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About the album
Being a talented foursome with individual musical flair, Ash, Si, Jim and Woz have developed a sound that does not depend upon samples, overproduction and technology to define their groove.
The purpose of Alphaspin is to give audiences a taste of the past
where song
craft overshadowed fashion and trend and where talent, musicianship and
originality came first.
Formed in 1998 as BreakFast, the established line up was thrown
together in
Early 2001. To date, the band have played mainly London venues such as
Borderline, Water Rats Theatre, Metro Bar, Dublin Castle, West One Four,
WKD
bar, Kashmir Klub, Underworld, Sound, Earls Court Olympia, and recently
supported The Who at Knebworth.
The band centres around three singer/songwriters. The resulting sound
varies
from interesting guitar to high-energy piano led songs. All are big on
harmonies
crossing many borders of music.
About the album
The band recently decided to raise some cash and self finance an
album. The
demos were picked up by a number of producers, the band settling on Ian Grimble (Travis, Texas, Manic
Street
Preachers) and work began at 2Khz
Studios. There they used a 1968 EMI desk that was
originally
purpose built for John Lennon and Phil Spector for the
Imagine
album sessions. Further to this, the band used the drumming skills of
friend of
the band Luke Bullen, (KT Tunstall and
Joe
Strummer) and the Hammond organ skills of Julian Wilson of Grand
Drive.
Recording took about 30 days over the course of 3 months including a
trip to
Rockfield
Studios in Wales, where they recorded the piano
(incidentally the Bsendorfer grand played by Mercury on Queen's
Bohemian
Rhapsody) and the Rhodes organ parts. Ian was keen to capture the retro
sound
that they have, so avoided modern instruments where possible.
Interestingly
enough the EMI desk was removed from 2khz upon completion of the album,
so it
remains the last commercial album to use this legendary equipment.
The album was mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Steve Rooke (Franz Ferdinand,
David Bowie and The Beatles).
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