The Challenge

I have, for a number of years, believed that being prolific in songwriting, has more to do with the time you dedicate to it rather than waiting for the lightning bolt of inspiration. So, if it's about making time and it's a skill and a craft that I want to keep improving on, it can be frustrating when time is precious or the only time you have is half an hour before you go to sleep and you're worried about waking up the neighbours' kids.

However...! I make too many excuses and now I am committing myself to a challenge. A modest one, I'll admit, but a challenge nonetheless. I've tried these songwriting quotas in the past, with varying success. A fellow writer suggested I try writing four songs in an hour for two hours solid and see if there was anything worth keeping or see if there were bits I could piece together. I tried it a couple of times. There's wasn't much worth keeping. Still, it was fun trying and I liked the discipline of it. I also wouldn't mind trying it again sometime. I can imagine the results would improve with time. Given my limited hours, my challenge shall be thus: one song per week. One song to take to the band every week. This post makes me accountable so if I haven't posted within seven days talking about a newbie, I expect anyone reading to berate me for it.

Apart from it providing me with a good target, I also want to take in a few new songs to the studio in August. Though we've got enough for a full length album, I'm hoping we'll have time to record more than we need to create a bit of competition for places. I think we're all really looking forward to recording but we've still got some work to do before we're entirely ready. One of the things I'm interested to see when we do get in there is what surprises are thrown up - which songs, with a producer's eyes on them, will come up short and what will unexpectedly come alive.

In other news....

We've entered the Green Man Unsigned competition, with the promise of an opening slot at the festival. I LOVE Green Man, though it's been a few years since I've attended, and we'd love your support if you can spare a couple of clicks. Follow this link to give us your seal of approval. The top ten artists go through to the second round and another ten are hand-picked by Radio DJ, Huw Stephens.