I started playing the guitar and writing songs in my mid-teens and after being in school bands I moved to London where I set about doing things properly. When I went back to college whilst still working I gave it up as I didn't have time. By the time I came out the other side I wanted to do something musically different and got into electronic music in a big way. I hadn't played my guitar much for about a decade and then I suddenly saw a really cheap electric 12 string, a guitar I had always wanted. I bought it and when it was delivered I immediately started to play it. About an hour later, I had written my first song on the guitar in about 15 years. 'The Riffman Returneth' I called it as my love for the guitar had returned. The songs on this playlist incorporate some new songs with an electronica crossover, and some re-imaginings of older songs that I wrote back in the day, or even further back than that. I'm not as well-practiced or accomplished now as I once was but Nirvana ruined my technique in the nineties anyway and I have been picking up bad habits and good ideas in equal measure ever since.

CATP Rock & Guitar COMPENDIUM

Riffman
Riffman
Can you spin a line?
Once upon a time
There was a world without a rhyme
Just as love cannot be hidden
Music cannot be unheard
When the Riffman has returned

The Riffman Returneth

Produced for the RPM Challenge 2024.

A mixture of pop, rock, punk & electro capturing flavour of the late eighties/early nineties UK alternative rock scene.

Apologies for the dodgy vocals but they were recorded in a Devon House with a heating failure during early February.

Foreign Policy

Repel. What Lies beyond the stratosphere, sure as shit ain't welcome here.

Alienations

An oldie but a goodie, remastered for modern times.

The final guitar song I wrote before a sabbatical from writing and performing music. When I returned I was focused on electronic synthesis and would not fall back in love with the guitar for over a decade. Ironic considering the title of the song but the lyrics were about a person loved long ago.

Be Right Back (2025 REMASTER)

"What the f*** do you mean I'm old..." 
A sardonic retrospective of now seen from then.

Even Punks Get Old

Eternal student of music exploring all styles and techniques. Predominantly a strings man, I have become a born again Synth lover after denying them for years. Have always loved a drum machine though.

Even Punks Get Old

Cat Amongst The Pigeons