It’s a Wonderful Life

Tell us about yourself and your music

I am a 44-year-old Paramedic from Leicester in England. Writing and recording songs has been my passion since I was 16. I’ve been in a number of bands over the years, which very nearly got that hallowed prize of a record deal, alas, we fell just short. I now record as an unsigned solo artist using Logic Pro X in my home studio.

Talk to us more about your latest release

My latest release is a Christmas song “It’s a Wonderful Life (at Christmas Time)”, the title obviously inspired by the incredible Frank Capra movie. It’s a piano-based pop song that tells a story of all that we love about Christmas, including some poignant times of reflection. I’m a big fan of The Pogues “Fairy-tale of New York” and wanted to get a similar sound and feel. I filmed the music video in my home city of Leicester, and got my niece, Sophie, to play the young girl in the video.

https://davidjackson.hearnow.com

What inspired you to write this release?

I’ve always loved Christmas; the carols, brass bands, goodwill, and love to all people; it seems to encapsulate all that’s important in life; family, love, and peace. I’ve always wanted to write a Christmas song, but I was only going to release one if I felt I’d done the Christmas song genre justice; it’s easy to fall into the “cheesy” trap when attempting to write a holiday song; I hope I’ve managed to avoid that, I think I have!

Describe the writing and recording process

The song started out with e sitting at my piano and just playing around with some chord progressions, and it kind of just wrote itself, I know that’s a bit of a cliche! but the melody just ascending from the flow of the chords. After that, I recorded the piano part on Logic, and then built on top of it, arranging the music, and as it evolved it began to the song very Christmassy, and yes, the percussion arrangement includes sleigh bells!

Any plans to release a video?

Any plans to hit the road?

Not really; I don’t really perform live anymore. My days of touring and gigging are over, at least for the time being anyway, but hopefully one day I’ll be able to hit the road again. There’s no feeling quite like being on stage, in front of the mic, and performing to an audience.

As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?

I’m a Leicester lad, and proud of my home city, and so keep to my roots, I feature Leicester landmarks in my videos! Leicester, the home of Kasabian, Mark Selby, the incredible Leicester City Football Club (when we won the league… well, that was an incredible time), King Richard, to name just a few.

Who have you been listening to lately?

I love Liam Gallagher’s solo albums, and Why me? Why not? is brilliant; classic.

Who are your biggest influences?

So I’ve always been a fan of the Manchester music scene, so it goes without saying that my influences are Oasis, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Charlatan’s, Inspiral Carpets, The Verve etc.

Tell us about your passions

I love reading about all things regarding the Near Death Experience, the nature of consciousness, and quantum mechanics. I’ve a Cockerpoo called Martie, who’s my best friend (animals are simply amazing), and I like to paint using oils. And obviously, writing and recording music!

What else is happening next in your world?

I’ve got quite a few things progressing at the minute, and so I’ll just keep working on them, and see where it takes me. I’ve always been creative and would love to hang up my stethoscope and make my living being artistic.