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They say that sometimes, less is more. Now when planning your perfect wedding, you might expect this would be true when creating that beautiful dinner table layout, a classy guest invitation, or crafting your speech; but you might not expect it would be true when thinking about live music. When you embark upon your personal wedding-planning journey, your head probably immediately jumps to the traditional wedding heavy hitters: the venue, florists, photographers, and the eveni

Another month, slipped away! It’s hard to believe that we’re already into June: warm weather, sun-burn etc. It feels like just yesterday that the nights were long and summer felt a world away. Time flies! Maybe that’s why this month I’ve struggled to keep on top of my musical ‘archive’. May’s wrapped playlist seems rather scant compared with my previous more beefy offerings. The better weather, resulting increased will to go outside, as well as wedding season getting well und

This month I’m turning back the clock… Throughout April I’ve been revisiting the music that started my love for listening to music. I’ve always been interested in performing, in being a part of dynamic shows and collaborating with others, but listening to music only became an important part of my life - as I suppose is often the case - during my early teenage years. During my earlier years, my listening habits were defined by the use of portable CD, and later USB MP3 players

‘It feels good to dance; because we don’t dance anymore’

Spring has sprung! With last month’s hectic preparations, this month feels like the payoff after the grind. March featured my first wedding bookings of the year, and it was a pleasure to get back to my favourite type of performance! This month’s weddings felt particularly special, as they were all intimate celebrations, and these always tend to remind me of my own small wedding (coming up on two years ago, now!). No matter how many couples I work with, that feeling never seem

We musicians are constantly searching for meaning. During every performance, there is always a latent journey of seek and discover. Every song forges new pathways, new perspectives, new relationships. Each note is a summit from which we aim for the next. This process can be tremendously exciting, and it's an important part about what makes music special. But it's also true that this dopamine-saturated process can, just like any other, result in the development of 'siloed' thi

February feels like it’s gone by in a whirlwind. I’m not sure if it’s made worse by the fact it’s actually shorter, but it definitely feels like I could fit in less stuff than I can normally. January turned out to be a record month for enquiries, and March features my first weddings bookings of the year, so I found myself eating somewhat of an ‘admin sandwich’! No complaints of course, but an increase in desk-time is an artefact of this phase of Finlay Gigs - where I’m pivoti

“What is art?” -everyone, at some point (probably) It’s a question as old as art itself. Ever since the first cave-dweller decided to spend some time doing anything other than look for food, eat, sleep, or die; and found himself etching some crude shapes on the walls of his abode. Inevitably, those nearby to witness this first attempt at elevating consciousness to another dimension must have felt less than impressed: wishing this useless layabout would instead go back to doin

"One step forward, Two Steps back; Nobody gets too far like that" - Wise words from the Desert Rose Band. An appropriate start, I think, to a new year of playlist-building. A reminder that, no matter the winds that blow and the tides that turn, we must always strive to move forward: however slowly we may perceive our progress.

I get a sense that New Years’ resolutions aren’t as fashionable as they once were. Perhaps we have finally managed to get to grips with what is perhaps the world’s most overrated force: human willpower. Perhaps it’s just that in this brave new world pervaded by all manners of ‘social’ media, we are terrifed of being held to account by others about that which we have ‘resolved’ to accomplish in any given year. It’s true that I haven’t really given it much thought until now: I

“How exactly do you choose? Well, luckily, it’s not all guesswork! Here are a few things worth thinking about before you book.”

I often say that being a performer is about toeing many lines. Loud and soft, fast and slow, ups and downs. However, there’s one line that’s particularly important. It’s what brings magic to music. Get it right, and you’ll put on a great show. It’s the balance between the known, and the unknown. Whenever you’re playing live music, it’s necessary to experiment such that you’re expanding your skill set and repertoire, without venturing too far from familiar waters and drown. Yo

It’s not something in particular, I’ve come to realise: but just that sense of electricity which comes from a truly great live music experience. That feeling that something is going on in the room that just can't be replicated anywhere else. This is something I experienced last weekend, on a rare night off to see one of my favourite new bands… Picture the scene: you find yourself in the back room of a small hotel, having wound your way through a maze of corridors towards the