Recording 'It's Going To Be An Awkward Christmas, Darling'

Well, that was a manic three days. For the others at least, for me it was very much a case of working hard on the first day, and then sitting in the corner eating Pringles for the other two and watching the magic unfold. And some of it was actually proper magic - Christmassy magic, that is. It's very strange - I've been working on the writing of this album with the ridiculously talented Helen Arney for a couple months now after I saw her set at the Cambridge Comedy Festival and realised that any comedy songwriter who sings songs about Ben Folds and The Divine Comedy is somebody I have to collaborate with. It's very strange because here we are, just a few months later, after writing sessions in Helen's home of London and here in Cambridge, alongside the odd phone conversation and simply loads of emails, and now the project is actually coming to life. My role in this has been a bit different - I'm no songwriter, see, but from a playwright perspective the plots and concepts of the whole piece have then been built upon by Helen and together with the odd scribbling from yours truly she's built them into big, proper, amazing songs, which I'm thrilled and frankly flattered to be given a co-writers credit of. It's being promoted as a collaboration between the new Victoria Wood (Arney) and the new Alan Bennett (Richards). But for every Wood and Bennett there needs to be a Phil Spector - and in my old chum Martin Randle we've had that for the last 3 days. I've known Martin for years, he was my bandmate in Glowsticks going way back to 2002, and more recently he mixed my radio sitcom (which launches at the end of the month, by the way), whilst constantly being a very close friend. He's built a new studio and I just fancied recording this one there - I'm really glad we did. Without him, it would have been an acoustic-ish session, probably with ukulele and congas. But all of Helen's massive ideas for arrangements have not only been realised by Martin, but encouraged and built upon. Our album, 'It's Going To Be An Awkward Christmas, Darling', is sounding huge - every arrangement carefully built upon, it goes from the beautiful 'Too Scared To Build A Snowman' (which reminds me of something from the Divine Comedy's 'Absent Friends' album), to the tango of 'Christmas 1994', the jazz of 'Only Monopoly', the Ben Folds-esque stomp of 'Microwave Christmas Dinner For One', the subtle acoustic 'Office Party' and then theres the single - 'Traditional Family Christmas Argument' which is the most Christmassy thing you can possibly imagine, it's very Slade, it's very Wizard, there's a hint of Mariah Carey in there...it's got a fake kids choir and everything! And there's more too - this wasn't supposed to be an advert, but I'm buzzing, the title track (which comes in 3 parts, ending in a good old fashioned family singalong around a piano) has been stuck in my head all day, and the bounciness of 'Only Way To Spend Christmas Day' not only trickles along delightfully in the same way that Simon & Garfunkel did with 'Cecilia' but it also manages to (potentially) offend major airlines in the process. Helen is a genius, Martin is a genius, I'm a scruff bag with the odd idea and a caffeine habit, together I think we've created something big and special. Not just us, of course, Terry Saunders guest vocal on 'Office Party' is a treat, Tom McDonnell's vocal on 'Only Monopoly' has enough clarity to make him the next Neil Hannon but with enough soul and spirit to suggest he's a modern-day Shane McGowan, Kat Arney's guest harp playing is shivers down the spine stuff. My brief vocal moments (including my high-pitched stuff for the kids choir) may need a bit of fixing. Of course it's been stressful, try recording 11 songs in 3 days with these arrangements, and of course there's been tension and points when people need space, and times when the playwright/drummer guy feels like he's in the way, but the result will be worth it. I'm back in the studio next week to add sleigh bells, and then sit around as the mixing begins. The album is released on the 29th November, I can honestly say that we've worked very, very hard on this one...

It's got me all festive, this has, and has reminded me that I have a Christmas play being performed on the 17th and 19th December in Cambridge. It's a typical Richards affair following in the decent success of the last two years ('On the 12th Day Of Alex' from 2008 is still the best thing I've ever written, last year's went down a storm but I still feel it was slightly below par) so in between watching vocal takes today I've been working on the scripts, and pity the poor actors who won't have long to learn them. But I really think 'The Day The Carol Singers Stole Christmas' is a shambolic comedy winner, I'm excited already, especially in casting Kevin Wright as Jesus as he SO looks the part. Before that though I need to have my record label cap on, with the Under The Streetlamp album, the Eureka Stockade album, the Helen Arney & Paul Richards Christmas album, the Ethan Ash EP and the Trip 35's single all being released on Cracking Tunes before the end of the year. It's going to be an awkward Christmas? It's going to be hectic Christmas...

Currently watching: Whites (best BBC2 sitcom in years), Reggie Perrin (top-class 2nd series of the remake, after a concerning first, I always knew Martin Clunes could pull it off)
Currently reading: first drafts of scripts in a state of panic
Currently listening to: David Ford - Let The Hard Times Roll, Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat