Collaborations
- Simon Townshend
- Co-producer with Simon Townshend on many studio projects with Ben Townshend, Mark Brzezicki, Zak Starkey and Lyndsay King. Toured as guitarist in the Simon Townshend Band.
We did the pre production for 'Among us' at my old studio in Ealing then went on to Simon's Woodgrange studio for the rest. Ben Townshend put down drum tracks and we built it from there. Simon recorded acoustic guitar rhythm tracks and I added Bass - Keyboards and Lead Guitar. Simon also added electric and some lead parts. All vocals by Simon and Ben. Some very strong material on this album and Casbah Club are playing a lot of it on their current tour.
The 'Ages' CD was recorded entirely at Woodgrange and we wanted to do something drastic with the sound on this one. We decided to go back to the early recording techniques and just use 2 ambient microphones in each top corner of the drum booth. This gave the drums a much more real sound and although it was a little hard to control levels it was a big success. Close miking can make drums sound cold and too isolated. Again Simon added acoustics and we built the recordings up in much the same way. Ben added tambourine in places and all three of us did vocal harmonies before Simon put the lead vocals on. I'm particularly proud of the sound on these recordings, wonderful, rich and warm.
Some of the material on the 'Simontownshendis' compilation album we recorded at Metropolis studios in Chiswick. This time Mark Brzezicki was on drums. Josh Philips played keyboards. I played guitar with Simon and we recorded it much more like a band. Vocals and overdubs were then added.
We played quite a few club gigs in the late nineties, culminating in a headline show at the Astoria Theatre - London.
- The three CDs are 'Among Us' 'Ages' and 'Simontownshendis'. All on Stir records. Copies can be bought at www.simontownshend.com
- Pat Orchard
- I played piano and arranged strings on several CDs with Pat Orchard including, 'Ten Flags' 'Clearwater Days' 'Southern Skies' and 'Outside'. Pat and me go back a long way. He originally came to me for string arrangements and we initially recorded several songs at tlp studios in Ealing.
Pat's unique guitar style opened up some very interesting arrangements with piano and strings. Over the years I have played on and co-produced many of Pat's albums and in the late 1980s we toured together using an akai sampler to recreate the string sounds.
We also toured with an electric line up called Veni Vidi Vici. I played guitar along with Pat and produced the first album. Buj Stapley played drums and Julian Dyke was the bass player and vocalist. I've always loved Pat's sensitive songwriting style. Copies can be bought at www.patorchard.com
- Ajantamusic
- I worked with Paul and Robin Simon (Ultravox) collectively known as Ajanta Music on their first and second albums.
I have known these two for a long time. I first worked with Paul Simon at my first small studio in Isleworth. We went our own ways for a while before getting together for some John Foxx recording sessions and more recently for Paul's latest project. Ajanta Music. The first album is an unusual blend of electro and ethnic rhythms and beats with evocative top lines from guitar and keyboards. I played keyboards and programmed some of the percussion tracks. Robin Simon added some amazing guitar tracks before Paul and I mixed the material. The album has been very well received and the guys are out performing it.
Copies of the first album 'And now we dream' available at www.ajantamusic.com
- Alison Fleming - Co-Writer - All of the Above
- For many years now I have had a very special working relationship with singer-songwriter Alison Fleming
Alison spent much of her childhood writing strange poetry. As she grew older she wrote music to her words and soon became a songwriter with a unique style. Her writing is unsurpassed by today's writers in the pop field due to it's original, captivating and timeless nature. I approached Alison to add material to the All of the Above project on which she also sings. She has added her own style and magic to the album. Her refreshing use of lyrics and melody adds a unique quality and her voice is hauntingly beautiful. We are now half way through recording the follow up. All of the Above at my space music
- Other recording and live work
- Julian Lennon - The Pet Shop Boys - David Cross - John Foxx - Phil Ramone - BBC Children in Need - Visage - Belouis Some - Rusty Egan - Dave Formula - Mark Stent - Bruce Wooley - Paul Simon - Dave Bronze - Nicola Hitchcock - Julien Clerc - Danelle Harvey - Rukiza Okera - Robert Fripp - Toyah Willcox - Ben Chapman - Soulseekerz - Poppy Gonzales - Pooka - Nazia - Tim Rice - Demis Rousos - B Movie - Stephen Short - Ajanta Music - findthepixie - Modern English - Billy Nicholls - Frankie Howerd - Jose Charles - Blue Weaver - Cerrone - Frank Stallone - Sid Owen and Patsy Palmer and has appeared on TV worldwide with Aretha Franklin - Genesis - The Commodores and Kim Wilde.
