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

Cosmic Glue - The Magic Begins...

February 23rd and I'm preparing for a couple of studio sessions starting on Monday. We'll be laying down some acoustic and electric guitar parts, plus bass and a whole slew of backing vocals.

To keep everything up to scratch, I've included some of my diary jottings.

...and here's the website... Cosmic Glue Web

 

January 24^th

Ran through tracks with Mike at the studio, listening to references from other songs online. We went though things from 5.30 to 8. Chris was there briefly as was Sarah.

A good positive start.

January 28^th

Booked in for first beat session – copying stem files and setting down the click-tracks.

12.00 to 17.00

constructed version of Change Of Heart with both songs.

Met Alan Tocknell at Costa with Mike at 17.20

He’s on board.

February 1^st

Contacted Wrathbone Trombonista and he’s happy to discuss playing.

February 6^th

Studio at 3. Laying down guide vocals and guitar for the new recordings. Ran through Change Of Heart and once again we saw huge potential in the track. An epic track of Baker Street scale.  Just Mike and I. We finished at around 9. Left halfway through Boy in the attic. My voice was shot and the energy had dropped. Mike had a long journey home.

February 9^th

Drum set up and run through

February 10^th

February 11^th

Laying down tracks for all songs apart from Vanessa & Posion Pen

Monday Feb 10^th

Lay down some more guide vocals including Change Of Heart, Fear Of Flying, Not Dead Yet.

Alan drumming on four tracks, we finished at 5

Tuesday Feb 11^th

In at 8, worked on another 7 tracks including the new songs. Used Rob Studios demos to record drums on Secret Lovers and Boy. An awesome session completed by 7ish. Used Rob Recordings for Green Fingers

Tuesday Feb 18th
All day session working on guitars, bass, percussion and vocals for 'Not Dead Yet'

Wednesday Feb 19th
More of the same. Tracks are shaping up. 

Wishing you A Good Old Fashioned Christmas...

The day is almost upon us. Christmas is here at last!

It has been an amazing roller coaster ride since the heady days of the long hot summer when we recorded A Good Old Fashioned Christmas at DB Studios in Stroud.

Since those days I have lived, breathed and grown a beard in the spirit of Christmas...helping the song along it's way.

So - for the final time this year (cos I'm back working on Cosmic Glue, my new album...) I present a wonderful crisp, clear and absolutely free version of A Good Old Fashioned Christmas...

I wish all of you, wherever you are, a happy good old fashioned Christmas.

Love and Peace - David

A Good Old Fashioned Christmas - One More Time!

David Ireland's BBC Radio Gloucestershire chat with Faye Hatcher

The year is drawing to a close and I'm reaching the climax of an extraordinary time.

We've had a tremendous response to 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' and hopefully we have raised awareness of The Big Issue Foundation, the charity we are supporting through the sales of the song.

Soon my magnificent beard will be history and I'll get back to the recording of 'Cosmic Glue', my forthcoming album due for a spring 2014 release.

On Saturday, Mike Cooling and I (he's my co-producer) dropped in to Faye Hatcher's Saturday Show at BBC Radio Gloucestershire for a quick chat and an unplugged version of the song.

Here's the podcast coupled with a few images from the October 16th video shoot in Stroud. Enjoy!

Check out my website here...

Stroud Community TV Supporting David Ireland's 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' Charity Single

A Good Old Fashioned Christmas (Charity single)

Posted on 18. Dec, 2013 by philip in Charity, Featured, Music

inShare

Stroud’s David Ireland with Stroud’s Skyhook Studios raising money for The Big Issue – go on download the track, share, Facebook, tweet etc….they write:

Fundraising single for The Big Issue Foundation 
Download here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/goo… 
or here – http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/davidireland2
or here – http://www.skyhookstudios.com/a-good-…
Singer/Songwriter: David Ireland
Video: Zebrafish Media
Director: Guy Davies

“Nearly 100 people a week turn to the Big Issue for an opportunity to help themselves at a time of utter personal crisis. The Big Issue Foundation is small but national charity. We work with some of the most disadvantaged and excluded individuals in the land; people who have lost more than it is comfortable to imagine, their homes, their families and their sense of themselves in the world. We urgently need to offer more support and hope for the future.”

“Our mission is to connect vendors with the vital support and personal solutions that enable them to rebuild their lives; to find their own paths as they journey away from homelessness.” The Big Issue Foundation

You can help by downloading this track, sharing with your friends, posting on your facebook page and tweeting. Go on…make a difference

A Good Old Fashioned Christmas, created by musician David Ireland, was inspired by the Big Issue’s philosophy that everyone of us can make a small difference and so, together, contribute to real, significant and lasting change.

David Ireland and Skyhook Studios are donating 20 per cent of all sales and royalties from the single to the charity and hopes that it can also demonstrate how little it takes to change a life. For example, just £20 can support efforts to help a vendor end rough sleeping, and £15 can provide access to training and employment.

“We are absolutely delighted that the first record we’re producing is for such a wonderful cause,” says Chris Aylmer, owner of Skyhook Studios. “We hope it will go some way to make a difference to the work The Big Issue Foundation is doing in the UK.”

“The Big Issue works with some of the most disadvantaged people in the UK – nearly 100 people a week turn to them at a time of personal crisis,” adds David Ireland. “They are completely reliant on donors and fundraising to help these people rebuild their lives. It could be any of us out there. I am especially moved by their drive to raise awareness of the issue in schools, as so many people who are homeless say they first ran away as a child, and more and more people end up rough sleeping when they are still in their teens. If we can’t take a moment to think about that one fact at Christmas then the whole season means very little.”

More about Skyhook at: http://www.skyhookstudios.com/

More about David Ireland at: http://www.reverbnation.com/davidireland

See also David Ireland and Cosmic Glue on Stroud Community TV: http://stroudcommunity.tv/boy-in-the-attic-cosmic-glue-recording-session/

Stroud musician releases charity Christmas single to raise money for the homeless: the press is on our side...

Stroud musician releases charity Christmas single to raise money for the homeless

12:20pm Friday 13th December 2013 in NewsBy Chris Warne, SNJ reporter for Stonehouse and Chalford. Twitter @ChrisWarneSNJ

Stroud musician David Ireland has recorded a charity Christmas single

A STROUD musician is dreaming of a Christmas number one after releasing a charity single in aid of The Big Issue Foundation.

With the help of Bath Road-based Skyhook Studios, David Ireland has written and recorded A Good Old Fashioned Christmas to raise money for the homeless charity.

The festive jingle was inspired by the Big Issue’s philosophy that anyone can make a difference and is available from both Amazon and iTunes.

Skyhook Studios, which opened last month, has pledged to donate 20 per cent of all sales and royalties from the track to the charity.

“I am very grateful to David Ireland and Skyhook Studios for using their talents to help generate funds for our work,” said The Big Issue Foundation’s chief executive Stephen Robertson.

“They are also helping to spread the Big Issue message and educate the wider public which is invaluable.”

A music video, produced and directed by Skyhook, to accompany the Christmas single can be viewed on Youtube and already has over 3,500 hits.

The video, which was filmed in Stroud, features shots of the town centre and Mr Ireland singing in the snow.

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"The Big Issue works with some of the most disadvantaged people in the UK - nearly 100 people a week turn to them at a time of personal crisis,” said Mr Ireland.

“If we can't take a moment to think about that one fact at Christmas then the whole season means very little."

Let's Get 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' to Number One!

The Campaign Starts Here!

Let's Get 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' to Number One!

To join the campaign, just click the link above.

David Ireland's Single 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' in support of The Big Issue Foundation has spawned a tongue-in-cheek campaign in the UK. Against such Goliaths as The X Factor, David's small gesture needs a mighty powerful push - so let's go!

David's single, 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' was recorded on the hottest day of the summer at DB Studios in Stroud in the heart of The Cotswolds. It was always the intention that the song would support a charity and David was clear in his wish to raise both funds and awareness for The Big Issue Foundation - the UK's foremost charity helping homeless people to help themselves.

'The Big Issue Foundation (http://www.bigissue.org.uk/) are doing an amazing job of giving a hand up not a hand out to vulnerable, homeless people. Dignifying people with the opportunity to work their way out of hardship takes understanding of the reasons why people become homeless in the first place.'

Help us to raise funds and awareness by downloading the song (less than one dollar!) and pushing 'A Good Old Fashioned Christmas' ever closer to that Number One! Thank you!

A Good Old Fashioned Christmas: Time To Buy

We aim to raise as much cash and awareness for The Big Issue Foundation this year, so please download the track - it's only 79p - and 20% of all sales and royalties will go toward helping others to help themselves. Thank you and Happy Christmas from David

Download on iTunes

Download on Amazon