I could just simply say, “This is the 4th track of my Reflections EP, I hope you enjoy” but you know that’s not my style! Each song I produce generally has a story behind it but this has something special at the end 🙂
Inception
No, not the movie (although it is one my favourites) but rather how this track was born. I did a spot of travelling last year and one of the last places I visited in Canada was Meadows in the Sky Parkway. At this point in my adventure, I had been travelling through USA & Canada for nearly 50 days and I was getting that feeling of “I’m going to miss this” (as I’m sure everyone does when they are coming to the end of a holiday)! Anyway, I digress….
Pop My Mind
When I came back from this epic adventure, I received an e-mail from Pop My Mind creator Oliver Squirrel, asking me if I had created anything new recently. Pop My Mind is a creative platform where anyone can create anything in response to a theme or from other artists in the community. Click here to check out the website and get creative!
As I was feeling sad and reflective, the song was born and without any real interruption to the creative flow, I submitted a clip to the Pop My Mind website, where, to my amazement, it got featured in their first exhibition back in 2015! I also found out that the track got Oliver’s Auntie in to Drum & Bass which is pretty cool too 😀
It’s definitely a platform I will try to get more involved with (sorry Oliver for not being a frequent creator on the platform). Those who have been following me for a while will remember my 5th Highlights podcast, which featured creations from artists in the Pop My Mind community but I will return with another special in the future I’m sure 🙂
Skyway Meadows
If you have worked out how the name of the song came about, give yourself a pat on the back! I rather cleverly just swapped some words around from “Meadows in the Sky Parkway” and made a new word up in the process (Skyway?!) to end up with the track name – Skyway Meadows, which you can buy here.
Listening to it now takes me back to this wonderful place I was lucky enough to visit last year. Thanks to Jacob for being an awesome tour guide in Canada when we were out there. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday trip and I particularly enjoyed our deep conversations on the long drives between destinations.
Fate or coincidence?
As I was writing this blog, I had a flashback to something surreal that happened on the Canada trip. As we were making our way to a campsite at Wells Gray National Park, Jacob told me that another tour group were going to be joining us. Deep down, I was hoping it would be a previous tour guide, Jay Burleson (hilarious man), from a trip I did in USA the year before but the chances of that were nigh on impossible, what with the hundreds of different tour guides doing hundreds of different tours in various countries at hundreds of different dates…
Anyway, we were making our way over to the next campsite and needed to stop off in some remote supermarket in the middle of nowhere to get supplies. I was on fruit purchasing duties and as I was picking the juiciest oranges money can buy, I heard this man shout out “NICKY!!!! IS THAT YOU???”. I naturally sh*t myself. Who expects that in a supermarket?!
So I look up and I can’t believe my eyes as it’s Jay!! That unmistakable beard with one of the most epic bison hats you’ll ever see left me stunned and, with juicy oranges rolling all over the floor, the smiles rained down on both of our faces. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, it was on my birthday as well so in true Walt Disney style, my wish came true. We stayed up late in to the night, chatting and chilling around the camp fire, remaining in astonishment as we did so. I mean, that’s just incredible how that happened and I had to share the story with you!
I hope you enjoyed this blog entry, leave a comment if you have an amazing story or trip that you’d like to share in the comments below!
Take it easy
Nicky
If the track doesn't play, try this link:
soundcloud.com/nickyhavey/nicky-havey-skyway-meadows
► Listen on DSound
► Listen from source (IPFS)