Recording with Dowsing For Sound

One thing that I've started to discover about myself over the last couple of years is that I get a real buzz when things that shouldn't work, work. That's probably the reason why I enjoy Dowsing For Sound so much, the sheer scale and ambition of Andrea's imagination makes me look comparatively boring, and now - having played a few big gigs (that incredible debut in 2011, that difficult Corn Exchange gig in 2012) and a few smaller events, it's time for this project to be recorded properly.

I'm really glad that Andrea chose to use Rob Toulson for this project - he's a top producer/engineer who I have worked with a lot over the last few years and also a close friend too. He gets results, and never backs down from a challenge - this is no ordinary studio session to say the least.

Today the band were in to record three songs, with the choir doing their lovely thing in a few weeks time. I started the day feeling a bit sluggish, it's very much a Sunday thing, and Liz/Julia's party last night was fantastic in many ways but a bit of a late one. Warming up, I didn't feel like I was entirely hitting my stride, but then Gav our bass player turned up and soon as we started jamming I instantly felt bang on the groove. See, Gav Sirisena is a remarkable bassist - we have a great rhythm section connection there and work well together, but to be honest it would be hard for any respectable drummer to not work well with Gav as he just makes life very easy for the musicians around him. I appreciate at this stage this blog post is pretty much just reading like a massive list of praise for people I enjoy working with but that's because I am genuinely thrilled with today. So, a bit more back-slapping...Nicky's violin playing was just frightening today - I can't think of how anybody can have that much energy - we all know she's a top musician anyway but this was in a different league at times, Sammy's solo in 'Notches' caught us all off guard (I think I said quite loudly at the time, " where did that come from?!" - in an entirely positive way), Jemma, John and Jules' guide vocals deserve to be kept in the mix somewhere as they were a treat to my ears and to them it must have felt like a really long day with lots of waiting around for us muso types to work out stuff so they deserve a lot of credit. Andrea, whilst playing note perfectly on piano, held things together, we wouldn't expect anything less from her now given her previous high standards, but I still have absolutely no idea how she does it...

From a musician point of view, 'Empty Room' was tight, professional and I think it sounds as solid as we've ever sounded, 'Sweet Disposition' (recorded acoustically with piano, bass and congas) was performed with suitable subtlety - both of these tracks very much serve their purpose of being both perfect backing for the choir but also interesting in their own right. They were also both recorded to a click track to ensure near-perfect timing...but that was going to be impossible for 'Notches' - our mad, exuberant track which changes tempo and feel constantly (as a result, it's my favourite song ever to play I think, a drummer needs to be challenged sometimes). So, we recorded it pretty much live - Andrea, Gav and myself in one room, Nicky in another, Sammy in another, the singers in another...it should have been a mess, mostly because this is a song that relies heavily on eye contact. Not wishing to sound arrogant or anything and apologies for swearing, but it was fucking joyous. One of those lovely moments when it all comes together (I say 'one' - we got it in four takes), it felt like we all raised our game. Gav reckoned it was the best studio session he's ever been involved in - and I think it probably was for me too. Sometimes things just work out a treat, today was a bit of a treat indeed. The choir will now sing and make it sound even more special - and it is about them at the end of the day - I can't wait to hear the final results (I was planning on popping in to their session but sadly I'm filming that day so will just have to wait to hear the finished product).

Curry afterwards with Andrea, Gav and Rob (with Nicky joining us briefly) for good food and even better conversation, and Rob gave me a CD of Eureka Stockade demos to learn for our second album, recording for that starts in just over a week. I really, really like being a drummer you know. But then again, I really like being a playwright too - in the last week I've started booking tour dates for the solo-ish show (another 8 days on the road for 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' - in November I plan to tour another show of the same nature called, 'Short Plays For Lanky People'), have confirmed the details for a 6-part series of my plays to be performed in front of a live audience to be released as a YouTube series (come and see the shows! 10, 17 and 24 March) and started working on Edinburgh Fringe show plans with Izzy (working title: 'Redudancy Party'). If only I could find a writing project that matches the excitement of studio sessions such as the one today though...now that is a challenge.