#27 Mr Kyp’s, Poole

Photo: James Dark

God I love this job. Tonight a massive crowd sang all the songs back at us, and I shared the stage again with Tom McQ.

I barely knew McQ when he called me up a few years back and suggested he come over to mine for a bit of a jam. I said yeh why not? He turned up and instead suggested he lay down a few of his songs in my little home studio. I said yeh why not?

14 songs later and Tom had finished recording his first solo acoustic album. It proved to be the first of many we did together over a couple of years. I think he once got 22 songs down in a single day. The recording quality was usually terrible (my fault), but there was no doubting the quality of the music. Several times I sat there aghast, headphones off my ears, at the first hearing of songs like That Was A Different Time, Written In Stone and What A Difference A Day Makes.

We went along to the open mic nights I used to do, and before long he was a legend of the scene, stealing hearts with his unique charm and positivity. We both found ourselves playing Tonefest, which is a big reason 150 people came to hear us play tonight in Poole. He’s a genuine inspiration to me, as he says I am to him. Maybe that’s why our friendship flourished. I could write pages about all we got up to! Maybe one day I will?

I’ve been playing more with the electric guitar recently. It’s a bit of a departure from the last few years of slapping acoustics about, but it feels right not to restrict myself. What do you think? Surely it’s about making the best music we can, and if that means I have to play electrics, ukuleles and theremins then that’s what I’ll bloody digeridoo.

If you asked me about Poole a few years back I’d not have much to say. Just sounds like one of those places you’ve heard of but doesn’t mean much, right? Not any more – it’s one of my favourite places to play in the world. A place turning from nothing to something is what I love most about touring.

Postcard sent to: Emma, Steve and Paul
Next postcard to: I need to check but there’s a few!
Free T-Shirt to: Charlie Buck
Thanks to: Crap this will take a while. Mr Big T Tony Davies for making it all possible, Susan for letting us eating all her food, Mikey, Emily, Lucy and William for being the coolest kids ever, all at Mr Kyps, Percy who calmly nails our sound every single time, Tom McQ, Alex Beds and Adam, James Dark, Andrew Stevens, Jo, Alex Shepherd and family, Gary Trudgett, Sarah and her gang…..