We chose to round off the promotion week for the new Bedlam Six release with a public recording session. We thought it’d be interesting if the climax to all the album launch parties up and down the UK was an open studio event in which we’d start work on the follow-up record. The circle never ends…

The logic of this decision was, with hindsight, perhaps a little questionable. Yes there’s a certain poetry to one album segueing directly into another but, practically speaking, no musician is ever at the height of their powers after a stint on the road. I’d already lost my voice once while on tour and a good half of the band hadn’t slept for about three days straight.

But if there’s one thing I’ve discovered about such poetic gestures (or “PR gimmicks” as some people call them) it’s that they have a habit of bringing out the best in us. This little project was a lot of fun.

For us the first stage of any recording is to lay down some good quality demos that we can later listen back to and start forming concrete arrangements for. Once we’ve got the guts and general character of a song in place we can get a better idea of its final incarnation. Our audience tends to only see/hear the finished version so we figured it’d be interesting for people to witness these formative stages (where we decide on tempo, argue about harmonies, work out solos etc). Our label Debt Records is always harping on about making these processes more transparent so we agreed to be the guinea pigs for a new series of public studio gatherings. Thankfully it was hardly a chore, the location in question was the lovely back room of one of Greater Manchester’s best pubs: Salford’s The Eagle Inn. Even Guy Garvey turned up!

Here’s how we got on with brand new song “Lately”.

And here’s a slightly more delicate number called “Let Me Down Slow”.