I’m carrying my Gretsch, my wireless microphone, and a recent purchase of a Nikon DSLR camera. I’ve always dreamed of owning a nice camera to take a proper photo with. For me photography is a dark art, a good photographer can conjure up some magical work. I’ve always respected photography and I know the effort and hard work it takes. I’m proud to have witnessed some of my friends progress to the highest levels over the years. One friend Claire Morris lives and works in Paris now as a wedding photographer. Recently she was commissioned by the Royal Family to photograph The Queen as she made a state visit to France. I was incredibly proud of her.
I remember the days when Claire first moved to Leeds. I met her when she was working in a bar in the city. We would go out drinking and to go to gigs. In those days she would be working with film and would often need a huge bag containing films, flash, and all kinds of equipment. I would always volunteer to assist her and would often get free passes to shows. I remember Fun Lovin’ Criminals, The Coral, Manic Street Preachers, and Leeds Festival among many others. I remember excitedly waiting for her to develop the photos from each gig. They would often be published in the local newspapers and magazines, and sometimes in the NME. She switched from live music to wedding photography a few years ago. I saw her last when I went out to Paris with our friend Pollock to watch Bran Van 3000. They were world famous in the 90’s for the single ‘Drinking in L.A.’. We all went to the show and Claire brought her camera. It was the old days all over again. Only this time she was working in digital. That night I got silly drunk and my attempts at ordering beer in French were far from impressive. After the show I was talking to James Di Salvio from BV3 and as a result nearly missed our train to the outskirts of the city. I remember having to run through Paris on a belly full of beer to catch the train. It was so much fun. Whilst catching my breath and waiting I noticed all the rats in the subway station. I loved seeing Claire but I really didn’t like Paris. I wrote a song that night. It was called ‘Mental’ and was on the last album ‘Medusa’.
“Chasing the last train out of Paris, and all the rats are looking at us, don’t like the subway or the darkness, just get me back to my hometown”.
So I guess for me, owning a Nikon D80 will end up being my new little hobby. I don’t expect to be any good especially compared to my super talented friends. I doubt I’ll ever be able to call myself a photographer but I intend to treat the art with some respect. I will learn and experiment, and most of all enjoy it. I plan to document the recording of the album with it. My subjects will be the band and the places that I happen to be within the timeframe of this record. My ultimate goal is that I want to try and find the album cover for ‘Outsider’. I hope I do.
As I walk to the studio with these memories and inspiring thoughts in my head I’m listening to ‘Achtung Baby’ by ‘U2’. I’m admiring the production of ‘Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses’ how the guitars and the synths interlink. Wonderful work.
I get to the studio early and our room is ready. I order a tea and just as I take my first sip Vince arrives. He’s been recording again today with Grant for his 2nd solo album. I show him my camera and take some photos of him. He makes some silly faces for me. Will arrives carrying a selection of vinyl records for me to pass on to Dave. Sylvia arrives and apologises for being late but I point out that she’s two minutes early. We set up and check our levels.
We start out by playing the three songs we didn’t manage to try last week. The first song ‘Murder Baby’ is a dirty rock n roll Cramps style number. Vince and myself are having a disagreement over the bass line. I’m asking Vince to play the line that I wrote on the demo. Vince is having other ideas. There’s some heated to-ing and fro-ing and then the bass guitar ends up in my hands. We start jamming out the song whilst Vince looks on. I give Vince the bass back and he starts to play more of a hybrid of the two versions. Which I think works well. Not the start to the session any of us imagined, but at least strong opinions and ideas show that people care about what’s being played. We play through the song a number of times before moving onto the next song ‘Devil’. This one wasn’t initially one of my favourites when I wrote it. Dave and Vince both highlighted it as one of the better songs. I trust their judgment. Since writing the demo I have added a behemoth of a middle-8 for the guitar solo. We spend a few minutes going through this section. We even consider throwing in a key change too but we think that eleven chords in one song might be a little too much. I loved playing ‘Devil’ and it feels natural with the band on the first run through. We go through it a couple more times to iron out the middle-8.
Next up is a song I’ve been struggling with at my solo acoustic shows. ‘Walking in the Rain’. I love this song. I love the lyrics. It feels like a Johnny Cash song in my head. I just don’t feel like I have the voice for it. I’ve tried it in a number of different keys and I can’t seem to be able to sit within the song. We start off playing it in a Johnny Cash country-punk kind of vibe but I quickly stop it. I’m not feeling it. I ask everyone for some quiet whilst I try find the correct tempo and key to sing it. I play the chords really sparingly and slow the song down whilst I find a place for my voice to sit. Vince speaks up “that’s it”. We have a chat about the arrangement and everyone agrees that I should play it alone with no band. Now we’re starting to hear it as a gospel song. It’s the first time I’ve ever sung it and felt comfortable. Lets keep that idea.
Over the two sessions we’ve now covered every song on the album. We decide to spend the remainder of the session going over some songs from the previous session and ironing out some breakdowns and intricate parts. These include ‘Problems’, and ‘Blackpool’. We finish the evening with ‘Murder Baby’ and it’s a much better vibe than when we first walked in the room. It was a very productive rehearsal. We packed our things and actually leave the studio early. Will is heading out into town. We all head home.
My adrenaline is still pumping and my ears are ringing when I get in the house. It is nearly 10pm and maybe a bit late for a bath but I decide to take one anyway. It’s the only way to calm down. I text Vince to say well done today and we talk about the bass line we disagreed upon. We will compromise in the studio and each of us record a take and use whichever one works best. I sign off with a “love you brother x” he replies with “Shove your bromance up your arse”, classic Vince.
Unfortunately we lose Sylvia before the next rehearsal. Which is a huge blow because I really liked her groove. Hopefully we can work together in the future but I don’t have too much time to think about that now because recording starts pretty soon. We hastily arranged some rehearsal time with Grant and we also decided to contact Lewis Burner. Unfortunately Lewis is only available for one of the recording days. However we decide to work with that and share the workload between he and Grant.