Slashed Seat Affair

The mood is light hearted and witty banter flows, pausing briefly to go for another take and lighting straight up the second the last cymbal crash or piano chord fades away. We don’t take ourselves too seriously in the comfortable surroundings of Strongroom Studio 1. The pressure is off as the music flows on its own supernatural life force and from inside us, merging into one sound. I’m not suggesting its some sort of contrived divine inspiration or an unguided mystical path. The understanding and togetherness has developed on the live scene that took us anywhere from Camden to Cornwall over the last three years. The decision making process falls in place naturally due to the amiable, approachable and humble qualities of all band members and our producer Phil. Ideas are discussed openly and tried out but never shot down. We’ve parallel opinions at any rate. Phil’s ear for structure of rhythms has helped me achieve some of my best moments on the drums. The Mules/Michael song writing partnership has always produced music I consider to be of a high standard and always a pleasure to perform. I can’t stress how important this is for me as a musician. Your mind becomes firmly focused on the task. I find writing blogs more difficult than recording SSA songs. This is sounding more like a CV.

Overall it was an eventful weekend. Saturday after during a tea break, a full on raid by 30 gun carrying cops with sniffer dogs, took place across the road from the studio. They arrested some dodgy looking hoodies who were driving a blacked out Merc people carrier. None of them looked that inconvenienced, of course it happens every Saturday afternoon but ‘you’ll not pin anything on us, we know the law and we’ll be out come Sunday!’ On Sunday evening after a storming acoustic session we settled down for a meal in an American retro style diner. Paps distracted us with telescopic lenses pointing in through the windows. I glanced to my right and caught sight of a fellow Ashmolean, the talented singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse. She was kneeling up on a bench and she seemed to be enjoying some timeout with friends, a perfect picture of sobriety and definitely not the reckless druggie mess as so often you hear. She looks how she sounds, completely retro. She smells distinctly of strawberries and wears very little over her tiny frame on a cold night. Maybe she was courting media attention but I would too if given the opportunity.

Darren sent me a link to an interesting article on file sharing this week. Go to http://nymag.com/news/features/42391/. The music industry pays taxes like any industry. A part solution to illegal downloading is to raise awareness. A record company funded ad campaign with government approval informing file sharers they are stealing intellectual property, which is a criminal offense, might deter the moderates who think its ok as it’s only a computer file and their mates do it all the time. It’s got to be costing millions. I’ve not much sympathy for the mega rich artists with unreasonable amounts of money but spare a little change for the struggling talents out there that you like listening to. Push off pirates.

So there, I’ve finished my contribution to the album, seven days of bed awaits, give peace a chance! I can’t wait for you to hear our beautifully crafted debut album, I hope you like it as much as I do. Watch out for future releases of videos and tracks from our Sunday acoustic sessions, Ellie plays piano and sings on some tracks, which she does so well.

Rob.