Dave Walmsley Interview (January 2005)

Q1: What made you decide to take up hypnotherapy as a career? I have always been fascinated by the “power of the mind” and as a musician in the early nineties I occasionally shared the stage with hypnotist shows, which always piqued my interest although my personal aim was to use hypnotherapy to help and heal rather than entertain. Q2: As a practising hypnotherapist, what made you decide to release your self-help albums? Being a musician and having a fair knowledge of recording it was a natural progression to start making tapes. The first ones I made in 1997 were primarily for myself for confidence and for clients to compound therapy sessions. I never thought in a few short years they would end up selling hundreds of thousands a year! Q3: Following on from that, you've managed to marry musical backing tracks with your voice on your recordings. Where did that idea come from? Some of the songs I had written lent themselves to certain recordings and so I remixed them, usually removing the vocals and then blended them into the beginning and at end of the hypnotherapy recordings. Q4: You're albums are the best sellers in their field. It must be very gratifying for you that you're material is so popular and that you can help so many people with their problems without ever actually having to meet them! It is absolutely wonderful to be selling so many and to get the feedback that I do. When I first made the recordings I really wanted them to be safe but also effective. There really wasn’t any ego involved I just had a strong feeling that I could do something to help people through the tapes. When I get emails from people telling me my recording has changed their life I feel very proud of that. Q5: What instruments do you use and play on your albums? I started playing the bass guitar as a teenager and nowadays play guitar and programme all the other instruments via a computer recording set up. I am a reasonable guitarist but am better at programming and producing music. Q6: Have you any plans to issue a "music only" CD? Just recently along with my wife Alyson who is also a singer we released a couple of demo albums of our songs, some of which have been used as instrumentals on the hypnosis tapes and CDs. These song CDs will soon be available on the Diviniti Publishing web site: http://www.hypnosisaudio.com I also have written some relaxation music that would make a good album, but it is on a back burner as I am writing the first of my new self-help book series for BBC books. Q6a: As you're obviously quite passionate about your music, do you ever play live anywhere? Occasionally. Aly and myself performed a show at the Hazlit theatre, Maidstone in October 2004 as part of the Liz Adamson Past Life evening. We use backing tracks for these shows as putting a band together would be too time consuming, although the vocals and guitars are still live. Q7: Musically speaking, who are your influences? My musical influences start with the Beatles, I loved their songs as I was growing up in the sixties. I love the positive effect they had and still have through their music especially John Lennon. When I was a teenager in the mid 1970’s I was big into the punk scene, which didn’t have the same positive vibe of the Beatles but did have a lot of energy. Nowadays I love all sorts, high vibrational music like Bliss and classical music that stimulates creativity. I also like intelligent music that can move you like Radiohead, or brilliant pop productions like the Lightening Seeds. My taste can change depending on my moods, I can still get a kick when I hear a classic Clash or Pistols song on the radio, probably because of the nostalgia attached to it. Q8: You normally bring out your recordings on your own Divinti Records, yet you've just brought out 4 new albums on the BBC's Audiobooks label. What prompted you to make this decision? The BBC made me an offer I could not refuse! It is also an opportunity to take the recordings to an even wider audience and to release self-help books on the BBC label. Q9: As you know, I've listened to a couple of your albums regularly for the last eighteen months or so. I'm very intrigued to know how and why hypnosis actually works? Well the CDs don’t work for everyone all the time but they do work for most people most of the time. I think the people they work for the most are people who are already motivated to improve their life or get over problems. Hypnotherapy alone won’t do it for you alone you still need your own motivation, but they will help you stay focussed and draw upon your own inner resources to empower you. I once had a lady who wanted me to help her 16-year-old daughter with her exams and although she was a bright kid she was a bit of a rebel and was on the verge of dropping out of school. I was able to turn her around and get her very focussed on her exams and she eventually passed every exam achieving 11 straight A plusses and was the top girl in her whole school. It worked so well as she had the talent and through using hypnotherapy I was able to bring out the best in her at the time she needed it the most. Q10: What future plans do you have? Well this year (2005) I am spending more time in the USA promoting my hypnotherapy range there as they have been well received in the US. I am also writing the first of a range of self-help books for the BBC and producing a new series of Hypnosis DVDs for my Diviniti Publishing label. I will also be releasing a couple of new hypnotherapy titles one of which will help with overcoming addictions. The BBC are planning to raise my profile in the media and so this will no doubt open up many new doors!!