February 2012
2 posts
January 2012
2 posts
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different...”
– Albert Einstein
December 2011
1 post
Bored, lonely Monday off work improvisation.
November 2011
1 post
Me being nasty. In song I just wrote half of and...
September 2011
2 posts
A bit of song I just wrote.
A showreel of various music I have contributed to...
August 2011
1 post
April 2011
3 posts
HI-ON CANNING TOWN - 26 March 2011 →
At last, a gig on my home turf! Saturday 26 March had loomed large in my calendar for a good few months. It’s not often that we manage to find gigs in our illustrious capital city. There are many…
HI-ON CANNING TOWN - 26 March 2011 →
At last, a gig on my home turf! Saturday 26 March had loomed large in my calendar for a good few months. It’s not often that we manage to find gigs in our illustrious capital city….
A cover of “The Pass” by, er, Rush.
September 2010
1 post
Recorded slightly drunk and with a cold,...
August 2010
1 post
…I had a little bit of luck, you were awake...
June 2010
2 posts
A cover of Neil Young’s “Flags of...
HI-ON NORWICH - 15 May 2010 →
The triumphant tribute to Iron Maiden return to Norwich after a 2 year absence. Our last gig in this neck of the woods was at the Waterfront in February 2008 - a memorable gig, which I believe was…
May 2010
2 posts
HI-ON PLYMOUTH - March 26 2010 →
This one didn’t start well. I had totally failed to book the day off work to get down to Plymouth, and the powers that be had decided to send my entire office on a ‘team building day’ in the city….
HI-ON EUROPE - Eindhoven & Antwerp, 19/20 March... →
So here we were again! Off to Europe in that wonderful Van Where Nothing Works Except The Engine! As is usual on these Euro trips the band were converging on Manic Towers. The van rolled up as I was…
March 2010
2 posts
HI-ON RIFFS - 13 March 2010 →
The first Hi-On Maiden gig of 2010 was the rescheduled and long-awaited return to Riff’s Bar in sunny Greatfield / Wooton Bassett / Swindon (one of those, I’m not sure which). The previous visit to…
Lee Abraham and Band - Winter's End Progressive... →
The big day for one Mr Lee Abraham had finally arrived. Since September there had been five rehearsals to cover all the material from Lee’s third solo album “Black & White”. Written and recorded at…
February 2010
1 post
“An unfortunate side effect of most arrangements is to ensure that accidents...”
– Bill Bruford
December 2009
3 posts
Top Ten Albums of 2009 →
It’s been a busy year.
I’ve joined two groups, formed one, continued playing with Hi-On Maiden, been on a lot of trains and played a lot of gigs. Somewhere in there I found the time to listen to…
EVERY OTHER ONES: Recording "EP1" at Delta Studios... →
Every Other Ones recently hit Delta Studios in Chartham, Kent to lay down tracks for their debut E.P., tentatively titled “EP1” (imaginative or what?!).
Sharpey and I had worked very hard to…
HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON / PONTYPOOL / KETTERING /... →
Well well well, this one may be a bit of en epic! The first four-gig weekend since our visit to Turkey in February 2008 would take us from Southampton to Birmingham via Wales and Kettering. A fair…
November 2009
3 posts
HI-ON YORKSHIRE (or simply HULL) - September 11... →
HI-ON YORKSHIRE 2009 Well well well boys and girls. This one is a bit of a tale! Manic’s weekend began with a three-day business trip to Liverpool, which conveniently located me in the right half…
HI-ON NIJMEGEN - 23 / 24 October 2009 →
First off, apologies for the lack of a Stafford diary. Since then I’ve been phenomenally busy (I’m even writing this Nijmegen diary two weeks after the fact!) and simply can’t remember half of what…
HI-ON Harlow - 18 September 2009 →
HI-ON HARLOW 2009 (apologies for the lack of photos…if you want to see this in it’s full glory, visit http://www.hi-onmaiden.com/ where Swifty added some rather splendid photos of our favourite…
September 2009
2 posts
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
– Albert Einstein
LEE ABRAHAM - Black & White LIVE - rehearsal... →
Two and a bit weeks ago, the text came. ‘Mate, would you be interested in playing guitar for some Black & White gigs?” I was in Cyprus at the time, having just attended my cousin’s…
August 2009
3 posts
“If I were not an atheist, I think I would have to be a Catholic because if it...”
– Douglas Adams
THEA FORD album launch show / EVERY OTHER ONES... →
Three or four months ago (time is all relative, isn’t it?), I began working with the radiant Miss Thea Ford. This was all leading up to the release of an album, entitled “Monkey To The…
HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON / MAIDSTONE - July 25/26 →
HI-ON SOUTHAMPTON & MAIDSTONE July 25 had arrived, and it was time to go back to The Brook! One of my favourite venues on the circuit, this Southampton bastion of rock is always a blast to play with…
July 2009
2 posts
Peter Gabriel’s “Here Comes The...
HI-ON KETTERING - 4 July 2009 - INCLUDING LIVE... →
HI-ON KETTERING From the 1500 to Corby Back to Sawyers! We had a great time last year at this venue and I expect an even better night this time round. My day started off easy with a mild hangover…
June 2009
6 posts
GOCSTOCK IV - Passport to Redwood →
(Photos to be added later) First, an introduction. A very lovely friend of mine by the name of Georgina O’Callaghan (otherwise known as Goc) essentially owns a forest. A whole forest. A…
“People suck and that’s my contention. I can prove it on a scratch paper...”
– Bill Hicks - Rant in E Minor.
“Now the storm has passed over me / I’m left to drift on a dead calm sea...”
– “Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore” - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Marmaduke Duke’s “Kid Gloves”,...
May 2009
11 posts
“I’ll play it first and tell you what it is afterwards.”
– Miles Davis
Chris Harrison’s “Should Have Stayed...
Mark Oliver Everett’s “Fucker”,...
“There’s no point being grown-up if you can’t be childish sometimes.”
– The Fourth Doctor
Chris Harrison’s ”Sad Improv”,...
The Euphemism Generator →
This unique and colourful custom is referred to as
conjuring the bald sausage.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
– T. S. Eliot - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
Kevin Gilbert’s “When You Give Your...
