Man Cleans Steps With Henry

Talleyrand, Manchester, 27th April

 

Knowle Constitutional Club, May 5th

 

Chefs Album Doings

In between recording and meeting friends, I've been sorting out various things with Ian from the label Damaged Goods for our Chefs vinyl release. It's going to be a double album, without the Skat songs (although Femme Fatale will be there, from our Richard Skinner session); the unreleased album will be there, warts and all (there are a few of those: almost inaudible vocals on some of the tracks), plus the track Locked Out from the WNW6 album. The email communication line is red-hot with details which have to be checked and double checked. It's incredibly useful having taught a music industry law module during lockdown, though at times like this I wish I had a manager to sort out all the advantages taken by huge publishing companies. Energy vampires, they are, gobbling up the energy that creative people put into the world and trying to leave them as dried up husks by the roadside as they prowl around looking for their next juicy victims.

Still, today I've succeeded in making a demo for what I think will be the last of the tracks for my own next album. I've rejected a few of the songs already, and may possibly invite a previous reject back into the fold, but it sounded meek in comparison to some of the others. Tomorrow will be the last day of working on them for a week or so, because I'll need to start rehearsing the McCookerybook and Rotifer songs for our gig in ten days supporting Jasmine Minks, and I also need to sort out some gig dates around some orphan venue shows. 

Tube workers, Embankment

This was last January, the day before the residency at Earl's Court started. I'd explained to the tube workers what I was about to do, asked if I could photograph them to draw, and they said yes. I spend an hour on each of these drawings, and will have to choose simpler subjects- it's frustrating to want to re-draw and finish some parts of them. Listening to Riley and Coe as usual, with an absolutely hilarious track by Vic Reeves called I Remember Punk Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVF_Pui1lAs

Salvation Army Band, Princes Street, Edinburgh, On A Cold Day

 

Nail

That guitar-pickin' fingernail! I wonder if I can go into a nail bar and ask them for just one fingernail?

I want to get on with my recording; I've been editing a lot today but need some fresh playing on the songs. I also have a gig with Robert in two weeks. The offending nail grew back, but now it's splitting again. I'd think it was a diet issue, if all of my other fingernails weren't completely fine. 

I worked on one of Gina's songs this morning, and have backing-vocalled my own songs to extinction, at least to the point at which I have to stop because it's so hard to subtract music from music: you have to build it like a house of cards and not let it topple over.

It really does have to be guitar next. 

John Singer Sargent at Tate Britain

Hobnobbing with the stars (or at least, the rich), Singer Sargent had access to beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes, and became an absolute expert in conveying sumptuous wealth in all its glory. Not all of his subjects were conventionally beautiful, but he painted them all as if they were. My favourite painting is there: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. Now there's a song title, if I ever heard one! I remember being really upset because I read somewhere that the little girls were actually little boys, but in this exhibition they are girls. I felt like he had painted me, outside in the greenery, concentrating. It's absolutely fantastic.

He was good at hands and ears (I noticed because I'm finding them particularly difficult to represent at the moment), and also the fact that most people don't have matching eyes. It was mildly upsetting that the only woman who didn't have a name was the Japanese one, an unfinished painting, but the fact that she didn't have a name like the Western women emphasised the snootiness and privilege of the more formal paintings.

That being said, there was a wonderful painting of Vernon Lee (or Violet Paget as she was known as), a lesbian who preferred to reject as much femininity as possible. The painting took only an hour to do, apparently.

Albumphobia

I've now got to the point with two of the songs where I'm thinking 'But the other songs are going to sound crap compared to these'. 

It's because I've been sitting there editing and editing on one of them (still not finished yet), to get everything tight and lined up. What started off being quirky and floppy is now sounding smart. No lead vocals yet, because of the wind blowing the pollen around so much, but...

Dammit, I've just remembered that I meant to tidy up the backing vocals of another song before I stopped for the night, but I guess I can start with that one tomorrow morning. Editing is weird: I dread it, but as soon as the song is up on the screen I get as absorbed by it as I do with playing guitar, and time just flies. It's like digging really deep into the song and coming out the other end with a layer of it on you like a tree ring or something; you're almost wearing it. And it's amazing how much difference shifting a note a nanosecond along the timeline makes in terms of sonic power.

I've got a really good 'bad girl' song but I think it might be a bit too gruesome for this album, which so far is wearing its anger lightly. That's not to belittle the anger, but more to emphasise the subtlety of the way it's expressed.

Roll on tomorrow, more vocals and a guitar part to repair. All bits, bits, bits until the lead vocal holds it all together and makes it into a song!

Singinginginging

Well, I've been singing today, and playing guitar. What a pain in the botty to have to re-string my guitar yesterday but miracle of miracles, it was bang in tune this morning. I'm not sure if it's made that much difference, apart from a morale boosting one. 

I started with singing some harmonies for a lovely song of Gina's which I've probably sung too much on, but at least she has plenty to choose from. I thought that might be all that I did today so I went outside and did a bit of gardening, or yardening as I prefer to call it, snipping the spent yellow flowers from the small and beautiful New Zealand tree that's waiting to be re-potted in a humongously giant pot. It was me and the bees (they love it). If I was an entomologist, I'd count the bee varieties around the tree because there are loads, possibly all the bees that are missing from everywhere else in the world: honey bees, bumble bees, furry black ones. I dodged them as much as I could in case I got stung, then bottled out and did a bit of pruning instead. It looked so horrible and straggly out there about a week ago, but everything has started growing and it is my favourite garden in the universe, so small and imperfectly formed.

Sometimes I look around and think 'Why is everyone so much richer than me?'. This is perfectly counterbalanced by the times I look around and think 'Why is everyone so much poorer than me?'. I've concluded that it's so anxiety-inducing comparing oneself to other people that it's best not to do it. I have health problems, like a lot of other people. I worry a lot about the health and wellbeing of not only people close to me but also those far away. Music and art are therapy for these things. 

It's possible to be fabulously angry in a song and know you've hit the nail on the head lyrically, which is a million times more legal than hitting the person on the head literally. It's possible to be tender in a drawing and to show how much you value undervalued people. This makes you feel engaged, if not powerful.

There was a fair bit of mud to scrub from my hands, which is possibly why my fingernails keep breaking. But I went back and did some guitar repairs then the singing devil got into me and I did some backing vocals on a song that I vowed not to do backing vocals on; I should know by now that it's always the best thing to do.

Hay fever has made me wheezy and although I'd like to never stop recording ever, it's time for Come Dine With Me and a tempting pile of crisps. Looks like a thoroughly awful group of people! Tally-ho!

Wiping Tables At The Laing Art Gallery

This is last night's drawing.  There's something not right about his arm, but some drawings are made to learn from. As usual I was listening to Gideon Coe's show on BBC6, but this time a lot later than normal. Funny how you get to recognise people's music and voices immediately. He played everything from Swansea Sound to Extreme Noise Terror last night, an utterly different palette of music to the night before.

Anyway, this chap was wiping tables in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle about 18 months ago. There wasn't time to colour him (the drawings take an hour, or in this case, less). It would be lovely to go to life drawing classes again, but it's unaffordable at the moment and making drawings from photographs will have to do for now. 

Bandcamp Friday

I found this preview online of the gig we're doing at The Cumberland Arms in Byker at the end of the month: The Girl With The Replaceable Head, David Lance Callahan and me. I think it's going to be a zinger! what I like about this is that the writer acknowledges the fact that I produced the Drawing on my Dreams album, and that means a lot.

Mandy Austin told me on Saturday that Steve Lillywhite (the producer) still really likes Beachwalk and said it was one of his favourite tracks from last year. What a huge compliment! 

It's weird starting to build the foundations of the next album. I really didn't think I'd do another one, but then the songs turned up and tapped me on the shoulder. I have the tedious task of re-stringing my guitar this weekend because after recording the demos I'm ready to replace those original ones with the 'proper' versions. I have asked Lester Square to guest on one of the tracks too: I'm not sure about other guests this time around. 

The problem is, I start inventing little riffs and I've already started playing them into the songs. Yesterday, I started adding backing vocals. Because I don't like 'oohs' and have already done some 'aahs', I decided to hum instead. I'd got halfway through the second harmony and started sneezing uncontrollably, couldn't stop and had to pack up for the day. Who knew that humming triggered sneezing? You live and learn.

Anyway, today is Bandcamp Friday and here is Drawing on my Dreams, with the track Beachwalk on it. Please do invest in a copy to cheer you up on this grey rainy day! https://helenmccookerybook.bandcamp.com/album/drawing-on-my-dreams

Leicester Market, Last Thing

 

Morning Prayers

Commuters one winter morning at Embankment Station on the District and Circle Line, heading west. Nearly everyone is completely absorbed in their phone.

Rachel Love and the Lovables, Panic Pocket, and Me

This is almost difficult to review because it was such a good night. It was an absolute delight to be opening this gig, because of playing a good few gigs with the Dollymixtures way back in time, and having been aware of Panic Pocket for a long time and not actually ever having seen them. It was an early start, and that could have been a worry but audience members started showing up even before the doors opened. There was such a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, mingled in with a bit of a buzz of excitement. Amanda Austin came to do the door, and she knows us all anyway. Three cheers for my own friends and family, who showed up in force, and also a couple of surprises- Rowen, Tom and Jo, Mandy and Simon, and Alex. Hello Caryne and Dave, Damian, Isobel, Andy, James and Jenny! I felt very well supported from the start, and Tony the promoter did the perfect intro, where he actually invited the audience to step forward towards the stage.

This broke the ice straight away. Every kind of people was there: some from the Old Days, some from the New Days, and according to Amanda, a few guests from the local Youth Hostels who had come along on spec. This was a night when I could happily play Women of the World and know that it would resonate with people; and Three Maple Men, which I rarely play, had an unexpected resonance with a woman in the audience, whose Mum had moved to the USA from England when she was fourteen.

Panic Pocket's sound is unique: they have a blend of electronica and electric guitar, topped by an almost country vocal sound (with occasional girl-group harmonies). This means that they span simultaneously retro and very contemporary definitions of song writing, and they were intriguing to listen to, especially because of their very smart lyrics. They are definitely worth seeing; there are layers of meaning in their music and lyrics that make them a band you could se more than once and hear entirely different things each time.

And headlining the night, the wonderful Rachel and her boys. They were great at the Lexington, and even better here, a more intimate venue that they filled with their positive vibe. But they have also been rehearsing a lot. Indie audiences don't necessarily expect bands to be tightly-rehearsed, because sometimes this implies a slickness that ruins the feel and spontaneity of the music, but in this case the band provided a sure and firm foundation for Rachel's own playing and singing. This time you could hear even more clearly the care that had gone into the arrangements of the instrumentation and vocals. Weirdly I felt incredibly proud, not just to have been on this bill, but of women song writers, and also the women of our generation who are still out there creating music. I look at all this positivity as an antidote to the horrors of real life, which of course we are processing in our lyrics while giving people a night out. Rachel's songs are, and always have been, really special. What a privilege to share a stage again after all these years. 

Shouts out to Debsey, who was going to be singing but had a sore throat, to all the musicians, to Tony for organising it, to my pals and family for being there, to the chap who draws my portraits from photos and who brought along some more, to the woman who said I sounded like Pentagram then swiftly realised that she meant Pentangle (and  got a CD for her mum), to the woman who got a CD for her four-year-old niece, and last but not least, to the venue cook who said he really liked my voice. Now that's a real compliment.

Hear Rachel below- I lost my grip on my camera halfway through because I was trying to dance and film at the same time!