I’m not mad on music being a competition, and not mad on the ugly, alchemic quest to turn music into cash. I love it when people do things like this. But I also love music and performance and massive pop bangers that enrich peoples lives.

Massive congrats to Ed Sheeran and Adele. I get fed up with people knocking them. No doubt about it those two craved success. But they’ve also produced albums with a lot of heart and substance and lots of peoples lives are a better place for them. That is cool and good news for music. I always liked Ed – he deserves it all. Respect!

People make music for all kinds of reasons – to get rich, for its own rewards, to pore their soul out, to look for self worth… Not all are inherently wrong or right. Bloody hell it’s great to make music … Read the rest

There’s definitely a pattern with me and photos. I’m always trying to do something stupid or distracting – climb up somewhere, grab something, jump, look busy, ANYTHING to avoid just standing there being normal.

I suppose being open is quite … Read the rest

On 12th February my band and I will be playing a special concert at The Jazz Cafe for HMV’s ‘Next Big Thing’ series. Also playing will be Sam Brookes and Liam Blake. It’ll be the curtain raiser for what will hopefully be a big year of tours and recording.

For tickets, just click the link below.

… Read the rest

I did send this to mailing list before christmas, but I’m only putting it online in January. Boo!

Even worse I’ve artificially changed the date of this post to before xmas so it looks like I posted it in time. Why do I do that? I feel like a fraud :-(

Still – it doesn’t change the fact that it’s an awesome custom Christmas Card. Thank you to my dear friend Kevin Pollard for designing it!… Read the rest

A few weeks ago I put pen to paper on a one-album deal to release Many Fish To Fry in every record shop in the land, along with a big marketing campaign. It’s going to be released on my own label – Sandwich Emporium Records – but through Universal who are right behind us. With a little luck, and some support from you, it might even get a bit of radio play and press to go with it.

All physical copies will be special editions of the album, including a bonus DVD of a full-length concert and a track-by-track interview. The album is now off sale until its release in March, but you’ll be able to pre-order it well before then to get it on your doormat first. If you’ve already got a copy that’s cool – no pressure to get this one too!

We’ll be working closely with HMV, … Read the rest

My tour t-shirts have arrived!! Don’t they look proper? Naturally I need to give a bunch of them away for free. Here’s the plan…… Read the rest

Very sadly I’ve had to reschedule two of the dates on the tour – Newport and Nottingham.

But I’m doing it for good reason – I’m confirmed as main support for Joe Bonamassa’s two nights at the Hammersmith Apollo on 21st and 22nd October.… Read the rest

Everyone loves receiving postcards. This tour I’m going to send one every day. Here’s how it’s gonna work…

Step one: get the postal address of a person who comes to a gig
Step two: travel to the next town/city we’re playing at
Step three: buy a local postcard
Step four: write the postcard and send it to the person in step one
Step five: repeat

So someone from Bath gets a postcard from Inverness. Someone from Inverness gets a postcard from Stornoway, and so on.

If you’d like to be the one in your town that gets the postcard, just come to a gig (dates here) and ask me. All I ask is that you trust me with your address and post your postcard up on my Facebook page and / or twitter.… Read the rest

I can probably admit now to a little overconfidence in joining John for his running schedule. 5 miles? Eeeeasy. Up at 7:30am and wearing temporary £15 Tesco walking shoes, I set out into the Welsh countryside with John and Kev. Harry, a keen runner, had objected on moral grounds – “I don’t agree with running in the morning”. It turns out they don’t call it the valleys for nothing – I swear we ran up a vertical incline at one stage.

Walking for the rest of the week wasn’t easy. The hills and valleys in western wales are stunning but my calves were shot to pieces. A problem not made easier by the fact that the cottage floors tended to sweat, making them slippy. If in doubt I turned my inability to walk into a comedy dance.

It’s not a given that you can get everyone together for a week’s … Read the rest

About 6 months ago I started to pick up whispers of something… and before I knew it sets were being built
and Pablo had come to life, looking all wise and friendly. Melody Wood and James Beck were making a stop-motion animation video for Many Fish To Fry. Totally unprompted from me and with fire in their bellies.

Set a scene, take a photo, make a tiny, subtle change, take photo, tiny change, photo, tiny change… It takes AGES and requires fanatical obsession, the patience of a saint, artistic eyes and understanding friends.

Fast forward to now and all 5 minutes of the video is finished. I think a celebration is called for!

On Thursday 8th September there will be an extremely special MFTF screening night and gig at Melody’s own night of live music, For The Love Of Folk at Indy Jax in Hemel Hempstead. I’ll be bringing a … Read the rest