Reaching for Greatness

I’ve been reflecting back, as you do, during these quiet, still days between Christmas Day and New Years Eve… there’s a frost on the ground which instantly transforms this breathtaking countryside into something verging on magical and that transformation inspires my thoughts as we look forward into another year.

I wake up on days like these with a fresh blank sheet of paper (on my laptop obviously..!) ready for ideas to flow and I feel the energy rise and I cannot stop. Here’s the News – And this is what I know…..

We will raise our game ..write better… find new ways to get the ideas across in the middle of the greatest revolution that ideas and creativity has ever known.  Give it away and still make a living when the rules change daily?  Yes  it’s a struggle but was there a more exciting time for Rock and Roll?

We need to play more shows. Everywhere. Meet more people, create a Community. Have better art. Find places for that art…. on T-shirts and beyond T-shirts. Have more films with this music as their soundtrack. Embrace Youtube, everyTube. Understand that it’s the ideas that count, not the production values. Film it on iSight, Camcorder or Flip Mino – in HD or Phone Cam.  Make the moment of creativity the show, the gig…. Make the studio a show.  Make our own show. Film what we’re thinking… have an opinion and say it for real, regardless of how it plays to a wider audience, make it for real, sharing the experience, and have a laugh – that’s a show. Then take that show on the road. I want to be part of that show.

Jump on that digital freedom train because boy, has it left the station, and if you ain’t  on board yet start running – because it’s gonna take even more creative ideas and fresh innovative thinking to stay ahead because there’s no easy ride ahead for any artist – if you care about what you do. But, what an exhilarating journey – this is the time that, for the first time, we truly hold our destiny in our own hands……how incredible is THAT!!!!

Oh, and I’ve said it before, but we need to do it our way. Never compromise. Make sure Art triumphs over Business. Never, never dance for the man (and it’s oh so easy because as we all know, he plays SUCH a seductive tune sometimes doesn’t he)…… And I still need to find the time to learn to play the guitar solo from “Goin’ Home”.

Meanwhile.

Can’t tell you how much it means that we’ve seen more people walk through the door at our recent shows than ever before..  and above all I’ve seen something in the faces of those people and the people I’ve talked to after the shows here in London and in Paris last week. It’s a feeling that we have something special.. a special secret something – that this band of ours is a secret bursting to get out.. a Bubble about to burst. That’s you out there. And it’s growing.

It is up to us.  It’s not about who we were – it’s about who we could be.

This could be our year. Come with us.