The Airtight Garage
Formed in 1980 in Brighton with Ian Marchant(vocals) Paul Williams (Bass) Bob Machin (guitar) Paul Hazel (drums) and my good self on guitar. Despite my playing being straight out of the "sniffin glue" music school I had a hand in most of the songs. The Willson/Williams partnership proved most fruitful and produced a series of very fine songs but it didn't stop the band chucking me out one fateful night. Never accept apple pie from the Mafia or a drink down "The Western" with the Airtight Garage. In a gesture of saintliness I continued to supply the band with lyrics while they motored on to obscurity.
Below we have "Sparking" from a basement rehearsal and two songs that became our first demo. When we played the magnificent rehearsal tape to the engineer, he sneered that he couldn't replicate the overloading of a cassette mic in his studio. Thus we failed to capture in the studio, the snarling behemoth that was the band at full throttle. Nontheless they have a naive charm which would appear to be a particular strength of mine, while Sinking remains one of my better lyrical efforts. Ian's intro to "Sparking" is spookily current which goes to show things don't really change that much.
Sparking in the Dark (Willson\Williams) 1981
Sinking in the Sands (Willson/Williams) 1981
Hardly a Heartache (Willson) 1981
Heaven's Gate
Paul Hazel introduced me to Pete Cartwright in the late 80's who he thought might be interested in forming a band. How right he was and there after my Sunday's were spent recording on Pete's portastudio. We produced a whole series of masterpieces which proved better than the studio efforts below but have yet to be digitized. With Julian Rowley playing great lead and Claire Cordeaux adding some much needed musical sensibility on bass it was a damn fine rock band. Steve Howlet of the Faith Brothers helped us out on drums.We played a few gigs on the London club circuit before the pitfalls of adulthood brought the whole thing to halt. The drugs and alchol we could handle but marriage, kids, and moving to the country just couldn't be rehabed.
Paul Hazel produced this demo to which the world remained indifferent but those portastudio tracks still call me. Bareback Through the Cemertry was belter as I remember.
Ruining (Cartwright/Willson) 1990
Backside Shine (Cartwright/Willson) 1990
Here's the portastudio songs
Long Grass(Cartwright/Willson)
Boys Will Be Boys(Cartwright/Willson)
Haunted House(Cartwright/Willson)
Menacing Banjo
This is the stuff I've recorded over the years mostly on my own but occaisionally I've managed to get someone to help out. The final fantasy was to sing my own stuff and I use the term "sing" in its loosest sense.
Discovered this on some old cassette last year and thought it marvellous. I think I'm playing it all in my own shambolic style but who knows.
Watch the Dancer(Willson) 1987
Recorded these in Muswell Hill engineered by a guy who'd done the sound for Pink Floyd on the Wall tour. Paul Hazel did the mix and David Westmore played bass. The rest is all me.
Whisper Me Down (Willson) 1995
These next three are the best of about 20 odd songs I recorded while on a sabbatical in Australia 1994-95. My snail pace improvement is begining to show and helped out by the idiot proof Band in a Box. Love the double vocal I did on Dreams and the other two are me dicovering I could play the guitar a bit.
Produced by Paul Hazel using cut and paste techniques a studio in West London the mnodern world had arrived. Wrote it the night before we went in and its shockingly good.
Life in an Airtight Garage (Willson) 2001
Mission Over Washington (Willson) 2001
Blame it on the News (Willson) 2001
Reaction Contagion (Willson) 2001
Why Can't You Sleep? (Willson) 2001
These formed part of my "Nowhere Gone" CD all done at home on the computer. Paul Williams plays very fine keyboards on "Why Can't You Sleep?" Its a song about the same day in verse one of "Life in An Airtight Garage" recalls those halcyon days when we foolishly thought we would conquer the world. I wrote "Mission Over Washington" in the early eighties and re-recorded it for the CD a few months before September 11th 2001...oops. "Reaction Contagion" I actuall y recorded in the 90's as the inklings of grumpy old man status began. Blame it on the News was the result of watching too much 24hr news.
Wrote in about five minutes at a time when words were hard to come by and proved to me I hadn't quite lost it.
Secretidentity
Not Talking Blues (Willson/Jones) 2006
Broken Hearted (Willson/Jones) 2007
Love Suprise Accident (Willson/Jones) 2007
Met Mark Jones a very good guitar player and we began to write some songs. We seemed to work very well together and I got to sing a bit which is always fun. These are knocked out so quick but who has the time these days. Was very excited when I came up with "Not Talking Blues" as I banged electic drums on it. "Where" came from an idea Mark had that I rewrote most of the words and its a right result. Wrote "Black" after my father died .."there's an empty space that weights a ton" is one of my better lines.
Yammerman
Reworked Sinking in the Sands yet again mainly because I just like singing it
Sinking in the Sands (Willson\Williams)
The Light (Willson) A life story about love, revolution and death.
Love is Stronger(Willson/Williams) Written in response to the Mumbai bombings but it'll do for all the no people in the world.
Take This Love(Willson) are you for us or agin us.
Get Off The Planet(Willson) don't you just wish we could.
Lookout Here Comes Youth(Willson) The past looking at the present from the future or any combination of these
Before We Fade(Willson) Sunday morning prayers.
More BubbleGum Joe (Hazel/Willson) A reworking of a song from the summer of 1981.
Cities Heart (Willson/Williams) A demo of a reworked an Airtight Garage number.
Hardly a Heartache (Willson) The reunion nostalgia conitinues al the way from 1981. Just wanted to make sure I remember how it went.
Sweet Jane (Reed) I'm fairly sure Lou would not approve of my own unique version but I love playing it just like I always did.
Her Majesty(Lennon/Macartney) I just love playing this odd little number
The Gospel According to Pretty (Willson) Just something that came into my head and I felt compelled to write the song. In the 1960's you could get away with this sort of thing but probably not now.
Come Together(Willson) I wrote this during the months of rehearsing for the Punk Brighton reunion 2010 about the past and the present.
Zen Child (Willson) About living with a most extraordinary boy who will one day save the world.
Going Going Gone(Willson) A lost blues I found.
Walk on the Wildside (Reed) My cover of the Lou Reed classic.
The Funsuckers (Willson) An anthem for the pissed off.
Go Round in Circles (Willson) A love song I suppose.
Long Shadows (Willson) Going down slow.
Let it Shake (Willson) Modern living might need a rethink.
One Square Foot (Willson) Be kind to the old boy.
Let'em Eat Cake (Willson) Thanks to the Murdoch press for this one.
Osama (Willson) Pondering the whole Good v Evil thing.
Beautiful Way Of Death (Willson) I'd listened to a lot of Dylan when I wrote this.
Fourth Monkey Time (Willson) Do no evil.
More Will be added