'Manning' up with Mundy in Glasgow

Ah, I was delighted to be asked back to gig with the brilliant, indefatigable Irish artist that is Mundy! And of course with the debonair Max Greenwood and the Fantastic Gavin Fox. We had a lot of great chats with the band over the weekend, some very funny ones, but also some serious and fascinating  conversations. They shall remain private of course, but it’s amazing how many people have huge challenges going on, past and present. We talked about everything from the idea of locking fridge and cupboard doors to stop your kids eating all your favourite food, to that feeling of having a brilliantly conceived argument in your head that you wished you’d said at the time, after being offended by someone. Like this hilarious clip....

You get great perspective when one is away and great insights from fellow travellers. How lucky we are as musicians? We get to have new experiences, local delicacies, and tasty ales in imbibing emporiums and browse record stores and vintage clothes shops, meet amazing people from all walks of life before playing our beloved instruments to fans of our music. Then maybe off to a blues bar and a casino after the gig, maybe squeeze in a kebab! I compare myself to my heroic sleep-deprived partner who had to endure a couple of nights with a busy sleep-averse, but adorable baby girl, and an 8 year old going through her own growing pains. All this while I headed off on another interesting music adventure. It’s a tough contrast and I think it affects most relationships where one partner is ‘rockin’ the free world’ and their partner is at home feeling left out by missing the experience ( amazing and fulfilling as it can be at home too). I am now trying to imagine and understand more than ever what it's like from the other perspective.

I compare the life of a musician in some ways to the life of a professional footballer …the adrenaline and performance excitement and also a job that gets instant appreciation wherever we go to do our ‘work’. How many people get a huge cheers from masses of people if they do something well at work? Footballers really only perform for an hour and a half themselves and everything else surrounding it is various forms of preparation, relaxation, and recouperation. The reason I make this comparison is because our gig in Glasgow was in honour of Celtic FC legend Bertie Auld who was part of Celtic 1967 Lisbon Lions European Cup winning team. What a star he was! And he dedicated the rest of his life to charity! I get the impression life was much simpler back in his heyday, and men were a bit tougher and didn’t have the vanity or the privileges that we have today. I don’t know if they were all huge music fans on the night but we did our darndest to make the charity event a success and played some of Mundy’s finest songs and some wacky but amazing covers like Light My Fire and I Want To Be Sedated. A great night and great to get my hands on the cup at last!