The aim of this blog is to give insight into my life as a touring musician, and into the sorts of things I experience whilst away on tour, as well as at home. An audience will come to see me singing for around two hours, and perhaps I will have conversations with a few of its members after the concert; as a performer I will (hopefully) give of my best during these exchanges. But there is a vast and latent expanse of time during which I am not on or recently off stage. Do the public care what happens in this time? Almost certainly not. But given that it constitutes around 95% of my life, it is important, and it informs what I think about, and the experiences I can draw upon, when I am on stage.
I do not at any point presume to speak on behalf of all musicians: many will feel that they spend a lot more time performing than simply when they are on stage (or in rehearsals, or doing auditions), or would argue that everything that goes on behind the scenes should in ordinary life should be geared towards their art. I don’t necessarily disagree with this. But I don’t always like to think about singing when I am not doing it: I need time for other pursuits. Casual observers may gasp at the notion that there is life away from music for musicians (though, of course, other casual observers gasp at the notion that singing can be a full-time profession). But if I didn’t spend a good amount of time going to the pub with my friends, or watching films, or following every peak and trough of my beloved Liverpool FC, I would go mad very quickly, and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy singing.
This blog won’t bog itself down in mundanities such as those listed just above; it’s more about the quirks, the pitfalls, and the very occasional glamour, of real life as a musician.