Play on – my life in music

Earlier this year I decided to create my own little piece of the internet. It began as an exercise in building my own website and keeping a blog about the things that interest me and make me tick, for no other reason than my own personal pleasure. I am not chasing monster statistics or recognition and I do not pretend to be any kind of influencer or content creator, as they call them now.

I had a blog before but looking back, its tone and content had begun to feel like something of an albatross. I did not want to migrate everything across verbatim because it came from a different place, perhaps one of insecurity and a desire to be recognised.

One feature of the old site was a section documenting all the musical projects I had been involved with over the years. That history is obviously personal to me so I wanted to recreate it in the new space, though I also wanted to approach it differently.

Rather than simply listing the people and the music, which can be a little dry to read, I decided to immerse myself in the memories and describe what I saw, how I felt and what I learned. It became less about describing the stations along the way and more about charting the journey itself.

I began with the same list as a framework and have been tackling each section bit by bit. My intention is to cover every one of them, so there’s still plenty to do!

I have covered around half a dozen chapters so far and it has proved quite a cathartic and therapeutic exercise. There have been plenty of ups and downs over the years and I have tried to address the events and people involved in a considered way, writing about the experiences rather than dwelling on perceived actions or old grievances.

Anyway, the result is a growing collection of chapters called Play On. It is not intended as a definitive history of any of the bands involved, merely my own recollection of the road travelled so far. There are still plenty of chapters to write and no doubt memories to rediscover along the way, so the pieces will continue to evolve. More pictures and music will be added as the section develops.

Comments are very welcome. There’s a section on the page for just that. If you were part of any of these memories and think I have misremembered something or have anything to add, please let me know.

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I am enjoying writing them.

Play On