With the current trend of bands returning to releasing vinyl records, I’ve cast my mind back to 1990 and the making of Pieces of Gold. 

I recorded & mixed four tracks in my studio at Warp Farm throughout January and February and then put them out on a cassette to see which two tracks would be the best for a single. Once everyone had chipped in with their thoughts we decided on Mandy is Missing and Pieces of Gold. 

In June, I went down to Abbey Road studios in London to finish the mastering and cut the master lacquer. At the time Mandy is Missing was slated for the A-side and Pieces of Gold for the B-side.  I went down to observe and was very impressed by how much they were able to do. The mastering engineer had just finished working on MC Hammer’s latest single. 

My songs were both over 4 mins 20 secs and therefore getting a bit on the long side. This meant that we couldn’t have the bass as “deep” as we would have liked. The options were: edit it down to 3 and a half mins, release it on 12 inch or leave it alone. We left it alone and I was still overjoyed at the end result. 

When we passed around the test copy it soon became apparent that Pieces was going to be more instantly popular than Mandy. So, we put it out as a double A under our band name 1159. This set off a sequence of events. Firstly we got some good reviews in the music press which then got 5 record labels asking to meet up with us and the chance of a major deal. Secondly, we got a letter from another band called 1159 threatening legal action if we continued to use the name. This led to me having to get the singles re-stickered that had already been manufactured. It was at this point I decided that I would always put stuff out under my own name since it is my belief that you can’t sue someone for using their own name. 

Stuart 

Below is the video of the new recording of “Pieces of Gold”, March 2018.

You only get one chance to make a first impression and it has always been a struggle to choose which song should be let out to stake my claim on a listener’s time. After spending countless weeks recording and fine-tuning a song it is hard to choose. Usually, the latest one gets preferential treatment but It would be unrealistic to think that it will always be the best song to draw people into the rest of the catalogue. 

So I’ve decided to divide the number of listens by the number of downloads on a per song basis and the one with the lowest ratio gets to go top of the list. The rest are to be sorted at my personal whim. 
By that method, Why Did She Leave is winning by a country mile with a ratio of 1 download for every 4.5 listens. Pieces of Gold and I Lie Bleeding share second place with a ratio of 1:8 
The only drawback is that the second two seem to be getting the more positive comments so it may be I should just keep rotating the songs around. Decisions, decisions…….

Over the years I’ve tried to promote my music with whatever the current trend is. So, in the 80s, I would record demos onto cassettes and then either give them away or sell them to anyone who might listen. In the early ’90s, this progressed to putting out my own 7″ single and once again pushing it to anyone who might help further my career. This led to interest from 5 labels and the chance to be “signed”, but this came to nought and I was back to recording and releasing songs on my own ShowSnaps “label”. 

At the end of the 90’s I took to the World Wide Web and hoped to make a killing, but I was probably 5 years too soon. Download speeds were too slow and the web pages that could be created were not appealing. 

So, moving on to the ’00s through to the present day I have continued to improve my website and I use Facebook and email newsletters to promote my latest songs and having a major label deal is no longer something to be desired. 

Over time I’ve garnered quite a few good reviews and I’ve used these to back up my promotional activities, but due to family commitments, I’ve only just started getting back to doing live work which is a great way to get my music into the ears of potential followers. 

I need your support 

The problem I have now is that Facebook makes me pay to get my posts in front of more than a small fraction of your followers and therefore my reach is seriously restricted. The only way I gain any traction on Facebook is if someone shares my posts, otherwise, it can easily cost me more than I can hope to make. So the most cost-effective way for me to stay in touch with my followers is to ask them to sign up to my email newsletter. 

Every time someone shares my songs or signs up as a VIP supporter I dance a happy dance. So, if you read my posts or listen to my music and enjoy the experience please don’t be shy about signing up to become a VIP Supporter or sharing my posts. It goes a long way towards making the ship stay afloat. 

Thank you, 

Stuart