Latest News and Gigs
20 March 2024
Dear friends and followers:
My new single ‘Conjure Something’ will be released on April 5th.
Digital download, streaming and video.
The song is taken from my forthcoming album ‘An Explosion Of Nothing’. It also comes with a ‘non-album bonus track’ (previously known as a ‘B-side’!)
A couple of gigs to mention:
For my next live performance I’m delighted to be supporting The Mighty Handful on Sunday April 14th at The Musical Museum in Brentford. It’s a late afternoon show. The museum houses working instruments, displays and interactive exhibits which tell the story of how music has been recorded and reproduced. Thanks to the pandemic and rising bills, without additional support, the museum/venue could close as permanently as soon as this year. Therefore this show is a benefit - with all the money from the ticket sales going towards it’s £60k goal in order to keep the museum’s doors open. Early ticket purchases are encouraged! Hope to see some of you there. Ticket link.
Another gig date: I’m delighted to be supporting The Brackish and Sweetpool on Sunday 16th June. I’ll be playing a set including songs from my forthcoming album. Ticket link.
More news soon!
19 January 2023
Hi. A belated happy new year to one and all.
Apologies for my radio silence - I have been busy with many things. I joined Salad (nineties band - Drink The Elixir, Motorbike To Heaven etc) as their new bass player, we’ve been gigging and working on new material. Also another one of my day jobs has been dep bass player for The Smyths (the number one Smiths tribute band) and I’ve had fun playing tricky bass lines to punters around the UK.
Anyway, about that ‘new’ album. I’ve made no secret in the past about problems I have finishing work - specifically in the mastering process. In layman’s terms, this is when your finished mixes get sent to be a mastering studio and the songs hopefully get enhanced a little, lifted to a suitable volume, and all the tracks are then made to sit together as a cohesive piece of work. There are invariably changes to the sound of your final mix, however.
Now, one of my strengths is having a really good musical ear. But coupled with being on the wrong side of obsessive-compulsive when it comes to this type of stuff, it has really caused me huge problems, including with my mental health, not to mention my bank balance (and I’ve driven various mastering engineers round the twist in the process). Of course, the more the time goes by the more pressure there is on me to get it sorted when I haven’t released an original solo album since 2013! I feel this terribly, and of course I have new works waiting that have been written since (I obviously have released a compilation, an EP and the Carcrash Casino album in the meantime, but it’s still not good enough). I think they call this stuff ‘paralysis through analysis’…
I’m immensely proud of the forthcoming album, which is called An Explosion Of Nothing. Musically it’s wildly eclectic as usual. I’m hoping to have it out by the summer, in order to have a lead-in time and to try and garner some interest and reviews. During that time I’ll release the first single and video.
Apologies for over-sharing, if you made it this far then thanks for your patience and support.
Ironically when I started recording this thing I should have just enrolled on a music production course instead and it might have been out by now! The road not taken and all that.
All the best,
Jon x