As well as working as a guitar tutor, I also write and produce music that is not specifically guitar based. I have a big interest in social reform and the understanding of social systems and how they effect people’s lives throughout the world.

My latest project is POTENTIALSIM.

Potentialsim is an Album/Artistic Development/Exhibition project I’m currently working on with various other artists/creatives, and will include a studio-space based collaborative period of 6 months beginning in September 2014 at Federation House in Manchester city centre, which will incorporate several live events and culminate with an exhibition and the production of various archive material such as a book, audio and film based media.
I initially composed the music to create a concept album exploring Potentialism. Now with various other creatives, we are in the process of developing a series of events and exhibitions to explore the idea further and the album will become part of the whole, rather than be the complete product.

You can have a listen to the album taster below, and read the info below that if you’d like to know more. Within Soundcloud, each track also contains a detailed description of what it is about and how this relates to the concept of Potentialism.

Potentialsim is a concept and word I ‘created’ (although there appears to be various people around the world who have also come up with the word with various definitions).

My idea is that Potentialism describes a moment when various elements come together to create a fantastic, positive realisation, of either personal or social ideals, like the crest of a wave, where regardless of eventual outcome, or previous experiences, the moment yields maximum positivity, which is then celebrated, magnified and elevated in the conciseness of the beholder.

Initially inspired by a T-shirt I have depicting the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, I became obsessed with the inspirational images of people coming together and unifying their energies into a reactionary, positive force that empowered the people taking part in the breaking and trespassing of the wall, and held massive social awareness that what they were doing was much more than their actual actions; they were literally changing the world.

As I studied the events around the whole story of the Berlin wall, I considered the reality of such events. The main thing that struck me was that although the moments when the wall was coming down were amazing, the ‘reality’ of everyday life that would follow was yet to come, and this would be, for many people, a time of economic and personal depression, of political and personal upheaval and displacement. This aspect of life can lead to amazing moments becoming diminished with hindsight. Confidence can be lessened, ideals can be swamped, beliefs can be altered and positivity extinguished.

Potentialism is almost like a curation of your own history. To focus on a moment that was fantastic, be it the excited anticipation of an event, a creative energy not yet explored, a social movement or shift towards a better state, or just the unbridled naivety that good things will come your way, and to lift those feelings to prime position in your consciousness, to use that feeling to help you move forward, to help reach towards higher ideals is why Potentialism is important.

Potentialsim for me, is also a way of not viewing my life in such a linear way as pictorial timelines, books, roads and maps affect us to view it. This allows me to take the best parts of my life, collate them together and ‘edit’ the summary of what is possible to remember, into something that could easily be remembered with much more negativity. Instead all the best parts come to the fore, which means my outlook as I continue with my life is massively more likely to yield good things, as I’m fully charged with good things.

The tracks on the album explore various aspects of cultural, political and personal history, along with personal experiences and conceptualised themes. Not every track is about the concept of Potentialsim itself, but rather, they portray a wider cultural landscape and backdrop within which Potentialism can be explored.

What Is Wanted Can Be Had is a short film and original composition I made, that explores similar concepts to those of Potentialism, and particularly to the ideas explored in Beautiful White Hot Stones which is the second track. There’s a full description if you click on the info within the video.