Its almost with a heavy heart that I have to wave goodbye to 2014, It was one of those extremely rare periods in life that only come along all too fleetingly when everything just seemed to drop into place, the pieces of a very complicated puzzle all began to fit, for me both personally and professionally ( if for one minute you could consider what we do with our musical escapades a professional venture ! We still dont really know what were really doing or how we do it....we just do it ! ) I didnt really wax lyrical about it too much, it was noted that there was a lack of Bass Notes or band blogging from me this year. For one I was far too busy enjoying and appreciating the experience and I was also conscious of the fact that everything was indeed going in the right direction, the story kind of told itself. Never in one year have I had so many pinch yourself moments, playing Bass for Kenney Jones and spending the day previous to the gig rehearsing at his house then being taken down to his local Polo Club for a few bevvies, getting my mind blown out in Japan...not once but twice !.....Tokyo is the most amazing place I have thus far experienced on our adventures and to discover that we have an audience out there was just quite frankly bizzare. To find the spirit finally getting its release to critical acclaim and the resulting sales saw it top the amazon Soul n Funk chart and even make a dent on the national Top 75 Chart listings, way beyond our expectations..... A 4 Star review courtesy of Gavin Martin in the Mirror newspaper, a full page feature in what is far & away my (style) mag of choice Jocks & Nerds Magazine (that was a real big one for me)........... Nolan Porter returning in the summer (and what a summer that was!) to team up with us, those shows (although its anything but a show Im sure you understand by now) were up there with some of the best gigs we have ever played, it was an absolute pleasure to hang out with Nolan again. The resulting session we did together for The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show even got a repeat play just the other week as one of the shows highlights of the year, so we certainly werent fooling ourselves. We have all worked hard though for these times to fall at our feet, it doesnt just happen, as that traditional Modernist hymn dictates What you give is what you get and of course even the author of that pearl of wisdom was caught on camera finding the Spirit, at that point even my dear 81 year old Mum herself had to conceed you seem to be doing quite well our Neil as she glanced down at the photograph of Paul Weller clutching our LP. Some of the gigs this year were just on a different plane to what had passed before, the recent gigs in Japan on our second visit in Nov were easily some of the best gigs we have ever done and I would also cite the aforementioned Modstock gig in London with Kenney Jones and the wonderful Eddie Phillips of the Creation and obviously the three (sold out!) 100 Club performances as a real highlight too, they were undeniably special occasions. As always though none of this would mean anything or would even be achievable without your support, Im glad we captured your imagination with our music and that so many of you that engage with us on here (facebook / twitter etc) actually put your hands in your pockets and bought the album and came to the gigs, some even travelled all the length and breadth of the Country watching us. It is, without a doubt, these things that mean the most. Personally, (and I know I can speak for the other lads in the band too) I have met so many top, top people whilst out gigging with Stone Foundation . People that have now become good friends to us and that experience is priceless. There are tons of folk that deserve a massive Thanks, a without whom.....but they know who they are and they know what they mean to us (xxx) We already have so much to look forward to as we head into 2015 (another album already underway, a tour of Europe and a return to Japan earmarked ) but if it is half as enjoyable as these past 12 months then I will consider myself to be a very, very lucky man indeed. Happy New Year - Into Tommorrow / Forever Changes xxx Stay Tuned, Sheas xxx
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:45:28 +0000
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