Last year was a very eventful, chaotic and musically unproductive year in the main. This year is seeing some things come to some semblance of fruition.

Dawn of Elysium have spent the first half of the year playing some live dates after a lengthy period out of circulation and in need of a break from recording activities. It has been just the tonic for all of us and we have played what I would consider some of our finest performances to date. I really feel as if we are evolving as a band and have started turning heads who have hitherto been uninterested.

This gig season has held some especially memorable moments. Special mention goes to our March date in Keighley with Black Horse Fairy and Echofire. This was a personally very poignant night as not only did we share the bill with Echofire but Paul Gooding joined us on stage for Pictures of Matchstick Men. This was the first song his dad Steve taught him to play on the guitar when he was a small boy and we played it as a surprise for him. It was great to be sharing a stage with my old sparring partner and I for one would like to repeat this or do something else together at some point. What shape that might take is anybody’s guess.

We played the last one on 22nd June at The Primrose in Leeds. I am not sure what was going on that night but I have not enjoyed playing a gig that much for many years. It was one of those nights where everything just felt right.

We have a couple more dates in the calender but have tentatively returned to recording/writing mode. Since plans for the second album seemed to be taking longer than anticipated, our intention is to release an EP in the interim.

Regarding studio activities, the first few months of the year saw me make a final concerted push to finish the Echofire EP. It was an intense period as I was determined to put it to bed and get it sounding the best I could. I am very pleased indeed with the results. I released it on my own Bandcamp page as a free download. Echofire have their own page and release with a very different lineup and I wouldn’t presume to interfere with that.

The EP is my first full work under the new Idle Hands Studio moniker and after its completion, I needed to give my ears and head a break. In addition to this, the last few weeks has seen some particularly hot weather hit the UK and so the studio room has not been the most hospitable of places to spend a great deal of time.

Last September, I came to the decision that I’d like to set up a brand new rock band. Starting from scratch certainly doesn’t get any easier as you get older and even securing adequate rehearsal time can be problematic at times. However, on I ploughed and managed to get the first line-up together at the start of October. It was a promising start but as one might expect at these initial stages, not for everybody. After a couple of months, our line-up issues were resolved as we were joined by ex-Reeved bassist Chris Brooks. We named the band Crash Scene Flowers and have since been working on our initial songs and sound. The style I am playing is sort of a natural continuation of what I was doing with Echofire and Man Down but maybe a little more grungey.

This has been a very exciting breath of fresh air for me as I am working with people I have never worked with previously, namely singer Jamie (Jimmy Pop) Sullivan and a really talented drummer called Kyle Grundy. I always had a great relationship with Chris back in the Reeved days too. We are gelling nicely and getting used to each other’s way of working. There is also the possibility of us introducing a second guitar into the mix, taking us to a 5-piece but at the time of writing has yet to be tried. My goal for the band is to have something recorded and to have played some form of gig before the year is out, with a view to getting out more next year. I have played just two non-DOE gigs in the last three years, one each with Echofire and Man Down respectively, therefore I am probably more determined than ever that this progresses beyond the rehearsal room walls.

Stay moist!

So this one has been doing the rounds on social media so I thought I’d do it justice by writing a blog article. The remit is “Ten albums which changed my life”. It differs slightly from what would be my top ten favourite albums I guess but not significantly so. It’s a mixed bag if nothing else. I wrote the first of what was intended to be a series of articles a couple of years ago entitled “My life in music Part 1 (1980-1991)” from which this article borrows heavily in parts.

My awareness of music began at an early age. My dad played a huge part in this, regularly putting his huge Wharfedale cans on my head as a small child. Each speaker was probably as big as my head. It was the late 1970s and it was mostly the pop music of the day but one artist of significance was Stevie Wonder. He was a family favourite and still is at least between my Uncle and me. These were my very early formative years and Stevie has been with me for all of my life. It’s difficult for me to pin down a single album of his as they were all brilliant. Although not his greatest work, I am going to go for “Hotter Than July” as my first choice. The 1970s were Stevie’s decade and everything he touched turned to gold, although I needed to be a bit older to have an awareness of this. Hotter Than July was released in 1980 and was his last great record and since I have a memory of it being played when it was new, I have decided to opt for this one as one which changed my life. I was five years old. The ballad “Lately” has been a lifelong favourite and one which I often like to attempt on karaoke. The album also spawned the hit singles “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” and “Happy Birthday”. This was years before I commenced my journey into rock music and my appreciation for Stevie Wonder has been the subject of some surprise for people over the years, especially through the “long hair and biker jacket” years. Whilst Hotter Than July is a great album, my most favourite era of Stevie Wonder is his trilogy of albums “Talking Book”, “Innvervisions” and “Fulfillingness First Finale” released 1972-1974. Quite simply, the man is a musical god and his music will stay with me whilst ever there is breath in my body.

I grew up listening mainly to pop music throughout most of the 1980s. The radio was always on at home and my dad always liked to watch Top of the Pops. It was a fantastic era for music and even the most commercial hit singles were well crafted. Long before the era of manufactured bilge, artists had to actually write their own material and do it well to get anywhere. One album which sticks out especially is Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” from 1984. Trevor Horn’s production work was legendary (in fact it was arguably more his album than the band’s) and the songs were brilliantly crafted. It was quite progressive in nature, featuring long form songs and remixes of the popular hit singles “Two Tribes” and “Relax” as well as a kick-ass version of Springsteen’s “Born To Run”. It has been some years since I listened to this record and writing this piece has inspired me to buy it again on CD.

My first favourite rock band and inspiration to start playing guitar was definitely Dire Straits. I can’t recall exactly how I came to originally discover them but I remember being 13 years old and immediately obsessing over them. I had all of their albums on cassette and played them all on constant rotation. The first one I bought was the compilation album “Money For Nothing” and so I guess I should say this is the one which changed my life. However, the Straits album I keep going back to is their eponymous 1978 debut. I guess because it’s probably a bit more miserable than the rest of them but the production is just sublime. In contrast to the huge epic production of Welcome to the Pleasuredome, it’s simple back to basics rock. Very carefully crafted and considered guitar tones just melt through you, complemented by Mark Knopfler’s evocative semi spoken vocal. “Sultans of Swing” was the hit of course but this album must be heard in its entirety and on vinyl.

In my mid-teens, many of my school friends were getting into the heavy metal of the day. It was the late 1980s and Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses and Metallica were the sounds of the day. Although I was to later catch up with them, I was on my own journey of musical discovery. My dad’s friend Paul had recommended an album to him which was to change my life forever. That album was “Trespass”, the 1970 album from Genesis. I fell in love with the band in a huge way and later bought their entire back catalogue, along with various related solo releases. It’s a significant body of work. Although not an obvious choice for fans of the band and progressive rock, Trespass was my first love and it remains to this day my favourite album of all time by any artist and unsurprisingly Genesis remain my favourite band of all time. Every track on Trespass is a masterpiece. The textures and soundscapes are beautiful from organic acoustic guitars to heavier rock passages and Hammond organ. Peter Gabriel’s amazing voice sits wonderfully in the mix taking you on a journey. From the opening line of “Looking for Someone” I was hooked. To the average Joe, the name Genesis tends to be synonymous with Phil Collins, yet he was not to join the band until the album after this and this was sadly their last with creative genius Anthony Phillips. I really can’t recommend the band enough. Every album has some absolute gems on. Fans of heavier music tend to favour the Peter Gabriel era which was pre-1975, up to and including “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” but I love all eras of the band. Genesis started my obsession with progressive rock, taking in music from Yes, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator/Peter Hammill, Marillion and later Pink Floyd which leads me nicely on to my next choice.

I had not really paid any proper attention to Pink Floyd until around 1994. I was a regular in the Mannville Arms pub in Bradford and the legendary jukebox contained “Wish You Were Here” and their new release “The Division Bell”. I remember the first time I heard “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and I was blown away. I proceeded to regularly invest many pound coins in putting the albums on constant circulation in the pub.
For me, it’s difficult to pick between the two as to which one changed my life but The Division Bell has endured as my absolute favourite Pink Floyd album. Often derided by Floyd heads, I think it is their best work. Although I loved their earlier work with Waters, by the time they were doing the likes of “The Wall” and “The Final Cut”, the band was losing itself in Waters’ ego. “Animals” was their last great album with him. After his departure, it took the band quite some time to find its magic again with David Gilmour at the helm. “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” had some great moments but The Division Bell was on the money. Sadly it was to be their last proper album. I never tire of listening to it and watching David Gilmour play “High Hopes” live a couple of years ago reduced me to tears. Quite simply magnificent.

Throughout my life I have always been a huge fan of moody and atmospheric music and so discovering Fields of The Nephilim felt like all my Christmases had come at once. “The Nephilim” was my gateway album to goth. It was 1991 and my friend Adam introduced me to this music. His older sisters had been goths throughout the 1980s and he was exposed to it first hand. I promptly went out and bought everything I could find by the likes of The Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and The Mission. I transferred “The Nephilim” and “Dawnrazor” onto a cassette, one album each side and it lived in my Walkman most of the time. There were never many of us who were into goth in our circle of friends and I guess in Bradford at least this largely remains the situation. My attention drifted onto other musics over the years and it wasn’t until much later in life that I rekindled my love for goth and formed a band of my own. It was really a toss-up between this album and “First and Last and Always” by The Sisters of Mercy and were I not limited to 10 albums, then both would surely be included. They both changed my life at around about the same time and in the same way.

Like many of my peers in the late 80s/early 90s I started listening to heavy metal. It took me a little while as I didn’t take to it at first but I eventually got into it at the age of 16/17, which is around about the same time I started going to the plethora of rock/alt pubs and clubs we had in our city. I guess my gateway album to metal had to be Metallica’s “…And Justice For All”, which I discovered just before the “Black” album was released. Of course the Black album became ubiquitous for many years and there are probably thousands of bands out there across the world who are playing a cover of “Enter Sandman” at any given time. I preferred the harder sound and progressive nature of Justice. I remember regularly rocking out to “Harvester of Sorrow”, “One” and “Dyers Eve” on the dancefloor of Bradford Rio’s on a Friday night. Like the obsessed music fan I was, I promptly went out and bought the back catalogue of not only Metallica but the “big four” as well as many many other bands. Out of the thrash bands, Slayer were my favourites with special mention to “Seasons in the Abyss” which is one of the few metal albums that I still listen to from time to time. That’s not to say I don’t still like metal and I particularly enjoy it live. Metal has introduced me to lots of my friends over the years and it’s a brotherhood that I still feel very much a part of even though I’m more on the periphery these days.

My love of goth and my love of metal were both serenaded in about 1993/4 when I discovered the likes of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema. They were the big three of the underground in the early to mid 90s and although I kind of stopped following their work in subsequent years, those early albums remain a big influence on me to this day. It is so difficult to pick one album from this era but Paradise Lost’s “Shades of God” was the first one I discovered. Their follow-up “Icon” was a Mannville jukebox favourite as was My Dying Bride’s “Turn Loose The Swans”. Special mention goes to My Dying Bride’s “The Angel and the Dark River” who’s opening epic track “The Cry of Mankind” was a firm favourite. I happened upon a bunch of guys one night who had been trying to get a band together for some time to play music of this style and I immediately got excited. They needed a bassist. I owned a bass. I ended up becoming the guitarist. I loved playing in Dark Embrace and my thoughts and playing often hark back to those days. 1994-1996 was an awesome time to be in Bradford and a great time for underground metal. It essentially came in three flavours, death, doom and black and any mixture of therein. My standout memory from this time was playing with Solstice and Anathema at Rio’s. It was an awesome night. We ended up taking the Anathema lads round the corner to the Underworld club for a late pint after Rio’s closed. We had to ask the tour manager’s permission and he said “don’t be too late, they have to play London tomorrow”. I think we ended up getting trashed and leaving them in there at about 4am. Great days indeed!

Many of my musical influences ran in parallel and round about the same time as I got into metal, I also liked indie. The standout album for me was The Stone Roses eponymous release. Where the metal brought dark and shade, the Roses brought light and I enjoyed many a night in Tumblers nightclub dancing away to the likes of The Stone Roses, Suede, Blur, The Smiths, The Wedding Present, Carter USM, PWEI, Happy Mondays and many more. Special mention goes to The Smiths “The Queen is Dead” which remains one of my all time favourite albums and one of those rare cases of every track being blindingly good. Much of this was before Oasis emerged onto the scene who I never really got into that much. They were a sort of poor man’s Roses in many ways with the personality of a road accident.

I have always had an appreciation of punk but it wasn’t really until about 2000 that it came to the fore. The musical style changed my life but it’s difficult to pin it down to a single album but for me I think it has to be The Adverts “Crossing The Red Sea”. It has a perfect mixture of melody, power and creativity whilst keeping it simple. TV Smith has a great voice which reminds me of Peter Hammill at times. I have an appreciation of punk in all its forms and I loved playing it in my band Wild Trash. I am more into the first wave, more melodic stuff than the hardcore stuff. Other notable albums are of course The Damned’s “Damned Damned Damned”, The Ruts “Grin & Bear It” and Adam and the Ants “Dirk Wears White Socks” as well as the most obvious example of “Never Mind the Bollocks, here’s the Sex Pistols”. Being a part of the punk scene was an amazing time and it’s something I intend to do more of in the future.

I have always been an over-thinker and over-worrier. I don’t know the root cause of it but it drives me insane at times, especially during the darkest days of the year. I guess some aspects of my childhood were not straightforward, particularly in my school days. I always think people think the worst of me or are mocking me (even some people whom I consider friends). Common-sense suggests that they are not but it’s difficult to focus on that when your head is in a dark cloud.

It’s a self perpetuating exercise to seek reassurance because I believe that comes across as needy, which is seen to be a socially negative trait and so the anxiety continues. Most of the time, it seems to make the most sense to simply say nothing. Although in contradiction to that, some might see me as emotionally expressive anyway. Believe me, there is a lot which I keep to myself.

I suppose being creative exacerbates this, where often work goes ignored or uncommented on. That’s just the way it is, the nature of the beast. Although music is something which should be a personal expression done for ones self, feedback, be it positive or negative is not only reassuring but very useful. You know where you stand to some degree. Absence of feedback, especially from those who’s opinions you value the most contributes to the crushing self-doubt, which most musicians or artists will recognise. It’s not that one seeks approval so much as seeks a frame of reference from which to move forward. Silence and indifference are so much more a cause of anxiety than anything negative and because I consider music to be an extension of the self, it feels to me like being physically ignored at times. It’s never been about recognition or popularity, it’s more about connection or lack of.

As I said though, superficially it’s the nature of the beast when being part of something musical and will always be thus. I just keep on keeping on, doing what I believe in and for those kind enough to take the time to connect, I am truly appreciative. As for these low ebbs, I just sit tight and ride the cloud.

Ten years ago, I once again started frequenting an old haunt of mine called The Mannville Arms. It was called The Head at the time and had been subjected to a great many changes since The Mannville of old had closed in 1995. Located just across the road from Bradford College, it was very much a student pub with a student vibe. It hadn’t hosted anything particularly noteworthy until my friend Tom started there, apart from some DJ nights with Steve, the manager at the time. There was a general feeling that a change was going to come. Mick Dunn was working the bar and he decided, in conjunction with his brother Billy to buy the lease on the place with a view to restoring the pub’s name and vibe. Tom booked the bands and I jumped onboard as a DJ, primarily doing monthly nights but also the odd additional session. I’d been a DJ since 1996 at the Smithy and Empress pubs.

The more I used the place, the more I got involved. It was very infectious. It had always been my favourite pub of old and it was amazing to see the resurrection unfold. I eventually became ents officer for the place, overseeing the entire roster after Tom left and loads of people got involved in the burgeoning scene. At one point, there was some form of entertainment on every single night of the week, be it live music or DJs and punters flooded in.

It was awesome. There was also a real sense of renaissance in the Bradford music scene at large as more and more places turned their attention more to live music and DJ nights. We tried to establish a collective called the BMC (Bradford Music Collective) to attempt to collaborate and cross promote. This worked to varying degrees and most folks were very helpful towards each other. However, despite pleasantries, there was often an ever so slight underlying air of territorialism as quite understandably, everyone wanted to make sure they had their fair share of punters. There were only so many people to go around after all and bills had to be paid. It’s this territorialism which has plagued Bradford over the years, sometimes more than others, which any landlord or manager of one of the city’s venues, past or present will testify. It can be a tough and at times political game.

It gave me many a sleepless night and caused a number of mini-breakdowns as well as self-doubt and doubt in the trust of others. Friendships were tested as I got too close to what I was doing and I became defensive in the face of criticism. Tensions were high.

After the closure of the Mannville in November 2009, over the course of the next 7 or so years, I was to be involved in other venues, each time running myself ragged. I stepped down from regular involvement in 2014 and organised my final event at the beginning of 2016. By this time, the landscape had changed considerably. Old places had closed, making way for new places and new faces. Things seemed on the surface to be very convivial.

After 20 years of being involved in Bradford music scene events in some capacity, I did my last DJ gig on the New Year’s Eve of 2016. My lifestyle was changing. I was ready for the next phase of my life which involved moving away from the city centre and settling down a bit. I’ve still had my bands and I will always be involved in creating and playing music but the events game is not for me anymore.

So far in 2017, I have relocated home twice and my trips into town have been sparse. However, I have kept in touch with people and keep my ear to the ground as much as I can. I sense that between some parties, the politics is still ever present and with it the ill-feeling, mistrust and territorialism which have for years plagued Bradford. I have no reason to not remain neutral and I do hope that differences can be rectified for the sake of the customers above all else. When I was in the thick of it, we were stuck in the middle of a major conflict between venues. It was all very uncomfortable. The punters voted with their feet, ultimately away from the city centre and everybody lost out. The people who learned from that lesson are all now out of business or have moved away and it took a while for things to improve again. It would be a real shame to see things deteriorate again. The traits I recognise from myself of that era, I have noticed in others in more recent times. For those still involved, I would urge you to take a step back from it once in a while, settle your differences, try and cultivate a culture of support and trust and above all else, be positive. People really dig that!

Last Friday, I came to the decision that I would like to start a brand new band to commence in earnest in the new year. I have come to the realisation that there is something missing for me in the musical things that I do and life is passing me by at an increasing rate. I want to be more active in a band and have more fun.

That is not to say that I am not happy with Dawn of Elysium by any stretch.

I love what we do and what we do is good in my opinion. However, in order to get the material to where it needs to be is not the easiest of things. It can be laborious to create, especially with the absence of a drummer and I also struggle to write the lyrics a lot of the time. Then I feel restricted in my guitar playing because I am also singing lead vocal.

When the material is ready to gig, opportunities for the more appropriate gigs seem to be limited, which I can maybe attribute to the nature of the size of the goth scene versus the number of bands that promoters have to accommodate. Despite some very encouraging and very appreciative audiences, progress is positive but comparatively glacial in pace.

We have tried additional (non-goth) gigs where possible and on the occasion where we can get the bookings, there simply doesn’t seem to be the audience. Perhaps people are simply not taking to it, perhaps it can be attributed to not enough promotion. In reality, it’s probably a bit of both. Although there have been those who have really enjoyed it, I have heard the phrase “I think you are great at what you do but it’s not really my cup of tea” a number of times. I’ve given CDs to people to listen to hoping for some feedback only to be met with silence. It simply is what it is and unless I am really missing something, it can never be anything else.

It has a whole lot yet to offer creatively and I will continue with it enthusiastically. It’s five and a half years since we started up and despite my sounding a bit negative, I am loving it more than ever and not about to let it go any time soon. I still believe in what we do, despite feeling a little disheartened at times. There’s no objective right or wrong when it comes to creating music, only what you believe is right for yourself and Dawn of Elysium is certainly right for me within the confines of itself.

However, what I really miss is jamming and creating music organically with a like-minded bunch of people, including live drums. Being able to relax behind my guitar and have some real fun.

Reflecting back on what I have done over the years. I think the last time I was truly happy in this type of situation was pre-2013 Suicide By Cop and the Wild Trash days. Grafting the rehearsals, getting out and playing gigs and perhaps having a bit of a decent following in my home town as well as playing a little further afield (something I have always, always wanted to do more of).

Anyway, 2013 onwards saw SBC grind to a halt. We attempted to reinvent and reboot the band with Echofire and despite us writing some great material, it never regained its mojo and lost momentum to the point where I felt unable to continue with it as it stood. This was remedied for them by getting a new line-up together and continuing with a fresh resolve, the results of which have been fantastic.

As an antidote for me, I set about getting a new band together, which became Man Down. Despite the odd flash of the old spirit returning in the latter half of 2016, it also ultimately suffered from lack of momentum which coupled with a bout of ill health led me to bow out of that project too. On reflection, I maybe threw myself into that too soon. It certainly wasn’t a waste of time for me because I had some great times with some great friends and it did let off some steam. Musically it lost its way in the new year of 2017 for me and that coupled with all the personal challenges that this year has presented me with led me to realise it wasn’t for me at the time. The by-product of it however is that there is still a band of sorts in existence with a new line-up so it hasn’t been a waste at all. I have not heard much of their progress but it all seems very encouraging.

So that brings me to here, the latter half of 2017 with many of the recent personal challenges out of the way and space to think properly.

Have I been fickle? I don’t think I have. In the last 8 years since 2009, I have left two bands, the former of which I stuck with for 6 and a half of them. Much has changed but much has stayed the same. I still have that hunger, that need to create and bounce off other band members. I have done some bits and pieces with friends in a home studio situation but I got stalled with that too. I need to get into the rehearsal room, make some noise, rock out, get sweaty and get excited then get out and play my bollocks off on stage.

To that end, I have put feelers out and am in communications with a number of people. There is a singer/lyricist who is itching to get going with something and a keyboardist whom I have been talking with for months about doing something. It sounds very encouraging. We have yet to get together and talk properly but I think the sound we produce might be of an alternative/indie/rock/punk vibe, judging by common influences. We will need a like-minded drummer and bassist to get things going properly and as such we’ll be actively looking and I will put a more concise advert together.