21st August 2000

After months of being sidelined it was an absolute joy to be back in the
studio with the chaps last week to record the backing tracks for the next
album. I would think that this is the sort of behind-the-scenes stuff that
you would all be interested in so I have broken down this entry into
studio days to give you the all the gory details of what went on.
Day 1: I thought I would ease everyone into the session with something
that everyone knew already so we started with "Top Of The Pops Again"
which many of you will have heard if you have visited my page at mp3.com.
This was bashed out rather quick and we moved on to a new song called
"Walking On Eggshells". This is quite mellow with a spooky chorus and
features a Fender Rhodes electric piano which makes everything sound like
Steely Dan which I am not sure is a good thing. The day ended in
spectacular fashion with a ride on the back of Wally's new motorbike. To
get to Wally's house from the studio we can go over a mountain that
overlook the valley where Ammanford is situated and when I visit Wales and
the night is clear Wally and I usually stop on the mountain on the way
home and check out the view. The night was clear with an almost full moon
and the journey home was a vibe although a little chilly. For those with a
eye for finer detail then Wally's bike is a Honda 750 custom thingy that
is apparently quite a rare bike......blah,blah.)
Day 2: Back to the studio on the bike and straight into a tune that I have
had kicking around for some time called "Doin' The Mania" which is a song
that slags off Paul McCartney for going on about The Beatles all the time.
It reaches the scary pace of 160 bpm which is unknown territory for me.
Next was a new tune called "The Honeymoon's Over" which is a song written
about President Clinton's inability to keep his pants on. The last song we
did that day was a brand new song called "In Bloom" which is double-slow
but very nice with an overdose of brushes and Fender Rhodes again. The day
ended with me and Wal going back over the mountain but this time armed
with a video camera but unfortunately when we got to the top we were in
some low lying cloud and couldn't see fuck all. I was intending to do a
little speech and film the valley below but as the visibility was zero I
decided to do a little dance for the camera instead. This may appear on
the new site in the not too distant future.
Day 3: Started the day recording another song which has been around for a
while called "TC". This is a song written about the Glasgow Two which you
may know about from my album sleeve but if you don't know then do some
research and support these two innocent men in their quest for justice.
The day ended with another new song called "Ansaphone" which I think is
probably the best song I have written. It is a ballad in the style of
Lennon as opposed to Manilow and I'm sure it will be a big favourite when
you eventually get to hear it. The night ended with me and Wal going home
on the bike in the pissing rain ( that's Wales for you!!). I had to wear
his wife's waterproofs which were about three sizes too small and I looked
like 10lb of sausage in a 5lb skin!!! the waterproofs had no crutch in
them because they were torn so when I arrived home I had soaking bollocks
and had to hang my only pair of pants in the airing cupboard.
Day 4: Retrieved pants from airing cupboard to find that they had dried
and left a large white water stain around my genitals which made it looked
like I had pissed myself. We arrived at the studio and recorded a song
called "Ruby Blue" with Wal playing his double bass. We packed up early
because it was Nigey Nige's birthday and we were due to meet him and all
the chaps at a curry house in Neath called Spicey Al's Cafe or something
like that. If you are ever in Neath and fancy a curry then be sure to try
this gaff as the curry was blinding. We left at midnight and Tony K and me
drove home.
As you can see a splendid time was had by all and I can't wait for you to
hear it when it's all polished up and shiny.