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I've been to Ireland to film material for Chris de Burgh for the Legend of Robin Hood album Videos and EPK.

Strange to head there with 4 cameras and a drone and leave 5 days later with a whole bunch of footage and audio. The editing of the videos has been a great learning curve and despite the fact that I'd edited before....I learned new tricks and have really enjoyed the whole experience.

I've also been doing work on Songs for Mal Pope, Phil James, Simon Crabb and a few others. New doors are opening despite having Covid restrictions and rules.

The CdeB UK and Ireland dates have moved to 2022 and yet Germany and the rest of Europe dates remain in November...FINGERS CROSSED.

Early in 2020, we were prepared for a new Chris De Burgh album. Chris Porter and I headed to Enniskerry, to Chris's home where we'd demo the tracks for the up and coming album "The Legend of Robin Hood" which was to start recording in early February- at Real World Studios, owned by Peter Gabriel.

During this period, we managed to enjoy the time together and took in the Chinese New Year Celebrations at a restaurant called Szechuan. What we didn't know at this time was that the Chinese government had failed to let the rest of the world know about how Transmissible the Covid 19 strain was, from human to human. They said nothing in order to allow the new year celebrations to go ahead.

Early feb we headed into Real World, and put down what I believe was around 22 songs.

The basis which would form the tracks for my work at home, in my studio. It was a challenge as we needed to get the orchestrations done. It was Chris Porter's decision to attack in chronologically and that for me presented a few problems. Firstly, the album needed an Overture. I wasn't ready to tackle that, so I started with "The Tale of Robin Hood". I had demoed around 6-7 songs in 2019 for the album. The orchestrations on these would form the bulk of my work on these tracks.

We completed the album around mid October 2020 and despite all the issues of the year 2020, I felt we had arrived at what I believe is a great album. All that remains is that we can actually get through 2021 and restart the gigging scene and music industry. This pandemic has taught us a lot. If you consider the amount of lives we have lost in the UK, if this teaches us anything, it is that you cannot guarantee tomorrow. It isn't a given.

Stay Safe, and let's hope we come out of the other side.

Nige

So, in a week at Real World Studios....where I got to play with some fantastic musicians in Jennifer Maidman,Danny Cummings,Graham Kearns and under the watchful eye of Chris Porter , the news was broken to me that my childhood ( and I guess adult life) hero....Keith Emerson took his own life.

I feel I have to write this as Facebook for me, has become a place to mark events on my timeline rather than to tell the world at this present time, I am eating food, watching my neighbour mow the lawn or taking a dump.

Keith and ELP's music was one of the main forces in my life from the age of 12 onwards that inspired me to set about the keyboards. 'Trilogy' gave me a sense of danger in its composition, the technicality of the performances were frightening and the sounds evoked a new feeling in me. Gone were the days of piano and guitars. The MOOG was the Emperor's new shoes and Keith was the King of keyboards.

I loved ELP and Keith's playing so much, that as a 13 year, I took wood from my father's shed, drew keyboards with many buttons on them as I could fit...and laid them out next to my piano and organ in the front room...miming to ELP songs. Sad, but so true. The idea of being surrounded by keyboards was more appealing than anything I'd experienced before. Thank god he didn't wear a cape.

My father died when I was 14 years old, and ELP's music managed to mask the pain of loss. That kind of got me through my Dad's death and helped me to focus further on music.

I would now like to apologise to my dad for stealing his wood and hiding it behind the piano ("wherever you are Dad, It was me all along that took it and it was worth every minute spent being a 13 year old prog rockstar, albeit with fake wooden keyboards")

I never got to see them in their heyday, which I'm gutted about.

Had I got to see them, and Facebook was around....I would have been posting for days, maybe even weeks.

For years, I followed ELP and Keith with the greatest admiration for all their back catalogue, for their unfailing attempts to power through the punk years...waving the prog banner and a love of the audacity to take out a full orchestra on the road ( dare I say it was a bold move, financially stupid and frankly....there couldn't have been a crazier band in the world who were prepared to throw caution and money to the wind). Sadly, when they disbanded...I'd lost a great friend.

It was years later, at 28 when my mum died, I turned to their music once more for comfort. Somehow music was a good healer, but then in 1992....I finally got to see them play live...at the Royal Albert Hall

(Royal Lager Hall to those in the know). It was like the adrenaline flood gates opened and my body had an electric current running through it.

The following day, I cried like a baby having realised that ELP had been there through the death of both my parents and the birth of my son. They'd been there when I left school, when I turned professional, when I'd been up, down, sober, pissed, when wearing my red kickers and when wearing my biker boots....they were the leading presence throughout.

Years later, I got to see Keith once more in action at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. At the end of the concert, he came forward to shake hands with his ardent fans ( me being one, and two and three). I had a front row seat courtesy of a fool on ebay, so I dashed forward to

press the flesh...in order to extract some kind of magic that emanated from him. As he shook hands with most of the fans, I found my hand in his, but then followed him along the edge of the stage....holding on for dear life in hope that his ability and awesomeness( americanised bullshit for being god- like) would run through my veins. I didn't care I was knocking over the other fans who were next in line....I WANTED THE MUSE he had so badly....I would have followed him to the dressing room and been dragged along the streets, in order to have a slice of his magic.

Yesterday after leaving Real World Studios, I played ELP all the way home, at full volume, with tears in my eyes after a week of remaining quite focused ( well if you include the moments of evening banter with the team over a glass or 10 of wine).

It's Already March

What a Year-2020

2019 and still trying to get the prog done

Recently

Prognosis

Keith Emerson...RIP