the players

Dramatis Personae

paul a davies   guitar, bass, stick, keyboards, percussion, drum programming, recording, production blah blah blah!

the chief instigator of this bizarre journey.  primarily a guitarist, p-a-d will foolhardily attempt to play any instrument that gets him closer to the sound in his head!  despite the way it usually sounds, p-a-d has been 'playing' guitar for the past 27 years. to the utter dismay of his classical guitar teacher, p-a-d went out to buy his first electric guitar and fuzz box (Eros Les Paul copy and Ibanez Tube Screamer - yes, the original!) at the tender age of 14.  somehow, despite his father being with him, he was not stopped!  currently trying to learn Chapman Stick is completely doing his head in, as it's a bit like basket weaving for the criminally insane.

p-a-d has provided live guitar warblings for Ascent, Eve & The Garden, Helen Turner, Miles Cain, Red Sun, Spyhop, n-Chant, Matt Dixey, Messenger, disastrously for Lionel Fanthorpe, barmitzvahs, weddings, ocean liner launches etc.  under the guise of tollboothmusic, he has also twiddled & mangled albums & ep's for Matt Dixey, Helen Turner, Miles Cain, n-Chant, Eve & the Enygmartyr, Spyhop and previously himself!

he dislikes singing and hates writing lyrics more, but realises he has to otherwise no-one would ever understand what on earth is going on in his head.  so enjoy what you get!  he is a passionate fortean and is also currently writing a short novel, trying to finish a play he started a thousand years ago and writing a book on quantum theories of paranormal experience.  he also types this rubbish!

more information can be found on the p-a-d page.

ilze van der poll   vocals on 'something to hold dear'

ilze's musical career echoes the strange journey of the album.  from performance artist in an industrial punk/circus band in south africa, through the surreal pop/electronica genius that was Candy Threats to the now chilled brilliance of Spyhop, ilze has been a long-time musical friend of p-a-d & tbm.  ilze's unique and frankly quite disturbing phrasing and expression in her singing performances made her first choice for this song of desperate clinging!  thanks ilze!

helen turner   vocals on 'things i know'

erm yes.  confusing isn't it?  not on the album is it?  'things i know' was an early vocal track written for the first version of this album called 'the strange & mysterious tale of senorita misteriosa'.  as the album progressed, it became patently clear that the direction was changing very radically and sensitive and beautiful vocal performances such as those always turned in by H were just never destined to fit in.  there is happy news, as 'things i know' may just appear on the forthcoming helen turner album following a very odd conversation in a coffee shop in york.

jane campbell   piano coach, arranger & finger tangler

fellow founding member of The Purple Shirt Collective, j.c. is a fantastic teacher, motivator, encourager, and psychologist.  inventor of the 'flipping the bird' technique for teaching the swapping over of thumb/fingers for scale playing, j.c.'s instruction is the main reason most of the keyboards actually got put on this album.  and got a bit more adventurous this time round!

aly rainey   violins on 'down the line'

i'd always fought with my feelings on violin during my time in eve & the garden as i was always conscious that every song had to, by default, include what is a very soulful yet lively instrument.  it was one of the reasons i got into guitar synthesis - so i didn't have to play 'guitar' on everything!  one of the joys of solo recording is that you have a completely blank canvas with no demands on you to include anything specific.  so it came as a real internal joy to me to sit back early in the writing of 'down the line' and realise what i really wanted on the track was some soulful bluegrassy 'fiddle'.  what was even more joyful was that i realised that i really wanted my former garden-mate to play it.  then aly got wonderfully pregnant with the 2nd rainey-lette and everything went quiet.  at the 11th hour and mere days before the album was due for mastering, aly managed to get up to doncaster, and turn in a wonderful performance that may as well have come straight out of my head.  the ability to just nail an idea and interpret a brief is the greatest asset in a great session player and aly has it in bucketfuls.  i love what aly has done here and i shall miss that band thing after all.

indrid cold   drums & programming

indrid can only be described as 'one of a kind'.  some say that his brain actually transmits word-clock and that he is invisible to Swedes.  much has been written regarding indrid and the web is full of details of his colourful life so far; however, much less is known of his artistic prowess as a drummer.  a chance meeting with an acquaintance of indrid's a few years ago at UnCon, led to a conversation regarding finding the right musicians to interpret this new idea for an album based around the human effects of fortean events.  a meeting with indrid was arranged which was both flattering and slightly unnerving as indrid seemed most comfortable communicating by phone and personal meetings were rare.  a few very odd answering machine messages later and indrid agreed to come on board.  the in-person meeting never took place subsequently and most of the drum parts were put down over ADSL.  but what a performer!