What is All my Ghosts? Foreworded is forarmed ;-)

It's occurred to me that I should have perhaps written about what the book element of 'All my Ghosts' sooner, but here we are. That element already exists in the form of the Foreword, but unless you have the book you're not going to see it. Let me help you...

This is the essentials of what you need to know, and should you buy the book and album, the rest for you to make of what you will.

The album to accompany the book contains 9 songs, the lyrics for each of which are printed within its pages. Such is the ambiguity of lyrics and what each song may mean, I thought it not for me to take that away from someone. In place then, for each song there is a corresponding short story.

Whether lyric or prose everything is from the heart. The majority of it tripped out of my head onto paper with few backward glances or amends, but as easily as it flowed it has not been without difficulty. Anyone who has taken the time to write anything creatively will be aware of the emotional strain it can have, not least if you hit on some brutal honesty that you didn’t know was coming.

Everything within the pages spans love, loss, hope, happiness, hurt, nostalgia and the general reflections and contemplations we all have in our quiet moments. Everything within these pages spans between truth, fiction, memory and false memory - a blended imperceptible narrative, a story. I think it may be a seeking for some kind of redemption, from what I can’t be sure. Let it mean what it means to you.

I was going to go down some philosophical route about time not being linear, that linear time is only a human construct, designed to control the masses from the point they check into the world to the time they check out. Whereas for each individual, time is a blend of past, present and future, each having an influence over the other to build on our daily narrative - our own story. This is what I have come to believe. Whether you agree, I leave that conundrum to you.

With love

Spencer – the dead poet

A thank you...it's good to share

Sometimes we like to think we can do everything ourselves. And actually, we probably can in most circumstances. But in doing everything ourselves, we can also end up with something which is somehow less than what we wanted or envisaged. It's why, when I decided I was going to produce a book to go with the All my Ghosts album, I asked for help.

At the outset I knew I would need some photographs. Come the end, I knew I would need someone to edit the stories. And asking for help under any circumstances isn't always easy, especially when you feel like you don't know what you're doing, and know you're going to have to explain and share with someone content and ideas of something quite personal.

But people can be quite brilliant and I am grateful to two in particular, without whom I wouldn't have got this project over the line in quite the same way. It was their professionalism, skill and honesty that meant working with them was a joy, gave me confidence in the project, and produced something beyond what I'd first imagined.

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Elinor - The Photographer

When I approached Elinor to ask if she'd be interested doing a photoshoot for my book, explaining that proceeds from sales were going to Platform 1 men's mental health and crisis charity, she was really supportive from the outset.

We exchanged a few messages about the project, what I was aiming for, the look and feel. I sent her the song lyrics and some of the early story drafts. Later we met up and had a really nice conversation about what some of the songs meant to me, and about some of the stories. It was nice for me to be able to discuss things at length, and I felt she really got it.

A few weeks later we spent an afternoon together doing a photoshoot at her studio and out on the moors. There's something quite uncomfortable being the subject in a photoshoot, but Elinor was great and I ended up really enjoying it.

I was really pleased with the end product. She absolutely got the brief and I am incredibly grateful, because the photos are a perfect fit.

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Rezina - The Editor

I couldn't have handed over my book to anyone better, when it came to editing. The critical thing for me in asking Rezina if she would do this, is that I knew I could trust her to be honest. Of course, you've got to have the skill and intelligence, but honesty was always going to be key alongside these things.

And honest she was, in such a warm and disarming way that even when she told me a couple of the stories actually didn't make sense, in the wider feel and context of the book, not only was I not offended, I actually listened.

It would have been easy to reject her comments at this stage, namely because I didn't want to write any more stories or adapt what I already had. But I could see she was right, so like a dutiful student I went away and did what I was supposed to - wrote two new stories more befitting and contextually significant.

In all, it was a case of reminding myself of why I asked her to edit the book in the first place. And that's about trust. Saying to someone, "Here, please review and critique my feelings for me" is not an easy thing to do. Fulfilling that role I'm sure comes with its own pressures. Rezina was brilliant.

Fundraising through music

I decided early on in the process of making the album and book 'All my Ghosts', that all income from music downloads, book (first edition) and CD purchases in the month of May 2022, would be donated to charity. Find out more about the music, charity and how you can help.

What is All my Ghosts?

All my Ghosts is 9 songs, a solo acoustic set recorded and mastered at GN Studios, Huddersfield. The album is accompanied by a 32 page book. The lyrics for each song are printed within the book, and for each song there is a corresponding short story - a vignette, if you like.

Whether lyric or prose everything is from the heart. The majority of it tripped out of my head onto paper with few backward glances or amends, but as easily as it flowed it has not been without difficulty.

Why Platform 1?

Platform 1 is a mental health and crisis charity to help men with complex needs. They support people from all backgrounds and experiences, that have for whatever reason, refused to engage with other services. They encourage recovery through various activities, allowing them to recover at their own pace and within a safe and non-judgmental environment.

Platform 1 have been doing great work for a long time to support men with mental health issues, but the Covid pandemic has increased the need for such support as the number of those suffering mental health issues has soared. This only goes to put further pressure on charities such as Platform 1.

You can get the full picture of what Platform 1 deliver, by visiting their website.

Platform 1

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How can you help?

There are three ways you can help me support raising funds for Platform 1. It's important to let you know that 100% of what you pay during May 2022 will go toward the Platform 1 donation. The target is to raise a minimum £1,500, which would be amazing.

Download the 'All my Ghosts' album from my website

Download album from website

You can download all 9 songs of 'All my Ghosts' from my website. You can listen to a 30 second sample of each song, before purchasing. You can download songs individually for £1.50 each, or the whole album for £10.

FREE single download - House of Fools

Order the book, with free CD

Visit the shop

The book is the gateway to knowing everything about All my Ghosts. Everything written spans love, loss, hope, happiness, hurt, nostalgia and the general reflections and contemplations we all have in our quiet moments. It spans between truth, fiction, memory and false memory - a blended imperceptible narrative, a story.

The book is £22 and you can order this through my online shop. There are only 150 copes available. For fund raising context, selling half of these alone would result in hitting the £1,500 overall target.

Order the CD

Visit the shop

Okay, so why a CD? Well, this is a nostalgia trip. Like a lot of us, I stream most of the music I listen to through one online service or another. Other people have returned to collecting vinyl, which of course we all love. I simply wanted something physical, the same as I was buying growing up in the 90's. If you've still got a CD player knocking around, or have one in your car... You can buy the CD for £10, through my online shop.