Chapter Four. Part I.

Chapter Four. Part I.

Our very first session was in December 1993, and earlier that same year, Glen, a good friend of mine suggested that I should consider recording an album that was–as he put it–unlike anything I’d done before. “Just do whatever you really want. Write and record with no regard to style or genre”, he told me. 

It was an unusual concept for me; I’d usually have a clear style of music in mind whenever beginning a new project, more for practical reasons than anything else - I had to think about what an audience would buy from me at the end of a show. But the more I thought about Glen’s idea, the more it appealed to me, so I set to work. 

The early 1990s was also an exciting time from a recording point of view; digital technology was becoming that bit more accessible and was moving into the sphere of affordability for many of us. So I went out and bought something that was, for then, a “cutting edge” piece of equipment - an ADAT machine; an eight track recording unit that used VHS tape, and that worked on the principle of converting acoustic sound into digital information - storing it onto the tape, and then reversing the process when listening or playing it back. 

The sound quality was incredible for the time and it marked the beginning of a technical do-it-yourself era that would eventually put many a professional recording studio out of business.   

My bedroom was now a place of work. 

I was part way into the first track of this new project when I realised three things - 1. What I was creating was turning into something commonly referred to as a “concept album”, 2. It needed a theme, and 3. The theme should be taken from our experience on the Ouija board. So I named the project The Glass Chronicles. 

As far as I was concerned, our experience with the board wasn’t just a good story - it was a great story. Nevertheless, back then I wasn’t completely confident that others would agree. And because, artistically, music had been the only language I’d ever used, then it seemed logical to represent the GCs story in that way. 

I figured that even if the subject matter was seen to be slightly crazy or not that believable, at least the music itself might carry it and give it an element of credibility. 

It was a long time in the making, not just because of the involved, eclectic, nature of what I was creating, but also because of the logistics. It was something I worked on in any window of time that became available as I went about earning a living - touring mainly with bands. All-in-all this side of the process was not without its frustrations. 

I am certainly aware that for a good number of people the idea of earning a living from performing music is a dream, and often one that’s not realised. But for me much of what I was doing had become nothing less than drudgery, it had turned into a boring day job, and constantly I was thinking about how to find a way out - not so much finding a way out of music, but more a way into something that carried with it more meaning and inspiration.  

    

So, my album was under way. It was slowly evolving, and the way in which it evolved wasn’t at all dissimilar to how the Ouija board had developed - in that just about everything that was happening was because of what had happened - it was the culmination of all that preceded any given point. There were original ideas, of course - ideas that had their independent origins - but once an idea or concept was created and put into action, then there was inter-action, re-action - the flow of new consequence.

This natural process was something I hadn’t thought much about before, whereas now I tend see it in just about everything, and certainly in terms of human development and evolvement. 

TBC ...