My absolute favorite thing about playing music is that sometimes, it can take you on adventures. Even if you don't become a superstar millionaire like you planned, things can still happen which enrich your short and brutal existence on planet earth.
An old schoolmate bought a dilapidated ~1820s Italian farmhouse on the side of a valley in the hills west of Bologna in a province called Palagano. It's kind of like a parallel universe Scottish highlands where the weather is always fantastic, the hills are covered in farms, trees, vinyards etc rather than bleak heather, and the people don't all want to kill or rob you. Three years ago, a bunch of mates and I went out there for his wedding. We didn't really know what to expect, but we found ourselves welcomed with open arms into the community of Palagano. I'd brought my trusty wee Taylor mini acoustic, and one night we found ourselves passing it round in the town's main watering hole "My West", while the barman inexplicably kept gifting us free shots of a local poison called Grappa.
A bunch of locals came in, and we bonded over fermented berries + a love of '90s alternative music. One of them, Dani, was a songwriter, and we struck up a friendship. Fast forward to April last year, and he came over to the UK to record his album with me, which was really good fun. In the weeks leading up to it me and the bassist in my band recorded drum+bass beds for about half the tracks, then when Dani came over we played the other half live as a three piece then did overdubs. Another old schoolmate of mine did vocals, then Dani went back to Italy and we did overdubs remotely both here and there, me doing mixes to send over to him for approval etc.
Then two months ago we went over to Italy for a week to do a joint mini tour for the album release with my band, Captain Horizon, sharing the bill. It was awesome. Even if playing a set of drums and a set of guitar night after night in hot weather taught my body what sweating was all about! Genuinely, the way the locals responded to live music, even original music that they'd never heard before, made me a bit ashamed of British reserve, that arms folded, close-minded barrier anyone who's played original music to a bunch of strangers will have fought to overcome. We also had some unexpected experiences, like being ushered into a city hall to take part in a press conference that may as well have been in Klingon for the amount we understood what was going on...
Anyway, the album's out now, I'm pretty proud to have been part of it, and here's a video we recorded out there in 35 degree weather in an old catholic school dorm. I did two takes, I was absolutely dripping.
Spotify link to album if anyone's interested
here.
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Great story and I've bookmarked the Spotify for a cheeky listen when I'm driving to Carlisle on Thursday.
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