Welcome

Hail and Welcome!

Hope you like what you see.

This site has been through a few changes since its inception in 2003 with the release of my first album, Here Be Dragons, so let me bring you up to speed.

In 2003 I went on the road in support of the Dragons album, and played pretty much the length and breadth of this country. Anywhere that would have me! Accustomed to being in a band, it became a lonely and isolated existence, but I was still a relatively young man, filled with zeal and conviction, so off I went...

I'd joined Sanctuary Rig in 2004, and can still vividly remember the audition – Mark's dramatic arrangements and keyboard wizardry, Paul's bass pedals, Rich's pyrotechnical drumming and, for a while at least, Andy Trickett's blistering blues guitar. I had to get in on this! We recorded the first Rig CD, Sail On, in 2005.

The following year was one of change. I'd suffered health problems myself, largely brought on by the rigours of constant gigging, and later returned to the house I grew up in to nurse my mother through what would become her final illness. At this point I'd left Sanctuary Rig, unable to cope with the demands of being their frontman, and although I had new material I had no outlet and precious little means.

Unable to continue as a writer, I soon joined Staid As Quo, a tribute to...well, you work it out. To my surprise I fitted in immediately and we took to the road. I'd shied away from the tribute scene for years, but this actually 'felt' different. I was playing songs I'd learned as a teenager (from the classic Rossi-Parfitt-Lancaster-Coghlan line up), with three people I really clicked with, and it was magical! This was the simple joy of playing, as I'd never experienced it before, free from withering anxiety about manifesting my Awen and mercifully free of egos. This band went from strength to strength, both at home and abroad.

In August 2007, Sanctuary Rig reconvened and decided to commit the best of our material to CD. We booked ourselves in to Riverway Studios, under the auspices of Jim White – whom we very soon christened "Flipper" for reasons no-one can really remember now – and got to work. What was intended to be one album quickly became two, and the double album Khnosti was released the following year. We were all thoroughly pleased with it; at last, a representation on record of what Rig was all about.

And with Khnosti came Rig Records. Mark Rae had long harboured an ambition to found a label dedicated to fostering maverick talent, and, hot on the heels of Khnosti, he quickly signed Manir Donaghue and released Reflections in the first half of 2009. The Rig roster continues to grow, enjoying a fruitful association with producer Jim White, and with Simon Williams poised to become the in-house artist and sleeve designer.

Way back in the bleak period of 2006, certain members of the Druid community for whom I have a tremendous respect had encouraged me to make another solo album. I knew it would be raw, close to the bone, and stripped back to the basic format of one man and a guitar. In short, it would not be "Son of Here Be Dragons". In April of 2009, with Rig Records firmly behind me, I was back in the studio with Flipper and we put the record together in no time. Mark came in and played piano on the final track, "Tribiani Time".

The new album, Reinventing The Wheel, was released in July 2009. I was fortunate enough to be invited to perform at DruidCamp 2009 – hosted by the Druid Network – just in time for Lughnasadh, which gave me a great opportunity to showcase the new material. Shortly before its release I was interviewed on Glastonbury Radio regarding songwriting, poetic inspiration, Robert Graves and where I'd been for the last couple of years. The programme featured nearly all of Dragons and a great deal of Khnosti, along with plenty of talk about the new record. It's still early days yet, but the response to Wheel has been extremely positive. I don't intend returning to the never ending run of one-nighters that shaped the Dragons days, but I hope to be able to play 'key' festivals in the Pagan calendar and the music alive.

Wes Tu Hal!

Jim Faupel, Lammas 2009.