ambition (and also quite a cool way to start my midlife crisis).
Two years into the project (and less than a year to go) I find myself with 16 demo’s of songs that are all great contenders for the album. (For those out of the music loop, a demo is essentially a song test to see how the ideas sound in practice. Almost like a Beta test for music). My friends and brother are all helping to pull the album together and are all just as excited about the whole project.
So, here’s the next few months!
Here’s a little peak of the kind of noises we’re producing…
(And remember these are just demos…. But to be honest my vocals won’t get that much better)
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/246385714″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/246385677″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/246385672″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Stay tuned for more updates 🙂
