List of the latest musical musings from the town of bridges in South Wales. Reverting of late to shorter tracks and including the less boisterous releases  here.

Latest Tracks on the Move

The Walker

This has guitars and guitars and guitars.  Cheeky little number, thought about time revised it for 2019 and bought it up to date.  Original composition (in as far as blues in C is original) from Back to Basics days, great fun to play live with Jeffro and Vince backing me up , this version has even more notes and feeling , that's what time does to you ! #UplandsTavern, several memories right there. 
Even my blues are happy. Don't wash the blues with lighter colours folks.

Nick's Blues

You've been number one almost from the off, I can't ignore it any longer. Never visited or known of you before this journey , you top my charts of listeners eclipsing all around, keep it going and spread the word. We are indeed worlds apart but joined by music, technology can be good but don't forget the soul and community that should always be first, well second to guitars right?!
So much more to say, plenty of time.
Nick G x

A Tribute for Wilmington

This is what early morning creativity can produce, one hour before breakfast, no preconceptions just started playing. Fell into place as SB says . First take solo no edits just felt right . This style falls squarely between like of Nicks Blues and Hiraeth. 
The listing on the recorder is the 108th track...bearing in mind there were only two at the start of this year. Ok so not all published tracks and numerous noodles and ideas though majority on soundcloud now bar 6. Give me time , they'll be on for Christmas !

Track 108.WAV

Was led to this progression from another one (not yet complete) however this gelled immediately and the riff jumped out (no I haven't been listening to Rush's Limelight recently!). Added a few overdubs, really tried hard to keep it simple and at each stage the track seemed to improve, hope you agree. It started at twice this speed...talk about deconstruction . Written in thirty minutes , production took longer!

November.WAV

Sophie's drawing needed some music to accompany it's fire breathing requirements. Wanted the initial intro to be haunting and sparce. 'Browning' guitar to accompany then into it. Great fun to produce , things I rarely say ! Was quicker in writing and composing than producing so work needed on the latter. Hope you like it, in retrospect like 'November' think this is a grower. Watch out for Dragons ! N x

Be There Dragons Inside?

I had the basic rhythm for this one , again a repetitive melody then found a riff which fitted and halved the original time to double up circa 1minute in. Like the initial recordings of 'Thoughts' and Melancholy' it just seemed right to put this one out there. Short and sweet. Thanks Lu for the name , hope you think it fits !

Ocean Eyes

Here's a different feel. Had great fun with the end production.

Who'da Funk'd It.

Now in a minute , 2 minutes 39 later. That's not official timing by the way.

Now In a Minute

Mellow and laid back jazzer. 175 given some airtime in this instance.

Sparkle.WAV

Well its that time again, so here's a variation on a theme, my version of O little town of Bethlehem. Needs more guitar I know. It's a one take effort hence a few unpolished bits , its jerry Garcia meets jj cale !!

O Little Town Of Chepstow (V.Williams).WAV

Looking to the Future , First Track of the new year then !!  Ok its jazzy, smooth and middle eight is super chilled, with a sparce lead guitar swathed in delay and reverb for extra atmosphere.

Really pleased musically with this as a definite challenge from the start, in playing (for me) and in collating the ideas across jazz chords, the differing beats , yet alone the Bass line and production. Admittedly it was penned between Christmas and the New Year and completed just prior to midnight.  Hope you like it and that its another immediate thumbs up or even better a longburner. Nick.

Verso Il Futuro

Verso Il Futuro.WAV

A Guitar without a stage
Lover without a heart
Master without a muse

This riff possessed me for a week prior to knocking into this shape. These creations have minds of their own , what could be a 20 sec clip turn into 4 minutes for me. Today this is my favourite. NCG

Getaway Car.WAV

So the bang on the ceiling from the Flat below said it all. Too loud, too heavy, too Rawk n Roll ! That was just in the first 5 minutes of creating this. Ideas were flooding through onto the Les Paul this time, so much so I had over an hour's worth of tuneage which had to be compressed and compiled into some presentable form of under 4 minutes.  I am aware lots of my songs are averaging 4 minutes so I set to reduce that , and after five days of solid effort and twists and turns finally got there. I am so stoked by this one as it fires me up and to produce and mix it was exhilarating given the volume of the demo I had to condense.  I'll shut up now, seriously to me this is the best yet. Turn it up. NCG

Cheshire Cat.WAV

Here we go again, not quite complete polar opposite of 'Cornered' but not far off! In three words:- ROCKY,GROOVE,BUMP.

Ok it's a dirty repetitive riff which I've left in its natural distorted state (hence the buzz guys) lyrics came really quickly. Could have ended it at 1.48 but I was having so much fun so had to carry on!
As for the 'Bump' that has echoes of my Covid19 song 'Humane', only with more gravel. Really enjoying the harmonies of late as suppose I'm getting used to recording them now. Just three on this one where 'Cornered' had four. It's all Cherrydot335 here, would have been even dirtier if the Les Paul had got involved! 
So got another two new tracks lined up in mid and early stages respectively then its onto listing Album 3 and fingers crossed release by end of July. Gibson should sponsor me, ahem....

Bump.WAV

Very different feel to 'Would You Be Cool'. Some 'James Brown' chords in here chopped up. The music's been written for a month however it didn't grab my attention to finalise lyrics till today, timing now seemed right. Three things to say about '1st Across The Line' :- I think it's pop,  there's no guitar solo and it's under three minutes.  The next track will be different again! N x

1st Across the Line.WAV

A constant heavy Blues driven rhythm, interspersed with delay laden chord ad libs and rapid fire staccato lead guitar breaks. That'll be 'Stompin'. 
Album 5 out October 1st. 
Nick.

Stompin'.WAV

I found inspiration for this today and what had taken all week was then completed in a matter of hours. This is ES335 all the way put through the Vox amp. Its d tuned to aid as a drone. Admittedly this is my default sound with the 335 , though the next track is a full blown jazzer on the ES175. Album 6 almost in the bag...

Living In Hope.WAV

Here's an early Cracker for Christmas.
Driven by single track distorted 335 with funky wah wah and 9th embellishments. Beatlesesque yeah yeah's and ooh's abound, hope it gets you movin'.
NickG

Hear This !WAV

Spoiler alert, there's no solo!!! Riff recently posted on Insta in it's naked form. I think this is a Pop Rock song, the harmonies lighten the riff and there's even about 12 bars without the 335. Came together really well and written, recorded and produced in a week which for me these days is quick. It superseded another track I've been on for nearly 2 months, which I hope to release before the year is up to almost complete Album 7.
The pic btw is Chepstow on Christmas morning.

Blow It Away.WAV

Gibson Cherry Dot obsession continues. Inspired by exciting grooves and a 60’s vibe which I wear on my sleeve. There’s an eclectic mix of guitar fuelled rhythms all written, produced and performed by myself which have now culminated in 226 tracks in 5 years. Having added vocals to the mix this has brought a further depth and individuality to the songs. 2020 saw the creativity in writing and self releasing 2 EP's and 9 albums 'The Black Tulip' , 'Prismatic' , 'Who Would You Be?' , 'The Red Carpet', 'Cat & Mouse', ‘How This Plays Out', 'Positive Signs', 'All The Colours' and  '9' from April 2022, it's frenetic.
These are available on the usual outlets Spotify/iTunes/Deezer/Pandora/Napster, Bandcamp etc.

Its eclectic, quirky I confess, British? Experimental in places but above all stuffed full with Gibson guitars, energy and a passion for music and life in the highs and lows that days of late bring.  Hope you appreciate the artwork too all photographed or produced by me to keep it authentic and original.

The tenth album 'Keep On' saw the development of style and flow which  includes my personal favourites 'The Things That You Love', 'Man on The Run' and the title track, 'Keep On'. These all adapted a different approach and development that simply wouldn't have occurred at the start of the journey,  

The music's progressing and the album 'The Perfect Storm' set the benchmark in online attention with the title track single. I think the style and sincerity of performance mirrored the fact that all of my tracks are written for a reason and sparked by quite intense life changing events behind the scenes, you couldn't write it or maybe I could ! 
Personal choices at the moment are the opener Can't Erase The Memory, I Can and of course the single The Perfect Storm. 

Twelfth album ‘Heart Of Blue’, is completed and recently released  September 6th 2024. It's been a while (for me) in the making and each track just builds on the last. The themes of resilience, belief and positivity remain and the music continues to be guitar driven and punchy with hooks and catchy melodies.  

Album 13 is entitled 'Every Time' and is released to all platforms on June 12th. To come so quickly after 'Heart Of Blue' says a lot about the inspiration and creative drive. Themes of resilience, perseverance, hope and love, dominate in what I believe is my most cognitive and mature album yet, see what you think.
 
I'm thankful the creativity continues. The fact the writing and playing still excites and intrigues is a bonus! Where there's a story to tell and a melody to be heard the last song is always my drug for the next, 13 albums in it's not abating anytime soon. 
NickG

Latest Tracks on the Move

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