Just where is this year going? Is it a sign that I'm getting, you know, old? Either way, hello. It's been a while since I've written an actual blog post on here, the initial plan was to ramble away on a monthly basis but if I did, it would suggest that I have far too much time on my hands...
It's all good fun, though, everything, even the grown-up stuff that seems to involve a lot of paperwork. The drum lessons this year have been wonderful; my lessons tend to typically be a mix of hard work and chaos, with a lot of laughs along the way. Learning doesn't have to be boring and I'm finding that adding more games, more challenges and more fear (the fear of playing live to lots of people) really helps. I'm currently teaching in six schools, plus regular weekend workshops at another, alongside many private lessons and occasional guest lessons out of town (most recently, I taught a one-off 'drums for beginners' course at Oxford University, which was a lot of fun). I have a strong belief that drums can benefit everyone; not just those learning (who certainly benefit, especially if they have social/confidence issues), but charities, too...it's all rather simple: I want my students to be onstage, my students want stage time in a non-pressure sort of way, so putting on small-scale gigs with a hat going around for charity helps everyone. A few weeks' back we put on a six-hour drum relay, which raised £400 for the victims of the Australian bushfires. We had a brilliant (sweaty, ridiculous) day, a lot of my students had a lot of time onstage for the first time and we raised a few quid for a worthy cause. More of this sort of thing soon.
Elsewhere, I've been back on the road with my stressful little one-man play, Harvey Greenfield is Running Late. The recent show in Wales was a career highlight: such a magnificently drunk, enthusiastic, sold-out audience. It also ran in Ely, Cambridge and Oxford before three nights at the West End, which went surprisingly well considering I forgot to print posters. I've now performed this play 66 times, it's a true story and I really believe in it; thanks to everyone who has come down and supported this frankly exhausting production - I'm actually having a lovely time, even if the character is having a total breakdown. The show is being made into a feature-film, which goes into production in July. I've been re-cast as myself, and there's also a bunch of proper actors (and a former Blue Peter host) in it, too. More soon, but this has the potential to be huge. Or at least something we're all creatively satisfied with, at least. Outside of Harvey G, my podcast sitcom, Three Men and a Bassist, is now being edited by the mighty Alan Morgan and will be launched soon. I'm proud of this one, it's a slow burner, but it comes from a good place and we had a lot of fun making it. I hope people like it because I'd really love to write a second series - this team of Alan, other Alan, Warren, Liz, Samantha, Rory and Kate are a joy. There's some BBC stuff, but it's so up in the air it's best I keep quiet for now. I also wrote a new play over Christmas, about a woman obsessed with the year 1979, but after a brief workshop of it, we all realised it was just 'nice' and nothing more, so I'll put it aside for now. Not everything has to work, does it?
As a drummer, I'm as busy as ever - Fred's House, after a frankly difficult 2019, are hitting 2020 with all guns blazing, which is the last thing my schedule needs. But these guys are still my best friends and if I'm going to spend hours in a freezing studio somewhere off the A10, it might as well be with this lot. We've just recorded a new EP, which sounds HUGE. It's our 10th anniversary as a band this year, I'm not quite an original member but I've been on this journey with them for nearly 7 years now and it's been a real rollercoaster (the first album - the success - the first proper tour - the many proper tours - the personal revelations within the band - the changing of line-up - the epic tour of China - the dramatic change of line-up again after a huge tour - the third album - the lull - the revival) and I have every faith that, in 10 years time, we'll still be making music together. I've also been drumming in the house band for a new monthly night in Cambridge, Come All Ye, the brainchild of my mate Greg McDonald from Glymjack (who I gig with a lot, still), the house band also features Nicky Stockman from the BBC radio folk show and Sam Inglis, editor of Sound on Sound magazine. It's a cracking concept and lovely to be involved.
Oh yeah, and future wifey and I have bought a house, we move at the end of the month. It's a huge house, which means I'm allowed a drum studio. Now, any ideas how I can soundproof a double garage? There's our wedding in August, too. Four years ago we hadn't even met, it's amazing how quickly life can change. I'm very happy, even if her cat did leave a dead mouse in a pair of my pants the other day...
Right, I'm rambling. Till the next time,
Paul