Postcards From The Coast - Vol. 8
Woo woo wee waa!
August has been one hell of a busy month, that is certainly not a complaint. I love dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging all over the place. Summer might be ending, well that is as long as a 37th heatwave doesn’t arrive, it is one I will reflect on fondly.
As promised August has seen me play gigs in 4 counties, with more than a few at pubs/restaurants/bars, a couple at vineyards, one in a surf studio, a charity gig, one at a castle and obviously a rather large festival. All this travelling has led to meeting so many people, some new some familiar 99% friendly, as well as witnessing some drunken behaviour that would scar even the most battle-hardened troubadours whilst gigging on those late Saturday nights. Don’t worry nothing illegal happened just people making it hard to concentrate when trying to sing….
Anyway, earlier this month I headed to perform at Lakefest 2026, if you’ve been following along, you will already know this 8-month journey has involved multiple rounds of competition all leading up to this moment. Well, it was most certainly worth it! I performed twice over the weekend, once on the RTL stage and another time on the Yamaha stage with both experiences being exceptionally fun, the crowds were very receptive and supportive. It was also lovely to catch up with other artists met along the Road to Lakefest, in particularly I enjoyed a set from Devon indie folk duo Hidden Coves, they seem to be in the mould of one of my favourite duos Ocie Elliott and I’m excited to see what they do next.
Lakefest was also an opportunity to catch one of my favourite artists Newton Faulkner live for the first time in a while and as always, he was a one-man musical force of nature. Truly a special artist, unbelievable the sound he manages to create as a solo performer.
Apart from music, Lakefest provided no phone signal, hot nights sleeping in a tent, lots of walking and a lot of great vibes. Exaclty what you would expect from a summer festival! I hope to return there and play again in 2027…
There has been lots of beautiful venues for gigs this month and I have been truly grateful for all of them but one stuck out for different reasons. After a chance meeting at one of my gigs, I offered my time to play music for an hour at a charity event for Brain Tumour Research, specifically to support two local men who suffer with brain cancer. As always, I loved playing but meeting one of the men, Luke, afterwards put a lot about life in perspective, his kindness and interest in my work really struck me. I came away grateful for the experience and glad I was able to offer a very little bit of my time to help the fundraising. For me it was an afternoon that reminded me all the silly things in life we can complain about feel ridiculously inconsequential.
Now this next paragraph is strictly for those of you that are interested in music equipment, so if that’s not you maybe skip to the next one where I share an exciting announcement.
Alternatively, you could stick around and hear me geek out.
Firstly, I’ve made a bit of big change on the guitar front. My trusty Taylor guitar found a new home as well as an Alvarez guitar that you might have seen me playing over the last couple of years. In their place I’ve returned to what I know bringing a Martin D-10e into the fold. I’ve not been able to put this thing down at home (my neighbours can probably confirm) and I’m excited to get it out on the road soon! It's from Martins Road Series of guitars after all. You’ll see this one soon enough so let me know what you think of it!
I’ve also done a fair bit of tinkering and trading on the pedal board front.
After years of admiration, I decided to buy a couple of new pedals, one a Strymon El Capistan – their tape delay pedal, one to experiment with in the studio and when I've finally worked out all the functions and dialled it in as I like to add it to the live show board.
While delay is a common effect for acoustic guitarists in the indie folk music sphere, distortion most certainly is not. However, I’ve heard it work extremely well live for artists, most notably Kim Churchill and Newton Faulkner, so I took a leap and bought a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. This might end up as a disastrous experiment. Either way September’s studio experiments should be intriguing and I'm sure a lot of fun!
I’m also excited to share that between all the gigs, recording and producing has kept me busy and that my second single of the year ‘Sapphires’ will be heading your way 18th September! When I write it out, I realise it really isn’t that far away and I have a lot of work to get on with for release day – promo, press releases, album art, banners, the list goes on and on and on.
If I knew when I had started writing ‘Sapphires’ a few years back it would be such a tricky puzzle to figure out, I might have put the pen down after the first line. Now it’s finished though, I’m very glad to have worked my way through it and I’m very excited to be able to share it with you all so soon.
If you’d like to listen to it before anyone else, then I’ll leave the Spotify pre-save link right below, with pre orders for amazon and apple music available from September 4th.
Most of you who are here will know the deal by now and anyone who pre-saved ‘Run Free’ should find it’s extremely simple to repeat the process if you do it from the same device. (Well that is what I’ve been promised but if it is not the case shoot me a message)
More pre-saves = More Spotify’s algorithm pushes the track out. For an independent artist like me who’s marketing budget is somewhat limited compared to your big labels; add to that the continued fight against the nefarious AI music scene any help you can afford me is wholeheartedly appreciated.
As always, I’m exceptionally grateful to all of you who already give me so much support.
September usually sees the gigs slow down for me a little, the studio time ramp back up and time for a deep breath to see what is next. What that will be in the form of I’m not entirely sure, but I like to think that many more exciting things aren’t so far away.
From me on the coast to wherever you are I say thank you for a great summer. I’ve had more people request for me to play songs I’ve written more than ever, I think that is a sign we’re heading in the right direction. I hope you have had a sunny one to remember as well.
All the best, I’ll be back with another postcard for you next month! Postcard No.8 - Loving the split screens right now Left: Performing at Lakefest on the Yamaha stage
Right: A shot towards Morte point after a summer dip in the sea
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