Episode 5 - Our Favourite Sessions

In episode 5 we discuss some of our favourite sessions that we've been involved in including Thunder, The Burning Crows, the Toi, Estrella, Bruce Springsteen, Nile Deltas and General Fords Army. The thing that makes a really good session is usually when the work has been done in advance of the session so it means we're focusing more time on capturing some amazing live performances than we are about focusing on simple things such as timing and beats. 

Transcript

Transcript has been generated automatically and not been checked for errors

[00:00:00] and then it was just like musical royalty, all in the same building. You know, you've got Michael Jackson's in Studio one. I'm in Studio two in Springsteen. You've got P Diddy on three and Elton John on four I think it was. And I'm in this the lift, which is like huge and sure it was made of gold.

[00:00:18] This posse all comes in full of bling everything. You hold the door open and then this. People walk in with one really tall guy in the middle. Yeah. And the really tall guy in the middle is P. Did he?

[00:00:47] Welcome back to the Session Record Podcast on today's episode. What I just wanted to talk about, obviously from the previous episodes, we've talked a little bit about how we got to where we are today. Of all the sessions over the last few years, like from like Rockfield, in the early days up until today, what have been some of your most like.

[00:01:03] Memorable sessions, your favorite sessions that you've been working on?

[00:01:05] Well, me memorable and favorite are kind of two different things, really. There's some that are very memorable. Yeah. For all the wrong reasons. you know, but favorite sessions? Oh, I mean, they're all my favorites, John, all of them. ? No.

[00:01:19] I guess there's the obvious ones. So if you. And for obvious reasons. So what's the story? You know, massive record, iconic album, massive band. Kind of changed everybody's lives, kind of changed, gave me a great career as well. Changed my life as well. So that, and be here now, just as you know. How insane and how massive that album was.

[00:01:41] But so there's those few obvious ones and the second come in that we talked about, and so that was one of my first. So it means a lot to me. Plus just an amazing album. Getting to meet those guys, being involved in, you know, another bit of music history there. Early on, like the ash one that we talked about, the 1977, just how much fun it was and brilliant songs, and that's, you know, such a fantastic album.

[00:02:02] So we've kind of touched on those I guess, but there's one, we, we haven't talked about which kind of like, favorite sessions I've worked with like Thunder for many, many years. Great friends of mine, great guys Luke and Ray songwriter. They're all so well prepared when they come in the studio, so it's always a pleasure working with them.

[00:02:20] There's. , there's nothing you worry about before going in. You know, the songs are gonna be good, you know, when everyone knows. Yeah. You know, everyone knows what they're doing. Your organization is second to none relaxed, you know, just great fun, brilliant guys to be around. Musically. It's so good to be involved in.

[00:02:36] So any of their, their album sessions you could pick really, because if, if you just said to me, you could only work with thunder for the rest of your career. I'd be a very happy man, you know, you know what? It's gonna, it would be a amazing experience. Yeah. And I suppose out of all their sessions, maybe please remain Seated album, because it was different and we did it live and they wanted to use a PA in the room so everyone had a monitor in, in their little area, in their booth, and the drums were all in the same room and everything had to be done in the same room.

[00:03:10] The backing singers were brought in, the pianos, the strings, everything. So it was all live and different arrangements. So getting to hear a lot of those songs that I'd grown up with and kind of also worked on being rearranged and pulled about, done in different styles. And so we're watching them create music they wouldn't necessarily usually create out of their other songs.

[00:03:28] And Yeah. And just from an engineering point of view, quite. You know, more challenging than usual to try and get it live with all the spill going down acoustics. You know, you've got PAs blasting down, acoustics, the drums, blasting down, the vocal mics, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And Rockford aren't the biggest live room, so you can't really put everyone far apart.

[00:03:49] So, but the vibe was them guys in the room for a few weeks just playing live and capturing it live. And great fun. I remember it was really hot summer, so the doors were open, we were having barbecues. It was just real memorable session. Great fun and some, and saying a bit different on that one. So when, whenever like you hear a

[00:04:06] bang going off, can we bring a PA system in straightaway?

[00:04:09] There's always like, ah, shit, I don't really wanna, how did it, like what kind of pa system were they using? What was it, what was different about this that made it kind of

[00:04:17] work? Well, I think they'd used the bow system somewhere else, maybe, and they'd kind of The, the sticks. And so they kind of liked it when they used it and it was like, let's get rid of the headphones so we can get the, the feel, the feel of the room and also so we can communicate Cause they're working on stuff.

[00:04:36] Lot easier without the headphones to communicate and to just be sat there and then start, let's try it like this, and then just go, and rather than everyone messing with headphones and so that was the thinking behind it. And everyone, you get kind of little mixers anyway, so I, they all had their own mixers for their own PA so they could do it themselves, like you can with the headphones I guess.

[00:04:55] But being able to feel the energy in the room and the kind of room sounds. F you know, that, that feeling of removing yourself from the kind of insular way of recording with headphones to to using that. But obviously that comes with challenges of lots of, you know, the five different PAs blasting out in a room.

[00:05:17] as well as a drum kit. So yeah, it came with, came with challenges, but that was decision they made and it worked great. It worked great. And then you kind of, you build your mixes as you go along and you incorporate all that spill and kind of frequencies into it. So you're kind of getting an over more of an overall picture.

[00:05:35] as opposed, there's not much point really solo in your acoustic and getting a really great sound on your acoustic. Cuz as soon as everyone else plays, it changes. So I would get the sounds up as a whole and kind of EQ it while listening to pretty much everything. Lots of, I had threw room mics up as well, so I had mics up in the corners.

[00:05:51] Mic, 67 cent of room on me. And yeah, so great fun to kind of be challenged like that as well. But you're working with a great band who can pull it off and. If a band's not tight and kind of all over the shop and the drumm is smashing shit out of the symbols constantly and playing too much all the time, then it would've been a lot harder.

[00:06:10] But maybe, yeah. I suppose one of the things with the

[00:06:12] With the live recordings in that sense is like if one person makes a mistake, , you have to think, is that bad enough? Is that acceptable that we can keep it in? It's not gonna be too much of a problem. Or do we need to do the whole take again? Because that's one of the, always one of the worries and stuff.

[00:06:27] So when you were recording, was it, was it put a couple of takes and have a listen and like kind of figure out what was, what needs to be done? Or was it just like, do a couple

[00:06:34] move on? Yeah, they'd, they'd work on it, do a few takes of it, and then say, you know, just tweak the arrangement a bit if it needed it, or the tempos or whatever.

[00:06:43] But I've, I mean, I've worked with Luke. The first time I worked with them was 1996. So I was just assistant studio assistant back then, and so I'd worked with them on and off. Many, many years and I think, I think Luke is like the king of knowing when to leave things in and when to not fix mistakes.

[00:07:06] There's always maybe a bit of kind of preference from like some of the ba memory to try and fix something. Cuz to them it sounds a little bit imperfect or that was slightly out there or that I could have done that there. But he's definitely the king of knowing when to leave that stuff in and he's always right.

[00:07:22] Cuz when you get the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. Those, some of those things. So especially with that album, there was times when you'd have this fantastic take and someone maybe did something they wouldn't usually do. But obviously if it works, , you know, Luke was there and, and would say, oh, that, no, that's not gonna matter at all.

[00:07:38] Cause by the time we do this or whatever, and time it's mixed like that. And that works because of this. So that's another great reason to have someone like that there when you're doing live stuff like that, is you can't, you know, you could do it another 20, you could do it another 20 times, but you're not gonna get a good take with as good a feel.

[00:07:54] And just because that one. , somebody did something slightly different that maybe wouldn't be their preference than you know, your sacrifice of fixing that bit just to get a take that's not as good. You can, you can drop in on, on those things, you know, you can drop in. So I think maybe one or two times we would.

[00:08:14] maybe get to an outro where there's a natural point to drop in and then we would drop in the whole band together. Take from there. Yeah, usually or, or I might, or I might edit takes together. Yeah. But they would be live takes. You might edit, you know, you might say, oh, that, that middle section there, but without the clicks, you, you know, you have to, it's not just about is that a better take?

[00:08:34] Is does it work? Is the tempo natural enough to go from that take to that take? So sometimes you would go. Yeah, you might think you put a different take in for the middle eight, but actually when you listen to the take back, it's not because it doesn't quite work with it. So actually the original one was maybe better.

[00:08:49] So yeah, nice and challenging and but yeah, could really be a better band to work with to, to do that kind of record. No, I remember like

[00:08:58] that first, the first session I, the, the first session with Thunder was coming in on Wonder Days and like you'd already done a set already. I think this might have been my second or third album.

[00:09:08] I think I worked with Phish. in between a red kite and it would like coming in, I think like Harry had to redo the drums for thing I want. And I just remember like coming in just being absolutely blown away just by how prepared and how professional everything was. And you just realize, I remember the thing I always remember from that session is like you realize that the guys who obviously came out playing to tape, you had to be on it.

[00:09:30] You had to be good. Cuz if you weren't, and obviously like editing wasn't as easy, you couldn't just fix it as quickly. And I just remember being. The whole time just being this, this is just really,

[00:09:40] really enjoyable. Plus they have catering as well. Charm, which is always nice. Cause the food's great there.

[00:09:45] Yeah. And the odd glass of wine don't work till four in the morning.

[00:09:49] It all very structured very well. Well sorted. I think the food helped break it up

[00:09:53] very civilized, didn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:55] And I remember like after that, I think Luke came up with Amex to lead as. And I remember asking Luca at the next album said, is it gonna be another concept album?

[00:10:04] Cause I genuinely thought that Wonder Days was all about them being young. Cause obviously starts off with like, like yeah, it was like first day school. They call me a mistake. I thought it was all about that. And then it was like, Blackwater, I thought it was like someone having like fair of older woman or something and was just like, and Luke was like, oh no, not clever for that cup of shit.

[00:10:20] Yeah. . So, yeah, I, yeah, every Sunday session I've worked on, I've always really enjoyed it. I think I popped in on that to bring a bottle of wine or something, which I copied from Luke when he came in for.

[00:10:29] Yeah, one of the other sessions we came in. Oh, and then, so moving on to other sessions. I, I touched on it in previous episode, but the Arctic Monkey session at Leaders Farm.

[00:10:42] brilliant. Again, they're playing live. I know it's only pre-production, but they'd kind of had, had a bit of a break from playing. So getting them in a room, getting used to playing together again, and just being around those guys who, you know, the humble albums. Brilliant record and yeah, watching them structure songs and write songs and helping them out with that and coming up with suggestions and trying to make the demo sound as good as possible.

[00:11:03] Knowing they're going to Josh arm, obviously, you know, so and then working, and so get. To see those guys write and produce and kind of develop their sound, develop their tracks, and just being, yeah, blown away by them as a band and how well they played as well. So yeah, that was a great session to be involved in, especially at that time with them when they were kind of, well they still are up there, but, you know, massive at that time.

[00:11:28] Just before

[00:11:29] we move on on that one one of the things I've always found out, say like, I've worked on a record or something, it's gone else elsewhere to be mixed or someone else worked on, did you learn any, anything from. Did you ever listen back to what Josh had done at the end of it, the end of the final

[00:11:41] productions and.

[00:11:43] Yeah, obviously my demos for the pre-production were just far better and they should have just gone with those, those original mixes. But you know, I understand they needed a name on the album, so Josh oms on there. So otherwise they probably just reduced my live recordings probably. But yeah, it's great to hear the ideas cuz we're obviously only putting basic ideas down and it's quite.

[00:12:02] Raff and we're trying things out. So finding out when you listen to the final album, which ideas made it, which kind of sounds were kind of similar to what ended up on the album, whether the drum parts changed, cause we'd work on drum parts you know, and hearing all the extra elements Yeah. Of someone like Joshua would add.

[00:12:20] Or not, you know, I'm not entirely sure. Which was Alex, which was Josh Really? Cuz I've, I haven't worked with Alex there doing those. He's so switched on. I'm so full of ideas and such a good producer. So I would've just loved to have been in the room with them too and seeing what was, you know, them bouncing off each other in Yeah.

[00:12:37] So, I mean, you, you know, there's, there's, there's loads of bands like, you know, that weren't, aren't, aren't big bands like Your Oasis and your Thunders and your kind of there's, there's bands that you just have so much fun with who were, you know, struggling to make records because they haven't got big record deals.

[00:12:55] They don't make a lot of money from their tour or from the music, but just have an absolute passion for making music and living the dream and being rock stars and just loving it. And sometimes some of those session. They, they, they're usually quite difficult cuz you don't have much time or budget. So you're trying to make the best record you can on a very limited budget.

[00:13:14] So maybe you haven't had a chance to do too much pre-production rehearsals and you've gotta record like 17 songs in a day mix 35,000 tracks in a week, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, so there's those kind of sessions really. So you, you know, when you look up bands like, I mean, the Burning Crows Absolutely.

[00:13:35] Amazing to be around in the studio. I mean, so much fun, so much, you know. Yeah. A little bit of trouble, a little bit of mentalness going on. It's interesting, you see that kind of mentalness going on and it's not an oasis or whatever, not a band who's got loads of money and loads of hangers on and a-list celebrities around the place or whatever.

[00:13:54] It's just us and them and just having the time of our lives making an album, cuz it's absolutely the best thing that. What we could ever do is be in a studio with us guys making a record of making rock and roll and living the dream and that, and it's so infectious. I mean, they are comedy geniuses, especially whips from Burning Crows comedy genius, the whole band funny, amazing to be around.

[00:14:15] We had such a laugh. Such You know, and, and it's kinda like the pressure's off. You haven't got train impressive label, you haven't got management on a phone and all that kind of thing, but you are trying to make the band bigger and help along their way and kind of mentor 'em as well. So it's a lot of the stuff we're gonna be talking about on session, Recallers, that stuff that we're helping that band get off the ground.

[00:14:33] But bands like that just absolutely love those sessions. The toy up in Glasgow, those three guys, wow. I mean, for start, two of them are amazing chefs, so the food was fantastic. Amazing personalities, kind of sense of humor. Yeah. They just had me new in stitches. I mean, they just, because you'd

[00:14:49] done live with the toy, am I right in thinking you go and done pre-production with them in Glasgow, with Dan?

[00:14:55] Yeah. So they came, they, we did one EP at Leaders Farm and Dan Hawkins really liked him as well from the Darkness. And then he came up to Glasgow when me and Dan Hawkins did the pre-production for the album, basically. Yeah. And then into Rockfield to record

[00:15:08] it. And I remember like, they came back and we did an e.

[00:15:12] And one thing I remember was like on end of the first day we were blasting boys to men in the studio and just the three of them had a few drinks and we were just hugging in a circle. .

[00:15:22] Yeah. Yeah. It was just, you know, to be part of that. I mean, your sessions like that when you meet guys like that, you just know you've just got friends for life, you know, you know people you don't get to see very often because we all lead busy lives and we all live in different countries or whatever, but yeah.

[00:15:38] Friends for life, you know, and you can get back together and make another record. And it's just like that, it clicks and it's like you've never been a apart and I can't imagine if they were doing a record not being involved, you know, not making a record. And yeah, we've all remained friends ever since.

[00:15:52] Did, no, it was just never a dull moment, wasn't it? How those records get made when you spend so much time pissing about and doing pranks and going down the pub and it's like, I actually, we've made a really good Yeah, I just remember like on

[00:16:02] both of those sessions, just remember laughing for probably about 90% of the.

[00:16:06] Just in, in stitches. And I remember like whips obviously. Yeah. With Burning Crows. They had, they were doing the, the, the Kickstarter. It was no pledge music or what was the Yeah, it was doing pledge and obviously they done the campaigns to fund it and so they had like people coming in and like staying at Rockfield with us on the session.

[00:16:22] And then like whips would have to do updates and we moved. I remember moving studios from Rockfield for the main drums and bits and pieces and the guitars and then we're going. Giant wafer to do the Q guitars and vocals and whip Spacey spent the entire video just doing Tom Jones impressions and .

[00:16:40] He did.

[00:16:41] It's, it's yeah, he's so good. It's comedy genius. His, his YouTube, yeah, the YouTube footage of all that. It's all up there. But he wants to watch the, the making of yeah. Yeah, he's funny. He just that, yeah, he can, he can keep up a Tom Jones impression for about three weeks before it starts, starts, starts to wear

[00:17:01] off.

[00:17:01] Literally. The other thing that happened then is that triggers then thinking about Australia, that Christmas, the Christmas session where I walk in the studio, I think, yeah, I walk in the studio and everything I'd needed to use on the computer had been wrapped up in wrapping. So I think the speakers are wrapped up, the mouse was wrapped up the computer and the keyboard was just like, oh, perfect.

[00:17:22] Yeah. Yeah. They were another one. Great, great band. And doing that kind of music as well, so they're living and breathing it and just loving it and being in a place like Rockfield and some, you know, making that kind of music. Yeah. I mean, there were Sessions and Maker and other great band who had so much fun with making that record.

[00:17:37] Partly at Leaders Farm, partly at Rockfield. Yeah. Those bands, those Rucker roll bands. You know, so good and make good records and just striving to, to get there really. But lovely, lovely people but just so much fun and it makes it easier cause don't really drink on sessions, but all those ones we just mentioned, you end up drinking your entire Oh gosh, entire way through it and somehow you can manage to work with, with the hangovers and it not really bother you cuz they get you through each day with, with the, just with their humor.

[00:18:03] Yeah. And it's so, and that positive vibe, you know, their positivity and, and their, and how happy they are to be. recording in somewhere like Rockfield making music and appreciative. Yeah. How appreciative they are of it as well. It's just infectious and it just it's amazing. Amazing to make sense.

[00:18:22] Do you ever

[00:18:22] listen back to album after you've done long enough that you've forgotten, like the process and stuff and initially you listened to a song and it triggered a memory that you've kind of forgotten

[00:18:30] and I was like, oh yeah, that happens. I can be listened to a song and I'm transported back.

[00:18:34] It happens with Oasis all the time. Yeah. Loads of times though, I'll be, listen, a playlist will come on and the track that I worked on or come on and it. you, you, all of a sudden you're just transported back to a moment of that album, of that song or wherever you were. We can sort of remember what you were wearing.

[00:18:49] You can sort of remember the what happened that day or what, what's something that we did that was kind of really special and memorable. It happened the other day, actually. It was hadn't listened to it for a while, so put on The General Ford's Army album, which became Daisy Flame in the porcelain cage.

[00:19:07] I hadn't listened to that for a while and that album took many years. So I was involved in writing, writing, I'm producing that and developing as a development deal with Simon. You'd gone Simon Ford.

[00:19:17] I remember you saying you'd gone round all over. You'd recorded in

[00:19:20] America. Oh, we recorded, yeah, up in Shropshire at his place in Red Kite Studios, leaders Farm Studios show other studios in England, Rockfield Studios Leaders Veil.

[00:19:33] Yeah, my house in his garage In a cupboard in Milton Keens or somewhere, you know. And then we went to America and we recorded in Avatar Studios in New York. We recorded, where else did we go with a village recorder in la, which is actually my favorite studio of all time. Yeah, loved it there. Yeah, I did stuff there.

[00:19:55] We did stuff in Paramount Studios in la. Amazing experience. Like we're really good friends. I didn't know him before we made music, but yeah, it was a real journey of taking him as, when I first started working with the, he was in kind of like a screamy metal band. But he always kind of wa kind of wanted to make this kind of storytelling folky, kind of Americana kind of country rock thing.

[00:20:18] So it was a whole development project of taking this artist who hadn't done that and developing him into this artist that could play a completely different style of. changing out their guitars, switching the, you know, the Les Pauls and the Marshalls for Tellies and kind of twins and things like that.

[00:20:35] Teaching him how to kind of play in that style, that finger picking style and teaching. Someone who was used to singing, he's got a great voice, but obviously he was scream screaming in this kind of metal band. , but he has a unique sound of voice and he's actually a really good singer. So then getting somewhere new to sing with all this depth and he's got an amazing character to his voice.

[00:20:53] And then writing, bringing different arrangements, how you would usually write songs with the rock arrangements, but bringing them in. And we had a great time working over, yeah, several years working on arrangements and came up with really good album, really good instrument instrumentation. Really good album.

[00:21:10] I remember

[00:21:11] like cuz that session cuz we, you. Getting the band. It was a Sam Walker. A lot of the guys I think who'd been playing for Fisher Head

[00:21:19] And yeah, we playing with John Watts cuz we worked with them.

[00:21:23] No, I just remember that cuz then like, I remember like, that was one of my, probably one of my favorite sessions.

[00:21:28] And again cuz it's not like one of the most famous ones, but it was just like, we, I think it was it five days, four days? It wasn't very long, but it was, I remember it was one of the first times it was like, you just left me to record in Rockfield. And it's like, and it was right. Yeah. Set all the band up.

[00:21:44] Evan was playing live in the coach house. Evan facing each other. I think Simon was in the booth at the end. And that was it. No, Sam Walker was, that's right. By the windows that we did Burning Crows. And then we had Piano World where the drum booth normally goes, yes, we

[00:21:57] where the drums normally go. Yes. We switched the drum room.

[00:22:00] Yeah. And I just remember like the songs they came up with, we tried loads of different arrangements. Loads of different approaches, and then go, that's the song. That's the version of the song. And

[00:22:08] like we'd done some kind of more, more straight ahead kind of country rock. Up in Leader's Farm and like we got Ashley's, Harry and Chris from Thunder playing on those.

[00:22:19] And then the rest of it, kind of me and Simon and we'd kind of done those. But then there was these other songs that we were kind of demoing and doing stuff and I was like, look, we just need a band to go in and knock these out live and then we'll work on them and over dub. Just get the basics down.

[00:22:33] And I've kind of been working with those guys yeah, with John. And I thought, yeah, these guys just play a bit different to everybody else, especially Sam Walker, the Rhythm Machine. He's just doing stuff that you wouldn't usually expect to hear. I thought this is gonna work really well. And they're super professional, great players.

[00:22:53] Matthew and, and Matt as well. They were brilliant. So yeah, the plan was we got a Rockford and I think we did in the end. We did like the rest of the album. Quite a lot of tracks in about f I dunno, five day. . So it was like years of preparation, years of preparation of writing to get this artist to that point, to then record it.

[00:23:15] in kind of five days, you know, well, the bo the, the kind of bones of it and then going off to different places around the world to kind of finish it off and add things. And then we got strings added and brass added. It's, yeah, it's really good. And we tweak, tweaking the lyrics and it's, it's a really, it's quite sad story actually that runs through the album.

[00:23:33] Yeah. That album should have had a lot more traction. Should have had a lot more, , it kind of would've been great if we, there'd been some videos and kind of, you know, stuff got released. But yeah, it didn't kind of ever get to that point. It was really such a shame. He's such a fantastic artist. I think great sounding, unique voice and really nice songwriting style.

[00:23:53] And I think with him, with that band actually, if they could have gone out live would've been great. I'd love to see now.

[00:23:57] But it's, it's one of those things, isn't it? It's just like the time. Yeah. And like he was working other jobs and stuff and Yeah. I always just remember like, you just think back to sessions, you.

[00:24:06] after that one. It's like, I want, like you can't try to consciously remember like when there's a good session, you wanna take a snapshot. Like for me, for another one, it was a short one, but it was like Nile. Deltas. Yeah. I think they came in for three days. You mixed it. And again, they were all playing live and they just all really well prepared.

[00:24:21] Yeah. There's such a great feeling when a band's in playing live. Yeah. And it blows you away and it's just know the hairs stand up and you're kind of, it's a different feeling to when you are kind of piecing an album together. There's moments where a band are just in that live room and just hit on something and it got you.

[00:24:36] Just go, wow. You know? Had it recently with a band called The Joy Hotel from Glasgow, Absolut. Blew me away playing their album in its entirety with all the overdubs, all the sounds, so much pre-production, gone into it and then just walked in and just played it. And you're like, this is, yeah, this is special.

[00:24:50] This is what you can't do in your bedroom. Yeah. This is what places like Rockfield are amazing. That's the thing. These moments about Rockfield

[00:24:56] is just like, it's one of the, you know, one of the amazing things about it is it's got all these little rooms and bits and pieces where you can stick an amp in.

[00:25:04] You can sat then just live and there's enough separation, or you can have it as lively or as dead as you want, and it always. Sounds great. And I love sitting on sessions with other people. Yeah. Just to see how they use the studio, cuz they might approach in a completely different

[00:25:17] way. Yeah, it's good, isn't it?

[00:25:18] There's so many options. Just wanna finish up. How did, obviously, like on the credits, like we've, obviously I've been working for a while now. You've got the, the leaders fail on the website, like Nick, Brian work with Nick. How did you

[00:25:29] end up with working with Bruce Springs? Oh, well I was about to come to that, John, cuz that's probably the, the biggest highlight.

[00:25:37] I mean, you know, obviously what's the story's the biggest album and I've, I would always pick that one as probably the greatest album that I've worked on. But my kind of greatest session, I just think because it's something that you just don't ever get to do is work with one of those absolute legends and which Springsteen is yeah.

[00:25:57] Bizarre how it came about. So, I was working with a band from Philly called Mora from Philadelphia, and Owen Morris was producing we were doing the album in Rockfield and the album went on. They'd, and, and kind of Springsteen had kind of got into that band on their previous album, and I think. Was a big fan of the band.

[00:26:17] And then they'd gone over for dinner. I think they'd maybe played with him as well, and they kind of hit it off. And so he was like, and they, they wrote about kind of similar subjects that he, he writes as well and they kind of very earthy, kind of very down to earth kind of working class heroes from.

[00:26:34] Similar backgrounds and all that lovely people and they, they, they're making this record that they, cause they're big fans of Oasis, they wanted to kind of get the kind of bit of that attitude into their music. And they loved that whole nineties sound. Yeah. Plus there's two brothers in the band.

[00:26:49] Quite volatile at times, but like, ah, you just, yeah. Two amazing human beings. and that bad, the whole band were as well. But yeah, and so anyway, they, they had this connection with Bruce and then Bruce was like, whoa, I want to, I want to be on the album. , you know, want to play and sing on the album. I'd love to be involved.

[00:27:08] We were like, brilliant. And then for various reasons I ended up being the producer on the album and finishing the album. So the last, or, or the, the overdubs. And the mixes and towards the end of that album was the session that Bruce was gonna be on. So I ended up, yeah, we, Bruce couldn't make it to Wales, so we ended up going to New York and we went to the hit Factory.

[00:27:32] So somewhere I'd always wanted to work. And we started off in the old pit factory in the second studio, maybe with the old, with the Neve in there. And I loved that place cuz it was kind of like the seventies in there. It was all this vintage gear, the old Neve, and it was kind of a bit dark and it had that vibe.

[00:27:51] It was kind of used to it being in the Coke house. . Yeah, exactly. It was like the coach act, but of course in a, in a tower block on you know, 54th Street in the cen center of m. So she's got Studio 54 just down the road, and I was like only about 26 years old. So being, you know, being in in New York anyway, being in a big studio like that and then knowing that the next day.

[00:28:17] Like Bruce Springsteen's gonna come along and we're doing a session that week with, with Bruce, you know, so the excitement, I mean, there'd been loads of stuff that went on and the lead up to that, which yeah, we won't go into now, John. We'll save that for the book. And book's nearly finished. John, we get there loads of stuff.

[00:28:34] So the, just the fact that the whole thing even came off, like the stress and the things I had to go through to. The Springsteen session happened where something else And Yeah. But I wasn't gonna not let that happen because this was a chance to, well, I was, the producers were getting a chance to produce Bruce Springsteen on a record, you know?

[00:28:54] Okay. It's not one of his records, but it's the next best thing. And so eventually get there and we're in yeah, say the hip factory, the old, the old building. And it was brilliant. What, what a guy, he comes along and we've got a wall of his fender twins and hot rods, and he's got his tallies and he's got his blonde there as well.

[00:29:16] His blonde telly. So you getting to play his guitars, his guitar ticks like, yeah, sure, man. Have a go on all these. So you, and then you're recording guitars, then we're working on vocals. And in the evenings he'd take us to his favorite. We'd have dinner and he'd have a private room and we'd have like, everyone would have their own server champagne, amazing food in this steakhouse in New York that he always goes to.

[00:29:38] And yeah, just a just brilliant. And we, and he, he loved Dave Edmonds and he said, so you, you are from Rockfield. So we kind of hit it off. Because he wanted to know all about Rockfield, cuz he'd always wanted to go there and record there, but never had a chance. And he was a massive Dave Edmonds fan.

[00:29:53] Right. And I think he'd played with Dave Edmonds. So he just wanted to know all about Edmonds and Rockfield and what it was like and quizzing the band on Rockfield and stuff like that. So dinner conversations were ace, you know, talking about all those sessions like that. And just everyone had so much respect for him.

[00:30:09] Whether it was the people in the restaurant or people in the street, there was no minders or security. We walked from the studio to the re. people would come up, Hey, how you doing Mr. Springsteen? Shake his hand. Hey, Mr. Springsteen, lovely to meet you, Mr. Springsteen. Yeah. Just the respect he, the man had everywhere we went and, and he'd kind of say to me, I was like, oh, you know, he's done all these guitars.

[00:30:28] What does he, you know, we're, have to play em all back now. And he'd just came, you know, would come up and just like, tap me on the show and go, you know what you're doing? Just use whatever you want, trust you. And he'd go off, get a coffee, come back later, play it to him and he'd go, yeah, yeah, right. Ready? Do some vocals on that one then.

[00:30:42] And. Yeah. Brilliant, brilliant time. But yeah, just the respect, like I was in a studio and in that studio we moved then for mixing and for mixing the Springsteen parts and the record. We moved to the new room, to the SSL room further down the street. And then it was just like, Musical royalty, all in the same building.

[00:31:02] You know, you've got Michael Jackson's in Studio one. I'm in studio two with Springsteen. You've got P diddy on three and Elton John on four I think it was. And like, you know, getting to the lift and I'm in this, the lift, which is like huge and I'm sure it was made of gold. And I'm in this lift, and then this posse all comes in full of bling everything.

[00:31:23] You holds a door open and then this group of people walk in with one really tall guy in the middle. Yeah. And the really tall guy in the middle is P Diddy. and he's like, Hey man, how you doing? I'm like, all right. Yeah. All right. And then the guy goes to what number? And I say number two. And PDD goes to me, ah, you win with Mr.

[00:31:40] Springsteen? And I'm like, yeah, that's right. And he's like, cool man. Yeah. Cool. Nice. So then, so then I get out two, I gotta walk through about 40 of them to get out of the lift on the ever. It was like, I think he just surrounded himself with like the shortest minders and poss he could possibly surround himself with.

[00:31:57] So he was really tall. But yeah, just the fact that he was like, ah, he knew straight away you're in, you know, if I'm going in there, then I must be in with Springsteen. Yeah. Couldn't get near Jackson on the bottom floor. Couldn't get anywhere near it, but yeah. What amazing experience, 26 years of age.

[00:32:14] you know, working with working with a great band, making a good record and Springsteen's on the album, you know? Yeah.

[00:32:20] It's, it's, it's really funny as well, like, just thinking about, obviously you mentioned about Dave Edmonds. I remember that time. I, it might have been on Wonder Days actually night Dave hopped in to ask you, borrow some headphones and you like Luke and Danny just at the back and go, yeah.

[00:32:34] I think Luke, Luke in the middle of a guitar and he's kind of playing and he looks up and all he can think of. That's Dave Edmonds. That's Dave, that's Dave Edmonds course. You can borrow headphones. Yeah. Can I borrow some headphones? just randomly turned it. That happens, like, you know, I've, I've been in the session before and like Robert Plant has just walked in and gone.

[00:32:53] Oh, I've come to pick a table at Kingsley. This is a really good story about . Just random things you.

[00:32:59] I love that story about like, was it Robert Plant buys a house in Mammoth and he rings up Kings. Have you got anything

[00:33:04] I can borrow? Yeah, any furniture. Furniture to go and he buys us real expensive house and wants Kingsley to fit one place I wouldn't go for furniture is probably Kingsley's House

[00:33:14] No. Yeah, you never noticed pop in and what they're gonna want you when you're setting Rutgers thinking. Yeah. There's

[00:33:19] like the, the reaction obviously, like Springsteen has thunder, haveve, and then whips, like goes out drinking with Dave and invites him around the studio the next day. And he was too hung over.

[00:33:28] Like Dave said, I was gonna pop in and see him and he was like, They're not here. , they're

[00:33:32] all asleep to whips. It was just a drinking partner, you know, . Yeah. Good times. But yeah, that's probably that, that's the pinnacle, isn't it? Where'd you go from being in New York with, with Springsteen and what guitar player, what singer?

[00:33:46] What, what, what a human being. Yeah, it's,

[00:33:48] that's it for another episode of this you call, We have one favor to ask and that is if you can leave us a rating and a review on the platform listening to, we'd really appreciate it and we'll see you all again

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