Just Do More, Richards

Being self-employed is a tricky one, isn't it? I go from "help, I don't have enough work!" (because in one of my schools, 12 out of the 17 students are in year 6 so they're about to leave) to suddenly "help, I've got so much work coming in I can't breathe" which is where I am right now. Which is probably a good thing, apart from the lack of breathing, obviously, because fringe accommodation costs waaaayyy too much but I have no choice but to pay it and my car is making so many rattling scraping sounds people are actually looking out of their windows at me.  But it also means I'm massively late in updating this, and I have some good times to write about - mostly about last weekend. This all came after a fun script reading of my very new show with Izzy and Alan, and a much needed catch-up with Esther, the first time we've seen each other since the fun/many arguments of the Brighton Fringe; no arguments this time, just two excited people wit...

As the school term tumbles to a close, so do the school concerts. The latest one, yesterday, was fantastic - it's remarkable how the kids can turn it on in front of a big audience (the whole school plus their parents). True, so there is a tiny part of me that wonders why they can't always be that awesome in the lessons, but then again we were in a band rehearsal the other day and I was MILES OFF the pace, yet I know that for Sunday's gig I'll be professional and there won't be any issues. It's the live buzz, isn't it? I'm looking forward to the gigs this month, four with FH, our first of the year. For a band that used to rack up to a hundred shows a year, it's weird that it's July and we've barely seen each other, but it's nice to be back in the rehearsal room with the guys and gals, as much as we were a bit sloppy. A wake-up call in a rehearsal is a good thing, yeah? The first of those four shows, all festivals, is this Sunday. On givin...

Great tune, Get Action, it's by a band called the Delgados and you should check them out. It's from their final (for now) album which felt less orchestral, more direct, and when it first came out I was printing sewerage maps for Anglian Water as a spotty early-20-something and treated myself to a CD every Friday from a local branch of MVC to cheer myself up because everything else in life felt shit. But the album, Universal Audio, was a winner, and I stumbled into it on Spotify the other day and gave it a spin whilst driving to one of my schools.  Anyway, Get Action sums up my July mood. I've got over my 'it's too hot' grump, even if it is - turns out all I needed to do was find the iced coffee function on the machine in my office. June felt a little flat; a few gigs cancelled due to poor sales, a choir show cancelled due to lack of singers, the school term feeling a bit longer than normal with the kids just wanting summer holidays. Next week looks brilliant; a ...

Yeah, still moaning about the heat, but still...180 days till Christmas. It's been a good week, though, school concert last night was wonderful and my students did me proud in front of a BIG audience...this stuff changes lives, doesn't it?  Collection of short stories nearly finished, should be ready as Edinburgh Fringe merch.  Been cast in a short film, by a director who has won lots and lots of awards. It's exciting as I'm the lead, and it'll be filmed in Essex. Naturally, I'm playing 'very awkward man' but a leading role's a leading role, isn't it? Typecast, but I play to my strengths.  Made my own short film, won't show anyone unless it wins an award or two. It's 3 minutes long and features a very wonderful drum soundtrack, if I may say so myself.  Not gigging enough, this sort of thing helps.  Also, had the BIGGEST idea ever, that I want to do. After Edinburgh. It'll take up a lot of time and I need to put together a team, but I...

Students have been dropping like flies this week. Normally, I'd be a little concerned as, being self-employed, I always want to work every single second of the day or else...well, I get all dramatic about my business falling apart etc etc when it's totally fine. This week, though, I've welcomed it, because it's been so hot, and nobody really wants to be drumming in this heat, do they?  Actually, most of them do, apart from one very honest student who paid me but told me not to come over because they "can't be arsed to drum in this weather". Most of them cancelled due to school trips/exam stress, that sort of thing, it's very much the time of year for it.  I, on the other hand, still had to drum because, you know, it's part of my job and all that. Two VERY sweaty gigs this weekend with the blues band, the first one as part of our regular hotel residency where, due to the heat, I totally lost my way on the final track but nobody cared because they we...

Christmas is a weird one, isn't it? I can't wait for it all year because it's the most magical time of the year, yet I always use it as an achievement benchmark....how much have I achieved this year? That sort of thing. But right now, middle of June, I can't WAIT for Christmas. Not because my achievement stats have been spectacular in 2025 to date (I mean, they've been alright, but there's more to come) but because IT'S SO HOT AND I'D LOVE SOME WINTER BREEZE, PLEASE. The heat does drag me down, especially as I spend a majority of my working day driving about to lessons all over Cambridgeshire in a car that claims to have air conditioning but, let's be honest, it's lying. I'm really happy with the new course I've written for my students (the wedding drummer one) as it's given them a whole new focus and structure, but the heat was a bit of a battle for all of them. Looking back on the last seven days, they're all proper troopers.  T...

I felt a bit flat earlier this week. See, there was a point about 5 years ago when the Harvey stage show was taking off, and it was clashing with Fred's House at our absolute peak (we'd just toured China, our third and best album had just come out etc etc). The Harvey show obviously, finally, rightfully ended last week on an absolute high, and the band, well, we still exist but we're all doing other things now and nobody is up for touring anymore. Maybe that was it, maybe that was my peak, was that the good as it gets? Weird that I didn't notice it at the time, I remember just being, well, tired, because I was juggling a lot of projects. As always.  That thought was buzzing around my head at the start of the week. That, and, because we've got a bit of a mortgage rise and an expensive holiday to pay off, I've had to extend my teaching hours a bit. It's great that I can do this; if I need more money, I just take on more work, it's really never a worry. Man...