When I was 16, my english teacher, Jack McLaughlin, a great great teacher so passionate about poetry and prose, walked into a chattering classroom of teenagers and without warning, slammed his hand down on his desk “BANG!!” The ensuing silence was broken by his voice. “R.E.M. are the greatest rock band in the world.”
Some months later, my friend played some for me in his room. It sounded so different to anything I had heard. It felt like discovering a new primary colour. It sounded american. It sounded so hopeful. It sounded grown up. That voice. Who was that voice? Who was playing guitar? These drum patterns were so unique, the backing vocals were the sound of another song happening at the same time as the main song. It was the sound that Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Bill Berry and Mike Mills made together. They hailed from a place called Athens in Georgia. Athens? Cool! Here began the longest love affair I ever had with a band.
I never saw R.E.M. live. We played with them in South America recently but it was 3 of R.E.M and some other great musicians. It wasn’t R.E.M though. The day Bill Berry retired to become a gentleman farmer was the day R.E.M became something different. Michael Stipe once said something along the lines of “…a 3 legged dog is still a dog” in defence of them carrying on. However a leg is not a vital organ. They made some great songs after Berry left… Daysleeper is perfect. I remember Nigel mixed this while we were recording The Man Who and hearing it coming through the desk was WOW!
Billy Bragg is a singer songwriter from the UK. Some of his songs soundtracked my time at art school. Me and my friend Eddie would jam out You Woke Up My Neighbourhood and Edds sung an amazing version of a song that escapes me just now… I just wrote to Edds asking him what it was.
After we finished our recent tour across America last November, I thought it would be cool to make this recording available. We recorded it over the first couple of shows in Los Angeles at Largos and sold it at the shows as an official bootleg.
Went to see the boys next door play a couple of songs tonight. There is a music school on our street. They have a showcase show 3 times a year and so tonight was one of these shows.
I came into the show with two women playing a piano duet. It was very good. Everything else was fine although suffered from bad tuning. One of the easiest ways to sound good is to tune up as perfect as your instrument will allow. It’s something i learned when i were beginning to record in studios. After every take- tune up. The folks all played really well but the tuning let most of them down. And tuning is also a great nerve beater. It’s a productive fidget.
Anyways the boys came on rocked the tisch. They played Four Kicks by the Kings Of Leon. Their choices of songs have been very cool. Never choosing the obvious. Then I got a real surprise… they played U16 Girls… Travis’s first single on Independiente!!! It was brilliant. And of course… they were in tune.
Ahhh.
So I am home. Jet lag has passed. Clay has a temperature which is sweating out with lots of water and warm clothes. I can feel something stir at the back of my left nostril. Although viruses suck, there is relief in knowing I won’t have to sing tonight.
We are lucky to have brilliant neighbours. The boys next door are some of the most talented and applied kids I ever met. Brothers Carl and Nader (14 and 12). As well as making stopmotion movies of socks coming alive, and playing basketball and cookery, they are in a band. So when I got my desk installed I asked them to come and record a demo one afternoon. They chose to record a cover of Molly’s Chambers by The Kings Of Leon. None of your Sex On Fire, no no no…
They brought their pal to play drums. He was very talented too, telling me the snare wasn’t sounding quite right, the seat wasn’t right, you know… a perfectionist. So I fixed the seat and took my lucky newspaper off the snare. He nodded approval. (“That snare is older than your dad weeman”)
Anyways I worked them hard but hey were so well rehearsed, we pretty much nailed it in very few takes. Check it peeps.MOLLYSCHAMBERSBYLCN
