The manager told me, “Just pretend the audience is naked.” That was the week before I played five or so numbers at The Bridge. Maybe it helped that the act before me was going full throttle — playing faster than most people I’ve ever heard. Maybe that’s just the Glasgow way: introduce each song in a cute Glaswegian accent and then tear into it.
It turned into one of those nights where you’ve got a few new songs, you’ve been playing them for a while, and suddenly you hit a moment. I had to hold my head a fair distance from the mic to stop my voice carrying across the harbour. I could feel it, the audience were right there with me. Nothing quite like that connection.
It rounded off what’s been quite a musical week. Gyp and I did two sessions redoing some of the vocals on One Track Minds. Funny how it goes: when the album was originally recorded, we only had a few days because of budget and time limits.
But the truth is, the best things often take longer than you expect, and learning to deal with that is its own lesson. The correct answer is: spend the money. For some reason I couldn’t get my head around that at the time, and maybe it’s cost me ten years. Time will tell.
I’m planning on playing in Devizes next week at The Bridge again, different pub/venue, same name. I’m now waiting on the mastering of the new/old tracks. Here’s a little bit of the un‑mixed one
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