Changing Things Up

Hope this isn't weird

Hi Hi Hello,

I’ve been a bit off grid this year. I decided to put some distance between myself and the social media, delete some apps, write some songs and see where things lie. I’ve felt a little out of ideas in some way with regards to doing music. Maybe it’s just that I’ve been at it in one form or another since I was thirteen. In that time it feels like I’ve seen multiple revolutions in how things work and I’ve (really) tried to adapt in my own way but yeah, it was time for a break.

Despite the break I’ve been writing songs and making demos at home. I am now the proud owner of five string fretless banjo and I’m teaching myself clawhammer style. I’ve also joined my friend Chris’ band Hospital Corner as sideman for an Edinburgh show in July- I’ve been a fan for a while. His songs are ace and I’m excited to help out.

So, I’ve been thinking about what to do next and I’m thinking it’s… this? Yeah, writing on substack- radical!

Much of my output in the past has foregrounded music and it’s become a bit constraining- mostly in my own head. I often feel like I have to post or write about music or music adjacent stuff and a lot of the time I’m just not particularly fired up about that. So I’m going to change it up. I’m going to post more frequently, could be on any number of topics. I’m thinking personal blog where I talk about music, life, creativity, books I’m reading, stuff I’m thinking about, diaristic entries and so on. The point of this for me is to be a bit freer in sharing myself / what I’m excited about / interested in without thinking too hard about how it will be received. More action less (over)thinking.

My hope is that my offerings will begin to organically resemble something coherent but who really knows. That’s the creative process, baby- I’m applying the creative process to this blog. The fun thing about creation is you really don’t know what you’re going to get. Just like Gump said: life is like the substack of a local musician…

If you know me, you’ll know I’ve been here before on the edge of something big and shiny only to forget about it a few weeks later- remember the videos I made at the beginning of the year? This time it’ll be different he says! Whatever.

I understand too that you may have joined this list expecting occasional news about gigs and releases etc so I want to say that’ll all continue but no hard feelings if you wanna peel off.

Ok gig news:

I’ll be performing at The King’s Theatre, Kirkcaldy on the 7th of June. It’s an all star line-up of Scottish acoustic music featuring the Coaltown Daisies, Teddy Paton and Craig Harley Brown. Tickets go on sale in May- I’ll keep you posted.

Ta for now,

David