the monkey in the mirror

When and why did you first write music? 

 It would be when I got my first guitar when I was 15. I thought it would attract the girls if I could sing some songs but I couldn’t sing anyone else’s (so I set out to write my own). Later I was told that I couldn’t sing - so I just concentrated on playing the guitar (even though I was terrible at that also - at first).

What’s your composing method? (a) sitting at a piano (b) computer (c) pencil on manuscript paper (d) improvisation with musicians (e) other. 

Mostly (e) Other - guitar, pen, various bits of paper, my voice. Normally I’ll have a few guitar parts sitting around for ages and then some ideas for a topic will come and then I’ll sit down and work at it until I have all the lyrical bits and all the instrumental bits stuck together in kind of the right place. Then once I can play it through I stop work on it. Jarvis was right - lyrics are kind of like the homework that has to be done so you can play the song - this is why I favour songs with repeated choruses, wordless lyrics..., working with other people to write either the music or the lyrics, or both. I spend a lot of time arranging, working on other people’s stuff, trying to find the useful thing for the guitar to do in the tune, or for any other instruments. I’m quite quick at writing lyrics - normally songs come very quickly but take a long time to be finished.

Usually I don’t write enough lyrics to tell a story - but perhaps enough to suggest that something is going on. Really I think you only need a few really good lines - and the rest just have to be good enough so that they don’t let the song down.

When I was in a band (bush house) playing electric guitar the bassist was incredibly inventive - whatever I played (or thought could be played behind it) he’d come up with something better, sometimes (though less often) other members of the band would come up with smart things and I’d respond to them. I’ve never really done improvised music and I don’t much like doing it really. I’ve written on computer (but I was always thinking about what the guitar, the bass or the lyrics would be doing) - it’s fun (it gets rid of a lot of that haggling with other musicians to get your ideas played that you get in male bands).

Music is an irrational activity so song-writing partnerships don’t tend to last long - the ease of recording that technology affords means the song can be quickly completed (and then it’s on to the next project). Now that you no longer need to be in a band to play some tunes they tend to stay together for less time.

Where do your ideas come from? 

 Life, books, newspapers, other people’s songs. I keep lists of good lines, good titles, ideas for playing things, ideas for songs, lyrics.

“Noah’ (which I co-wrote with Howard Grange) came because we were opening a book at random at picking out lines - once it was about Noah - once we had the chorus, the rest of the lyrics wrote themselves - for me it’s about loss, the world has been swept clean and can begin again but somebody is missing. The chords came (both verse and chorus) because they fitted with the ukulele part. Howard wanted a longer version of the song with more lyrics and a bigger overall production on it - so we did a version like that that’s on volume one - but there’s also a shorter version arranged much more how I would like it online (we’ll probably put it on my EP when i get round to recording it). The second guitar I wrote in the studio and started improvising out over the end of it - I’ve always been interested in layering guitar parts, it’s something I picked up from african music and my brief studies with Folo Graff at Jenako Arts in Hackney in about 1988.

Do you find inspiration from other composers? Which? 

Since about 2002 I’ve started learning other people’s songs from sheet music, chord guides etc. and listening to more classical music and learning some of it (or at least trying). In particular french classical music written for the piano- debussy, satie, faure, messiaen. Conversely I’ve worked on learning country and folk songs because they are straightforward - the guitar is just there to support the singing and singing has become more important to me than fiddly guitar parts. In general I’ve been inspired to simplify.

Which non-musical influences are important to your music?

Life, books, newspapers, politics, sex, death. Death is big (I’m a bit of a goth really).

What do you say when asked to describe your music?

 ‘Post-apocalyptic folk’, ‘I play in a guitar and ukulele duo’, ‘Slide guitar versions of french parlor piano.’ 

Do you think about the listener when you’re composing?

Not really. Sometimes I imagine me playing it and people really liking it.

When did you feel ready to call yourself a composer? 

 Well I don’t. I don’t really call my self a song-writer either (I just don’t write enough songs). Musician for hire - Guitar, Bass, one finger keyboard, backing vocals, arrangements.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure? 

Metal. Big cock-rocking guitar solos. Gangster Rap. R n’ B. Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes, Mike Oldfield, ECM airbrushed jazz ... I’ve always been told I had ‘bad’ taste in music. I can’t say I care very much. 

What’s your ideal night out?

Old school Drum and Bass - I like to dance. Failing that a decent pub dancefloor. Failing that beer and friends. These days staying in and not having the hangover the next day.

One last question: What are you doing musically at the moment? 

Working on singing a version of world turned upside down for the phoenix 35th anniversary party (and learning the lyrics), working on a slowed down version of bad moon rising by creedence (strangely apocalyptic), failing to finish writing a song that’s a cross between ghost town/ mac the knife and erik satie’s gnossienne no.1.

Failing to get on and record an EP with me singing and playing new versions of songs I’ve written, co-written or arranged, country, folk and early music. Plenty of Death and a little sex maybe. And slide guitar versions of french parlor piano songs.