A Year Of 2021: Summary

 I sit here at my messy desk typing this, thinking where has this month gone? If I'm really honest with myself. I've not been very productive at all this month. Kill the Moon had a gig on the 1st December, this was a rescheduled date but still went well even with some last minute concerns. Anyway, this post is ultimately about this year as a whole, so I won't start here. 

I don't really remember the first few months, I think they mostly consisted of work. It may be partially because I don't want to remember those months too. Work was putting me through hell and I was fighting a disciplinary with an appeal. The good news is that eventually, without going into too much detail, I won. It was February by this time and I still had a month left on my first minor issue. Which meant, even though I was unsure about it, I still received a decent chunk of mu bonus. Work has been easier since with our stand-in manager but all that could change in the new year if lessons haven't been learnt and the same old, unhealthy, stressful practices start again.

Kill The Moon Photoshoot 05/04/21
Photo by Chantelle Kemp

March was a refreshing month. At this point, talks of Kill the Moon reforming with a new front man (Dan Bacon) and Peter returning as the drummer had been on-going for a good few months- at least September of the year previous but we hadn't been able to rehearse due to all of the restrictions still in place which meant we still had to wait. We did however manage a shoot with one of my best friends, Chantelle Kemp which did us a kind favour and gave us some material to push to get people excited. We have some shots from this day that are still unused but maybe they will appear in an album soon.

It wasn't until April that we could properly start rehearsals. We tried Octave Rooms, where we would normally go but they had shut shop due to all the restrictions, they couldn't survive. It was sad to see the owner selling his gear listed on Facebook market place.We had noticed another new studio pop up in Nottingham, Labyrinth and from what they were posting we thought we would give them a try and we have stuck with them where possible ever since. Pirates all good but it's second rate compared to having an on-hand engineer all the time if needed. 

We made fast progress rehearsing once a fortnight in the beginning, since there was still the uncertainty of gigs, we took it steady. As things become more promising we starting having more regular weekly sessions where we could. We didn't have many gigs booked, just a couple. One was a livestream at the studio to help promote what services they offer, and another was with Boombox Entertainment at The Fairham in Clifton, both went pretty well for our early gigs. We soon picked up more, through the Uncovered Network, Boombox Entertainment and The Public House Brand.

The summer seemed to fly as we were mostly focusing on building up our setlist, we did have a few socials in between which was nice to just chill out. I was starting to pick up extra shifts more often to help out too which helped me save.

NIAHAS set-up October 2021
Recording Hedgehog Reality.

    As the summer came to an end, I had started to invest in more studio gear     for NIAHAS. I managed to get a nice Focusrite 56 from Labyrinth and        found another pro40 listed on Facebook market place. This lead me to        buying many xlr cables (I think I have at least 12 now) a shorter mic            stand for bass drums and a few extra cheap mics. I'm still looking to buy     more even now, after all, I have 16 channels to fill which is a big jump        from the previous 2. So, in September, I arranged a recording session in     October with a few friends to test out my new gear. It was a successful        day, I feel bad as I still have't sent them any mixes, I've just been too            busy - I have however made a start.

My Mini Clubman One

This was just after I got my new car (new to me) a13 plate Mini Clubman in white (cream), legally, I don't think they're allowed to put "cream" on the documentation. Purchased mid October, I absolutely love it. Ultimately, it's my dream car and it's a lot more fun to drive. I will miss my first car, my Toyota Aygo, it's served me well but it's onto bigger and better now. My only qualm is that it isn't fantastic on fuel, but its a much bigger car with the space I need and a much bigger engine... and a lot more security features. I'm still finding new things now. Only the other day I discovered a secret storage compartment and that I can roll down my windows with my key.

November saw a different kind of trip to Alton Towers. Another long drive test for my new mini. We went for the fireworks! Obviously we had a full day there too, on the rides and attractions. It was a long day but it was worth it and the display was phenomenal. I took a few videos, but haven't got around to uploading some sort of mash up to YouTube just yet. I was amazed by how long the fireworks who was. It was the first time I had been to a big fireworks event like this but it lasted a good half hour with audio/visual breaks in-between. Very impressive, definitely thinking of going again this year.

I've already mentioned December. I've been lazy as it's the time to be. I've had a busy year keeping the band in motion and starting to push new ventures. However, I did miss out this. (Possibly saving the best for last?) I had a Photoshoot with Paul Boast who took some fantastic portraits for me. While I was there, I felt so welcomed and it was lovely to finally have a proper chat with both Paul and his wife, Caz. I haven't uploaded them all just yet as I've decided I'll save them for special announcements for early in the new year. I hope to keep you updated on that soon when I have firmed some of my ideas. I have a scheduled plan for the year for music and I'm hoping that I can stick to it this year.

Photo by Paul Boast

Future plans:

- Release music. Kill The Moon & STKMY

- More uploads to YouTube, at least twice a month.

- More collaboration music projects.

- Kickstart NIAHAS, portable recording project.

New Years Resolutions

- Keep Productive

- Keep Focused 

- Play more guitar

...Just an additional little note, I will try to update this in the next few months too. Sort of abandoned it this year, which was never my intention