After finishing work on the OPE Pirate Radio single, I stayed in touch with Richard Stockdill, my former Crimson Creatures bandmate, keyboardist and primary songwriter. He told me that he was collaborating with Steve Taylor, a veteran drummer, singer, guitarist and former bandmate. I was invited to join them in the same capacity as before — as guitarist, producer and backing singer.
Twice shy from my experience with Crimson Creatures, I accepted with the caveat of no late night dingy pub gigs to 20 people. I appreciate that this limited us somewhat in sleepy Dorset, where classic cover bands are the norm, but you’ve got to have standards!
In March, Richard recruited singer/guitarist Martin McKendrick, who, like me 5 years ago, had taken time out and wanted to get back into music. This proved to be the catalyst for movement, with Martin’s ideas complementing our own very well, and the demos progressed at a faster rate.
As we hit July, we’re pretty much on target to finish an album’s worth of songs, which we will no doubt release online later this year. Like with Crimson Creatures, the songs are pretty much grounded in Prog, but contain trace elements of pop, electro, folk and post-punk.
As always, you can occasionally get a glimpse of work in progress on the companion Facebook page.