Yours truly with the legendary Robert Plant
It’s easy to be glib about the year that has passed and focus simply on how time flies and all that. I want to resist that temptation and reflect upon the amazing experiences I had in 2013 that I will always cherish to assist me in looking forward to 2014.
As a freelance rock journalist, I was privileged to catch many great bands and artists in concert and also to interview many intriguing personalities, whether face-to-face or via phone. Nothing could top meeting and interviewing Robert Plant, of course! I must confess I was shitting my pants when I was talking to him – nervous as hell – but thankfully, Plant was gracious, candid and funny so it went very very well.
Yours truly with ace producer Steve Lillywhite
Coming very very close to the Plant encounter was spending time with producer Steve Lillywhite – the man at the boards of many many of my favourite 80s albums – when SG MUSO brought him to Singapore in March. Steve was good fun – energetic, honest and armed with a wicked sense of humor. Amazing!
Yours truly with TypeWriter and entourage at the Cavern Club!
On the band management front, I spent an awesome two weeks in London, Plymouth and Liverpool with TypeWriter for the English Breakfast Tour which culminated with the band playing three sets at International Pop Overthrow music festival in May. Along the way, I was fortunate to finally meet and get acquainted with Jimmy Appudurai-Chua, Axel Loughrey and the guys in Pugwash! Good times.
Yours truly with Lydia Low at Artistry.
Finally, as an artist, I released my first solo album – Emo FASCISM – to general indifference. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely proud of the album but certainly for me, selling CDs is off the table, from now on! It was great fun to have The Groovy People (Pat Chng, Ray Aziz, Nelson Tan & Benjamin Ang) backing me on the launch gigs not to mention the lovely Lydia Low – who also launched her mini-album Wrecked Till Further Notice.
So, onwards to 2014. More gigs, more interviews, more music and hopefully, a successful new artistic venture.
…still there’s more…
KEVIN MATHEWS
info AT powerofpop DOT com
kamcomusic AT gmail DOT com
Continued success in 2014 Kev! here’s to leaving a small footprint in the sand before the tide rolls in
Thanks, Matt. I look forward to more amazing music from you in the coming year! Have an awesome 2014!