The Phonica

December has been a really productive month for me. It was a chance to take the pandemic and use it against itself. Despite its attempt to alienate and heighten differences while keeping us all apart and it tried to make us forget the wonder of shared humanity. It was a chance for me to double down on my recording for the new album. At least that was my plan until I was somewhat distracted.

A call from my employer requesting a Zoom performance for the company Christmas party, saw me initially refuse. I had already played The Smith Cemetry Gates at one company meeting already. So I refused on account of fearing greed for limelight and attention. What was I thinking? I’m going to have to adjust this mindset if I’m to successfully release an album this year. Luckily I was asked twice and I’m glad I was and I agreed. My wife chose for me a festive classic, Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl. She simply told me that was the song to play and to stop looking. She was right of course. I had a week to learn and rehearse the song fit for performance. Another good choice was to select the Ibanez 12 string guitar for a really Christmasy sound. A guitar that my family has bought for me for Christmas one year, how fitting. Then I had to learn how to pipe my vocals and guitar into my computer, add reverb and compression and then pipe that into Zoom. Tech fun, but the result was excellent thanks to Apple’s Main Stage software And some advanced sound routing. But there was something missing. The choruses were missing Kirsty’s perfect 6th harmonies. So I unboxed my Boss Vocal loop and harmonizor pedal so I could kick a harmony off with a flick of a pedal. I decided to Zoom my Dad and his partner for practice having started the week pretty slowly largely due to setting myself the tricky task of finger picking the more delicate parts for a truer rendition of the song. The performance was good enough for some to tell me they enjoyed it very much. But not as much as me by far. I am so glad to had been urged to do this performance. It really pushed me on my vocals, guitar and sound engineering. But it was so rewarding. Playing in front of your peers is a true test for your nerves!! I was rewarded with such support that I was humbled. Heres a snippet below. Happy new year!