WEBVTT - Paul Carrack 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.760 Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Bob Left That podcast. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.800 My yesterday is fall care full. Good to happen here, Huck? 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.440 How good? So you have a new album one on one. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.040 What inspires you to continue to write and record new 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.080 music in this crazy musical era? I'm not sure. I 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.200 do ask myself that same question every now and again. 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.320 I think there's a couple of things. Um A, I've 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.320 on a bit of a mission to have my own 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.760 body of work. Um you know, I've been in a 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.640 several bends, as you probably know, and I've had the 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.720 great pleasure and honor to play with some fantastic people 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.720 over the years, even song you know, lead vocal on 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.720 some you know, quite well known song and everything. But 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:03.880 I realized I came to the conclusion that I didn't 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:08.240 have um any rights to a lot of these things. 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.920 And also I just wanted to have my own, my 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:17.280 own body of work, my own catalog. Yeah, that's one reason. 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.680 Let's talk about body work. Especially about eighteen months ago, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:25.120 you put out five live albums simultaneously. Tell me the 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.920 back story there. Well, the backstory is that for I 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.000 guess for the last twenty years of a of a 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:37.880 very long career. I started to release my solo stuff 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:45.160 on my own label. It's a very small time thing. Um. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:51.720 But we also started to record um our live shows. 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:57.080 I mean I've done. I started touring constantly to established 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.840 myself because even back then, nobody knew to who the 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.200 hell Paul Carrot was. They may have known the songs 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.120 or the voice or what have you been, I didn't 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.360 know the name. So we started to record all the shows. 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.000 And my good friend, a guy called Peter Van Hook 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.720 is kind of I guess you would call him a manager. Um, 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.959 he's my mate basically of thirty odd years. Okay, now, 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.800 he ultimately was a musician. Then he produced records with 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.760 Rod Origin. How do you know Peter van Hook? Well, 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.680 I first met Peter when at the beginning of the 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:35.640 Mike and the Mechanics project. Peter was the drummer, original 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.919 drummer in Mike and the Mechanics. He was a very 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.000 kind of busy session guys back in those days when 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.200 sessions were the thing, and he played I think for 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.359 about ten years with Van Morrison and I met him 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.800 at the photo session for the Mike and the Mechanics 0:02:53.840 --> 0:03:01.520 album and I took an instant disliked okay, because he 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.800 was talking away in this he was talking to the 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.720 keyboard player Adrian Lee in this language. I didn't understand. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.600 It was all about Middy and all that sort of stuff, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.000 and I had not yet been introduced to Middy. I 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:22.680 was still very low tech. But anyway, that's when I 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.960 met Pete and but I got to know him and 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.280 really love him on as I got to know him, 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:35.080 and he's my biggest fan, is my biggest supporter. He 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:39.320 had the unenviable task of sifting through all these recordings 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.720 and and and put together this sort of compilation of 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:48.080 life stuff. I be honest with you, I've not heard 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.680 a lot of it because I understand that you understand good. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.120 I mean, if I write something, I don't reread it. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:04:02.560 It's too crazy, exactly exactly, okay, But I five albums simultaneously, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.440 and what has been the reception there too, We had 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:11.720 a pretty good response to it. Actually, Um, why five albums? 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.240 I don't know, You'll have to ask him. I mean, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:18.640 we've been, as I said, on a mission to establish 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:24.440 myself as a singer songwriter independently, and it's involved a 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.160 lot of gigs. So we've we've recorded a lot of shows. 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.480 There's been a lot of songs. I mean, I don't know. 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.760 Somebody told me it's something like seventeen or eighteen albums 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.400 we've released on my own label, so we have a 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.880 lot of songs. Well, I will say, on those five 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.760 live albums and I'm talking to I'm talking to you, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.160 do sound like kype like I'm blowing smoke up your 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:54.320 rear around. They're phenomenal. I mean really the only problem 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.880 with those albums is people haven't heard of because I'm 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.320 surprised at the quality of the live performance, almost like 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:06.920 a studio performance. Well I'm surprised. Um, that's that's good 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.920 to know. Maybe I should give them a listen. But 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.680 as I say, we've made quite a few albums in 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.280 the in the studio. But as you say, they're not 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.680 really that well known in the States, which is to 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.919 my great regrets. Okay, let's go back to go twenty 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.560 years ago, going independent. Tell me that story. Well, Um, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:35.880 you know, I I just meandered along there for many years. 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.120 As I said, got to play with a lot of 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:44.560 great people. I'd made one or two albums for several 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.320 record companies, and the case would usually be that would 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:53.880 make an album. They'd released a couple of singles and 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.599 then I'd move on or they dropped me. It's probably 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.800 the way it really was. And I got to the 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.160 point where I thought that I made it. I started 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.640 to make an album here at home. It's called Satisfy 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.880 My Soul. And I liked the way it sounded. I 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.719 just and I didn't like the thought of having to 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.720 go around to record companies trying to hawk it because 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.839 I knew what they would say, Well, it's fine, but 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:22.800 you know, maybe you need to do this, or maybe 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:27.599 you need to that or the other. And I liked 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.920 it the way it was. And this guy, Peter van Hook, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.000 he said he had some experience, he had had a 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.839 little jazz label, and he said, well, why don't you 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.920 just do it yourself, just release it yourself. And at 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.920 the time it was a bit scary because people weren't 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.680 really doing that and I had no idea how you 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:52.240 released a record. Um, but we did it. We we 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.640 just started. It was, as I say, very small time. 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.279 We just got it an independent radio plugger to take 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.320 the record around and we got a a great airplay 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.919 on the mainstream radio here in the UK, and things 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.640 sort of you know grew from that. Okay, let's go 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.800 back to something you said earlier, the body of work. 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.720 I understand, But what was your motivation at this point 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.360 in your life to want to create a body of work? Well, 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:23.640 there were several things. I mean, as I said, I 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:29.080 realized that I had contributed to a lot of other 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:33.120 projects and other people's careers, and I was happy to 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.840 do that. I was just happy to be involved in 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:42.480 music and I loved it, every minute of it. Um. 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.640 But when I started this little label of mine, and 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.680 I wanted to release a compilation of stuff that I've 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.040 done over the years, and I was happy to license 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.760 it from and pay the royalties to the to the majors. 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.080 But then a couple of things happened. And when that 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.040 I wanted that there were a couple of tracks, significant 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:07.400 tracks that I've been involved with, and I wasn't allowed 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.160 to license them and put them on my And that's 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.840 that's kind of when the penny really dropped and I thought, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.240 you know, I need to have my own stuff that 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.840 I control and then and that's mine. Okay, so twenty 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.760 years ago, you start your own label. Traditionally, musicians are 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:28.480 good musicians. They're not good business people. There's a lot 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.199 of business involved in running your own label. Who does 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:37.840 that business? Well? As I said, it's it started on 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.960 a very small time level. Um, I didn't really have 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.199 a clue how it worked, how they're not some bolts 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:50.839 of it worked, but it was quite simple. We uh 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:55.400 just got a distribution kind of deal, you know, somebody 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.280 who was prepared to put this stuff out. And we 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:04.000 employ Lloyd, a couple of independent radio pluggers that we 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.280 had worked with in the in the other bands and 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:12.079 that we knew well. And we started from there. And 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.080 I'm was quite prepared to get my hands dirty. I'm 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:24.920 from a very kind of working class northern upbringing. My 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.920 folks actually were kind of independent inasmuch as my father 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.880 was what you call a painter and decorator, you know, 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:36.800 you would paint people's houses. And my mom ran a 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:41.160 small store where we sold paint and wallpaper. And we 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.360 lived in the back of the store in a in 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.120 a one room at the back with two bedrooms in 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.160 an attic at the outside, toilet and no bathroom and 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.400 all that sort of stuff. And I saw my folks, 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.200 you know, after kind of what they'd gone through, who 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.760 they've gone through, the Depression and then World War two, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:06.280 and and they work their backsides off just to make things. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:12.000 So I definitely saw how hard they worked, and and 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.360 it's kind of in my genes too. I was prepared to, 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.240 as I say, get my hands dirty and and and 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:22.760 and try and build something. Okay, So your first experience 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:27.160 with the first independent label, do you feel, in terms 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.760 of the effect of the independent as you put its 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.120 song pluggers, etcetera, that you got as good as shot 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:39.760 as you got when you were a label. Um, probably 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:41.800 got as good as shot as I did as a 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.560 solo artist, but I'm not as as with the bands. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.800 I mean, for example, Mike and the Mechanics. Of course, 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:53.160 Mike is the guitar player in Genesis, and so they 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.520 had a lot of help from record companies. You know, 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.800 we had TV spots and the record were given a 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.679 real good chance, and we had great airplace. So no, 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.240 I wasn't getting that. I didn't have that kind of clout, 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:12.160 but I had a little bit of momentum from involvement 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:18.720 with this such as them, and and it grew, it 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.839 really grew. I mean it wasn't my intention to Um, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.160 I've never chased I never wanted to be famous or 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:30.360 anything like that. But I just wanted to uh survive 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.240 and make music and have a good band and do 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.920 my shows and make my albums, as simple as that. Okay, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.920 so you're making your albums, you're paying for the whole thing. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.280 So what kind of budget for one of these albums 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:49.400 is there? Well, um, for example, with the first one, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.560 UH Satisfy my Soul, I made it here at home, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.920 and I played more or less everything on the record, 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.320 and I engineered it myself. So it didn't cost a 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.800 whole lot to make the record, but as it doesn't 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:05.800 these days, if you kind of know what you're doing, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.440 but you know, the problem is, or the difficulty is 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.800 to get it hurt. And so as an independent in 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:19.160 the UK, it wasn't too difficult because I had a 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:24.440 little bit of history and the UK is a small place, 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:30.200 so you know, we we had good support from the 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.559 mainstream radio, the BBC radio too, that's the big kind 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.840 of mainstream radio, and they liked what I did. It 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:40.480 worked for them, and subsequent albums also it really worked 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.160 very well for them. So but to try to expand 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:50.080 and internationally and and it's much more difficult. But I 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:51.679 had a thing going, you know, and now I was 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.760 getting support. I had a band that we're really into it. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.000 We we love going to work. We toured up and 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:02.520 down the country, and I was I am happy. Okay, 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.400 a couple of things. You essentially put out an album 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:09.640 every other year. Most artists of the of your vintage 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.520 they don't put out new music at all. So what 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.760 keeps you writing and recording? Well, as I said, I'm 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.080 not exactly sure, but I think it's the fact that 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.480 although I've had, you know, little bits of success here 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:31.240 and there and a look inside the window, Um, I 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:36.400 never felt that I had that body of work that 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.520 I could point to, or that album that I could 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.040 say that is the quintessential album. So I think it's 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:48.040 it's purely just to keep self satisfaction. I still keep 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.040 thinking I could do better, you know. Okay, so this 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.560 lightest album, tell me about the making of that. First, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.760 When do you decide you have a target when you 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.640 want to make a record, or you said or you 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:01.880 all probably write it off songs and saying it's time 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:07.000 to make a record. No, I just in this particular case, 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.040 I had no plan whatsoever to record last year. I mean, 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:16.640 I had a whole diary of life stuff. UM. I 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.040 had a UK too with my band. I was going 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.800 to go to Australia, Japan, Europe, and I also have 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:27.200 been involved quite a bit in the last nine years 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.560 or so playing keyboards and Eric Clapton's band and touring 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:35.200 around with him. So we had a whole year, um, 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:40.160 but thirty odd shows into the year. In the middle 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:45.480 of March, of course, the pandemic hit and venues were 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.760 closed down, and initially everybody thought, well, well, we'll be 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.560 back up there in a month or two, but that 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.360 pretty soon became obvious that that wasn't going to be 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:01.160 the case. And so having this little facility here I 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.640 have at home, which is fantastic, and I just started 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.280 coming in and playing with my toys and recording stuff 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:14.120 and it evolved into an album. Okay, So on these 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.840 albums to this day, you're the producer, you're the engineer. 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.720 To what degree are there outside musicians and what degree 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.520 you do everything yourself? On this particular album, it was 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:34.520 almost totally myself engineering, um, playing all the instruments, UM. 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:39.320 But towards the and and end of the thing. For 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.840 an example, I had written and recorded some horn parts, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.800 but using samples in et cetera and didn't sound too 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:52.680 bad actually, But um, when it became possible to get 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.240 people in, I got in a horn section that i'd 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.960 worked before, include in the fantastic pee Wee Ellis, which 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:03.600 we can talk about at some point if you like. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.760 And and I had one track that needed a real 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.480 good guitar solo solo on it, and I'm not a 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.560 great soloist. I got my friend Robbie macintosh to remotely 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.320 play a great solo on the guitar. But other than that, 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.920 it's pretty much me. Robbie McIntyre, average white beard right. 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:28.520 Uh No, Um, you're thinking of the drummer. His name 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.680 escapes me. But Robbie McIntosh. No, he was in the Pretenders, 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.760 he was with Paul McCartney and play people like Nora 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:42.440 Jones and Dire Straits. And he's a fabulous musician. Okay, 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.800 So tell me about pee Wee Ellis. Well, pee Wee 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.160 I got to know through Peter Van Hook and because 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.480 they worked together with Van Morrison for many years. Pee 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.880 Wee of course as a legend. He worked with James 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.680 Brown and did some of those incredible horn arrangements, and 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.240 Peter introduced me to Pee Wee on my previous album, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.440 which is called These Days. It's about three years ago, 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:16.680 and Pee Wee wrote some great authentic horn arrangements for that, 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.840 and he did one horn arrangement on this new record, 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.199 on a track called Lighten Up Your Mood. But it's 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:30.840 a beautiful guy. Unfortunately he passed away in September at 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.760 the age of eighty. Um. But he was a real 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.640 he was a proper legend, and he was a authentic, 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:45.080 real deal and he lived it large. Just talking about 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.240 this album obviously class for low. You finished the record, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.520 you eque it yourself and you go to an outside 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.840 mastering house. Well, for the first time ever. I mean, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.119 I'd never even mixed my own albums before because I'm 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.520 I'm not a technical guy either as a musician or 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.760 an engineer. I kind of know how to work pro 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.320 tools in my own cack handed way, but I never 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:16.040 trusted myself two mix. To me, it was a you know, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:20.360 a oh that's real. That's a technical person. He's got 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.439 to be somebody who knows what they're doing. And in 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.879 the past I've gotten things to the mixed stage and 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.480 then handed it over to a proper, proper mixing engineer, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.640 and they then bring the whole thing back to scratch 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.240 and build it back up again, and it never hangs 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:43.080 together in the way that I've heard it. So this 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.399 time again, this guy Peter van Hook said, I mean, no, 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.359 you have to mix this record, and I was like, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.400 oh no, I can't me I don't know what I'm doing, 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.320 And but I did. I we went with my mixes 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:59.120 that I've worked with as we went along, and then 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.840 there's this other age called the mastering situation, which is 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.480 like I never understood. It's like, you get your mixes, 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.000 they sound great, and then they go to this other 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:14.679 stage mastering, and then they do another process, which is 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.160 they add EQ and compression and again it changes the thing. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.320 So to be honest, we did hand it over to 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:27.320 a couple of mastering guys who had a shot at it, 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.680 and when it came back I didn't like it because 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.640 it didn't sound how I wanted it to sound. I 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.560 like the way it sounds. It's engaging, it doesn't hit 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.399 you in the face. But of course a lot of 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:41.600 these mastering guys now are trying to get it on 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.159 the radio and make it a kind of more aggressive 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:51.120 and hi fi in order to get the radio attention. 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.280 But I didn't like it. I liked it the way 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.720 it was, and that's what we went with. Okay, there's 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:02.600 one thing to balance all the instruments, another thing to delay, echo, reverb, etcetera. 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.480 You just figured that out all by yourself. In the 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:10.000 mixing stage. Well, it's not like you record it and 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:13.440 then you mix it it. It's you're mixing it as 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.320 you go along, and that's what happens. You get used 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.919 to that. I'm not an expert, as I say, but 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.960 I have he is, and I know the kind of 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.520 reverbs and echoes and things I like to hear. I mean, 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:33.240 they might not be the ultimate, but when they are working, 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.360 you have to go with them, because then that's when 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:42.280 you start changing that stuff. The whole balance changes. And 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.400 so yeah, we went with my my ideas. What kind 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.760 of equipment do you have in your studio? Well, I 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.000 have a pro tools rig, right, and what kind of board. 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.960 It's just a control surface, really, it's a it's a 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.680 control twenty four. It's just a it's not a big 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.040 fancy knive or anything like that. I have some nice 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:08.080 pre amps, uh, some Nive pre amps and and the 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:13.480 like and the stuff is pretty much recorded organically, you know, 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:17.359 it's just I just plug it in and when it 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.600 sounds okay, that's when that's what I go with. You 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.359 record in the same room that the equipment is in. Yeah, 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.000 by and large, Yes. And what speakers do you listen to? Now? 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.320 What are these things called? They sound great PCMs? I 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.840 think they're called they're real nice speakers. But they're not flattering, 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:47.439 but they're not tiring. It just sound good. Okay. How 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:49.960 do you end up working with clapped? Well? I think 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:52.680 years ago, it must over ten years. I think I 0:21:52.800 --> 0:22:00.280 played a few sort of charity type gigs where Gary, 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:05.080 you know from prop Gary it's very good at putting 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:07.600 these things together. He would put that together a house 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.439 band kind of thing too, and he would get in 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:16.440 some real stars like Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, people like that, 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.239 and for various charity events. And then I played on 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:28.080 a few of Eric's albums, things like Pilgrim Um Reptile 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.679 and a few other albums, just a few tracks. And 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:37.080 then one day, as I say, eight nine years ago, 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.800 he called me up and asked if I could come 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:45.520 on the road with him. And I was delighted to 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.960 say that. Yeah, dovetail beautifully into the what I had 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:52.920 going with my own band, and I guess I did 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:57.040 what was pretty much probably the last world tour inasmuch 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:58.880 as we did. We played in the States, we went 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:02.960 to Far East, we played it in Europe, Japan, and 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.600 it was just a marvelous experience. Well, he's on the 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.560 road now, needless to say, you're not in the band. No, 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.000 that's not true. We we I was in the Bend 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:15.400 the whole of September when we just did some shows. 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.080 Oh oh I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.040 those goods. So they those dates were done. We we 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:25.880 did eight nine shows I think in the Southern States. Yeah, 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:29.280 I didn't know you were in the band on those. Yeah. Okay. 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:31.600 One has to ask what do you think of his 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:38.520 viewpoints of vaccines for COVID. Well, I don't think I'm 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:43.440 gonna be drawn into that too much because I don't 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:46.400 even know exactly where he stands on what he said 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.399 about it. But I know all I do know, and 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:52.880 I think I'm at liberty to say that, is that 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:58.120 he had the vaccine twice and he had a very 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:03.720 bad reaction, and he spoken about that personally. I've also 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:10.919 had the vaccine, and so I don't precisely no or 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:15.960 agree or uh about where he stands on where where 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:19.520 he stands at the moment, but I must admit I 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:22.600 have my skeptical thoughts about what it's all about. And 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:29.960 it's a little skeptical about mandating people who don't wish 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.920 to for whatever reason, have the vaccine. As I say, personally, 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:38.040 myself and my family we have had the vaccine, and 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:41.879 I don't think we've had a bad response to it. 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:45.400 But I think I think people are entitled to their 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:48.600 own opinion. Okay, so you go on on the road 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:51.440 with Eric. How much rehearsal is there if you're gonna 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:53.960 do nine dates? Well there was a couple of weeks. 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:57.800 But bear in mind most of the musicians, in fact, 0:24:57.800 --> 0:25:01.639 all of the musicians involved played with Eric b Floor before, 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:06.520 and so when you rehearse with Eric, it's not so 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:10.040 much about you're not learning parts. You know, you're not 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:13.200 getting the parts tight and accurate and all that. It's 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:16.600 more about it it's more like getting to know everybody again. 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.960 And because you never play this stuff the same twice, 0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:26.840 it's all on instinct and vibe, you know, so that 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:30.840 the I can't say that the rehearsals are that intense. 0:25:31.720 --> 0:25:34.800 You know, we play some music, we chat, we chat, 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.080 we have a cup of tea, we play a bit more, 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:42.320 we have lunch, we play a bit more, and then 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:46.800 that's it. So and it comes together. Okay, you're on 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:49.720 the road to what degree are the settlers and the 0:25:49.840 --> 0:25:52.720 parts setting stone into what degree does that change every 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:58.199 night and improvisation changing? Oh well, it's totally improvisation. I 0:25:58.200 --> 0:26:01.840 mean we're not totally. I mean, there's a framework, there's 0:26:01.840 --> 0:26:09.240 a set. It changes only a little predominantly. On this 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.919 last thing. The changes were in the acoustic section in 0:26:12.960 --> 0:26:17.040 the middle, and he did some new things there, and 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:22.880 he also only used he used microphones on the acoustic thing, 0:26:22.960 --> 0:26:24.920 like on the guitars and stuff like that. And he 0:26:25.000 --> 0:26:30.720 didn't use pickups because I understand why, because the pickups, 0:26:31.000 --> 0:26:33.920 even great as they're getting, they don't really sound like 0:26:34.920 --> 0:26:37.840 an acoustic guitar sounds when it's played in the room. 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:41.439 And he was very much trying to get you know, 0:26:41.560 --> 0:26:44.040 that real sound of the acoustic guitars. So we had 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:47.760 to play very very quietly in the acoustic section, and 0:26:47.800 --> 0:26:51.200 that changed a little bit. But the set pretty much 0:26:51.200 --> 0:26:54.960 stayed the same. Okay, So you have these endeavors, you're 0:26:55.000 --> 0:26:57.800 making records, you're going on the road, going on the 0:26:57.880 --> 0:27:01.240