J’s varied musical background has turned him into the unique talent he is today. A formidable guitarist using a mixture of classical, acoustic and electric guitar technique who draws on a range of styles from jazz to rock to classical and then injects it all with a humour and creativity like no-one else!
Innovative lyrics, melodic journeys, awesome guitar work, beauty, wit, power, mental, emotional and physical stimulation can all be found in J’s music….somewhere…..well, if you look hard enough…I think….Well, there’s a couple of bars in the outro of one song that are like, really, like, totally amazing!
J has been a working musician/guitarist/teacher for years but has become totally fed up of not hearing any music he liked anymore.
J never had any dreams of being a rock star, he only ever wanted to be a musician. Now, after years as a working guitarist and teacher, after years of listening to and playing music; he knew exactly what he loved about music. He knew exactly what he wanted from a piece of music. He knew exactly what a song needed to be awesome enough to satisfy his musical desires. The trouble was, they didn’t exist. So he decided to write them himself…..
Boring history stuff
J, born in Cornwall, started learning guitar at 9yrs old, formed own band playing and singing his own songs, moved to classical guitar at age of 19 which he went on to study at the Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama. He picked up an electric again in his 30’s, has been working as a guitarist/teacher of all genre’s ever since.
As a professional guitarist he worked at Butlins, backed artists such as Jaki Graham, Sonia and Jess Conrad (best not to tell anyone though!), worked in countless house bands and pit work backing musicals.
As a teacher he has taught at Yamaha music schools, universities and various private music schools.
Why didn’t he write his own music sooner?
Why didn’t he do it sooner? Well I’m glad you asked! Well he just couldn’t. He tried but it just wasn’t happening. Like a caterpillar leaping off a branch trying to fly. It knew it wanted to fly, it knew it should fly but it couldn’t do it yet. It just falls pathetically to the ground like a limp sausage. Frustrated because it just wasn’t ready. Well J was that caterpillar, some would say he still is in certain lights. However after years of groundbreaking surgery, the amputation of 26 legs and the grafting of small wings onto his back made out of flesh from his buttocks and inner thighs. J is now a butterfly, sort of (in certain lights you can still make out a bit of a wiggly pulsating, caterpillar-y texture to his skin). Yes, after years of learning, experience and honing of his craft and abilities he now has much to say and the ability to say it – due to the artificial vocal chords implanted during his transition to a butterfly.
Amongst other things J puts this lack of heart, creativeness and meaning in so much of today’s music down to the fact that so much of it is made by people too young to have the musical and life skills needed to create anything of real substance. Hence we end up with boring, formulaic, digital jigsaws of electronic samples speaking inanely about ‘dancin to da beat’, ‘movin ma feet’ or ‘lovin ma baby’, ‘leavin ma baby’ with the main musical focus on getting a cool sound for the snare drum or a weird, never before heard synth sound.
Philosophical J
Greatness is not just something a few people are born with. It is achievable by anyone given time to find their passion and then given the time to follow it. How many great gifts to the world and mankind have been lost to the need to pay the rent, pay the bills, get a job any job, work, work, work!? We live in a world where most people consider their biggest aim or achievement in life is to buy a house. That’s it. If you’ve lived a life where you’ve worked your fingers to the bone in a job you don’t really care for every day of your life and you end up owning a house, then you have lived a good worthwhile life. WTF!!!!!
Does all this sound like a naive dream that could never happen? Unfortunately to many it does. But it’s not. We could achieve this if we make our aim as a society, for every person to be given two things: a place to live and a basic income. Yes, GIVEN a place to live and enough money to pay for bills and food. In one foul swoop we could take away the main cause of stress in every person. We could give them what most people spend their whole lives trying to get!
We live in a time like no other in history. We do not have to toil twenty four hours a day to survive. We have technology to do so much work for us. We make work for ourselves in the name of consumerism, most of it is unnecessary. How could we afford to give everyone a basic income? We could abolish the welfare system completely. Gone. No need for it. Put a cap on every person and business in the world’s profits. Say, 100 million pounds. Anything over that gets put back into the system. Can anyone argue that any person or company needs or deserves more than 100 million pounds? Regarding housing. Well I’m not saying everyone should be given a mansion. Beautiful housing can be built with giant 3D printing machines these days. Hardly any man power needed, they’re quick to build, can use natural substances. Easy. I won’t go into anymore detail about this here but there is a better world well within our reach.