My slot is going to be 4.35 – 5.05pm, in between the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Rep Theatre. Later on the CBSO no less will be performing on the same stage.

With luck this should easily be the biggest solo gig I have played so far, so thanks to the ArtsFest and to my ever loving partner Lyndall for being patient with our fluctuating travel plans. Rockin!

Hearing the rich tones of my digital piano reverberating through that kind of space should be pretty amazing – looking forward to this one.

I was imagining peeling off rusty plates of armour from a figure that had been buried a long time in the ground, gradually peeling off layer after layer and revealing what was underneath.

Im seeing the “self” as an encrustation of responses that have turned into defense mechanisms, perceptions that have ossified into beliefs and tendencies that have petrified into habits.

Coated in this fixed layer of solidified self, the being inside the armour has become mired in the morass of the society around it. Elements of the dense atmosphere has adhered to the surface of the armour, reinforcing its strength and further separating the being inside from the reality that surrounds it.

Sinking further into the turgid ground beneath it, the figure has become embedded and trapped, its movements gradually decreasing until it has become entombed and motionless, its potential for growth lying dormant inside.

Now the figure has been discovered and exhumed, the process begins of peeling off the surface to find what lies beneath – a simple being of infinite light, an indefinable process of energy and becoming.

All Piano Radio is an enjoyable mix of classic and contemporary and if you listen long enough, you should find one or two of my tunes mixed up in there.

Warfare is an overt form of business.

Britain is a business.

Part of the job of the government is to sell us the idea that we need a government.

Your Music Blog is a new enterprise and well worth checking out, particularly for rock music which is Peter’s own specialty (he’s in established rock group Chinawhite).

He’s given Valentine Court an interesting review too.  He starts with some kind words about the music and then goes on to do what many reviewers shy away from and gives some interesting critical feedback.  He suggests that I might consider experimenting with some pieces with fewer notes in the future, or putting it the other way around, with more silence and space.

This I found an interesting comment – composer/pianists I enjoy such as Satie (as Peter states) and also Ludovico Einaudi are able to produce much simpler and sparser arrangements than I and I wonder if this is partly me compensating for a lack of confidence by keeping things busy.  Or perhaps to put it another way, one’s music reflects one’s state of mind and to date I’ve had to work quite hard (in a way) to achieve space in my mind and I think thats reflected in my music – there are moments of relative stillness – particularly in the climax of Jewel and Namaste, but these tend to be hard won, coming as the result of a build up towards that moment.

Mind you, Satie was an absolute master of tonality and Einaudi has a remarkable ear for melody, so perhaps the relative simplicity they sometimes achieve is hung on those particular gifts.

One of the many musical ideas I have saved on my digital piano is a very still and simple piece with only two chords, so perhaps I will be exploring that territory more in the future.  Time will tell of course, but in the meantime, thought provoking comments from Peter.

OK, to be fair, I should explain that I havent gone to a lot of painstaking effort to create my own station – this is a feature of the excellent LastFM.com.  If you dont know Last FM, I’d strongly recommend trying it out – its a superb music resource – bit like Myspace for grown ups if you dont mind me saying so!

Antway, one of Last FMs features if that you can listen to tons of music – streamed and for free – and one of the ways you can approach that is to click on the “play artist radio” button, clearly shown beneath the picture on each artists’ page.  The radio feature then launches, first playing one track from the particular artist you have selected and then, using Last FM’s clever software, continuing with selections from other similar artists.

Very clever and very effective – you can skip any track you dont like and theres no adverts – check out my station here if you fancy it – happy listening!

For my set, I was a little taken aback at first by how quiet the audience were – very attentive and polite.  Probably because it was in a pub – albeit in the venue room of what is certainly one of Birmingham’s very bext music pubs – I suppose I expected it to be more lively – but actually the gentle mood suited the line up very well.

If the Capsule ladies ask me back, I may well with what was my first thought for this gig – since attendees at a Capsule gig are likely to be fairly seriously into music -  and take the chance to do a fully instrumental set, but instead I played what is currently my established set for acoustic nights and such – mostly my songs, with just a couple of my instrumentals.

Next Up – Friendly Fire built on the chilled mood, with moments of intensity and neat combination of modern, geekdom and classic 70s American folk rock.

Finally Phosphorescent took the stage – not totally at their ease for several songs, perhaps in part due to having travelled down from Glasgow in the day and arriving a bit late – but their relationship with the crowd progressed as the night went on.   Some superb musicianship was on display from all six members, comprising piano, soulful lead guitar, beautiful and haunting pedal steel as well as bass, drums and rhythm.

The sound was amazing – a great PA in there with Bartram ably and assuredly handling the controls as always.

Here’s a good review of the show, with pics by Katya Ogrin (one of which Ive borrowed for this post) over on brumlive.com

Some highlights from the review by Simon Harper include:

“Quietly building melody and atmosphere, Batsford appears to excel at gently shaping moods and it’s with the beautifully haunting ‘Namaste’ which the album really comes into its own, mining a seam of melancholy which unites the most arresting tracks here.”

“winding repeated melody patterns into heartbreaking shapes, packing an emotive punch”

and finally “frequently thrilling … this is a marvellous introduction.”

Please read the whole review here and if you have a minute, do peruse the rest of Bearded’s lovely new site.
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For those that may not already know, the Capsule ladies have a exceptional 10 year hisory of running extremely good concerts and also the Supersonic Festival – two of Birmingham’s finest.

On this occasion, I’ll be supporting Phosphorescent – an interesting touring outfit from America with a very nice line folky americana.

They are based around the work of Brooklyn, NY resident Mathew Houck and have released several albums to critical acclaim, offering something to fans of Dylan, Willie Nelson or the Fleet Foxes.

They are supported by Forest Fire – whose album Survival was one of Rough Trades top ten albums of last year.

I’ll be happily propping up the bill (so get there nice and early as I’ll be up soon after the 8pm start) tickets are £10 from the ticket sellers – but I have a deal where there first 10 people to email me a reply can get tickets for only £7 – so drop me a line asap if you can make it and I’ll sort you out.
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