New Song: Sky Rocket

Similar instrumentation to Good Time, but with bigger vocal mix and a bit melancholy. I was trying to get a similar sound and structure to Good Time, as I thought that had worked really well, but this sounds quite different.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.

jb

New video for Whitehall.

Listen, like and share 🙂

We bought our flat last year in July. Moved in, and all was dandy. A bit of paint on the walls, and a man with a big machine to make the floor shine, and me, my dad and my mate Steven made a shed*.

Two weeks ago, we noticed a funny smell. Nothing too bad, but just a bit off. It wasn’t the bins. I checked for any recent kills from our resident killer cat, Rupert, but nothing. It was the fridge, It stopped working one day. The light came on (at least when we opened the door), but the cold had gone, and the food was stretching forward to hit its sell by date.

So we bought a new one and got some nice fellas to come and pop it in the fridge hole. £600 down, we were safe in the knowledge that the kitchen was once again in full working order. Cold got cold, hot got hot, and wet got wet.

Yesterday, halfway through cooking dinner, the oven broke.

Just; kapput. The lights came on, but that was half the problem, the thermostat light wouldn’t go out.

So this morning, I’ve made another purchase on the new AO account. Oven arrives on Friday.

Moral of the story; kithen lights are survivors.

*this post doesn’t include music, but does include one shed

I live on the Ladder. The Harringay Ladder in Hornsey. It’s the edgier step brother of Crouch End. Rather than TV actors and stand up comedians, the ladder has more under-the-radar movers and makers. DJs, musicians, mixologist, promoters, make-up artists, and consultant nurses comprise our immediate neighbours. And the shouty guy opposite, but he’s always nice to us.

Right next door is Jo. Jo’s a singer. We first started working on my songs, Jo offering some backing vocals, but that quickly advanced to lead vocals, then I got side-lined from the mic almost completely. I would record something new, play it to my wife Bron, and she would say, why don’t you get Jo to sing it? The message was clearly signposted. Then Jo sent me a recording of her playing her ukulele, singing a song she wrote during the darker days of lockdown, and she asked if I’d be interested in arranging it for recording.

Here it is.

We’ve since lined up a few more songs which we’re slowly working on. Lot’s of work to do before Jo moves to the countryside next year!

Jo Pinate sings backing vocals on Fail Better Then, and Light Up The Room, and lead vocals on Whitehall.
Andy Conroy plays guitar on Light Up The Room

The Last Parade is the first album I’ve ever released.

It was mostly written and all recorded in London during the Covid-19 2020 Lockdown.

The Last Parade was originally written about the end of term disco at Stratton School in Biggleswade. This caused havoc in finding rhymes, so this is completely new, but with some skewed memories of the past. I remember REM’s Everybody Hurts was playing as the lights came on.

Another Drink was written in 2000, but never released. Inspired whilst taking a tour of Phil Collins’ Parr Street recording studio in Liverpool. This might be a false memory.

Fail Better Then is based on the melody of a hymn called ‘How Great Thou Art’, but less church, and more late night lounge bar. Imagine God taking some time out, having an Old Fashioned at the bar, wondering what all the background noise is as the world goes to shit.

Light Up The Room was written in about 2007, but never released. Imagine me taking some time out, having a Martini at the bar, wondering who the slightly harried looking guy on the stool next to me is. Just then, someone walks in and lights up the room. Considering the company, this was unexpected.

Whitehall was inspired by the different responses to restlessness during the Covid-19 lockdown. In north London, there were illegal raves in parks and on barges, ruffians spoiling for a fight at Alexandra Palace, whilst would-be racers caused havoc on the South Terrace in their MX5s and souped up Golfs. Meanwhile, the more socially aware responded to the BLM movement to protest inequalities on Whitehall. 

I’m a man from north London, and if life was a day long, I’m at about 2.30pm; not young, but enjoying the afternoon sun with a post lunch negroni. I’ve always written and played music since I was a school-boy.  I would play ‘It’s a Sin’ by the Pet Shop Boys on my Yamaha DSR-2000 in assembly, to mostly bewildered and silent faces. I have a small home studio in north London, and I try to collaborate with other musicians when I can.   During the first lockdown period from April to June 2020, I wrote and recorded a short album called The Last Parade. I’m now working on a follow up called The Second Wave. Good Time is the new single.