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Banging Away

Surprisingly, I was the only one of the four who had had any recording experience. A couple of years previously, I had helped my uncle realise his dream of vinyl immortality by playing drums on the six or seven tracks he had written while working at EMI helping other people become famous. The highlight was a track called Desdemona. It was quite a slow track with a strong rthym (I can never spell that word, let alone hold it!) I had read in some music magazine that Phil Collins could alter the feel of a track by deciding to play on the beat, behind the beat, or just ahead of the beat. Well, I decided to play just behind it. Unfortunately, I also played before it, after it and also missed it completely throughout the painful two and a half minutes. How the recording engineers kept a straight face when I came back in from the drum booth I'll never know. The song is a family classic now and I can only apologise to my uncle whole heartedly for ruining his one shot at fame and forcing him to become a successful TV Producer. (more...)
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