What a time it has been since the release of the “Aestas” album exactly one month ago. A two-page write-up in the Alloa Advertiser was followed by my first UK radio play on Forth Valley Radio and a guest appearance on a show on that station. Not to mention the streams on the various platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music and the sales of the CDs on the website and on Bandcamp.

Thanks are due to Rajmund Bakonyi at the Alloa Advertiser for a very accurate report based on a phone interview that lasted for almost half-an-hour. The article appeared on pages 12-13 of the newspaper on Wednesday 21st August. This was followed by a text from Bovs (Brian Ovens) at Forth Valley Radio who wanted to play one of the album tracks on his “Millennium Music Show” which can be heard every second Friday from 4pm until 6pm. “Rebirth of Venus” was duly played on Friday 6th September. My first radio play had been “The Alchemist” on the Japanese station, Sound Street Radio, in 2023, but this was the first time that I actually heard my track being played on the radio.

Bovs followed this up by inviting me to be a guest on his other show “”Old Records Never Die with Bovs” from 8pm until 10 pm on Wednesday 11th September. I had to choose five songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s which I liked or had influenced me. I chose: “So Sad” – Everly Brothers; “Waterloo Sunset” – Kinks; “Reflections of My Life” – Marmalade; “The Hungry Years” – Neil Sedaka; “West End Girls” – Pet Shop Boys. I had to explain why I chose these particular records and we also chatted about the other records that he played. It was a brilliant experience which I won’t forget.

The sales of the CD are moving along nicely and are now well into double figures. With a limited edition of 100, I am pleased with the progress. Thank you to Roberta for handling the dispatch of the CDs. Streams on the various platforms are well into three figures and, on Spotify alone, are over 300 and on their way to the 1000 plays you need to get paid these days. It fascinates me that I am getting streams in places like Fukuoka and Tokyo in Japan and Stone Mountain and Grand Rapids in the USA.

I now feel that it’s time to move away from promotion, publicity and social media and get back to performing and creating music and audio-visuals. You can find out more about that in my next blog.