|
VALENTINE'S DAY 
Matt Hales: Sometimes our songs take months to write, sometimes mere minutes and the weird thing is that you can’t really tell the difference once they’re done. Anyway this was one of the mere minutes variety even though it’s a complicated little bugger. It happened quickly because Ben already had the words and I had already decided to write a song that went ‘ching ching ching ching’ on the piano like Penny Lane or everything by ELO. So I went ‘ching ching ching ching’ with the chords from ‘I’m All Right’ which I’d always felt deserved more, and sang Ben’s stupid words over the top and it all seemed to fit and sound cool. Then came the usually depressing prospect of trying to write a chorus. If only pop songs just needed verses it would be so much easier. Still, we’d got up some momentum so we ploughed on. To start with the chorus words went " I bake my own cake on Valentine’s day" and I had an idea for a melody but I couldn’t hear what went under it. So I sang the tune over and over and we tried loads of things and then suddenly we had a chain of 6 chords that had no right being together but somehow supported this stupid little hook and I was thrilled because it is rare that you write something that you’ve never heard or played ever before. In fact for ages I couldn’t really play the chorus because the progression was so unfamiliar. We changed the words in the chorus after that because it was clear that this was to be more than just a comedy song. Then we went to Tescos to celebrate. Later we wrote the pretty bridge bit to give everyone a bit of a rest after all that ground-breaking harmonic movement.
Finally it was just a question of Ben writing the best guitar solo ever played, repeating the bridge
and putting in so many modulations that even Benny and Bjorn would have blushed. Matt V-B: This song is near perfect. It has everything you want in a song - It’s catchy, slightly cynical, cute, lovely, has quite unusual chord structure and has a great guitar solo. That’s right a great guitar solo. I like it a lot (both in performing and listening). Purchase it, you won’t regret it. Ben: I don’t think there’s really any need to write songs about how wonderful it is to be in love. There are enough of them already. There are also plenty of songs about how your love has done you wrong and how badly you want them back. I’m not sure there are all that many songs about how you’re in love and you’re sick of it. Surely there can be nothing worse than having to see her again because you can’t avoid it and you can’t end it because there’s nothing wrong. And then along comes Valentine’s Day and she goes "Are you going to get me something nice?" and a dark rage cloaks your mind and you look at her innocent moon face and you think "Oh yes, I’m going to get you something REALLY nice, you tiresome little troll" and your eyes turn to narrow red slits and your back sprouts thick black hairs and you imagine a hundred mean scenarios in which you exact your revenge on her for doing NOTHING WHATSOEVER! IT’S NOT HER FAULT and that’s THE WORST THING ABOUT IT!!!! It may be the greatest guitar solo ever, but you only get half of it on the single because apparently those extra eight bars are hard for everyone to enjoy or even to understand. ["It’s for radio, you see Ben. It’s for radio, you see Ben. It’s for radio, you see Ben."] You’ll have to wait for the album to hear this in full. I’ve finished complaining now.
HE SAID SHE SAID
Matt H: I will also write about this one. In the summer of 93 we lived in a big house on top of a cliff in Torquay. If you stood in the lounge you could look out over the sun sparkled sea and have your heart lifted clean out of your body. Unless of course, you were spending the summer being tortured daily by the slim possibility of getting a record deal to release your song that was on an advert on MTV, in which case you stayed down on the ground floor in the dark writing strange songs about being young and not knowing about girls. MATT V-B: This is one of those songs that we eventually got round to playing and liking again (probably because we needed another B-side). So remember, if in doubt speed it up and rock it out. It really does make a difference. Ben: Ewan really hated the guitar that opens this, but I love it. I said "I want to sound like a school band" and sure enough, we do. It’s good to sound like a school band sometimes. This was recorded during our one-take regime which helps the school band effect, and the actual true reason it ends the way it does is that a few beats later Matt attempts a storming fill which sounds more like he’s come off the stool and knocked over some chairs. But the rest of the take was so good we just thought "let’s simply stop it there!". Somewhere along the way someone must have suggested that ‘tape coming to a stop’ sound at the end, but it wasn’t me. He said was the only one to be left to Ewan to mix because we had to get back to London to be on GMTV. We left at two and Ewan said he’d stay up, mix it and then watch us at half-seven, and that way we’d all have stayed up all night. Matt said that he’d wave and say "hello Ewan" on GMTV but he didn’t.
HE'S JUSTIN LOVE
Matt H: We went over to Matt VB’s house and decided to write a song that could have been on ‘Rubber Soul’. So we did two chords on an acoustic and lots of harmonies and then a fiendishly clever chorus thing which went from down low to up high. And Ben and VB wrote some words a bout someone who’s a pain in the arse because of girls. Later we recorded it in Steve’s basement, mixed it at Chapel Studios and mastered it at Abbey Road. Not bad for a lowly cassette. Truth be told, this is probably what I’d like all of our recordings to sound like - kind of authentic. We’ll see... Matt VB: I really enjoyed writing this song with Matt and Ben. Not because it’s about an annoying flat mate and his annoying habits, who takes delight in telling you of his conquests - although that did help with the overall theme. For me it’s really about capturing that magic together, harnessing it and within half an hour have recorded a demo, whether it’s a cute little number a rock’ n’ roller or a superdooper anthem. It doesn’t matter. Ben: In case you thought we weren’t, we are sorry at inflicting the dreadful pun that is He’s Justin Love on you. But that is the kind of people we are and you should get used to it. This was the kind of song you use as an example to yourself of how easy it is to write songs. We just sat there, said "let’s write a song" and wrote one. As such it is like a refreshing swim in the Mediterranean to hear it. It conditions and strengthens right down to the root. We chose to record it at Steve’s because we had something to prove and there, now we’ve proved it. Can anybody spot where Matt moronically recorded over the drums and we had to tap it back in using a one-second sample? That was a good one.
Discography ALAN 6 |