I wasn’t sure what to expect of the city, or the people, I’d only ever really been to St Malo before, and through Paris. What I found was something really beautiful and it opened my eyes to the possibility of exploring more of France in the future. The architecture was really worth capturing.

Metz is over 3000 years old with Roman and Germanic influences over many centuries. It has the feeling of a true medieval town and the people are warm and welcoming. The many shops are independent, and chain stores seem to be the exception to the norm which is refreshing when you look at British high streets. I’ve uploaded just a few photos of the local architecture I took while wandering around the streets, you could easily spend a week mooching around here and the food is great!

Metz Cathedral

Cathedral Detail

Metz Fortifications

Metz Bridge

Metz Square

Metz River Buildings

River View, Metz

Shop Window, Metz

Metz Restaurant

Doorway, Metz

Metz Doorway Detail

Metz Doorway, Metalwork

Narrow Street, Metz

Ornate Doorway, Metz

Metz Train Station

Haile Gebrselassie

I’ve decided to enter the Stratford Half Marathon again.

I started running back in 2005. I really hated it at first, slogging out a two mile route every week. I was having to start and stop constantly, it was the most exercise I’d done since playing soccer on Sundays. The idea was to get fit after giving up smoking, in reality it was torture.. I hated it.

I moved to Bromsgrove and continued running on a really small scale, one or two miles (thinking I was good), I had been sold a pair of New Balance running shoes back in Hereford as the SAS apparently used them, well, this may be the case but the pair I had were shit and I invested in a pair of Saucony from Up And Running in Brum, it changed my running habbits.

Soon after my brother entered the Birmingham Half Marathon and suggested I should too, I trained for it but sadly had to miss it due to having a medical emergency and spent a week in Dudley Road Hospital. I was really enjoying the training, so I kept up the exercise after the op and joined a gym.

The following spring I ran the Stratford Upon Avon half marathon and completed it in 1hr 58mins. It opened up a whole new world of competition and I found my competitive nature was still pretty strong. The following year I attempted the Brum Half Marathon again, this time I ran it in 1hr 55mins and my brother came in a 1hr 38mins.

Last year I ran the same event with my seventy two year old father, I was unfit due to injury and was unsure whether I’d make the start right up to the last day, I stupidly took ibuprofen the morning of the race which didn’t help. My time was around the 2 hour mark but I was just lucky to complete it and I did get to see Haile Gebrselassie who was running the same race, my dad ran just over two hours which was a real achievement. He won a silver in the National Indoor Rowing Championships the same year.

I’m in training again for the Stratford Half Marathon this year and I’m hoping for a good time as I’m fit and training regularly. I ran to Worcester the other day, around 15 miles, and ran a fast 7 miles in Bournemouth along the sea front.

Running is one of my favourite pastimes now and I hope to be competing in a full marathon this year, will probably be raising some cash for charity.

Bondi Beer

Since backpacking across Canada in 1998, I’ve visited various other countries and cities, but mainly around Europe. The Canadian experience left me with a desire to get out there again at some point, to experience the freedom of travelling light and being awed by new sights.

Australia had never really appealed to me until a few years ago, when it dawned on me that, a couple of mates were living down under. On closer inspection, I realised the country could have a lot to offer. I planned to head out in 2007 but I had started an online dance music record store, which, although successful never quite provided an adequate enough income to afford such luxuries as travelling the world.

So 2010 was to be a new hike, to the Great Ocean Road, to Bondi and beyond. I organised it with work a couple of months in advance, and was kindly allowed to book all my holiday for that year in one go. With this in mind I prepared for the journey ahead. With the purchase of a new backpack, and other travelling essentials. I also armed myself with a new camera, with which I used to record my journey.

Lost Luggage

Sydney Harbour from hotel room.

The flights were booked from the UK, and with a quick stop off in ‘humid’ Hong Kong and another long flight, I found myself arriving in Sydney. I laughed to myself, remembering the last time I backpacked and how I collected the wrong bag.

By the time the last person had collected their luggage, there were just three items slowly rotating on the carousel, and none of them resembled my red ‘macpac’. I couldn’t believe it! I called for assistance, and after a search of the area, I was directed to a Chinese man who, as I filled in a lost luggage ticket, discovered that my surname was the same as his first name, and it was the cause of much entertainment for him.

As a last ditch attempt before giving up, I stood on the top of some metal railings to peer down the delivery chute, to my astonishment, my backpack was rolling around far below. Someone had to climb in from the depths and stop the belt to ‘clear it’. Thank god!

Around Sydney

Palms and Skyscrapers

I love that first journey in a new land. It’s extremely exciting, trying to take in all the new sights, sounds and smells. Australia seemed bright, busy and colourful. Lush palms and soaring skyscrapers greeted my tired eyes.

I decided to split the youth hostels up with hotels throughout the trip. The idea was to provide some much needed lavish comfort amongst the sometimes impersonal nature of youth hostels. My first stay was in a hotel with ‘bath sized’ outdoor swimming pool.

The view from the hotel room did not disappoint, and seeing as I appeared to be insusceptible to Aussie jet lag I headed out the same night of my arrival for a few beers. I ventured around a few bars in Kings Cross, dropping into a few Irish pubs and touristy type bars, I later discovered a funky little jazz club.

This first experience of an Australian club was an interesting one.

Fruit Bats

A  stylish and friendly woman came over and started chatting. Her friends were equally as chatty and we danced and drank.They wanted to smoke, so we moved to the smoking terrace. With the busy street scenes of Kings Cross unfolding outside, one of the women became racist towards Aboriginal people, claiming their DNA is closer to Neanderthals than humans (she naively believed this). One of the women had her bag stolen, and with a mele beginning to erupt I decided it was time to retire to the hotel and try and steal some sleep.

Something that did strike me in Sydney, was the lack of Aboriginal people out and about, and for such a huge city I found this a little eerie. Where were the indigenous people of Australia? This would become clear later in my journey.

The next day I took a hike around town, with a trip up the viewing tower, and a walk around the parks and Opera House, but more interesting to me was the walk home.

As the sun dropped, an intense orange sky began to glow over the harbour, and as the sun set around Sydney Harbour, dozens of huge fruit bats began to flutter above, it was like a scene from Scooby Doo!

Sydney from up high

Kings Cross was on my doorstep and one evening I sat with some new friends watching the world pass by. We were sharing a beer and talking about music when a Rastafarian stepped out of a cab with two women.

About half an hour later, the Rasta returned with just one of the women, and she was absolutely out of it, falling on the floor and he was trying to prop her up whilst hailing a taxi. As we watched a story unfolded.

A group of other women stopped and demanded to know what was going on, then a group of other passers by started getting involved. By the time the police arrived he was surrounded by about fifteen to twenty people all trying to pull this limp woman off him, it was kind of comical but a bit disturbing also on several levels.

I spent a few days in the hotel and, although it was quite up market, I discovered tiny blood sucking bed bugs in my clean sheets along with a few bites. I was sort of pleased to head to the backpackers for a bit.

Sydney offered some memorable experiences. I recall visiting one of the coolest roof top night clubs inside a tall building which was surrounded by skyscrapers.

It was like something from a George Michael video, with large lit-up pool and projector screen which accompanied the DJ, lots of fake tan and white jeans. I met some fun partygoers here, but the price of a small bottle of beer was around $9, so a little expensive considering I was supposed to be backpacking.

Bondi & Manly Beach

Surfer at Bondi

The rest of my stay in Sydney was spent in a backpackers. This was a bit crap, very noisy, spoilt teenagers and a bit of an alcohol problem at night. It reminded me of the kind of Australia I had always imagined.

I am just grateful I rented my own room with a nice lock. The kids next door were arguing constantly, and the night club below often played cheesy shit dance music until all hours. The room was more basic than a prison cell but I’ve slept in worse and at least no bed bugs.

The community spirit of other backpackers I’d stayed at in Canada seemed a distant memory. There were loads of hungover looking college kids queuing up to moan at staff. I know a few people who came, and went the next morning, due to the ‘school holiday’ atmosphere at night but then it’s par for the course.

During my days here, I discovered Bondi Beach. What a brilliant place, this really made up for where I was staying at night. If I ever return to Sydney I would head straight here.

Bondi had a friendly vibe and I found it surprisingly less commercial/busy than I had expected. I headed back to Bondi both night and day, it was so simple to get to from the city.

One occasion I ran from Bondi to Coogee bare foot, this was foolish and I developed a bit of plascia fasciitis (knackered foot). I became a member of Bondi surf club just so as I could drink a nice cold beer and was disappointed to discover shark sightings amounted to only a couple each year.

The other beach I visited was Manly. This was attractive but extremely busy and funnily enough, it resembled more of how I imagined Bondi to be. Hordes of people, sun shades, bikinis, volley ball, extremely touristic.

Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains

I visited the Blue Mountains by coach. This was a bit ramshackle and we had problems as the doors wouldn’t close. Things were made worse by a Japanese couple who were late getting back on the bus at every single stop by about 20 minutes.

This really pissed off everyone on the trip and even I found myself wishing they could understand the words the guide was saying “if you’re late again we’re leaving you here, OK guys?!”, it made no difference.

A single day wasn’t really enough up here, I felt the loneliness of Australia, with the vast forests, and seemingly no wildlife? No bird song, no animals, I wondered if the recurrent years of forest fires had taken more of a toll than we were led to believe, regardless, the views were effortlessly impressive on a vast and remote scale, I could have stayed for a week, or a month, and if I didn’t have a flight to catch I would have told the bus to carry on without me.

My time in Sydney was coming to an end, so I had one last night in Kings Cross, which reminded me of home a bit. Broad Street in Birmingham about fifteen years ago.

Crowded Manly

I limped through the streets back from a bar where I’d made friends with a Mancunian musician earlier in the week.

My limp made me a bit of a celebrity for the drunks and pimps outside their brothels “hey mr cowboy, you wanna come inside, I got a lady for you mannn!”. Tempting as it may have been I limped on by and tried to laugh off the various comments. I was told Kings Cross was the most dangerous part of Australia, but what I found was quite a cultural little hub, the abundance of police (and tourists) probably kept it all from getting too wild on the main drag.

My bags were packed, and I embarked on flight number three to meet longtime mate Dr Jones on the Sunshine Coast.

Jericho Beach

The rapid descent down to the West Coast left me with an ear infection. It affected my balance and everything seemed to be leaning to one side. Our first port of call was a beautiful old backpackers hostel on Jericho beach, just outside the city. At night you could see the distant, shimmering lights of down town Vancouver. Next to the hostel was an old wooden theatre, we attended a Shakespearean play where the audience had to wear masks and it all felt a little surreal.

This was probably the best hostel for meeting new people. I ended up working there, changing beds for my board. There were a few truly weird people staying here though. I had to refuse cleaning one mans bed. ‘Beetle Juice’ (as I called him) had crapped in a bag at night and left it in a tied up plastic bag on the window ledge. His neighbours were complaining, as you can imagine. Another night I walked into the toilets to discover a guy stood totally naked just staring at me, there seemed to be an issue with this kind of behaviour at Jericho. The police were called one evening as a large Caribbean guy went stark-crazy claiming another room mate was watching him get undressed whilst naked himself.

Wreck Beach Love-In

One hot autumn day, my partner and I made the lengthy trek to Wreck nudist beach via the inspirational Museum of British Columbia. It was all a bit hippyish with live music and more naked people selling hot dogs at sun down. I remained clothed, however my partner went topless and soon attracted other ‘nakeds’. I later signed a petition to keep the beach free from commercial development and to keep the ‘bare bummed’ hot dog sellers in business.

Jericho Beach itself was a great spot for chilling out and spying on naked people heading out to Wreck… I’m joking of course. One evening we sat around a camp-fire underneath the blanket of stars, burning autumn drift-wood, and drinking Kokanee beer. The crackle of our fire, accompanied the gentle sound of the cold Pacific waves against the ancient native shore, a great place to get pissed and feel the true solitude of this great ocean and continent.

After the second week in Jericho, It started to feel a little like a prison block, rolling my little cleaning trolley past all the blokes in the morning “new pillow case mate”, and “have you got an bog roll there boss” etc. One bonus was being given ‘first dibs’ on lost property, something which was to haunt me later on. Jericho Beach Hostel was the first place I experienced ‘The Internet’ and ‘email’, I signed up for a hotmail address and never used it again as I’d forgotten the password and didn’t know anyone else on the Internet.

Vancouver Nights

Grouse Mountain Sunset

A highlight of Vancouver was a trip up Grouse Mountain. The cable car takes you high above the city, with panoramic views of Vancouver and forest filled Pacific islands reaching out like fingers of mother earth caressing the horizon.

Wherever we went, we seemed to have these locations to ourselves. It was late in the evening and the lights of Vancouver were beginning to glisten miles below, you just felt so tiny amid the vast forests and huge horizon. I seem to recall disturbing a large bees nest in some rocks and having to dodge the oncoming angry dive-bombing. If there were bears up there they were probably rolling around pissing themselves with laughter.

On the way up we had already found a $20 note on a park bench, being tight for money we took this a sign of good luck.

We were sitting in the restaurant on the East side of the mountain discussing our finances, when a middle aged lady from the opposite table got up and placed something into my partner’s hand. She clasped her hand tightly and muttered a few words in her ear.

Vancouver Skyline

Our conversation about lack of funds had been eavesdropped, and this generous lady placed a $20 note into my partners hand. $40 for free, in one day!  Ace! It meant a lot, and the kind gesture reminded me of my late grandmother’s actions when we were kids “here’s 50p, but don’t tell your mom”.

Vancouver is full of skyscrapers, and we had the privilege of sneaking to the top level of the tallest office tower, knocking on a random door and asking if we could look around. Having an attractive partner stood next to me probably aided our cause and we were invited in to check out the views across Vancouver and the impressive landscape which presented itself below.

The city was very modern with no ‘pubs’ as we knew back in England. The music scene seemed slightly hindered, and early licensing laws were a bit strict. One evening we were salsa dancing in a jazz bar and some random guy invited us to a break-dancing competition using weird ‘gang-style’ hand gestures. We were enticed by the prospect of a T.V. network who were apparently covering the event.

Later that evening we set out, but It soon became evident the event was not quite as he had described, we had to walk into a Caribbean takeaway, and then down a ladder through a hatch in the kitchen floor, into a small concealed basement. There were no camera crew, just a painted circle on the floor with a DJ playing hip-hop and lots of shady characters.

Hastings Street

The break-dancers were OK but the atmosphere was moody, my partner didn’t feel safe so we left after a few bottles of Budweiser and it was probably for the best, as we were starting to attract the wrong type of attention. Even the DJ had admitted to us he was a bit nervous of some of the people who were arriving.

Downtown Vancouver was very colourful, with Gas Town and Hastings Street. Hastings Street is an area which backpackers are warned about entering. Parts are OK, but other parts are rife with down-and-outs, beggars, drug dealers, pimps and other pleasant folk. I decided to walk down a dodgy part of the infamous ‘Hastings Street’ for a dare, taking pictures as I went. Every character had his or her own patch and I was watched intently by everyone as I meandered down with my camera. I met a scar faced man from Luton who, after shoulder barging me, gave me his life story and tried selling me some ‘gear’. He advised me to be careful as I’d almost certainly be robbed if I continued down the street, but wished me well! I took his advice and crossed the road where it felt a little safer.

Vancouver Island & Home

Long Beach

After a couple of weeks in Vancouver we set sail for Victoria, navigating our way through the Strait Of Georgia.

Victoria was a funky little city, some great shops existed amid the tourist trail, such as the psychedelic record store in Fan Tan Alley (a place I could not resist).

I think I ate some of the finest pizza in my life in this little city. We were interviewed live on Canadian T.V. about the whale watching and how it was becoming commercialised, we were also embroiled in a pizza shop brawl between the owners and a gang of drunken youths who were arguing over, well, we weren’t sure but it was a complete stand off and we were in the middle of it as usual.

We went out whale watching, a tiny boat sped us right out into the Pacific and we were lucky enough to get ahead of an Orca whale pod. The Orcas were magnificent and very lively, breaching the surface, they were so huge and our boat so small in comparison – they came really close and we were all treated to their communications via a small receiver dipped into the water.

Orca Whale near Vancouver (by Matt Larson)

Seeing Orcas in their natural habitat made the Aquarium in Vancouver seem a bit cruel. In fact, Canada’s treatment of their native animals shocked me a little, trophy hunting of Black Bears on the Island is perfectly legal and some of the people seemed to be locked in a ‘Wild West’ mentality.

We had accumulated a small rabble of friends in Jericho who accompanied us to the Island, all really good folk and some brilliant times were had, from playing volley ball on a hotel roof, to eating chocolate covered insects, not to mention being accused of stealing cookies from a cat ridden hostel. It was also here where I was accused of stealing an Auzzies top, in actual fact he’d left it behind back in Vancouver and I’d claimed it as lost property after he’d moved on, gutting as it was a brand new fleece and fitted me just perfect. As I explained at the time, if it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t have got ot back. Not sure he saw it that way?

Upon returning to Vancouver, my partner and I decided that home was calling and money was dwindling, so we embarked on the long journey back to England. Canada was an epic 7,000 mile hike. On highways and through prairies, in endless redwood forests and cities, amid the Rocky Mountains and ending in the Pacific north west, all these things contributed to making this the journey of a lifetime.

Calgary Tower

As the coach neared Calgary, we passed through intriguing places such as Maple Creek and Medicine Hat, the approach to the city limits was one f the most stunning.

You gain a true sense of nature’s scale with the man-made skyscrapers in view, framed by the far off, pink back-drop of the snow tipped Rocky Mountains.

I was offered work by a strange guy who worked on the oil rigs in the north during winter. He turned aggressive to others after drink and I found myself having to share a room with him, for some reason he liked me but seemed to hate everyone else.

Calgary C Train

I was tempted with his offer of work on a building site but it meant me having to cash my cheque with a Chinese restaurant to avoid being caught, it sounded too convoluted so I declined.

Staying in hostels could throw up some interesting characters, and having to sleep in the same room could be a bit uncomfortable at times.

We attended a reggae bash one hot and dusty evening in an old part of town. At one point a bottle fight broke out between two rival gangs, the staff were cowering under the bar, as bottles flew from side to side it seemed like a film set and somehow not ‘real’.

We often explored places like this, off the beaten track, to gain a true perspective of Canada. You don’t always receive the same ‘tourist’ treatment when you cross the tracks, and while many Canadians were greatly accommodating and a friendly people, both my partner and I experienced some quite unpleasant types as well. I would like to have met more native American people, but their existence in Canada seemed a distant memory and almost non existent in the places we travelled.

Banff

Sulphur Mountain

The road to the Rockies was impressive, as expected. I seem to remember the mountains looming like an immense wall of darkness, which cast huge shadows over the ever nearing foothills.

We ascended by Greyhound into the heart of the Rocky Mountains, to Banff, our first destination in British Columbia.

Banff hostel was an impressive log cabin perched on the outskirts of town. We had our first encounter with an Elk – an extremely large and grumpy one. He was plonked, grazing, by the entrance to the hostel. Elk are responsible for more injuries to humans than bears in Canada, and frustratingly for me, this one was stood guard over the entrance for quite some time.

Once settled in, we were advised to take a trip up to Sulphur Mountain with the hot springs so, the next day we took the long trek up the hillside.

There had been a few bear attacks in Canada around that time, being ignorant to the danger we took a route through the lower forests and emerged out by a bus stop. An elderly lady complained about how we shouldn’t have chosen that route, with a black bear warning in force at the time, but hey, we were naive English tourists, what did she expect.

Banff

We took the cable car up as far as we could go, it felt like being on top of the world. The visitors centre offered views down over the wooded valleys with Banff carved out of the middle. Banff, as a town, was very touristic and there were lots of late night bars serving Coors and Kokanee beer.

One night we ended up in a lively bar with a band playing, they band were all naked much to the women’s entertainment. Later on in a nightclub, I nearly walked into a fight with a ‘local’. I initially walked away, but then (as my adrenalin kicked in) started to get wound up that this jerk had kicked off so I approached him by the side of the dance floor to have a word, the bouncers had been pre-informed by my partner and they jumped in, but took my side. I then had to hear his sob story which was a load of crap basically, and his mates backed off with the door staff watching. I blame the Beastie Boys as ‘Intergalactic’ was playing at the time and had whipped everyone up into a frenzy.

Lake Louise

Peaceful Lake Louise

Lake Louise was by far the most stunning place we had visited in the Rockies and it helped to focus the mind after the trouble back in Banff. We took a grand day trip up to the sublimely beautiful ice flows.

There were several routes up to the Lake from the hostel and I think we took the longest one, it was a quiet and secluded track which followed a pearlescent blue creek – bear territory and no bear-bells again. Lake Louise is slightly tainted by an immense hotel which ruins the view in one direction.

The journey up to the ice flow skirted around the valley of the lake and we rested at a log cabin settlement which served tea and muffins. This whole area is cut off by snow in winter and even in autumn they have to carry out explosions to prevent avalanches. I spied an American tourist who, sat just metres away, was watching my partner with his binoculars, he then freaked her out by reading out loud the labels on her clothes – Strange sense of humour.

By the time we reached the ice flows, the last of the tourists had passed us on their way back down. It was quiet and eerie up there, the only company was from the odd chipmunk and a cool and gentle wind in the trees.

On the way back down it was getting dark fast, I was winding up Charli by making bear calls across the wooded valley, until what sounded like a bear roar came back in the far off distance. I was told to shut up quickly, which I did and I reminded myself that we were not in Symonds Yat anymore.

Toronto Sunset

Toronto was fast paced. The soaring skyscrapers and evening glow of the CN Tower was clearly visible from our brightly coloured youth hostel.

The MD from Amato Records back in London hooked me up with the manager from Eastern Bloc records in the city. I took a copy of a track named ‘Woman’ which I had been working on with a friend back in England.

He said he would take an initial 20 copies when it reached release. He also placed us onto the ‘Industry’ guest list, which was renowned across Northern America and Canada. We met clubbers who had driven up from Detroit and New York to catch some of the Techno DJs there.

The suburbs were fascinating and we stumbled across a wicked flea market, selling retro leather gear and boxes of cool 60′s and 70′s vinyl. I picked up some timeless titles, from The Doors to Beatles albums, not quite so collectible as the English pressings, but a bargain at $10 a shot. This bag of vinyl records, was to slowly accumulate across Canada and become nearly as much a pain to lump around as my partners bag of shoes, which I was now responsible for.

Global Village Hostel

We took a trip to China Town, with all the vegetables and produce on stalls and in the gutter. I managed to trade in an old watch for a new one which was made from a spliced section of a gun barrel.

A visit to the CN Tower was blagged for free, the views from the top offered an infinite horizon of skyscrapers, suburbs and lakes.

Our time was spent between two hostels there, and on one occasion, I remember being caught sleeping on the top bunk next to my partner. Not a problem usually, but we were in a female only dorm and I had to make a quick exit after a Chinese woman awoke to the sound of my snoring. I heard a cry and the door opened in the darkness, and with a pitter patter of feet she had informed reception of my presence in their room, I made a fast exit back to my room and escaped eviction!

Niagara Falls

Niagara

Up next was Niagara, courtesy of the Greyhound bus. The youth hostel there was a huge old wooden building with a swing chair out front. We unpacked and made our way to the Falls. It was jammed full of tourists, and everywhere seemed over commercialised, which wasn’t helped by the fact my partner and I were arguing, the volume of water cascading was impressive but there seemed to be a plethora of cheap burger bars and litter with sections of the falls tackily lit up at night.

A walk into the quiet office district the next morning offered an authentic coffee bar, we tried waffles with maple syrup, the locals were friendly and strangely, I enjoyed this more than the falls.

Niagara was fairly peaceful, and we only stayed a night, with thoughts of the Rockies and the Pacific North West on our minds. Summer was fading and it was time to pack once again, chasing the sun into the West.

The Great Canadian Interior

Manitoba Big Sky

We prepared for the 30 hour coach trip to Winnipeg. The coach skirted Lake Superior, stopping off at quiet backwaters such as Sudbury, Sault Ste Marie and Thunder Bay. These were for driver breaks, fag breaks, pizza breaks and a chance to stretch the legs for half an hour.

Winnipeg reminded me of a small UK city, and after being warned by a member of the youth hostel about the local area, and a string of assaults on backpackers, we stayed just one night. We viewed the city and great river, then embarked upon the next leg of the journey, along the ‘Trans-Canadian Highway’ to Calgary.

This journey moved from vast great lakes, to immense prairies of the interior country. One night, I remember being one of the few people left awake on the Greyhound, we were seated at the front, and I was talking to the driver as we struggled through a rain storm where the roads turned into rivers. He stopped talking as the lightening started hitting the ground ahead, I lay back and turned on my Walkman. As I listened to ‘One Rainy Wish’ by Jimmy Hendrix, a massive bolt of lightening struck just metres from the coach and I sank deeper into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep!

Long Board Blues

In the summer of 1998, I was in the process of recording my first record album.

Contact was extremely difficult due to the vast distance between us, there were no mobile phones and no permanent address. After a couple of weeks I really missed her company and asked if I could join them, I’d probably not been the best boyfriend leading up to that time and was completely engrossed in my music so I considered myself lucky when the answer eventually came back “Yes”.

I managed to quickly scrape together the cash, and within a week, the tickets were bought, passport renewed and backpack borrowed from my brother.

Hawkwind & The Wrong Backpack

Silver Machine

On the flight across, members of legendary space-rock band ‘Hawkwind’ were on the flight, and their groupies were getting drunk. We chatted about how I’d seen their tape reels when working at Rockfield Studios, and I handed them a demo tape of a friend’s band.

We touched down in Toronto and I helped an elderly lady with her luggage off the carousel, spotting my bag I heaved it onto my back and set off. The coach soon departed for the city centre, I was greeted with cross town traffic, bumper to bumper.

The wide busy lanes reached out to the impressive hazy skyscraper horizon. I alighted at the busy downtown district and, racing through busy streets of suited office workers, with my heavy backpack on, beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. Would I make the last train to Montreal to meet my partner? She was keen to move on and I had no ‘plan B’ if we didn’t meet.

I missed the last train.. and the last bus. I resigned myself to catching the midnight coach and left a message with my partner’s youth hostel to inform her of the delay.

At the ticket office, I reached into the backpack to retrieve my wallet, but in its place there was a beige bikini top? It was an identical bag but with a Maple Leaf sewn on to the front – the thing had been on my back since the Airport..

Old Montreal

I had collected someone else’s backpack!

Luckily, I had several hours before my new departure time, enough time to travel back to the terminal and swap it for the right one. As I approached lost property, I was unnerved to see Hawkwind waiting there, thankfully not for the bag I had picked up. The band’s guitars had gone missing.

Montreal

I finally caught my midnight bus, and I awoke to a huge and intense sunrise as we cruised into the Montreal suburbs. I flicked through the radio stations on my Walkman for company, and as daylight broke, the neon signs blurred through the misty windows of the coach.

I’d finally made it, but my thoughts were now focused on whether my partner would be waiting at the station.

Montreal Sunset

To my great relief, my partner arrived at the bus station with a large smile, it was such a relief to see her standing there. We then began the short walk back to the youth hostel.

The hostel was a basement of a hotel, and as I descended into the darkness of the male dorm, a smell of sweaty feet and ‘other odours’ overwhelmed me. Bodies lay beneath a stillness of bed sheets in the crisp Canadian heat. My first job was to open a tiny window hidden behind security bars; the morning sunlight, and warm summer air, christened the stale fausty room!

The streets were full of French influenced architecture, it really did feel quite European in the suburb we stayed in. The French speaking people were warm and friendly, they seemed interested in the English music scene.

Heatwave

We toured bars and clubs at night, from dingy rock venues to dodgy hip hop joints, where the local rude-boys carried walking sticks and danced around them.

Jello Jazz Bar

We visited some funky bars, playing cutting edge house music and drum & bass! Montreal is a diverse musical city. Rockefeller Skank by ‘Fatboy Slim’ had just been released and it could be heard everywhere.

We toured the city by day, sampling crepes and sipping coffee at the foot of skyscrapers, we walked parks and viewed the city from up high. But time was passing, and we decided to head back to Toronto.

Coach House, Rockfield

Upon leaving high school, my dream was to work in a recording studio, so I decided to approach local studio owner ‘Kingsley Ward’ for a work placement. It was extremely difficult to get work in this field, but after a patient autumn, I eventually received a call, asking me if I could start for a trial.

The day of my interview, the singer from Neds Atomic Dustbin walked across the courtyard, eating a banana, I knew this was the place to be! I was also shown the piano that Freddie Mercury composed Bohemian Rhapsody on while ‘bumming’ around the studios during the 1970s.

The place was rambling, and the outside farmyard views could not prepare you for the ’state of the art’ studios inside. To a 16 year old lad, It was like being inside a space control centre.

The Charlatans

The Charalatans (With Rob Collins)

I started off as a trainee tape operator, with one of my favourite indie bands of the time ‘The Charlatans’. I can remember sitting in awe of the band, being asked to make tea & coffee for band members and the producer. I was a bit panic stricken as I couldn’t remember all the different requests; some with sugar, some without, white, black, strong, weak, and so on. I delivered the tray shaking slightly, sitting there watching them drink my brew.

It was like a dream working those early days, moving the lead weight tape reels around, narrowly escaping getting crushed by the portable sound proof walls, setting up microphones, watching and listening to the endless rehearsals and band banter.

In Between 10th & 11th

In Between 10th & 11th

It’s still one of my all time top albums, I just love the lyrics and memories it brings back, seeing Tim singing with his jumper sleeves pulled over his hands, perched on a chair, not to mention watching Rob Collins hammering the Hammond organ.

These were the people I’d spent my school days emulating. So to have Tim Burgess ask me where I bought my shirt and jeans from, was slightly surreal – especially when I had to reply “the Bullring Shopping Centre Tim!”.

I remember one time, being totally bollocked by FLUD, for playing my own dance music demo over the studio speakers, just as the band were rolling in for a days recording. It was my first effort at ‘Rave music’ created on a Commodore Amiga, that track ended up getting played on Radio.

Black Sabbath Practical Joke

Black Sabbath

By the time Black Sabbath came to work at Rockfield I had reached seventeen, the L.A. riots had kicked off and Freddie Mercury had died. Both events were watched in the studios by bands recording there at the time.

I don’t think I really understood the importance of Black Sabbath back then, and being into rave, indie and techno music, heavy metal was not something that really inspired me. Their eerie sounds would drift out of the studios, as I waited in the winter darkness for my brother to collect me in his battered old Ford Escort.

I wasn’t supposed to be working with the band, however, on this occasion, I was lounging on the sofa while the band were telling dodgy stories of their hedonistic days. I had gained a reputation as a ‘space-cadet’ by the band, as I didn’t really say much and often drifted into my own little world.

Tony Iommi asked me if I could go and check the large, powerful speakers in the sound proofed studio in front of the mixing console. I trotted down and my voice came over the main studio speakers, “what do you want me to do?”  Tony’s voice came back over the monitor speakers, “there’s a buzz coming out of that speaker, can you check it please mate?”

Paris Angels – Not From Paris And Not Angelic

Paris Angels

Some of the bands I worked with at Rockfield were: The Charlatans, Black Sabbath, The Damned, Crush, Naked Truth, Clannad, Kinky Machine, Paris Angels, Pop Will Eat Itself, Saw Doctors, X.T.C., Rumblefish and various other soloists.

The Paris Angels were another favourite band of the time, these guys were from the “MadchEster” indie scene and we got on really well, there were a lot of them, and certain band members were often up to mischief, the ‘NME acclaimed’ drummer was usually after Marlboro Reds!

They were often back and forth to Manchester. The sad thing is, that E.P. they were working on never made it to release, they were really very talented but a little unorganised, much to the frustration of the Sound Engineer at the time. I seem to remember him puffing on a lot of roll ups.

Their track ‘Perfume’ is possibly one of my all time top songs from that era.

Captain Sensible & The Damned

The Damned

I knew about one Damned song but not much else, so when I was told I would be working with them I couldn’t really relate at the time.

I walked into the living quarter early one morning to discover pellet holes in the walls. The clock on the wall had pellet holes in the plastic cover too. I took the clock off the wall and the pellets rolled around inside like a cheap travel game, I think Mr Sensible had gone crazy with a ball bearing gun the night before. This kind of behaviour was normal for some bands. He must have been quite bored, or maybe angry (I remember PWEI smashing up a guitar for fun).

Music Calling

Towards the end of my time at Rockfield, I found myself drifting into my own music more and more, I ended up day dreaming about being in the band rather than behind the mixing desk.

The Stone Roses

After I left, Oasis and The Stone Roses recorded some of their best material at the studios, and I still keep an eye out for albums being recorded there now. We often saw Ian Brown and The Gallagher’s around Monmouth.

In my opinion, Rockfield is one of the finest recording studios in the world. It is in an idyllic location, has warm friendly professional staff and boasts a rich musical heritage. I hope that the studios remain popular and stay vibrant and ‘used’, they have already helped shape Britain’s audio identity, and the bands just keep rolling in through the doors.

Woman 2009 Edition

Well it’s finally arrived!!! After a few months of twiddling and reworking… ‘Woman (She Want My Money)’ is winging its way around the globe again on home grown label ‘Music For The People’.

‘Woman’ was first conceived back in 1997/98 when I was living in Symonds Yat West, England. I was signed to D*Fusion Records in London and had already released ‘Long Board Blues’. The MD liked the ‘Woman’ demo and I spent several days in an East End studio working on an acid jazz ‘live’ mix with an Italian house music producer named Marco.

The mixes were raw and funky, created on my little Amiga 600 computer. It wasn’t easy translating the track to a professional recording studio but the end results were pleasing. The studios were owned by ‘Paul Weller’ and we had Shola Ama recording upstairs, a really nice vibe and cool studios.

Eastern Bloc Canada 1998

First Release on Amato Disco

The mixes were finished and I sent an album’s worth of material to D*Fusion for them to digest, however, an epic journey to Canada was calling and I sold my entire studio in a week, to embark on a jouney, thousands of miles away.

Summer of 1998, I backpacked from East to West across Canada with my partner and I took with me, a remix of ‘Woman’ on cassette by my friend Sam. The MD from D*Fusion hooked me up with the manager of Eastern Bloc Records in Toronto and, after an interesting meeting and getting us on Industry (nightclub) guest list, he agreed to distribute the record should we ever get it pressed. When we finally returned to the UK, it took me a while to settle and the demo was once again put on hold.

A year or so later, I bought back the equipment I had sold to visit Canada, and tentatively fired up the studio in Herefordshire again. I revisited ‘Woman’ and sent off a few remixes to various places such as Catskills Records (who were interested), but it just wasn’t strong enough.

A Promo Makes It To Vinyl 2002

Woman 2002 Edition

In 2002, Sam got back on the case and we spent a few intense weekends in the studio. Sam’s mate ‘Dave Cotterill’ had played some nice guitar over another track and I suggested we try it over ‘Woman’. As soon as Sam laid it down we knew it was the final touch to a great mix. We released it ourselves in 2002 on Sam’s ‘Steppin’ Stone’ Records as a promo 45 vinyl release; just breaking even.

It had a review in Muzik Mag stating “Put it on an advert and it’ll reach number three in the charts” (click here to read). It was played across the world with little or no promotion with two of the fans being ‘Tim “Love” Lee’ and ‘Ursula 1000′ both in New York.

Time fleets by, and end of last year, Sam and I decided to really push the music out there again. With plenty of new ideas and pending releases in the wings, what better track to kick things off with than a re-visited version of ‘Woman’.

A Full Release For ‘Woman’ 2009

Music For The People

And so, again, on Sam’s label, and funded by us.. we have released ‘Woman’ (semi) officially and this little record continues to beat it’s own path around the world.

So far, ‘Woman’ has: reached number 2 in the Juno Records download ‘single chart’, featured as “Record of the Week” at Manchester’s ‘Fat City Records, been playlisted on Nemone’s BBC Radio 6 weekly afternoon show (click to listen), plugged on ‘Tim love Lee’s’ East Village radio show straight outta New York (click to listen), playlisted ’prime time’ on Craig Charles’ Saturday night funk show on BBC Radio 6 (click to listen) and was used as the opening track to a recent Don Letts radio broadcast also on BBC radio 6.

‘Woman’ Spinnin’ Into The Future…

The psychedelic-hip hop ‘B’ side to the original promo was used as backing to BBC Manchester United Ball Skills DVD ‘Play Like Champions’ (click to watch on youtube), and this time around, the ‘B’ side ‘Where Stars Are Born’ (click to watch on youtube) is equally as heavy.

Ram Cafe 4 Compilation

I handed a copy of the first mixes to ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ some years back and this week, friends ‘Roy Roast Beef’ and ‘Rick’, of Birmingham DJ night ‘Funk Box’, handed a copy to ‘Maceo’ from De La Soul, so this mash-up really has done the rounds over the years and I wonder where it will travel next? or where it’s already been? maybe another dimension!?!

‘Woman’ is now available on 45 vinyl (best quality – contact snorkiebyng@hotmail.com for a copy) and also digital download via Juno Records, it is now also available on a Universal Records chillout compilation ‘Ram Cafe 4′, along side the likes of Belleruche, Mayer Hawthorne, Nitin Sawhney, Amy Winehouse and Jose Feliciano.