Hello Society,

This is the first time I've opened up my demo vaults on the website. But seeing as it's a new site (for local people), I think its time. The songs that will be gradually uploaded in this section of the site are my 4-track home demo versions of pretty much all the songs that I've released. That’s across the 3 albums I've made so far and all of the b-sides. If there are any songs from the albums that don’t feature here it's because I didn't do a demo for it before entering the studio-proper.

As you can see from the pictures, this wasn't some £600 a day studio I had at home. It felt like 600 hours a day sometimes, but I loved recording this way and learning what I later realised was production and prolific songwriting. I frequently aired my shoes out of the window.

So, there are some things you have to bare in mind as you listen: These recordings are pretty rough. It's possible that if all the tracks sound distorted then that's cause they are - I always recorded too loud. I think it was an attempt to drown out the noises from the horses outside my bedroom window back home. I later went on to record those horses. I never rode them. If it sounds like I'm singing and washing the dishes at the same time its because I probably was. I recorded that same sound from in a bath also at one point I think. If at any point it sounds like I'm struggling to play the bass or a guitar or a keyboard while stretching out my foot to hit the pause button off record mode at the same time, then I am - sometimes I felt more like a juggler, trying to use every limb and spare second of the tape available, than I did a songwriter. Finally, if at any point it sounds like I'm interfering with sheep, then i probably used a bbc sound effects cd for that...

Animal Cannabus
4-track Demo

Barcode Bpyass
4-track Demo

Paper Houses
4-track Demo

These songs were recorded on a 4-track porta-studio. I used most things that were around me to record with; from wine glasses to crunching in snow to recording seagulls on the sea front. I think that way of recording is something that I've never wanted to lose, even now that I can have the luxury of a proper studio. Sometimes when I was recording this way, I'd record about 15/20 songs at a time. On occasion, I was so engrossed that friends would come over and I wouldn't know they'd been there until they told me the next time I saw them. I sometimes slept with headphones on.

I started recording this way on 4-track when I was about 15 and some 400 songs later(sometimes it feels like years!.), here I am. And here you are listening to them. Or, listening to some of them: I don’t want to lose any of you by letting you hear them all. I'm glad these recordings finally have an audience other than those horses. Colin p.s. one other thing to think about before you listen...I've got better at drum programming I hope..