We Do Adventure

I began my journey as a songwriter and performer in the early nineties. At the time I was inspired by the music of Keith Green. His enthusiastic piano style was probably in part influenced by Elton John's; it's certainly been compared to it. In the early nineties Elton was riding high in the charts with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me: the live at Wembley, duet with George Michael, version. As the decade headed to it's close he'd score the UK's all time biggest-selling single with the Diana tribute version of Candle In The Wind. Despite this he didn't register on my musical radar. I owe it to two movies that I discovered the wonders of Elton's early work. Almost Famous introduced me to Tiny Dancer and Elizabethtown to My Father's Gun. The latter movie's Free Bird scene is my favourite cinematic rock-out moment. Obviously, I owe Cameron Crowe! Type 'Elton John' into my iTunes and the search returns 142 songs. This represents most of his ...

'Is this the set list?' I put down the cable I was coiling and glanced up at the table where the bar owner was pointing. I nodded. 'And you wrote all the songs?' I replied that, yes, apart for the obvious inclusion of some U2 and Lenny Kravitz, I'd written all the rest. (Truth be told, I co-wrote three of the track with musician-friends from previous bands, but I felt this was unnecessary detail at the time!) 'Good. Very good band.' My denim and leather clad critic pointed to the first track and then somewhere towards the bottom of the set list. “These song are the best. Very good.” We not the only band to receive such praise. “U2. Very good. Not heavy metal but very good band.” Iron Maiden are his favourite. U2 and Dire Straits make up his list of good non-heavy-metal bands. Then came the comparison. I've always had mixed feelings when people start down the 'that song sounds like...' route. As a song writer you know what's in your record ...