It's been a year since Scotland's referendum and I look back now and marvel at how it transformed Glasgow and engaged her people like nothing before. Glasgow, along with Dundee, became the frontline in the Yes campaign. De-industrialisation has not been kind to the city, but I feel that the message of hope that the Yes campaign put forward has reignited a political flame among the city's people. Glaswegians have always been a special bunch and I hope this song gets across what the city and her people mean to us. 

Dear Green Place

Sunbeam

Many Roads to Rome

Sweet Angel

Free from the Cares of Man

On the Run

A Moment in Time

Written after watching the documentary of the same name. Grim stuff indeed.

The Bridge

Wee bit of Creedence tacked on to the end

Stripped Bare/ Long As I Can See The Light

Written after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.

Caged Birds

A track written to accompany the Edinburgh Fringe play "Once in a Generation...". 
This tune charts the ebb and flow of opinions in Scotland leading up the the Independence Referendum in 2014 and where it has led us to in today's Brexit landscape.

Once in a Generation...

Creatures of Habit are a Alternative Rock/Americana band hailing from Glasgow, Scotland. Their style is as diverse as it is exciting.

Creatures of Habit began, as many good things do, with a drunken idea. 

 Lifelong friends Barry Fitzsimmons and Stuart McPhee had grown up together and learned guitar side by side in their early teens. Dreams of rock stardom were bandied about between the two as they jammed in houses emptied by tolerant parents, cutting their teeth covering songs ranging from thrash metal, through classic rock to the Britpop bands of the day. As they improved as players, bands were formed but these seldom moved beyond the rehearsal room. Both went their separate musical ways, reconvening briefly in a metal band before separating on different creative ventures. 

 The duo's friendship never dimmed however, and one evening through a Guiness-invoked haze the two pondered why they had never sat down and made a serious and prolonged attempt at making music with each other. Stuart had become adept at audio engineering and had recently completed a solo instrumental venture, Mournful Glory. Barry was playing in a covers band to earn some cash. The time finally seemed right to make it happen.

 Creatures of Habit was born as a result in the early spring of 2014. Both Stuart and Barry had songs ready, and new ideas were quickly seized upon and expanded in a creative explosion. Years of friendship had clearly made for an excellent writing partnership which neither had experienced before. 

 With several evenings jamming the songs into a cohesive structure, recording took place in Barry's front room over the course of four booze-fuelled days. Stuart would then spend countless agonising hours mixing the songs at home. 

 The result is the band's first album 'Free from the Cares of Man'. Drawing from a wealth of influences, the songs cover themes as diverse as homelessness, parenthood, love, loss and redemption. 

 Given that it took this pair from just outside of Glasgow nearly two decades to work together properly, Creatures of Habit are certainly worth the wait. 