Hello

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So… a brand new world.  I write today with my eyes blinking into the fresh light.  I am anew with wonder.  I have just completed the most prolific period of musical activity in my life.  I finished an album that took me 10 years to write [ All Monsters and Dust ] , then proceeded to bang another album out in half a year [ The Galton Detail ] … and while I was at it I created another whole album with Bill Ryan from the US [ Escapism ] . This is going to be another self-analysing, self-gratuitous article… but first things first.  YOU HAVE TO OWN THESE THREE ALBUMS!!!

1) ALL MONSTERS AND DUST

2) THE GALTON DETAIL

3) ESCAPISM

If you don’t own them then answer me this one, simple question:  Why not?  You have the opportunity to download 35 songs of ‘Confession Quality’tm.  In the case of Escapism you can even buy a physical CD from Amazon.com. I’m pretty proud of myself.  All Monsters and Dust is a damn fine indie album.  The Galton Detail is a great electronic album.  Escapism is an outstanding alternative rock album.  With these songs I have spread my wings.  In the past I produced a number of great indie songs with bands that eventually disintegrated.  What I have right now puts me in a great position for the future.  I am my own band, ‘Confession of the Whole School’, in which I can do everything – I can be everything.  In fact what was once considered slightly weird (one person writing and playing and ‘being’ a band) is now becoming the norm.  Although you’ll  notice that I often fight against the norm, in this case I believe in the norm wholeheartedly!  I am fickle!!!

I also have my writing partnership with Bill Ryan.  I believe the ‘Eleventh Hour Initiative’ has been a great success.  We still need to sell albums… but artistically it has been nothing less than an absolute creative joy.

So, buy the albums.  Everything you need is just to the right of this very screen.  Just click ‘BUY’ and stick your credit card number in.  How difficult is that?  It’s not like I’m trying to foist some crap on you.  This music is quality.  I’m not about to deal in substandard goods now – not at this point in my life.  I have risen above the dross… I have taken in years of experience… I am gold-dust personified.  Don’t believe me?  Then take a listen.  Pick any song.  Any song will prove my point.

I am saying all of these things by way of wrapping up that period of my life.  The rebirth, the re-emergence if you will, is over.  I am back.  ‘Confession of the Whole School’ is here to stay.  My goodbye was real though.  I am a different person artistically now.  I have removed the baggage from my chest and have proved to myself and the world at large that I’ve still ‘got it’.  Whatever direction I now choose to go in, I promise you, will be another interesting adventure.  I intend to keep you informed every step of the way.  My ‘fans’ so far are few and far between.  But if I keep calling, they will come.  I appreciate everyone who has been along for the ride so far.  I won’t forget you.  And if I ever see you in the street I will nod politely with acknowledgement in your general direction.  I am not on a pedestal.  I am an ordinary individual and I will happily walk among you.  Don’t feel the need to have to kiss my hands or anything like that (a bow will do fine… a curtsey for the girls).

I am not clear exactly what I’m going to do next.  This is going to be a ‘Confession for the NEW SCHOOL’.  New.  I’ve just come back from sun drenched Cyprus.  I was out there to reinvigorate the soul and recharge the batteries.  I’m not sure I’ve quite managed that… but I’m ready to at least consider the way forward.  I just need you to stay by my side.  Feel free to email, comment, get involved in any way you see fit.  Hello.

The Last to Know

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This is the final track from my second album.  Probably the best song on the album.  It was certainly the most important song.  The Last to Know was the first song I wrote for the second Confession album.  Fair enough, Action Hero! is on the album and was technically written first… but in hindsight I feel that I needed to write Action Hero! as a kind of bridge between All Monsters and Dust and whatever the next album would be.  Action Hero! was an attempt to take the concepts I had set on fire with All Monsters and Dust and Escapism… and fling them to an altogether more extreme level.  Once I had proved to myself that I could write a theatrical 10 minute epic I settled down to write The Last to Know.  I wrote The Last to Know in the French countryside.  I literally wrote the song into my Moleskine notepad.  The song was raw, basic.  Just acoustic guitar.  When I eventually recorded it in the studio I embellished it a little… but in essence the song remains an acoustic blues.  I’ve bastardised the ‘typical’ blues form… but the blues it remains.  A new blues.  The Last to Know deserves respect.  It is a song that I am proud of.  Perhaps the best song I have written in years.  And yet it will likely be underestimated, neglected… and, over time, forgotten.  And that leaves me with a wry smile.  Perhaps that’s the way music should be.  I say goodbye to this era of my life.  The current Confession of the Whole School is no more.  Goodbye.

Stop When Red Lights Flash

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So many things on my mind right now.  So much so that I can’t actually do any one of them.  I’m just in a state of ‘being’… and that’s not going to get anything done!  And believe me, getting nothing done is not an option.  This latest song I have posted is a song of hope.  I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and their great song of hope – Stairway to Heaven.  Well, this song is nothing like Stairway to Heaven… but it is a song of hope.