Postcards From The Coast - Vol. 5

Good news, we’re about to enter the summer season proper, so be sure you

 RUN FREE and make the most of the longest days we will see this year!

Whether the good weather decides to remain delightful is yet to be seen though. Nevertheless, sunshine and warmth just make everything better. Don't they? Well nearly everything, I’ve found it makes training for an endurance event a little more difficult.

Anyway, the trials and tribulations of that can wait until a little later.

Sunshine, blue skies and sea dips (it’s still very fresh without a wetsuit) have been the order for my past 10 days of May and this month has seen me play shows across three counties. Many miles driven, lots of friendly familiar and friendly new faces and as always lots of great music.

On top of playing some venues I’m well acquainted with, May has also seen me play four new venues. It’s always interesting to discover new venues, each one comes with its own intricate set of challenges, especially if I’m tasked with setting up my own sound, but as soon as its time to start playing it's usually all good.

One of those new venues was Crofts Farm in Tewkesbury which brought about the next round of the Road To Lakefest competition.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about this is the third round of a competition that started way back in January. The first round I was picked by the competition judges as one of 30 acts selected from over 600 entries, before the second round saw 18 of the 30 placed in the semi-finals based on a public vote. Again, shout out to anyone reading who dropped me a vote, this next stage obviously wouldn’t have happened without you.

The semi-final stage saw me play a 5 song twenty-minute set (see what I went with below)

Setlist – 1. Sapphires   2. Paper Rounds   3. Run Free   4. Be Where Your Feet Are   5. Saints & Sinners

 in front of a panel of five judges and other members of the public who were there to enjoy a sunny bank holiday weekend.

 I was delighted with how it went and being able to meet and listen to performances from other artists who made it to this stage of the competition was exceptionally interesting as there was such a wide variety of styles on show. The judges and the atmosphere were wonderfully friendly, it was a terrific day to be a part of, hopefully I get a call up for the final in June, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Regardless, making it to the semi-final stage means I have a set at Lakefest Festival in August on the bill alongside artists such as Madness, Newton Faulkner and Example to name but a few. Something I’m very excited for in August.

In the studio, this month I have taken on the role of designer. Being an independent artist means at times covering all sorts of jobs and tasks. Redesigning the website, designing album covers and merch took precedent and although at times frustrating, especially the website building, I’ve found it to be a fun change up. It has led to less recording time in May but glad to report the ship keeps moving in the right direction and there will be more music from me in the coming months.

In a brief deviation from music talk and back to the trials and tribulations of training for an endurance event. I mentioned last month that I would be running the North Devon Marathon, unfortunately since that moment I have barely been able to run. A small foot issue has left training restricted to mostly cycling on a stationary bike in what has been a very hot corner of the gym, which is far from ideal. Even more so when training for a hilly trail marathon, but it’ll have to do right now.

 I still intend to run the marathon, but this foot injury has also had the knock-on effect of interrupting what was no doubt going to be a spectacular promotional plan for my upcoming new single Run Free (cue independent musician temporarily morphing into social media marketing manager as well).

I had envisioned spending much of June filming promo clips running around the Southwest along the glorious coastline under blue skies & sunshine, but for now these clips will have to be done at a gentler pace. Still, what I can promise is beautiful scenery and probably a little bit of lip syncing just no sprinting along the beach or through the woods.

The irony is not lost on me that Run Free is out in a few weeks and it just happens at a point where I’m far from running freely, but this is not a song about running. It's a song about making the most of the moments we are afforded, getting out there and seeing all the different angles this beautiful world has to offer.

Would like to hear RUN FREE before anyone else?

Well then be sure to click the PRE-SAVE link right below!

Pre save link - https://ffm.to/runfree

It means you won’t miss out on the track on release day.

With 100,000 tracks uploaded daily every Pre-Save helps the track find the right people such as yourselves and cut through a tremendous amount of noise!

It may only take you 30 seconds, but it makes a huge difference to the trajectory of how and where these streaming companies share the song.

I’ve really enjoyed my month of May and I hope you have as well.

I wish you a sunny June and hope it brings you lots more of the things you need.

Maybe we will catch up in the real world in June but until then,

RUN FREE!

Postcard No. 5 – Polzeath beach, taken from just outside Surfside an awesome beach bar and new venue I played for the first time this month.