The Quiet Room Stories
THE QUIET ROOM – Maybe not that one!
(Published June 25th, 2024)
Matt and I had come to a point where we felt that the recording for the second “The Quiet Room” album, Manuscript, was finished.
The overall feel that we were looking at, was mostly drum and percussion free, with swirling ambience permeating throughout via the use of lush keyboards.
The process we had followed was essentially the same as what we had done for the debut album “All The Frozen Horses”. I would write the music and present it to Matt. Matt would write the lyrics and perform the vocals.
I would start the writing process and when I was happy with where I had taken the track, I would give it to Matt. After the first few tracks, I shared with him were without rhythms, he said “I am really vibing on the drum-less stuff”.
And so, the scene was set.
As we did with our debut album, we took the final product into the recording studio (Sody Pop studios, run by Brett Sody). Brett, who had worked with Matt over many years, knew Matt’s vocals and delivery style very well – this meant that within a couple of hours, he could really add an extra edge to the vocal sound compared to what I could do.
Once he had worked through them, he was complimentary with the style and the sound that we had achieved – but, he had one issue – he said, why have we got an 8 ½-minute instrumental jazz jam (with multiple horns and a pedal steel lead) as the opening song on the album seeing as though it was so very different to all of the other tracks on the album.
A fair question, and one that had Matt and I stumped – I think it was simply because we liked the track so much. Once we were able to get past our surprise (maybe even hurt!), we realised that his feedback was spot on. And we would need to do something about it.
Although we had 5 other songs close to completion that we could have worked on, we had already decided to leave those ones off the album. When I went home after the session at Sody Pop, I got the recording unit up and going and started to write a new track. Perhaps driven by the unexpected detour we were taking, and wanting to get a move on, the track developed very, very quickly. After a sleep, and then a bit more of a play the next day, I decided to send it to Matt.
Matt effectively did something very similar, and about 24 hours after I sent him the instrumental, he sent me a message to say “wow, it just flowed out, it is finished”.
Matt had added drums, his vocals and the vocal samples that are such a crucial part of the song. When I heard it, I was absolutely blown out!
To me it sounded like something our musical heroes would have done – and I was truly stoked that that we had achieved that without it being a goal or even in our minds at all.
The other really interesting thing for me was that compared to the rest of the album, where we agonised over each and every note, this track was effectively conceived and completed within a two-day period (we went back into Sody Pop studios the next week to finalise the vocal balance for “In An Unknown Language” – and the album was finished)!
I adore the Manuscript album, and I am very, very proud of what we achieved, but “In An Unknown Language” still stands out to me as a special song. I had to include it in my 30-year compilation album that I released a few years later.
And what about the 8 1/2-minute version of the completely different song that is also called “In An Unknown Language”? Well, I think it deserves a release, but it still sits there waiting for its own time in the sun. We will record a new The Quiet Room – maybe we will be able to use it in some way with that. Until then, it will remain unknown!
THE QUIET ROOM – Photo Shoot
(Published February 18th 2024)
When Matt Cahill and I were preparing for the release of our debut ‘The Quiet Room’ album, “All the Frozen Horses”, it was decided that we would do a photo shoot for both promotional purposes as well as for the album cover itself.
For both of us, this was going to be the first time in a good number of years that our faces would appear on an album cover (albeit the back cover!). There was some trepidation.
Matt had a really clear idea of the perfect place to do the shoot, and so it was to be, when we headed down to the Ramsgate Hotel in Henley Beach, Adelaide, South Australia with photographer Russell Grinham in September 2014.
The Ramsgate Hotel, which opened in 1897, sits near the jetty at the very picturesque Henley Square. It had recently been through another renovation and the ground floor which housed the pub and restaurant was looking very grand indeed – definitely befitting of the surrounding area.
But then there was the second floor, which was all but condemned. This was the old ‘hotel’ part of the Ramsgate. We had to get special clearance to be allowed to go up there, and it was not hard to see why. The stairwell was a trap for the unwary, with every second step broken and number of the rooms had large holes in the ceiling which meant that you could see the night sky just by looking upwards! Quite an experience that’s for sure.
That is not the case anymore, with the second floor being fully and carefully restored to its original glory and now operating as a special beachside hotel steeped in history. Perhaps, in their own right, these photos were therefore one offs, capturing the Ramsgate in a light that would otherwise never have been seen.
But, I think that is the reason why these shots were so special – or certainly resonated strongly for me, is that they captured perfectly the atmosphere that Matt and I were looking to create with The Quiet Room. A bit dark and dingy, but also slightly cool and unique. We both had a real love of the early 80’s Avant Garde bands that were coming out of the UK in particular, and whilst we didn’t write anything deliberately to mimic that music, there is no doubt that it permeated what we did – maybe a little bit of the past, mixed in with a little bit of the now. It felt like these photographs capture that all.
So, many thanks to Matt for his excellent idea for the location and many thanks to Russell for capturing such an excellent range of photographs. Yet another amazing memory for me along this remarkably quirky musical journey!
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