I took a week in August and went to songwriting summer school. I learnt a ton of stuff about how to craft a lyric and melody and, although it may sound strange to say it, I finally got permission to write songs. I met Boo Hewerdine, Andy White, Iain Archer (ex-Snow Patrol) and the mighty Richard Parfitt (who used to be the frontman of 60 Foot Dolls) and I got a serious insight into how the job of songwriting is really done. You can read the full story in today's Sunday Times.

What I discovered was that songwriting is about application and technique not sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. But the funny thing is this discovery in itself proved to be pretty inspirational, and spending a week in that kind of company sent the motivation meter off the scale.

After our tour of northern England, with Justin Hildreth sitting in on drums - for which many thanks, amigo - the Trio has regrouped with the mighty Jack Sinclair on drums. Jack is an amazing player and always a pleasure to have around. Our recent gigs with him in Hertford (pic by Marilyn Kingwill), Whitstable, Liverpool and here in London have been some of the best we've ever played. Not only that, he has sent the average age of the Trio plummeting. I'm proud to have him installed in the ranks and the band now sounds better than ever.

So we're rolling onwards. Next is our annual gig at Wilton's Music Hall with the Rollin' Stoned on October 30, where we'll have some new songs to play. Amazing venue, and a great night for sure. Come along and check it out.

New Year's Eve is a special anniversary for the DS3. We recorded our first song – Dusted & Rusted - on Hogmanay, four years ago. Since then:
20 songs, written & recorded
2 albums – Hey & Threewheeling - released on Critical Discs
2 promotional videos, Feedback & London Dust, directed by Jon Slade
45 gigs, including 6 rocking shows at the 100 Club

The group is currently working on:
New songs, ready to record
New video, Was I Strong Enough?, storyboarded and about to start shooting.
Next gig, at the Half Moon, Herne Hill on Jan 17

Plus check out David's special Guitar Break report in The Sunday Times, Culture section TODAY, January 4.

Happy New Year from David, George & Drew.

There was suddenly an added buzz about our gig at the 100 Club with the blues maestro Stephen Dale Petit when his people sent out a press release the day before announcing that SDP would be "joined by friends Ronnie Wood, Mick Taylor and Tim O'Toole to perform album tracks". But in the end neither the mighty Ron nor the man he replaced in the Rolling Stones showed up (not sure who Tim O'Toole is). I had a chat with SDP after our set and he said that Ron had been proving "elusive".

It certainly didn't spoil a great night. I love playing at the 100 Club. This was our third gig there this year (sixth in all) and there is something about the place - the history, the sound of the room, the width of the stage (like performing on a landing strip) - that gets to me every time. I feel as if my performance there is somehow invested with the authority of the venue, if that makes any sense. Chord changes flow like honey. Stage moves are gracefully executed and I'm back at the mic in plenty of time to sing the next line. Eye contact with the audience is easy - and fun! There is an aura from the place that seeps into your singing and playing.

The gig was reviewed at raysgigs.com (scroll down to 2008-11-01: Thurs evening was a great double bill of blues rock feat Stephen Dale Petit + David Sinclair Trio at The 100 Club, London...)

We are starting work on a new video for Are You Strong Enough? It has been storyboarded by the director Jon Slade, and the band is going to be located discreetly in the background while a tempestuous story of young love and loss unfolds in the foreground. So we are looking for actors to cast in the main roles. I'm hoping we have already found the male lead, but we are still looking for a female lead and two other female supporting characters. It's expenses only at this point, but major kudos and a good laugh await the successful applicants. Get in touch if you think you might fit the bill or know of anyone, preferably in their twenties, with acting skills.

Our previous video, also directed by Jon Slade, is still here (click on "watch in high quality" tab in bottom right corner of screen).

"Now everyone is a star on YouTube..."

Long ago, I used to work as a researcher on Terry Wogan's BBC TV chat show. He's an absolute pro, hard as nails, nothing like the fluffy character you see on screen. His show used to go out as a pre-record on Saturday night. Then they decided to ramp it up into a live, weekday teatime show, a change which ushered in the era of "wall-to-wall Wogan" on British TV. The day he did the first one - absolutely live in front of an audience of millions - I remember wondering what was the worst that could happen. Well, Terry being the obliging fellow that he is, showed us. He walked on to the stage, slipped and promptly fell flat on his arse!

I was reminded of that moment on Friday at our gig at the Half Moon, when halfway through Was I Strong Enough? (of all songs) I took a step backwards and tripped over Wilko Johnson's amp (which, in my defence, had not been there during the sound check). Next thing I know I'm lying flat on my back with my head underneath Drew's floor tom. Miraculously, we kept the song going. By the time I got back to the mic we'd missed half a chorus, but hey! And what a tremendous cheer at the end.

Now George always tells me not to give away too much about the mechanics of playing when you're on stage. Don't let on that we've never played such-and-such a song before, he says. Don't apologise, whatever happens. Just crack on and don't look back. No one knows where the hell George is looking behind those shades of course, but he's absolutely right. And I don't propose to dwell on my Wogan moment. But to have worked through such a calamity felt like a coming of age.

And the band is coming good in so many ways lately. Feedback, our new video, has prompted some amazing, er, feedback. You can see it on YouTube - but make sure you click on the "watch in high quality" option on the bottom right of the screen. It really makes a difference. We have played a string of cool gigs in the last few weeks, including Wilton's Music Hall - a stunning venue, close to Spitalfields, which is the oldest surviving music hall in Britain - and before that a relaxed warm-up show across the road at Cape, next to St Katherine's Dock, with our friends Bruise. And we are working up to another run in October starting with The Half Moon at Herne Hill on the 18th and Gramaphone, back in Spitalfields, on the 22nd.

See you there. Upright, I hope.

We've done a video for Feedback. It's fast, funny and brand new. And you can see it here. Making it was a lot of laughs and involved a surprising amount of travelling: from the white cliffs of Seaford to a panoramic hangar at Sky TV via a derelict Quickfix garage somewhere off the A23. We also had a session hanging out in some of our favourite haunts in Soho. The video was shot, conceived and edited by Jon Slade, the Quentin Tarantino of the budget TV/video promo. Check out his site at www.sladey.com, and many thanks to him. Thanks also to Peter Wear and Wellington who played a small but crucial role as The Man and Dog. Make sure you watch through to the end to catch this Oscar-worthy cameo. And Jackie the kid is in there somewhere too. Whoo-hoo!

What else? Well, NovaTunes has suspended operations - temporarily, they say. So if you didn't get your download of Threewheeling already, then hard luck. The good news is that having tackled the download market via downtown LA, we are now working towards a CD release of Threewheeling in the UK. Full news when I've got it. But the wheels are most definitely in motion.

The Johnny Dowd gig went down a storm. I broke a string in the first number, but hey. Great to meet Mr Dowd. What a cool guy. We had a moment at the merchandise table at the end of the night when he gave me a copy of his album and I gave him a copy of Hey. I hope we meet again.

Then on to the 100 Club for one of our best shows yet. Playing with Wilko Johnson. Ray behind the sound desk. Great crowd in. It all felt so good. We are back at Cox's Yard in Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow, which is one of my favourite venues, with Wilko again. And I'll be bigging it all up on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio, talking to Lorna Bailey at about 6.10 tomorrow evening (Friday July 11), before the gig. That's on 94.8, 104 & 103.7FM if you are in the area, or you can listen to it live online here (click on "listen live").

The buzz is truly awesome/I'm here to bang the drum!!

  Drunk In Charge

Time Out have responded to my concerns about the mistake in their listing of our gig at the Boom Boom Club last month (see previous blog).... by printing the whole thing again!! Not only that, but our "bluesy rock combo" is listed in this week's "Rock, pop & dance" section as playing at the Boom Boom (in Sutton) on the same night (Thursday April 17) that we are also listed in the "Folk, blues & world" category as playing at the 100 Club in Oxford St, W1. Guys, I appreciate the encouragement, but that's a hell of a night's gigging - and quite a few genres covered - even by our standards!

Anyhow we are definitely playing at the 100 Club tomorrow, Thursday April 17, on stage 8pm. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

And, of course, we look forward to returning to the Boom Boom as soon as we can do it.

Probably best to stay tuned in to this space for further information.

A special night for the DS3 at the Windmill in Brixton, our first foray into the legendary SW2 postcode. We got a really warm reception from a great crowd at the kind of old school pub venue that you used to find everywhere in London but which has now become something of an endangered species. Low, triangular stage in a corner, wooden floor, well-worn fixtures & fittings, generous, unspoilt vibe.

We were sharing the stage with Thunderclap Newman - the band famous for their song Something in the Air, a massive No.1 hit in 1969. Of the original guys who made the record only the keyboard player Andy "Thunderclap" Newman is still alive, which is tragic for those involved, but handy at least for the continuing maintenance of the brand name. Speedy Keen who wrote, sang and played drums on the song died in 2002, while Jimmy McCulloch, just 15 when he recorded the guitar parts, died in 1979 at the age of 26. (Actually, Pete Townshend, who played bass and produced the record, is still alive, but he was never a formal member of the group.)

Newman was already something of an eccentric in 1969. Now in his mid-sixties, he looks and acts as if he has recently escaped from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. He has gathered an endearingly quirky bunch of talented, multi-national musicians around him, who were some of the friendliest people we have encountered on the circuit. They were great company and special thanks to Antonio for letting Drew use his kit.

I've got to say, that for me, part of the fun of this whole adventure is hooking up with characters like these and becoming a part of the loose fraternity of musicians that operate with continuing commitment and dignity, far from the commercial mainstream. Mind you, I'd like to become part of the fraternity that operates a little closer to the beating heart of the business, and to that end we are, of course, spreading the word about the Trio's new album, Threewheeling, available here solely through NovaTunes, the new, websmart record label based in California.


Four of the new tracks are now up on the MySpace page. And a new video of London Dust shot in the studio is on the way. George has seen it and says it is awesome. Surely, a breakthrough appearance on Later with Jools Holland cannot be far behind! We're available, guys!