From Your Influence…

Welcome.

If you are reading this you are either one of my kind friends who is curious, or a stranger who has stumbled across my ramblings for one reason or another. Either way, you have my thanks for taking an interest.

I am a musician who has recently recorded a collection of songs entitled ‘Where the Seas Divide, That’s Where You’ll Find Me…’ But songs without listeners may as well have never been written. Yes, I write the music mainly for myself, and no, this is not my profession; but as you may well know, when we create we yearn to share.

I have started this blog for two reasons:
1) To attempt to reach a wider audience for my music,
2) To give some explanations to the inspiration, content and lyrics of the songs.

In the upcoming weeks I will be writing in detail about each song, the inspiration for its creation and my afterthoughts, for anyone who is interested in the process and mindset of this songwriter.

It’s unfortunate that the release of my album has coincided with the latest series of ‘The X Factor’ as I may appear to be another one of them who has mistaken their desire for fame with their alleged ‘love’ of music. I want the music to stand by itself; to be seperate from me and remove my ego entirely (as difficult as that may be when one of you delicious people says something complimentary). Hence the name ‘From Your Influence…’. It’s my way of creating from something that inspired me, from something that upset me, from somebody who is kind enough to love me,  from your influence on my life. Life’s a ripple. That thing you did? Here’s what meant to me.

Whilst seeking out singing lessons, one rather lovely man suggested that my mediocre voice was hiding behind a gimmick. Not a great way to win someone over before asking them to pay £200 for a half hour singing lesson in my opinion. Maybe he’s right, maybe it is a gimmick… but it’s MY gimmick and it’s important to me and consequently the entire process. “It’s all about the music, it’s not about me”, I repeat to myself as I record that guitar piece for the umpteenth time, “And no you can’t watch any more ‘youtube’s greatest fails’, I’m certain you’ve seen them all”.

This is not a business venture. The music that I write is available to download at the price that you choose. If you decide you think the album (or that one song in particular that just WON’T GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD) is worth some of your hard earned cash; thank you. You humble me. All the money that I do make from my songs and performing is used to buy recording equipment, instruments and the occasional replacement for a broken piece of technology or guitar string. Irrespective of an increase in my ‘From Your Influence…’ finance department (which is very small) I will continue to write and record music for as long as I get excited about it.

Speaking of which, here it is:
http://fromyourinfluence.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-seas-divide-thats-where-youll-find-me

So thanks for reading. If you are interested then I hope you continue to read and I REALLY hope you’ll listen. Hell, maybe you’re a social networking type. In that case:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Your-Influence/116048838445120

From Your Influence…