Boy In The Attic: Final Mix In Sight

It's late October 2014 and Mike Cooling of Ragged Moon is mixing down the definitive twelve track selection for my forthcoming album: Boy In The Attic.

Stephane Marlot dropped by the studio on Monday last to add his beautiful cello arrangements to two songs. One song we discovered on a 1977 sixteen track master tape of a collection of songs I recorded way back then. The other song I wrote and recorded in four hours just a few short month ago. To use the recordings from 1977, we baked the original analogue two-inch masters at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios around eighteen months ago. (It's a slow and risky proposition that paid off...)

Sandra and I had a listen through the tapes in the main Real World mixing hall. Most of the songs were firmly fixed in their time, but it was there that we heard the sweet tones of a very young man and his guitar playing a song written on the evening of a first child's birth. A song we had not heard since the day I first recorded it. An emotional listening experience both then and now.

On another track from 1977 I play guitar and sing backing vocals to a reworked lyric from 2014. Drums and bass were recorded back in '77 too and sound as fresh as a daisy.  Here I add the new lead, with new backing vocals from Sandra and Toby (one of our sons) plus guitar from Mike.

All the other songs were recorded between February 2013 and October 2014. We recorded first in 'Get It Together' studios in Stroud, with the bulk of the album recorded at Ragged Moon Studios.

The 'Boy' sessions are now the longest in rock history - around 37 years between turning on the tapes for the first time, to the completion of recordings.

I'm proud of the album. It's quite autobiographical. It is the result of a long and complex journey.

David Ireland: Boy In The Attic

It's been a little while since my last blog entry, but so much has happened in between. 

We have almost completed the initial recordings for the new album. Rufus Fry blessed us with his incredible harmonica playing and Chris Egan added his sax magic to a few tracks, blowing us all away with the Ewi on Poison Pen and Shine.

The song list stretches from a couple of reworked tracks from the 1970s to a song written and recorded just a few days ago (Splinters and Sparks)

The album title has been finally decided on. I can reveal here that 'Boy In The Attic' is the title.

This Sunday sees me performing a selection of the songs for the first time in an acoustic setting, joined by Mike Cooling my co-producer and Rufus. We'll be at the Garden Festival at Hellen's Manor, Much Marcle at 13:00 on June 8th. 

From the desk of Skyhook: 'Ok another wonderful addition to thehttps://www.facebook.com/gardenfestival.herefordshireline up, David Ireland. David is putting the finishing touches to a substantial new album that carries the hallmark of a lifetime spent honing his style, songwriting and performance. Davids passion for his art shines through, in this very current album. You can just tell he is as in touch with what is new and current now as he is with the best that the past few decades have to offer. Come and get a tastes of the delights to come.'

So there you have it. A brief update of what has been an extraordinarily creative time. Fourteen songs have been earmarked for a final mix. The single should be out mid-summer, the album towards the end of the year.

Cosmic Glue: Across The Years

Today is Will I Am's birthday... Will Shakespeare that is... We're celebrating in style with an As You Like It brunch.

Ah, but yesterday! Yesterday there was no rest for the wicked as Mike Cooling and I spent a straight twelve hours at Skyhook Studios working on two tracks that spanned the decades. First up was 'Immortals', a song written on the last day of winter - just a few short weeks ago - inspired by the ever-changing world events that fill our days and nightmares.



Second track was 'Poison Pen': drums, bass, guitars and backing vocals recorded in the summer of 1977 at Sound Service Studios in Zwanenburg, The Netherlands featuring the cream of Dutch musicians (Hans van Epen - guitar, Cees van der Laarse - bass and Gerard Jeltes - drums).

I had completely re-written the song, but kept the awesome rhythm section complete with my acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Rufus Fry added some wailing harmonica, Mike added acoustic guitar and I went for the kill with new lead vocals plus Sandra and son Toby adding atmosphere on some spooky backup choir stuff.

So, there we are playing along with my twenty seven year old self (that's me then - Toby is the same age now) and creating a magic track that sounds so current that it slots right into the new tracks building up for Cosmic Glue.

'Immortals' will have two versions ready for release. The song is a driving, stomping tune that works both as an acoustic number and as a full blown techno anthem. We used a sample of my legendary Cosmic Boot and a vintage tambourine from the 1930s. Mike added bass and I added synth and white noise washes right out of my pretty little mouth. Given a prevailing wind, this could be massive. We will be releasing the first mixes as soon as possible alongside a video to be shot real soon.


Yesterday was momentous for another reason too. I signed a publishing deal for the Cosmic Glue songs - so the train has left the station!

We'd love to play you some of the ongoing music - but we have to keep things under wraps until the final mixes are ready.

To keep up to date - you could always like either of my Facebook pages at: Cosmic Glue FB or GOFC

...oh yes...the Cosmic Boot Stomp!

The Evolution Of An Album

I promised myself that there would be no more new songs for Cosmic Glue. We had narrowed the choice to fourteen killer tracks and at one point I had edited the list down to ten, then back to twelve and then came 'Immortals'.

'Immortals' is a song I wrote on the morning before a session just around two weeks ago. It worked well as an acoustic track, but I knew there was a dance anthem in there too. Initial recordings have borne that out and, true to the acoustic roots, we recorded my Cosmic Boot Stomp (now one of our archive samples) and a a rusty old tambourine from 1930 I found on my travels. The rest is my acoustic guitar, voice and a tiny synth riff - all that coupled with Mike's bass and we have the track.

There is every chance that 'Immortals' will be the lead single.

Yesterday saw the second of two sessions this week and we were joined by the truly awesome Rufus Fry of Thee Ones on harmonicas. Rufus had worked with me on A Twist Of Time and apart from being the sweetest guy in the world, he blows a cool tune. We hurtled through six tracks - each one very different in feel from the other - and we ended up with textures and riffs that have given each of the half dozen songs a special quality. Home Made Mini at under two minutes is a hoot. Change Of Heart at over seven is a very West Country slice of trip hop - one of those songs where all sense of time seems to vanish...love it!

Now we have a ten day break before embarking on a mammoth 12 hour session to prepare for the final overdubs of Chris Egan on sax. We have the following day set aside for cellos and fiddles and other stringed beasties and then we're on the home stretch.

I have some definitive lead vocals to set down, some choral work to add and then the mixing will begin.

It looks as though we'll settle on fifteen tracks in all - real old school album stuff (there is promise of a vinyl release)

Blast From The Past Time: I received an email from Stephanie De Sykes (Born With A Smile On My Face)  last weekend. Didn't see that one coming! I didn't know Stephanie, but a friend of hers was trying to track down some information about for a forthcoming book on 1970s cult singles. I have never been described as a cult before (well, not to my face...) but if selling six copies of a debut singles makes you that, well I guess I qualify.

My single was reviewed by Melody Maker on the same page as Live And Let Die. I got a good review, Macca fared less well...as I said - I sold six copies of mine...go figure!

But the single - 'Coming Up Strong/Shoot The Family Man' - was spotted on eBay this week for 50 Euros...and described as 'FreakBeat'. I'm not complaining. I was able to send Stephanie's friend a good deal of info about the tracks and the recording.

Every day turns up something new.

Back to the present...

coda: a package arrived a few days later from the author containing a demo copy of the single in question. I'd never seen it before, so four decades later there was that little frisson of excitement about what might have been.

Cosmic Glue - The First Day Of Spring

Today is officially the first day of spring. I'm up bright and early to take advantage of the fabulous morning here at The Old Stables in the flat of the Severn Plains at the edge of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. (image captured a few moments ago)

Wikipedia tells us: March 21 is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 285 days remaining until the end of the year.

In astrology, the day of the equinox is the first full day of the sign of Aries. It is also the traditional first day of the astrological year.

So much happened historically on this day, but the most exciting news in the context of this blog is that in 1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

So here I am, working on song 15 again. The song just wont leave me alone. Okay - so it's about WW3 approaching...but it has optimism. I can't stop the flow of a song. The thing is bloody catchy too. Ibiza catchy. 

I love this process...it's like discovering new music just when you thought you'd heard everything...along comes something staggering that wakes you up and sets you scurrying to hear everything in the back catalogue (Nick Mulvey, Miranda Lambert, the soundtrack of Under The Skin...at the moment)

The good thing about being my age is that growing old disgracefully means that you don't have to conform and belong to any genre group musically. That old Beatles/Stones Blur/Oasis thing. You can listen to anyone and everyone and get something out of the experience... 

So, back to the song. The riffs are starting to call me, so I'm back to the guitar and recorder. 

Plotting the next recording session work methods. In on Monday and Tuesday and there's much to achieve. I will be adding backing vocals, sub bass and acoustic guitar loops to much already recorded (Mayflies, Fear Of Flying, Shine...) and the first of the next batch of soloists will be arriving to add their magic. Meanwhile, I'm travelling through the hours purveying my wondrous vintage pieces at Time After Time.

Enjoy this bright new day. 

Love and Peace! 

Cosmic Glue

Cosmic Glue - The Last Day Of Winter

The sky is blue and grey, the sun is shining, the winds are rising and the last thing I expected was to write a new song. But I did. And there is is. A strong song in my little canon of new pieces from this new age of music I find myself entering.

I'm back in the studio on Monday and this one needs to be added to the Cosmic Glue track list. I was already trying to pare down 14 songs to 12 and possibly 10...but that was just a crisis of confidence after a difficult start to my last recording session... (nothing to do with music - we all have a life to live with all of its stuff happening out here in the normal world...)

So could Cosmic Glue now hold 15 tracks? Those songs will have to fight for their lives, but fighting songs they are and at the moment they all have a good chance - including the new one - of making the final cut.

So today is a 'free' day. No studio, no shop to run, but here I am after four hours with a new song almost ready to go.

Yay!

But, to clear my head, we're taking the CD-less car on a jaunt... Up to the hills (or rather - The Hill - May Hill to be precise) with boots and dog and snug fitting hats. Then lunch in The Forest somewhere... (it was The Saracen's Head) then the second walk of the day along the River Wye - still at high water and fast flowing. Coco The Wonder Dog played mountain goat all along the banks.

Now - home again and back to the guitar and iPhone to record the embryonic basis of song 15.

Website

Cosmic Glue - Green Fingers, Mayflies and Not Dead Yet!

Cosmic Glue - the evolution of an album.

So here we are with acoustic guitar, click tracks, dubious cold-ridden guide vocals and complete drum tracks...and then the magic begins again.

Green Fingers has a good old Stax soul feel about it. A racy little song about horticulture (in a very double entendre kind of way) that sounds like a track we may well send to Sir Tom.

We built up the track with some great acoustic riffs from Mike and me, adding bass and electric runs an a killer cowbell beat. Well...it would have a been a cowbell, but someone had borrowed the darn thing. A quick root around the Skyhook kitchen uncovered a bottle of red wine with a killer sound. So that's what I used! And boy, does it work...

Mayflies is one of my 1971 tracks, re-recorded last week. The original recording still sounded current. That acoustic stomp that the folk bands are using now. So I stripped it back and did a close mike vocal with Alan Tee's drum kit kicking along. I've added a chant to the major key body of the song, but I think I'll strip it back again and let the delicacy of the lyrics shine through. This was written in Kasteel Groeneveld and en-route to the CBS studios in the spring of '71. I remember driving with Joop and Sandra past the lakes and marinas outside of Hilversum watching hundreds of flamingoes take flight... 

Mayflies is a love song. The song is about seizing the day. (and yes...that's us,  then...)

Not Dead Yet is brand spanking new. A life-affirming song if ever I heard one! It rocks like crazy, has hooks all over it and when Lily and Prof. Green came into our vintage store last week...it was the one I wanted them to hear... (but to the world at large, I run a vintage store and this other side is just that - another side...wrong place, wrong time) 

NDY is near completion - rock guitars all over it - but we need to do some clever mixing to get that now sound. But it sounds like a bit of an ear-worm. And it tells it like it is. 

Rufus (harmonica, flat cap) and me proving the point. 

Back into the studio next week for more layering, and then Oogoo Maia and Chris Egan will be in to add keyboards and sax. Everything is on track for end of March completion...

To hear some of my older material, click here: David on Reverbnation