Mar 6, 2012

GAI - Track by track (pt 1. - the A-Side)

When I released my first album I did a track by track run down which seemed to go down really well with you; the humble public.

As the new album is released next month I felt it was time to do the same thing for 'Get Amongst It'- So here we go ....

GET AMONGST IT - Track by track
(pt.1 - the A-side)


The first thing I wanted to say about this album is that all of the song titles and the album title itself are all things I borrowed from what other people have said.

The majority of these were phrases on twitter, facebook and forums. None of the song titles were made up by me - something I enjoyed at first but ended up missing.

1. FutureDeadRockStars

The opening 'noise' on FDRS is the same as the closing 'noise' on the first album.

I really liked the idea of having continuity between the albums in the way that you could listen to ATPLP1 and then ATLP2 straight after and hear the join. I may well do this on ATPLP3 too ;)

The title for FDRS was inspired by my friend Simon Clare who said that "we should all inspire to be Future Dead Rock Stars" - I loved the sentiment behind this so stole it as a title.

In my view the song only works as an album opener - the beats and noises build up to the middle of the track where it then breaks down and disperses into floating noises and melodies.

The original demo version had an additional minute in it - but was cut out as it just plodded too much and made the opening of the album less punchy.

2. The Man Who Smiles When Things Go Wrong

TMWSWTGW is the oldest of the tracks on ATPLP2 and was made shortly after ATPLP1 and even before the 'Repeat To Fade EP' but it did not fit well on there - so it became an album track.

The title was inspired by something a former work colleague said in response to a customer who seemed to take delight in everyone's failures. This was the first title I 'borrowed', before deciding to do the same for the other songs.

The track contains a sample which I made myself - in fact the whole of ATPLP2 is sample free - which is something I was really keen to do as there were a lot of samples on the first album and generally getting clearance is a real pain.

3. The Inherent Racism Of Doves

'Doves' is the first single taken from the album and features my friend Piers on vocals. Piers used to be in a rock band that I managed and is not the lead in folk outfit 'Stick in a Pot'.

One evening Piers sent me a text message saying "you should call a song the 'inherent racism of doves' " - so that evening I began working on it.

I was actually staying in Birmingham at the time so started recorded the backing of the track in a hotel room and on the train back to Brighton. By the time I got home the main part of the song was done.

I then sent the first draft of the track to Piers who wrote and recorded the vocals and added the lovely backwards guitar part in the middle of the song. Then there was a final bit of tweaking and hey presto.

Piers and I also had fun recording the video for this one lunchtime in Brighton ....




4. Campervan Sex

Campervan Sex was also recorded on a train and took less than 2 hours to complete from start to finish.

I had originally finished the 1st draft of ATPLP2 but after reviewing it I wanted to drop one of the songs which I was not happy with - I wanted to have something more upbeat and groovy and this song was born.

The working title was 'Cosmopolitan' as I was sat opposite a girl reading said magazine as I was recording the track.

I later talked to my friend Guy who was talking about getting songs noticed in Google and said "you might as well just call a track 'sex' " - The campervan part was later added as I am an owner of a 1973 VW Campervan and am a member on a forum called The Late Bay.

5. Jaffa Clown Dog

The title for JCD was inspired from one of the members on TLB so fits nicely in terms of telling the story.

On the forum it would do certain things if you typed the words 'orange' 'clown' or 'dog' - and putting the words together gives this song its title.

I think out of all the songs on the album this is one of my favourites and will be the second single released sometime in May / June. I have already recorded the video for this but you can't see it just yet.

The vocals are provided by Mr Mark Rogers - a true mind of hip hop knowledge!

6. Sanity? Check!

4/4 beats and a sample of people on a roller coaster.

I was not sure if this song was any good so one day asked Anna Madeleine to have a listen for me - she replied saying "I am probably not the best person to sanity check a song" - again another title in the bag.

I thought for a long time that this song was the weakest on the album - but subsequent listens have actually made it one of my favourites. It has a real punch that runs through it and I'm looking forward to playing this one live.

I really wanted to have a the concept of a proper A-side & B-side on this album - as if it were a vinyl release ... so when track 6 ends the vinyl would stop and you'd have to flip it to listen to the next part.

The sample at the end of this track says 'it is over' ....


So there is the track by track run for for the A-side - The 2nd half will follow next week with an exclusive first view of a new ATP video.

You can pre-order 'Get Amongst It' now by clicking this link.

If you use the code 'pre25' you will get a 25% discount on the price.

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