BIO

The diversity of Geoff’s music reflects the many musical influences he has been exposed to over the years. “I grew up in England, which was and still is a musical hot bed. I remember watching Top Of The Pops every Thursday night. They all looked so cool. I really wanted to emulate the bands I was watching but I couldn’t play an instrument and I couldn’t really sing so it all seemed quite hopeless”.

“My parents brought me my first acoustic guitar when I was about nine while we were on holiday in the Isle Of White. I remember trying to learn “Au Claire De La Lune”. I hated that song. I was into Free at the time. All I wanted to do was nail Paul Kossof’s solo on “All Right Now”, I didn’t really want to nail a traditional French folk song.

Geoff started to teach himself how to play the guitar and soon found himself writing and recording songs for his own personal enjoyment. “I never really thought I could make a living out of playing music, I just enjoyed the creative process"..  

That all changed three and a half years ago…….

“I had read a review about Paul Weller’s “Days Of Speed”. I picked it up one day and listened to it on the way home. At the time, I was experimenting with the keyboard and I hadn’t picked up my acoustic guitar in years. The moment I got home, I picked it up, dusted it off and wrote a song. Hearing Paul play solo live really changed my whole perspective on songwriting and performing. It was certainly the catalyst I was looking for all these years.  

“I was going through a difficult period in my life and writing songs became an effective way of dealing with the emotions I was feeling at the time”.

“I never really thought about performing live. My songs were intensely personal and autobiographical and I didn’t really think other people would want to hear about my life. A friend encouraged me to enter a Busker’s Contest and that evolved into a regular gig at a local coffee shop in Langley. Friday nights became the highlight of my week. I loved playing with Dan and Koree. We had so much fun. Dan was really encouraging me to explore different styles and I thought he was the coolest guitar player I had ever met. We added players and changed the name but in the end, everyone wanted to go in different directions".  

In the Spring of 2003, Geoff re-located downtown to English Bay and in May 2003, he purchased the BOSS PORTABLE BR-1180 DIGITAL RECORDING STUDIO which proved to be yet another catalyst in his life. 

“I had been struggling with a YAMAHA 4 TRACK recorder at the time. I wasn’t happy with the sound and I was becoming increasingly frustrated by the whole recording process. The BOSS changed all of that. Suddenly, I had a user friendly device that could reproduce the sound I wanted directly onto a compact disc”. Unfortunately, halfway through the recording of the first album, the band broke up.  

“We had half the album completed and then everyone just stopped playing. I didn’t really want to go out and hire new musicians so I started to do all the instrumentation myself". For some-one with absolutely no musical training, this could have been quite an intimidating prospect. "It's always been a mystery to me. Apart from a few drum lessons, I have never had any musical training, I can't read or write music yet I seem to be able to write songs. In the end, I found the whole experience very liberating. Suddenly, I was in a position to write and record on my own and it made the whole process easier. The remaining seven songs came together really quickly”. 

Love tends to be a reoccurring theme in Geoff’s songs. 

“In reality, there aren't a lot of topics to write about. Love is such a profound and powerful drug and it fascinates me. It affects us all and can be experienced on many different levels. No-one is immune to it, there’s no known cure and it’s highly addictive”.  

“The first album, “RUNNING OUT OF TIME”, really focused on my fixation with love. With the exception of “In My Neighbourhood”, every song deals with love from different viewpoints and perspectives”. 

“I went through another trying period between November 2003 and February 2004. A friend turned me on to Richard Ashcroft and The Verve and living downtown really started to open my eyes to a different kind of world”. 

Once again personal turmoil proved the catalyst for a whole new batch of songs. 

“I ended up writing thirteen new songs during that period”. The new material was far edgier and delved more into the downside of life, a reflection perhaps of his new surroundings. “Musically, the songs were far more adventuresome and lyrically, they were more relevant to my new surroundings”. Perhaps controversial in nature, “Goes To Sleep” is a perfect example of the new direction he was going in. “It was not an easy song to write or sing. It dealt with the subject of suicide and that is a major problem in today’s society. People are stressing out all over the place but society just keeps pushing them further and further towards the point of no return and no-one seems to care”. “It’s very much a “ME” generation nowadays, there’s no more humanity, everyone is out for a piece of the action and no-one seems to really care who they walk over to get it”.   

“I put together a rough demo of the new album and asked several friends to give me their honest opinion, many were disturbed by “Goes To Sleep” because of the subject matter. It was never written to glorify suicide, quite the opposite. No-one should ever feel that suicide is a solution to their problems”. 

Concerned that it might offend people, Geoff toyed with the idea of removing the controversial song from the album, however that all changed one day. “I was re-working the album when a friend asked me if I had received any feedback on the songs. I mentioned the concerns over “Goes To Sleep”. Suddenly, out of the blue, she confided in me that she too had suicidal feelings and the song encouraged her to talk about it. I realized then that the song had to stay. Originally, I had thought about re-working the narration and making it an anti-suicide song but in the end, I decided to leave it in its’ original form. If one of my songs can create dialogue on such an important issue, then I have achieved something that is valid and relevant”. 

Unfortunately, the planned release of “BLUE BLOOD ALLEY” never materialized. “Recording an album independently is tough. It requires large amounts of money and by the time you are in a position to finally finance it, so much time has elapsed that the songs no longer reflect the head space you are currently in”. “I had just come back from two amazing weeks in Maui and I had also started to get into a great Irish band called “The Frames”. Personally, I had moved into a much happier space and had started writing more upbeat acoustic songs. I felt that if I released “BLUE BLOOD ALLEY”, it would be a step backwards and I didn’t really want to wait another six months or a year to release the new material”.  

The new album “BALLADEER” dealt with a more varied subject matter and was more acoustically based. "Essentially, it was the polar opposite of BLUE BLOOD ALLEY. I wanted to try and re-create the idea of a group of musicians, sitting around a kitchen table, with a roaring fire, playing together. Featuring a wide variety of instruments, including harps and violins, BALLADEER includes Geoff's favourite song to date, DIAMOND RING. I wrote the song about a friend of mine who was obsessed with receiving an engagement ring. Lyrically and musically, it is, in my opinion, my best song. 

Currently, Geoff is working on album Number 4, tentatively titled "THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITY". It's a return to a more grittier subject matter. "I think I have written enough love songs for the time being. The world is falling to pieces, worldwide terrorism has changed the way we live forever and if it isn't bombs that are killing people, it's our own stupidity". The new album includes Geoff’s first anti-war song “Stars & Stripes” which was originally slated to be on the BALLADEER album. "In hindsight, it was really out of place on BALLADEER so I decided to include it on the new album. Basically TEOG is a conceptual piece that revolves around a common theme......loss. The original idea for "Stars & Stripes" came to me shortly after returning from a few days in California. There was a lot of publicity about George Bush and Tony Blair and how they had possibly deceived people into believing that the war in Iraq was necessary. When I got back to Vancouver, I was standing on Robson Street when the lyrics “Is there a reason why, young men choose to die, for the stars and the stripes” came to me. When I got home, the rest of the song came together very quickly. I had also rented Fahrenheit 9/11, before Christmas, and although I think Michael Moores’ approach, to the making of the film, was too biased, it certainly opened my eyes to the war in Iraq. “I wouldn’t say I am a political person. I do believe however, that governments, the world over, are full of self-serving egomaniacs who make a good living feeding from the public trough. Rightly or wrongly, I have just never got into the mechanics of politics”. “I do think that war is an unnecessary evil. Throughout history, there have been valid times to act against oppressors but in the case of Iraq, I think Bush and Blair have mislead the public and that is wrong. Personal vendetta’s are not valid grounds to condemn young men and women to die". The new album will hopefully be available by Christmas 2006

on air debut

On March 21^st, 2004, Geoff’s first song “Casey J” made its’ debut on “What The Folk” hosted by Paul Kardolus on 102.7FM. 

“I met Paul through work. We hit it off immediately and he agreed to listen to my first album”. I was really anxious. I knew people liked my songs but this was the first time some-one in the industry was going to critique my songs” 

Geoff’s apprehensions soon disappeared when Paul e-mailed him back with the verdict. 

“I was pleasantly surprised when Paul e-mailed me back. His e-mail certainly gave me a boost”. 

Paul wrote: 

I would like to further discuss the cd. The show will be on Sunday March 21st at 4:00 pm. The station is co-op radio at 102.7fm , and the show is called “What The Folk”.  I was discussing the cd with my friends at Festival Distribution and can pass on their words of wisdom as well. In listening to the cd and letting others listen it is astonishing that there is such wide appeal. My 15 yr old daughter likes it as well as my partner who is almost fifty. So very broad appeal and then the challenge is how do you get it heard. Part of the problem of doing all the tracks is that there is no public performance possible and performing is how most bands generate a root level support and then touring gets the Distributors interested. I would be willing to "shout out" some contact info on how to buy the cd but alas I have to deal at “arm's length” with artists or suffer the fate of Alan Freed. Regards Paul Kardolus

“I don’t know if it will come to anything but in this industry all roads lead to a possible deal until you slam into the wall at the end. The problem is, there is a lot of traffic on the streets, too many artists, too few deals”. 

As for a recording contract…………….

“It’s frustrating, none of the record labels are accepting un-solicited material so it’s the proverbial “Catch 22” situation. 

“How do you get heard if no-one is prepared to listen ?”  

the road ahead

"I have no idea where all this will lead. I hope my exposure on the Canadian Antiques Road Show will open a few doors. I would like to form another small band and get back playing live. I love performing and interacting with an audience. You never really know what will happen, it's scary and perhaps it's that fear of screwing up that excites me the most".

charitable causes

“I decided right from the start that I wanted my music to help others and generate real dollars to help those in need". True to his word, Geoff's first album "Running Out Of Time" raised enough money to feed over 200 people, for Christmas, at THE LIVING ROOM, which is a resource centre on the downtown eastside of Vancouver. "Having just watched over 15 hours of Live 8, you can't help but be inspired by people such as Sir Bob Geldof, Bono and Chris Martin. Over one million people attended the nine concerts, two billion watched them on television and over twenty-seven million have signed the G8 petition so far. It's funny, but today, it's not the politicians that are taking the initiative, it's the musicians. They are the ones that see the big picture and are pledging their time and money to make Planet Earth a better place". 

musical influences

Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music, Glen Hansard & The Frames, Peter Gabriel, Richard Ashcroft & The Verve, Paul Weller, Oasis, Matthew Good, Pete Townsend, Fish & Early Marillion, Kelly Jones & The Stereophonics, Mike Oldfield and Tears For Fears.