pfac news

featuring 13 tracks (and then some) the album runs to over an hour's worth of music

performed, recorded & produced almost entirely by paul a davies (p-a-d) himself, it's remarkable that the album has ever come out at all. it's an album full of journey's, featuring some tracks first recorded several years ago on old four-tracks and re-recorded for pfac, to tracks written only a few weeks before release.

it also tells of the technical journey from the first days of tollboothmusic and the simple equipment we started with through to the studio as it is now in its new home and new surroundings.

one of the last tracks to be completed was After The Tone; an innovative interactive project where friends and associates were invited to become part of the album by contributing their own feelings on the Cordelia Effect.

So - how can I get hold of a copy???

the all new tollboothshop now has PayPal secure shopping (just click here), where you can buy PfAC and all the other tollboothmusic releases with just a few secure mouse clicks!

the album was unofficially launched at a Guat-A-Gig in 2002. on the night, 50% of the selling price was given as a donation to Casa Alianza. for all sales from now on, £2 of the price of each album will go to Casa, and their work with street children in Guatamala, Honduras and Mexico City.

the selling price for the original version is a nice round £10.00 excl P&P (£1.50 in the UK, see tollboothshop for other shipping costs.)

Plans, Plans, Plans

plans are being formulated at the moment for a series of support gigs and other live performances, so keep checking back for details.

there is also dangerous talk of putting a real band together for these gigs which will achieve two things: firstly, it will give a lot more artistic freedom; but more importantly, it will give audiences something far more exciting to look at than just p-a-d! a number of musicians have just astounded p-a-d by admitting they like the material enough to actually play it live.

the proposed line-up will probably feature p-a-d on guitar & chapman stick (duh!), another guitarist (who may double up on bass guitar), a keyboard player, and a drummer/percussionist. there are some names in some of these frames at the moment, but check back for confirmation soon.

Despite all this, work is nearly finished on a follow up album to PfAC called

"strange tale"

Though final decisions on a complete track list are still a closely guarded secret (saves committing!), it would seem that the album will follow a similar predominantly instrumental format as PfAC. "it's where i'm happiest" says p-a-d "though i love words, i've never been hugely comfortable writing lyrics as i never seem to be able to convey what i'm really feeling properly; so i guess i'll just stick with letting the guitar do the talking"

That said, one of the most complete tracks so far is in actual fact a song called "Something To Hold Dear". "it's a strange little song which talks about the times when otherwise strong relationships get pushed and pulled and about recognising the essence of what keeps them strong, or maybe about cutting dairy & gluten out of my diet - one of the two!"

Two other 'lyric'd' songs are also starting to reach some form of structure "Down The Line" & "In My Dreams".

Thematically, the album is less of a 'concept' than PfAC, but in many ways it returns to the ideas begun on PfAC, namely the effects that small but extraordinary external events have on the spirit of the individual.

"There's lots on Strange Tale that is internally painful, but there's plenty of joy and celebration as well. Just to be contrary though, the music will not always give the inspiration away. Many have often said that i play at my most energetic and passionately when i'm really naffed off at something!"

"Strange Tale draws a lot of it's inspiration from Fortean thinking, not necessarily with regard to the paranormal (though it makes it presence felt!) but in the way that we need to remain openly sceptical to the things that happen to us, always looking for reason and mechanism, but never losing the sense of wonder and awe at the breadth of human experience."

"It's been a really enjoyable process again. It feels more comfortable this time at least from a technical point of view. Last time, all the recording technology was new and a very steep learning curve - this time, it's like an old pair of trousers - deeply comfortable. Doesn't mean that I haven't kept experimenting, and there's lots of interesting things for teccies to look out for."

"There's lots more programming on this album, and the looping is much more complex. Again, it's ease with the technology and some nice recent software advances that have meant that I can concentrate more on dynamics and orchestration than before, where i was lucky to get a loop in sync all the way through a 3 min song! But I've left room for lots of hand percussion too."

"I'm playing with lush layered guitars as well, though i'm not using POLAR as much, instead favouring longer multi-tracks instead"

The album will feature some interesting new toys such as the Digitech Whammy pedal, Adrenalinn2, lots of e-bow again and most significantly, the Chapman Stick^® which p-a-d has been hiding himself away trying to learn during the deadtime of studio relocation from reading to doncaster.

"I'm really enjoying that whole process of being useless at an instrument - brings back happy memories of being 10 and learning classical guitar for the first time and how exciting and frustrating it was, and the sheer delight when something suddenly fell into place and it started sounding good.... Stick is great like that, you are always discovering new things to do with it and new sounds you can make - the new album features three tracks that started life entirely on the Stick"

It seemed that the release of Strange Tale was still a number of months away, but a number of new tracks have come together very quickly of recent weeks, and given the way a digital studio works (ie that rough mixing is possible to a very high quality from a very early stage) we are in a position to release Strange Tale in June 2006!

Live Performances

p-a-d still continues to support Helen Turner's live work as a hired gun on guitar from time to time; look out for further details on Helen's webpage. paul has also been seen turning out for miles cain during recent live performances supporting the launch of his new album 'different destinations'.

Miles' launch gig in York in July 04 was a riotous affair, with many of the songs being chosen during the set! p-a-d found himself in the midst of having to pull a Hendrix impression out of the bag during the encore, when miles launched straight into 'All Along The Watchtower' without a by-your-leave! it was all immense fun and a lovely group of musicians to work with.

most of the tbm artists turned out for an impromptu 'showcase' gig at Nuthall in Nottingham late last year - Matt Dixey, Helen Turner, Miles and p-a-d all graced the stage in various guises during the evening! it was great fun, and even though we were one drummer down, miles muddled through and enthusiasm and energy made up for any shortfalls.

p-a-d is currently chasing gigs in the yorkshire environs - more news as it happens.

eve & the garden have recently changed their name to Enygmartyr and still continue to hide themselves away while completing their second studio album, Sandance. See the new Enygmartyr website for full details. see below for a picture of a recent gig in Bedford involving a very large combine harvester. p-a-d has just officially left enygmartyr and is effectively no longer a performing member of the band, but is currently still fulfilling technical recording duties on the new album.

earlier in the year, p-a-d, a modified Enygmartyr & the Helen Turner band graced the light of day on the same stage to be involved in a Guat-A-Gig at St Francis Church in Chandlers Ford. The gig featured sets from all three bands, though p-a-d is still stuck with no-one to play with and hid in a corner for the best part of the evening, only coming out to play his and two other sets.

p-a-d showing the parker who's boss (turned out to be the parker) at the recent guat-a-gig (note the lack of other musos)

p-a-d doing that hired gun thing with ms turner. same guitar sound, different clothes! sweet priorities...