As SIX months of Loading approaches and I continue my slow transformation into "a guy who writes songs too", album 2 is shaping up in a way even I did NOT expect. The songs are getting more natural but also more bombastic. More disciplined yet more dangerous. My hands are now landing on sonic curveballs. I can now shape my voice how I want to hear it. I'm writing proper song-song's in one go rather than Frankensteinning fragments together over time. But I'm more scared than m

And here we are. Track 10 of Loading. The curtain call. The final boss of being a working musician. The damned inevitable "Swee' Caroloine". So I have a love/hate relationship with pub gigs. It's where the money is. It's where my social life is. It's where I hone my craft. But I'm a sensitive creative, and if I walk into one and it's got a carpet, I know EXACTLY how the night's gonna go! There's a specific species you meet. Tells you his entire life story before his name. Cal

Vice Versa was the only song that could bring the album back down to earth from Colin's Car, and this is where it maybe gets a bit deep SORRY!! It's about someone who's been in your life for so long, that you can't imagine your life without them once it's run its course, even though you were absolutely no good for each other. When I was younger I didn't like myself very much. My self-perception was warped enough that I was suspicious of anyone liking me for who I was, let alo

Now for Colin's Car, which is, by far, the single most stupid, outlandish, indulgent, niche, derivative, inaccessible, and ridiculous song I'll ever do. But people LOVE it?!? It's an obvious homage to The Beach Boys, one of my favourite groups ever, but I got so carried away with it that I think even Brian at his SMiLIEST would've said "stop". There's SIX key changes in the first minute alone! A lyric about surfing would've been too obvious. In the early days they did just as

Now for a wild one. "La-La-La" started with no direction, then there was... the incident. Again a risky true story. Way back in May 2018 I was noodling with ideas, and over a couple of evenings, assembled the whole backing track. But I had no words. I was trying too hard and nothing worked, so it sat there for years. Fast forward to a recent run of shows in Germany, when we met a... character. Look I'm all for "don't believe everything you read", but ironically, some of the l

Track 6 is Out Of Hand which was the FIRST song I ever wrote and recorded... well, the first I didn't disown and scrap! At the time I could bounce off other writers, but not conceive enough lyrics on my own accord that I wasn't ashamed of. I was still forcing and thinking too much. The penny dropped that it's obviously a billion times easier with a concrete subject to write about - something that resonates with or riles you up so much that words just fall out, and all you nee

Halfway through the album is an intermission. But it's not a normal intermission. It's Intermission! This one's about folk weaponising ideals and preaching big words they've misinterpreted while skim-reading the wrong doomscrolls. Lashing out at their closest for not living up to concepts they've misunderstood themselves, that only exist in their own mind... then wondering why nobody's there for them anymore. And some just need a bit of time out to recalibrate their perspecti

Today marks one month of 'Loading...' existing. I had no delusions of reaching for the stars, but somehow tripped and landed on the moon!! After the two-year long uphill battle of worrying about "doing it right", I honestly just had to get it out of my system. I was content with boxes of CD's gathering dust in my room. Instead they SOLD OUT... what?! Like, for real!? And as 2025 started to close in, with the prospect of a band increasingly and tortuously futile, I was toying

Another Guy was the first song that I was scared of, because it was a true story with NO leeway to soften it for safety. This was around the time where I'd cracked that plane where songs began arriving fully formed, but with my luck, it came with a catch. Musically it’s a godsend. Lyrically it’s a LIABILITY. Some of the stuff that comes out is potentially socially dangerous... but it always scans too well that I can't change it! It's about a few people from various social cir

Now for track 3 of the album, of which there are THREE CD'S LEFT! I'm then holding back a limited number for physical sale, which will be first-come first-serve tomorrow at The Marquis, near Trafalgar Square, from 8pm. So on New Year's Day when I was 22, I got a bombshell call from Dennis Greaves. "Want to join Nine Below Zero?" I spent many years after that on the road with them and remain on the extended "bells and whistles" lineups, sharing stages with amazing people and m