A new look for old times
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This blog is now just over a year old and as you may have noticed, I've finally got around to re-skinning it to make it visually reflect me a little more. It's actually just a modification of the default theme, but it does the job. It's a little bit darker and the image at the top is more in keeping with my musical roots.
What's nice about it isn't just that I had the chance to call upon my years as a graphic designer and dabble with Photoshop again, but that, in a sense, the change is symbolic of the shift in my own life in recent months. Things seem to have come full circle for me and I've started to rediscover things from my past that I've missed, some of them without even realising.
While, in a way, it's a story that would have started over a decade ago, the latest chapter has only really developed in the last year. A year ago, I was playing guitar in a band with some of my nearest and dearest friends. Initially, we all had high hopes for the group, but having been together for several years already and achieved next to nothing we were all frustrated. At the beginning of this year, I chose to step away from the group to avoid that frustration affecting my relationship with the other members. While I see some of them less than I'd like now, and miss them terribly, for the most part it worked, and it was the right move.
Fast forward a few months and another member of that group has joined a new band—Near Dark—to replace their previous guitarist, who moved overseas. Just a few rehearsals later and he's taking to the stage with them and enjoying every moment of it. Since then, I've been following them from one gig to the next, helping out with the fetching and carrying where needed and generally having a great time.
At the beginning of the year, I hoped to be able to experience the joys of playing in live music venues first hand. And I still aspire to do that. But what has been fantastic about visiting these venues in support of another band is that I get to reconnect with the music scene in an entirely different way. My eyes have been opened to the unsung talent pools that exist around us and the special atmospheres one can only really experience when in the presence of musicians who love what they're doing in venues that are ideally suited to the purpose. It's a scene I'd somehow lost touch with over the years and I'm pleased to see is still alive and kicking locally.
Incidentally, the guitar in the stylised picture at the top of the new-look site is an ESP Eclipse II in vintage black. I have one in my guitar collection and hope to use it on stage myself at some point. But in the meantime, I'm quite happy to knock out riff after riff on it in my spare time while I look forward to the next opportunity to experience that live scene I'd unknowingly missed so much.