Origin Story Album Pre-Order Project

Earlier in 2021 I successfully crowdfunded for the remix and restoration of an unreleased album (Lay it Bare by my old band Taller Than).  Encouraged by the success of this project and the overwhelmingly positive response of fans to the old material I wrote back then I've decided to put together another album of previously unreleased recordings.   This time I've gone back to my archive of cassette and DAT tapes, CD-R's and 1/2" tape masters to curate a collection of songs that have lain mostly undisturbed and unheard since 1997.   Digging past this treasure to find assets to support the Taller Than project reminded me of the great material from bands that I've been a part of as far back as 1994 and it is from there that the idea for this record was born.  

All my life I've been blessed to work with exceptional musicians, albeit mostly in bands that you've probably never heard of!  To help with context I've put together a timeline and a potted history for you - 

1994-1996 Afterglow

1996-1997 Mother Sugar

1998-2006 Taller Than

I first joined Afterglow in the winter of 1993/94.  The band was comprised of singer Chris Meikle, organist Simon Dent, bassist Andy 'Sharky' Clark and drummer Ash Staff ) whose family owned a plot of land which had on it an old caravan 'the caravan of dreams' that we used to rehearse in.  After an fantastic first rehearsal we very quickly put together a set of great tunes which we played all over the North East before organist Simon and I eventually departed to form the band Mother Sugar with his brother Paul and my brother Graeme along with pianist Dave James and drummer Tony Bimbi.  This was a really powerful outfit with great songs and a lot of potential but after a year the pressures of navigating personal relationships as well as sonic space in a six piece took their toll on Graeme and I so we chose instead to leave, teaming up with drummer Mick Kelly to work on a more streamlined sound.  Work by the resulting power trio Taller Than will be familiar to my previous crowdfunding exploits (thanks to the restored Lay It Bare album project) but there were many other early tracks which didn't make it onto that album for whatever reason and are well worthy of inclusion on a new album.  Both Afterglow (later renamed Modeliste) and Mother Sugar went on to gain further success (and notoriety!) after my personal departure from them and I urge you to try to track down their later material as some of it is really fantastic stuff!

After much consideration and reviewing of the old material available I've decided to choose a total four songs from each band for this album, three from each band.

The main difference between the Lay it Bare record and this new Origin Story project is that I've chosen to re-record the songs (with MRB stalwart Darren Lee on drums).  The decision to do this was twofold, let me explain - 

Firstly, unlike the Taller Than album I don't have the original multitrack tapes of any of the sessions, just a rather motley collection of tapes and stereo masters, so working with the original audio is out of the question.  Although I do actually have studio recordings of some of the songs the quality is sub-standard due to equipment shortfalls back in the day as well as physical degradation of the media so restoration isn't really an option. All that remains of some of the other songs are scratchy, low quality recordings made in rehearsal rooms or bedrooms which are quite unreleasable in any form really but which have served their purpose well in that they've held their remembrance of the songs safely until the moment where they might see new life! 

Secondly, although the songs are of what I consider to be a high standard, some of the arrangements (and performances - including some of my own!) could certainly be improved on so where necessary I've re-arranged the material into what I now consider to be 'ultimate' guises.

Afterglow are represented by a set of tracks that span my lifetime within that band,  beginning with the most blues wailing Universal Swing (that I remember playing at our first rehearsal) and ending with the brutal riff and uplifting chorus of the Dent/Meikle composition Seabirds.  Also to be found on Origin Story will be the Doors-influenced Sunshine Thru The Rain and possibly my favourite song by that band Acceptance - the chorus of which I've been haunted by for over 25 years!

Fans of the songs Loveslide and Hammer found on previous releases of mine are in for a treat - four more unheard songs from that master songwriter, Mother Sugar frontman Paul 'Den' Dent.  His compositions absolutely burst with soulful grooves and powerful lyrical reflections, Ships Pass Me By and Broken Angel are the undiscovered siblings of Hammer & Loveslide and I'm gloriously happy with our 2021 versions.  The Weller-esque strut of Pale Blue Skies and the uber-soul of Right Through The Seasons round out this collection of stellar songs.

Some rare Taller Than material is well represented here, one of which (Die Trying) is a complete undiscovered gem as it was never played live or recorded other than in rehearsal.  Chinese Eyes (the 'grandparent' of my solo song Leviathan if you like) is another fave of mine from those times and the new version just bristles with menace - chock full of growling Hammond organ and soaring vocals.  It Grows On You can be found as a bonus track on the digital release of my first album Spindrift but it was originally intended to be full of aggressive electric guitars which I've greatly enjoyed layering up on the new version. Lastly, The Little Man (which is an ode to Mother Sugar manager Colin Clough) finally gets its whirling Leslie guitar sound and a mix which reprises the feel of Hammer from my album The Clovis Limit Pt.2.

Aside from Darren on drums and some piano work from Dave James (original pianist in Mother Sugar) the rest of instruments have been played by me at my Tonecan Studio and I can't wait for you all to hear the results!

If you have time to watch the full length interview conducted by Adam Hayward as part of his 'Narrative in Motion' series then you'll get a much deeper sense of the background of this campaign, you'll find it here 

The worldwide COVID pandemic continues to harass & harry us all and musicians in particular have struggled to make ends meet during these debilitating and disheartening times.  I've been incredibly grateful for all the support I've received from my friends, family & fans over the last 18 months and I hope that you will choose to support what will hopefully be the last of my 'lockdown-era' projects.  That's not to say I won't continue to release music of course.  The hidden gift of the past year and a bit has been that it's given me time to curate and re-present some of the most important landmarks in my musical past and they greatest reward of all for me is the joy I hear reflected from your experience of the music I create.  All of the songs I've chosen for inclusion on this album have special significance to me, be it musically or lyrically (or both!) and I'll be telling more of my stories about the songs as the project unfolds. 

The funds raised from this project will go towards the production and manufacture of the final recording, essentially this a pre-order campaign that will allow me to finally give these songs the high quality representation that they've been denied of for so long!