Q – Your debut album, ‘Something to Say’ is superb! Can you briefly describe the type of music our readers can expect to hear ?
Why, thank you! I’ve been described as a ‘classic singer songwriter’ which is perhaps suitably vague. Musically the album straddles pop, folk, rock and a few in-betweens but is generally acoustic guitar or piano driven. Lyrically, the album is called ‘Something To Say’ for a reason, because each song has, whether that be me in fictional storyteller mode or tackling some harder hitting subject matters that others might shy away from. It’s music for grown ups.
Q – How did your parents influence the album?
Both of my parents passed away in 2020 having both lived with dementia, my Mum (who had early onset and fought it for 25 years) just before we started recording the album, my Dad a few months later during. I had witnessed with both of them the power that music has to connect with those with dementia and help bring them back to their surroundings, their loved ones and bring peace. It’s part of my motivation to create music and to get it heard, knowing it has that power as well as other wellbeing and mental health benefits for all of us, especially as we age, that we are only now starting to properly understand.
Other than informing a song called The Hurting, which is a fictional but (hopefully) touching tale about the quest for a dignified end, the most direct influence was on a song called ‘You Are Not Alone’, which I wrote a few days after my Mum passed away. It was a comfort blanket to wrap myself up in at that time, but very gratifyingly the song has clearly connected with many others in deep and profound ways and has provided solace and comfort. There is no better reason for doing this in my book.
Q – You entered the musical arena later in life and your mantra is mature music matters. Can you explain this?
I actually have many a mantra, but that is one of the important ones! New mature artists are predominantly ignored and underrepresented by the music industry at large, especially by the record labels. The focus is on finding the new young trendy talent, hooking their corresponding mostly younger fans in from an early age and taking them on a (financially milked) journey with that artist for as long as they can. There is also a short-sighted industry belief that as we age we become less inclined to discover new music from new artists, but the truth is that the industry fails to serve up new older artists that might be more relevant to us. A sixteen to twenty-five year old couldn’t have written my album, they wouldn’t have had the life experiences to draw from. Whilst music itself doesn’t have an age, a good song is a good song, but it can connect on a deeper level when it resonates with us and is more relevant to us than perhaps a song about driving past your exes house having just got your driving licence (although Olivia Rodrigo is a breath of fresh air in terms of younger artists coming through, with, you know, some real instruments!). #MatureMusicMatters
Q – What has been your most memorable gig to date?
That would have been earlier this year. It was in the beautiful setting of Todmorden Unitarian Church, I’d had the call just the evening before that someone had dropped out and could I step in, a nine hour round trip, but it was worth it. It was opening for Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff and one of the positives doing this in later years is getting the opportunity to meet and share a stage with people whose songs have been a part of your life. It was also memorable in that someone came up to me afterwards and told me that she had recently lost her father and that one of my songs (You Are Not Alone) made her cry. I’d like to think that it was because it moved her in an emotional way rather than it was that bad!
Q – When is the album released and how can we buy it?
The album is coming out on Friday 1st November and I will be doing a free launch performance in HMV on Oxford Street later that afternoon. The album is available to pre-order now on CD & 2x LP Vinyl (half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road for any vinyl aficionados out there!) from the likes of Amazon, HMV etc, but if you pre-order from my webstore at thegleeman.co.uk you will get immediate exclusive access to ‘You Are Not Alone’.