COMMUNITY
When passion becomes a
profession
OT MANY of us get paid for our pas- sions, the fortunate po- sition where a pastime becomes a profession. But walking into Finlay Wells’ butt-and-ben music studio, where guitars of all shapes invade the already limited space, it appears he is one of the lucky ones. The guitar tutor, sound engi- neer, producer and perform- er has been running Nutshell Records for 20 years, 10 of which have been in Lo- chavullin. Throughout this time Fin- lay, who plays guitar for The Shoes, has been teach- ing the next generation of guitar players and his work has been recognised by the Scottish New Music Awards, where he has been nomi- nated in the Tutor of the Year category ahead of the Sep- tember 4 awards ceremony. ‘Teaching is huge part of what I do,’ he said. ‘One day a boy asked me to teach him
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a few chords and that was it. I’m self-taught so teaching came naturally to me. ‘There is some really good musical talent around here, which is important. You need good stuff going on nowa- days more than ever because there is less money changing hands in purchased music, so getting a big record deal is harder than it once was.’ Not only does Finlay have a small army of private pupils, he also runs SQA courses in sound engineering for Oban High School pupils at Higher and Advanced Higher level. Such is the quality and dedi- cation of the teaching, some pupils have achieved 100 per cent in exams. Finlay, an understated and thoughtful musician, uses the word ‘passion’ on more than one occasion when talking about his various roles. ‘I am doing this job because I picked up a guitar at the age of 11. It is amazing where it takes you.
love with the guitar. I heard AC/DC’s Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution at Kilmore Youth Club.
‘I thought, ‘I’ve got to know how to do that,’ and 30 years later I’m still fascinated by sound.
‘I believe that to be working in this profession you have to have a passion for it but you are waiting for the right trigger.
‘When you have a passion for music, the decision is made. The music chooses you.’ A graduate of The Record- ing Workshop, Ohio, Finlay’s love of music and sound ex- plains his desire, 20 years ago, to go it alone following bit-part work with recording studios around Europe. ‘I come from generations of self-employed workers. My parents ran a jewellery com- pany from the house and my grandparents ran hotels and always did their own thing. I grew up in that environment.
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