The music video for my new track ‘Liability’ is out.

This was a really fun track to put together. I wanted to create a really moody, rage filled track to call out all the political leaders running amok who have been so destructive on societies around the world.

Many of us are sick and tired of people in power who are kleptocrats, egoists, self serving and ultimately, not fit for purpose.

It’s sometimes easy to feel powerless, but with music, you always have the power to express your truth.

I hope you enjoy the track and I look forward to sharing more musical releases with you this year.

Credits:

RME – Vocals, Guitars, Synths, Producer, Mixing

Andrew Bishop – Producer, Backing Vocals, Recording and Mastering

Aled Lloyd – Drums and Percussion

Dan Nelson – Bass Guitar

Drew Hamley – Video direction, filming and editing

My new single ‘Until the Stars Align’ is now out.

This is the first single to be released from my new upcoming solo record.

You can listen to the track on all streaming platforms.

A huge thanks to the wonderful team of people involved in making this track. Here is the list of credits

RME – Guitars, Vocals, Keys, Producer, Mixing Engineer

Andre Bishop, Co-Producer, Recording and Mastering Engineer

Aled Lloyd – Drums and Percussion

Dan Nelson – Bass Guitar

Emma Davidson – Vocals

Daniel Soley – Voice

Niamh O’Donnell – Voice

Darlee Urbiztondo – Artwork

Here are links to the track:

Apple

http://itunes.apple.com/album/id/1611298579

Spotify

Lyrics

Until the stars align 

I’ll just bide my time and do what I can 

In this present set of circumstance, what else is there?

Unfurling tragedy, 

the only remedy is to sit and wait it out 

But what of the time, that’s in between?

Until the stars align 

I’ll just bide my time 

Until the stars align, 

We’ll commit the time to keep the spark alight 

Even if it’s just your face and your voice 

We can talk about our days 

And the many ways we keep our hopes alive

For the moment when, we reunite. 

Until the stars align 

One day at a time

Until the stars align 

One day at a time 

I’m very pleased to share the news that my new single ‘Until the Stars Align’ will be released across all digital platforms tomorrow (Friday 11th March).

I look forward to sharing it with you.

Photo by Bethan Miller

Artwork by Darlee Urbiztondo

Putin has always been known for the saying the fall of the Soviet union was the biggest tragedy of his life.

And this act of war on Ukraine is tragic but to anyone paying a smidge of attention, it was coming.

The invasion of Georgia, The annexation of Crimea, the Salisbury poisoning, the interfering of elections.

And what did the west do? Pander to Putin, do deals with him, elevated his power and Russian Oligarchs and enabled a dictator.

And the scary thing is that Putin’s completely false claims about Ukraine Nazism and peacekeeping operations are notions that he has probably convinced himself are true. This is what happens when people have absolute power, the longer they have it, the more their grip on reality subsides.

When it has come to dealings with Putin, moral principles, values of democracy and justice have all been superseded by money. For too long, money has trumped everything.

Speaking of Trump, he has been closely tied with the Russian Mafia for years! Dark money was allowed to run amok in the US elections. He has openly praised Putin and called him a genius for his move on Ukraine! What more evidence do you need to ensure that Trump can never run for office again? He is an aspiring autocrat himself and funnily enough has also weaponised misinformation ad infinitum. Heck the US can’t even fundamentally protect their own postal service and the right to vote. They can’t even investigate the capitol riot properly!

And Boris Johnson isn’t insane enough to be like Trump or Putin, but he is still a useless imbecile, a liability and someone who has also weaponised misinformation. Him and the self servicing racist parasite of a human being that is Nigel Farage have engineered a damaging Brexit that Russia so blatantly assisted with to weaken the EU and make their move. And when it comes to donors, the Tories haven’t though twice about the influence of money coming from Russian Oligarchs. What a joke of a democracy the UK has when our country is constantly lobbied by corporations and individuals who have no interest in any positive development and only pursue the interest of filling up their own pockets.

Germany is going to get hit hard by cutting off supplies to Russian gas but it feels like the only necessary step, but it is a wake up call to all Western countries to start accelerating self sufficiency and investment in Green and renewable energy. Lord knows the world and climate needs it let alone avoiding doing business with dictators. Dirty dealings are everywhere and countries need to clean themselves up.

So I am really pissed off. Putin and his cronies are responsibly for this tragedy and have been utterly consumed by evil and illusion. But I am also pissed off at the western world for being so complacent and more-so complicit, not taking the warning signs seriously and not addressing the issue before innocent people started losing their lives and homes. Democracy has continued to be undermined and is on a global decline whilst a small minority of rich elites do whatever the hell they like and everyday people suffer.

But I am also hopeful. Zellenskyy has spoken and acted with dignity and honour and he has managed to rally his citizens behind their cause. For the most part, sports and arts organisations have made their sanctions. Ukraine has also managed to garner the support of the Western world so much to the point where some of Putin’s closest foreign allies have spoken against him.

So Putin will lose this war and go down in infamy, and this happened as soon as he decided to invade Ukraine, but at what cost?

The cost is already too great, but at the heart of all of this is sovereignty and freedom against Tyranny.

This is what our ancestors fought and died for in World War 2, and everyone who has enabled this tyranny to go this far via corruption should hang their heads in shame. Liberal democracies are not perfect, but they will always be better than the tyranny of authoritarians and dictators and I urge everyone to reflect on the importance of this and stand up for these values and principles. Things can and should be better.

My heart and respect goes out to all affected by this war, all Ukrainians who have lost loved ones or have become refugees and the Russian citizens bravely protesting against this aggression.

I always admire Jamie Oliver for the impact he had on promoting healthy eating in schools. He may have been excoriated for cancelling turkey twizzlers but I’m with him, even when I wasn’t vegetarian, the notion of them grossed me out!

Although, I can’t help but think that we still haven’t really tackled the healthy eating issue. I dread to think what the diets of some kids are out there.

It’s a societal issue. Fast food and unhealthy food is cheap and more accessible than a lot of fresh healthy food and the culture pushes for convenience above anything else.

You’ve got to respect the Australian comedian Natswhatireckon for waging his war on jar sauce and packet foods during the pandemic, one man with the idea of pushing people to cook with fresh food and it made a positive change. He is also outright hilarious!

And I was taught home economic on a carousel in school and I only remember cooking a select amount of things. I’m grateful for those experiences but I can’t help but think opportunities for young people is limited.

These days, I cook more fresh things than ever and it feels healthy, but it’s also enriching in so many ways, it’s creative, it’s therapeutic, it’s a process that involves care, evaluation and you are in control of achieving tastes and flavours by your choices.

I love doing it and it’s an amazing past time in contrast to my current musical endeavours. Nothing beats eating something amazing that you’ve made and sharing that with others too.

I’d encourage everyone to learn to cook things from scratch. I’m a firm believer that it’ll promote a better sense of well-being in anyone who gives it a go and there are load of great websites out there. Even if it’s once or twice a week, it’ll make a difference.

To start, here is a link to one of my favourite vegetarian chilli recipes.

https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/

What kind of crazy messed up country do we live in where the House of Commons allows a plainly false and gross smear claim to pass whilst ousting Ian Blackford for saying the incontrovertible fact that Boris Johnson misled and lied to the government!?

This is why people have so little faith in government.

You tell the truth and become marginalised.

You lie and become protected.

It’s such an archaic law. Of course, you can’t call everyone a liar but when there is a precedent in as Trumpian a circumstance as this one, you’d think anyone would have every right to override that law.

Boris Johnsons had a party, got found out, said there was no party, then said he thought it was a work event…with wine. Following the Sue Gray report, how can you possibly claim you’d have to insist that any part of his claim are inadvertently misleading?

It’s intentionally misleading! As clear as day!

But then again we live in a post truth world where people think facts are fungible.

The House of Commons would rather uphold the illusion that they maintain integrity as opposed to operate with actual integrity.

And in his usual blustering, waffling defence against Starmer, Johnson decided to point out his failure to prosecute Saville in what could be the worst kind of whataboutism, far right conspiracy smear to have ever happened in parliament. How low is he willing to stoop?

Boris Johnson is a morally bankrupt pathological liar. This is blindingly obvious to anyone willing to pay a tiny amount of attention. He’s also a megalomaniac, impervious to the sense of public anger that is now aimed against him.

All he cares about is himself. And the Tories only care about themselves too. The cult mob mentality at PMQs is embarrassing, and finally, some ministers are breaking ranks. Not enough though, and the more that this has to be dragged out, the more of an insult it continues to be for the British Public.

I lived outside the U.K. long enough to know how much of a laughing stock we are. It’s gotten worse with each year.

America have gotten rid of their authoritarian monster for the time being.

It’s time to get rid of ours.

What happens when you vote a clown or reality TV star into power?

The absolute mess that we find ourselves within the western world.

Boris Johnson isn’t sorry about the party, he’s sorry that he’s been found out.

Anyone who spent a little bit of effort looking into who he was as a person would know that he shouldn’t have ever been within a hundred miles of becoming prime minister. He’s been fired twice for lying, made contemptuous remarks about other religions or races and considers himself well above any rules. This is not new news.

And this whole party gate situation is just another scandal that Johnson can add to his CV.

Free school meal U turn, atrocious handling of the pandemic and the 37 billion pound test and trace system that wasn’t fit for purpose but made friends in high places rich should have warranted public anger significantly more than it did.

And as usual, the rules are bent, the mps come in defence and don’t answer questions properly, and if there is to be any sense of accountability such as something alongside the lines of a resignation, I won’t be one bit excited about it or hopeful or faithful in the political system.

Because it’s rigged, it’s fundamentally broken, the cronyism and sleaziness remains and too many people have been gaslit.

Brexit continues to screw up the country in numerous way and onwards they go, ploughing along as if everything’s hunky dory courtesy of our sense of national pride.

What pride is exactly to be had in a clown of a prime minister who is a compulsive liar and a prince trying to use his royal status and money to protect himself from being prosecuted in a Sex scandal?

And if Johnson goes, he will likely be replaced by someone who may be not quite as shameless but still has a false sense of superiority and contempt for everyday people.

The political class needs an overhaul, of boring, sensible, considered, pragmatic and a hell of a lot more virtuous people.

For now, my adult life has been a continuing downward trajectory of disillusionment of those in power and I’ve no hope it will get any better until a hell of a lot more people really stop to consider what it is they want in a leader.

Or Brokeuary potentially.

My alternative names for the month that is January.

In the U.K. January can feel like a slog. The festivities of Christmas in the rear view mirror, but looming bills to pay it off and seemingly ages before pay days lay before us, or self assessment forms to fill in for the self employed.

On top of that is the weather. You go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark. It’s perpetually grey and rainy.

This all can grind against you and it lowers our mood for sure.

It’s important to keep a patch of blue sky above you and over the weekend, I hiked a mountain and then cycled the vale the following day and felt so much better for it.

The weather was dry so I jumped on the opportunity. It doesn’t cost anything but has all the potential to lift your spirits.

Whatever environment we find ourselves in and no matter how much it wants to weigh us down, I encourage everyone to find the persistence and resilience to get through the darker times and make the best of each day.

Peace of mind for everyone during a challenging month.

Adam McKay directed this new Netflix release which everyone is talking about and I know of him because of ‘The Big Short’.

It was quite refreshing to watch ‘The Big Short’ insofar as it called out the evil self centred bankers for who they were. Greed, corruption and short sightedness that crashed the entire global mark, explained in a way that is digestible for the majority of people who are willing to pay attention.

And it makes sense that the same director would have the courage to take on a film that catches the modern day zeitgeist.

From a critical perspective, the film does feel heavy handed and sometimes disjointed and I can underside why some critics would have a problem with it but the core of the film and it’s intention overrides that. It’s also rather funny and outright bonkers at times.

Modern life can be inane and feel like utter insanity.

One of the biggest issues is ignorance. I may be omitting tact here but ignorance is a huge problem and it’s viscous cycle is caused by the fact that being ignorant means one thinks they are right when they are wrong and cannot see otherwise! The best metaphor I’ve heard to describe this is ‘tail wagging the dog’.

Trump was a symptom of a decline of democracy. The ride towards authoritarianism is a problem and it’s happening now.

People are so polarised. It’s as if you go online and no one on opposing spectrums can agree on anything, not least the basic facts! Leonardo Decaprios rant is a primal scream of rage at humans inability to accept objective principles, never mind the mass media’s obsession with trivialising everything. You speak the truth and then you get marginalised and shut down.

And the news would rather entertain and excite than inform. Virality supersedes reality.

Opinion is easier to sway through the voice of a celebrity than the actual experts working behind the scenes. And money and celebrity status doesn’t equate to their voice necessarily being the right ones to listen to! There are plenty of self proclaimed messiahs out there who think they know better.

It’s a case of belief falling into illusion vs. reason finding truth. Philosophy should be taught in schools more prevalently so people can tell the difference and think about the way they think a bit more.

It’s perfectly fine to say I don’t know and there’s a better voice out there than mine to speak about this.

It should also be acceptable and respectable for people to concede they are wrong.

Instead, we vote in narcissistic lunatics unfit for their roles and bury our heads in national pride whilst they rig the system for their own selfish needs.

If you want to dig further, listen to Gaslit Nation. What Sarah Kendzior and Andre Chalupa cover is uncomfortable and makes your blood boil but it’s necessary to confront the reality.

The main allegory here is climate change. Greta Thunberg gets tonnes of flack for telling the truth whilst leaders promise everything, deliver the bare minimum and now greenwash us.

I’m glad a cultural exposé is out there to be talked about. McKay and his actors and crew took their art form and used it to show what they see.

Amidst the chaos we are in, what do you see?

This is not an easy thing to write about but needless to say I feel I must.

116 123 is the Samaritans hotline and if you feel like you need to call it, do so.

Several people I know or know of have committed suicide.

Young, talented, brilliant and loved people and every one is tragedy and it is both shocking and hurts like hell to know that this feels like and eventually becomes the only option for some people.

Unless you’ve been there, it’s incomprehensible to imagine that level of suffering.

Whilst some government efforts have started to scale towards providing provisions for mental health, it still feels like there’s a long way to go.

To my understanding, there are 7 needs we have:

Self acceptance

Meaning

Hope

Status

Pride

Love

Forgiveness

And modern society tends to stamp all over these needs. Social media constantly amplifies you’re inadequacies as much as marketing does if not more. Your lack of approval or everyone’s life apparently being better and more successful than yours.

Housing crisis, the slow revolution of industrial to digital and the lack of dignified jobs or financial safety nets. Young people are churned out into the real world after education and expected to get ahead straight away. Not to mention economic inequalities as per my previous post.

Even if people have a support network around them, some of us are susceptible to that line of thinking.

And there is a culture where some people can’t bring themselves to talk about it out of the sheer level of fear or psychological viscous circle they fallen into.

And I don’t know the half of it. I’m lucky to be able to express myself and vulnerabilities rather well and exercise always lifts me. I can keep a blue patch of sky above me and encourage everyone to do the same.

And if one can’t and there’s no one immediately to talk to, don’t be ashamed to call that number.

Life is a beautiful gift, and if you don’t see it right now, there’s every chance you can feel that in future.