We are approaching what definitely feels like the wrapping up of one period and the beginning of a new phase. For nearly the last 3 years we have been moving around Europe "preparing the soil" (getting our hands dirty would be another way of putting it!). When this Europe Music vision began to move into action, around about the summer of 2010 in Edinburgh, it was seen that we would spend several years moving around gradually slowing down until we come to rest somewhere and make more of a permanent base. At that time we would have said this period would be about 2 years. Instead it has turned out to be 3 years.
This phase was absolutely necessary although to many onlookers it often appeared chaotic and random and with no logic behind it. Some even believed we were up to something other than what we said. Because living reality is simple. It is so simple that it gets overlooked and even when it is staring people in the face, it will be turned into something else for their own ends.
To us the basic thing inside has never changed during these years. First go to Europe. Then at some point Music will come into the picture. How? We didn't know and still don't. We just went wherever we were led to go at any given moment and let life take care of the details which still happens to this day. It can be a bumpy ride and we have had to adapt along the way, swerve and navigate certain obstacles, but essentially the thing inside has remained unshakeable.
The difficulty in communicating this to others is that everyone in this world is trained to do things in terms of linear time as if life or reality is a straight line. When this thing hits you, you begin to understand life is not moving in a straight line and the idea of time in terms of a sequence of events one after another is a strange sort of illusion. You begin listening and being guided by your own self for the first time and you trust that wherever it sends you. Quite often it will not make any sense to onlookers.
The biggest challenge in these 3 years has been to stop the doubts of others invading the space here because the whole world is ready to tell you you're going wrong if you let those voices in. At times we have fallen and entered states of confusion, wondering if we'd went wrong somewhere along the way. Still this thing is undeniable. Its like its so powerful in its own way that it even allows you the full capacity to doubt it. Because only something that is an illusion has to fight to convince you it's real.
So our journey in this phase can be seen on the map above and roughly went as follows:
Oct 2010 - Leave Edinburgh for Barcelona and spend several months basically doing little other than trying to survive. We hardly speak about Music during this period.
Dec 2010 - We reach Berlin which feels significant and enthusiastic conversations about Music begin.
Feb 2011 - We know we have to get to Vienna and its something to do with Music. Once we arrive in Vienna some money comes our way and we are able to get a laptop and a ukulele and melodica.
Mar 2011 - Go now to Budapest with a feeling its something to do with Creativity. Shortly after arriving there, though we intended to practice, a few
songs start to come.
Apr 2011 - The possibility of recording these
songs on the move starts to come up and is discussed.
Jul 2011 - We meet with Mark in Bologna who brings a few things we need to start recording. Our idea was just to record ourselves on the ukulele and melodica with vocals but by the end of the month we are in an apartment in Milano with a piano in it and the piano becomes the backbone of these recordings.
Aug 2011 - We go through a rough period for a few weeks just as we're about to roll and arrive in Barcelona for the second time (having now done a full circle) to meet Will & Georgie who are on holiday. This seems to mark the beginning of a new phase of practice we prepare to go into. We intended to record the songs quickly over a few months and then go into practice mode by the beginning of 2012.
Dec 2011 - We arrive in Berlin for the second time, now with guitar which was shipped over a month earlier in Paris. But each time we attempt to move forward it seems we are continually denied one way or another, sometimes in very bizarre ways.
Mar 2012 - We reach Budapest and attempt again to get to work and again we are denied. The songs are still not finished and we are caught between finishing them and focussing on practice. Hit by various physical challenges we can't seem to get out of Budapest and end up staying there for 5 months. There is a growing feeling we have to get to Italy next. Brian and Mark come over to Budapest for a short holiday and this seems to spark off the live acoustic performances that ended up on Youtube, beginning with the spontaneous
Budapest Terrace Sessions.
Jul 2012 - Another moment where it could all have come crashing down but we somehow get to Rome, Italy at the very end of the month. It feels significant and we know we will remain in Italy for a long time.
Nov 2012 - We reach Bologna again and it seems to be the first time we have enough stability to settle into practising our instruments consistently. A piano enters the picture; we've now upgraded from ukulele and melodica to piano and guitar.
Jan 2013 - We end up in Ventimiglia more than a year after passing through on the train to Nice in the summer of 2011. It was seen then we'd stay here sometime but didn't know when. Most of the time has been spent continuing to practice and develop this Music.
From here we are about to get things together and prepare to settle in Europe for some time. This will allow us to develop the Music at a more focussed but relaxed pace. We feel we have put a bunch of songs out there which give a sense of what we're about and so now its time to go away and retreat into our own space where we hope to take this Music to the next level and eventually re-emerge into a new phase.
