Gavin Sutherland

Hello, Hola, Ciao, Bienvenue, Wilkommen . . .

Hey. How's it going? Welcome to my window on the world. If you're looking for a classical conductor or a champion surfer, you're in the wrong place. If you're looking for the guitarist songwriter guy who used to be in a band with his brother, you're bang on the mark.

Breaking News: It's a brand New Year, and, with a little help from 'The Deveron Delta Stompers', I'm off to explore the wonderful world of dance! The 'Cha Cha' is in the bag (check out the novel strains of 'Tweet n' Twitter') and I'm now working on a standard waltz with my dear friend and confidante Nancy K. D. Other rhythms, in the main Lat Am, have been earmarked for the job and will find a place in the scheme as the mysteries unfold.

More Breaking News: 'THE BIG WORLD DANCE BAND' adventure is up and running! Click here for details.

. . . . "and like I told the newspaper man, it's not every day a good song lands on your lap. Somtimes you find something to write about, sometimes you don't. You know, it could be a quirky bit of fun, or maybe a dance tune. Other times it's a message straight from the heart. I've no idea why that happens. It's just about getting hold of an idea and taking it somewhere. Know what I mean?" And he said, "Yeah".

So what's new? I'm living by the sea, enjoying making music, yeah, life is good! I've got an album out and about called THE DEAL. This one's a real solo job. I didn't set out to, but I did everything on it - wrote the tunes, played 'em, sang 'em, made the tea, you name it. The only other person involved was my old pal, Jim Hunter, "The Snow Leopard". He's a recording engineer / rainbow warrior, and one of the few people out there who understands what I'm doing, which is handy, cos I'm not too sure sometimes! He also knows what he's doing and what we're not doing. All these things are important when records are being made.

My World . . .

A lot of water's gone under the bridge since I first came face to face with a Neumann U87. I remember it well. The band set up in a cosy little semi-circle in the middle of Island's Number One Studio, the big one at their HQ in Basing Street. Armed with a Fender Jaguar and the raw valve power of my AC30, I was ready to take on the world! What a glorious feeling it was. Could there be a better job anywhere on the planet? No, I don't think so! London was the coolest music town in the world, Notting Hill was the coolest place in London, and there we were, right in the middle of it all. Awesome! In the 1960s and 70s it was straight forward. You learned how to play, got a band together, gigged around for a while and then went off to the big city to look for a deal. The last bit was pretty random, a game with no obvious rules. After trying our luck with a couple of A and R men in the West End (still waiting to hear from those guys) Muff Winwood gave my brother and I our first real break. He signed us to Island, produced our first records and taught us loads about the record bizz. Getting a deal with Island at that time was much more than just getting a record deal. It meant that what we were doing had been approved by a whole bunch of people who loved music, knew what they were doing and were tuned right in to what was going on. Not sure if I ever said thank you. So, if you happen to be reading this Muff, thanks very much!

It's great that the internet has given us all a meeting place but have the techno advances taken some of the skills and craftsmanship out of record making? Maybe that doesn't really matter? Like the man said, the show must go on!

Music from the Deveron Delta . . .

My first venture into the heady heights of Soundcloud.

There's a Big Storm blowin', and it's heading this way! A whole lot of trouble at the end of the day? Take it Down To The River, and wash it away! Zoot suits and two-tone shoes in Cairo? All-night jazz in Andorra? Maybe you should just Let It Roll.

Don't know why, but soundcloud works fine on all the browsers, except the mac safari. A geeky pal tried to explain to me how "browsers handle extensions in different ways due to variances in base code protocol" but I fell asleep.

Top man Steve Smith did a wee vid for the Big Storm tune on the weekend of the recent protest march in London. He used some photos taken by my daughter who was on the march with her husband. They both work for the NHS and really don't like what's happening under this Con-Lib Coalition! Big Storm on the tube.

Steve just added Down To The River and Strange (from 'The Deal') to my youtube repertoire.

Some of you may find "The Sutherland Brothers" website of interest. It was put together by Brian Mathieson, a diamond geezer who knows much more about us than we do. I see someone has also just set up a Sutherland Brothers and Quiver facebook page. Not sure who's behind that one, but I have my suspicions. I had a look and there are some interesting old photos on there that brought back a lot of really good memories. I sometimes forget just how lucky I've been through the years to make music with such a fine bunch of people.

By all means drop me a line. Always delighted to hear from you: suthsongs@hotmail.com