My Music

Here another release, out on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music etc. You should be able to hear it on one of these as a guest even if you do not subscribe!

Its gone kind of rocky these days it seems. Almost sounds like a tribute to Status Quo. Not sure where that came from. It was written with the idea of playing in “Stumpy and the Rollers” a band I play bass in. Hope you like it!

I guess I am getting old but here is a song complaining about people being on their phones all the time. Especially when you are trying to talk to them or make some time to hang out.

Kind of good fun, I especially like the backing vocals on this one! Good mandolin and bass as well. The mandolin solo is based on the tune “king of the fairies” if you’re interested!

And here is another of my songs.

A bit of an old one I wrote ages ago and have only finally got round to recording. It is much slower than I play it out normally. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. I haven’t listened to it since I recorded it and am rather amused by the backing vocals.

Another new song, written around 2020 or thereabouts. This one is about climate change and the destruction of our planet as a habitable home for humans. Turns out to be very relevant, sadly, with the current drought, flooding, heatwave and wildfires. This stuff costs lives and it is time to vote green to get us to zero carbon fast!

Recorded at Huddersfield University Music Department by the very talented Juraj Fajnor.

Written around 2016 at the time of Brexit I guess and sadly still relevant to this day. Should be pretty self explanatory (hint: I think immigration is actually a pretty good thing!!!)

Pretty pleased with the recording, maybe I am getting the hang of it at last! Violin solo is OK I suppose and I still love putting those backing vocals on my tracks!

“Its Too Late” probably written around 2020. Recorded as normal in one take in the good old ‘home studio’ with me singing and playing guitar, violin, bass, percussion and piano. The piano and violin is a bit iffy – I had to do a fair bit of noise reduction because the mic I used was so bad but it has come out OK.

I quite like this one – pretty good fun song about something kind of sad, which is my usual theme I guess. I particularly enjoy the piano solo !! Its hard playing with two hands at once – I should practice more!

Another recent one, “All Alone” is my kind of song written in lockdown that it seems every musician or songwriter has to have. It has taken a while to upload but here it is! Pretty much summing up the loneliness of sitting in and drinking too much wine and watching TV box sets when we were all stuck in our houses. Recorded at Huddersfield University Music Department by the very talented Juraj Fajnor.

“I’m Only Asking For A Friend” is another of my more recent songs, written around 2021 I guess. Works on several levels I suppose but the idea is to express that feeling when you have said something to somebody that you suddenly realise is inappropriate or offensive and then have to pretend it was all somebody else and you were asking on their behalf of course. You would never behave like that would you? Again has a kind of Country, Acoustic Pop feel to it. Mixing by Andy Jackson again and cover art from Nick Prince.

“Too Old To Die Young” is a new song written when I realised that I was now too old to die at 27 or whatever age you are supposed to die at to be cool! Not that I recommend that at all. In fact getting older is pretty cool – like a fine wine. The song came about as I recall in a discussion with the lovely Edwina Hayes during a zoom acoustic session. Edwina did a songwriting course a while ago that I attended and it must have inspired me to write this. This one is a bit kind of country music I think. Mixed by Andy Jackson who also did some great backing vocals and some cool guitar solo!

“Can’t Tell You Why” is a song written with Andy Jackson who provided most of the rhythm section and I then put some words to it and added some bits and pieces and hey presto! It’s about all those people you stay up with late at night chatting after a few drinks and kind of get the gist of what is going on but don’t really get it but you still want to help. I would call it pop music. Some great backing vocals from the very talented Scott Rowson and cover photo from Nick Prince.

“I Have Dreams” is an old one written ages ago. This song is definitely rock music Yeah! Sadly it lacks drums but the distorted guitar and, in my humble opinion, “excellent” twin guitar solo still bring a smile to my face. It’s got the spirit at least of a great rocking out song even if the recording leaves a little to be desired. Cover photo from Nick Prince again.

“Talk All Night” is a nice acoustic music song, more my singer/songwriter side. It’s about the relationship between a father and your kids and between friends and enemies I guess. There is a bit of harmony backing vocals and it has a bit of almost folk-rap thing building up at the end, which I rather like! Once again thanks to Nick Prince for the cover photo.

“I’m Bored” is another very old one recorded on the trusty four-track. We are back in rock music territory with a drum beat courtesy of an old Yamaha keyboard I think. Great bass break in the middle – I love it. This song goes on for ages and that’s the point – to make us all completely bored by the end! Although I do love my own harmony vocals and that is actually a good guitar solo this time! A triumph!

The song “I’m On The Outside Looking In” is a bit of a different one for me. This one is done with loops when I got the technology on the computer to do that. If anything it is more dance – can I even say techno? It’s still got my acoustic guitar on it mind you. Folk-techno maybe?

“The City” is maybe my favourite of these old ones. Definitely done on the Tascam 4-track, the guitar sounds so compressed and the bass is super subtle. Drum beats from my old tiny Casio keyboard and I am guessing this is Bossa Nova but I could be wrong!!! Is it a Samba back-beat? Nice song, singer songwriter acoustic I would call it. Cover art photo once again by Nick Prince

The “Happy Bunny Song” is a song written as pure kids pop when my kids told me that all I did was write sad stuff in A-minor! So here we have a fun up-beat song in a major key. Of course I cannot resist adding my good old harmony vocals and an acoustic guitar solo this time. Cover art photo from Rich Gorsky.

This one is “Safe in Your Daddy’s Arms”. This is the last of my old songs now out and available on streaming platforms. Recorded back in the day and I suspect on an old computer setup rather than the 4-track. This one is all me playing all the instruments and doing all the vocals. I’m quite fond of this one, its really slow but I enjoy the build up of vocal lines on top of each other. Some nice harmonies in there too. Mostly guitar and piano with a bit of a weird keyboard solo but I enjoy it still all these years later!

“Jogging For Jesus” is definitely the most accessible and crowd pleaser type song that we did. A bit of fun Country Music I guess telling the story of redemption of a disabled dog.

A bit of a departure this one, “Funk It Pump It”, a rare straying into rap and funk for me….. I hope you like it. From way back in the 90s this one features Nick Prince and Chris Searle playing the bass amazingly (it is worth listening to just for that bass solo by Chris) and featuring the crazy Korg Mono Poly, which is quite an amazing keyboard. I don’t know who did the drums – still a mystery.

Apologies for the bad language – parental advisory recommended!!!

“From Brutal Bootle to Funky Runky”. Another song written back around the late 1990s, perhaps early 2000s. Featuring Nick Prince and co with the Casio keyboard providing the rhythm track with additional bongos!

Once more the themes of dogs, towns of the North West of England and the divide between the rich and the poor are addressed.

Bad language again, whoops – parental advisory recommended!!!

“I Wanna go Crazy In Your Pants”, features yet again the Casio rhythm section with added bass. Some lyrics in Swedish, Spanish and possibly Japanese I think from the poetic pen of Nick Prince. Some nice backing vocals from Helen on this one, which are ahead of their time as a kind of ASMR thing.

Could have been a dancefloor classic!

Available on Spotify, if you click here it should take you to the Ollie Smith and the Black Bucks album on Spotify. A really good band and well worth a listen. Featuring Ollie Smith on vocals, 12 string guitar and bouzouki, John Avery on the cajon and percussion, Andy Wardlow on the rhythm and lead acoustic guitar and me – Mike Jackson on the bass! A great recording by Andy Jackson too! Still sounds great today !