Another really quick recording, this time with some cheesy effects on top. Appalling one-take solo and actually, pretty much one-take everything. Verse 2 not included in this version (sorry). Written very quickly for Escalator Kings as a song to let our guitarist loose.

This Thing

I have absolutely no idea where this song came from. I wrote it because I ended up playing some Radiohead-style chords and felt the words needed to be suitably odd. I couldn't tell you what happened after that. Tons of guitars and effects layered themselves up somehow and it all kind of just came together.

It's one of those things that you'll either love or hate.

On The Outside

When Gravity Dies

The winning entry in a competition I held with myself to fit as many words into a verse as possible. There is absolutely no chance I could perform this live without the words in front of me.

It's a very different style to my normal stuff, but I think it kind of works. Gets big at the end.

This Is All

I really don't know what happened here. This started out as a guitar-based track, then I added some electric piano and it just went downhill from there. Suddenly the drums became electronic, the electric piano turned into several synths and the guitars vanished. Finally the vocals fell into a bit tub of Melodyne.

The song is about being on the outside. Of what, I don't know. And then I mention that we were in the same place. And I didn't know your name. No, I have no idea what's going on lyrically here.

On The Outside (Mouse Remix)

A song about breathing. Or at least taking a breath. I don't think I ever remembered to breathe out.

That would probably explain why I sang this really badly and it needed a lot of correcting using Melodyne - not all of it very subtle but it does add a kind of interesting feel to the vocals.

I Took A Breath

A song written in 2000, and finally recorded (somewhat properly) 17 years later. It's a fairly simple song about not being able to get old relationships back. 

The old trail in the song is the old railway line that I now live next to, but I don't think I ever did take a walk down it wondering about relationships. Perhaps I should have done.

Get It All Back

According to the song, the world is ours when we believe the words we say to each other. I seriously doubt that this is actually the case, but it's a nice thought and it has a double meaning. Extra points for spotting that.

I kept meaning to switch the first half of the verse around (to start with you seeing the worst of me rather than vice-versa) because it kind of comes across as a bit big-headed until you hear the other half. By the time I remembered, though, I'd already done so much processing on the track it would have been a major headache to swap things (no, copying and pasting is not always possible).

When We Believe

This song pretty much wrote itself once I had the basic guitar riff worked out. I needed something for Escalator Kings to play at our first gig, and so this is the song that turned up. It's a song about my marriage and our kids, but it pretty much wanders into completely stereotypical 'love song' territory with the stars theme...

In The Stars

This song's all about wanting to take care of somebody who seems to be walking in the wrong circumstances and the wrong direction. It started out very simple and got more complicated as I recorded it. The lyrics were pretty much the last thing I did, as I only had a very basic theme and the title...

Walk You Home

Guitars. I think I may have overdone the guitars on this track. And I probably should have tuned the acoustic guitar before I recorded it.

Anyway, this is a song about saying "I Love You". Apparently "there's no answer" to that, although experience tells me there most definitely is.

fingermouse