Simple version of the latest from Skinny Wizzard ACC, an original take on urban life.  Inspired by the streets of Freiburg from a bar during a rainstorm.  The sights, sounds and smells and thoughts that inspired and rang through me in my life at that time resonate through this piece.

Alone With The Rain - Stark Edition

Starting at 4 years old on recorder, adding piano, keyboard and trumpet to the mix, ultimately ending up happiest playing drums by the age of 8, school music teachers saw natural ability and 'proper' drum lessons were provided. But reading musical notation felt totally unnatural; the preference was to play by ear. Nevertheless, having gained Gr.8 Drum Kit, Gr.5 in Music Theory and even Timpani by the age of 18, it just wasn't enough.
Being one of only 2 competent percussionists within 25 miles meant constantly gigging as the rhythm section of many, many wildly different bands until Uni, where other genres, mainly electronic, took hold. There, DJing in the wilderness until the day after next with hundreds of people dancing to tens of thousands of watts was fun, but felt hollow and only as great as the contents of the record bag.
The science behind the gear few knew how to properly use, let alone make, was learnt as a BSc in Audio & Music Tech degree.  Every knob and button now had a known function. This was a huge advantage over the many over-hyped & priced BA's of the same monica.
This drove writing music using the same tech as used to create the soundtrack everybody jumped to in the woods.

This calling was met with many ups and downs, being a broke student needing expensive gear, and being 'just a lowly drummer'. Many keen fellow students were also band members, and friendships and collaborations were thereby formed.
Music Theory had given a good understanding of chords, phrasing, scales, structure, rhythm, modes etc. This was another edge that led to working with some already established names across multiple genres.
Hilariously, while dealing with the disaster of being forced by a label owner to learn Logic 5.1, phrases like 'How did you make that chord line?' - asked by Chris Lake, 'What's a chord inversion?' - Sonic Generation, and 'In 5 mins you've just done what takes me a day!' - Taicho Beardo, were thrown about during those happy times, and several tracks got legs through basic advice from the young geek on the PC/Mac, uncredited, but happy.

It quickly became obvious that many established producers got there merely through random button pressing and hanging out with audio geeks, rather than through design. But happy accidents were key, and largely, still are. It seemed that dance music was nothing less than bogus.

But the jumpers still jumped, none the wiser...

After moving to London in 2002 with 2 like minded producers, several vinyl's were released, but later the focus shifted to producing local talent such as Philleas Fogg, reaching a wider audience online, one quickly produced demo of which played on Radio One.

The best and worst of times were had in London, struggling for money, mental health and some close friendships decimated, but a tough but effective remedy finally presented itself.

So, everything was sold or shipped to Sydney which became home in 2010. Marriage and fatherhood now gave meaning and most importantly, healing, in the form of love and responsibility. Dependants weren't a drag, they were the future, and the goal. Thankfully, well-paid work provided a new PC-based rig  & Cubase Pro. (Apple blew their chance many years ago.)

Past diversity drove further diversity of genre and formula; music should reflect mood, trials, tribulations, relationships, the soul.

So, apart from remixes made for fun, and odd loops / vocal samples, the chord lines, melodies and baselines are original, and almost every tune is in a different style.
These tunes range between 20 years old to present day, new stuff is posted  whenever inspiration allows, using the 'imagine it, make it' ethos.

These are some of my raw demos. I hope to earn your 'Following' today.

Alone With The Rain - Stark Edition

Obscure Sounds Project