Firstly, thanks for sharing this track. It makes me smirk when I’m listening to it. It sort of reminds me of ZZ Top with that sort of serious but silly edge to it. What compelled you to write this track?
I try to get as much humour into the lyrics I write as I can. It naturally makes the songs more interesting. I Wasn’t Born Yesterday or Just Walking The Dog from the fourth album are good examples. My new PR described my sound as Tom Waits meets Peter Gabriel and Tom Waits is certainly an inspiration for the backing track of this one and he is frequently edgy and witty and edgy and witty is good.
When did you come up with the track?
I think I was writing that album in November of 2018.
Obviously not knowing of you before hearing this track, I don’t know much. What is your musical past?
Well, I had a record deal when I was 19 but nothing came of it so I got a job working at George Martin’s Air Studios in London and the West Indies but I had a car crash injuring my left hand which pretty much put me out of action musically permanently. It was very distressing. But I bought a Harley twenty years ago and I think twenty years of fifty traffic lights every day brought the hand back to life. It was the heavy clutch lever that I was gripping and releasing.
Six years ago I started playing again and have written three albums of Americana under the band name of Cowboy Hat and That Fuzzbox Voodoo and now I am about to release my second solo album of mixed genre music under my own name. I am working hard to make the project a success. It’s made easier through the fact that I am a trained recording engineer. I can craft and produce my own music in my own studio and take as much time over it as I need. Each album takes longer than the previous one and the new one will be six months of effort. As well as recording I play everything and it’s hard to motivate yourself sometimes when it’s a totally solo project, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The track is really clever and I could imagine you producing other works that could be critical of the world… but I think that it’s a great standalone piece and it’s just so different. What do you think?
It is different. The percussion and handclaps are very different. The track is really sparse and the idea of ‘The Ice Is Medium Rare is an interesting one…you’re staring at a glacier and it may well be melting from within. It’s also, of course, an ode to climate change and the politics associated with it and using humour to criticise, which is the best way of making a point. I have some similar tracks on the new album. It’s a musical path I want to follow up.
Do you play live or do you just like recording?
I have done about 100 gigs over the past four years. I play solo now with backing tracks and between one and six video screens. It’s an impressive small venue presentation. I became a feature film director after music so the films are made to a high standard. I am about to shoot some more as I want to incorporate tracks from the new album into the show. It’s a 90 minute set with 26 songs and 26 videos.
As well as having opinions on global warming and politicians, do you have any other opinions/interests in other subjects?
I have an opinion on everything! I sometimes incorporate them into songs sometimes not. I collect ideas and phrases in the year between albums and turn them into lyrics at the end of each year. I don’t write many love songs maybe I should but I incorporate a lot of positive philosophy into many songs like Get Me To The River or Beware of What You Wish For from the first solo album or I just choose a subject like ennui/discontent in a song like When the Good Life Ain’t So Good Any More or I’ll just write a historical piece like Letters from Vietnam. As long as the song is interesting anything goes
Where did you develop such a brilliant voice?
I never knew I had one but I get a lot of comments about it…I mix my voice high in the mixes too which might be a reason and I have a special secret microphone model that I don’t tell anyone about. Nooooo…I just use any old mic but I do have a few clever recording techniques that get the best out of the voice I have.
I love the last line of the track… do you have any other advice for us other than buying a boat?
It’s not up to us it’s up to the will of the politicians. Lobby as much as you can or we’ll all be suffering as a result of their lack of action. But if they don’t keep things to less than 1.5 degrees of warming by 2050, buying a boat might be a good back up idea.
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