Skip to content

Category: John Maul

Published on

Hat’s off to Mr David Holloway, the founder of the YouTube site - ‘The Keyboard Chronicles’.  His tireless efforts interviewing keyboard players from all over the globe is fast making this the ‘go-to’ resource for professional 1st hand advice and experience, hopefully with a few laughs along the way. 

I was delighted and honoured to be invited to chat with him about many things including my career in music, pop artists I’ve worked with over the years and even talk about keyboard development with Roland and Yamaha and the challenges that the retail industry faces nowadays.

Published on

Following my Facebook Post on the ‘We Grew Up In Watford’ Group, I was contacted by journalist Panayiota Demosthenous. She was interested in knowing a little more about a letter I received from Elton John back in February 1978 , having written to him at Watford FC only a few days before. It was a source of inspiration for a young musician like myself and I’ve forever been grateful to the Pop Icon for taking the time to write to me. So if you live in the Watford area you may have seen the article in the April edition of Watford News. A fitting tribute in recognition of Elton’s kindness. 

Published on

Wow - I cant believe it’s been February since my last post. Suffice to say I’ve been very busy and very grateful for it.

Since March I've been to Slovakia, Czech, Austria and Sweden with the Dire Straits  Exeprience. We had a tour of the Netherlands in May and various trips to France in June, July and August plus a tour of Germany. 

I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Sydney writing this post as we are now touring New Zealand and Australia with a little stop off at Tahiti on the way home for a gig. We’ll barely have enough time to unpack our bags and then we leave for France for 3 and half weeks in November. Even December sees two final pre Christmas gigs, one in Helsinki, the other in Madrid. 

So that’s my excuse for the lack of posts to my website - apologies. 

It’s been a great year for work and I try never to take it for granted. 

Who knows what 2025 will bring....

Published on

It was a pleasure to revisit my 80s Pop roots for the Brit Fest 2024 Festival at Ashely Showground in Chesire on July 6th. I had a fabulous house band to MD. Artists we backed included, Nik Kershaw, Paul Young, The Real Thing , 5-Star , T’Pau and Owen Paul. Whilst the weather could have been a little kinder, the crowds weren’t daunted. Preparations and rehearsals can be tough but it’s always a pleasure to work with these 80s icons. Rumour has it another one is coming up in July 2025 - this time Midge Ure, The Fizz, Cutting Crew, Hue and Cry and Sinitta. Watch this space !

home page

Published on

I must confess it has been awhile since my last YouTube video but I’ve revisited Final Cut Pro and got creating again. This time it’s an educational video looking at Orchestrating a piano piece using one of my Christmas tunes that I composed a couple of years ago - ‘All Aboard The Reindeer Express’.  It’s aimed at the beginner and shows an easier and more responsive approach to acquiring the skills needed to be an orchestrator. Click on the link to take a look and please like / subscribe if it’s of interest to you. Many thanks

Published on

I’m glad to say some normality has finally returned to gigging life, albeit slowly and cautiously.

The Dire Straits Experience have at last been busy. March included a two week tour of France with no less than 11 shows, all with fantastic audiences, food and hospitality. After a brief 3 day respite back home we then had a gig in Prague followed by two in Austria , again fabulous audiences. And just last weekend we performed at the Magma Art Venue in Tenerife.  Coming up is this month is the Azores, Finland and Germany. So it’s good to be back and seeing living breathing audiences, even if wearing face masks. Here’s to the promise of a good and busy year in 2022. 

Published on

Thanks to the pandemic , I’ve been encouraged to look for other outlets for my musical pursuits. I’m glad to say that my ‘Piano Life’ You Tube channel has gained a little momentum albeit modest by some standards. But the purpose of the channel has really been a flag-waving exercise and, as and when time permits, I shall continue with content. One notable video is my piano cover of ‘We Bought A Zoo’ which has now reached 2.4K views. If you have a moment, please take a look and listen.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz4fo9hDSdIpIvOBFK2qEnQ/videos