Although I now live in Cornwall, I was born and raised in Birmingham. Locations have a real impact on me and inspire me to create music. When I was young, it was the urban landscape of Birmingham, with the twisted factory chimneys and dark cobbled streets that ran under the railway bridges that fascinated me. As well as composing music, a great proportion of my time is spent arranging music for strings and String Quartet.
One of the most popular arrangements that I loved working on, was ‘Red Right Hand’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which is the theme from the BBC TV show, Peaky Blinders. Everything about that TV programme resonates with me, particularly as my Great Nan, Gertrude Willis, ran her own business in Garrison Lane during that time. She was a formidable and feisty lady and was the proud owner of a ‘Fancy Drapery’ shop. If anyone owed her money, she was likely to extract what was owed to her by finding the person down the Garrison pub and dealing with them in her own way!