So, that was 2011

In the words of Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler, 'I can't believe it's been another year...'

This will be my last blog post of the year I think, unless something dramatically amazing (or so dreadful I feel the need to write about it here) happens in the next week or so. And besides, this is my 110th post of 2011; I've gone on a bit. Anyway, it's been a good year I think. Like last year when I wrote a similar piece about 2010, this more of a justification for being so busy all the time, prepare yourself for a bit of a Paul Richards self-indulging session. Or of course you could just stop reading. Either way, here's what I did in 2011...

After what was a rather lovely end to 2010 (a year in which I was nominated for two small awards as a playwright (didn't win either), played on an 'iTunes Single Of The Week' and had some coverage on BBC 6 Music for a song I co-wrote), I entered 2011 with much excitement but a slightly blurred vision of what I wanted to achieve. I found myself making notes, playing the odd radio gig and writing a show with Heather (a project that never happened for various reasons) but then at the end of January it was my first show with DOWSING FOR SOUND. It's hard to think that the incredible Dowsing show at Great St. Mary's Church was 11 months ago because it is still at the forefront of my mind. It was simply one of the best nights of my life; a hugely ambitious project, with 40-odd singers, a live band, a complicated set and a huge audience. The expectation was frightening, the venue was beautiful, the rehearsals were both inspiring and worrying, but the show was jaw-dropping - nothing has come close to this as a drummer for me in all my years of playing, I feel incredibly grateful to be involved in such a mesmerising occasion, especially as I wasn't that keen in the first place but Andrea (band leader) was very persuasive and I'm rubbish at saying no. I still smile thinking about that gig. Also in January I played in London with LU, the first of many gigs of the year with AIDY and FLAMING JUNE and rehearsals started for my short film. February was mostly spent writing new material with Edinburgh in mind, my play IF YOU CAN'T MAKE ME HAPPY ended up at the Leicester Comedy Festival and a radio version of my play GONE MIDNIGHT was recorded by a company in Essex. The film version was also made, but despite a fair bit of work, I still haven't seen the final, final cut yet, maybe that will emerge in 2012? I have a horrible feeling it's been forgotten about, which is a shame because there was a lovely team working on it. There was also the AIDY/EUREKA STOCKADE gig at the Portland which culminated in the best aftershow party ever, ever, ever. It was in March when my year started to take shape properly, with recording sessions with LAURA TAPP (double a-side single release) and FLAMING JUNE (EP), I organised a benefit concert for the victims of the New Zealand earthquake (and played it with three bands), and had a first reading of a play I'd written called IS IT TOO LATE TO SAVE OSCAR PIKE? - a show that would end up taking a fair bit of my time as the year progressed. It was the first time I'd worked with IZZY NICOLSON, an outstanding actress who instantly understood the somewhat quirky timing of my work and somebody I'd end up working with a lot this year. Alongside other gigs both in and out of town, in April I found myself playing a one-off gig with THE TREVOR JONES BAND in a huge gig at the Bedford Corn Exchange. I enjoyed the show so much I'm still playing for them now, Trevor's an awesome songwriter. We filmed the promotional video for EUREKA STOCKADE's single, All Alone, and I found myself in the studio drumming on a hip-hop project with MICHELLE BESSANT and playing congas for a new album by THE PRISONER OF MARS. In May I turned 30, which felt like the end of the world at the time; recently single, 7 grey hairs, not really in the best mindset. Which is probably why my 'crisis play', IS IS TOO LATE TO SAVE OSCAR PIKE? worked so well for it's first couple of performances. The play is virtually a true story, to the extent it's painful at times, and the first couple of performances (which were in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust) found me on stage - being me - opening my heart to sold out audiences, and one point partially nude. It was my first time as a leading actor, or you could argue, a 'proper actor', and I'd spent months stressing about this, which coincided with my own 30th birthday as well as that of the title character's. But the director, MICHELLE GOLDER is an amazing talent to work with, somehow she pushed me through this, and alongside KATE MADISON, KEVIN WRIGHT and Izzy it worked an absolute treat. Probably my best bit of writing in years, too, I say somewhat arrogantly. That show pretty much took up my whole month with rehearsals and that, although I did find time to play a few more gigs, including a particularly excellent one with Trevor at Native Tongue in London, my first of many festivals this year with the Eureka chaps and also spend a day recording with PAUL GOODWIN. Ah yes, and turning 30 wasn't so bad after all, and my celebrations took place at The Haymakers in which good friends played songs and I got stupidly merry. In June, Oscar Pike ended up at the ADC Theatre bar for a couple more performances but I just don't think these were as good, played more festivals with EUREKA STOCKADE, recorded a live album DVD with TREVOR JONES, played a radio show with FLAMING JUNE, and tried out three brand new plays at CB2 in front of an audience who were really too kind considering most of it didn't work. I found myself on tour in July with AIDY (and Dave the bassist) playing 7 shows across the country during the first week of the month - Watford, Norwich, Leeds (twice), London, Brighton and back home to Cambridge. It was a short tour but a real eye-opener on how the process works, we played to some lovely audiences, made lots of friends and drank far too much. Aidy, Dave and I continued to gig out of town when ever we could for the rest of the year, realising that Cambridge is bit dull sometimes. I'm really happy we toured, it's been on my to-do list for a while, and it was so nice to do it with people I actually like. Looking forward to doing it all again next year. Also in July my play PROBABLY THE GREATEST GOAL EVER SCORED was performed by WriteOn at the ADC Theatre bar by GRACE WILLIAMS and ALAN STEWART - two wonderful actors whom I intend to see a lot more of in 2012, played at the amazing SECRET GARDEN PARTY festival with EUREKA STOCKADE, recorded congas for EMILY BLICKEM's charming EP, and played another truly memorable gig with DOWSING FOR SOUND - this time at the beautiful Ickworth Park. The month ended with me back in acting mode, playing a chip-shop worker called Billy in a promotional video for a song by the brilliant FRED'S HOUSE. The video seems to be pretty popular, and rightly so - it's a great track, and it was a lovely day of filming with some really nice and talented people. August started with a couple more festival gigs, and IS IT TOO LATE TO SAVE OSCAR PIKE? ended up at the EDINBURGH FRINGE for a couple cheeky performances. I love the fringe, and although we lost Kate from the show, Izzy played all the female characters somewhat remarkably and we did alright I think, in a really understated kind of way. Bit like touring though, I've got the fringe bug, next we'll proper storm it. I also started to felt really comfortable with playing Oscar on stage, to the extent that by the end of our short run I wanted to do more with that character, we will. The rest of August was spent writing a musical, and playing more gigs, the AIDY show at The Stockton Underground Festival was a highlight. In September I returned to my role as 'Director Of Theatre' for LODESTAR FESTIVAL in Cambridge, and having booked all the non-music acts for the second stage, the festival was a bit of a treat for all concerned - I had no reason to worry at all, Lodestar is amazing, and the comedy acts were welcomed by lovely audiences throughout, despite the rain. During that festival I wrote and produced two plays - a comedy called HOW ABOUT YOU? and also a musical for the Dowsing choir called RELATIONSHIPS, EH? Again, another big moment in my year. Writing the book for a musical is no easy task (especially as I had four days to bash something out), and with really limited rehearsals but loads and loads of singers...but somehow it worked out, I've got the whole show as an mp3 and I'm thrilled with it, once again it's all about the magic of DOWSING FOR SOUND. I'm already looking forward to Lodestar next year, I love being part of this festival and it's become a regular meeting place for good friends too to catch up over beers in a field. Also in September played a random gig for the Institute Of Videography, recorded a live album/DVD with EUREKA STOCKADE at the stunning High Barn in Essex, played at the excellent TRYSTONBURY FESTIVAL with AIDY, and then felt the need to physically calm down. Relaxed and refreshed, October was gig heavy with shows with all my bands including a headline slot at The Troubadour with Trevor in London, and recording sessions started with LAURA TAPP for her brilliant debut album, which is to be released next year. I also wrote a novel called BIG HOPES IN LITTLE WINHAVEN, which I spent nearly five days on, and will be spending the rest of Christmas editing and probably re-writing. I'm actually really proud of it, and am pretty excited about releasing it next year, just needs a bit of tweaking but that was a great way to spend a week out of the office. In November I tried out yet more new play material and absolutely none of it worked whatsoever, but my faith in my own writing was restored thanks to a performance of my new play, TO THE BRINK at the ADC bar which fed my ego nicely because they did it so well. More gigs, including the launch of REES GUITARS and a London showcase with EUREKA STOCKADE dominated my month, as well as writing the Christmas show, promoting a festive tune I'd co-written with THE PRISONER OF MARS called 'I Don't Care If Santa Comes Around' and also my first foray into drum teaching - working with Grace in a primary school for a day demonstrating African drums to a bunch of kids. Not sure if I'm teacher material, but I felt very welcome. And so here we are; December. A month that offered two more challenges; writing 12 short plays for an online release called THE TWELVE MONOLOGUES OF CHRISTMAS - I wrote the whole lot in three evenings, and then Izzy and Grace came over to record them, my mate Steve did the website, and it was a lovely little project that we've not really promoted properly but has made us feel Christmassy at least. My final out of town gig of the year was back in Stockton with AIDY, which we enjoyed a lot, and the year has ended on a decent note with our yuletide show, THREE ELVES, A SNOWMAN AND A FUNERAL.

Looking back, that was quite a busy year then, but it didn't always feel like it. I vowed at the start to do less and focus more on set projects, I think to a certain extent I have done that - the Oscar Pike stuff for example took a lot of time and I did find it difficult being tied to one project. But my creative CV is considerably better thanks to a lot of these things I've done this year I think. I said to Heather last night after the show that I don't think I've done enough this year, it's only when you look at it all written down that actually I realise that statement may have sounded a bit silly now.

And some stats:
This year I've played 83 gigs with 10 different bands
I've drummed on 5 albums, 2 EP's and 3 singles.
I've written 11 plays (plus a series of 12 monologues for audio release) and have had my work performed publicly 20 times, as well as signing two independent publishing contracts.

I have met some wonderful people this year, and (CLICHE ALERT) I feel like I've really started to find myself; I've calmed down a bit, I've finally worked out what hairstyle suits my face. A lot of people have been really good to me this year - the gigs, the theatre stuff...at the end of the day I'm just a playwright and a drummer, we're pretty pathetic without bandmates, actors and directors. My friends deserve a lot of credit too, for listening to me spout on about all of these projects every week, and often navigating me to gigs when I get lost. Which is often. 2011 has been good, 2012 will be awesome. In the meantime, I've got presents to wrap, family to see and mates to get drunk with. Have a lovely Christmas and speak to you next year x