Revolution

There is a festival some fifty yards from the studio so we have a few off this weekend to collect our thoughts and our mixes and our story so far, which has been a good one, I kid you not. The brass parts have been scored [by the irrepressible Craig Gannon] and the musicians arrive shortly, next Thursday if my memory is correct, and in truth it’s all pretty exciting to work with people who have backed Lionel Richie and Tony Christie and are veritable veterans of cool…well they seem decent enough. So aside from the much needed quality time with the significant other I’ve spent the weekend recording a few acoustic songs here on my new pc for possible inclusion on the album. And no they are nothing like Egg Incident….but thanks for asking anyway. Last weekend we were listening to a new Shack radio session recorded in Blackburn by our esteemed producer and much enjoyed their psychedelic ramblings and janglings so much so that I was inspired to write a most complimentary accolade on their myspace profile…as you do in the heat of the moment. They are unafraid of being themselves…something that has eluded me for years and I like them for that. In case you hadn’t heard Mike Joyce played the aforesaid session on his radio show last week. Mike has a Sunday evening slot on Revolution and is well worth a listen Mike is by nature larger than life and his eloquent ramblings are the perfect tonic… not only on the radio but to the band likewise. I simply love his enthusiasm and his belief…oh yeah and his drumming likewise is never 10p short. Anyway…that’s enough of that, I don’t want to go all syncophantic or whatever. Forward the buff, VP x

Toblerone Snow

In Blackburn the snow is triangular, like Toblerone; the local people take it for granted but Craig and I are captivated, catching handfuls of the stuff, making snowballs and admiring the flakes as the wind blows the empty bottles across the cobbled courtyard. We remain in Sinister Studios building parts and breaking down ideas. It’s all going well and the vibe is a happening dude, but Julian Cope is the only person I know who can get away with using the Dude word…so that’s my first and last attempt. Our basic supplies of samosas, water, sweets and tobacco come from a garage some 500 yards down the road which we frequent with some regularity passing the same girls on route plying the oldest trade known to man. Somehow this always makes me sad, and if I’m honest, a little edgy. I remember driving home from a gig at Sheffield City Hall a few years ago where I’d been supporting Vonda Shepard and asking a group of girls in mini skirts the way to back the M62…they offered me a lot more than directions and I was sooo embarrassed.

The courtyard is a mess. I guess there’s a lot of cleaning up to do. It’s like this every week, but getting all spruced up in time for the smoking ban apparently…now that’s what you call a business plan. Anyway…none of this matters much. We’re still here and will be for a few more weekends no doubt. Those Durutti gigs are fast approaching so do email me if you want sneaking in and I'll do what I can, Vinny x

Gay Bags

Happiness is a new computer, so they say, well Steve Cowell does for one and I’m most grateful for his support. I just watched a beginners guide to recording video which was, to my amazement, most illuminating. I now have the technology to orchestrate my home recordings and enough guitar sounds to woo a entire music shop. Despite the wine and the quiet fan and the Easter Egg nog and the fading light it’s been a decent weekend in blank burn moving into the final third of recording. The Irish dates that I spoke about have been suspended for now so I can get on with the vocals and be around for the mixing. I expect we will reschedule at some point. Today I went to TK Max looking for the definitive gay bag…I have several in my collection but am convinced I need more. I like the idea of handbags for men. I feel sort of underdressed without a bag strapped about my person. I’m just looking around the room here at sketch Nick Robinson did [Nick is a former VP bass player currently consumed by the world of fashion], now framed and adorning some wall space. It’s a cartoon of me in a tent at Glastonbury in 1999 and the gay bag is a prominent feature…I am also clutching a copy of the Auteurs Greatest Hit…which is Nicks way of saying you’re the only person we know who likes them, I think…he was the same about my Wonderstuff affection. I’ve also made great proclamations in the past [as you do] as to the merit and credibility of various bands I’ve perchanced upon over the years. Oh so many moons ago I saw U2 at Kidderminster Town Hall and was convinced they were heading for obscurity…they were so incredibly average and the singer had crappy hair. Over the years I have come to accept that I am usually wrong about any given bands commercial potential. That’s just the way it is. I was right about the hair though. Talking of which I have recently been snipped and dyed and reminded by my dearest that I am no longer 26, which is of course absolutely true. I’m just trying to make the best of myself in the name of light entertainment was my rather dubious reply, Vinny x

Plan B

Sometimes it doesn’t go plan. Not only in terms of the facilities [we are sooooo grateful to Joe and his secret fresh water tap...pictured!]. Friday night we struggled to secure a bass part on the newest of the new album tracks, it’s nobody’s fault, but between Craig and me we just couldn’t get into the groove. Craig has played a bass guitar blinder on all the other tracks bar one [the punk one…which I did cause I’m dodgy at bass]. This one seemed to be more problematic. We were both a bit shocked and finally conceded we do, for certain things, need a proper bass player, at least on this track which is called ‘The Greedy Scorpio’s in case you wondered. It’s about temptation and trust and the things we get away with…it’s not exactly autobiographical, and even if it was I would never admit to it anyway. Next week…as luck would have it, our new bass player Jules is back here in Manchester to rehearse for the BBC session on 27th May…so we might just get him to make his recording debut on the Scorpios, we’ll see how it all pans out. Here in sub reality towers we have just invested in a new TV as we’d got to the stamping on the floor every minute stage to sustain any semblance of picture with the old one. I just half watched one of those that was the decade that was type programmes, this time the geeky gizmo centric 70’s. It was pathetic really. The people they interview seem so so indifferent and the features are bland and the editing sucks and the whole notion behind the vox pop retro decadist nonsense is...well.... Twenty minutes of sheer dross was as much as I could take. Who on earth commissions these things? Earlier on I watched Three Colours White starring the polish Dustin Hoffman who’s name is beyond my recall which is just great…and strangely erotic, especially the scene when he visits his own funeral. I’ve had that dream too many times and am convinced it means something sinister. I am also far to easily convinced that I have the collective symptoms of any given psychiatric assessment I happen to get my hands on. Or perhaps my empathy gene is just a tad off kilter. Yeah…something like that, happy Easter, Vinny x

Days

Funny how it feels like a day off, which it is I suppose. I’m at home as we don’t start recording till tonight and then it’s mostly drum revision which is frankly best done by drummers. We’re also rehearsing via MP3 tutorial interface our new bass player Jules who is currently adrift in the sorry south, Brighton to be exact, and gagging for a return to the hallowed north. And we do like to be beside the cliches...so who can blame him? Brighton was the worst gig we played on the last tour, I was knackered; eating from a pan of week old pasta gave me food poisoning which didn’t exactly help. Jules used to be in a couple of semi popular beat groups you might have come across before, namely, Marion and Electrafiction. He’s also a bit of a Johnny Handsome according to Jamie and quite possibly younger than Craig though why this should be of interest to anyone I really have no idea. It just seems to be what gets mentioned. None of us have met him yet and the first BBC session to support the album release is on 27th of this month which is earlier than we'd have liked but there are organisational complications [aren't there always] so I figure we just about have time to bed him in before the deep end, which probably reads wrongly so I’ll move swiftly on. A few people have enquired as to which dates we are doing on the Durutti Column tour as there seemed to be some confusion. I can now say for sure that it’s just the first four gigs in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Nottingham. In all likelihood these will be solo shows with the possible exception of Manchester. Hope this clears up any misinformation. At the beginning of next month I’m off to Ireland for 3 solo gigs, details will be posted as soon as confirmation is received, Vinny x

As I Played

I realise I’ve not eaten properly for four days straight…no wonder I have the symptoms of dehydration and fatigue. My girl is reminding me to take care of myself, eat properly and drink plenty of water, which is always my intention; it just never seems to happen that way. No soon as I enter the alternative universe of the recording studio good sense flits away into another dimension; I am also first in the queue for the hallowed studio cigarette. No idea how they got here but someone’s got to smoke them. Blackburn is in the frenzy of demonstration, Jack Staw’s American guest is none too welcome and we just miss the main demonstration as we head off for morning coffee to our new favourite local café some fifty yards from the studio. It has a name…I can’t recall and is run as a co operative by the local deaf society; we were made to feel most welcome. Joe the knob twiddler even did an interview with the local new business association as we dined and we all got photographed for some pamphlet initiative thing. Blackburn is growing on me. As for the recording we are pretty much on track which is nice. Parts are paired down. Songs start to speak up for themselves, especially the quiet ones….always the quiet ones. What I mean is that I think we are capturing something worth keeping. Something we can eventually be proud of. There’s a song on the new record which we will be reworking this week called Playing on the Pier. I took the lyrics [with kind permission] from a poem written by my very dear uncle Jim Wilkes, who I have admired both as a writer musician and all round inspirational human being since I was stood on a box in the Trinity Road Stand [and he was stood just behind me]. He’s my dad’s brother. The poem is written from the perspective of playing [in Jims case trumpet] on Blackpool Pier [as he has done on many occasions] and looking down upon the sands imagining family holidays. The recurring line as I played refers to both playing as a child and as a man and my grandparents, my dad and my auntie Mary are all in there, I must say I find it quite moving, so thanks Jim for this. Here’s the poem, I hope you like it, best wishes, Vinny x


As I Played [Playing Trumpet on the North Pier, Blackpool]

From here you can see the donkeys
Braided the same as fifty years ago
When I was a lad and my family sat
Amongst the thousands on the sands
As I played
And I remember my dad with his trousers rolled up
And the knotted handkerchief for the sun was hot
As he made his way through the crowds
To buy a tray of tea and sticky buns
As I played
And I remember my mother sitting stiffly in the deckchair
So unused to such enforced relaxation
Knitting frantically throughout the day
The completed vests in a bundle at her feet
As I played
And I remember my sister dreamily looking out to see
Transfixed by growing dreams of being someone
And finding herself unable to join in the social chat
Setting herself apart and sulking in a pretty way
As I played
I remember my brother too old for buckets and spades
But wanting to be a part of it all
And willing to scrabble in the sand and build bridges
And wait for the sea to erode and destroy
As I played
But most I remember being with my family
On the beach below me by the donkeys
And for a second I swore I could see all of us
In careless unity, immortal and transient
As I played
Jim Wilkes 1999