The Support Band - NICE004

The Support Band - NICE004

Of all the acts upon the diverse roster of talent at Nice Mind Records, by far the most curious and ill-defined are The Support Band otherwise known as Support Band.

The Support Band (aka Support Band) are a nebulous entity, a bit gassy and shapeless. Certainly out of shape. They don’t tend to talk as such, but if you can tune into them you can sort of guess what it is they are trying to communicate.

I’d heard of their existence a few times before the first time that I actually encountered them which was in November 2019 at White Gables Recording Studios when they kind of just presented themselves unannounced although they did have a very familiar feel to them, if you get what I mean? That they were always here, just unnoticed. They actually have a bit in common with wombles as they like to use things that are lying around, although the rubbish that the Support Band use tend to be bits of sound that are left lying unused by Nice Mind Records artistes. So it was in November at the inaugural session of White Gables Recording Studios that The Support Band presented themselves.

Now, what I’ve disclosed about The Support Band so far, may make you feel a little unnerved by the gaseous entity, but there really is no need to be. It’s a truly benign organism. I get the impression that they can be relied upon in a time of crisis to fill in when the label needs a hand and thereby the audience. I do know that they respond well to the burning of myrrh, so I have to make sure I keep stocked up on that for whenever they feel like summoning themselves. They were very happy that the myrrh is from Mount Athos which they communicated to me is a great place to hang out. 

For NICE004, which is the first Nice Minds Records release to be recorded at White Gables, The Support Band found an unused instrumental acoustic guitar progression of mine that I hadn’t done anything with and they strangely morphed it into a spacious, healing sound aura which they impressed upon mine and my label partner’s minds should be named in honour of the broth that we had fed them. (Most of which I cleaned up later as they can’t really eat properly). Cob was broth’s supplementary piece of music that they left us with to put out to an unsuspecting public as the label’s first release recorded at White Gables Recording Studio. The recordings you hear on NICE004 are as they were presented by The Support Band in the studio in real time, as we understand it. I’m not sure how they understand time...

I don’t really know what else to say about The Support Band. They’ve since done something very strange to the already a bit weird Telstar which opens the label’s monthly podcast. I’m not sure where they picked up the submarine that they put on that... They do seem to keep popping up to lend a nebulous hand with label duties, so I'm sure it won't be too long til you hear of them again.

Thus ends the blog on The Support Band NICE004 which counts towards part of your 5 a day.

NICE005 Chris Riley - Cloudwalking in the Concrete World and NICE005again

NICE005 Chris Riley - cloudwalking in the concreteworld

This is both the label's first and second re-issues, in a way. It is the first EP that I ever made, back in 2004. The label reissued the EP in November 2019 on Bandcamp & again in October 2021 when we prepared it for release on streaming platforms with an additional 7 bonus tracks of songs that I'd written and recorded either solo or in various bands from 2003 to 2005. 

When I first recorded Cloudwalking I had been playing live quite a bit in the two years or so prior to putting it down. I was on quite good form before getting into a regular job and girlfriend and things.

I had been in a band in sixth form some years before, thrashing around in Psychlone but the acoustic guitar malarkey was a lot different. Open mic nights were a good place to start in the early noughties. The best I came across was at The Beamish Mary. The first couple of appearances were with my mate Iain Davidson. Here we are on our first time up there. You can just see Iain sat behind me there (Dean Lowery of Psychlone and False Poets fame is also in shot)....

I think Handle With Care we used to do. Iain's brother Stu might have had words when we did the Beatles I Should've Known Better for being too bleeding obvious a song choice. It was a good grounding in the Mary. Three songs you got and everyone listened and clapped. Fantastic acoustics in what used to be a chapel and great beer from the bar next door. The Lamplight is as fine a pint as I've ever enjoyed.

Kevin Phillipson used to open and close the nights. Good standard of playing and performing.

I soon started going up on my own and would've played most of these cloudwalking songs up there and they were well received. I used to get plenty of gigs via Insangel, a local promoter type. I think I remember opening for a band called The Avenues at Sgt Pepper's in Newcastle. I opened for Greenspace a couple of times at The Tanners. Their bass player was a fan of my stuff. He got the boot before they became Lanterns on the Lake and did alright for themselves. I think my best received gig was at Simma's Acoustic Circus in The Bridge Hotel. I didn't often get the chance to play to a room full of people who were there for the music. I was second on and went down a storm with my own stuff. Never got asked to play again, mind. Other players on the scene at the time Country Jim, Pete Hardaker, John Egdell. I remember Trev Gibb making an appearance at The Archer when I shared a bill with a couple of the Blackflower lads. 

I needed a bit of prompting from my friend James Gawman to get a day booked in a studio to get some songs down being what you find here on the EP. I can't remember how First Avenue was the studio of choice, but it was a pretty good one and one that I've used since with The False Poets. David Curle did a fine job recording.

Something Wonderful

I've put a fair few of James Gawman's lyrics to chords. This seemed to fit to open the EP with. I recorded a home version years before on a mates 4 track. In the months before recording this I put a lot of effort into adding the chord progression which makes up the instrumental break. It's mostly intuitive guess work but eventually I found something to give it some musical diversity it was asking for previously. 

Joining me on this and on The Fox and The Moon Tune there is the brotherly rhythm section of Adam and Graham Sinclair. Fine musicians from Waldridge who didn't need much instruction. I thought it would add an extra dimension to the EP than just me on the acoustic. Adam's girlfriend at the time, Sarah Williams, adds some tasteful colour with her fine flute playing on this and the instrumental breather.

Cabbage White

An open G tune, second fret. I played it instrumental at Waldridge Fell Club in 2003 and then added some words before getting it recorded. I used to play around with my tunings more in those days. It could help suggest different melodies when playing if put in another tuning. I tend to just stick to standard tuning now tho I am partial to a dropped D for a bit of resonance. It's a lovely song this one although there's someone I know who's told me it was a bad choice of butterfly for the analogy cos they've got a green tinge, the Cabbage Whites, but I've chosen to ignore that and you should too if you want to get the most out of this track.

The Fox

I think this was the first finger picking song I wrote. Plenty 7ths and the rhythm give it a jazzy kind of feel. The lyrics were written at a Creative Writing class at Park View I went to one evening. The exercise was to write a poem about being a fox during a hunt. I verbalised some percussion at the start of the instrumental break. David Curle recording said that bit was obscene.

breather

Another open G tune. Capoed 6th fret, possibly. Not sure what key that makes it. The last thing to be written before this EP session but musically one of the most satisfying. I just called it breather as a gap in between three songs either side. Nice flute arrangement by Sarah and Adam and double tracked in places by Sarah. I just let them get on with it. It looked like they were having fun.

The Moon Tune

I wrote this in my year in Greece. A couple of lines are lifted from the Book of Ruth, I think. Me and Adam recorded a version a year or two before with the short lived scratch band Mock Fish which is included in the Again release as a bonus track. It's a short but sweet song with plenty going on but not too busy.

Monday's Song

I'm possibly least happy with this one on the EP. Maybe it could do with some violin. The mouth organ is ok. I did a version at home that had a better feel to it that is included as the last bonus track on the Again re-issue. It felt like a little bit of a breakthrough when I wrote this one in being able to summon a feeling on a guitar and with my voice.

Summer Sun

Another open G song, capoed 4th fret. I did a take of this which I thought was ok but David Curle suggested I do another and it was much improved. Maybe I was getting tired. The lyrics are ok. I wrote the tune not long after Monday's Song and the two tunes were an improvement on what I'd managed to come up with before.

Just a quick word on my trusty guitar, a Fender DG21S. Bought in the Spring of 1998, I think from Windows in the Central Arcade for about £225. Student grants were getting phased out in the UK at that point. I used that semester's grant to buy this which it just about covered. I knew very little about guitars. I just was told when I buy an acoustic to make sure it's a solid top because they get better with age. 

The action was quite high on it. Legendary North East guitar-smith Les Toons, saw to that a few years later. He said to use a light gauge string on it, whereas previously I was using battered quite heavy ones for La'sy rhythm playing. It's still going strong now, 22 year on...

The original cover for the EP was designed by the divine Teresa Puig who was lodging at my mam's at the time.

I managed to sell about 20 odd of these CDs, which is quite a lot, really. I got a local graphics firm to print some covers off for me and just used to burn the discs at home. There were a couple of reviews. Here's one from Ross Lewis who I had yet to meet...

The following year, Ross recorded a few songs by The Mandalas which at the time included Peter Dinsdale, Iain Davidson, Marty Wilkinson and myself. Waiting on a Smile and Ode to Bill are included in the Again reissue from this session. Ross' Dad Tommy Lewis saw me a few years later at Ashington Folk Club and said to me afterwards "You're worth listening to." Probably the best review I've ever had that, off Tommy.

One radio session followed the release of cloudwalking. A live one for Sunderland Uni. I drove Adam and Sarah through and we played breather and Positively Halcyon and possibly another. I think I recorded it later on the radio but the reception was really bad. I'd completely forgotten about that. 

I wrote a couple of songs in the months after like Precious Touch, the demo of which is another Again bonus track, and Positively Halcyon but not too many for a while after that. It's a nice EP, if I do say so myself. I wasn't really paying too much attention to whatever was going on at the time. Maybe that's why at 16 years of age it seems to bear up ok.

Cloudwalking in the Concrete World (Again)

In the Autumn of 2021 when preparing to put Cloudwalking online across all the various streaming platforms, I took the opportunity to include some bonus tracks, demos of previously released songs and a few that have yet to have an official release. Both the label and myself had the idea of appending an Again to the end of the EP's title. It's just a digital release for now out on October 1st 2021. It may have a CD run if gigging regularly becomes a thing again.

So, a quick word on the additional 7 tracks....

Waiting On a Smile and Ode to Bill

As mentioned above, these two songs were recorded by Ross Lewis when in the band The Mandalas, two of four songs recorded that day, 10th April 2005, if I remember right at Paul Jeans' Tranwell studio somewhere up the A1 Northumberland way.  Smile was probably the best recorded that day. That's Iain Davidson on electric guitar and me on acoustic. The song was originally called More to the Core, but I changed a couple of lines for something a bit more mainstream. The acoustic guitar is in open E tuning, learnt from The Stone Roses' Your Star Will Shine. Ode to Bill probably not as strong a song, but included here because why not? Some nice drum fills from Marty on Bill. Good drummer, Marty. The last gig the Mandalas played was at the Black Bull in Sunderland. A Battle of the Bands gig. We came second to a trio called Restaurant, Paul Liddell on the PA and judging. Restaurant were slicker than us and had some good, strong pop songs. Paul complimented us on our sound which reminded him of Neil Young, which may have come from Bill's Ode.

Show Me The Way

Following that gig, hopefully not caused by the devastation of losing out to Restaurant, Iain decided to step down and Mandalas became a 3 piece. It was at a Sons and Daughters gig at The Archer that the name Justroy was drunkenly chosen for the new line up. Someone from local band Minotaurs referred to it as the worst band name he'd ever heard on a local music forum. We did have a good email address tho: seekandjustroy@yahoo.co.uk

Justroy gigged pretty regularly in 2005 and into 2006, two or three times at The Cooperage, The Tanners, somewhere in Hartlepool, Sunderland pubs, The Derby at Bishop Auckland... We were quite tight for about a year or so. The promoter for The Tanners had an exotic sounding name on the local internet forum. Hermingita. I thought he might have been from the East or something. When I met him he was from Wallsend and he said it was pronounced Her-minge-eater...

Anyway, Show Me The Way! This, a song of mine from 1997, took us 50 minutes in all to record including setting up at The Cluny. We scraped onto the line up of a local music CD. Local bands had to apply and, if successful, you got two hours studio time to record a song. There might have been some funding available from North Tyneside Council to put this CD release together. A couple of months later local muso Paul Jeans started a thread on the local internet forum asking "Is this the worst local music compilation ever?" I'll dig out the copy of it I have somewhere....

Paul may have been a little harsh, although I've not given the disc a spin for so long. I'm going to put it on now. Opening up the CD is Ashington's h.e.d. with the very sexy Porn Kitchen. Opening up the inlay of the CD we see Neil Brannigan is on Vocals and Guitar for H.E.D. Bran used to run Bubbles, formerly The Cellar Club, and his catchphrase was saying Nice, Mind after things. This used to grate on my mate Tristan a bit, so kind of for a laugh it was suggested as a name for the record label you all know and love when we came to decide on a name for our label. Cut Glass Accent next up on the CD. Sounds good!

Anyway, Show Me The Way! It's a good song. Maybe there's a little bit of the La's in there. I didn't plug my Squier into an amp. The producer passed me this little red box called a Pod and said, "Here, plug into that". Hey, presto! instant amp sounds. Show Me The Way was one of the first songs I wrote. I spent a bit of time working out the solo. That's me, Peter Dinsdale on bass and Marty Wilkinson on drums. Justroy disbanded not too long after. Marty was playing with a punk band called Barse that used to get lots of Scandanavian gigs and dropped off radar. Dinny got the call years later for The False Poets and remains very much on radar.

Precious Touch (Demo)

Another open E tuning song. This recording seems to have more atmosphere than the studio version I put down for Moments Stolen Back in 2009. Some tasteful tambourine in there somewhere.

 Moon Tune

This was recorded at Washington Arts Centre on 9th Feb 2003. The reason I know the date is because Laurent Robert got sent off not long after he put Arsenal on the ropes with a classy equalizer. The Short lived Mock Fish recorded four songs, two of mine and two by the other singer Martin, eeh I forget his surname. This was the last one we recorded. The producer was really struck by it. I was playing the bass initially and he said, No, you're playing the bass like a guitarist, the song needs a different bass part which he showed to me or Martin. I think Martin, cos I recorded the guitar tracks which I had all figured out. I thought the Cloudwalking version was better than this one til I went back to this version for the reissue. I think the producer did a good job with a nice warm mix. Mock Fish played one gig, I'm guessing in November 2002 at The Garden Farm supporting Newcastle based The Psychedelic Breakfast who I see have recently put their back catalogue on streaming services. Hangin' Outta Windows is a cracking tune, although there is some choice language in that one.

Summer Sun and Monday's Song (Demos)

Recorded at home not long after recording the Mock Fish 4 track EP. I stuck these two tracks on the end of a CD with the four  Mock Fish tracks on before and my mate Gav said the best ones were these two home demos. Not massively different to the versions on the EP. Maybe a better vocal on Monday's Song on the demo and Summer Sun Demo included to show off my bongo skills. 

And thus ends the blog on what I was up to cloudwalking musically between the early to mid noughties.

 

NICE003 The False Poets

The False Poets

Beginnings

I've got a distinct memory of my mate Tristan Sturgeon throwing me the suggestion of starting a garage band called The False Poets in 2010. "That's a nice idea", I thought tho dismissing it as a pipe dream.

I met him through Ashington Folk Club which I had started going to a couple of years before then. He used to do the sound, a little begrudgingly sometimes cos he didn't really like folk music. We kind of struck up a bond of friendship which gelled further after I played the Elevators' I Had To Tell You one night at the club. It helped that he was a smashing bloke, too.

I don't know what had changed in 2012, but the idea was raised again one night in Bubbles watching The Whodlums, "Why don't we start a garage band and play some of those great songs that we love?". I used to be in a thrash band in sixth form with me mates from Chester-le-Street, Peter Dinsdale and Dean Lowery who play bass and drums nearly 20 years before. There's some dreadful footage of us playing at one of Dean's house parties at about this time that Tristan and me resolved to give this a go. Dinny and Dean were both up for the idea of starting a garage band. Stars seemed to align whereas two years prior they hadn't. I remember going for a pint in The Elephant with Tristan the weekend before the first rehearsal and him being very excited and saying it couldn't fail. We set ourselves the task of getting four songs to sound ok at the first rehearsal of 16th June 2012: The Haunted's 1-2-5, Primitive by I can't remember who, I'm Gonna Make You Mine by the Shadows of Knight and You're Gonna Miss Me. The recordings are somewhere. We were fine from the off. It really was no trouble at all.

I blogged after a fair few of those early productive rehearsals where you can see what songs we were playing. Rehearsal 6 our first original tune Stick or Twist came to be and that set Tristan off writing songs which then spurred me on. I've never written so many songs as during that two year period that the Poets were running for. I really thought I couldn't do it any more. I learnt a fair bit from him. We spurred each other on quite naturally.

After a couple of years and with life kind of getting in the way, the False Poets got knocked on the head more or less two years on from that first rehearsal.

Fast forward to Spring 2018 and we decided to see about getting the band up and running but fate was to deal the cruellest blow and take Tristan from us just when everything seemed good to go. He was telling me that his son Oliver is really good on the guitar and with a fine voice as something we could do in the future.

When we got together with Oli in the summer of 2019 it was with the intention of focusing on the original stuff. As great as those Nuggets songs are, ours aren't too shabby either.

The Album

12 songs, just over half an hour's worth of music. Money and time fairly tight. Dinny was about to take a job overseas for a couple of years. I was happy to go back to First Avenue where we recorded a False Poets EP in 2013 and I'd recorded an EP in 2004. It was Dinny who pushed for Northside Recordings, however, having been impressed with the relaxed nature of recording when he laid down the bass to Ghost Ship with the Dicey Rileys.

In the end Northside and Angelo Citrone did us a very good job of replicating a retro sound for the songs which all have a mid 60s flavour to them. Angelo uses a tape echo unit and a vintage sound desk which suited us. We had two days booked. In late September, early October, both Sundays. We pretty much recorded the songs instrumentally in an order I had drafted for the tracklisting, if I remember rightly. One or two runs through of each song, often with me mouthing the lyrics over the noise.

I called round the studio between those two sessions to lay a couple of acoustic tracks down (A Girl I Know, Set It Free, Stomper) as well as a few vocal tracks. The second full day was vocal tracks, a few overdubs and the mix.

The Cover 

Tristan painted the image for the cover around the time he left in 2013. He told me it was intended for the cover.

I believe it was later displayed at a Pitmatics Painters exhibition. It's the third CD for Nice Mind Records and a fine work it is, too. The Deluxe Edition comes with a lyric booklet as well with exclusive artwork. We've still got a few available! Haha

The Songs

Stick or Twist

The first False Poets original. I was fooling around albeit quite purposefully with a chord progression which the rest joined in on, Tristan singing "The grass is always greener..." over the top of it as he fancied it sounding like the Jesus and Mary Chain's In a Hole. I used that green grass line to tag a load of blues clichés onto. Add on a couple of chords to a hooky tagline chorus and hey presto a False Poets original!

Call the Doctor

The song on the album for which there were two full recorded versions. It was the first one in the album sessions to be recorded. We had another go at it later in the session when we were warmed up and it is this version which Oli put his vocal to as it has a lot more energy.

A Girl I Know

Our surfiest number. Angelo suggested an acoustic guitar track to fill out the instrumental section. The opening riff bears a striking similarity to The Molochs' Get A Job Blues you can hear on their soundcloud. Ours pre-dates theirs tho and I doubt they heard ours.

What It's All About

A last minute decision to include this song in the album sessions. I had to meet up with Oli the night before to give him the chance to actually play the song before we went in to record it the next day. He did a great job on slide guitar. I wrote the tune on the bike into work one day and had to wait until I got home to find out what chords fit the few verses I'd written. Tristan thought it was like The La's. I'm not sure about that, but there's a definite early Beefheart vibe to its blues groove.

Set It Free

One of two songs on the album that I play on the Sheraton rather than the Strat. I capo on the 5th fret to give it a Byrds type folk rock feel to contrast with Oli's chords. Ian uses some tight brushes rather than sticks so as not to be too overpowering.

She Was My Woman

One of Tristan's trilogy of 12 bar blues garage rockers, the other two being Call the Doctor and Stomper. A good song but one that we seemed to have most difficulty in getting down tightly. I had to completely overdub my whole guitar track as there were far too many dreadful notes in my first take which is now thankfully deleted. It worked out well in the end. The production really suits She Was My Woman.

Tell Tale Heart

The last track recorded at the end of the first session. There was one abortive take before we managed to get this hot take down. Ian was praying whilst playing that we got to the end without cocking it up. We were all elated after this take and broke for lunch. That's me on Strat and Oli on Sheraton here as per Call the Doctor.

The Mad Machine

Subtle change in tone for the start of the slightly more progressive side 2. I wrote this song on my acoustic in about half an hour as part of a Facebook challenge to write a song from a list of random song titles. It was Tristan who convinced me that it was a good song and worth persevering with. We doubled the length of the instrumental ending a rehearsal or two before we went into record. Possibly starting to stray a little beyond our garage roots.

When the Morning Comes

Tristan's very first song he wrote for The False Poets. He had a spurt of songs after I managed to finish Stick or Twist. This reminds me lyrically of You're Gonna Miss Me and always feels very comfortable to play. The second of the two songs I play on the album on the Sheraton for a slightly softer feel.

Stomper

Sounds a bit glam rock here, in the mid paced passages, at least. Good fun to play, although I had to be convinced by the rest of the band to put the blues harp track down. It has a tendency to get stuck in your head, this one.

You Are The Way

The second time we've recorded this song. There are some recordings somewhere of a 2013 rehearsal when I was showing the chords to the rest of the band. Tristan said that rehearsal recording would make a good release one day, to show how a song can come together. Here's the band playing it at The Cluny 2 when the song was only ten days old and didn't have an instrumental fill written for it.

Did It Feel Real?

The last song laid down on day one was always going to be this track earmarked for the album closer. We are just branching out with improvisations here. The repeated E and D chords a nice backdrop for Oli to make a racket over. Possibly Tristan's most psychedelic song, he was likely influenced by one of the Golden Dawn's Power Plant songs. He was a big fan of that record. Did it Feel Real? is it's own animal tho and that freedom to improvise and explore is something we have taken forward as can be heard on the live version found here.

Reviews

A couple of reviews so far. We were pleased to get a write up in Shindig! who had this to say about it:

And there's a characteristically thorough Rocking Magpie review here.

We're still very much active, so keep an eye out for gigs and new releases in the months and years to come.

NICE002 The Dicey Rileys - The Ghost Ship

This rambling blog aims to give a bit of background to Nice Mind Records' second release:

NICE002 The Dicey Rileys - The Ghost Ship

The Dicey Rileys are an acoustic folk trio from Chester-le-Street. Although we would not perform together live until a snowy St Patrick's Day on 2018 in the afternoon at The Bridge in Chester and in the evening at The Butchers Arms, the formation can be traced to be back to when I played at The Bridge pub the previous year.

It's funny how snap decisions you can make have a lasting, positive impact.

I had a week off work March 2017 and was feeling at a customary loose end with nothing particular to do. St Patrick's Day was to land on a Friday that year. I wasn't in the habit of gigging regularly at the time, but on the Tuesday decided to go out and look for somewhere that would put me on for an hour or two. Step forward The Bridge! The most neglected, run down and gloriously shabby boozer you could hope to come across when looking for a gig with 3 days to spare provided you finished by 8 cos the place would shut early due to lack of punters. The pub was undergoing a particularly fallow period (it's painfully closed now) and agreed to put me on when I said I would do it for 20 quid. If the barmaid's manager didn't give the ok to put me on I doubt the Dicey Rileys would have got together at all. Like I say, funny how things turn out on random impulses.

I was asked to put a poster together for it, too and managed to come up with this state of the art affair for their window. 

I have to give a mention to a group of friends from Chester-le-Street who were in the habit of going out for a drink down the street every Friday who became known, to ourselves at least, as the Chester-le-Street Red Brigade.

There's most of them there, look. That's Dave front left. What a cracking bunch! The Bridge was great that summer. Cracking jukebox, a secret beer garden, karaoke and dj... I can remember singing I'm A Rover at the top of my lungs with Dave and Bobby of the Red Brigade in that beer garden on one of several tab breaks. It gives you a second wind belting out those tunes with your mates when you're well oiled.

Dave and me soon started rehearsing some of these good time Irish tunes with his dad, Bob joining in on percussion not long after. It took a little while to do some gigs. I'm not sure why. I think I'd fallen out of the habit of getting them. Dave joined me for a couple. One in the Butchers in November 17 and one in Stockton of February the following year. Good harmonies and feel to the pairing from the off.

As referred to above, the live debuts of The Dicey Rileys were two gigs on St Patrick's Day 2018. The Butchers one was particularly lively and was a cracking start to our live career. Only gig I wore a shirt and tie for. I'm really not sure what I was thinking there. 

We've played plenty of gigs around the area since then. So, just a bit of background on the social nature of the music and how we came to be.

Friends, Chester-le-Street, drinking and rousing tunes. A heady combination!

Recording The Ghost Ship

January 2019, recording an album. I always wanted to record an album. I'd managed a few EPs and tracks before. In the end it only took the one day, aged 42.

Northside Recording Studios, again in Chester-le-Street the perfect place to do it. Great recording gear, engineered and recorded by Angelo Citrone who knows all his equipment like the back of his hand. We had 14 songs to record in all. Most of them we recorded instrumentally live, with 4 recorded live with vocals when I played my guitar which I am more comfortable with.

It was pretty straightforward, really, apart from me failing to get a penny whistle track down without causing Bob to have fits of laughter. I had to run through the jigs a few times and The Gentleman Soldier breakdown. I can't remember Dave or Bob having any problems at all.

Peter Dinsdale attended later in the session to add an acoustic bass part to the title track to fill it out a bit. Me and Dave had to lay the vocal down, so Peter knew where we were with it and it worked champion.

Whilst on with mixing the album, Angelo kindly added a double bass part to You've Been A Friend To Me to fill out the sound a bit nicely and give a touch of rockabilly at the album's close.

Over ten years after the release of NICE001, Nice Mind Records was revived for the soon to be released album. In the following weeks there were meetings with the label's creative director in The Wicket Gate to discuss cover art and tracklisting and the like. Roddy McCorley was set aside for the time being, leaving 13 tracks clocking in at under 40 minutes, thereby falling within the label's idea of what makes a classic album length. Although as of yet the album hasn't been pressed onto vinyl (you never know, one day) The Ghost Ship developed a label habit of splitting the songs into sides A and B. It's just too good a format to let go of, I guess.

Here's an an alternative cover:

The CDs look great, by the way. A beautiful design. I'd credit the creator, but he'll not be bothered about that. You should get one tho, from the label! If you haven't got one already, of course. It's a good album. Don't just take my word for it. Check out this review, here!

There's another review here courtesy of the ever-dependable The Crack Magazine:

I do appreciate Mr Magpie's review and am pleased he spoke highly of the original title track. We did do a fine take on Geordie for a ramshackle bunch of Chester lads. The album works absolutely fine tho. Get some beers in from Tesco next time you're out and give it a go.

"My bark of life was tossing down

The troubled stream of time

Since first I saw your smiling face

And youth was in its prime..."

See you soon

Chris

The Dicey Rileys

NICE001 Chris Riley - Moments Stolen Back

During this time of Lockdown, I'm going to write a few words on each release on the Nice Mind Records label, so here goes:

NICE001 Chris Riley - Moments Stolen Back

This is the second of 2 EPs that I've ever recorded, but the first to have Nice Mind Records put to it. My dear friend Tristan Sturgeon, who I would later form The False Poets with, was a massive help with this. I was only really keeping my hand in with music by singing the odd cover at Ashington Folk Club at this time. He noted on a local music internet forum (possibly the NARC magazine one) that a music student was looking for an acoustic act to record as part of his coursework and he encouraged me to get in touch. So, I ended up getting the few studio sessions at the John Marley Centre, Benwell for free, otherwise it would never have been recorded.

I had about four songs unrecorded. I'm not the most prolific of writers, tending to wait til they come along of their own accord. Passing Through and Thistle I purposefully put the effort into completing to give me enough material to make it worthwhile as the sessions approached, however.

Recording sessions were relaxed with Thomas Moon doing a professional job of it. I think I was lacking confidence at that time, which may be evident in some of the vocals. The lead acoustic fill on Thistle took a few takes and I remember Thomas punching the air when I managed to get to the end of that without stumbling at all.

The title of the EP I took from Thistle which was the last song to be written for it. It's the only song of mine in the DADGAD tuning which might be why I only played it live once, in the Folk Bar of Ashington's 'Tute. It went down well. I wrote some of the lines to it when on a walk round Elsdon. I think it was Mike Jessop who made a quip about being careful not to be caught hanging around up there. A village famous for it's old gibbets!

I did record a version of Wild Mountain Thyme in these sessions, but the CD reproduction company noted that that song was still under copyright, so that was pulled from the EP.

One song which did make the final cut was my first recorded interpretation of a traditional folk song Hares on the Mountain, heavily informed by the Shirley Collins and Davey Graham version. There is grainy footage of my playing it of a Sunday lunchtime at The Archer in Jesmond here.

Tristan designed the cover, some old negatives of Ashington streets that he had lying around and helped me get the CDs pressed. I probably got too many done (hint hint there's still plenty left!). I think it was Tristan who wanted a label dreaming up for the design. Nice Mind Records was decided upon for the label name as Bran from Ashington bar Bubbles used to say "Nice, mind" a lot, be it verbally or on Facebook. It's got kind of a double meaning so, cheers Bran!

Overall, I think it's OK. There was a review or two. The Crack and NARC possibly. Nothing to write home about. I don't think it's as good a release as my first EP Cloudwalking in the Concreteworld when I had more fresh faced focus, but in Sugarbowl Moon and Thistle it has at least 2 good songs on it.

It also saw the launch of Nice Mind Records which wasn't to make its next appearance for another ten years...

Durham Miners Gala

I'm Chris, a Unison rep of 3 years with Middlesbrough Local Government branch.  3 years also happens to be the length of time I've been attending the Durham Miners Gala.

I'm embarrassed to say that, despite being from County Durham, I had never attended a Big Meeting until 2016. I had obviously heard of it, but never knew what it was about or if it was of any relevance to me or not.

If you've never been before it's a tremendous day out and a great celebration of working class culture and solidarity.

July 14th 2018 marked the 134th Miners Gala and it was my first time to have the honour of walking into the Racecourse Field with the banners. I was invited, as a Labour Party member of the City of Durham constituency, to march in with Durham City Labour who this year were marching alongside the Sherburn Villages Collieries. It took two hours to make the half hour walk through the city, but it was a great opportunity to meet people. I held aloft the banner with the Labour Links Officer for Darlington Unison and it was great to be clapped along by people soaking up the sunshine.

The event is very well organised and the day flies over. After working up a hunger and arriving in the field I got some smashing food from the Labour Tea Tent, all handmade by people working together and volunteering their time and energy.

I was waiting on friends arriving, so I had a look around the outskirts of the field at all the different stalls. Former Newcastle United and England centre-half Steve Howey was signing autographs in the Unison tent, lending a hand to Show Racism the Red Card, too.

I lay in the baking sun around noon, listening to the old folk performers on the stage sing local ballads of North Eastern life, often tales of hardship, but always of humanity, too. This year the stage was covered with a roof for the first time and the sound system was improved for the growing crowds, so it was easier to enjoy the music as the banners continued to file into the field.

In years gone by, when people told me of the event, I could only get an inkling of its appeal, but you really have to experience it first hand to pick up on the unspoken sense of what has been passed on for over a hundred years and what everyone attending is a part of; people looking out for one another and taking pride in their labour, who they are and where they come from. .

Some excellent speeches followed. Matt Wrack of the FBU for the second year running, speaking up for our public servants and protectors in the Fire Service, doing a job that could end their lives as suddenly as many a miner lost theirs.

Dennis Skinner, who has spoken at the Gala many times, in his 88th year had the crowd laughing and cheering ahead of the closing speech by Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. In his speech, Corbyn touched on many things, but one point that sticks in my mind is his aim to have the history of trade unionism taught in our schools. Too many times he has met young students who have asked him what is the role of trade unions.

Trade unionism is at the heart of that togetherness and solidarity which makes the Miners Gala such a celebratory occasion.

This year, after the speeches, we were treated to a rousing set by Billy Bragg as the sun continued to beat on the smiling hordes. There was time to buy a book from one of the stalls. I opted for a James Connelly book from the Workers Party of Ireland's stall. They had come over from Dublin and it was great to pass the time with people you wouldn't otherwise meet.

We left the field to make our way through the vibrant, smiling city that danced to the beat of the brass bands echoing around the streets many had trodden together year after year.

If you've been before you'll be looking forward to next July. If you've yet to experience it, add it to your calendar.

To find out more visit www.durhamminersgala.org

Thoughts from a First Time Delegate

Although this is my first National Delegate Conference as a delegate (for Middlesbrough branch) I did attend Glasgow 2015 conference as a new rep visitor awaiting steward's training. 

Being in a trade union is a privilege to hold dear and to encourage in others. Our voices and efforts are more important than ever in a country that has seen the worst wage growth since the 1780s!

I've not been a rep long, but that initial feeling of relief at my first branch meeting in Middlesbrough where reps from the college, the council, criminal justice agencies were all getting together to try and improve the lives of their co-workers was a revelation and has been a source of solace and strength ever since. 

At NDC this feeling is amplified. I write this on Wednesday evening and am encouraged by the buoyant, engaged tone to the conference so far. It has also been incredibly moving hearing the brave accounts of the delegates at the podium turn their stories of hardship and injustice into motions that will seek to improve the working environments of people they may never meet yet, with our collective implementation, will positively impact upon their lives. 

It's great to see democracy in action at conference and I'm proud to represent the 2,200 members when I lift the card, but it is a shared pride. I'm only sorry my work colleagues weren't there to see the debate on Motion 19, Tackling Stress. The speakers were excellent. Back at our workplace we are seven years into a pay freeze whilst picking up the workload of those who have left and not been replaced in the meantime. You're just expected to get on with it. Those delegates did a brilliant job in bringing home to us the untold burden and pain of austerity. A burden and pain that the wider public now seem to be realising was so unnecessary all along. 

What has been the purpose of all the damaging cuts? At what point will we all see the benefits of the Treasury living within its means? When the deficit is reduced? Will it be then that we will be allowed the space to fulfil our individual and collective potential and share in the common fruits of our labour as we ought?
Of course it won't and as Unison members I'm sure we could see that austerity was a con trick all along. 

It's been a great conference at Brighton this year. There is a definite sense and a feeling in the air that the tide is turning and it's not by chance alone. It's by all our efforts. I'm very much looking forward to hearing Jeremy Corbyn, a Unison member like us, speaking on Friday. We backed him two summers ago when he was a rank outsider on the Labour leader ticket and he has our backs now.
I will take all the positive messages I've heard from conference and its fringe meetings back to Middlesbrough and Durham and wish you all a safe journey home.