Uncategorized – 52 Silent Songs

The Clown

This week I received a letter from an old university friend. She had been the girlfriend of my bandmate Paul, back in the day. Inside was an aged and yellowed article from Coventry University’s student newspaper, circa 1997. My recent blogging trips down Memory Lane had prompted her to fish it out for me. TheContinue reading “The Clown”

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

When I started writing my memoirs and releasing my songs at the beginning of the year, I thought I’d have a story to tell behind each song, no matter how tenuous the link. Maybe where I was when I wrote it, who I was with, how I was feeling. Perhaps something I had observed orContinue reading “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie”

The Circle

India, 2011 The train spat us out onto the deserted platform, and with a weary groan, heaved its shuddering bulk back into the night. We were alone. Well, as alone as anyone could be in an Indian train station, for experience had taught me that there were always people in the shadows. But this wasContinue reading “The Circle”

My Old Friend Bear

I am standing in the middle of our street as the car drives away. A sad pair of round, brown eyes stares back at me through the rear window. I desperately want to lift my arm and wave goodbye, but I know if I do I will start to cry and never stop. I amContinue reading “My Old Friend Bear”

You Keep Me Young

Istanbul, 2008 There are times when I am reminded of the power of music. I was at a house party recently, set up to play in the living room. An elderly man was next to me, hunched up on the sofa with a blanket over his shoulders. It was clear, from his vacant, faraway look,Continue reading “You Keep Me Young”

The Donkey & The Storm

Dear Baby Violet, I would like to tell you the tale of how I met your mother one sweltering summer’s afternoon in Suffolk, not so very long ago. There are days, you will learn, when the Gods interfere and it changes the course of everything to come. This would be one of those days. IContinue reading “The Donkey & The Storm”

No Ordinary Woman

I live in a house. A very old house. 650 years very old, to be precise. It is a crooked, timber-framed house in a town of crooked, timber-framed houses. Inside, a woodburning stove does its best to stave off the winter bite, though the cold, stone floor and aged front door do little to help.Continue reading “No Ordinary Woman”

The Music In Me (just don’t wanna die)

Grenoble, France, 1995 – Suffolk, England 2020 The first gig I ever did was in a brothel in the south of France. I was twenty years old. On paper I was a student at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, but in reality I was learning life in other ways. I didn’t realise it was aContinue reading “The Music In Me (just don’t wanna die)”