Success, Stress and Waiting Lists

Having survived the immediate post-graduation aftermath, I've been operating pretty successfully as a teacher and player! Thanks to a surprisingly overwhelming demand, I've now had to implement a waiting list for new students during the "after-school" hours between 4pm-8pm, since I'm totally booked up! I'm still taking new students during the daytime, but you might want to contact me to find out for sure! Since I don't update this blog very often, you should probably ask away anyway, since it'll surely be out of date by the time you read this!

I've got the occasional live and studio session coming in, and a few other projects on the boil, but have been in the grinder as far as time and energy managing the usual turmoil of life. Once that simmers down, I'll be hitting 2020 pretty hard as I gun for a bit more mixing work and video editing to fill out my daytimes, besides the usual rehearsal time!

There's not much to report at the minute - most of my band work is in stasis while we brew material, and all of the teaching work doesn't leave much to report on, although my FirstTutors reviews suggest my students are pretty happy with me! I'd better keep cracking on with that, but I'm hoping I'll have slightly more to report by the time I check in next!

First Class Degree and Finally Full-Time

After much tribulation, I'll be graduating this month with a 1st class Music degree from the University of Nottingham! On top of that, I'm very happy to have been awarded the Music Technology prize for the year! I'm pretty proud of the whole debacle, even if I'm not that bothered by an expensive piece of paper and swanning around in a goofy dress to graduate. That being said, I'll try and update this post with a picture from the ceremony next week for posterity - whoever she is...

 

Right: myself, at odds with looking so resplendant. 

Left: Richard Needham, shortly before discovering he's a trombonist.

I've been juggling a LOT of teaching work at the minute, and have very few slots left at time of writing! In order to cope, I may have to instigate a waiting list of sorts - although once I'm driving by mid-August, that should give me a few extra hours in the week for stragglers. This may have all changed by the time you're reading this, so make sure to send me a message via my contact page!

I'm overhauling the site at the minute and trying to keep everything updated. I've added one or two more old transcriptions, but will be completely removing my "composition" page, and replacing it with a "portfolio" page which will have a selection of my compositions, my drum performances, and my academic writing on game music, including the dissertation which everyone seems interested in!

I played a great session for Michela Woods' alter-ego Wilted Flower for her upcoming album Grow in the Dark last month, and am really looking forward to hearing the singles as they trickle out in advance of the album release in late September. The material already sounds fantastic, so the finishing touches should really polish it off!

I'm still writing and recording with Koyot (formerly Ambugaton, formerly Huragan, formerly NDK). Once we finally take a name, surely the world will follow - but it's some very nasty, complicated instrumental prog-metal that I'm excited to perform soon! A few clips will ooze out in the next few weeks.

My peers are highly amused that I've been playing with a local Pirate-themed covers band, Pirates Rock, at the minute. A good laugh is nothing to sneeze at  - but I unfortunately have no pictures of my outfit yet. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait, arrrrrrrrrrrr!

I've also started rehearsals for two more metal projects - and will be announcing them as they come together a little more, but I'm very excited for the material! Managing all the projects, teaching, making sure I'm above the breadline and generally staying alive is proving as tricky as I expected it would be, but I'm pretty content to say that by sustaining all this, I'm living the dream. I'm a little too antisocial for working in pubs and clubs, but I'm still amazed every time someone gives me money just for rambling about music!

The next 6 months will be the real test of my mettle as a musican - but I'll let you know how it goes! If you want to help out, hire me as a drum, piano, guitar, theory, composition or production tutor - or as a session drummer! I'm always happy to carve out an extra hour in the day if it's fitting in more music work!

Spring, Summer and sooner!

At long last, my music degree is finally drawing to a close: after a very successful winter term, I am on the cusp of submitting the last few bits of music production work and my 12,000 word dissertation on sound design in multiplayer first-person shooters - which will be available to read very shortly! I'll hopefully know my degree classification by July, but I've got a good feeling...!

Teaching has picked up dramatically, so I've only got a handful of afternoon slots left - although plenty of time for morning lessons, for any early risers! My FirstTutors streak of 5-star reviews remains unbroken at time of writing - accusations include 'friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, patient, trustworthy,' and the most damning of all, 'a natural teacher.' I must admit, I do enjoy it - particularly when it means pushing other people toward the music  and musicians I admire most!

Gigs and recording work have cleared up a little since Christmas. The upcoming Shadow of Acolyte album is morphing into something strange and new, and while I won't be hitting drums on the album, I can already confirm that the material is excellent - and that there are a few very interesting names attached to the project! The Sakura material has shifted back into the capable hands of the guitarist, and so I'm back on the shelf until the situation moves back toward live performance. It isn't all bad news, though - Ambugaton have been recording some very complex, dark and serious music - as evidenced by a particularly dark and serious photograph below. Some recordings should appear in the coming weeks - hopefully for real, this time.

I'll be taking on a lot more recording and gigging work over the next few months. Thus far, I've been hauling drum gear on the bus, which is NOT FUN AT ALL - and so I'll be very happy to be driving in the next couple of months!

I've got a few more projects up my sleeve, which I'd do better to cryptically keep secret until they're slightly closer to completion - but not all just straight music projects! Watch this space - and my project list - for more information coming soon!

Winter Plans

It's been a fair while since the last update: half a dozen gigs, multiple recording sessions with multiple bands for three upcoming albums, plus the writing for said albums, plus the associated rehearsal time plus preparations for the last year of my music degree plus all the usual teaching work - and that's not including the projects I'm running and skills I'm trying to work on in my time off...!

Besides sleeping around 30 seconds a night to fit all of that in, I've also moved my office into a slightly larger space! This has made my life a lot less stressful, having to haul gear every which way across Nottingham.

Witness the spaciousness of this fully armed and operational battle station

I've also been teaching students internationally, recently - although calling it Skype lessons sounds a little less exciting.  If any readers, near or far, are interested in Skype lessons, either contact me, or have a look at the Tutoring page for a little more information!

I'm hoping that by the time I update next, I'll have some exiting new recordings to announce officially, but to keep you busy in the mean time, here's a full concert video of Shadow of Acolyte we released fairly recently. Enjoy!

Music for Sleep

FINALLY, Music for Sleep has been released, and it is every bit as horrible as I had hoped! 9 songs of not-rock anti-jazz weirdness, mixed by a good friend at Ambugaton Records. More like a horror movie in music than anything radio friendly, but I had a great time writing and recording it all. It is currently available on Amazon and iTunes, as well as all streaming services.

Music work is like a hydra, though: if you cut off one head, two more appear in its place - and so I have several more projects to move onto! Nonetheless, I am taking on several more students, now that summer is here. If you're interested, head over to the Contact page and send me a message!

Radio Eroticism, Music for Sleep, and moving onwards...

I've finally gotten around to uploading Radio Eroticism to online stores - the project is doomy, ambient drone music and soundscaping, with a lot of noise and distortion. It was mainly for fun and psychtherapy, rather than a "serious" release - but it seemed like it'd be interesting to put it out there anyway. There are two releases, Beautiful Casino Foundry, recorded during Summer 2017, and the more recent Tumerous Cloak of My Beloved.

 

Music for Sleep is well on the way to completion, but a concrete release date is still to be confirmed; either early March, or else late April, at worst.

I've had to leave Scriptures because of schedule clashes - between rehearsals, gigging and teaching, I was finding very little time for sleep! They're on the cusp of announcing my replacement at time of writing, but are continuing business-as-usual.

December Update - Music For Sleep on the way...

Been very busy juggling work at the minute, and trying plenty of new things in various departments - teaching my first few students internationally is very exciting, but performing live with a sample-pad may have to go back to the drawing-board... Likewise, performing in a cave was a very exciting first, but live-mixing on just a laptop, maybe not... Live and learn!

I've had to jump ship from some projects recently, but got plenty more on the cusp of fruition: most immediately, I am very excited to release my second solo album, "Music for Sleep", which is my seventh solo project, or fifth public release! Currently slated for March-time, assuming all goes well - most of the instrumental writing is finished, and I'm currently in the process of laying down the vocals on the album. It's currently looking like it may be harder-edged and more oblique than Without Pictures I Understand, but I'm very happy with the material as it stands.