I’m not very good at planning goals. I must have been off school that day. My big strategy in life was to dream my way to them. Looking back, I think I thought that if I just daydreamed myself doing the things I wanted, they would happen. Not the best decision I’ve ever made. I am very creative. I am talented in various art forms, not least of all singing, and I desperately wanted to be a professional singer when I was younger. I tried. I tried hard at it for the longest time, but my efforts waxed and waned like the phases of the moon. Perhaps I’m being unfair on myself, because music is a very temperamental game. Bands I was in would split up through disagreements about musical direction, and because we were all complete amateurs, musicians would abandon a project quicker than a Greek sea captain. I’d just get something good going with a band, we’d just be on the cusp of recognition, when it would all collapse. The Beatles are the perfect example of how hard it is to get four blokes in a room to agree about something. By comparison, if you want to know why the Rolling Stones have stayed together so long, that’s easy. Mick Jagger. He is the unequivocal leader of the band. Everyone accepts he is the boss and they do what he says, when he says it. The Beatles tried to run a democracy and look where that got them. This was my problem. I was too nice. I wasn’t a leader, and I didn’t know how to get people to do what I wanted. I wanted my own band, but I didn’t have the balls. That’s where dreaming came in. In my dreams, I could easily side-step my frustrations and manifest success. And then there’s all the wishes I made that never materialised. I wish I’d had more musical training, but my Mam wouldn’t pay for the lessons. I wish I’d had better musical equipment, but I couldn’t afford it. I wish I’d had a Van and knew how to drive. I wish I’d had a manager, and people behind me, to advise me on stage image, marketing, and to open those all important doors. In short, I knew what my goals were, I just didn’t know how to get them. There were many other things I was up against too. I didn’t live in London where the action was. I lived up north, where you had to fight tooth and nail just to get a gig. So yes, if I’d been born in a better area, had more privilege, and a good support network, I could have done better musically. I certainly had the talent. But I think ultimately, it comes down to me. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t ballsy enough to plan what I wanted and go for it, as I think some of the best artists do. I was a nice lad. Talented, but scared of his own shadow. I was a dreamer who didn’t quite know how to make his dreams a reality, and in the music business, dreamers rarely finish first.