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I reached out to a few people and said, what do I need to do to get my chops together?

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I said, well, you need to learn the standard book in 13 keys.

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So I'm not doing that.

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I've got a life.

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And they said, well, that's what it takes to be a jazz musician.

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So I said, very well, I'll put my hands up.

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I'm not a jazz musician, but I'm going to make two jazz records.

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Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles podcast for keyboard players.

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I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.

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And I've got my incredibly valued brothers, brothers.

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No, you're not a brothers brother in arms.

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Paul Bindig.

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How are you sir?

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I'm so ubiquitous there's more than one of me that's the way I operate.

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I'm mate.

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Thrilled to be here thanks for inviting me once again and we have a really cool and fun
interview for you all today.

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Yeah, so we've just spent an hour with the amazing Greg Kane from Hue and Cry.

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I was broadly aware of Hue and Cry's work and admired his work with synths and just really
diverse music over the years.

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So was a bit of a thrill to actually speak with him for now.

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As you'll hear, Greg has some amazing insights on how they've pulled off what Hue and Cry
have done over the last, what would be four decades.

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They've got a new album coming out.

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The diversity of their music is incredible.

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Greg also has done some great stuff with jazz, even though he feels like a bit of an
imposter.

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I'd say he's been way too modest there.

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He's done amazing work with people like Michael Brecker and McCoy Tyner and so on.

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yeah, some great, great stories in there.

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And we'll think you'll enjoy it a great deal.

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And we'll both talk to you after the show.

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Greg, it's an absolute honour and pleasure to have you on the show, sir.

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How are you this fine morning?

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It's fine, it might be a fine morning for you but it's the end of a long day for me.

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But I'm good, I'm good too.

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No, we do appreciate you taking time because it is late at night for you.

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So we very much appreciate you taking the time.

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So I thought we'd jump in talking about your past year or so, because I know you've got
some stuff coming up.

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So I'd like to talk about that as well in this, this answer, but just tell us about what
the past year has been like for you.

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The past year, so we have made electronic records.

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My brother's a big electronic music fan.

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And we made an electronic record and I couldn't get out of the box.

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I mix a lot as well.

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And I'm quite a good mixer, but not for my own stuff.

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I can't seem to detach myself from it.

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So through my online journey learning about synths, I befriended a guy called Yohad Nevo,
who's a acclaimed mixing engineer, but he's

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He's mixed to Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Sugar Babes, you know, he's quite.

45
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But he's really such a kind guy, helping me in the early days of learning about synths.

46
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And I got to know him over our love of a synth called a Behringer DeepMind 12, which is an
analog synth.

47
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When Behringer bought the English amp company Midas and desk company, they can task them
to make a Juno 106.

48
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But they made the Juno 106 in about a week and a half.

49
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And they said, well,

50
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we can do more than this.

51
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So they kind of let them go and they bought Clark Technique, sort of a reverb people.

52
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So they employed some Clark Technique stuff.

53
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So there's a lot of hate out there for Beringer.

54
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I'm not in the hate camp.

55
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I'm in the, democratizes music technology, makes it affordable for people.

56
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And Johad Neville, the mix engineer was in the same camp and him and I seem to be the only
ones flying the flag for the DeepMind 12.

57
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So that's how we got to know each other.

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I couldn't get this album finished.

59
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I contacted Johad and said, would you have a look?

60
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And I said to my manager and my brother, look, this isn't going to be cheap.

61
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So it's up to you guys if you want to spend the money.

62
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But Johad's a top line engineer, his studio is in London.

63
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He's got a Neve, 96 channel desk.

64
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So I said to Johad first, would you have a look at it?

65
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And he said, I'd love to.

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And then my manager and him had conversations and the manager said, yep, I'm happy.

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My brother said, I'm happy, Yohad was happy.

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That's been the last year of Yohad.

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The only thing is there's two tracks on this new album that are mix one.

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So when the mixes come back to you, you usually tweak them or stuff like that.

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And by the time you master the record, it's mix seven or mix six or mix whatever.

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Two tracks are mix one.

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And Yohad said, that's the first time it's ever happened to him have two tracks that were
mix one.

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So he just got what I was trying to do and it was a match made in heaven.

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we're so...

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so happy.

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The record sounds great.

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We've been radio promo in the last six months.

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Sounds great.

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Every radio studio we go in.

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So yeah, it was fortunate.

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I had worked really hard to learn all about analog subtractive synthesis and Yo Hard was
very helpful along with so many others.

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yeah.

84
00:05:06,378 --> 00:05:12,384
So Greg, what do you think it was, can you put your finger on what it was that allowed you
to only take one mix for a of songs?

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What do you think that synergy was?

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I don't know.

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mean, he's a guitarist you had, but he's mixed some of the most iconic synth records,
Sugar Babes, using the Gary Newman sample and all that sort of stuff.

88
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So he understands synths and he's got a technique.

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I mean, he's got his own YouTube channel that's doing really well just now.

90
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And he's got a technique of analoging digital recordings.

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So when I hear our mixes,

92
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I mean, that mix one, the first single was stronger and it's still kind of out just now
making waves over here in the UK.

93
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And it's so analog when you hear it.

94
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And it is, mean, don't get me wrong, there's moogs and everything else in here.

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There's all analog sense in here, but they were recorded at, you know, 48 kilohertz, 24
bit just like everybody else does.

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So it doesn't have that analog, but he managed to do it.

97
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yeah, I'm chuffed a bit.

98
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And now it's so good to have a good sound and record.

99
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Sometimes Pat and I have compromised because it's been done in a certain way.

100
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What's the record that I really like just now?

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Olivia Dean.

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record that's kind of, now they recorded that in a house in London.

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Yeah.

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It's really compromised sonically, but it kind of works.

105
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For some reason, I could never get that to work.

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I loved recording in flats and apartments and houses, but it was difficult to get it to
translate to come out the speakers.

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To have an album that sounds as good, I'm so chuffed and very proud to go and promote it.

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It does sound amazing.

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I've listened to Stronger a few times and it does have that real analog feel, you're right
Greg.

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It also sounds very different, I would argue, for Hugh and Kryan.

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Tell us about the upcoming album overall and how much of a departure or otherwise it is
for you guys.

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We've made so many genres.

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This is our 16th album.

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Back in the day, in the 80s, when all the hits were happening, I was using D50s and M1s
and JV 1080s, just like everybody else was using.

115
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But I mean, was flicking through presets and thinking, that sounds right.

116
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That sounds right.

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I wasn't diving in to anything near what I do now.

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So that was my background.

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So Pat is not a musician, so he didn't really know that I didn't really know what the
synths were doing.

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When he said I want to make an electronic record, said, well, don't know anything about
electronic music.

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there's lots of over here in Glasgow, we've got Signal Sounds, which is a sort top modular
electronic place.

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We've got Rubber Dub, Simple Minds Keyboard Players here.

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There's lots of guys, the Mogwai guys are here.

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There's lots of guys that you can reach out to and say, and they all said, just use
presets.

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Presets, Greg, it's just, it's not worth the grief.

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But no, I'm a studious guy.

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So, em

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The first synth that I bought was the little Behringer Model D, know, the mini MOOC sort
of replica.

129
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And for 250 quid, and sitting with that, it taught me how it all works, how the envelopes
work, how the VCA's work, how the oscillators work, everything.

130
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And it's a brilliant little synth for 250 quid.

131
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And I learned it and then I bought other synths and they all pretty much follow the same
journey.

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You're doing analog, subtractor, synthesis to do the same thing.

133
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And then the Hydra synth appeared and I couldn't believe what that was doing, the shock
and awe of that keyboard.

134
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So I bought one, there was some guy on eBay said he couldn't get to grips with it and I
was on tour at the time.

135
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I found him, gave him 500 quid for the desktop one and I brought it back here.

136
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And yes, it's a steep learning curve, but what a thing that is.

137
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I was researching and buying the right synths.

138
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Everybody says you should have Morgues, you should Morgues.

139
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I looked at them and I was gravitating towards the grandmother.

140
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I tried it out in the shop.

141
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I really loved it.

142
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The Subsequent 37 I loved because of its power.

143
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And then I couldn't stop watching videos on the drummer from another mother.

144
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I thought that was, I didn't really understand what was going on.

145
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I remember when I bought it, I brought it home, I connected it up to a little speaker and
I just left it on the coffee table.

146
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And people would come in, not musicians, say, what's that?

147
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I said, just press start and play my buttons and see what happens.

148
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You couldn't get them off it.

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They were amazed.

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And I just loved that thing.

151
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And Pat's not a musician.

152
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And the song, Everybody Deserves to Be Loved, which is the title track of the album,
Everybody, that's him mucking about with a drummer from another mother.

153
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And when I came in, he would say, what do think of that?

154
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And he's jumping about and he went to touch it.

155
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I said, don't touch it.

156
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Don't touch it.

157
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He what do mean?

158
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I said, you can't save anything.

159
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It is what it is.

160
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So I kind of recorded the way he'd done it and he was dying to touch it.

161
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He said, no, I could just tweak this.

162
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It's no, if you touch it, no, it's going to collapse.

163
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And I'd recorded, you know, about 30 seconds of it.

164
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And sure enough, he went on touched it and it completely collapsed.

165
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went, oh, it's okay.

166
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I've got it.

167
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I've got it.

168
00:10:06,015 --> 00:10:14,060
But the thing is, the guy Luke Mumnough Computer, Sam Battle, who's doing our Eurovision
representative thing.

169
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He was really supportive back in the day.

170
00:10:16,443 --> 00:10:18,904
If you get the chance, go to his synth museum.

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that's the way on the southeast coast of England, it's bonkers.

172
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But he was the one that said to me on a forum, turn your computer off.

173
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I said, what do mean?

174
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He said, well, turn it off and just connect the synths up.

175
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I was like, how?

176
00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,161
Just midi, just give them a midi clock.

177
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They've all got the same clock.

178
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So just let them do their thing.

179
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So I did the turn the computer off.

180
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And then when Pat and I come in here, this is the kind of wall of synths behind me.

181
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He came in here, we just made big walls of sound that were chaotic.

182
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And I was kind of going, I don't really know what's going on here.

183
00:10:57,401 --> 00:11:00,753
He was jumping around the room going, this is exactly what I wanted.

184
00:11:01,046 --> 00:11:04,555
And I said, but we need to write a bloody song somehow.

185
00:11:04,616 --> 00:11:08,318
Matt, the thing about these synths, don't listen to each other.

186
00:11:08,318 --> 00:11:15,042
You kind of initiate what they do, but there's so many dissonances and conflicts.

187
00:11:15,510 --> 00:11:23,833
you start to hear melodies you've never heard before and you start to hear the conflicts
make you think about things you've never heard, you've never thought about before.

188
00:11:24,094 --> 00:11:29,656
So my job was to try and force harmony on the chaos that we created together.

189
00:11:29,656 --> 00:11:33,838
And the chaos, mainly because I didn't really know what I was doing.

190
00:11:33,838 --> 00:11:44,558
I kind of knew the basics of it, but you know, and I learned very quickly that you finesse
it, you do not do zero to 11 ever since

191
00:11:44,558 --> 00:11:51,749
tiny little increments and you can imagine and I didn't really get into changing the kind
of range of faders and knobs and all that stuff.

192
00:11:51,749 --> 00:11:53,100
I didn't really think about that.

193
00:11:53,100 --> 00:11:56,161
So you're kind of turning things slightly and it's completely changing.

194
00:11:56,161 --> 00:11:57,702
You think, fuck, you're trying to get back.

195
00:11:57,702 --> 00:12:01,222
But because it's something else that's happened within the synths.

196
00:12:01,223 --> 00:12:02,703
So we had such a journey.

197
00:12:02,703 --> 00:12:05,624
I mean, I've never experienced anything like that my life before.

198
00:12:05,624 --> 00:12:08,725
I remember people, their studios in quite a big complex.

199
00:12:08,725 --> 00:12:14,406
I remember people, I meet people in the cafe downstairs and they say, what are you doing
in there?

200
00:12:14,498 --> 00:12:26,028
It just sounded like the end of the world because there's like 27 synths and they're all
the MIDI clock was the Roland MX-1 which is that mixing desk that's got a step sequencer.

201
00:12:26,229 --> 00:12:30,292
So it can generate the MIDI clock and then it just chucked it all out to all the synths.

202
00:12:30,292 --> 00:12:35,347
So they're all synced with each other and you know, I just used the computer as a
multitrack.

203
00:12:35,347 --> 00:12:37,288
It wasn't even on the MIDI clock.

204
00:12:39,195 --> 00:12:41,482
All the tracks were just armed and running.

205
00:12:42,190 --> 00:12:42,871
That's incredible.

206
00:12:42,871 --> 00:12:51,227
so, mean, as you said, that allows you to create a huge amount of music and then wrangling
that and, you know, getting the harmony and everything else.

207
00:12:51,227 --> 00:12:53,430
So that's, that's quite an undertaking.

208
00:12:53,430 --> 00:12:55,731
So you obviously ended up with a final product.

209
00:12:55,731 --> 00:12:57,633
So tell us about the new album overall.

210
00:12:57,633 --> 00:13:02,176
What, what were the most exciting bits about it for you, aside from what you've already
described?

211
00:13:03,030 --> 00:13:04,391
There was lots of turmoil.

212
00:13:04,391 --> 00:13:09,270
We started writing the album in April 2018.

213
00:13:09,393 --> 00:13:13,975
And then we wrote the last song, we wrote 20 songs for it, and the last song was written
in February 2020.

214
00:13:13,975 --> 00:13:17,616
And we all know what happened the next month.

215
00:13:17,676 --> 00:13:19,607
So the whole thing shut, everything shut down.

216
00:13:19,607 --> 00:13:21,218
We'd written all these songs.

217
00:13:21,218 --> 00:13:27,240
Pretty much 60, 70 % of the initial chaos from these synths is on the record.

218
00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:32,034
We asked Johad, can you try and keep as much of this as possible?

219
00:13:32,034 --> 00:13:34,435
And some of it's not the best recorded.

220
00:13:34,435 --> 00:13:41,258
It's all individual and it's all synced, but some of the sounds are a little bit, you
know, chaotic.

221
00:13:41,258 --> 00:13:48,001
So he uses skill as a mixing engineer, but a lot of the stuff was there when we wrote the
songs ended up on the record.

222
00:13:48,001 --> 00:13:51,112
But the shutdown and the pandemic wasn't good for me.

223
00:13:51,112 --> 00:13:56,924
I lost a lot of them because the music industry was the first to shut down and the last to
reopen.

224
00:13:56,924 --> 00:14:01,056
So a lot of people thought it was a good opportunity to write some songs and make some
music.

225
00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:02,711
wasn't good for me.

226
00:14:02,711 --> 00:14:03,942
I lost a lot of confidence.

227
00:14:03,942 --> 00:14:05,970
My decision making was gone.

228
00:14:05,970 --> 00:14:07,816
I didn't know what was good or bad.

229
00:14:07,816 --> 00:14:14,322
So we were making an electronic dance record for people that couldn't dance to it because
they weren't allowed out.

230
00:14:14,322 --> 00:14:22,929
So I had not downed tools during the pandemic, but at the home school my kids and a lot of
their parents still had to work.

231
00:14:22,929 --> 00:14:24,710
So I said, well, I'll take your kids on.

232
00:14:24,710 --> 00:14:29,164
So we had the whole rig roll of making sure they were all dipped in big vats of...

233
00:14:30,633 --> 00:14:31,814
antibacterial stuff.

234
00:14:31,814 --> 00:14:36,174
And they were, ran a wee school in here for the kids for a year, kind of homeschooling
them.

235
00:14:36,174 --> 00:14:38,674
And then my brother was in London.

236
00:14:38,674 --> 00:14:41,374
So the album was put on hold for 18 months.

237
00:14:41,374 --> 00:14:50,434
And then once we started coming out of it again and gigging again, you know, we hadn't
earned, we had no money, but for 18 months we hadn't gigged and that's where our income

238
00:14:50,434 --> 00:14:51,354
comes from.

239
00:14:51,354 --> 00:14:56,114
So in 2022, 2023, was nothing but gigging.

240
00:14:56,114 --> 00:14:58,840
Everybody was out, festivals were mobbed.

241
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,152
But everybody had to try and make that money back for those two years.

242
00:15:02,152 --> 00:15:03,842
So it was an on-hold then.

243
00:15:03,842 --> 00:15:10,055
did a few months of vocals with Pat because he wanted to do some lyric changes and we did
that.

244
00:15:10,055 --> 00:15:12,857
And then as I said before, they got handed off to Yohad.

245
00:15:12,857 --> 00:15:18,819
So it took about two years to make from writing.

246
00:15:19,220 --> 00:15:22,201
And then there was the pandemic, then there was out gigging.

247
00:15:22,201 --> 00:15:24,762
It seemed like every weekend we were away.

248
00:15:25,070 --> 00:15:27,550
I mean, my relationship completely collapsed.

249
00:15:27,550 --> 00:15:31,590
My daughter was sometimes coming with me and she was like, dad, I don't want to go on the
tour bus.

250
00:15:31,590 --> 00:15:34,690
It's my turn to look after you and I need to go and earn some money.

251
00:15:34,750 --> 00:15:37,790
So yeah, it's been quite an ordeal.

252
00:15:37,790 --> 00:15:41,949
It doesn't seem like we started writing it in 2018, but we did.

253
00:15:42,062 --> 00:15:47,766
Greg, I'd love to rewind the clock a bit and understand about the formation of Hue and
Cry.

254
00:15:47,766 --> 00:15:57,353
Did it always seem natural that you and Pat were going to do something together or was
that something you were, when you were younger, were mucking around with music together at

255
00:15:57,353 --> 00:15:59,464
home or how did it all come about?

256
00:15:59,790 --> 00:16:05,473
My brother's a first-class honours degree graduate from Glasgow University in English
literature.

257
00:16:05,473 --> 00:16:08,924
He's a wordy guy and he was always wordy at school.

258
00:16:08,924 --> 00:16:15,437
And I played piano since I was nine, played saxophone since I was 12, played guitar and
bass.

259
00:16:15,437 --> 00:16:17,598
So I was always in bands at school.

260
00:16:17,598 --> 00:16:19,538
And I wasn't a big punk fan.

261
00:16:19,710 --> 00:16:25,851
I kind of liked to clash, but I was more kind of Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Ian Jury and
the Blockheads.

262
00:16:25,851 --> 00:16:27,542
That was kind of my thing.

263
00:16:27,694 --> 00:16:31,354
and my pals were onto the Sex Pistols and SLF and all the crazy stuff.

264
00:16:31,354 --> 00:16:37,214
So in order to fit in, I had to pretend to like that punk music, but it was quite easy for
me to play.

265
00:16:37,234 --> 00:16:45,794
But then when the two-tone thing came along, that was great because at least I could play
keyboards and I could play saxophone because people wanted to play the beat songs and some

266
00:16:45,794 --> 00:16:48,174
of the special songs.

267
00:16:48,454 --> 00:16:50,694
So around about that time, I was enjoying it more.

268
00:16:50,694 --> 00:16:55,934
was 14, 15 years old and the band I was in, we couldn't write any words, it was rubbish.

269
00:16:56,046 --> 00:16:58,946
So I said, I'll ask my brother to write some words for us.

270
00:16:59,046 --> 00:17:01,746
So he wrote some words and I brought them into a singer.

271
00:17:01,746 --> 00:17:03,386
He was the handsomest guy in the school.

272
00:17:03,386 --> 00:17:08,586
So he got all these words and we were really popular and we played in so many other
schools.

273
00:17:08,586 --> 00:17:10,366
Battle of the bands thing.

274
00:17:10,446 --> 00:17:18,166
And then we were rehearsing in the room, mom's living room and he came in and we were
playing the jam start.

275
00:17:18,506 --> 00:17:20,526
And he said, I can sing that.

276
00:17:20,686 --> 00:17:23,026
And Mark, the singer played telecast as well.

277
00:17:23,026 --> 00:17:25,454
And Mark's like, oh, and then, so he sang it.

278
00:17:25,454 --> 00:17:27,134
And he was really good.

279
00:17:28,074 --> 00:17:36,034
And afterwards, many, many years afterwards, Pat said that was the moment that he realized
that he could sing with a band, like a rock band, a punk band.

280
00:17:36,034 --> 00:17:39,974
So we then, I was in a band called The Winning Losers.

281
00:17:39,974 --> 00:17:44,794
We were kind of a Skiffle, Dick Dale, sort of psycho sort of band.

282
00:17:44,934 --> 00:17:48,874
And the singer left and I said to him, we should get my brother in because he can sing.

283
00:17:48,874 --> 00:17:50,214
And he said, what the swatty guy?

284
00:17:50,214 --> 00:17:52,494
I said, aye, the swatty guy, my brother.

285
00:17:52,734 --> 00:17:55,246
So we got him in and he did great.

286
00:17:55,246 --> 00:18:00,750
And we wrote some songs for them and they threw us out the band.

287
00:18:00,750 --> 00:18:02,611
They didn't like the songs.

288
00:18:02,611 --> 00:18:15,318
So we kind of started recording our own songs and the demo studios, is so before Shew and
Cry, the demo studios in Glasgow had a strong connection to the local radio station.

289
00:18:15,419 --> 00:18:17,780
So they would play the demos at night.

290
00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:21,322
So the radio host is a guy called Billy Sloan and he used to say,

291
00:18:21,614 --> 00:18:31,074
anything interesting and the guy that's in the studio said, we've got these two guys from
Coatbridge come in and they've, you know, played this kind of jazz pop weird sort of.

292
00:18:31,234 --> 00:18:32,694
So we started to get played in the radio.

293
00:18:32,694 --> 00:18:40,454
And I think the most amazing thing about that was you used to listen to your demos on the
radio and you immediately knew it was wrong.

294
00:18:40,454 --> 00:18:42,014
You went, oh, I could have done that better.

295
00:18:42,014 --> 00:18:44,914
I've done that different or made that intro shorter.

296
00:18:44,934 --> 00:18:51,182
It was as though you were kind of road testing your songs in front of an audience of a
hundred thousand, two hundred thousand.

297
00:18:51,182 --> 00:18:58,142
So you were still getting the rush from hearing your song on the radio, but as a musician,
you're constantly critiquing yourself and you were thinking, right, I could do that

298
00:18:58,142 --> 00:18:59,502
better, do that better.

299
00:18:59,682 --> 00:19:01,922
So I mean, that was the early stages of Hue and Cry.

300
00:19:01,922 --> 00:19:07,462
And then the guy that owned one of the studios, we saved up our hundred pounds to do our
days recording.

301
00:19:07,462 --> 00:19:16,002
And at the end, this is the third time we were in, at the end of the day he said, you can
keep your money in your pocket if you let me manage you.

302
00:19:16,002 --> 00:19:19,642
And we said, I don't was like 16, 17.

303
00:19:20,110 --> 00:19:21,390
50 quid is a lot of money.

304
00:19:21,390 --> 00:19:23,190
You always think, okay, I'll just put it in my pocket.

305
00:19:23,190 --> 00:19:24,650
I've got my demo tape.

306
00:19:24,650 --> 00:19:27,450
And we came home and my dad said, you didn't sign anything, did you?

307
00:19:27,450 --> 00:19:29,310
I said, no, no, we didn't sign anything.

308
00:19:29,330 --> 00:19:33,990
And then Alan, the guy that did that, he was our manager for the next 10 years.

309
00:19:34,050 --> 00:19:36,742
all hits and through all, we never did sign anything with him.

310
00:19:37,582 --> 00:19:38,540
It's amazing.

311
00:19:38,540 --> 00:19:50,056
So how did it go from that formative start of the band and then meeting Alan to I guess
what Hugh and Cryber came, making albums and becoming a really popular band?

312
00:19:50,056 --> 00:19:51,387
What was the turning point there?

313
00:19:51,387 --> 00:19:52,008
What changed?

314
00:19:52,008 --> 00:19:52,549
What happened?

315
00:19:52,549 --> 00:19:53,760
How did it evolve?

316
00:19:54,146 --> 00:20:01,150
We released an independent single on our own called Here Comes Everybody, 1984, and we
pressed up a thousand copies.

317
00:20:01,150 --> 00:20:04,712
And on the A side was this big Latin extravaganza funk thing.

318
00:20:04,712 --> 00:20:11,276
And on the B side, there was a piano vocal ballad, which was a heart wrenching song about
a relation of ours who died of cancer.

319
00:20:11,276 --> 00:20:17,820
So there was a juxtaposition of this, come on, here comes everybody, and this Tom Waits
like thing on the other side.

320
00:20:17,820 --> 00:20:21,442
So I got loads of good reviews in the national press in the UK.

321
00:20:21,558 --> 00:20:31,316
And it kind of pricked the interest of the two guys from, they were at Island at the time,
Ashley Newton and Ray Cooper, and they were looking after Robert Palmer and U2 and Frankie

322
00:20:31,316 --> 00:20:32,427
Goes to Hollywood.

323
00:20:32,427 --> 00:20:33,828
That was their gig.

324
00:20:33,828 --> 00:20:35,379
But they were dying to set up their own thing.

325
00:20:35,379 --> 00:20:38,191
And they heard 12 inches and they flipped it over.

326
00:20:38,191 --> 00:20:41,354
They had the Tom Waits track and they went, right, this is interesting.

327
00:20:41,494 --> 00:20:47,779
So they came to see us and they said, look, we don't have much money, but we're going to
leave Island Records and set up our own thing.

328
00:20:47,779 --> 00:20:51,182
But it might be on the back of credit card overdraft facilities.

329
00:20:51,182 --> 00:20:52,262
All right.

330
00:20:52,262 --> 00:20:58,364
So my manager wasn't really, Alan wasn't really keen because he's like, these guys have
got no money, but we really liked them.

331
00:20:58,424 --> 00:21:03,425
And they signed us, I-86, and then tried to find producers.

332
00:21:03,425 --> 00:21:06,546
The first producer, we worked with a guy called Pete Smith.

333
00:21:06,546 --> 00:21:08,164
Well, we worked with Richard Derbyshire.

334
00:21:08,164 --> 00:21:09,567
Do you remember Living in a Box?

335
00:21:09,567 --> 00:21:10,027
Yeah.

336
00:21:10,027 --> 00:21:17,830
Well, Richard kind of came and did some work with us and he made us sound like a kind of
go West kind of version of Human Cry, which sounded really impressive, but it wasn't

337
00:21:17,830 --> 00:21:19,660
really what we were looking for.

338
00:21:19,904 --> 00:21:27,658
And then they put us in a studio with Pete Smith, who did Sting's Dream of the Blue
Turtles album, his first album after Leaving the Police.

339
00:21:27,658 --> 00:21:30,709
And Pete was great, but they didn't, it wasn't the right song.

340
00:21:30,709 --> 00:21:35,582
The song was too slow as far as I was concerned, but it's a song called I Refuse, it's
their first single.

341
00:21:35,582 --> 00:21:37,362
So it didn't do that well.

342
00:21:37,763 --> 00:21:45,294
And then the guy that this record company is called Sucker Records, and the guy that was
one of the top two guys that ran it.

343
00:21:45,294 --> 00:21:48,454
He ran a dance label called Fourth and Broadway out of New York.

344
00:21:48,454 --> 00:21:51,674
He'd worked with, know, Gwen Guthrie, ain't nothing going on but the rent.

345
00:21:51,714 --> 00:21:54,774
And the guy that mixed that was a guy called Harvey Goldberg.

346
00:21:55,114 --> 00:21:57,894
And he also mixed Soft Sales Tainted Love.

347
00:21:57,894 --> 00:22:04,054
So Ashley from the record company convinced Harvey to come to Sheffield from New York to
see us.

348
00:22:04,694 --> 00:22:08,394
So we're playing in the Lead Mill in Sheffield as part of a multi-band lineup.

349
00:22:08,634 --> 00:22:11,414
And Harvey came to see us and he says, right, well, I see it.

350
00:22:11,414 --> 00:22:14,374
And I see that song, Labour Love, because we're playing it live.

351
00:22:14,606 --> 00:22:18,665
And we didn't have the money to go to New York and lots of stuff.

352
00:22:18,665 --> 00:22:22,966
So they came here, they came to Glasgow and we had a great band at the time.

353
00:22:22,966 --> 00:22:29,506
And we did the backing tracks for Labour Love and Strength to Strength in Glasgow.

354
00:22:29,986 --> 00:22:33,426
So that would have been what, 86, late 86.

355
00:22:33,706 --> 00:22:39,526
And then they took us over to New York and we put the horns and the strings on those two
tracks in New York.

356
00:22:39,706 --> 00:22:44,646
But when we, and then it went so well, the record wasn't a hit yet.

357
00:22:44,918 --> 00:22:50,461
I don't know, these two guys that were on credit card overdraft facility, they signed a
deal with Richard Branson and his Virgin.

358
00:22:50,461 --> 00:22:55,164
And there was a whole thing about Virgin, was called Associate Virgin Labels AVL.

359
00:22:55,164 --> 00:22:59,946
So a Virgin was an umbrella company, but they were giving them investment and money.

360
00:23:00,118 --> 00:23:03,789
So they right, we've got enough money to do an album with you.

361
00:23:04,630 --> 00:23:09,472
we did the backing tracks in Glasgow and Pat and I went to New York to do all the
overdubs.

362
00:23:09,632 --> 00:23:12,854
But whilst we were over there doing the overdubs, they released Labour Love.

363
00:23:13,358 --> 00:23:15,358
and it started to climb the charts.

364
00:23:15,579 --> 00:23:23,121
And I remember, we were in New York working and thinking, well, it's it's spent four weeks
outside the top 40, it's not gonna happen.

365
00:23:23,121 --> 00:23:24,461
And then it happened.

366
00:23:24,461 --> 00:23:26,041
And then we had to fly back.

367
00:23:26,242 --> 00:23:27,982
And then we did top of the pops.

368
00:23:28,202 --> 00:23:30,143
And then we had to fly back to New York.

369
00:23:30,143 --> 00:23:33,624
And then it went top 10, so we had to fly back again.

370
00:23:33,764 --> 00:23:40,486
it was all that kind of crazy, I guess every musician's got that story where it all gonna
blows up.

371
00:23:40,486 --> 00:23:42,240
fortunately we were young enough.

372
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,110
I I was only 20 years old.

373
00:23:44,110 --> 00:23:46,530
I was only 22, so we had the energy.

374
00:23:46,530 --> 00:23:48,039
I can't imagine doing that now.

375
00:23:48,039 --> 00:23:50,206
Don't tell me to come to Australia, please.

376
00:23:50,206 --> 00:23:51,527
I was going to say that later.

377
00:23:51,527 --> 00:23:52,648
You were going to.

378
00:23:52,648 --> 00:23:54,968
I did want you to come to Australia.

379
00:23:55,349 --> 00:23:58,250
It's only a 22, 24 hour flight.

380
00:23:59,351 --> 00:24:00,492
Not too bad.

381
00:24:00,492 --> 00:24:00,992
But yeah.

382
00:24:00,992 --> 00:24:04,164
And I mean, I did want to talk sort of unpack a little bit of that Greg.

383
00:24:04,164 --> 00:24:13,319
So I mean, even going to New York as someone I know as a 20, 22 year old flying to another
country, let alone New York, let alone for recording.

384
00:24:13,319 --> 00:24:18,092
What, what are your recollections of that time and what you'd learned from that
experience?

385
00:24:18,702 --> 00:24:22,422
I wasn't allowed to drink in the bars because it's 21 in New York.

386
00:24:22,602 --> 00:24:25,802
So that was a bit awkward first time.

387
00:24:25,802 --> 00:24:28,242
Like, well, I'm from Scotland, all we do is drink.

388
00:24:28,242 --> 00:24:30,182
Like, no, no, you can't drink here.

389
00:24:30,302 --> 00:24:31,682
So that was a bit odd.

390
00:24:32,222 --> 00:24:34,702
The studio experience was incredible.

391
00:24:35,002 --> 00:24:46,002
You know, I got to be friends so many people from David Byrne and Chris France and Tina
Weymouth to Whitney Houston to Samantha Fox.

392
00:24:46,318 --> 00:24:50,278
You know, all different types in the studio complex.

393
00:24:50,278 --> 00:24:56,798
And the studio complex was in the Ed Sullivan Theatre building in Broadway, where the
Elvis and the Beatles did their famous thing.

394
00:24:56,978 --> 00:24:59,678
so you were kind of steeped in it over there.

395
00:24:59,678 --> 00:25:03,078
And then the hotel they put us in was at Columbus Circle.

396
00:25:03,078 --> 00:25:05,718
And every morning there was somebody famous.

397
00:25:05,718 --> 00:25:08,298
I remember Nick Nolte just drinking tequila in the morning.

398
00:25:08,298 --> 00:25:11,938
was sitting up with my ex Benedict, maybe doing tequila shots.

399
00:25:11,938 --> 00:25:13,938
And I thought, right, OK, this is a bit mental.

400
00:25:13,938 --> 00:25:15,212
then do you remember the...

401
00:25:15,212 --> 00:25:21,085
The series Petracelli, but the lawyer that kept trying to build this house from the 70s.

402
00:25:21,085 --> 00:25:23,076
he had big afro haircut.

403
00:25:23,076 --> 00:25:25,027
You used to see him every morning.

404
00:25:25,668 --> 00:25:31,201
And then our backing vocalist was over singing backing vocals one time when he's sitting
there and he's like, that's Petracelli.

405
00:25:31,201 --> 00:25:32,932
said, no, don't say anything, Davies.

406
00:25:32,932 --> 00:25:33,782
He's a cool guy.

407
00:25:33,782 --> 00:25:35,233
just nodded and said hello to him.

408
00:25:35,233 --> 00:25:38,555
So I nodded and said, so Davies said, did you ever finish that house?

409
00:25:38,555 --> 00:25:42,597
Because the whole opening sequence was like them building this house.

410
00:25:42,597 --> 00:25:45,278
was supposed to kind of portray him as a DIY guy.

411
00:25:46,310 --> 00:25:50,710
I don't know how many episodes he did of Petrocelli, but did you ever finish that house?

412
00:25:50,990 --> 00:25:54,310
So there was lots of, I remember lots of stuff from New York.

413
00:25:54,570 --> 00:25:56,530
A lot of the jazz musicians took care of me.

414
00:25:56,530 --> 00:26:04,670
So was always down at the Vanguard or there was a bar called the Possible 20, which I used
to go to quite a lot.

415
00:26:04,670 --> 00:26:12,090
And that was the Possible 20s when they hired the session musicians to do sessions, they'd
hire them with a Possible 20.

416
00:26:12,090 --> 00:26:13,592
So by 20 minute extra.

417
00:26:13,592 --> 00:26:16,823
So you wouldn't get paid the full hour, but you paid 20 minutes.

418
00:26:16,823 --> 00:26:22,825
So this bar was a lot of musicians hanging about waiting to get the call because it was
right amongst the district of all the studios.

419
00:26:22,825 --> 00:26:26,886
So this is in the heyday of, you know, session and jingles.

420
00:26:26,886 --> 00:26:32,887
The guy that played bass on Looking for Linda, Will Lee, he sang the songkist ad.

421
00:26:33,967 --> 00:26:35,708
songkist is the one.

422
00:26:35,788 --> 00:26:43,870
So, you know, he got that session because he was in playing bass on the session and he was
singing because he quite liked the tune and the producer said, you sing it.

423
00:26:44,184 --> 00:26:45,215
So Will sang that.

424
00:26:45,215 --> 00:26:50,461
That's the sort of, it seems like a different dimension to nowadays.

425
00:26:50,461 --> 00:26:53,865
that's, as a 20 year old guy, it was quite amazing to be amongst that.

426
00:26:53,865 --> 00:26:54,612
uh

427
00:26:54,612 --> 00:27:02,492
It absolutely would have been and I'm sure it was Sam Fox and David Byrne were both there
for that duet they did that they're so famous for so that's great.

428
00:27:05,228 --> 00:27:07,826
I saw them share a coffee once so they seem to go on fine.

429
00:27:07,826 --> 00:27:09,353
there you go, there you go.

430
00:27:09,353 --> 00:27:11,711
See, I bet you that's something no one's ever realised.

431
00:27:11,711 --> 00:27:13,184
That's funny as.

432
00:27:13,184 --> 00:27:14,248
It must exist somewhere.

433
00:27:14,248 --> 00:27:15,480
Yeah!

434
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:16,220
That's right.

435
00:27:16,220 --> 00:27:24,266
Greg, so, and I mean, your gear at that time, because obviously the sounds you were even
coaxing out of gear back then were amazing.

436
00:27:24,266 --> 00:27:33,172
Just tell us a little bit about the gear and what you're using on the first album and just
some of the core stuff you were doing that made it sound as good as it did.

437
00:27:33,966 --> 00:27:38,888
There was a shop in New York called Manny's Music and I was using the D50.

438
00:27:38,888 --> 00:27:40,269
That was my choice.

439
00:27:40,269 --> 00:27:45,211
I wasn't in the DX7, wasn't in the FM, but I liked the D50 and the JV1080.

440
00:27:45,211 --> 00:27:47,912
I think JV1080 was after that.

441
00:27:48,193 --> 00:27:58,597
But these really clever programmers, don't know, in rolling D50 there was a slot for a
card and you could buy Manny's sounds.

442
00:27:58,597 --> 00:28:00,558
And all it was was

443
00:28:01,378 --> 00:28:04,790
very clever keyboard programmers would sit all day and just make their own patches.

444
00:28:04,790 --> 00:28:06,822
And they would load them onto this card.

445
00:28:06,822 --> 00:28:12,166
And I guess Manny, the guy who owned the shop, would cut them in and he would sell them.

446
00:28:12,166 --> 00:28:16,138
So these cards were completely different from what everybody else had.

447
00:28:16,138 --> 00:28:20,692
Roland made their D50 cards, which is orchestra, percussion, all that sort of stuff.

448
00:28:20,692 --> 00:28:22,613
But these are branded Manny's.

449
00:28:22,613 --> 00:28:23,934
I remember them.

450
00:28:24,134 --> 00:28:25,575
And I bought loads of them.

451
00:28:25,575 --> 00:28:28,757
Maybe that's why when I came home, people would say, where did you get that sense?

452
00:28:28,757 --> 00:28:29,678
It's a D50.

453
00:28:29,742 --> 00:28:35,782
It's a little bit more than a D-50, so it's not really, but it was programmed by some whiz
at Manys Music.

454
00:28:35,862 --> 00:28:38,042
So I mean, that's a lot of the sounds we're coming from.

455
00:28:38,042 --> 00:28:46,782
The drum machines, they were all kind of Linn drums and was it the OBX ones, the Oberheim
ones.

456
00:28:46,782 --> 00:28:49,662
I remember seeing a lot of them being in the studios.

457
00:28:50,502 --> 00:28:58,136
But yeah, very lucky to tap into that whole scene where people were making money out of
making these presets and putting them on cards.

458
00:28:58,136 --> 00:29:01,986
But there was mainly a D50, that was the thing that I loved in the end of the 80s.

459
00:29:01,986 --> 00:29:11,080
And was that mostly the, cause some of the, there's some great electric piano on that was,
that coming from the D 50 as well or from other, I know you mentioned one as well.

460
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:12,327
later on, I'm sure you're using.

461
00:29:12,327 --> 00:29:13,992
M1 was in the 90s.

462
00:29:13,992 --> 00:29:15,175
was after that.

463
00:29:15,175 --> 00:29:16,820
But no, that was all D50.

464
00:29:16,820 --> 00:29:17,301
Yeah.

465
00:29:17,301 --> 00:29:18,102
Wow.

466
00:29:18,648 --> 00:29:19,694
So I'm on it.

467
00:29:19,694 --> 00:29:28,814
The Roland RD-1000, I mean, didn't hire that for me, New Yorkers do.

468
00:29:28,814 --> 00:29:30,494
So that stayed in Scotland.

469
00:29:30,971 --> 00:29:40,157
So on that subject of the sounds that you were getting, um I sort of wonder, you mentioned
before, you were saying with the newer stuff, you know, you have a few synths that are

470
00:29:40,157 --> 00:29:46,061
almost fighting with each other and that dissonance informs and inspires the way that you
might write a song.

471
00:29:46,061 --> 00:29:50,265
um I'm thinking about projects like the piano and voice album.

472
00:29:50,265 --> 00:29:57,858
Is that stuff that's born on the acoustic piano and then you build around it or do you
start with a synthesizer and get inspired and then...

473
00:29:57,858 --> 00:29:59,661
Maybe back solve it for the piano.

474
00:29:59,661 --> 00:30:00,282
What's the...

475
00:30:00,282 --> 00:30:03,836
How much do your instruments inform the way you write?

476
00:30:04,046 --> 00:30:09,666
I've always written just with piano and voice, maybe a drum machine, but mostly just piano
and voice.

477
00:30:09,666 --> 00:30:13,986
This is the first, this new album is the first album we've ever written like this.

478
00:30:13,986 --> 00:30:18,606
Yeah, so was new territory for me because I'm a harmony guy.

479
00:30:18,606 --> 00:30:20,246
I like harmony.

480
00:30:20,346 --> 00:30:25,486
I was just sitting listening to James Blake's new album last night and I'm kind of talking
to my friends about it.

481
00:30:25,486 --> 00:30:28,126
And I said, it's a bit patchy, but when it hits, it hits.

482
00:30:28,126 --> 00:30:30,186
My God, some of the tracks.

483
00:30:30,254 --> 00:30:32,874
And he wasn't exploring harmonically as much as he used to.

484
00:30:32,874 --> 00:30:36,754
There's lots of old soul references like Aaron Neville and Sam Cooke.

485
00:30:36,754 --> 00:30:39,174
I was thinking, geez, that's how I would have written.

486
00:30:39,174 --> 00:30:46,654
mean, looking for Linda, when Pat came in with that lyric, he said it's like a folk song
and that's like an old soul song.

487
00:30:46,694 --> 00:30:53,294
So I mean, I played C, A minor, F, D minor, soul chords on a little Fender Rhodes sounds
really cool.

488
00:30:53,294 --> 00:30:59,982
And it kind of gave the harmonic background to that song, gave it a kind of honesty
because I wasn't trying to be too clever.

489
00:30:59,982 --> 00:31:05,722
I did kind of go D flat, E flat, I did start going a bit clever because Pat gets bored.

490
00:31:05,722 --> 00:31:08,182
I've tried to say to Pat, can we do three chords on the truth?

491
00:31:08,182 --> 00:31:11,182
He's like, no, I don't want three chords on the truth.

492
00:31:11,182 --> 00:31:12,382
But please.

493
00:31:12,382 --> 00:31:19,682
So I mean, this is the new electronic record, it's the first time we've done it with all
the synths, but every time before, Paul just piano and voice.

494
00:31:19,682 --> 00:31:21,176
I love sitting at a big piano.

495
00:31:21,176 --> 00:31:22,867
Yeah, okay, fantastic.

496
00:31:22,867 --> 00:31:33,365
as since evolved over the years, I'm curious about, did you feel that it changed or took
you in a certain direction with some of the different projects?

497
00:31:33,365 --> 00:31:41,521
As you said, you've worked with so many diverse styles over the years, or again, it really
just, you know, not so much the instrument inspiring you, but you just wanting to try

498
00:31:41,521 --> 00:31:43,892
different things and collaborate with different people?

499
00:31:44,424 --> 00:31:52,790
I just really imagine the people, I the line that I've been going with for the last couple
of months, he pushed back a bit to begin with, but he's warm to us.

500
00:31:52,790 --> 00:31:55,501
He's a dreamer and I'm a doer.

501
00:31:55,662 --> 00:32:00,225
doesn't play anything, but he's got an amazing creative head.

502
00:32:00,225 --> 00:32:03,778
So he'll come in like he did on this record and say, I want to make an electronic record.

503
00:32:03,778 --> 00:32:05,328
I'll be back in six months.

504
00:32:05,389 --> 00:32:07,490
So don't know anything about electronic music.

505
00:32:07,650 --> 00:32:09,011
You'll work it out.

506
00:32:09,011 --> 00:32:13,434
So that's pretty much been the story of Hue and Cry where Pat would come in.

507
00:32:13,942 --> 00:32:21,657
The third album we did, Stars Crash Down, was really eclectic with folk musicians, jazz
musicians, all these different kinds of musicians.

508
00:32:21,657 --> 00:32:27,131
And that was because 1990 when we made it, Glasgow was the city of culture.

509
00:32:27,131 --> 00:32:33,595
So all these people were coming in from all around the world to come and celebrate their
culture in our city.

510
00:32:33,676 --> 00:32:41,711
So, I mean, that inspired that, but we were inspired by the multiculturalism of what was
coming into Glasgow, because Glasgow needed that because it was struggling a little bit at

511
00:32:41,711 --> 00:32:43,142
the end of the 80s.

512
00:32:43,340 --> 00:32:48,634
So we kind of react to our surroundings, mean, part of our avid movie people.

513
00:32:48,634 --> 00:32:56,801
So I remember when we were in New York working with a string arranger called Jimmy Beyond
the Lillo, who'd worked with Sinatra and Streisand and all that sort of stuff.

514
00:32:56,982 --> 00:33:03,127
And when we'd go to his flat, we were just singing string lines and he would notate them
or we'd collaborate quite a lot.

515
00:33:03,127 --> 00:33:09,622
He would sit down, give us a coffee or a glass of water and we'd watch a movie and he'd
stop it after 20 minutes.

516
00:33:09,622 --> 00:33:12,330
You were just getting into it and he'd stop it and go, let's write.

517
00:33:12,330 --> 00:33:15,113
No, no, no, keep the movie on, I'm quite enjoying this movie.

518
00:33:15,113 --> 00:33:16,953
But it was classic movies.

519
00:33:17,254 --> 00:33:24,020
So then we would write and it wasn't trying to copy what the movies or the soundtracks of
the movies were playing.

520
00:33:24,020 --> 00:33:28,183
It was just to put you in a creative state and a thoughtful state.

521
00:33:28,223 --> 00:33:30,556
So Pat and I have kept that quite a lot.

522
00:33:30,556 --> 00:33:37,692
We'll come into the studio and we'll swap cultural references, be it design or TV shows or
movies or we'll discuss movies.

523
00:33:37,692 --> 00:33:40,394
And it just gets us into that creative space.

524
00:33:40,408 --> 00:33:41,559
where we want to be creative.

525
00:33:41,559 --> 00:33:42,620
We don't reference them.

526
00:33:42,620 --> 00:33:50,877
Well, I don't consciously reference them, but that's what we've always done is look at
other bits of culture and see we can bring them in.

527
00:33:50,877 --> 00:33:58,313
And if you're imaginative like Pat and creative and a practical person like me, you can
pretty much put your hand to anything.

528
00:33:58,313 --> 00:34:06,319
So I mean, I enjoy when we did the two jazz records for Linn Records and my goodness, that
was one of the hardest things I've ever done because I wasn't going to walk into a room

529
00:34:06,319 --> 00:34:08,561
with jazz musicians and not have chops.

530
00:34:08,842 --> 00:34:09,722
So.

531
00:34:09,934 --> 00:34:13,074
I reached out to a few people and said, what do I need to do to get my chops together?

532
00:34:13,074 --> 00:34:16,734
I well, you need to learn the standard book in 13 keys.

533
00:34:16,754 --> 00:34:17,894
He I'm not doing that.

534
00:34:17,894 --> 00:34:19,114
I've got a life.

535
00:34:19,114 --> 00:34:22,214
And I said, well, that's what it takes to be a jazz musician.

536
00:34:22,214 --> 00:34:23,354
He says, very well, put my hands up.

537
00:34:23,354 --> 00:34:26,254
I'm not a jazz musician, but I'm going to make two jazz records.

538
00:34:26,654 --> 00:34:27,814
But I did practice.

539
00:34:27,814 --> 00:34:39,525
I practiced six hours every day for a long, long time to try and get my chops together
because sometimes it was just a quartet and Pat, you know, and these guys were all top.

540
00:34:39,598 --> 00:34:42,881
That was four years of my life, I'm never getting back.

541
00:34:42,881 --> 00:34:51,017
I mean, was just, I remember once Michael Brecker came over to play on one of the records,
the saxophone player, and he came over for Glasgow Jazz Festival.

542
00:34:51,017 --> 00:34:54,920
So I contacted him, I said, can you come into our studio, you know, come and play some
solo?

543
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:55,870
said, yeah.

544
00:34:56,251 --> 00:35:02,134
So he eventually came in and then at night in the jazz festival here, they had an open
stage thing.

545
00:35:02,695 --> 00:35:05,027
And all the jazz musicians go down to burn each other.

546
00:35:05,027 --> 00:35:06,830
was just a base, a big ego fest.

547
00:35:06,830 --> 00:35:08,250
But it was good fun to watch.

548
00:35:08,250 --> 00:35:09,730
So whoever was in town.

549
00:35:09,930 --> 00:35:11,710
So I said, Michael, do you want to come down to this thing?

550
00:35:11,710 --> 00:35:14,710
said, I don't like these things, Greg, because they just all try and burn each other.

551
00:35:14,710 --> 00:35:18,970
I said, well, we need to show face, because he had Dennis Chambers, the drummer, with him.

552
00:35:18,970 --> 00:35:23,050
he had McCoy Tyner was the piano player that was with him.

553
00:35:23,610 --> 00:35:25,130
So I said, right, OK.

554
00:35:25,130 --> 00:35:30,030
So I walked into the after show with frigging Dennis Chambers, McCoy Tyner, and Michael
Brecker.

555
00:35:30,030 --> 00:35:31,890
They're all looking at me going, oh, aye.

556
00:35:32,230 --> 00:35:34,930
I said, you know, it's who you hang out with.

557
00:35:35,854 --> 00:35:39,434
The guy that was running the open stage came to me and Greg, can you get them to play?

558
00:35:39,434 --> 00:35:40,994
I said, what?

559
00:35:41,134 --> 00:35:42,654
They're here for a drink.

560
00:35:43,354 --> 00:35:48,714
every great piano player, the word had got out, every great piano player at the festival
was there wanting to play.

561
00:35:48,714 --> 00:35:51,874
They wanted McCoy to play, but they wanted to play for McCoy time.

562
00:35:52,814 --> 00:35:59,014
So I eventually said to Michael, would you go out and play, Dennis, would you go out and
play?

563
00:35:59,014 --> 00:36:04,154
And McCoy got some, was, and Michael says, I'll go out and play if you play.

564
00:36:04,154 --> 00:36:05,014
Me?

565
00:36:05,094 --> 00:36:06,182
And he's like, yeah.

566
00:36:06,766 --> 00:36:08,846
I Michael, I can't.

567
00:36:08,866 --> 00:36:12,546
There's all the best piano players in Glasgow, so I'm not playing like you.

568
00:36:13,546 --> 00:36:16,206
So I went back to the guy that ran the stage and he went, you?

569
00:36:16,206 --> 00:36:17,746
I said, yeah, me!

570
00:36:17,766 --> 00:36:19,126
Help me play!

571
00:36:19,126 --> 00:36:20,186
He's like, Greg.

572
00:36:20,186 --> 00:36:26,826
I said, I don't, I said, Michael, the only thing I can really play is I can go, I can do
Canslope Island, I can do Herbie, I can do a bit of Herbie.

573
00:36:26,946 --> 00:36:28,026
Can we do that?

574
00:36:28,026 --> 00:36:29,126
And he's like, what key?

575
00:36:29,126 --> 00:36:30,646
I said, F.

576
00:36:30,646 --> 00:36:36,146
Okay, so the guy introduced Michael Brecker, Dennis Chambers, and McCoy Tyner was like,
where are you guys going?

577
00:36:36,226 --> 00:36:38,888
We're going to go and play Cantaloupe Island is that.

578
00:36:38,888 --> 00:36:39,768
Am I playing that?

579
00:36:39,768 --> 00:36:40,967
No you're not playing that.

580
00:36:40,967 --> 00:36:41,829
What?

581
00:36:42,210 --> 00:36:43,266
Okay.

582
00:36:43,266 --> 00:36:46,113
So I went up there and I can't remember who's playing bass.

583
00:36:46,113 --> 00:36:47,414
Do know who's playing bass?

584
00:36:47,414 --> 00:36:49,935
Ewan Vernal, the original bass player in Deacon Blue.

585
00:36:49,935 --> 00:36:50,836
Wow.

586
00:36:50,836 --> 00:36:52,777
He's a great jazz bass player.

587
00:36:52,837 --> 00:36:56,520
So we're up on stage and Ewan's looking at me going, what's happening here?

588
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:57,881
I said, we're doing Cantaloupe and F.

589
00:36:57,881 --> 00:37:00,382
There's only three chords out you and you'll be fine.

590
00:37:00,888 --> 00:37:03,971
So we started playing and I was so nervous, but my God.

591
00:37:03,971 --> 00:37:11,647
And then after two choruses, looked at McCoy Tyner and I said, and he came up behind me
and he played and I came off the stage.

592
00:37:11,647 --> 00:37:13,989
Michael was already on playing and enjoying himself.

593
00:37:13,989 --> 00:37:17,842
And then about four other piano players came on and did a couple of choruses.

594
00:37:17,842 --> 00:37:19,434
So everybody got a chance.

595
00:37:19,434 --> 00:37:20,935
It was an amazing experience.

596
00:37:20,935 --> 00:37:25,589
It was nerve wracking, but that's how good the Jazz Festival used to be in Glasgow.

597
00:37:25,589 --> 00:37:30,132
Again, Pat and I being influenced by what was going on in Glasgow at the time.

598
00:37:30,318 --> 00:37:40,398
And then after those jazz albums, yeah, we started drifting back into soul pop again,
because it was just something that I wanted to, I hadn't really put a full stop in all

599
00:37:40,398 --> 00:37:40,518
that.

600
00:37:40,518 --> 00:37:42,238
I wanted to write some more soul pop songs.

601
00:37:42,238 --> 00:37:44,774
after that was back to soul pop.

602
00:37:45,614 --> 00:37:46,414
Yeah, absolutely.

603
00:37:46,414 --> 00:37:52,674
I do, before we move on to that, that aspect too, I do want to ask you one more thing.

604
00:37:52,674 --> 00:38:01,574
You mentioned about string arranging and, and, know, working with people on that, but the
other, you're a lot of your music has amazing brass arrangements.

605
00:38:01,574 --> 00:38:06,734
Tell us about, is that your arranging and working your keyboards in around that?

606
00:38:06,734 --> 00:38:09,794
Do you originally arrange on keyboard and then you have real brass?

607
00:38:09,794 --> 00:38:12,742
Like just tell us a little bit about the approach to that.

608
00:38:13,294 --> 00:38:19,614
Well, again, Pat is a great melody writer and as I said, he's not a player, but he's got a
great ear.

609
00:38:19,794 --> 00:38:24,214
So a lot of the brass and strings are from him singing stuff to me.

610
00:38:24,214 --> 00:38:27,414
And I can actually voice it or whoever.

611
00:38:27,414 --> 00:38:31,654
We bring in different string arrangers, people that you hear, people that are excited
about.

612
00:38:31,654 --> 00:38:35,274
mean, Horn Ranger is a guy, Harold Wheeler, we used to use in New York.

613
00:38:35,274 --> 00:38:41,294
And he was the guy that did the arrangements for, do you remember the Michael Jackson, the
Wiz?

614
00:38:41,294 --> 00:38:43,230
They did a black version of- Oh yeah, Wiz.

615
00:38:43,230 --> 00:38:44,031
was.

616
00:38:44,031 --> 00:38:44,541
That was him.

617
00:38:44,541 --> 00:38:46,552
That was Harold Wheeler.

618
00:38:46,573 --> 00:38:51,998
So I mean, he was that good a name and on to be the Oscars Orchestra director.

619
00:38:51,998 --> 00:38:56,962
So and then Lenny Pickett, the Tower of Power Horns, we were working with Lenny quite a
lot.

620
00:38:56,962 --> 00:39:01,576
And then the Uptown Horns that did James Brown's Living in America and all that sort of
stuff.

621
00:39:01,576 --> 00:39:03,468
So all these people were around us.

622
00:39:03,468 --> 00:39:07,592
So we would collaborate with them because we had definite ideas of what we wanted.

623
00:39:07,592 --> 00:39:10,316
But you'd be a fool not to take their input.

624
00:39:10,316 --> 00:39:11,677
the experience that they've had.

625
00:39:11,677 --> 00:39:16,930
then latterly, Tommy Smith, the Scottish Jazz saxophonist, he was involved.

626
00:39:16,930 --> 00:39:21,362
And we've just, there's so many great orchestras in here in Glasgow and Scotland as well.

627
00:39:21,362 --> 00:39:26,475
we just, whoever's around, we'll kind of let them know what's in our heads.

628
00:39:26,475 --> 00:39:29,767
And then, as I said, you have to lean on them because they know what they're doing.

629
00:39:29,767 --> 00:39:32,788
So we're quite happy to be opened-armed about it.

630
00:39:32,952 --> 00:39:33,743
No, great.

631
00:39:33,743 --> 00:39:37,295
And I do want to make one last comment on the Jazz Not Jazz um album.

632
00:39:37,295 --> 00:39:41,397
And I love the quote from, I think it was the Sunday Times when they reviewed it.

633
00:39:41,397 --> 00:39:47,851
They said it's one of the most successful jazz pop collaborations since Wayne Shorter
played on Steely Dan's Aja.

634
00:39:47,851 --> 00:39:52,073
Now, so I'm assuming you guys are Aja and then Michael Brecker is Wayne Shorter.

635
00:39:52,073 --> 00:39:53,704
That's not a bad compliment.

636
00:39:54,018 --> 00:39:54,978
I didn't pay for that one.

637
00:39:54,978 --> 00:39:56,138
Honestly, I didn't pay for that one.

638
00:39:56,138 --> 00:39:59,060
I remember when that was published, I thought, gee, who's this guy?

639
00:39:59,060 --> 00:40:02,140
But there was some amazing moments on Jazz Not Jazz.

640
00:40:02,140 --> 00:40:03,261
It really was.

641
00:40:03,261 --> 00:40:05,021
All those guys were coming in for the glass.

642
00:40:05,021 --> 00:40:09,182
mean, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker's brother, I like Randy.

643
00:40:09,182 --> 00:40:10,322
He's a free jazz player.

644
00:40:10,322 --> 00:40:15,284
So they walk on stage with no groove, no chords, no melody and off they go and see what
happens.

645
00:40:15,284 --> 00:40:17,765
It can be a bit, sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

646
00:40:17,765 --> 00:40:20,766
But when it does work, you know, it's fantastic.

647
00:40:20,766 --> 00:40:21,666
Yeah.

648
00:40:21,856 --> 00:40:27,149
Jazz not jazz was an amazing thing for us, but as I said, I was under so much pressure.

649
00:40:27,149 --> 00:40:32,051
We played some of the most amazing jazz festivals and we couldn't always get Mike Brecker.

650
00:40:32,051 --> 00:40:36,594
So we had, there's a great English saxophonist called Nigel Hitchcock who's incredible.

651
00:40:36,594 --> 00:40:38,170
There's Tommy Smith who's incredible.

652
00:40:38,170 --> 00:40:43,257
A rhythm section was a guy called Ian Thomas who plays with Clapton there I think.

653
00:40:43,278 --> 00:40:47,179
And a guy called Lawrence Cottle who's one of the most incredible bass players.

654
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,822
So we were existing at that level of musicianship.

655
00:40:50,822 --> 00:40:51,802
For me,

656
00:40:51,982 --> 00:40:56,842
It was a tough, I enjoyed my four or five years playing jazz, but oh my God.

657
00:40:57,162 --> 00:41:00,462
And then some of those jazz festivals, I remember playing the Cork Jazz Festival.

658
00:41:00,462 --> 00:41:03,422
was just a sea of drunk Irish people, people sitting on the stage.

659
00:41:03,422 --> 00:41:06,982
We were used to a bit more luxury, to put it that way.

660
00:41:06,982 --> 00:41:12,882
And then the whole thing about it was in a Toyota, we did the tours in a Toyota Previa
with a trailer.

661
00:41:12,882 --> 00:41:16,002
So I had to learn how to reverse park a bloody trailer.

662
00:41:16,082 --> 00:41:17,982
So it was all these, it was proper.

663
00:41:17,982 --> 00:41:21,356
And the reason I got the trailer, I remember the band going, Greg, we're not getting in
that.

664
00:41:21,356 --> 00:41:25,738
And there was a film out at the time called Bird about Charlie Parker that Clint Eastwood
directed.

665
00:41:25,738 --> 00:41:31,919
And there was a bit in that where they had the big station wagon with a trailer with the
double bass and all the stuff in the back.

666
00:41:31,919 --> 00:41:33,503
I said, it was good enough for Charlie Parker.

667
00:41:33,503 --> 00:41:34,483
It's good enough for you.

668
00:41:34,483 --> 00:41:41,617
That, I mean, they kind of, yeah, they threw that back at me after about six months going,
no, want to play.

669
00:41:41,977 --> 00:41:45,939
So, Jazz, you need to get down in the trenches if you want to.

670
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,301
It wasn't luxurious enough for us.

671
00:41:48,301 --> 00:41:50,465
The playing moments on stage were...

672
00:41:50,465 --> 00:41:52,014
unforgettable to be honest.

673
00:41:52,014 --> 00:41:59,714
Um, I've, so happy to hear that Greg, because I, I now realize I've got something in
common with Greg Kane, which is we've both learned how to back a trailer from being

674
00:41:59,714 --> 00:42:00,514
involved in a band.

675
00:42:00,514 --> 00:42:01,254
So there you go.

676
00:42:01,254 --> 00:42:03,294
It's a very useful life skill.

677
00:42:03,874 --> 00:42:06,814
I Hey Greg, I'm really interested in.

678
00:42:08,214 --> 00:42:09,714
Yeah, it really is.

679
00:42:09,714 --> 00:42:10,654
It really is.

680
00:42:10,654 --> 00:42:17,510
Um, I'm really interested and I know our listeners will be too in how your live rig has
evolved over the years.

681
00:42:18,019 --> 00:42:24,886
Obviously looking at your recent video, we can see all sorts of weird and wonderful,
wonderful synthesizers going on.

682
00:42:24,886 --> 00:42:33,485
And I think I see a Korg SB1 or SB2, is doing some, either working as a MIDI controller
maybe, or doing some electric piano sounds.

683
00:42:33,485 --> 00:42:36,084
But I'd love to understand, you using a...

684
00:42:36,084 --> 00:42:38,876
I think it was a here if I do this, there is there.

685
00:42:38,876 --> 00:42:39,406
Yeah.

686
00:42:39,406 --> 00:42:40,174
There it is!

687
00:42:40,174 --> 00:42:41,036
Yes.

688
00:42:41,518 --> 00:42:49,866
So if you see that, that's m the main keyboard is the Nord Grand.

689
00:42:49,946 --> 00:42:56,733
So I remember watching a newer video about the Jim Prime saying that the RD-1000 was the
best action.

690
00:42:56,733 --> 00:42:57,403
No, it's not.

691
00:42:57,403 --> 00:42:58,835
That's the best action.

692
00:42:58,835 --> 00:43:00,716
That's absolutely stunning.

693
00:43:00,937 --> 00:43:05,459
But it weighs nearly 70 kilos and we don't take Nordis with us.

694
00:43:05,459 --> 00:43:06,574
I'll be...

695
00:43:06,574 --> 00:43:11,474
Yeah, it's every time you turn up with it, the local crew say, we've never seen one of
these before.

696
00:43:11,474 --> 00:43:12,774
Yeah, because nobody tours with that.

697
00:43:12,774 --> 00:43:13,214
Yeah.

698
00:43:13,214 --> 00:43:17,054
Because we do a lot of piano, because we do a lot of piano vocal stuff.

699
00:43:17,374 --> 00:43:20,814
think, I think I want the audience to get the best.

700
00:43:21,154 --> 00:43:25,874
If you know what mean, I think I would be cheating them over a set in front of an M1 or a,
do you know what mean?

701
00:43:25,874 --> 00:43:33,274
I think if there's 500 people coming to see you, you put an effort in and play, play the
best stage piano that there is, which I think is the Nord Grand.

702
00:43:33,274 --> 00:43:34,914
It's absolutely stunning.

703
00:43:34,914 --> 00:43:36,502
And yeah.

704
00:43:36,502 --> 00:43:46,469
And what you don't see is em the Roland, eh is it the KC 400, those keyboard amps?

705
00:43:46,469 --> 00:43:50,732
I've been playing with one for years and it was beginning to kind of struggle a little
bit.

706
00:43:50,732 --> 00:43:53,394
And then I went to Roland and I'm a Roland artist.

707
00:43:53,394 --> 00:43:55,755
they said, well, you can pick one up next time you're in London.

708
00:43:55,902 --> 00:43:59,117
So we're in London, went to Denmark street and I picked up one of the new ones.

709
00:43:59,117 --> 00:44:05,442
um And when I got to the gig that night, for some reason I set the two of them up and
linked them.

710
00:44:05,442 --> 00:44:06,292
Right.

711
00:44:06,508 --> 00:44:09,159
Now I didn't realize you used them stereo amps.

712
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:09,630
Yeah.

713
00:44:09,630 --> 00:44:11,080
I've never used one.

714
00:44:11,791 --> 00:44:12,181
my God.

715
00:44:12,181 --> 00:44:20,106
Have you ever listened to playing piano through two of those, so you 800 Watts of
keyboards in stereo and just to swap over the inputs.

716
00:44:20,106 --> 00:44:25,229
So behind your left is your low end and behind your right shoulder is your high end.

717
00:44:25,399 --> 00:44:26,450
my God.

718
00:44:26,450 --> 00:44:32,153
And if a front of house guy's like, you don't need a PA for good sake, it's so loud.

719
00:44:32,153 --> 00:44:33,870
So when I got used to it, but

720
00:44:33,870 --> 00:44:37,950
That old amp that I thought was on its feet, on its knees, sorry.

721
00:44:37,970 --> 00:44:45,450
It wasn't, it was just, it was getting taxed too much from the Nord Grand, but buy another
one, split it up into stereo.

722
00:44:46,210 --> 00:44:48,030
I've never experienced anything like it.

723
00:44:48,030 --> 00:44:55,330
And when a few piano players have come up to you and I've said, look, just sit after the
gigs, I'll just sit and play this while I'm breaking down some of the gear.

724
00:44:55,330 --> 00:45:00,310
And you can see their faces thinking, God, I've never played like a stereo amp rig.

725
00:45:00,310 --> 00:45:01,310
Cause you never really get that.

726
00:45:01,310 --> 00:45:02,310
And it's not.

727
00:45:02,326 --> 00:45:03,196
It's just amazing.

728
00:45:03,196 --> 00:45:04,267
So I can't recommend it.

729
00:45:04,267 --> 00:45:05,947
It's quite an investment.

730
00:45:06,028 --> 00:45:11,280
I think the amps over here about five or six hundred quid each, but it's honestly changed
the way you play.

731
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:13,861
changes the way it changes your dynamics.

732
00:45:13,861 --> 00:45:15,512
It changes your expression.

733
00:45:15,512 --> 00:45:19,853
You can really use the keyboard because you're not stressing the amp at all.

734
00:45:19,853 --> 00:45:24,055
And I know people are in in ears now, but I kind of still like the stage to rumble.

735
00:45:24,055 --> 00:45:25,496
still like the vibrations.

736
00:45:25,496 --> 00:45:28,557
It's a big part of how you play.

737
00:45:28,637 --> 00:45:31,374
So the Nord Grand for me is the one and then

738
00:45:31,374 --> 00:45:34,974
on it is a Roland MC-706.

739
00:45:34,974 --> 00:45:37,594
So that's that one there.

740
00:45:38,154 --> 00:45:39,094
Oh yeah.

741
00:45:39,194 --> 00:45:41,854
So it's got synth engines in it.

742
00:45:41,854 --> 00:45:44,834
It's got a looper.

743
00:45:44,834 --> 00:45:47,574
So the eight tracks can be configured any way you want.

744
00:45:47,574 --> 00:45:53,674
So you can have eight synth engines or you can eight loopers or you can have whatever you
want eight drum machines.

745
00:45:53,674 --> 00:45:55,234
So every song is different.

746
00:45:55,234 --> 00:45:58,374
And then the little keyboard underneath that is an Akai 25.

747
00:45:58,374 --> 00:46:00,334
It's only a 25 note keyboard.

748
00:46:00,334 --> 00:46:04,336
but it's a micro keyboard, but it's the best feeling one I've ever played.

749
00:46:04,336 --> 00:46:06,276
It's got quite a long throw.

750
00:46:06,717 --> 00:46:11,229
So you can, for just for me, I've got lots of Arturia KeyLab things here.

751
00:46:11,229 --> 00:46:13,180
You can see the white one above there.

752
00:46:13,180 --> 00:46:14,390
They're not good for live.

753
00:46:14,390 --> 00:46:15,937
just, I miss too much.

754
00:46:15,937 --> 00:46:21,143
I mean, I can't be accurate with them, but that little Akai for some reason, I can be
really accurate.

755
00:46:21,143 --> 00:46:25,145
And then the one on the other side is the Roland TR-AS, the drum machine.

756
00:46:26,005 --> 00:46:27,526
So basically the...

757
00:46:27,810 --> 00:46:30,252
The Roland MC-707 is the primary unit.

758
00:46:30,252 --> 00:46:42,200
It chops out MIDI clock to the TR-AS and that one channel in the MC-707 you can dedicate
for drums and that's MIDI mapped to the Roland.

759
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,562
So you program them on here, but the sounds come from here.

760
00:46:46,083 --> 00:46:47,814
And the Roland can do so many other things.

761
00:46:47,814 --> 00:46:50,146
The TR-AS is an incredible thing.

762
00:46:50,146 --> 00:46:53,468
And I didn't want to become like a Roland fan boy.

763
00:46:53,468 --> 00:46:56,280
didn't want to be like, but it works.

764
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:56,814
doesn't.

765
00:46:56,814 --> 00:47:06,514
It doesn't and the reason it doesn't is because in the design they cap it there's lots of
you get to you get to the extremes of what it can do Particularly with the amount of

766
00:47:06,514 --> 00:47:16,494
sample space it's got and they can have no count you think I'm missing some notes Yeah,
why is that because even though you're running six synth engines, I think it's got 128 no

767
00:47:16,494 --> 00:47:22,334
Polyphony, but I don't think it is that I think it's probably well under a hundred because
you start to kind of go where's that?

768
00:47:22,334 --> 00:47:24,194
No, it starts to annoy you.

769
00:47:24,194 --> 00:47:26,400
So there is a frustration with rolling but

770
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:30,112
It's a reason for that is to keep it em stable.

771
00:47:30,112 --> 00:47:31,873
So they've never really failed on me.

772
00:47:31,873 --> 00:47:35,295
I mean, I've hit the wrong buttons and played the wrong songs at the wrong time course.

773
00:47:35,295 --> 00:47:36,946
But I didn't want to bring a laptop.

774
00:47:36,946 --> 00:47:38,547
There's no laptop on stage with us.

775
00:47:38,547 --> 00:47:41,198
It's just those four things.

776
00:47:41,398 --> 00:47:42,859
And I prep it here.

777
00:47:42,859 --> 00:47:44,680
But again, you can only prep it so much here.

778
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:48,762
You only know when you're on a stage and it's coming through the amps, if the sound's
right.

779
00:47:48,762 --> 00:47:51,414
So there's lots of tweaking and playing live.

780
00:47:51,414 --> 00:47:55,480
There's three banks and knobs on the MC.

781
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:57,431
and you can configure them whatever way you want.

782
00:47:57,431 --> 00:48:02,575
So if a sound needs EQ and maybe a delay send, whatever, can program it to do that.

783
00:48:02,575 --> 00:48:09,279
If it needs you to deal with the filters or the resonance or some distortion, you can
configure them to do that.

784
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:13,462
during the performances, I'm constantly changing the configuration.

785
00:48:13,462 --> 00:48:21,348
And the thing is, we use that setup in front of thousands of people in a park at a
festival, and we also use it in front of 300 people in a jazz club.

786
00:48:21,348 --> 00:48:22,428
So it's flexible enough.

787
00:48:22,428 --> 00:48:24,940
I'm not just pressing play and it's the same sounds all the time.

788
00:48:24,940 --> 00:48:27,612
You can finesse them and you can change how you finesse them.

789
00:48:27,612 --> 00:48:29,673
So it's a real live performance.

790
00:48:29,673 --> 00:48:35,016
mean, everybody said to me, just hire a space bar guy and just go boof and that's fine.

791
00:48:35,016 --> 00:48:36,197
Just play the song.

792
00:48:36,197 --> 00:48:37,317
But I didn't want to do that.

793
00:48:37,317 --> 00:48:39,008
can't, not really in me.

794
00:48:39,008 --> 00:48:46,323
So I've not seen this set up other than purely electronic, whether playing sort of atonal
ambience sort of stuff.

795
00:48:46,323 --> 00:48:49,465
I'm playing pop funk electronic music.

796
00:48:49,465 --> 00:48:52,096
It has to have an intro verse, a bridge and a chorus.

797
00:48:52,162 --> 00:48:54,103
So I have to be able to change between them.

798
00:48:54,103 --> 00:48:57,806
And sometimes, Pat will decide to take a breather before he comes in with the second
verse.

799
00:48:57,806 --> 00:48:59,077
So I need to be able to deal with that.

800
00:48:59,077 --> 00:49:01,148
And it's me on stage, it's all live.

801
00:49:01,248 --> 00:49:03,910
So this setup makes it flexible for me.

802
00:49:03,910 --> 00:49:08,092
And I've been running it for about 18 months now, and it's been great fun.

803
00:49:08,092 --> 00:49:13,157
It definitely is quite, yeah, the audiences are quite taken aback.

804
00:49:13,157 --> 00:49:16,179
After the gigs, I got a lot of people coming up saying, can I come on stage?

805
00:49:16,179 --> 00:49:18,060
What on earth are you doing up there?

806
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:20,910
Because it does sound as though, well, it's live.

807
00:49:20,910 --> 00:49:23,350
And we never play the song the same way twice.

808
00:49:23,410 --> 00:49:29,370
So I've managed to capture quite a lot of the performances because I take seven cameras
with me on stage.

809
00:49:29,370 --> 00:49:29,850
know.

810
00:49:29,850 --> 00:49:31,690
It's just content is king.

811
00:49:32,090 --> 00:49:40,730
film every single gig and most of the desks we're using now, these Alan Heath Q-Series
desks, you can walk away with thumb driver multi-tracks and 96k.

812
00:49:40,730 --> 00:49:44,030
But you're just, you'd be crazy and hard drive space is cheap.

813
00:49:44,030 --> 00:49:46,470
10 terabytes is like 200 pounds over here.

814
00:49:46,470 --> 00:49:49,410
So you just keep buying lots of those drives though.

815
00:49:49,506 --> 00:49:51,688
And then you get a routine of how you edit them.

816
00:49:51,688 --> 00:49:58,894
So a lot of the content is going to be coming out this year on our YouTube channel, be the
electroacoustic, that's the set up we call this.

817
00:49:58,894 --> 00:50:02,137
So you'll see me beads of sweat running down my face.

818
00:50:02,137 --> 00:50:04,019
all going crazy.

819
00:50:04,019 --> 00:50:08,352
I don't know whether my daughter keeps saying I should do a bloomers channel when it goes
wrong.

820
00:50:08,352 --> 00:50:10,504
So I might, I might do a bloomers.

821
00:50:10,504 --> 00:50:14,087
And you can watch me really sweat.

822
00:50:14,087 --> 00:50:17,568
When it goes wrong, it's how you recover that makes it entertaining.

823
00:50:17,568 --> 00:50:18,220
Exactly.

824
00:50:18,220 --> 00:50:18,951
Yeah, of course.

825
00:50:18,951 --> 00:50:19,301
course.

826
00:50:19,301 --> 00:50:27,486
was going to say for our listeners and viewers, check out Huon Cry's YouTube channel
because there is a lot of cool footage of Greg playing and you've got the cameras right on

827
00:50:27,486 --> 00:50:29,348
your keyboard so we can see the rig.

828
00:50:29,348 --> 00:50:30,829
It looks absolutely fantastic.

829
00:50:30,829 --> 00:50:31,919
So that's great.

830
00:50:31,919 --> 00:50:34,821
You were mentioning, Greg, how robust your setup is.

831
00:50:34,821 --> 00:50:40,105
It doesn't really let you down, but we asked all our guests, do they have a train wreck
story?

832
00:50:40,105 --> 00:50:47,800
So is there a time when you were live on stage that some kind of disaster happened,
whether it was caused by your gear or yourself or one of your colleagues?

833
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:49,204
that you can share with us.

834
00:50:49,518 --> 00:50:50,409
Trainwreck story?

835
00:50:50,409 --> 00:50:54,232
Why do think any trainwreck stories I've had?

836
00:50:54,232 --> 00:51:02,618
Do you know what, Paul, I might be a bit boring, I don't really, I'm not really, I'm super
prepared all the time.

837
00:51:02,618 --> 00:51:04,378
I still enjoy practicing.

838
00:51:04,378 --> 00:51:05,552
I love practicing.

839
00:51:05,552 --> 00:51:09,456
I've had so many relationships with girlfriends saying, what do mean you're going to
practice?

840
00:51:09,456 --> 00:51:10,877
You can play the piano.

841
00:51:10,877 --> 00:51:13,098
I said, no, but I need to go and practice.

842
00:51:13,359 --> 00:51:14,389
So when we going to be?

843
00:51:14,389 --> 00:51:17,222
I said, I don't know, three hours, four hours, I don't know.

844
00:51:17,518 --> 00:51:19,878
I said, I don't know, do something.

845
00:51:20,278 --> 00:51:21,598
But what is practicing then?

846
00:51:21,598 --> 00:51:25,918
I said, sit at the piano and I'll either do scales or I'll sit and play some stuff.

847
00:51:25,958 --> 00:51:27,998
And I still really love practicing.

848
00:51:27,998 --> 00:51:31,518
If a musician doesn't love practicing, then they're in the wrong game.

849
00:51:31,718 --> 00:51:33,358
And it has to be a joy.

850
00:51:33,358 --> 00:51:34,538
It hasn't to be a chore.

851
00:51:34,538 --> 00:51:38,318
So when I walk on stage, I'm so prepped.

852
00:51:38,318 --> 00:51:40,718
So I'm going to have to let your man down.

853
00:51:40,718 --> 00:51:42,318
I don't have any horror stories.

854
00:51:42,318 --> 00:51:43,339
That's okay.

855
00:51:43,339 --> 00:51:45,250
That's a first Greg.

856
00:51:45,250 --> 00:51:48,333
it's a sign of preparation and discipline.

857
00:51:48,333 --> 00:51:51,565
And I'm absolutely fascinated by your rig.

858
00:51:51,565 --> 00:51:56,629
I'm super excited to see if you do do it on your YouTube channel, how it all pulls
together.

859
00:51:56,629 --> 00:52:00,172
Cause it sounds like you're not coming to damn Australia for me to do a rig tour.

860
00:52:00,172 --> 00:52:02,590
So at least I can see it remotely.

861
00:52:02,590 --> 00:52:05,051
No, I mean, you never know.

862
00:52:05,051 --> 00:52:05,811
You never know.

863
00:52:05,811 --> 00:52:09,433
I mean, I've not seen the Deacon Blue guys since they came back.

864
00:52:09,433 --> 00:52:10,794
So I'll ask them how it went.

865
00:52:10,794 --> 00:52:15,275
And my younger brother, he plays bass with the Proclaimers, Gary John King.

866
00:52:15,275 --> 00:52:17,136
So they come over here quite a lot.

867
00:52:17,136 --> 00:52:18,907
So they're just about to embarking.

868
00:52:18,907 --> 00:52:21,388
I've just seen their socials where they're starting their rehearsals.

869
00:52:21,388 --> 00:52:24,179
So I'm sure you'll be seeing them before the end of the year.

870
00:52:24,179 --> 00:52:31,634
Gary John, my younger brother, he says the audiences are amazing and I've never been, so I
would love to come along.

871
00:52:31,634 --> 00:52:33,277
we see that.

872
00:52:33,277 --> 00:52:36,931
one last question, Greg, the dreaded Desert Island Discs question.

873
00:52:36,931 --> 00:52:41,516
So if you had to choose five albums that have had a big impact on your life, what would
they be?

874
00:52:41,902 --> 00:52:45,302
The first one would be Do It Yourself by Eden Durie and the Block Kids.

875
00:52:45,302 --> 00:52:46,202
Right.

876
00:52:47,422 --> 00:52:52,582
The next one would be Oh, Look Sharp by Joe Jackson.

877
00:52:52,582 --> 00:52:54,942
They're different for girls and all that sort of stuff on it.

878
00:52:54,942 --> 00:52:57,122
The specials, their first album.

879
00:52:57,242 --> 00:52:57,582
What's that?

880
00:52:57,582 --> 00:52:58,542
That's three.

881
00:52:58,882 --> 00:53:00,382
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis.

882
00:53:00,382 --> 00:53:01,722
You'd have to have that.

883
00:53:01,722 --> 00:53:05,922
And then the fifth album, I'm going to be modern.

884
00:53:06,182 --> 00:53:10,442
There's a young kid from Portland, Oregon called Quickly, Quickly.

885
00:53:10,754 --> 00:53:12,775
You have to check this out.

886
00:53:12,775 --> 00:53:14,816
mean, what's that thing called?

887
00:53:14,816 --> 00:53:20,383
Is it the lunar prize that NASA sent up to the moon with Elvis and the Beatles and all
that sort of stuff?

888
00:53:20,383 --> 00:53:23,124
A time capsule called the lunar prize.

889
00:53:23,445 --> 00:53:27,058
This album, it's called, what's it called again?

890
00:53:27,058 --> 00:53:28,129
I hear that noise.

891
00:53:28,129 --> 00:53:29,791
It's mostly his most recent album.

892
00:53:29,791 --> 00:53:31,753
Quickly, quickly go and listen to that.

893
00:53:31,753 --> 00:53:33,013
It'll change.

894
00:53:33,594 --> 00:53:38,398
Honestly, I've not heard anything as good as this for a long, long, long, long time.

895
00:53:38,708 --> 00:53:41,599
And he's a young kid, 25 years old.

896
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:51,404
When I was reading about him, he got involved in the whole making beats for, he describes
his music as beats to study to.

897
00:53:51,738 --> 00:53:52,601
That's his music, right?

898
00:53:52,601 --> 00:54:01,248
So it's really considered and tempered and blah, blah, Well, he made his, when he was 12,
13 years old, he was making beats, putting it up to SoundCloud.

899
00:54:01,248 --> 00:54:04,109
And I hadn't realized how competitive that arena is.

900
00:54:04,590 --> 00:54:05,364
So.

901
00:54:05,364 --> 00:54:07,705
Maximalism, I'd never really studied before.

902
00:54:07,705 --> 00:54:09,725
So more is more, not less is less.

903
00:54:09,725 --> 00:54:10,315
More is more.

904
00:54:10,315 --> 00:54:11,496
Show off.

905
00:54:11,496 --> 00:54:14,116
And if you show off, you get a reputation.

906
00:54:14,116 --> 00:54:18,798
So I know how it works where the rappers would reach out to him and say, we love that beat
you put in SoundCloud.

907
00:54:18,798 --> 00:54:20,458
We're going to put our thing to it.

908
00:54:20,458 --> 00:54:26,480
So he started to kind of get a lot of traction that way, but it's not a hip hop thing.

909
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:35,246
So you get this maximalism and he's, so we'd be sitting playing piano, beautiful, dainty,
and this huge surge of orchestra will just appear.

910
00:54:35,246 --> 00:54:39,446
for like a blink and come back down and you think, what was that?

911
00:54:39,506 --> 00:54:43,006
But the tail of the reverb is lingering and it doesn't go away.

912
00:54:43,006 --> 00:54:45,386
And then the overtones start to expand.

913
00:54:45,546 --> 00:54:47,026
And this is how you introduce the sound.

914
00:54:47,026 --> 00:54:49,026
doesn't, we would just fade it in subtly.

915
00:54:49,026 --> 00:54:52,806
It bashes you over the head and then you're thinking, well, do I have to do that?

916
00:54:52,806 --> 00:54:55,046
But he's so quickly, quickly.

917
00:54:57,607 --> 00:54:59,447
Great, great peaks Greg.

918
00:54:59,447 --> 00:55:05,321
And look, I'm speaking of music that deserves to go, um, you know, into other solid
systems is definitely yours.

919
00:55:05,321 --> 00:55:10,444
can't thank you enough for both what you've produced today and what's coming up this year
and into the future.

920
00:55:10,444 --> 00:55:12,675
It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you about it.

921
00:55:12,675 --> 00:55:18,068
And yes, we're determined to get you down here at some stage, but thanks so much for
spending the time.

922
00:55:18,426 --> 00:55:24,150
Congratulations to you for the keyboard Chronicles when I got the email to do this.

923
00:55:24,150 --> 00:55:27,593
I spent a couple of hours just going through some of the things.

924
00:55:27,593 --> 00:55:28,594
Well done you.

925
00:55:28,594 --> 00:55:32,857
It must take a lot of effort and obviously a lot of passion for you to do this.

926
00:55:32,857 --> 00:55:35,086
So back to you.

927
00:55:35,086 --> 00:55:35,929
No, thank you.

928
00:55:35,929 --> 00:55:37,533
Pleasure is all ours.

929
00:55:45,100 --> 00:55:50,925
And there we have it, as we talked about at the intro, Paul Gregg's a great guy with some
amazing insights.

930
00:55:51,190 --> 00:55:52,811
Yeah, he's a good raconteur, isn't he?

931
00:55:52,811 --> 00:55:54,351
Wonderful stories.

932
00:55:54,351 --> 00:55:56,970
And I really enjoyed hearing.

933
00:55:56,970 --> 00:56:07,837
I think that story you mentioned in the intro, David, that story about getting up on stage
at a jazz festival and playing with some big hitters, some really serious guys.

934
00:56:07,917 --> 00:56:12,129
And I guess he was feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome as he went up and did it.

935
00:56:12,129 --> 00:56:17,281
And I think most of us can relate to that at one point or another in our lives, but it
just shows you.

936
00:56:17,281 --> 00:56:18,764
And as you said in the intro,

937
00:56:18,764 --> 00:56:19,897
He's probably being very modest.

938
00:56:19,897 --> 00:56:25,093
I'm sure he absolutely was brilliant when he, when he played with those fellows, but I
think we can all relate to that.

939
00:56:25,093 --> 00:56:27,028
And that was a really fun interview to do.

940
00:56:27,587 --> 00:56:33,422
So no, huge thanks to Greg for his time and we are determined to hopefully see him in
Australia at some stage.

941
00:56:33,422 --> 00:56:36,300
You're saying I'm getting on that plane though, was he David?

942
00:56:36,300 --> 00:56:37,451
No, it's long flight.

943
00:56:37,451 --> 00:56:38,911
It's a long flight.

944
00:56:39,932 --> 00:56:42,993
Like yourself, I've done it a few times and it isn't fun.

945
00:56:42,993 --> 00:56:44,093
You're quite right.

946
00:56:44,093 --> 00:56:45,004
It is tough.

947
00:56:45,004 --> 00:56:47,545
So no, huge thank you to all of you out there for listening.

948
00:56:47,545 --> 00:56:52,417
Huge thanks to our gold and silver supporters who support us on either Patreon or YouTube.

949
00:56:52,417 --> 00:57:01,120
So as mentioned previously, we do now have YouTube membership, which is aligned exactly
with Patreon in that gives you early access to content.

950
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,222
We give you heads up on a future guests.

951
00:57:04,222 --> 00:57:05,696
So for example,

952
00:57:05,696 --> 00:57:11,789
Our Patreon and YouTube members have just received a post yesterday with the next five
guests we've got scheduled.

953
00:57:11,789 --> 00:57:14,866
With the opportunity to ask questions of those guests.

954
00:57:14,866 --> 00:57:17,242
We're a bit excited to have some of those scheduled in.

955
00:57:17,242 --> 00:57:21,284
So do for the price of a couple of bucks a month, you do get that same access.

956
00:57:21,284 --> 00:57:24,755
Please consider it helps us keep this little operation afloat.

957
00:57:24,755 --> 00:57:29,438
So our current gold and silver supporters are the brilliant Dewi Evans from the
Sunnylander Wales.

958
00:57:29,438 --> 00:57:30,722
Thank you, sir.

959
00:57:30,722 --> 00:57:33,234
The lovely Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Studio.

960
00:57:33,234 --> 00:57:34,625
you for your long-term support.

961
00:57:34,625 --> 00:57:39,468
Tammy, Dave Bryce and the team at themusicplayer.com forums and the keyboard corner in
particular.

962
00:57:39,468 --> 00:57:40,048
Thanks.

963
00:57:40,048 --> 00:57:43,811
And last but definitely not least, Mike at midnightmastering.com.

964
00:57:43,811 --> 00:57:52,646
If you've got your own work and you want a great job done, just like Greg did with um
getting their latest album, go external and get it done well.

965
00:57:52,646 --> 00:57:55,518
And Midnight Mastering is definitely a great option there.

966
00:57:55,896 --> 00:57:56,810
Paul, thank you, sir.

967
00:57:56,810 --> 00:57:59,332
We're catching up again in the next few days for another show.

968
00:57:59,332 --> 00:58:01,599
But yeah, we'll talk soon.

969
00:58:01,696 --> 00:58:02,395
It's been a pleasure.

970
00:58:02,395 --> 00:58:02,952
Thanks, David.

971
00:58:02,952 --> 00:58:04,029
Thanks, everyone.