Journal+Entries

January 2008 Right now I am sitting on my friends couch in London, where I’ll sleep for the night. It’s been a hectic few months, and this is the first time I decided I would sit down and start this journal. My parents let me drop out of school and focus on my music career under a few conditions. One of them was that I had to keep a journal. My mum said that in a few years I would want to look back and see how I got through this time in my life. So, I obliged and here I am. I have been gigging every night since moving, and having the time of my life. Of course they aren’t huge venues, just small intimate gigs. I feel like this will make me a better performer and pay off in the future though. Everything isn’t as I expected it to be, but it is definitely what I want to do. I think I made the right decision to move here. I’ve got to get to sleep now, as it’s nearly morning and I have to work tomorrow. May 2008 I am sleeping at the same friends house as last time, and found this journal. Because of my “sofa surfing” I carry everything in a rucks sack. I forgot this journal here back in January. I am sleeping at the same friends house as last time, and found this journal. Because of my “sofa surfing” I carry everything in a rug sack. I forgot this journal here back in January. Not much has changed since my last entry though. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long journey to success. I am still gigging daily, and mostly at the same places. In a way it is a good thing though. I have made my way into this circle, or community, of singer songwriters. I have connections now so finding gigs and places to sleep at night isn’t very hard. That’s all for tonight. October 2008 My prediction seemed to be true, this is going to be a long journey. Once again I am in the same place that I have been since I came to London. The excitement of gigging every night hasn’t worn off on me yet though. I feel like I am getting better because of all the gigging too. When I first started I was rubbish. I know I’m not great now, but I am a lot better. I guess my parents are right, to improve at your craft you have to put hard work and dedication into it. I’ve been hearing that every since I was really young. I guess I never fully understood the gravity of what that means until recently. Being on my own is making a lot of things my parent’s told me become more real. January 2009 I feel like things are going to pick up speed soon, at least a little. I recently got a new motivator, or challenge, that I made for myself. I saw an interview of James Morrison where he said he did 200 gigs in one year. I want to beat his record, and I aim to this year. I’ve also been meeting some pretty cool people. I recently meet Leddra Chapman. I think I might want to collaborate with her in the future. Hopefully something might play out. I’ve got some songs that I want to release this year too. I’ll probably release them in an EP. I’m psyched for this year, and can’t wait for all this stuff to happen! June 2009 I ended up collaborating with Leddra Chapman a bit. We wrote some songs for her new album. We also made some youtube video’s of popular songs. It was really cool to work with her, and hopefully we can collaborate again in the future. I am in the process of putting together an EP, that will be released later in the year. I am not sure what the name is going to be, most likely You Need Me though. I am going to name it that after a song on the EP, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”. I wrote this song awhile ago, back in Suffolk. I feel like it is still relevant to some parts of the music business. I’ve been adding onto it, and I think it has reached a point that I can release it now. Let’s hope that everything goes as planned! November 2009 I am writing this from a tour bus. Just Jack invited me to tour with him. I immediately said yes, because I think this could be a step up in my career. Being on tour again makes me think about when I was younger and I toured with Nizlopi. Of course I didn’t get to go on stage though. I was only their guitar technician. I was really lucky to be able to do that. I think it has really helped me because I got to see how they worked as an independent act. Even if I hadn’t toured with them I think they would have influenced me. When you listen to my music I think you can hear my two main influences clearly, Nizlopi and Damien Rice. I have loved them since I was a child though, so it makes sense. Back to my present day career, I ended up releasing that EP. It did get named You need me, and I think it did fairly well. So far this has been such a great year! April 2010 I have decided that I am going to Los Anglos, in America. I recently left my old management. I don’t think they were the right fit, and I can do it without them. They wanted to change me, but I don’t want to change because thats not part of my plan for success. My motto is:** stay true to yourself by following your heart and you will succeed **. Also, I am getting tired of this scene in London too. I have been doing the same gigs for about two years now. I reached my goal last year, I did roughly 300 gigs in one year. I probably worked myself thin. I feel like I just need to go to America and see a new crowd of people, and be apart of a new scene. Hopefully my passion for music will be renewed when I do! October 2010 Going to America did exactly what I needed it too. I stayed there for a month and it was great. The best part was probably meeting Jamie Foxx. He heard me at his open mic, and invited me to stay at his house. It was a pretty amazing experience. I also just released another EP. It is called Songs I Wrote With Amy. It was named that because they are all songs that I co-wrote with Amy Wadge. I also got Leddra Chapman to do backup vocals. It was fun to work with her again. I feel like I am starting to gain a strong fan base. I think a lot of it has to do with people discovering me on youtube. I hope that my fan base continues to grow at the rate it is now. April 2011 I have been signed to a record label, Atlantic Records. The contract makes it so that I have all the creative licenses and I am not a puppet of my label. I was able to get a deal like this because I have had independent success, and have proven myself. I also released my final independent EP. It is called No. 5 Collaborations Project. It has a bunch of collaborations with some grime artists on it. My first release with Atlantic Records was “The A Team”, a single from my album. It was a huge success and I am really proud of it. It went in on the UK charts at number 3, going above all my expectations. September 2011 This month my debut album, +, was released. It was amazing, as it topped the charts at number 1 on the top albums billboard in the UK! In celebration a bunch of people I work with and I got + tattoo’s. Having my first album out feels amazing. I feel like I have finally broke England, and reached success!