S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

Typical… you spend the first four months of the year waiting for some sun, and when it comes, you are stuck in the windowless environment that is a recording studio - well, under normal circumstances, that would have been the case, but Jules (Maxwell - producing the album) and I took to the streets of London to record the final “main track” for the new album, doing it over a period of about 12 hours on Saturday…

We started in Wapping in the afternoon, heading up to Brick Lane, Liverpool Street Station, Spitalfields market… taking in a gig (The Shortwave Set at 93 Feet East) before coming back to the studio at some ludicrous hour. I don’t want to go into too much detail about what we were doing, but it all stemmed from the idea Jules had about forgetting the previous version of the track which was a simple acoustic guitar and vocal arrangement. He just wasn’t interested in that at all, and his alternative, an “a cappella” version with me walking through Soho singing into a mic, although more interesting, just didn’t seem entirely right either. Eventually we found the answer and it sounds great.

And so we’re nearly there with the album - Jules has been a total driving force behind it, and its been a phenomenal experience to have someone else at the helm. I feel like someone going to see a therapist, and can understand a lot more clearly how people come to rely heavily on professionals or friends who show them some form of guidance.

The final piece involves the magnificent catharsis that is getting absolutely EVERYTHING off my hard drives going right back to 2004. Jules is going to take some 100-odd pieces and create a cinematic collage as the final track. He’s a brave man… and the format of the album will certainly be something a little different once that is completed. I found it almost impossible to even make a start on this piece of work, knowing what it entailed, but somehow, knowing Jules was going to take all these elements and work his magic on them to create something I had no input into has made it much easier to just bounce down tracks that have hovered around me like black flies for years. Bounce them down and kiss them goodbye.

On a very sad note, my beautiful old Lowden, which had a crack in the sides, has split open very badly. Its all from a numptyhead who failed to drill out a hole when putting in a strap-bolt in 1991. I had it repaired in 1992, so I suppose getting 16 years out of it without the problem coming back is OK. Its with the amazing Jon Dickinson right now - and if anyone can fix it, he can. Thanks be to God for Jon Dickinson I say.

Its been quite a trip digging through the musical archives putting the stuff together for Jules - lots of stuff I’d forgotten about. Old friends, sometimes just passing by. But my teapot will be busy as I catch up with them all, waving them off into the folder marked “For Jules”, last stop before they leave me forever.