About me - in a nutshell: I play acoustic rock! 50s style rock an’ roll vocals with lively guitar arrangements to create short, playful and varied songs about personal experiences and observations…..and anything else that holds my attention
Why I play music?
Well, here’s my short answer…bereavement changed me from someone that plays in private to someone that plays in public too.
In fact I have found that bereavement, reflection and connection can do interesting things to a person. Here’s an outline of what those things did for me (quick version, I promise :-)
Bereavement: Now, I had a strict upbringing from a non-musical family. I couldn’t make my own decisions and was on a path that simply didn’t suit me. After a long conveyor belt of obligations and cultural expectations, I finally graduated from University. 6 Days after that, my father passed away, and I could see in plain view that most ideas about life are just that: ideas, and nothing was actually set in stone. Life is what you make it, and even the people who give you those ideas with such certainty, well they are not around forever either. Sounds obvious but as you can imagine many illusions vanished in that moment along with my super strict upbringing. It was the beginning of a difficult long-winded way to learn a very important lesson i.e. my role can change for good and I had important choices to make along the way.
Reflection: I found the experience of bereavement very difficult to process (like anyone would) but I somehow felt I would gain more in the long run if I could be better at following my own instincts. I just needed time and space to develop my capacity to understand what I was feeling inside. In a way it was a fresh start, and I was starting to see that.
Connection: The best and most consistent connection I ever felt, that was actually exciting, was through music. At 11 years of age I was fortunate enough to meet local guitar players and bands through my brother. I’m still very grateful to him for that. Local artists were able to introduce me to the world of music. For me this introduction was a massive, powerful experience of sound and excitement like I had never felt before or since, a bit like a theme park for the heart. Experiencing bereavement reminds me of how deep and valuable shared experiences like this are in life. After all; whatever you believe, I think we can all agree that we only get THIS LIFE once!
So in summary…
I play music because... throughout my life I have felt magic from witnessing people put aside their differences and enjoy a connection over a song, even if it was just for a moment. Heck, even my strict father told me many times how he loved Louis Armstrong and Rod Stewart. They had managed to connect to him somehow even though the backgrounds were totally separate. To me this is a beautiful thing, and I would love the opportunity to do that for others.
So thank you for stopping by and sharing some of your time with me, I hope you can see that it means a lot to me. Take your time to enjoy the site and future updates as I work on each project.
If at any time you would like to get in touch, then it would be great to hear from you. If you’re like me and enjoy receiving updates, there is also the option of joining the family on the home page or following me on socials. You can join and leave as you wish. Thank you for your visit :-)