The Axis Syndrome Sessions

It was a dark and cold December night.. no hang on that's the song Emma. It was actually a slightly overcast afternoon.
When this album was started that is. Unless you count my 4 track recording of Siouxsie and the Banshee's Pull to Bits track.
Which features on the album but it was just a thing I had done. Anyway. Yes. I'd just bought a Rocktek Chorus Pedal from Argos
and we decided to get together at Duncan's house and see what happened if we tried recording music in a live setup.
With a Yamaha MT-400 4 track tape recorder connected to Kenwood Hi-Fi system, a Casio Keyboard with drum sounds on the keyboard,
a Marlin Sidewinder bass guitar, a dodgy old microphone from a reel to reel tape recorder and a book of lyrics written around
6th form time at school we began to make noises. In his quite sizable living room.




The Layout of the Living Room

Axis Syndrome pt1

When it was started, it didn't have a name. I was playing my bass and Alex was tapping out a rhythm on the keyboard and Duncan was sat at the Piano.
We had a microphone trailing from the 4 Track to inside the piano hoping it would pick up the sound of it being played. It sort of did but not really.
When we felt we had something vaguely approaching a track we hit record and let what would happen, happen. As it were. I still love these recordings for
the feeling of the energy back then and this track in particular shows it with some really good bass sounds. Of course the bass was through the chorus pedal
and the gain on the 4 track was set suitably high to make it do distortion. The combination of the rather weak, cheap chorus and the distortion made a great sound.
After some time, Duncan realised that the piano wasn't really being picked up and just started making vocal noises into the microphone.
After around 4 minutes or so of this we'd all pretty much run out of ideas and stopped. But then we all fight for the last sound. Oh and the drums were through
phaser pedal. We didn't have reverb back then so usually a delay pedal was used as a general overall effect or at least on the vocals, often just to make the cable
stretch far enough.

Body Balance

After rooting through the lyrics book I eventually found something which sounded suitably pretentious. This time Duncan was playing the drums but wait!
He played the drums combined with a piano sound as well! Which created an interesting effect. We'd really got the playback volume too loud as there's a lot of
feedback during the recording. Certainly didn't help that we were all generally a bit quiet when using the mic. Something that's never really changed actually.
I felt a little embarrassed at first when I started to see what the lyrics actually said. About wishing I was a woman. Except Duncan wrote them. But still
I continued anyway but at first ended up sounding slightly camp. I quickly got over it and as we continued I got quite excited.
Alex played bass for the first time. One of the many times when we really shouldn't have let him do so.

I Thought He Was Your Reflection

A track eventually to be recorded 3 times. I wrote the lyric and was inspired by John Foxx. It was also inspired by a bit of an accident when leaving a shopping centre in
Doncaster.I actually thought someone coming through the glass door was the reflection of Andrew. I said to Andrew at the time "I thought he was your reflection.".
This time I got to play the drums. Sometimes it coincided that I chose to play something fast as Duncan did on the bass. Spook. I thought I'd be dead good and clever with
the drums hence the variation in the beat. I wasn't too good at timing though so it's sometimes off and there's no real structure to it. Duncan took up bass duties.
He was stood to my left as I played the keyboard. I liked what he did on the bass here. Alex got to display his vocals for the first time but didn't do anything that
spectacular on this occasion. Not bad but there was better to come. He messes up one the lines in this too "Creeping around you weight." when it should have been
"Creeping around no weight".

I Think I See (No Stars)

After ITHWYR it was getting late so I went home for tea. In the meantime Duncan an Alex produced this little ditty. The casio keyboard was set to drum automatically
and Alex added beeps. The delay pedal was used on the bass guitar and the phaser is still on the casio or it could have been a Rocktek flanger. A nice little tune for a time when Duncan had barely ever
touched a guitar. The title comes from when Duncan looked out of the window to see the stars and because it was cloudy he couldn't see anything. So he had gone up
to the window and said "I think I see... no stars". I believe he was expecting to see some.

They (walls)

By this time we'd decided that we were making an album called the Axis Syndrome and I'd named the three tracks already on it. I'd come up with the suitably pretentious
notion of the Axis Syndrome. I defined it thus: "The point between the end of a nightmare and waking up." which is that kind of spiraling swirling sensation of
waking after the nightmare. It's something I've certainly experienced. I often feel like I'm floating out of the nightmare to a waking situation. It lasts zero seconds
but still somehow you experience it. The title of this was the second of a recurring theme throughout the album. The extra title in brackets. This was an idea suitably
stolen from Front 242's OFF and Up Evil albums. We liked the idea and it was deliberate amusing pretension. That's something which I guess wouldn't be obvious to the
outsider. We have pretentious titles but we don't take them seriously. We are amused by silly pretentious titles so why not name tracks in such a way?

Anyway this was the first track to feature the Amiga. It's using samples of a Sisters Of Mercy live performance of the Ghostrider/Sister Ray track. At the time
I basically wanted to be Andrew Eldritch anyway. I'm doing the vocals after scouring the lyric book once again for some crap lyrics. The lyric was a continuey thing
by me and Duncan. Deliberately trying to be goth really. They're crap I know but I kind of like it. To add a more ominous feel I cupped the mic in my hands to
emphasise the breath noises. It also made the vocals clearer. After a fashion. I programmed a kind of chorus into the drum beat but then failed to get a lyrical
chorus in at the right times. Duncan is doing the bass and Alex just isn't involved at all. While most of the vocals were done from behind the armchair and in front
of the Piano. This one was done near the settee.

That ending fill in is terrible. Oh and it's quite clear that we had more music than lyric here.

Axis Syndrome Pt 2

We'd decided that we were going to have several instrumental parts that would be titled Axis Syndrome. This one is our second and features vocals but no lyrics.
I'm playing the Casio (phased) and Duncan is furiously playing the bass (flanged) in the hope that something will happen to speed up soon. He was trying hard to
liven things up but I was having none of it. I continued my floaty keyboard playing. Alex's random noises work very well to be atmospheric here. I wish I could
go back and remove Duncan's bass playing though.

Under Blue

This time a lyric by Duncan from the H.R. Giger book. The lyrics themselves were 'cut ups' from the Doodlebooks. Or at least random phrases. I'm playing the bass
after initially selecting the keyboard. Unfortunately Alex was the one who was going to play bass but couldn't produce anything remotely listenable.
So I told Alex what I wanted the keyboard part to sound like and he was much more capable with that. The vocals are too quiet. Obviously. But they still sound nice.
Duncan's Blade Runner esque howl at the end has always sounded too forced to me. He did it first on Axis Syndrome pt 1 I believe but it sounded better there.
This one has too much attack. This is still one of my favourite tracks though. Some of my attempts to be a tad more fancy with the bass went slightly wrong.
I slide up to a higher note but don't manage to continue playing as soon as I'd have liked.

Diary of an Unlabled Man Day 4

This is a wonderful track. In essence at least. The vocals are largely unintelligible and have a bit of horrid pop but have loads of atmosphere.
This is a reading out of part of Duncan's university written angst ridden story Diary of an Unlabled Man. He despises it now as he feels it's
just teenage crap. I still kind of like it. Maybe I just like teen crap. Which is really what the most of this album is. But the music here..
it's so beautiful. It's simplicity but it's got a strange warm alienation to it. I love it when I slow down my playing then gradually speed
up again. Possibly a little too repetitive toward the end but still lovely.

My Gravity (silent)

There's those brackets again. This was a 4 track recording of mine. After I'd previously done one called Total Frequency which lasted 10 minutes
and was painful to listen to. A nice subtle Dr-110 beat and reasonable bass playing. A sweet simple track. Recorded in my bedroom.

Snake

A much controversial track. I don't really like it and neither does Duncan (who now tries to deny he wrote the lyric), but it was re-instated
due to popular demand. I did all of this musically, on the 4 track in my bedroom. I added vocal effects afterwards. That flanging was
something I really shouldn't have done. It also uses my auntie's Yamaha PSS-680 home keyboard, utilising its custom drummer ability,
melody banks and basic FM synthesis. Really this is best forgotten.

She Was Right

Me, an amiga and an MS-20. 4 Track recording inspired heavily by Siouxsie and the Banshee's Red Light track. Got to love those CR-78 sounds.
A nicely programmed beat but it's a shame the plinky beits are a bit inaudible.

Axis Syndrome Pt 3

This was recorded much earlier than the last few tracks. It's back at Duncan's House. Again deliberately about the Axis Syndrome. This is a
sprawling mess but is kind of appealing. There are times when I'm trying to bring it to something of a grand finale on bass which never happens.
There's problems with a lead getting pulled out of my bass and also the keyboard jack sockets going a bit funny and distorting and cutting out
(Hear Duncan's scream of annoyance at around the three minute mark). Alex is at the Piano again which is pretty inaudible for the most part
until Alex realises that the higher pitched sounds are picked up better.

Now and Never

An all time classic. Love this track to pieces. It's never going to sound this good again either for some reason, despite this being slightly
a mess. It was recorded at Duncan's and I'd just purchased a crap guitar from Argos. This was the first time I'd played guitar and I knew two
chords (who needs more?). Drums were a heartbeat and a slowed down DR-110 hand clap played on the Amiga and programmed by Duncan.
The lyrics were from Doodlebook 666 and written by Duncan, though again he denies ownership these days. The bit near the start where Duncan
says "He can't hear him. I can hear him very well." is due to Alex complaining that he couldn't hear his playing of the MS-20.
It was kind of blending in with the distorted guitar with it being a rough sort of sound. Hence the guitar then dropping out and the MS-20
changing octave. Alex was positioned to the right of the armchair and I was in front of the settee with the amiga to the left of the TV.
The track falls apart at the end because I couldn't play and stop the amiga playing at the same time. I still feel that the guitar sounds
very emotive for the most part. Too goth sounding for most people though I expect.

Unforgotten

Yet another track that I consider a classic. Looking at it impartially it is perhaps not really very good but I just remember having such a
good time making this track. Alex's vocal is fantastic. The drum beat is good and my bass line is exciting. I wrote the lyric in
Doodlebook 666 if I remember rightly. I know it was in a green book anyway. It features something which we've rarely done since; a gap in the
music. Duncan's delay effected pings are great. Those were done on the MS-20 and of course the Amiga did the beat. Brilliant stuff. Strangely
hard to recreate in an effective way though. It's a good example of how playing one note for ages can be a good thing.

Rain On Ice (Clear)

Just a duo for this one. Me on vocals and MS-20 noise and Duncan playing bass and on beat programming. The beat is awesome in this. A similar
style to Duncan's Creature from the Black H track he did on Octamed. This is Rain on Ice (Clear) because we'd previously done one on Casio,
Bass + Vocals, in which the vocals were completely unintelligible. This was a much better version. Duncan wrote the lyric and they can be found
in the Giger book. I fluff the words sometimes but hey, that's what you get for recording live.

Disjoints

Guest starring Janine! I'm playing guitar on this and Janine was sat on the settee saying random stuff. Janine says "Oh can I? I'm famous"
in response to me telling her that she could do the vocal on this one.walking into the room. Duncan has often said that my guitar reminds
him of Blue Hotel by Chris Isaac on this track. Duncan was producing wibbly noises on the MS-20. Obviously very amateurish but still
kind of nice. I guess Janine's lovely voice makes it somehow nice. This was of course all random with no practice before hand. The ending goes
a bit wibbly because Duncan's mum walked into the room.

Axis Syndrome Pt 4

I wrote the lyric about the Axis Syndrome in the Lyric book for Janine to read out for this one. Again she sounds nice and her "ahhhh" bits are
lovely. Duncan on the Casio playing a tune which Primal Scream ripped off on their Vanishing Point album. Gits. Can't trust anyone these days.
Recorded immediately after Disjoints and everyone was still largely in the same place. We seem to be starting to get the hang of things a little
more now.

Out Of Here

Ooh very dark and ominous. This time Duncan's vocal was performed at the casio (He's doing the Dong Dong Dong thing) with me on the MS-20 in the
usual location for that. I create lots of thunder and wind noises throughout. Apart from one bit where I get vvvvup by accident due to the settings
on the MS20. There's also a bit where I make the white noise go a bit too loud accidentally by pressing a key. Did I get the MS-20 in time with
Duncan or did Duncan play in time with that? Who knows. The lyric here was written by a sick Duncan in his flat in Leeds one night whilst the
neighbours were being noisy. He wasn't a happy bunny. Excellently dark and ominous and phew! we just managed to finish off as the tape cuts out.
Especially good use of loudness variation by Duncan at the end. Very scary

Best Forgotten (bonus hidden track)

An excersize in being silly and noisy. Duncan had programmed Octamed with a DR-110 hi hat going up in pitch and it gradually speeding up. He'd elected
to play guitar also. I wanted to play Alex's drums so we brought a snare drum and tom down and put a mic in the room with them. This room was the dining
room. I couldn't hear what the other two were doing unfortunately so Alex's MS-20 audio garbage and Duncan's excited guitar work are completely out of
sync with anything I do. I discovered playing drums was harder than it looked. I found it really hard to stay in any timing whatsoever. Still fun though.
I like that Alex can be heard at the end saying "Do you realise that sounded awful?". Shame that just as I finish Duncan starts up again. Ahh what fun we
had back then. This wasn't to be our only foray into the world of acoustic drums.. one came later on the Jesus Tape

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