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 Cord release their debut album Other
People's Lives Are Not As Perfect As They Seem. Here's a track by track guide from the band themselves!
1.
Go Either Way
Even
though we have so much, happiness is relative.
Phil
"It rocks, it's hard and cool..."
Mike
"Inspired by the Pixies with a bit of 80s synth thrown in and a nice, fat
groove"
James
"It's on the Madden 2007 game soundtrack - should spread the word in the
states"
2.
Sea of Trouble
Inspired
by friends of the band whose relationship was under severe strain due to
financial problems. They ultimately broke up, which was when the sequel to this
- Winter - was written .
Phil
"Great song, great chorus, love it"
James
"I wrote this one the day before we were due to do an acoustic gig just to
have something to play - I played it to Mike and we did it that night; weren't
you guys in the audience?
Andrew
"Yeah, me and Phil were..."
Phil
"That was the first time [Andrew] Walsh and I heard it and I remember
saying to him 'i think this is going to be a single' "
James
"The record company were so chuffed when they heard it cause we signed
before they had and they were like 'Ooh, you've got a single as well' "
Mike
"Write more like that!" (general laughter)
3.
Eyes
Razorblades
of evil / Shiny drops of diesel
James
"I wrote this in Sarm when we were recording the album the first time
around and we played it at a King Rat (C/O/R/D's alter-ego) gig that we did, do
you remember?"
Mike
"Our first gig in like 6 months that was"
James
"Dave Gilmore our A&R guy loved it, didn't he?"
Andrew
"So did Paul our manager"
Phil
"I think it's one of the few songs were we get to show off a bit as
well"
Mike
"Love the recording - it's got a real great sound to it"
James
"One of my favourite songs on the record from the point of view of it
sounds exactly like I wanted it to sound when I wrote it. Really pleased with
the lyrics as well - it talks about the aging process and being a woman, but
also about how lecherous men are so, quite pleased with it really"
4.
Winter
You
took the sun out of my summertime
James
"Winter is actually a summer song written from a woman's point of view.
It's the sequel to Sea
of Trouble - about the
same relationship that didn't work out."
Mike
"It got even worse, didn't it?"
James
"It did - it just cocked up all round really! I love the chorus of this
song - it's my favourite chorus."
5.
Give Me Today
The
key to life is enjoying the journey
James
"This is the song that really made it for us"
Andrew
"Tom Robinson played it on his 6 Music show didn't he?"
James
"Can you remember how exciting it was hearing us on the radio for the
first time..?"
All
: "yeah, yeah, crazy"
James
"...oh, it was soooo good"
Mike
"There's some lovely choral harmonies on the chorus"
James
"I like your guitar bits on the choruses 'diddle-liddle-liddle-liddle' - i
like i when we do it like semi-acoustically, it's pretty cool"
6.
Already Lost
Between
making the album the 1st time and going in with Youth, my grandad's lifelong
love was diagnosed with Cancer and quickly died. This is really about his
reaction and how he dealt with that.
James
"Is this our favourite song guys? It's my favourite song"
Mike
"yeah, it's lovely. It was kind of inspired by Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden
- the sprawling epic soundscapes. Probably one of my favourite moments in this
band was recording that and hearing it back with Youth."
James
"Definitely, definitely. Hearing it back was just amazing"
Phil
"Probably because Youth played it as loud as he could on the sort-of
10x10ft speakers in Olympic!"
Mike
"Considering how long the song is - how much there is in it - it was
recorded in a day - it was all quite spontaneous"
James
"well we weren't going to record it were we? Youth just came and heard us
rehearsing it one morning before we started and just said 'look, let's do that
song' he was really into it and we were like - we're still just rehearsing it -
I don't think we could play it all the way through could we?"
Phil
"We never even demo'ed it"
Andrew
"No, no, we didn't!"
James
"...and we soldiered through and did like 3 takes in the middle of the
night and the next morning came in and tracked it up and by the afternoon he
was like 'have a listen to this guys' and it was mind blowing..."
Andrew
"It sounded fantastic didn't it..."
James
"Oh, it was incredible - that was the highest point for me.
Definitely."
7.
Best Days
About
how other people's lives always seem much better than your own.
James
"That's followed by Best Days which is..."
Phil
"Controversial!! I think Best Days is a great single with the best catchy
chorus that we've got, but some other band members don't share my
optimism!"
James
"When we first laid it down with Youth it was too happy - too bouncy - but
now I quite like that on the record, you know?"
Phil
"You need a bit of up"
James
"...and lyrically it's the thing that best reflects the album title, so
that's good... Mike - you want to comment?"
Mike
"Yeah, good lyrics - just a shame about the music"
James
"Well you WROTE the music!"
8.
Stay With Me Now
About
being deserted by who you thought were your friends when times are rough.
Andrew
"The oldest song on the record isn't it?"
Mike
"It's like our third oldest song in C/O/R/D"
James
"Well you could say it dates back to when Bach wrote the melody"
Mike
"1700s? Those of you who have a wide knowledge of his music would hear
St.Matthew Passion by Bach in the melody"
James
"You'll also notice that the last verse goes back to 6/8 as a throw back
to how we used to do it"
Andrew
"Youth had a bit of a battle with us to get us to actually play it in 4/4,
cause we were like 'we wanna do it 6/8 - we like it in 6/8!' and he was like
'Guys, just TRY it in 4/4'"
Mike
"When we tried it first rehearsing it did sound awful..."
Phil
"It sounded SO crap"
Mike
"...but when we tracked it up it actually sounded incredble!"
9.
Why I Want It
A
vicious polemic on fame, the lyrics are deeply sarcasstic but with more than a
little bit of home-truth about them...
James
"I wrote this after watching The Godfather. I love the Godfather
soundtrack - I was kind of inspired by that - you probably can't hear that
anymore can you?"
Mike
"I wouldn't say it was particularly Godfather"
James
"It's just melodically you know - some violinist wandering through an
Italian town playing the melody. You see where I'm coming from?"
Mike
"Gyppo busker..." (laughter)
Phil
"I think this is the song we recorded the most. We actually did it 3 times
- once with Andy Green (Keane's producer) didn't use that - we did it with
Danton, didn't use that and then Youth made it sound good, so we used
that!"
Mike
"Now it's all really exciting"
James
"Yeah I like the breakdown section after the guitar solo. The guitar
solo's good as well though Mike, don't get me wrong... The next track was going
to be I'm Leaving You, but we dropped it off didn't we, so now it's The Greater
Part..."
10.
The Greater Part
I'd
just come back from trying to hold a relationship together at Uni and Andrew's
girlfriend was away at Uni so this song is about long distance love, and how
much it sucks.
James
"Final track on the album - was ALWAYS going to be the final track on the
album. This is a really special track for us. I remember when we demo-ed this
and Give Me Today and suddenly thought, 'actually we're in a really good band'
you know, it was like a moment of enlightenment. I really like the piano as
well on this recording, which is Peter Gabriel's. Can you remember who gave him
that piano?"
Andrew
"It was Rosanna Arquette I think or Patricia Arquette... he used to go out
with one of them didn't he?"
James
"I doubt he went out with Rosanna Arquette"
Andrew
"Was she the younger one?"
James
"She's the big, fat, American..."
Andrew
"No, that's Rosanne!!" (much laughter)
James
"I thought that was Rosanna Arquette..."
Andrew
"No, no, Rosanna Arquette was Patricia Arquette's older or younger sister
- he didn't go out with Rosanne Barr!"
James
"Oh, that's it... I'm gonna cut that shit out..."
Phil
"I think this is Danton's best work with us. Sonically this song sounds
excellent - there's loads of dynamic in it. So, er - cheers Danton."
James
"The end of the song I think is just beautiful - I challenge you to find a
better album ending. Does that sound arrogant?"
All
"Yeah..."
James
"ok, well so be it then, so be it."
Other Peoples Lives Are Not As Perfect As
They Seem is out on the 2nd October
For more info: www.cordonlline.co.uk
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