As many of you will already know, I have been hard at work planning my wedding, which takes place in June (God willing). Unfortunately my beautiful fiance had to go back to the UK in February (she is British) due to visa restrictions and will only return a few weeks before the ceremony (we’ve been apart for over 3 months which hasn’t been easy).

I’m really looking forward to getting married. I haven’t been this excited about anything for a VERY long time. It’s like I’m 6 again and my birthday is round the corner.

The ceremony is going to be quite unorthodox, which will probably be a bit of a shock for the average person but we just feel that it will more accurately reflect the heart of our faith. The reception will be informal with the focus being on having a good time with family and friends. No standing on ceremony.

Aside from the wedding plans I’ve been working on songs for my next album. I’m finding it difficult to complete the songs though. I mean, I’ve never found songwriting to be easy and I usually take ages to complete a song but this is different. It’s like I start the song and then run out of inspiration for lyrics and melodies. I’m hoping that my new band will help provide some inspiration. 

I really love the blues and along with a good friend, Paul Gibbings (double bass), we decided to start a streetpop/rootsy blues band called “Ageing Superheroes”. I got the name from a song by Newton Faulkner and it just makes us chuckle to think of ourselves in that light.

The idea was to have an outlet for the musical side that doesn’t take itself seriously and just wants to have fun. It’s about having a good time with voice and instrument without needing to put a “message” across. We play a lot of music by “The Wood Brothers” and a few tunes by John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Keb’ Mo’ and Robert Johnson with a healthy dose of Clapton. Although we are usually resistant to playing covers the hope is that the more we play the more we’ll immerse ourselves in that style and thus be able to write our own material. I do battle with the feeling that I am an imposter and have no right to be playing this music but fortunately I love it too much to let that stop me. 

We are working on concepts for a logo and website etc so if you have any ideas then feel free to send then my way.

A band I’m really digging at the moment is “The Alice Band“. They were like the UK version of Dixie Chicks. Pity they split up. Check out “The Love Junk Storm” album.

Peace,

Q.

My favourite part of selling CDs in this manner is meeting and chatting to the people. It’s more rewarding to me than the actual sale  and it reminds me time and again as to the real reason I make music. It’s about communication – reaching people. When I’m up on stage singing, it’s often difficult to know if what I’m trying to communicate with the listener is being received and I find myself relying on applause as an indicator of this. However, this isn’t always accurate because there have been times where I’ve had minimal applause (read: none) and yet people have come up to me afterward and expressed just how much they’d been touched by my songs. So I guess the moral of the story is to just perform from the heart  and let the notes fall where they may because you never know where they’ll strike a chord.

Big thanks to Ameigh, Sarah, Kay and the others that bought my album. I really appreciate the support