" I live for performances...being able to connect with a room full of people for any amount of time is why I do this."
I'm a Folk singer, songwriter and poet from Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire, England that gets his kicks from playing live music. I'm heavily influenced by a mix of Folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Frank Turner and Laura Marling as well as artists bands such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dropkick Murphy's and Tom Waits in turn creating a powerful acoustic sound.
When I was twelve I began teaching myself how to play Bass and Drums. I then thought I'd give guitar a go and after playing in a few punk bands in and around school decided that I'd have a go at writing. Though my first song will never change the world, it make me ambitious to write more and to experiment with different instruments and genres.
When I was 15 I heard Mumford & Sons for the first time and just like that I fell in love with Folk music. I love the accessibility of it to anyone that wants to get involved...it's kinda like punk in that way. I then went on to listen to other modern Folk artists such as Frank Turner, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, Laura Marling, Jake Bugg as well as older folk musicians such as the great Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Donovan, Woody Guthrie and Dave Van Ronk.
I was eager to embrace folk music on every instrument possible, so got hold of a range of instruments such as a Banjo, Harmonicas and a Mandolin to expand my song writing and also in a hope that a there were other like minded young musicians in Leighton Buzzard that would want to start a band. To my luck the members of my first Punk band were also falling in love with Folk and we began jamming together. 7 members later 'Barricade' was born in which we wrote music, played covers, recorded singles and most of all put on a wild show. Sadly in the summer of 2014 it all came to an end and we played our final gig on 20th July 2014.
Though I was sad it was over, it didn't stop me from wanting to gig so I found myself applying to every open mic night in a 50 mile radius, turning up to gigs hoping they had a spare 5 minutes for a song of two and even a fair amount of busking in both Leighton Buzzard and London. It was at this point I began churning out songs daily as well and yes a lot of them will never ever be performed or recorded because they are lousy, but in every 100 songs, there was always one that stood out to me as a song that I considered gig worthy.
In November 2014, I began recording my first EP named 'Who Knows' after the 4th and final track on the EP. It was also at this point I started trying to find a band. Now I should probably say now, the band are not a backing band to me. Like Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Joan Baez & The Band and Jake Bugg, they are musicians that join me on stage and records to add depth to the songs and most of all bring them to life and away from the generic singer songwriter crap I see all around me.
At the end of the summer of 2015 I moved to Bath Spa University to study Commercial Music and have started recording and gigging.
My primary instruments are Guitar, Bass Guitar, Harmonica and Banjo. I am also able to play Drums, Mandolin and Ukulele. I'm able to play and adjust to many different types of genres from band/gig experiences in genres such as Folk, Blues, Punk, Rock, Jazz, Soul and Funk.