 I
can clearly remember sitting in the back of a grey mini van driving away
from "The Harney Peak", a pub situated in the north of the mountainous Lake
District, after a few pints of shandy. I was only nine years old so the
alcohol content had me feeling particularly relaxed. There was a margarine
tub with a car stereo jammed in it and on it my brother Andy was playing
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd. In those fragile but sublime
moments that followed I began to sense a very powerful relationship between
music and nature. It seemed the two merged in some kind of organic harmony.
I watched the bright night sky shine over the mountains, forests and waters
through the front windscreen, while the perfect musical progression of
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was cutting the air. It definitely stirred up
some kind of emotion in me and from then on Andy would carry on playing the
likes of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Deep Purple, Spirit, Roy Harper, Jethro Tull,
Supertramp, Queen and many more, not only when we were out camping but at
home as well. All of these bands have had a great influence on me but I must
say that I feel there is something about Pink Floyd that got into my blood.
I believe they are special in some way. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is
still a song I hold as an all time favourite along with the album "Wish You
Were Here".
At the age of eleven I started messing around with any guitar I could get my
hands on, and then bought a nylon string acoustic. My Uncle Brian showed me
a few chords - E, A and B7. After a couple of weeks the end of my fingers
hardened and I carried on experimenting. I was generally self-taught,
heavily influenced by David Gilmour and Ritchie Blackmore, although many
years later Liam and I attended Leeds College Of Music for a course in
technical guitaring and music theory. We tried our best to forget all that
nonsense and got back to experimenting without knowing what we were doing,
although the knowledge did become useful as we both taught guitar
professionally for a time to earn money in between gigs. I definitely feel
that one should play the guitar from the heart and only play what is
required for the song. Feeling and sincerity always translates in music.
Another area of music that had an impact on me was the Celtic traditional
folk sound. My first memory of this was at the age of twelve in a pub called
the " Wasdale Head Inn" in Wasdale in the English Lake District. I had been
out in the mountains, snow and ice climbing with my father, and I can
remember crawling into the pub afterwards feeling very exhausted and seeing
five guys sitting in the corner by a roaring fire playing traditional jigs
and reels with whistles, fiddles, guitars etc. It definitely had the effect
of warming my spirit and there was a fantastic atmosphere in the crowded
room. This music felt very organic, the whole scene was an inspiration, the
mountains and forests outside with the wild snow and ice and inside the Inn
there was this great music, a roaring fire and plenty of ale. From then on I
found this scene very attractive and would often visit pubs of the like. I
guess this would account for the Celtic influence that sometimes creeps into
Mostly Autumn.
Ten years later when camping in Wasdale - the very same valley - I found
myself staring out of the mouth of my tent, completely blown away by the
bright stars and winter mountains, I was in awe of it all and found myself
writing "The Night Sky". This was the song that first inspired the concept
of Mostly Autumn, although the name didn’t exist until two years later. I
asked a guy called Troy Donockley, who I had seen fronting a band called
"You Slosh"; if he would play some low whistle on the song as I felt this
instrument encapsulated the feeling I was after. He agreed and so the
original demo was recorded in 1990. Troy has since become a good friend and
a great musical inspiration. He has since played on various other songs of
ours (it’s worth mentioning that "You Slosh" also played a great part in
influencing the Celtic atmosphere that is sometimes present in Mostly
Autumn). I would also strongly recommend you check out Troy’s various solo
albums (check
www.troydonockley.co.uk ).
The name "Mostly Autumn" came about in 1992 when Liam and I were drinking in
a pub called The Newfield Inn in Dunnerdale in the Lake District. I knew I
wanted to name the project something to do with autumn and when out of the
blue Liam pointed to a postcard rail saying "Mostly Sheep", I only saw the
word "mostly". It struck me and thus the name was created. I have and still
do have a great love for the season of autumn. Apart from the striking
colour changes and fragrances, I find it a very provocative time, very
nostalgic and powerful with its stunning beauty alongside a certain air of
sadness and yet with a great feeling of optimism. The time between autumn
and Christmas has always been a favourite of mine.
Over the next few years I recorded more ideas that were within the
boundaries of what I felt Mostly Autumn was; "Winter Mountain", "Steal
Away", "Boundless Ocean" and "Out of the Inn" were among these songs and
although I did try a few of these in a short live gig as support to another
band, the project was still very much a studio one.
Shortly after this I changed course and got involved in a project called
"Under The Ivy" with a good friend and songwriter called Duncan Rayson.
Duncan’s song-writing excited me a lot and we recorded some great songs.
Regrettably we were unable to take the project any further at that time,
though it is something I would like to have re-approached if time would
permit in the future. Sadly Duncan passed away several years later, meaning
that this can never now happen. Then in 1995, immediately after the very
tragic loss of my father, I wrote the song "Heroes Never Die". The very
first recording of this was still under the guise of "Under The Ivy" and
Duncan also contributed some powerful lyrics on the song. Later on I decided
to extend the arrangement of the song and create a band that would be
capable of performing it in a live situation. Hence the return of Mostly
Autumn but this time as an eight-piece band that could go out and play a
full concert, not just a support. From the word go the band worked very well
live, putting in very powerful performances that included some of my early
song ideas and filled the rest of the set with choice cover versions from
the likes of Pink Floyd.
During this period I felt very emotionally charged as I knew that the death
of my father had the direct effect of re-creating Mostly Autumn. I felt very
strongly about writing and recording a CD that would, in effect, be a
tribute to what I and many others had shared with my father, Robert Josh. It
also dealt with the way one tries to cope with such a situation. My mother
kindly offered to fund the recording and it turned out to become the album
"For All We Shared" with the song "Heroes Never Die" being the heart of it.
I also resurrected some older ideas and re-recorded them. It was especially
enjoyable to re-visit "The Night Sky" with it being the very first song
relating to the concept of Mostly Autumn. I had always felt dissatisfied
with it lying in silence since the very first recording in 1989/90
especially as only a handful of people had heard the song.
About six months later, thanks to a "Classic Rock Society" concert we were
invited to play at, a certain Malcolm Parker got to hear the album and
signed us to "Cyclops Records for a further two albums. He also picked up
"For All We Shared" and suddenly we had international distribution. The
second album, "The Spirit Of Autumn Past", has a photo of the inside of "The
Lion Inn" at Blakey Ridge on the front cover. This marvellous pub, which
stands alone on top of the North Yorkshire Moors, is a place I have an
immense personal love for. In fact the singing at the beginning of "For All
We Shared" was my dad directing a few words at me on my 21st birthday inside
the Lion Inn! It has also played a large part in inspiring Mostly Autumn,
and we still occasionally play concerts there.
Following the first three albums, and whilst supporting Ritchie Blackmore on
his English tour, we were spotted by Bob Carruthers of Classic Rock
Production. It was actually his daughters that insisted he bought the
albums. He was incredibly enthusiastic and thus signed us to his label. The
extra resources and backing of Classic Rock Productions enabled us to put
out our first live DVD, ‘”The Story So Far”. We were also able to return to
the studio and re-record a selection of the best material from our first
three albums, using the extra time and resource we had to recreate those
songs more along the lines that they had naturally developed over several
years of being played live.
This was soon followed by the ‘Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings’ CD,
recorded in a manic 14 days and nights. Intended an interim piece of work
rather than an album proper, it was nevertheless great fun to do. However,
it was the “Passengers” album that was our first ‘proper’ album on the CRP
label and a real progression for us musically.
The next couple of years with CRP saw more live DVDs and live albums – and
of course much touring, culminating in the ‘V” Shows of 2004. This was the
first time I was really able to take a major step towards my vision of
presenting Mostly Autumn’s music as a full audio-visual experience – a
concept I intend to develop further in the future.
The 2005 album “Storms Over Still Water” was to be our last with CRP. It was
a difficult decision to make but it was obvious to me that the best way to
forge ahead with the band’s destiny was on an independent basis. Fortunately
the process was made whole lot easier when, in an event unprecedented rock
history, Bob Carruthers generously gave us back the rights to all the work
we had done with CRP.
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And so, on 20 April 2006, Mostly Autumn Records officially came into being -
an event celebrated with much burning of fires and drinking of ale up in the
Lake District, which has had such an influence on me and the band’s music.
2006 proved to be quite possibly the busiest Mostly Autumn year ever for
Heather and me in particular. After the spring tour the whole of the summer
was taken with writing and pre-production of the songs that would form the
“Heart Full Of Sky” album. Ambitiously we had decided to make the limited
edition version a double album, so basically we had double the normal
workload. September, October and early November were devoted to recording
before we set off on our winter tour. The workload was intense and we all
felt exhausted by the end of the year but extremely proud of our
achievements.
2007 kicked off with a highly successful gig at the Astoria in London to
launch the general release version of “Heart Full Of Sky”. This was made all
the more challenging by the fact that Liam decided it was time for him to
leave the band in order to pursue other interests, and our drummer, Andrew
Jennings, also left. However, I am always amazed how things work out as not
only did the incredibly talented Chris Johnson step out from behind his
keyboard to show us he could fill any gaps on guitar too, but we were
blessed with gaining the services of Gav Griffiths on drums. |
Things got even better when we were privileged to be invited to appear as
special guests to support Bryan Adams at Murrayfield Stadium in July 2007.
So, from strumming acoustic guitars under the moonlight as a boy to playing
stadiums. You see, dreams can come true!
And so now I feel incredibly confident about the future. The songs, the band
members, the support form the fans - it’s all there, in place, ready for us
to take yet another step forward to fulfilling our destiny.
In brief, this is The Story So Far........
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