This song is probably where the Venn diagram for Paul McCartney and The Scissors Sisters intersects. Shansham is a made up word. Shan is Edinburgh slang for something that is rubbish or nonsense- 'that's a load of old shan'.   Sham, is of course, fake. so, it's about fake nonsense.
The media today, particularly in the UK and in Scotland in particular, is Shansham. Some political parties are also Shansham.
This song was originally written by Dougie Bendall, and has changed completely in the time it's been sitting around waiting for me to record it, and is now a piano driven angry uptempo ballad with an extra verse reflecting my mood. It's also my first finished song in about 6 or 7 months due to my ongoing illness.

A Beginner's Guide To Chaos

Shansham

1981. We decide to do a two track single. On the night before we do it Tom Clyde quits, leaving us as a three piece, as a young drum wizard Barry Walker has just joined us. So, I learn to play keyboards in a few hours just to keep the momentum going. We're not a happy bunch, recording has been a bit dismal with a largely uninterested engineer who admits afterwards he didn't know it was for a single. However, the idea comes to me that in future I'll be a bit more hands on in recording. Little did I know where that would lead to.

Rip It Up and Start Again

Rip It Up  And Start Again

Studio Creatures become political with a movie in a song.
There comes a point where, after 13 years of being lied to, and seeing the potential replacement doing much the same, that you realise you've had enough.
The song was inspired by the downward spiral of politics to become a shabby way to get power and enrich you and your mates quickly without interference, particularly if you're supported by the media, owned by a few billionaires you spend your time courting.The fact the same billionaires are opposed to any actions to deal with climate change adds to the song's rant.
The French have the right idea, they know how and when to protest, and haven't been infected by the supine malaise that infects the UK.
In this song I tried to recreate an unfolding of events, aided by my memories of what I'd hear at night whilst growing up in Belfast in the 1970s. 
In my head this is John Lennon meets Heaven 17 meets 1970's Blaxploitation soundtracks.
Thanks to Auntie Vicky for reading the news to come.
Let's testify, brothers and sisters.

Let's Start The Revolution Now

The first song that sprouted from the renewed contact between my long-term musical collaborator Ross Mc Clelland and myself. We initially called ourselves T3A because of this song, but have recently changed that to Studio Creatures, 
We thought we'd write something that reflects the farther end of living, and in my brain this sounds as if McCartney had found an old Lennon piano song.
The Third Age is the point where you've lived your first two, the first as a child, the second as a parent. 
With the third, the kids are going and you've time to live life again and find out what you've become. But the clock is ticking down. Looking at the average UK lifespan of 80, it's about reaching 55, and realising there are maybe only 25 years left. It's a bittersweet time, with failing physical ability and more time to reflect on perhaps what you should have done. 
Great lyrical idea from Ross McClelland kicked this one off. Bass guitar and major input by Ross, I play the rest of the stuff.This is a remixed version from 2024 when I realised I couldn't listen to the hazy mix from 2015 anymore.

The Third Age

Saigon...the first demo from 1980 done in Downtown Radio for Davy Simms rock show. Featuring Eamonn Keyes on guitar and vocals, Ross McClelland on bass, Tom Clyde on keyboards and Mickey Sands on drums and backing vocals. We didn't have much of a clue, and it was Eamonn's first time singing as all our attempts at getting a vocalist had crashed and burned....

Cracking Up

Born out of anger and disbelief at what has been happening in the world, this is the last piece in the Angry Trilogy, and features all your favourite modern psychopathic political leaders having their say to popular acclaim from a few years back.  A song to hoist a flag or a few pints to.

Standing Up

The Boar's Head.

The first song that sprouted from the renewed contact between my long-term musical collaborator Ross Mc Clelland and myself. Ross provides lyrics, bass and additional input into the songs which I largely produce. We initially called ourselves T3A because of this song, but have recently changed that to Studio Creatures, 
We thought we'd write something that reflects the farther end of living, and in my brain this sounds as if McCartney had found an old Lennon piano song.
This is a remixed version from 2023 when I realised I couldn't listen to the hazy mix from 2015 anymore.


T3A

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A song about big choices. Swerving your life off its path and into the unknown, where nothing is certain and things can go very, very wrong.
But you simply have to do it.
Uncannily, Ross's word again were saying everything about my life as well. I was uprooting my life for the fourth time in six years, and moving up to Orkney.
Across Caithness to the sea, where I turned left at John O Groats to catch the Gills Bay ferry to a new life in Kirkwall, where I knew nobody, andwhere I didn't know if it'd be ok. And I was all alone......
This song captured everything for me, the feelings, the uncertainty and the confusion I was feeling.


Turn Left

From the album 'Easy Targets' www.howfartohitchin.bandcamp.com

Grief Mining

Jangling 12 string Rickenbacker Lennon-esque pop.
A song of teenage love set in Edinburgh a long long time ago, meeting girls, dancing and then wandering home in the early hours, collecting pies and rolls from the bakery as it opens to sober up....
We probably all have tales like this, as I certainly have, so musically I've set it in the 1960s.

Turn Left

EPK

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