It has been a bit quiet on here of late, as we have been either locked away in the studio in Glasgow or frantically trying to work out how to play the new tracks live (we’re now calling Dave “Davey Four-Hands Rick Wakeman Smith”…). We took delivery of a bunch of fully ready-to-go mastered tracks the other day which was very exciting. Despite the fact that they bring back painful memories of six hours playing the same beat over and over again (apparently they say drummers are fitter than footballers, it must be true as it was on the BBC website, but for those of you that know me I am what may be called the exception to prove the rule), they have been on repeat on the stereo for the last day, if only just to remember the various changes. Don’t tell the guys I said that…
We were recording with Tony Doogan in his studio in Glasgow which involved commuting, something you never thought would be a part of being in a band, and of course eating innumerable takeaways, Thai curries and Tesco microwave meals, washed down with endless cups of strong Columbian black (that’s coffee by the way. Rock and roll…).
It’s good to have a finished album-worth of tracks sitting there, as there is always a point where you think it just isn’t going to come together in time/at all, even when you’re halfway through recording it. Once you’ve taken a step back from it for a few weeks it starts to make a bit more sense.
We test-ran a few tracks last weekend at the Body and Soul Solstice weekend near Mullingar just north-west of Dublin. They seemed to go pretty well despite various technical gremlins (when you haven’t played for a few months and have that kind of “ooooh, how’s this going to go?” nervousness going on, that’s when the equipement decides to throw in some extra random-factor obstacles) and it was a beautiful sunny day in a great location in the grounds of the odd-looking Ballinlough castle. We decided to camp for the night to avoid any last-minute dashes for the ferry from Larne, as the Irish roads are unpredictable at best when yoe get off the motorways. Although this proved to be more complicated than we thought as Rory gone done himself a mischief in the night and had to go for some x-rays the next morning. Whoever had me in the sweep for “first member to be hospitalised on tour” had the winning smile wiped off their face well and truly. Despite the worrying sight of him strapped to a board getting loaded into an ambulance, this was merely precautionary and he is doing grand. Although he had to go all the way home with a neck brace on which made him look rather like Avid Merrion of Bo! Selecta fame.
We have another run out at Kelburn Castle this weekend (seems we’re all about the castles these days…), then off to Europe next week for the National shows mentioned in the previous blog. Yay!
As we are moving back towards having stuff going on/ to talk about I should be back on the old blogging a bit more frequently, so watch this space for further exciting episodes…
