Music is a strange substance. It is intangible but evocative. It can be as inspiring as it can be annoying. A quick google search gives us the following definition... "vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion."
I would say that is both fairly accurate and, at the same time, fairly ambiguous; a definition that could be interpreted in many ways.
Let's face it, there's loads of music around us of an incredible variety. For my own part, I've been into 'it' for as long as I can remember. I suspect there are not many people around who don't claim to be 'in' to music. My musical snobbery permits me to be a little suspicious about some of these claims on occasion.
Some people make a living out of it. Others don't. I am of the latter persuasion. Having said that, I have dabbled and flirted with the idea of doing it more seriously over the years and has settled into a sort of 'I play a bit of guitar, sing a bit, was in a band for a bit and record a few bits and pieces when I get the time' niche. I'm one of these people that has an electric drum kit but doesn't have the faintest idea how to play it.
I used to listen to music every day. For whatever reason, I don't anymore. I am not 100% sure why but I find it sad. Various theories have floated through my mind as to why that might be. Is it the change in formats through which we get our musical hits these days? Is it that I have got bored with the music I used to like and the new stuff isn't as appealing? Is it that the good stuff is just too diluted amongst the industrial level volume of music we have at our finger tips? Or, more worryingly, is it that I have fallen out of love with music altogether?
While most of these are possibilities, I don't think the last one holds true thankfully. This is something that I have come to realise in the course of this project which I will now explain.
Having been in a band for a number of years, playing mostly local pubs and bars in and around my home town, I am relatively well-versed in the cauldron of eccentrics that is the ameuteur music scene. When that came to a natural end, I decided it might be quite nice to write a few songs in my own time, more for my own ears rather than anything else; songs that I could really spend time over and develop slowly over time.
This has morphed over a number of years into an entire concept album, each song representing a year, charting the entire decade of my twenties.
More recently, I decided to make it into an entire amateur music project and thought it would be cool to write a book about the process behind it. In doing so, I intend to expand a little into how I and others see music and the music industry these days and, for that matter, in general. The songs I have gathered are all of a varied genre from rock, pop, acoustic and even one that is orchestral. For this reason, I landed upon the idea to try and arrange and then record each track with a completely new set of musicians and band members, each with their own stories, perspectives and relationships with music.
So if you have read this far, welcome. You are either a friend or family member forced to visit my page, or have stumbled across it out of curiousity. In either case, follow the blog, instagram and social media links to keep up with my progress.
Of course it is entirely possible that I have asked you to take part in the project itself. In which case, get on the phone to me immediately to tell me you're in. It'll be fun, it'll be unique and, you never know, we might just produce something special!
W
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