BIG NEWS...

NEW ALBUM TO BE MIXED BY SAM WILLIAMS

I'm thrilled to announce that my new record is being mixed by musician and producer Sam Williams. 

While famously having produced the platinum selling 'I Should Coco' by Supergrass, Sam's also worked with artists including Plan B, David Bowie, The Noisettes, Kula Shaka and Gaz Coombes.  

Sam Williams

The as yet untitled record will be out in early 2019 and I can tell you that from the early mixes Sam is sending through, it will be worth the wait. I'm really proud of it and the many fabulous musicians who have contributed to its creation. 

RECORDING

 

Acoustic guitar time - Martin DX1RAE

Patrick Kenneally on drums

Jon Bretman

Fact: Stephen's lap steel guitar is worth over £1k

Stephen Barlow

Elder brother Ian

Musician and session engineer Tali Trow

  Tali's son Arthur showing us how it's done

WHILE NOT RECORDING...

After a great gig at The Isle of Wight Festival, I had the pleasure of supporting Mark Morriss from The Bluetones up in Aberdeen. Lovely and talented guy, thanks to AGP Aberdeen and everyone who came to see me. 

Backstage lovin'

I also appeared on the Jon Holmes show on Talk Radio, playing a couple of songs live (with the brilliant Darling Boy) and being interviewed. You can watch it all below, should you so wish: 

CARELESS SONS

When I shared the stage with the very lovely band that is Careless Sons for Cambridge TV Sofa Sessions last year, I had no idea I'd be in one of their music videos (and neither did they). It's one of the great randoms of the universe that I am, check it out below. 

They're doing a series of connected videos, so I'm also at the end of this equally brilliant music video of theirs too.  

Spookily, I have a massive fight with an onscreen girlfriend (which starts with smoke) in this Nathan Grisdale music video too. Things don't go well with the girl and I in this Jar Family music video either. 


AND FINALLY....

I hate it when people pirate my music.

Much love, 

Nigel. X

P.S. One of my hugely talented friends is in a touring show called 'The Hartlepool Monkey' - it's brilliant, go see it!
P.P.S. I've just finished 'How Not to be a Boy' by Robert Webb. Well worth a read.
P.P.P.S. This is the most addictive game you'll ever play. Ever. It's all about paperclips/taking over the universe.



'If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.'
Albert Einstein.  

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henrydavid121060.html?src=t_acting

'So go create. Take photographs in the wood, run alone in the rain and sing your heart out high up on a mountain where no one will ever hear and your very existence will be the most hypnotising scar. Make your life be your art and you will never be forgotten.'
Charlotte Eriksson 

Sawmills - Day Four & Five

Day Four.

The final day has been perfection - we had a lot to do...overdubs on all the tracks, guitar parts, vocals, percussion, claps...."chuka chuka's" (you'll understand when you hear them!)...but we got it all done, and the tracks sound amazing. Really...we worked together in a way we never have before...John Cornfield was fantastic to work with (yes, I'm full of it tonight, but it's all true)...let me tell you about the tracks, in the order they'll appear on the EP:

1. Get Me. A track unlike any we've done before, and one I wrote quite recently...it starts with just guitar and drums, and is a short, tight, exciting track with a huge middle eight. I'm making a video to this track from footage from this week....lots of people seem to love the lyrics to this track too.

2. Something About You. We got this nailed in just a couple of takes because we were so full of excitement and energy! The big climax at the end of the solo is breathtaking! It's full of joy, which I can remember when writing it.

3. No Reply. I'm not sure what to say about this one. The first part of the track is just vocals and two guitars, and has a very melodic Sinatra feel to it (you'll probably disagree with that entirely....I just want to sing swing and jazz!). It was written a few years while ago about how someone I cared about drifted away from me.

4. Country Low. This song had the most tracks by far - 69 individual tracks at last count! My brother Ian came down to put piano at the end, and it has a huge crescendo to the end. Though we were uncertain whether to do this track or "Run" I'm VERY happy with the end result. I wrote this song in the garden as it started to rain at my parents house in Somerset.

We've got to be up early and leave by 11am at the latest, or the tide will be out and our boat will be stuck in the mud. The only low point of the day was when I smashed my head on an open cupboard door. The agonising pain was really quite diverting from the coffee I was trying to make.

We're having a bit of a party now, which started in the studio with a bit of tipsy playing and has moved into the main house where we've found a big megaphone and...well....that's enough for now!


Day Five.

We all managed to get up and load the boat before the tide went out! Here we are about to board ship with John outside the studio (click on any of the photos in this blog for the whacking great full size versions, or just leave them for nothing to happen).




The drive back took hours and hours and hours. We're all a little sad to leave our little forest studio home, but it's likely we'll be back for a much longer session in the summer. We're also all totally thrilled at how well the recordings have turned out...it'll take a good couple of weeks for John to complete the mixing and then the mastering by our main man, Mr John Davis, who did all the previous singles.

Anyway, here's a little snippet of video from the studio when Jonno was doing some guitar overdubs to "Get Me" - full documentary to come in a couple of weeks! I'll also be putting up video tasters of all the songs in forthcoming blogs.

Much love,

Nigel.

I'm going to be working on the second part of the 2008 tour video now, so it should be up this week...it's far naughtier. First part here, well worth watching!

P.S. I've had no phone signal (apart from the few moments I've had a walk in the woods) so that's the reason I've ignored any texts etc)
P.P.S. I've had hardly any time free (apart from the time I've spent doing these blogs) so that's why I've not replied to emails and Facebook messages.
P.P.P.S. There are no spelling mistakes in this blog Alexandra!


"Thumping great dynamic, I love it" - John Cornfield, yesterday.

"Goodbye" - John Cornfield, today.

"Goodbye John" - Us, today.

The Foxes Facebook.
My Facebook.
The Foxes Twitter.
Do ask me something interesting too by clicking here.


Loading the boat. It's amazing how much stuff you can fit in it:

Sawmills - Day Three

Today was a long hard day - but incredibly worth it. I woke up late, which was fine as Jonno was busy early doing some guitar overdubs. After a stern dose of medically necessary and industrial strength coffee, we then spent around four hours working on "No Reply" It has several tricky time changes, and despite exhaustive attempts, we weren't happy with any of the takes. So we left it and started on "Something About You" which we perfected in just a couple of runs - it has a really great vibe to it, and sounds just how I'd envisaged the "band version" when I first wrote it. It really is special.

It was quite late by the time we'd finished the vocals, but we launched straight in to "No Reply" again and nailed it in the first take. As John said, "It sounds like you're enjoying yourselves now!"

It's been pouring with rain for most of the day. Whoever decided that having a roof on the studio was a good idea, I commend you. We would have been both soaked and electrocuted otherwise.

Tomorrow we're doing overdubs of certain backing vocals, guitar parts, hand claps and various other bizarre noises. My brother Ian is also bravely leaving his cat for the day to come and add some piano to the end of "Country Low" (there's a baby grand in the studio).

I know you'd kill me if I left you without a...erm...food update, so for lunch we had real Cornish pasties, and dinner was a sumptuous spicy Spanish pork casserole. Lemon cheesecake dessert was as doubly enjoyable as it was listening back to the four tracks in the control room. There MIGHT have been a little bit of childish dancing around at how good they sound! Not me though.

I'm sorry there's not more to report tonight - it has just been a very long day of solid studio work, without time to explore the forest or drown one of the guys in the river for a joke.

We're relaxing and watching "Carlito's Way" now. Oh, Alex has just passed me a cinnamon biscuit. What a nice guy.

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. I do love reading your blog comments (it'll be quite embarrasing if there are none to this one now...)
P.P.S. I've tried to decide which track sounds best, but I can't! They're even better than I thought they'd be.
P.P.P.S. The same links as yesterday: The Foxes Facebook. My Music Facebook. The Foxes Twitter. Do ask me something interesting too!
P.P.P.P.S. We're all exhausted, but happy.
P.P.P.P.P.S. That's enough!
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Is it?
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Yes.

"There's no law against cheescake in the control room" - John Cornfield, today.

"Can I have Nigel on his own? Twice? " - Alex Douglas, today.

Sawmills - Day Two

We've just finished fourteen hours solid work, and despite my having only managed to get to sleep at 6am, it's gone extraordinarily well!

So far, we've pretty much completed the basic tracking for "Get Me" and "Country Low" and I don't mean to hyperbolize, but they really are truly sounding quite fantastic. Spending the first evening getting the right mics in place (two for each guitar amp, and about a thousand for the drums) and checking the levels really paid off. The sound is actually quite different from our previous singles - still the same energy and excitement, but far more rounded and full. As you can see from the quote at the bottom of this blog, John seemed fairly impressed!

So far the trickiest part has been getting the tempo right as we're not playing to a click track, as this is far better for getting something with a bit of feeling and soul, not some regimented piece of manufactured pop.

The studio is incredibly secluded, and there's ZERO phone signal, so there are few distractions from making the best music we've ever done (in the studio at least...there's such distractions as a pool table, internet, digital satellite TV, loads of DVD's, computer consoles and beer up in the main house...) Dinner tonight was steak and stilton pie, with potatoes, salad, vegetables and hot buttered rolls courtesy of the lovely Ruth!

I've been doing plenty of filming, so will be putting together a recording documentary at some point. You would have seen some footage tonight, but Geve's computer is just not playing ball. It's not even changed for the game.

I genuinely can't wait to start again tomorrow!

Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. I've just heard on QI that people who sleep just 4 to 7 hours a night live LONGER than those who sleep 8 or more. RESULT! ;-)
P.P.S. Did I mention how fantastic the tracks are sounding?!
P.P.P.S. Some links: The Foxes Facebook. My Music Facebook. The Foxes Twitter. Do ask me something interesting too!

"To be honest, I'm fucking amazed" - John Cornfield, today.

Sawmills - Day One (arrival)

I write to you from a former 17th Century water mill in deepst darkest Cornwall and will be doing daily recording blogs. But before I say anything else, I hope you've all seen the first part of the mini documentary video I made recently from our 2008 UK tour with Yeti?



Part two will be up soon, and will have to have an adult viewing rating. Be excited!

Speaking of which...

....the drive took about four and a half hours. Alex drove, Jonno was dying of a cold in the back, and Geve kept him company....they had a little nap, bless them! This was the only photo where they weren't cuddling.



The only way to reach the studio is by boat, and we really didn't think we'd fit all our equipment on, but did it in one trip. It really is beautiful down here - there's a vibe and atmosphere in the studio too which we've not felt before, and I truly feel these recordings are going to be something special.



So, what are we doing here?!

We're recording an EP called "Depression, Joy and a Moment of Fame" and it will be a four track taster of the full length album we're planning on releasing later this year. The track listing is:

1. Get Me.
2. Something About You.
3. No Reply.
4. Country Low.

(You can hear the acoustic demos and read the lyrics to all these songs on my Facebook page by clicking here, except "No Reply" which you can hear here).

We debated for WEEKS on whether to record "Country Low" or "Run" - but decided that while Run is a great song, we wanted something a bit different for this EP than the bluesy rock feel of "Run" and something to showcase the vocal harmonies etc. Don't worry though..."Run" will feature on the album, and I think you're going to love what we're going to do with "Country Low!"

So far tonight, we've just set everything up and had a quick run through "Get Me" to make sure we have the right sounds and levels...tomorrow we start recording first thing...well, 10.30am. For musicians, that's the middle of the night.


Much love,

Nigel.

P.S. Ask me anything by clicking here.
P.P.S. We've all brought "lucky charms" - care to guess what they all are?!
P.P.P.S Click on any of the photos above for the full size images.

"Ok guys, time to make history" - John Cornfield, today.