After 30 wonderful years in the music biz I retired a few years back and settled down to prune my roses (I don’t have roses but you get the idea). Having been lucky enough to earn good money from music since I was 14 I thought I was ‘of an age’ where I could pass the baton to younger folk, cut the rather sad rock and roll hair and finally eat the odd biscuit as weight gain wouldn’t be a capital crime.
But now I find that the grey music makers are all the rage. Music remains vibrant and young on many levels but with folk like Robbie Robertson (a dear friend and associate) back recording after 5 years off there is clearly energy for us older rockers.
So after talking to my chums at Sony, listening to my publisher and having a very intense chatter with a dear friend who is now (thanks to X Factor) regarded as a music mogul, I decided to put a band together, record some of my songs and get out on tour. The enthusiasm was palpable and within 2 weeks of the idea going live I had a recording/distribution deal and a West Coast tour of the USA on offer. All that enthusiasm is infectious.
Then I had a cold clear moment. I toured for years and generally hated it. I dealt with music industry execs, publishers and PRS men and found them all shifty and duplicitous. I remember the day I decided to give up on the only industry I had ever known – and how good it felt.
I am still under pressure to keep the momentum going. The band is selected, we have rehearsed and are almost ready to hit the studio and to some extent I have awakened a monster I can’t put back to sleep. But of course I can if I want to.
I have announced I will take three weeks out. I will think and ponder. I will balance the buzz with the frustration. And I will acknowledge how lucky | am, as other folk lose their jobs and worry about their futures, that I can have these kinds of thoughts and make these kind of decisions.
I do hope I’m not having a mid-life crisis, I really hope it’s not that.................
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