born to die

I always knew that if I offered less, people would settle for less. Really, most people would have been happy if I turned up for concerts with just me and an acoustic guitar – it would have been much less trouble for them that way, not having to provide too much PA, or black out the windows! But I always believed I shouldn't give people bread and water when I could give them a banquet. But having fought for nearly four years to do things the absolute best possible way – full band, visuals, prayer and all – we simply were not finding enough demand, and therefore not enough money to keep going. It usually needs at least 150 people to make a concert viable, and many church groups find it hard to get that many people. I mistakenly thought that if I scaled things down, it might become possible in the end to reach many more people by going to smaller prayer groups, and thus getting the word out, and maybe even inspiring them to try for bigger things.

In the event, going out with just myself, Pam or Sue on keyboards, and an operator for the projectors, certainly proved cheaper for the concert promoters, but did not in the end lead to an increased number of opportunities, and I hardly ever got invited to any prayer groups. It did make prison ministry easier though, as prison chaplains usually have a limited budget (if any budget at all), and fairly limited chapel space in many prisons. I would say that prison ministry is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. It's hard to imagine how warmly they receive the message, and how much they appreciate the visit, unless you have personally experienced it.

Until this point, people always said the live experience (specially with the whole band) was completely different to the albums. Although the albums were proving popular, and many people passed them on to those who never experienced a concert, the total live experience could not be captured on record. Well of course the visuals could not be put on disc for everyone, but I started to think about ways of trying to make the next album different.

Where "Through Ancient Eyes" was an attempt to reproduce the playing of the band as faithfully as possible, now I had no band any longer, and so no such limitations. I thought maybe I could try and paint sound pictures of the songs, and in this way, the record would become the canvas. So I used whatever sounds and textures came to me. Mandolin – harp – bagpipes – these were the palettes. It was also the first album I ever recorded straight to hard disk, and I was greatly impressed by the crisp quality possible with the latest digital technology.