It Can't Rain All The Time.... (2006)
My first solo album but genuinely a true collaboration between myself and my awesome buddy and go to drummer Iain Wilson. Rewind to 2006, we compiled the cash we'd made from a festival gig and chucked it into the studio. I remember vividly driving to The Audio Lounge in Glasgow and Iain asking "So how does this material go?". My response "Don't know, it's all in my head!".
ICRATT was a great way (and a great deal of fun) to explore and record a load of original material that I genuinely didn't think would be a good fit for The Shine - I think I was right, although Ghosts and Children Of War eventually saw the light some 10 years later with Long Earth.
As always, massive thanks to Iain for being my continual partner in crime - but special mention to the bloody incredible and beautiful Jane Espie for her pipes on Follow The Piper. Jane still never fails to blow my mind and make me proud as she conquers the world as The Phantom Piper!
Track Notes:
Enigma
Around 2004, The Shine had a couple of amazing online fans. This track is a fictionalised story of one of them - Caz the enigma!
Gypsy Dancer
Another wee fictionalised story. I came up with a concept of a kinda hippyish, gypsy girl who attended bar gigs and danced to the band with careless abandon.
Raven
Now, this one dates WAY back to 1988 when I wrote the lyric for my then girlfriend. Over the years I lost the lyric, made contact with Barbara again via the dawn of social media and rewrote the lyric from the ground up again in around 2004.
Children Of War
This one was inspired by watching a news broadcast of some foreign conflict in Europe, bombed out buildings and a father interviewed while his 3 kids lay dead beside him. "That's just the way it is" seemed to be the translation of his view. The children are the unwilling innocent victims of any war. This one is written to cover Vietnam, Bosnia, Afghanistan and many more...
Close So Close
A kind of "inside the head of a madman" song which was going to be part of a serial killer concept album based in Edinburgh.
Angel Of The City
Another one from the abandoned concept album. I was driving back from a gig in Ayrshire and was diverted off the M8 and through Charing Cross. In a doorway I spotted a hooker in a long black leather coat and felt she could be an angel in the city.
Ghosts
Another section of the concept album, this time loosely based on the spirits of Edinburgh, Mary King's Close etc and how they could be the guides to the city.
Follow The Piper
Final one from the abandoned concept. There's a legend in Edinburgh of a ghostly piper who walks an underground passage from the castle to Holyrood. This song's an escape but also how I'd imagine a rambunctuous party at Fish's house might be!
Starlight
We've all be there - a cracking night at a cracking party. The walk home whilst the merlot and sauvignon blanc are swirling through your head.
With You
The inspiration for the album. One of my favourite films of all time is The Crow. This was my homage to Eric Draven in that true love never dies, even with death.