2022

the year in review

A few selected highlights from the year…

january

Community Composition + Patreon

I kicked off a new project at the beginning of the year called Community Composition. It’s where I create a new piece of music inspired by suggestions by you good folk out here on the internet.

The pieces eventually became singles in their own right which I released later in the year - it was such a fun way of writing, and all supported by the lovely folk over on Patreon (which I set up in January as well, and has been lovely to see grow across the year).

february

Celebrating 18 Months of The College + Community Composition Ep. 2

In February I put together a little video to celebrate The College getting to 18 months old. It continues to be one of the most satisfying projects I’ve ever put together, and watching the community grow over the year has been wonderful.

Also, buoyed up by the reaction to the first instalment of Community Composition I got stuck into the next, as you can see / hear below!

march

Getting Back on the Road

March saw the gigs return, and with them some lovely experiences with fabulous people. Kicking off with a gig at Chapel Arts in Bath with Daryl Kellie and David Mead, and on to Southampton’s Art House where I was supported by the strapping chaps in the first image below - Colin MacPhail and Jonny Vernam.

I joined Clive Carroll for a couple of gigs on his UK tour - in New Milton and York, where I played his Renaissance Suite with him. Tremendous fun.

Spending a couple of days with Gordon Giltrap was the cherry on the musical cake in March - we shared tunes, tried some duet ideas and I left utterly buoyed up by it all.

april

The Renaissance Suite with Clive Carroll + The Brittany Workshop + LCME Classical Syllabus

April saw me record Clive’s Renaissance Suite with the man himself up in the workshop of Tom Sands. Such fun, and what a duet piece it is.

I then hopped on the ferry over to France for the first Brittany Guitar workshop since the pandemic. What a joy it was to get back over for a week of music-making, calvados drinking and general great vibes.

April also saw the London College of Music release their new Classical Guitar syllabus, for which I contributed two pieces which you can watch / listen to below.

may

One-Day Workshops + Ep. 3 of Community Composition

May saw me run my first entirely self-organised one-day workshops. They were an absolute joy and I’m deeply grateful to those who joined us. These experiences inspired me to get another in the diary ‘Up North’ which you’ll see a little further down the page, and indeed make them an annual occurrence!

It was this month that saw me get stuck into the third instalment of Community Composition, which you can see below.

june

Moving House + Special Guests in The College

June saw McNicol HQ up sticks and move to pastures new. I uploaded a new studio tour for the lovely folks on Patreon to check out - really nice to have my own space to practice, compose and record in again!

Every month I run a Zoom Session for my students in The College where we answer questions, share music, workshop ideas and occassionally are lucky enough to be joined by a special guest. June saw Clive Carroll swing by for it, which was an absolute pleasure. Other special guests this year have included: Soenke Meinen, Gordon Giltrap, Jule Malishcke and Tristan Seume - all were utterly inspiring and I’m very grateful to them for making the time!

july

Barock bis Rock Festival

July saw me hopping on a plane over to Germany to play the fabulous Barock bis Rock festival - one I’ve so enjoyed playing at a few times over the years, but this first one after the pandemic felt particularly special. Some memories below!

august

Germany Tour with Soenke Meinen + The River Snail Release

Heading over to Germany for a tour with the fabulous Soenke Meinen was a real highlight - we visited so many wonderful places, met so many wonderful people and were able to work on some new duets together. A real joy. You may have seen some of the recordings we made whilst over there on Instagram. If not - do have a scroll through if you so wish, and some memories are below! I also recorded a video diary of the entire tour which is available over on Patreon.

August also saw me partnering with the label, Serissa Records to release a series of singles - namely the ones I created from the Community Composition instalments. The first was released in August, and was The River Snail which you can watch below and stream on Spotify.

september

Freepsum Guitar Festival + Tom Sands Demos

The tour with Soenke ended at the beginning of February where we rounded things off at his fabulous festival, the Freepsum International Guitar Festival. A wonderful time was had, and I’m excited to say we’ll be doing it all over again next year!

September also had me continuing recordings demos on the sublime instruments by my dear friend, Tom Sands. There was even a time when I had 4 of his guitars under my roof, so used the opportunity to record the quartet I had composed for my workshop over in Brittany. Videos below!

october

Ullapool Guitar Festival + One-Day Workshop with Tom Sands

October saw the first Ullapool Guitar Festival since the pandemic, and what a festival it was. Everyone was buzzing to be back, and I was extremely happy to share the stage with Soenke Meinen for a duo set. It was so great catching up with so many folks I hadn’t seen for so long. Some memories below!

September also saw me run my first one-day workshop up in Ripon (where Tom Sands’ workshop is based). We had a lovely day playing guitar, and rounded it off with a Q&A and whisky tasting at Tom’s workshop itself. Hoping to repeat the event in 2023 so do sign up to my mailing list to hear about if you haven’t done so already!

november

IGF North East Guitar Festival + The Phoenix Cycle Release

A nice way to finish off my gigging for the year was to join two dear friends and inspiring musicians - Jule Malischke and Antonio Forcione for a gig up in South Shields for the IGF North East Guitar Festival.

And, my second single release of the year was The Phoenix Cycle (courtesy again of the wonderful folks at Serissa Records):

december

A Meeting with Gerald Garcia + Sands Session + WINTER22 Discount

And so we find ourselves getting close to the end of 2022! Thanks for reading through to this point, and indeed for the support this year - really means the world.

I rounded off the creative side of the year by paying a visit to my long-time mentor and generally inspiring gentleman, Gerald Garcia. We dug into a new composition of mine, which I’m hoping to record next year on a brand new guitar by Tom Sands. So, there’s a hint of some exciting things brewing for 2023! Maybe a spot of Innotet Volume Two…. and of course gigs!

A new video of me playing a tune on a gorgeous guitar by Tom Sands in his workshop has also just been released and you can watch that below!

One final thing to say: If you’re interested in doing some last-minute Christmas shopping then let me give you this discount code, giving you 20% off everything in my online shop (except t-shirts as they are produced by a different company), right the way through December. Just pop this code in at checkout:

WINTER22

And what can you find in the shop? Well… let me give you a flavour:

Thanks for all the support this year, and here’s to 2023! A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you =)

W