Hi everyone,
It's the early hours of Sunday as I write this — the house is finally quiet — and I've ended this week tired in the best possible way.
It's been half-term, so for once there's been a proper pause from teaching and some real time with the family. But if I'm honest, it's also been a bit of a race against the clock. A week off teaching is never really a week off — and there were a few projects I was determined to push forward before lessons start up again.
Which leads me nicely to something that's been on my mind a lot lately.
Music first — but life first too 🎵
There's a phrase I keep coming back to: don't let the peripheral become the main event.
As an independent musician it's so easy for the actual music — the whole reason I started any of this — to get buried under everything that surrounds it. The posting, the admin, the marketing, the endless tech. It all matters. But none of it is the point.
I've finally put that idea down on paper in a free guide I'm calling the Music First manifesto. It's really for any musician — or honestly anyone running their own thing — who feels pulled in a hundred directions and wants to get back to what actually matters.
Read the Music First manifesto (free PDF)
It also quietly sets the stage for something bigger I've been working on. I've been writing — a lot — using AI as a kind of ghostwriter to help get the words down. But I want to be completely honest with you about that: AI isn't writing these, I am. I'm the one sat up at 2am editing every line, because the last thing I'd ever put my name to is AI slop. The tool helps me move faster; the thinking, the voice and the decisions are all mine. More on that soon.
A song worth the right season 🚢
You might remember the music video I've been making for my original song Love's Gone Sailing.
The video has come together better than I ever imagined — honestly, I'm a little blown away by it. The one thing left is the vocals, and this week I simply ran out of time to record them properly.
But here's the thing: it's a bit of a winter song. So rather than rush it out just to get it finished, I've decided to hold it. I could release it now… but I think the song deserves the right season. It'll land later in the year as the weather turns — and I reckon it'll be all the better for the wait.
Poster Poster & LiftShot 🛠️
The two apps I've been building are still inching forward.
Poster Poster (which turns the gigs in your diary into social posts automatically) and LiftShot (which turns flat performance footage into something genuinely watchable) are both up and running in demo mode. The hold-up now is on the approval side — I'm waiting on TikTok and Meta to sign off the API access before I can open them up properly.
Fingers crossed that's only a few weeks away now. I'll let you know the moment they're live.
This week's gigs — a good run 🎸
Wednesday – Open Mic, Windsor & Eton Brewery. Quiet at first with everyone out in the evening sun, but it filled in beautifully and turned into a really lovely night.
Thursday – Bricklayers Arms, Hersham. Completely acoustic — no PA, no mic, just me and the room. Ended up taking requests all night, which is exactly my kind of gig.
Friday – The Maypole, Surbiton. Roasting hot, a full dance floor and requests flying in from every direction. One of those properly fun ones.
Saturday – a private function. The Champions League final pushed our start back a touch, but by the end the place was packed and buzzing.
Sunday – The Woodman, Woodmansterne. As I send this I'm not far off heading over for a relaxed, open-mic-style afternoon to round the week off.
The guitar fund 🎸
A proper thank you to end on. The guitar fund has now passed £1,500 — something I genuinely didn't expect.
It's not quite enough to buy the guitar outright, but it's enough to put down a serious deposit on the one I've had my eye on for years. And it's become something I think about more than I expected: every time I pick up that guitar, it'll carry a little piece of the support that helped me get there. Past and future, in one instrument.
Thank you — truly.
See you out there, Aaron