Over the past few months I have been working with my good friend, Mr Pat Blann, he recorded my first EP, My Father's Son and has taken many photographs for me and booked me my first appearance at The Hope back in 2011. I even said one day he could become my manager! We decided it would be a good idea for old times sake to record some covers and here is the result! Please visit my bandcamp to download the entire EP for free at
http://www.lewismckale.bandcamp.com
Something Borrowed EP
1. Goodbye Girl (Squeeze cover)
2. Seven Hearts (Chris T-T cover)
3. Let My Love Open the Door (Pete Townshend Cover)
Just to shed some light on why I chose these particular songs. Firstly, I chose Goodbye Girl by Squeeze taken from their album, Cool For Cats, because I remember as a young boy, my parents raised me on their music. The Beatles were the first ever band I ever listened to and their music made such an impact on me, their sound was like nothing I ever heard. I remember my Dad telling me about how Squeeze were like, "The next Beatles" and to be honest, I remember listening to Squeeze, I believe this was the first time I had ever listened to songs where a story was being told in the lyrics! I also believe this was the first time I had listened to anything from the 80's! My parents hated 80's music but they made such an exception for Squeeze!
I had the pleasure of meeting Glenn Tilbrook at the Shoreham Ropetackle centre a couple of months ago after he played a phenomenal solo show. I unfortunately didn't get a picture with him but what a lovely bloke he was!
My second choice was Chris T-T's Seven Hearts taken from the album, London Is Sinking. This was a difficult choice to make as I am a huge fan of his work and funnily enough we both live in Brighton and I have had the pleasure of meeting him many times..to the point where he knows my name now and now I feel like some sort of crazy stalker! He is a great guy who I have learnt a lot from listening to his music and from seeing his live performances.
Choosing the right song was difficult for me as I love all his music and there were particular tracks I wanted to cover from an album he made based on AA Milne poems but I felt I would rather sing a song of his that he wrote as I love the humour in his words. After much thinking, I went with this track because I liked this song a lot and it was the only track by Chris T-T where I felt I could do something a little different to the original by incorporating a small harmonica part in there. Originally I wanted to interoperate a kazoo in there but it felt way too comical so in the end I passed on that idea.
My third choice was a song by The Who's Pete Townshend called, Let My Love Open The Door, taken from the album, Empty Glass. This album this song is from is one of my all time favourites! I remember watching the movie, Look Who's Talking and this movie appearing in the end credits. For years, I had no idea this song was even by Pete Townshend. When I started getting into The Who, my dad told me about this particular solo album and I remember listening to it and it left such an impression on me and it is a very personal album for me. I especially love how simple this song is and if there is anything I have learnt about song writing, is that writing a hit isn't about trying to cram as many chords into a song as possible.
I originally recorded this track on a ukulele which I am sure it will surface the internet one day but Pat felt it was quite weak without a guitar so that's what we went with in the end and it was a blessing in disguise because it actually did work a lot better that way.
And just one more quick plug, I will be taking part in the Oxjam Brighton Buskathon this year on Saturday 27th at the Brighthelm Gardens in Brighton at around 13:00, please visit my Oxjam page if you wish to pledge a donation.
https://oxjam.everydayhero.com/uk/lewis
