Tempting Fate with the Commentator's Curse...

So, this is where it all started getting complicated. Rehearsals were over and we were just two weeks from the recording session in London - and that is when a chunk of shit flew within inches of the fan, we knew then that something was wrong. As it turned out the problem was at the studio end of the piece, Dave was in the process of juggling his kit in between studios, and as these things seldom run smoothly he was becoming increasingly aware that his studio would not be fully functional by the time we arrived in the big city. With this in mind he began a search for an appropriate alternative.

Eventually the message came back that we could have the four days in Shambles Studio at White City – the news that it was the former private studio of Joe Strummer not only coated the news with a fair old layer of icing but pretty much put a cherry on the top as well.

Come Friday morning, we headed towards London from all points of the compass. It was a dull and miserable day in the west of Wales and took me three hours to even reach the motorway, but by the time I ambled up Scrubs Lane the sun was cracking the flags and the boys were pretty much all set up. I ran into Steven, Stuart and Sam in the car park, and through the open fire escape door I could hear Steve giving the drums a thorough working over. It seemed to go on forever, but being aware that Dave Allen was the man who had allegedly spent two weeks getting the drum sound right for The Cure we were not overly concerned. After a while however, Dave decided that the kick drum on Steve’s kit just wasn’t up to the part, and so he and I set off on a mad dash around all parts of Kilburn to collect a Gretsch kick drum and a Fender Precision bass for Sam to have a crack at. The band used the time to have a run through of a few of the songs selected for this weekend in the live room.

Incidentally, the songs lined up for recording were: Kay’s Catalogue, Poster Boy [formerly Clanger], Blink [formerly Stuffy], I Was a 97 Pound Weakling [formerly This Kills], Silent Kisses for Quiet Goodbyes, and While I Played Misty for You. It was an ambitious collection, but with a fair wind behind us we should get the rhythm parts complete and some guitar parts down – that was the plan anyway.

The afternoon went well, with Kay’s and Poster Boy being sketched out, a re-write of some of the parts on the latter meant it was a bit time consuming, but well, it’s worth getting it right so the investment is worthwhile.

At the end of the first day we were all really pleased with the way Dave was working, his methods were different to how the band had worked before, but proved productive, entertaining and insightful – the fact that he was the man responsible for moulding the sound of much of the soundtrack to out teens also helped.

We pack up for the day and all six of us squeeze into Dave’s Mondeo, he drops us off at Shepherd’s Bush [where we are staying the first night] and we arrange to meet half an hour later in the Defecting Weld pub. We spend ages wondering what the hell a defecting weld is before we tire of knowledge and get onto drinking. Unfortunately Dave gets refused entry by the over zealous bouncers and we don’t see him again until the morning. After a few drinks I go in search of food, the best I can find is some fried chicken from a place called ‘Bush Chicken’ – I kid you not. It tastes of neither bush, nor chicken, but it’s late and I head for our hostel and turn in.

Shortly after the rest of the band come in and settle for the night, within minutes Stuart is snoring like an asthmatic stag, it goes on relentlessly until through the darkness a continental accent yells ‘oh just shut up, please’. It makes no difference, but it makes me smile…