Ever Learning Dad

Another Sunday, another week has passed. Time just seems to be drifting forward at the moment. One week I have the kids, the next I don't and so it goes in such a cycle. I'm not really complaining either, I love doing stuff with the kids, even if it is more about taxi-ing them around these days! This weekend has included, birthday gift shopping, party drop-off and football.  But at the same time, I know in the back of my mind I'm in a malaise and need to buck up my life at some point. Turning 40 in May next year is already weighing on my mind. Every night when I go to bed, I lie there thinking about what I haven't accomplished in the first 39 years (I'm not saying half my life because making it to 80 seems a bit optimistic in all honesty).   Grace pre-party blue slushie. Headache just looking at it. There are so many things I've said to myself over the years I'll do but those ideas have never quite made it to fruition. Chief among those is the desire to writ

A new song (which I'm still kinda polishing) but I recorded it on video during some free time today. I'll hopefully get it tracked out soon with drums and everything else soon. Continuing the theme I had going with my other one, I think this is about those times when you feel like there's no point, you're maybe suffocating a bit, and annoyingly self-aware that it's probably your own fault!  Again however, I like to have a wee melancholic upside in there and that is the fact that time, reflection and crucially your loved ones are there to pull you out the hole even if you don't see it for a little while.

  I really love just writing songs, getting a tune pulled together and then eventually recording it, albeit in my wee room on GarageBand (Abbey Road will have to wait). But alas, the life of marketing and communications chose me and so my rock n roll dream must wait for another life. Anyway...I managed to noodle long enough to record 'In Everything You Do', which I've posted under my The Sunset Experience moniker.  I was listening to African music recently and I quite like the way a lot of African musicians employ drone-like compositions or repetitive structures. So that's where I started at least lol. The end product is pretty far from that I suppose and I can't help but circle back to a kind of Britpop-y style. The lyrics are just based off some recent events and experiences and my thoughts on how time (in our concept of it) is so powerful when it comes to mending us or just forcing us to move on. I've got another song written and ready to go soon so hopefully

What a terrible past couple of days for the Scottish justice system. Judge Lord Lake decided to spare a 21 year old rapist a jail sentence because he got a bit weepy in the dock. And apparently given he was 17 at the time, it should be more about 'rehabilitating the offender' rather than showing them proper punishment. This boy, Sean Hogg, physically restrained a 13 year old girl and subjected her to the worst sexual assault and rape, and HE's the one getting weepy! So, in Scotland you can get married, join the army, drive a car and vote on the future of the nation but you can't do time for raping a young girl. Un-f'n-believable. I honestly don't care whether it's an SNP thing, a whole parliament thing, an independent body thing or a combination of all of those. All I know is a girl is scarred for life and has been completely failed by justice. I genuinely don't know how that judge will be able to sleep at night. But I'm sure he will quite happily,

Time to catch up after a busy ol' four days. Thursday Gig time with Nicky at the Hug and Pint to see The Musicians of Bremen . Nicky works with the drummer who happens to be a throughly decent chap. As for the band, my god they can bring the noise. The Hug and Pint venue is basically a cellar and when you bring in a three piece rock band, it feels like your standing in the middle of a thunder storm. And it was totally incredible. It was my first gig out in while and a) good to hang out with a mate and b) great to appreciate a live band giving it hell for leather. RESILIENCE by The Musicians of Bremen Friday A lovely night had with our pals Amy and Rich who came round for (slightly more than) a few drinks, some chat and tunes. Grace and Anna were also the beneficiaries of gifts in the shape of chocolate eggs! Anna also got a new audience for her Stranger Things obsession and some mad dancing before bed time. The evening's activity however did lead to a slightly hungover... Satur

Last night was a good 'un for Scotland, for a change Trying to build a bit of consistency on this blog and so I'm thinking of what I can write this evening...and nada. My day has been very boring. I woke up feeling like crap. I dragged myself out of bed to get the kids ready for school (they ended up late) and then I logged on for work. Thank god, I was working from home today otherwise I think I might have wept on the train in to town.  After work, I picked up the kids, planned to visit my gran but she didn't answer the phone so we went to that most joyously soul crushing of places - B&M. Then home for TV, dinner and bed. Oh and I had to shove about three million pairs of the girls' dirty pants in the machine for a wash too. That'll be a fun job to hang those all up to dry. 😭 So yeah, not much to report on today. In Glasgow tomorrow for a big team meeting, lunch with our Foundation Apprentice, Natalia and the always brilliant Emma Dewar, then later a gig at th