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 What a total idiot - agreeing to write a large scale chamber work describing Quantum Physics. I ask you! But I did it…
June 1st '07 - ‘Superluminal’ premiere day. I meet the musicians in the huge chapel of Lancing College. That day the chapel looked as though it had dropped from the sky onto the south downs – and that was exactly how I felt. The life of Einstein, Copenhagen theorists, Planck’s constant, Schroedinger’s Cat – and me directing from the guitar whilst operating samplers and Kaoss pads with my toes.
Well – I got through it and people clapped and said nice stuff (probably whilst thinking: “Why can’t he play some nice Spanish music”). I smiled, thanking God that the battery in my i-beam held out and the string players hadn’t got lost.
By midnight I was home repacking gear and, after just four hours sleep, I was in the car heading for Devon. The sun rose in my rear view mirror and the weird sounds of the previous night echoed in my head. This was the life.
That day’s gig was a concert of free improvisation inside a giant plastic bubble in Barnstaple town centre. “All in a day’s work” thought I, beginning a mammoth six hour improvisation with Lawrence Casserley (computers) and Simon Dessorgher (flutes, whistles). The audience wandered about the inflatable structure or just gazed in at us goldfish musicians. Bubble temperature hit 40 degrees as we cooked ourselves into an ecstatic, avant-garde swirl, pausing only for me to perform Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint on my Gary Hearn Skeleton guitar whilst Lawrence and Simon went for bottles of water.
The next morning I stopped the car on the way home and jumped in the sea. I swam far out into the bay at Golden Cap and looked back at the Dorset coast. The cliffs glowed as beautiful as I have ever seen them and the sea was perfectly still in the early morning sunshine looking almost convex and oily, disturbed just for a moment as a little wooden fishing boat slid past. I trod water and felt the string marks on the pads of my left hand fingers. I’d done so much playing this year, especially in the last few days, and this was where my guitar had brought me. I felt content. (click to continue)
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Electric Counterpoint (2007)
Music from the Colourdome (2005)
La Guitarra Latina Vol 1 (2000)
The Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1998)
This Friday's Airport Club features a host of talent including a set from the great English songwriter Robin Scott (he of "Pop Music" fame). The club will also be my first gig in two years with the great Mr Herbie Flowers. Herb and I have asked legendary drummer Malcolm Mortimore to sit in with us for the last part of what should be a memorable evening of music. I can't wait to play with Herb again, our shows together have always taught me so much and been such incredible fun. And as for Malc....
A Happy New Year to you all, and many thanks to those of you who came to my concerts in 2007. It was a very important year for me with more performances than ever before. I really appreciate so many folk turning up to my gigs and am busy preparing lots of new material for my shows in 2008. 
