what I did on my lifelong vacation...

Oh, yeah. I remember that guy with the 'fro. I don't smoke cigs anymore, though.
The pictures are from '88, 90, 84, and 96 respectively, and they're mostly
here so people from work can have a laugh at my long hair.
Since 1984, I've occasionally put out a string of self produced and distributed
cassette albums, whenever I could afford the cash and time to do it and I had a likely
bunch of tunes ready. A few were solo acoustic affairs but most were done on 4 track,
either with me filling in all the instruments and vocals, or occasionally
with friends helping me out. Although I was only ever organized enough to circulate
them amongst an extended circle of friends, they were vitally important to me as a growing
musician because they taught me how to present my songs, the things that were most
effective, what my strengths and weaknessess were, and just a whole lot about
writing songs and recording them. I wouldn't be half as strong without that experience.


Plus it gave me a reason to keep constantly working on new material, because I
had a venue to present it to people, even if I wasn't in a group of able to be
out doing solo acoustic gigs at the time. It allowed me to function and develop,
on a miniature scale, as the sort of musician I aspired to be, so that I'm better
prepared for the opportunity to now, hopefully, make music on a larger scale and in
a band setting.
Although I very much treated these cassette albums as real and serious affairs at
the time, they were also very much a learning experience and improved as time went
on, reflecting the shifts in my life and influences and any improvements in
skill I might muster. I'll always be grateful to the folks who listened to my stuff
and gave me feedback on it or took it to heart because that space to grow in was
so vital to me. I'm quite proud of... well, a fair amount of it, and other folks like
stuff I don't, so everything from Colliding on is probably a reasonable listen.


(I can't believe I was barely 19 in this - I look 40!)

This is the list of my stuff before the band

• MOVE (Aug. 1984) my first effort, a sort of hippie/concept/i ching thing, a little scary
  to let loose. The moustache photo above graced the cover of that, taken in a photo booth at the CNE!
  
  
• WAITING FOR EVELYN (Feb. 1985)a solo acoustic set recorded in a residence stairwell,
  with a friend of mine picking most of the songs. First thing I did I got asked for copies of
  rather than foisting them on doorsteps in the middle of the night...
  
  
• SONGS OUT OF NOWHERE (Sept. 1985)My first 4 track effort; uneven for technical and 80'sness
  reasons, but has a moment or two.
  
  
• COLLIDING (Mar. 1988)(2CD) this is where things REALLY start. A sprawling psychedelic pop/college
  radio/folkie/romantic troubadour collage. Also my first go doing something musical with Malcolm.
  
  
• ANOTHER 1000 MILES (Mar. 1988) the outakes from Colliding, believe it or not. A conversation
  between MX and I about this tape that Mark came in in the middle of at the second a1000m rehearsal
  wound up naming our 00's group, it's the name of a song on this collection.
  
  
• (With the band Next!) - NEXT!(Nov. 1989) - A group I sang and did some writing for, my first time
  in an actual studio. Catchy, but not too connected to my solo stuff.
  
  
• THRU THE SCREEN (May 1990/Apr. 1997) - a song cycle about romantic illusion or something -
  a set of 1990 demos for what was supposed to be a studio project, fleshed out with overdubs in 1997,
  and lots of groovy india ink Tarot designs I did for the booklet I made for it!
  
  
• (With the band Groove Opera) - GROOVE OPERA (Aug. 1991) A big, kinda funky, layered, hazy, goofy,
  not so serious thing concocted by the personnel from a1000m a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away
  ............................Far. Though '...suddenly..." on Detach recalls the G/O sound to me...
  
  
• SASKATCHEWAN SONGS (Dec. 1994) solo acoustic demos of songs I wrote while living out west, 92-96,
  on a dramatically failed attempt to move to the west coast, though I went with a good friend and made a few more...
  
  
• SHORE LEAVE (Jun. 1996) This was made in Saskatoon just before I moved back east and is another
  sprawling sampling of several years worth of writing condensed. Litterally made in a living room full of boxes
  as I moved back east, because I wanted to come out of all that time out there with SOME kind of album!
  
  
• smallfishBIGSEAep (Dec. 1996) this was a low key/lo-fi christmas thing I sent to friends that year
  
  with some fun stuff on it, something I've often done, though this is one of the only times I did up art and lyrics and all that...
  
  
• PERISCOPE (Mar. 1997) another lighter, more spontaneous collection of tunes that were very recently
  written at the time, really the last of my actual 'albums' proper before a1000m
  
  
• NEXT NEW SEED (Dec. 1997) simple acoustic and harmony recordings of a few doxen tunes I wrote
  after Periscope in 1997, plus a few more ambitious recordings.
  
  (And then came the 3 Another 1000 Miles albums:)
  
• ANOTHER 1000 MILES (Jul. 2000) Our debut disc, delayed by my car wreck, then made at blinding speed that May.
  
  
• DETACH (Jan. 2003) Our wooly long weekend of a 2nd album, the first to get made on our own gear.
  
  
• BETWEEN WHEELS (Mar. 2005) The final A1000M disc was a deeply textured concept album based 'round the
  8 annual celebrations throughout the year of the ancient Celtic calendar.
  
  

Photos 1 & 2 by Richard Williams, 3 is a self portrait, 4 by Nicole Ratelband

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