Around the age of twelve my Dad used to take me to the seaside town of Torquay every Saturday to go shopping. It was one of those weekends when I came across two very special music related DVD’s at the now deceased Virgin Megastore that changed my life forever:
“A Film About Jimi Hendrix” documentary and “Metallica: Cunning Stunts” concert film.
To this day I couldn’t tell you what made me purchase these particular DVD’s. I had no real passion for music, Mum had tried to force me into piano lessons a few years before and I hated it. But when I got home and watched these two films they completely and utterly blew my mind. The next thing I did was beg and plead my very supportive parents into buying me a guitar so I could start learning the instrument and begin writing songs like my newfound heroes Jimi Hendrix and Metallica.
Due to the nature of my voice and how my brain works I gradually came to the realisation I could never be a carbon copy of the great musicians I started listening to. Eventually over a period of a few years I started to develop my own style that in hindsight was heavily influenced by the folk music my Dad would listen to in the car.
‘In Praise Of Shadows’ was one of the first tracks I ever wrote. It’s a laid-back, mournful acoustic track with simple lyrics that I’m quite proud of. I have remade the song on many occasions due to getting better at recording and upgrading my gear. I don’t have the first sketch at hand anymore to show you, but my shy teenage signing voice from that time really wasn’t anything to marvel at, trust me. The current version of the song is still faithful to the original.
Take a listen to the track via my Bandcamp link (recommend using headphones):
Zoolon 