Duke Special has sung a guest vocal on A Thousand Years! It sounds great, and I’m really chuffed he managed to find the time to do it, flying around the place as he is with his own gigs. As I type this, he’ll be embroiled in some after-show mayhem up in Derry somwehere. Or is it Londonderry? Don’t know these days. I bet they call it “Derry/Londonderry” on the Northern Irish news so as not to get anyone’s back up.
Sitting here with the usual cup of tea, I’m just pondering the mighty mire of trying to get this record out there. It seems overwhelming. So many people I know are a million miles further on in the music industry… I just looked at the tour schedule for my friend Foy Vance, for whom great things are about to happen (just heard his record and it’s pretty damn epic) and, realising how long it has taken him to get to where he is – with such extreme and in-your-face talent – is intimidating.
I met Jon Hopkins in the street today outside his gig venue in Shoreditch – another guy on a meteoric rise to… what? world domination? Well, yes, almost. His new record is getting rave reviews and deservedly so.
The thing is – these guys (and many more I could mention) are both really good, and deserve everything that comes to them. They’ve worked really hard, committed to their own music, and are drenched with talent, as well as being very personable.
And thus I concluded, all I can do is start somewhere. I don’t know where it will go from there.
I watched a documentary on the Eagles earlier – loved it. One burst of listening to those guys sing a cappella together and you just get it. But there’s a great bit where Joe Walsh says that when you look back on all the chaos and randomness, it looks like a finely-crafted novel. Here’s hoping he’s right.
I’m off to record the mighty Chris Difford’s backing vocal on Jumping Ship tomorrow – can’t wait!