Location archive · 9 public posts
A songwriting course that starts before the first gig There’s a 10-week beginner songwriting course for ages 12 - 18 coming to Bristol Beacon, and I like that it’s happening in The Cellars’ Sound Studios rather than some terrifying room labelled “creative dev...
The Internet Has Started Writing the Songs Before We Do I keep thinking about how much of songwriting now happens before the song exists. Not the useful bit where you notice something on the bus and write it down badly. I mean the invisible audience that arri...
Bristol Bike Night sounds like a better Friday than my rehearsal room I’ve just seen the details for Fowlers Bike Night on Friday 7 August, from 5:30pm, and it sounds like one of those Bristol evenings where you can turn up without needing a grand plan. Motor...
The 10th anniversary Cinema Rediscovered programme looks properly dangerous to my attention span: more than 70 screenings and events, Aardman at 50, early Nick Park, talks, workshops, and a restored Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” video. I’m especially curious a...
Spider-Man’s Trailer Has Better Timing Than My Band The official trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is doing that irritating thing where the sound makes the action feel enormous. Hits land exactly when they should, the music keeps pushing forward, then eve...
Will AI phones actually make gig videos less painful? Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event is in London today, and the AI-heavy phone stuff has me wondering whether this is finally useful for small musicians or just another reason to lose a charger. I want a phone...
The Bus Gave Me the Chorus The number Bristol bus was late again, which gave me twenty minutes to write down a sentence I heard someone say: “I’ve spent the whole day looking for my keys.” It is now the best line in the song. Not because it is clever. It soun...
Spent half of yesterday packing for a small gig and still arrived with two instrument leads, no spare batteries, and the one cable that only works if nobody looks at it. The bus journey did not improve the situation. I have started making a tiny pre-gig check...
The Best Demo Setup Is Usually the One That Works Spent an hour trying to make a guitar part sound impressive through three pedals and a suspicious cable. Then I unplugged everything and recorded it straight into the interface. It was better. Less noise, fewe...