The plan was to write a blog post for this page every month, but real life has just got a bit frantic. In a good way. Summer is here, which can only mean one thing: Richards is panicking a bit about the fringe. I'd be lying if I said all of my shows are looking the way I want them to at the moment, but that's what these many previews are for, isn't it? And that's why those previews are either free or very cheap entry...by the time they all head to Edinburgh, though, they'll be sharp and I'll be as comfortable as a professionally awkward man can be. I'm directly involved in seven different Edinburgh Fringe shows this year, five of which I'm also in, the other two I've written. It's going to be a crazy one, but they keep on letting me do my thing and people keep coming to see me so as long as that continues...
Had a lovely time at Barnstaple Theatre Festival in Devon; such a lovely part of the world, such a nice festival and such nice audiences. I ran my Short Plays for Marvellous People there and picked up a bunch of positive reviews in the process, which is cool. Other previews have been...well, they're happened. I'm now also the resident 'comedian' for Folk on the Green, having had a successful first show there recently.
Band stuff has been great, Fred's House have been gigging a fair bit, two new singles are out and the new album is done, we just need about 6 months or so to sort out the PR for it before going off on tour again. It's honestly the best thing we've ever done, we're very proud. It's a bit dark, this one, but we're proud all the same.
In the meantime, as a drum teacher three of my regular students have now joined bands, having only started playing in January when they started lessons with me - this makes me everso proud! I was a guest teacher at Sidney Sussex College the other day which was great fun; everything is pretty much how it should be at the moment.