About The Sensible Gray Cells featuring Captain Sensible & Paul Gray
Dear one and all,
One of Damned aficionados fave pursuits is debating which of the various
lineups was the best. Certainly the one that produced the 'Black Album' and 'Strawberries' has got to be a prime contender. So with this in mind bassist
extraordinaire Paul Gray and the best guitarist in Croydon (apart from Ralph
McTell) Captain Sensible got together somewhere in the Welsh countryside
with the aim of writing a bunch of new tunes about subjects dear to their
hearts - in between visits to the local pub, of course.
Suitably fortified by foaming pints of excellent Timothy Taylor Landlord, the
music and lyrics quickly took shape, utilising an eclectic bunch of instruments
including 12 string guitars, hammond organs, harpsichords, sitars, and
bouzouki's, giving a nice psychedelic eastern feel to many of the tracks.
Keeping it real and roping in a tasteful drummer chum of Paul's by the name
of Ant Thickett, a recording studio was eschewed in favour of a real garage, 5
mics, a bass drum kept in place by a Doc Marten boot, a bunch of duvets for
sound proofing, and a laptop, sustenance in the form of tea and cakes
provided by the lovely Kate, who also happens to contribute some piano to
one of the tracks. Oh yes, and a 4 track cassette portastudio…!
With a lovely natural drum sound to work with (all recorded in one day) vocals
and overdubs were mostly done in Paul's kitchen, and if you listen carefully you may be able to hear the chickens clucking contentedly in the
background…
Deciding narrowly against 'Savages With Banjos' for the band name they
settled on "The Sensible Gray Cells', and with mixing and mastering duties
undertaken by Steve "Goldenears" Davies, the results are about to be
available to one and all…once all that stuff that doesn't actually involve the
music is in place!
Entitled 'A Postcard From Britain' it takes as its theme all aspects of life (good
and bad) in the strange but wonderful country in which the band live. But do
they name names? Indeed they do….
Despite their heavy schedules Cap, Paul and Ant are venturing out for five
select UK shows over one weekend only in November. As well as new
material the show will consist of classics from the Captain’s solo career along
with groundbreaking songs from Cap and Paul’s original bands The Damned
and The Hot Rods, with a fair bit of mad cap humour and banter to boot!
Get your tickets for The Sensible Gray Cells below!
