More excellent lyrics from my friend Richard, this time about the first band I played in back in the mid 1960s, called ‘Trane.  He’s captured the essence of how exciting it was to be making music in that magical decade. We did indeed get pulled up sharp from what seemed a relatively carefree life when two band members were killed in 1967 whilst driving the group’s van.  I would have been with them but for a last minute decision to go on holiday for a few days with other friends.  For the rest of us it was a tragedy that’s never been far from our thoughts.  I wrote an instrumental piece dedicated to old lost pals Ned and Geoff, you can hear it on this page.

Technical notes:

I composed the music and initially used PG Music’s Band In A Box to help make some of the parts.  The final drum track was made using XLN Audio’s Addictive Drums2 and its ‘Modern Soul and R&B’ kit and patterns.  I played in the bass, organ and synth (stabs heard panned hard left and right) parts using IK Multimedia’s SampleTank 3 for the sounds.  I recorded the vocals using my usual RØDE NT2 mic, shaping things with effects and harmonies using iZotope’s Nectar 2 plugin.  I played the (three) lead guitar parts on my trusty Epiphone Flying V, using my BOSS DR-880 drum machine/guitar processor. The project was engineered in Sonar Platinum.  Mastering was done in Sonar using iZotope’s Ozone 7 Advanced.

The video was put together in Serif’s MoviePlus X6, using clips from the Internet and footage shot in my home recording studio using a Panasonic HC-X900M video camera.