NIGEL WATTS-PLUMPKIN - talking music

My love of music can be traced back to when The Beatles were still emerging and commercial recordings were available on 33-, 45- or 78-rpm vinyl only. Stereo had only just been developed but was not yet available to the public and audio recordings were made on large reel-to-reel tape machines.

During early childhood, my musical development involved singing and beating on a biscuit tin, shaped and printed to look like a drum, then trying out complex drum patterns by tapping on anything available. What a pleasure I must have been!

Having tried my hand at keyboards and guitar, while still a teenager, I settled most comfortably into beating rhythms on a real drum kit. Progressive rock became my main inspiration as I soaked up the styles of bands like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Wishbone Ash. I joined local bands and always seemed to be playing in one ensemble or another. Yet, equally stimulating for me was the orchestral music of composers like Bach, Tzaikovsky, Elgar and Mendelsson.

Since then, I have spent more than thirty years as a performer - drumming and singing in numerous music projects including original prog rock, cabaret, folk-dance band The Navvies (one of the best country dance bands in England), a mixed choir and a theatre band - as well as recording my own brand of melodic rock as Darwyn, a project band I put together with Ian Grove and Lynn, my wife. For two years, until October 2006, I played bass and sang in the duo JamSpanner. After a spell playing drums with I Like it Electric, an original dance/pop group I began drumming and singing with Caduseus, who play exciting alternative indie rock.

By now, my influences are too numerous to mention, but one factor underpins all of my favourite music - good melody and the way harmony can be used to set the emotions going. Learning how to master the art of good songwriting has become a lifelong expedition (and, some would say, obsession) for me.

I try always to keep an open mind about music and have acquired a broad pallet of musical styles from which to draw inspiration when creating music and audio for business or pleasure. I often create my own sound effects and have a lot of fun in the process.

For more than two decades, I've also been a professional graphics designer. I have created music for picture and pictures for music. For me, there is no distinction between the graphic arts, music and sound design. They are all elements of an ancient language - the language of 'emotional communications'.

Since relocating to Wales, during the autumn of 2000, Lynn and I have been learning the Welsh language. This has brought further creative enrichment and I now write and record in Welsh too. During the summer of 2003 I attended Cariad@iaith, an 8-week intensive Welsh course at Nant Gwrtheyrn, the National Welsh Language Centre in North Wales, and then opened at the National Eisteddfod week, the annual festival of Welsh language and culture, by playing one of my songs in Welsh in the Welsh Learners' Tent.

I can see you're nearly asleep... Why not try the Fun 'n' Games link in the top navigation bar? Enjoy the pumpkin soup!