Thursday 22 November 2018

by | Nov 23, 2018 | Dave's diary

WITH the car loaded with gear for tonight’s show at King Tuts we make our way into Glasgow early. I drop Margaret off then go and set up camp in McDonalds for coffee and wifi to get some work done and last minute online promo etc for tonight’s gig....

Monday 3 September 2018

by | Sep 4, 2018 | Dave's diary

MARGARET drops me in Milngavie and I walk to the station and jump on a train into town. My meeting isn’t ’til 11.30am, so McDonalds is my office until then and I get artwork done for – and oder – a banner stand for the local community trust. En route to my...

Thursday 14 June 2018

by | Jun 15, 2018 | Dave's diary

THE BOIL that appeared on the inside of my leg seems to have calmed down a bit…the hot compresses have helped, I think. I have a landing page to sort out for my pal Rab’s website. It’s not due to go live yet, but it can be a technically challenging...

Saturday 28 April 2018

by | Apr 29, 2018 | Dave's diary

WE’RE UP early – Catriona’s pal Catherine is coming at 9.30am to start preparing food for this afternoon’s baby shower. I’ve a load of work to do anyway, so clear out the house after breakfast. Another pal arrives around midday to help...

Sunday 25 March 2018

by | Mar 26, 2018 | Dave's diary

LOOKS like a nice day. After breakfast I tidy the studio and try and set things up to be conducive to my intended routine of spending an hour every morning – right after breakfast – to play guitar and work on new ideas. For too long songwriting and playing have been...

Friday 23 March 2018

by | Mar 24, 2018 | Dave's diary

ANOTHER jaunt into Glasgow – today it’s for music industry event Question Session 03 at the CCA. We register in time to catch the first session on publishing – our pal Duncan’s on the panel. We catch up with him and a few other pals up afterwards then grab...

Wednesday 21 March 2018

by | Mar 22, 2018 | Dave's diary

WE’RE off to the BBC’s Quay Sessions this evening, so both of us go into Glasgow early. I drop Margaret off then go for coffee and spend an few hours on the local community trust website before parking up at the People’s Palace and wandering into...

Wednesday 31 January 2018

by | Feb 1, 2018 | Dave's diary

MARGARET drops me at the station and I get ona train into Glasgow. First stop, McDonalds for some breakfast, then a quick gander round GuitarGuitar before heading up to the City Halls to register for Showcase Scotland’s Artists’ Day. I catch up with a load...

Friday 13 October 2017

by | Oct 14, 2017 | Dave's diary

MARGARET goes to meet our American pals for a coffee before they leave the village…I’d like to go too, but have far too much to get done before I have to go into Glasgow at midday. Turns out my old graphics tablet won’t work with my current laptop,...

Thursday 22 September 2017

by | Sep 23, 2017 | Dave's diary

A BUSY day today…lots to get ready for the next couple weeks’-worth of shows and we leave tomorrow morning. Once the daily emails and other routine stuff’s out the way I pack a couple or guitars for tonight’s live session and interview on...

Friday 14 July 2017

by | Jul 15, 2017 | Dave's diary

SINGLE release day! Givers & Takers is now available. Get it here. I’m up at a decent time to add a landing page to the website, post Facebook profile and page banners and a bunch of other social media stuff to spread the word…and, of course, an iTunes...

Tuesday 20 June 2017

by | Jun 21, 2017 | Dave's diary

MARGARET drops me, my guitar and all the video gear at Glengoyne distillery at 8am. We shooting a quick d-i-y video of Whisky in my Blood for World Music Day. It’s a fun and productive morning, then I’m given a lift home in the Glengoyne landrover....

Tuesday 13 June 2017

by | Jun 14, 2017 | Dave's diary

FIRST trip into Glasgow of the week.  Margaret drops me in Milngavie and I get the train into town where I hole myself up in McDonalds with a coffee and use the wifi for a few hours. When I’ve got most of the day’s work done – or at least under...

Tuesday 30 May 2017

by | May 31, 2017 | Dave's diary

INTO Glasgow this morning. The usual routine – drop Margaret off and stop at McDonald’s for coffee and wifi! I’m on a mission today. Having researched a bit on how best to make promo downloads of my forthcoming Live at Memorial Hall album I decide to...

Saturday 22 April 2017

by | Apr 23, 2017 | Dave's diary

FEELING rough again this morning…I blame the late night chips. My belly’s not used to the carbs these days! We get the bus into the centre of Edinburgh and meet up with some of the other Wide Days speakers and folks. Olaf’s taking us all on a bus...

Friday 21 April 2017

by | Apr 22, 2017 | Dave's diary

UH-OH…hangover central when we get up just before 7am. A shower helps then I run p to Waitrose to get milk for coffee and some rolls. Doesn’t open ’til 8am tho’. I’d spotted an M&S food store when we came into Edinburgh last...

Saturday 15 April 2017

by | Apr 16, 2017 | Dave's diary

AFTER a pretty lazy start to the day I start work on putting together a downloadable EP of some tracks recorded at the live album recording show that aren’t going too be on the vinyl or CD formats of the album. There’s nothing wrong with the...

Tuesday 28 March 2017

by | Mar 29, 2017 | Dave's diary

BACK onto the album artwork first thing. I’m trying to get the ‘special’ elements of the design built in  trial version of Photoshop CC before it expires on Friday. My ‘old’ version (Photoshop CS5) is good for everyhting else....

Sunday 12 March 2017

by | Mar 12, 2017 | Dave's diary

AFTER breakfast I work on a web development and photography proposal out of a meeting last week. Once done, I’m back onto the tracks from the live album. Getting the various playlists from iTunes onto my new phone is a bit of a carry on until I work out that, if...

Thursday 2 March 2017

by | Mar 3, 2017 | Dave's diary

INTO Glasgow early. Again. I drop Margaret off then take the car to the garage to have the underbody cladding fixed and two new tyres. Margaret will pick the car up later, meantime, I’m off to a music industry day at Glasgow University which kicks off at 9.15am....

Wednesday 1 March 2017

by | Mar 1, 2017 | Dave's diary

AN early jaunt into Glasgow – I drop Margaret off then head for the VW garage on Crow Road. The car’s booked in for whatever it is that VW need to do as a result of the ’emissions scandal’. I don;t suspect we’ll notice any difference! Anyway, I...

Tuesday 28 February 2017

by | Feb 28, 2017 | Dave's diary

THERE’S a few reminders pop up in the diary. First, book a haircut for tomorrow (Wednesday) while I’m in Glasgow. Actually, that was in the diary yesterday, but the Soul Barber Room’s closed on a Monday. I make an appointment for early...

Monday 27 February 2017

by | Feb 28, 2017 | Dave's diary

STRAIGHT into the studio to run through some of the songs for Saturday’s live album recording show. I’m hoping to get more than 30 songs ‘in the bag’ – my usual 60-70-minute set probably has about 20 songs. There’s quite a few songs I...

Thursday 23 February 2017

by | Feb 24, 2017 | Dave's diary

THERE’S a fair bit of snow when we leave the house at 7.30am and when we reach Croftamie, there’s a big tailback of cars. Not moving. Normally the road’s almost deserted, so this ain’t good as I need to get to Milngavie to catch a train into...

Wednesday 23 November 2016

by | Nov 24, 2016 | Dave's diary

ANOTHER early start…a beautiful clear blue sky but freezing cold and the car takes a good while to defrost before we head into Glasgow. A warning message on the dash tells us there’s some kind of airbag problem, so after I drop  Margaret off I nip...

Friday 11 November 2016

by | Nov 12, 2016 | Dave's diary

FUNNY being back into the early morning routine of cleaning the fire, chopping wood and stuff before breakfast…already feels like we’ve been home for a month. The diary’s full of things to get done – mostly small jobs – then I put out a news release...

Sunday 6 November 2016

by | Nov 7, 2016 | Dave's diary

WE wake up in the van in McDonalds’ car park around 6.45am. Feeling a bit rough…and drive the couple of blocks to Enterprise to hand the rental back. Looks like it doesn’t open ’til 9am tho’, so we walk back to McDonalds and have some...

Friday 4 November 2016

by | Nov 5, 2016 | Dave's diary

BREAKFAST at the hotel in Providence then we get some work done before checking out. There’s just a couple of hours’ drive to Newburyport, Massachusetts so we spend some time at a shopping mall then drop into a Panera Bread for lunch. We aim to get to...

Saturday 1 October 2016

by | Oct 2, 2016 | Dave's diary

NOT only is it eNewsletter day, it’s Balmaha’s Braw Weekend…and we leave for the US tour at 4am on Monday morning. Once the eNEwsletter’s out and shared on social media I take some extra lighting down to the festival site for tonight’s...

Thursday 29 September 2016

by | Sep 30, 2016 | Dave's diary

AFTER breakfast and the usual email activity I pack a guitar and head to the Braw Weekend festival site – STV folks are coming to film a preview piece for tomorrow’s (Friday) Live at Five. It’s been really (really!) windy and wet all night and earlier this...

Monday 19 September 2016

by | Sep 20, 2016 | Dave's diary

OUR weekly meeting throws up loads of tasks – mostly to do with the upcoming USA tour. The tour shirts are underway, but the coozie printing company can’t deliver on time…and although posters are all printed and distributed, I’m right on the deadline...

Thursday 15 September 2016

by | Sep 16, 2016 | Dave's diary

TOP priority today is to get a start on Gilbert’s website…I’d like to have something for him to see by Saturday – and we head off to Edinburgh for the night mid-afternoon. I pull out the stops and manage to get a first version of the site in place...

Tuesday 30 August 2016

by | Aug 31, 2016 | Dave's diary

EARLY start into Glasgow. I drop Margaret off and go to grab some breakfast, deal with emails and get some work done. Looks like a couple of cool gigs are on the cards to fill in some of the available dates on the USA tour. I’m indebted to the ongoing support...

Friday 29 July 2016

by | Jul 30, 2016 | Dave's diary

THE alarm goes off at 6am…we need to be packed and ready to meet Martin outside the yacht club at 7am…he’s taking us to the dental place to have Margaret checked out. We;re there by 7.30am, and first in the queue for when doors open at 8am. When we...

Monday 18 July 2016

by | Jul 18, 2016 | Dave's diary

UP early. I have a PRS for Music Members’ Benevolent Fund meeting with a grantholder in Fife at 11am. It’s a good couple of hours’ drive – and one of just a handful off annual meetings/visits I do each year for the PRS for Music fund. After my...

Saturday 2 July 2016

by | Jul 3, 2016 | Dave's diary

OOOFFFT…feeling pretty broken and busted this morning. Too much whisky, hard bed and generally knackered. We head off to meet Susie for coffee in the centre of Dundee and have some lunch too. Nice to see her and catch up. There’s some stuff we forgot to...

Friday 27 May 2016

by | May 28, 2016 | Dave's diary

HAVE to be on the ball this morning. Quite a lot to get done before we hit the road south for this evening’s show at the Dubs in the Middle Festival near Evesham. We fire through all the work needing done before we go, Margaret makes a couple of apple and...

Thursday 26 May 2016

by | May 27, 2016 | Dave's diary

AFTER some more rehearsals of the new songs for this weekend’s shows down south I deal with a bunch of EP pre-orders…and orders for the new Hellbound Train t-shirt. Next job is to get a holding page up for another website I’m developing for some...

Monday 9 May 2016

by | May 10, 2016 | Dave's diary

  VIDEO shoot day! We’re away at 7.30am to meet Martyn and Jamie at FilmCity. We planned to take just one vehicle, but the coffin Jamie hired won’t fit in the van. We manage to get it in our car, so Margaret drives to our secret location in Ayrshire...

Tuesday 5 April 2016

by | Apr 6, 2016 | Dave's diary

AFTER yesterday’s experiment with Facebook Live video streaming I plan a more organised stream for this evening…a new song, some chat and some Q&A at 7.30pm. I spread the word via Facebook, Twitter etc. Messing about with my iPhone and Facebook’s...

Thursday 31 March 2016

by | Apr 1, 2016 | Dave's diary

CHECKING emails and Facebook before I jump in the shower I see Trossachs Search + Rescue are launching a defibrillator location app this morning. That’d be a good story for the G63.scot webzine but, as usual, no-one’s thought of telling us. Not that we...

Wednesday 30 Mach 2016

by | Mar 31, 2016 | Dave's diary

ANOTHER Glasgow day…I drop Margaret off, take some merch to the post office then hit McDonalds for breakfast and wifi. After an hour or so’s work I go and pick up some bits and bobs we’re needing fromS tables then make my way into town where...

Tuesday 22 March 2016

by | Mar 23, 2016 | Dave's diary

ANOTHER day in Glasgow…a couple of PRS visits (the first of the year) and some shopping. The visits are pretty much routine. I visit PRS for Music Members’ Benevolent Fund grantholders once a year to see if there’s anything they need and check their...

Tuesday 1 March 2016

by | Mar 2, 2016 | Dave's diary

A LOAD of stuff to be done in the house, then I get on with some work. While chopping wood I get a text message from a  casting agency to see if I’m available for some work as a TV extra on Thursday and Friday. Of course! While I’ve got a bursting to-do...