The Making Of Changed Priorities Ahead
Changed Priorities Ahead is a traffic sign that can be found in the back streets of Luton where I used to work. I would walk past this sign on most days. I only started paying it serious attention when my job as a television reporter started to lose its appeal. I found myself wondering about my own priorities and that perhaps I could conceivably be mistaken. Impulsively I resigned, went freelance and bought myself a piano. I had been taught to play the piano when I was young but I had given up after leaving university and so, after a fourteen year break, I was rather apprehensive about touching the piano keys again. Surprisingly it all felt familiar and within a short space of time I found that I had, once again, become a piano nut, running off the scales, bounding up and down the arpeggios, as well as cursing the stubbornness of my left hand which seemed unable to play Beethoven as perfectly as I would have liked. As if from nowhere melodies started to appear. I would repeat them, record them on my hand-held tape recorder and develop them. These short passages kept on coming, as if I had opened the cupboard door on a store of them, and out they fell, one after the other. There came a stage when I would wake up in the morning and think, "Well, I wonder what I'm going to find on the piano today ?" It's one thing finding a riff, it's another thing developing it into a fuller sounding work, but against all the odds I persevered and arrived at the point where I had about twenty tracks that I was happy with. What next? I could either play them for myself and my family or I could try to reach a wider audience. Time to make a recording. The first recording I made of Changed Priorities Ahead was at St George's Hall in Bristol. I had read in The Pianist Magazine about its unparalleled acoustics together with the provision of an excellent Steinway concert grand. And it turned out to be true. I booked the hall in August 2002, hired two sound recordists, and played my heart out. Although the recording was in mono I was very pleased with the result and this gave me the confidence to consider working with a professional recording studio to make a stereo CD that would stand up in the market place. After much searching on the internet I came across The Premises Studios based in East London. Viv Broughton runs the studio, and I had sent him a copy of my St George's Hall recording and he was enthusiastic about the work. I had heard that if an artist's work wasn't worth pursuing The Premises would politely but firmly say so, and so I was pleased that Viv thought my work was worth the studio's time and effort. I booked the studio for March 2003 and prepared to do the best I could. The Premises use a Yamaha grand piano for solo piano recordings, and I realized I was in good company when I was told that Nina Simone had used it for rehearsals. I was about to play the keys touched by a piano goddess.
I wish I could offer heaps of advice for up and coming artists. Unfortunately I cannot. The route I have taken is expensive and the odds of anyone hearing my work outside of my nearest circle of friends and colleagues is at best remote. The internet is a big place and although I feel that the light that I am shining is bright, there are many more bright lights out there wanting to be seen. Nevertheless, I suppose the one thing anyone who takes the self production route has on their side is themselves. Self produced means just that. It may well be one of the few opportunities, especially if you are signed by a big record label, where you can be yourself, without having to please the market place, your agent or the record company. I suppose it is your chance to say, "This is me, this is what's inside, I hope you like it." For the time being Changed Priorities Ahead is what I have to offer: it's about me, it comes from inside, I hope you like it. Best Wishes to you. |
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On the day of the recording, I wandered along the corridors of The Premises and I could hear other sessions taking place in the rehearsal rooms. Here was I about to record modern piano music with all of its accompanying subtleties and nuances and in one room was a thrash metal band, in another was a rap cum punk artist, and in a third was a jazz ensemble. This was everyman music country, this was music at its most complex and diverse, this was where I wanted to be.