Wirral musician Karl Taylor pens song inspired by art for songwriting competition

Nov 9 2011 by Mark Scully, Birkenhead News

A WIRRAL musician has written a song inspired by a piece of art in a bid to win a major songwriting competition.

On Friday Karl Taylor, 39, will take to the stage of the View Two Gallery in Mathew Street for the Liverpool Acoustic Songwriting Challenge.

Normally a member of covers band Xebra, Mr Taylor is going it alone, taking on 17 other hopefuls in the hotly-contested competition, which is in aid of Marie Curie Centre and Garston Animal Rescue.

The contestants toured the gallery last week to chose at random the artwork that would become their muse.

Mr Taylor, from Moreton, has chosen a painting he describes as “childish”, which depicts a man at the top of a hill, with red streams cascading down the sides, from which he has penned his entry, “Man’s Empire”.

Mr Taylor, a radiographer at Arrowe Park Hospital, said he felt as though he had been “pushed into a corner” by the limited subject matter and explained that the process would ordinarily be less pressured.

“It’s a little bit different from normal, it’s harder,” he said. “I’ve redrafted my lyrics a lot more than I normally would.”

The judging panel, which includes Jon Lawton, from Crosstown Studios and local songwriter Stephen Langstaff, will select their favourite song, while the audience will also vote for theirs, with the two then going on to be professionally recorded.

Liverpool Acoustic View Two Songwriting Challenge starts at 7.15pm, with tickets costing £5 from www.wegottickets.com.