It's great, what are you going to do with it?
A question I seem to be asked a lot recently, if only I knew the answer!
It’s taken around five years to complete but I’ve now released my fourth album, ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’. It takes time, simply because ‘real’ life gets in the way. Plus I’m terrible at actually finishing music, there’s always something wrong with it in my head, whether it’s a certain instrument (or lack of), vocals, mix etc.
This album was also very personal in the end. It started when I was driving back from late night gigs with Noz, the singer in the band I was in at the time. He and I shared a mutual love of the 1960’s TV programme ‘The Prisoner’. We still watch it today (and still struggle to decipher most of it too). We started taking about writing a mini Prog Rock album, four songs, maybe 20 minutes long but all linked together with The Prisoner being the concept.
Sadly, Noz didn’t complete the project with me. Again, life got in the way, but I’ll always say without him the idea would never have surfaced, so thanks mate!
Once I’d got a couple of songs I began to expand the idea of a prisoner. I’ve struggled a lot over the years with my own mind and sometimes I’ve felt like one. A job that I dislike, people from the past that still occupy space in my head, battling personal demons, that sort of thing.
With that I was away, writing all sorts about being prisoner. I imagined songs about people who were prisoner to a relationship, to a job, in their own head and I had real life experiences to draw upon. One song, ‘Debra’, was an instrumental for about seven years, written for a friend of mine in California when we discovered she had cancer. Debra loves my music because she (amongst others) believes my earlier ambient stuff has healing properties. She was a prisoner to disease, it seemed a perfect chance to add lyrics. My 15-year-old daughter also sings with me on that track, makes it extra special for me.
So, tracks about being a prisoner, along with songs about ‘The Prisoner’ and suddenly there’s an album!
It’s been released, it's out there. You can hear it on this website (click on the link below), or on your preferred streaming agent of choice.
I’ve had a positive response too. My Dad (biggest fan, harshest critic) says he can’t stop playing it. Noz exclaimed I was a ‘frickin genius’ and others who I trusted to listen before it’s release also said how good they thought it was.
However….. they all say they same thing: “It's great, what are you going to do with it?”
If only I knew. Like I say it’s out there for people to hear it but I’ve no idea what to do next. A quick search of record labels all seem to say they may accept the odd submission, but not to send anything unsolicited. I’ve thought about making CD copies to send out to people, but am I wasting my time. Will my hard work (and money producing the physical product) just go in the bin? I know there’s no certain route, no formula to follow, but I feel like I’m stuck and don’t know which way to go next. It’s so frustrating.
So, my friends, not only is this a blog about the album, it’s also a plea for help.
If anyone has any ideas on how I get it noticed, or if you know someone who might be interested, then please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.
Thank you, be seeing you.