“Pilch is at heart a story teller who writes songs about life in all its mucked up, crazy glory. Whatever crosses his radar, be it old love, bad decisions, or dead end jobs, all are intimately observed with a thread of hope and the shadow of a smile.”
Yeah, well I guess that’s me. I’m a singer/songwriter based in North London and as my picture betrays it’s fair to say that I’ve been around the block a few times… Whilst my roots lie in country rock music (man I love the Eagles) I have, over the years, covered many genres from big band jazz to gospel, rock to folk, even did a few seasons with the English National Opera as a kid. I’m told the influence of a certain Mr Springsteen can be heard in my tunes.
My love of country really started I guess in the early 90’s when we had cable on trial and we could get CMT for a while. That was the Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis kind of era. Loved the song writing, the story telling, the vids the lot.
I do solo stuff and perform as a duo with my good buddy Patrick McCarthy, bassist to the stars. For a number of years, I worked with my band “The Midnight Tinklers” with whom I recorded the album “Only the Good” Here’s what some people said about it:
“Enjoyed it immensely. Strong songs, urgently sung and good production too.” – Simon Mayo DJ Radio 2
“This is a fantastic album, filled with sweet melodies, clever harmonies, and fine song writing.” – Steve Harvey, Martin Guitars
“There are some fine songs lurking here and the band’s breezy delivery creates just the kind of good time stuff we all need now” – Acoustic Magazine
And here’s the Spotify link:
My latest single “Further Down the Road” is a Country Blues Rocker celebrating those of us with a lot of life experience “We ain’t getting old we’re just further down the road”
My single “Nothing But You” is a song about old love and is dedicated to my long-suffering wife. Here’s the proper cheesy video:
Shine on 2020 (a remix of the original 2014 release) is a Christmas song that tries to look beyond the tinsel. It’s a message of peace, a message of unity, a message of hope…
Written with my good buddy Ralph Stringer, for a long time I tried to place the song with an established artist but alas to no avail, so eventually I decided to release it myself in 2014.
The original track was produced by Roger Benou of Monroe Productions and features Nicki Hooke adding some class on backing vocals. This 2020 version has been freshened up with a few twinkles and some additional guitar lines because, hey you can never have too many guitars….
“Firing Blind” is a tribute to the band I used to be in, back in the days when everything seemed possible, when we felt invincible. I guess it’s a song for everyone who picked up a guitar and dreamed big dreams…
In September 2023, Pilch released the single “Silence Of Your Love”. The track has conjured different stories for its listeners which outlines its extraordinary relatability. Pilch says, “To Darren, my producer, it was really a love song, plain and simple. To Pat, my bass player, it’s a soldier coming home from a conflict, who has seen too much and just wants to sit with the women he loves. To another it’s a broken man wanting to rest in the silence with someone he has lost.”
Pilch actually found the inspiration for “Silence of your Love” in a verse in the Bible, Zephaniah 3 v 17 which says “The Lord your God is with you; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Pilch says, “It got me thinking about how my kids, when they were little, would run up to me, crying “Daddy, Daddy”, and the whole story of who’d upset them would come out between the sobs. Eventually their tears would slow, and they’d go quiet in my arms, reassured and feeling safe and loved. It seems to me that as we grow older, we still yearn for that feeling but struggle to find it. So, for me, it’s a man, broken by life, talking to God.”
A remastered version of “Shine On” was released in December 2023. It followed Pilch’s efforts over a number of years to try to get someone to cover the song.
Pilch said: “The usual rejections followed but one particular response from an American publisher got under my skin. He started off by complimenting the song’s structure and production but stated that lyrically he didn’t need any of that “leftie pacifist crap.” Normally, I’d just move on but not this time, so I went back to him: “My Father was a Sergeant in the Grenadier Guards, my uncle was killed in Normandy, I had one cousin in the Paras, and another served 27 years in the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers). I myself tried to join the services when I left school but none of them would have me on account of my losing and eye in an accident as a child. I am not a pacifist; I know there are times when decent men must stand up and fight for the greater good, but I also know this. There is not a single mother who hasn’t craved for peace as see watches her son go off to war, nor was there ever a soldier in a trench, waiting to go over the top, who didn’t dream of peace and the chance to go home.”
Pilch added: “I then pressed “send” and went to bed….Next morning, to my great surprise I had a reply, saying good on you for pushing back and telling me to look him up next time I’m in Northern California. What was it Billy Currington said? “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy”.
In April 2024, Pilch got all mean and moody on us with the release of “Tick Tick Tick”.
“You know that feeling when people are saying stuff about you behind your back that isn’t true, and there’s nothing you can do about it? Well, then you’ll get Tick Tick Tick,” Pilch said. “This is how we close our live set. We kinda like to go out with a bang.”
From the opening jagged guitar riff, Pilch’s strident vocals leave you in no doubt as to his feelings and with producer Darren Loveday supplying a sublime lead break you’d better holdon tight ‘cause this train is ashifting…
In July 2024, Pilch pulled a different arrow from his quiver with his release “Come What May”. Awash withbanjos and pedal steel guitars, this is an uplifting song for those for whom life isn’t easy. It’s a song about the getting up, not the falling down. It’s “These things too shall pass”, it’s a song of reassurance and friendship from one who has travelled the same road.
Following the optimism Come What May, Pilch, shows us another side of his writer’s palette with his September 2024 single Wakes up Crying.
“I wanted to hold a mirror up to one of big issues of this generation, namely internet bullying,” said Pilch.
“I’ve seen first hand it’s destructive impact on young lives with kids haunted by wicked social media posts. So the song takes the form of a story of a young girl and her withdrawal from her family as the bullying takes its toll, and poses the question, what’s to be done?”
In November 2024, Pilch brought us the heart rending ballad Nobody Jones, which tells the story of a once famous guitarist, who now finds himself, 40 years later, working nights in a factory. Featuring Pilch’s long-time producer Darren Loveday on lead guitar, the listener is drawn into a world of memories and nostalgia for what once was.
