Back in the hottest summer of my childhood, 1976, my parents, along with my Aunty and Uncle, took us to our favourite ever holiday place; a little cottage called ‘Tholah’ (The House of Love and Happiness) in the little hamlet of Kincraigie near Dunkeld and Aberfeldy. At the very top of the hills above this tranquil little hamlet is Loch Skiach, an unspoilt freshwater loch in the middle of nowhere with a small bothy. I swam in its icy waters when I was seven years old and have visited it many times with my own children. There was a small sentry box at the entrance to Kincraigie, and it was here I wrote my first song when I was seven years old. That tune will be appearing on my Ring of Gullion album that I have been recording over this summer. This place is very, very special.
I have now completed the fifth video for my Hermitage Suite album, and this is my most ambitious to date. It was only right to include these landmarks in my new video. I have attempted to create a Celtic paradise from locations of Loch Skiach, Inishbofin, the North Yorkshire Moors, and Grangetown. Yes, you heard that right, the shots by the standing stones in the video were shot in that beautiful sleepy village on the River Tees known as Grangetown. This is keeping with my promise that all my videos include locations within a five-mile radius of my home. These filmmaking skills are preparing me for the epic videos I will be creating for my Ring of Gullion album, so, as Bachman–Turner Overdrive once said, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”.
Emotionally Free was written in 1997 when I was considering my future and the choices I would have to make. The video includes lots of special elements from my life, and again, the guidance I still believe my late Dad has provided me to eventually get things right in life.
Creating art to accompany my music has been the joy I’ve needed to explore as a musical artist. I’m aiming to make videos for each song on my Hermitage Suite, striving to create visuals as rich as my imagination.
“Emotionally Free” required something epic. I wrote it in 1997 when I was facing a crossroads in my life. Many of my friends were starting families, and I wondered if this pleasure would ever happen to me. In the re-recording of the song, I used my younger self’s vocal from the original recording to harmonise with my 53-year-old self as an artistic answer to that question. Yes, you did, son, and a fleeting image of my lovely family appears in the video.
I was able to create a Celtic paradise with footage I’ve captured over the last seven years. Some was from Loch Skiach, where I visited with my family in 2018. I explored the bothy and the beautiful, silent loch. I also captured stunning footage from Cromwell’s Barracks at the entrance of Inishbofin Harbour off the west coast of Ireland. Unfortunately, I couldn’t return to Skiach, so I digitally recreated it by shooting footage on the North Yorkshire Moors near Commondale.
My proudest creative moment was what I did with the footage I shot at the standing stones in the park at Grangetown behind former The Magnet pub. My two other selves (yes, there really are three of me) shot themselves on the stones, and I added a new digital background that looked like a Scottish loch. There was felt-tip phallic graffiti on each stone that I had to digitally remove. Not many other artists have to attempt that when editing a video. Here’s a before and after view of what I did.
With careful masking in Photoshop I was able to create a mask that could be used in Final Cut Pro to make the stones appear to be in Scotland
I also animated a photo of my 7-year-old self at Loch Skiach throwing a stone into the water. The memories this brings back. I was able to animate a photo of my dad to make him open and close this wonderful Celtic vision.
I couldn’t have created this video without the help of my son Thomas and wife Lisa, who operated the cameras. I also want to thank my cousins John and Claire Day for their hospitality on Inishbofin, and their wonderful son Calum for taking us on his currach to the barracks. I’ve managed to capture some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited into one epic video that looks beyond expensive. I can’t even begin to count the hours it’s taken me to put together, but I’m incredibly proud of the result and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.
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