Once upon a time…

I had worked with producer Steve Ancliffe on many projects for various artists and he was the one who suggested I should make my own LP.
“But… but… how… who… where?” spluttered the artist… ‘You know people’, said Steve, and so the journey began…

Ensconcing myself away for three winter months in a generously lent room with a laptop, a couple of guitars and a borrowed bass, I began trawling through old cassette tapes of half remembered songs and demos. Gradually, and without not even the basic knowledge of computer recording, my trusty laptop and I began to shape the tunes to create new demos and it was from here that, surprisingly, new songs also began to appear. The credo ‘The Song is King’ was the rule. No overblown widdly solos and do only whatever the song demanded, so using drum loops and even a couple of cocktail umbrellas on a snare at one time, the skeleton of my LP began to take shape.

Luckily, I did know people and when an old friend and sensational Californian drummer said “Send me the files, man-I’ll put some drums on”… Wow, you beauty, I am blessed, I  thought !
With the drum tracks in the bag it was into the Big Blue Studio to begin building up the tracks.

Years of sitting at the back of studios working on other artists sessions and sometimes thinking ‘Well I wouldn’t do it like that’. Now I was in the driving seat I had to put my money where my mouth was. Ooh-er!

A LARGE learning curve it turned out to be, but Steve was a constant source of knowledge and encouragement, as were all the generous and talented musicians and friends who appeared more than happy to play their part to help me along the journey.