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Saturday,
Dear World, Most of what we've done with The Planets is reported on their own site (click banner above) - so I want to dedicate some space to George today. I last saw
George at a party a year ago. It was Damon Hill's 40th, and I
hadn't seen George for ages. I asked him if he was mad at me for
some reason because he hadn't replied to a couple of letters I'd
written him. He was astonished that I would think that, and said
'No, Man, I love you'. We stood about for a while, chatting, like
you do at parties, and then I ran into him again a few times throughout
the evening. I also asked him what he thought of my song 'Imagine
Something Yesterday' which is an outrageous but respectful spoof
of all three songs mentioned in the title. He said he had loved
it and promised not to sue me for bastardising his song 'Something'.
(It was a great party - fancy dress. George and Olivia (his wife)
were dressed in cool looking Mexican bandit outfits - black, well
cut, with rhinestones and wearing sombrero hats. Roy Wood and
I had gone together, as Wombles, but took the heads off after
a while and had been standing around with just the big furry bodies
and our normal, if slightly overheated heads sticking out. Later
we changed into civvies. At the end of the party, just as George
and Olivia were leaving, he came across the room and gave me a
big hug, repeating 'I love you, Man'. It was typical of him to
make sure that I was comfortable that he had merely forgotten
to answer my couple of notes. That was the last time I saw him
or spoke to him. Even though we were all prepared for the worst, it was still a shock when he went. I'd been working in the studio with The Planets all day yesterday so didn't hear the bad news until dinner time when I was sitting down with my wife and the children. I just said 'Anything interesting in the news today'? - almost as a joke, because there's always something tragically interesting in the news these days. Julianne told me about George. I was very upset, (inwardly, as I didn't want to upset the kids). He and I were not close friends, but we did some work together in the early eighties, and I would run into him from time to time. He played a great solo -in the style of 'My Sweet Lord' - on my album 'THe Hunting Of The Snark' and we did some writing together, although nothing came of it. I remember he rang me up after having been to my place with Olivia for dinner - and we were talking about getting something going with writing. I said, 'Well when d'you want us to write this masterpiece, then, George'?. He said 'It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, something crap would do to start with' - which was typical, dry George Harrison humour. But in fact that's what we wrote - something crap! So we've lost a great artist (he was as good as the other two Beatle writers, just started later so didn't get into the writing partnership when it was formed) - but more than that, we've lost what George wanted to be above all other worldly ambitions - a great human being. And now back to the normality of the newsletter - which seems insignificant by comparison. As I say, for news of TV's and stuff we've done, go to The Planets' own newsletter on their site. However, the main bit of news is that we have postponed the release date of The Planets' debut album 'Classical Graffiti' until February 18th so as to coincide with the fact that they are touring with Deep Purple throughout February and a bit into March, plus some other considerations like we didn't want to get slaughtered in the Christmas rush - everybody and his dog has an album out this Christmas! We held a photo session here at Batt Control, for a Planets Christmas card, on Wednesday. We put the girls in those little Christmassy red outfits with miniskirts and white fluffy trimming. Ruth and Salima weren't too keen at first but then they realised it was all tongue in cheek (sort of) and I think they are happy now. Certainly Beverley and Anna had no problem with it - and they all look fabulous to my chauvinistic eye!. The boys of course got to wear white tuxedo so the only danger is that they might look like members of the Boston Pops Orchestra!
A shot from the session - but not the one we're using for the card I wrote a
special Christmas piece last weekend - called 'Christmas Thingy'
- a three minute medley of 'I Saw Three Ships' and 'In Dulce Jubilo'
amongst others. I did it specially for Classic FM radio station,
so it's written very classically. They can't play anything remotely
rocky on Classic FM. We recorded it yesterday and are going to
put a CD of it into every Christmas card this year! This (Saturday)
morning we are adding some rockier guitars and drums to make a
more poppy version of it as well. Ben is trying to get his fingers
round a rather difficult guitar part as I write this. He's doing
fine, though! - I think we'll soon have it. Here's a picture of
Michael playing the glockenspiel yesterday, for the recording.
In the background is a Christmas tree we used for a prop in the
Christmas card picture session. That's it for now. Take care and don't go chasing waterfalls. (Is that the right lyric? - How can you chase a waterfall? You'd catch them immediately, wouldn't you? I suppose the speed at which you would catch them would depend entirely on where you set out from and how fast you were going, because the waterfalls wouldn't be able to run away). I think I'll go now before the men in white coats come to get me. Love, Mike
Dear World Firstly - I ought to let you know that I'm going to leave the few most recent newsletters on this page from now on - so you can spool down for them without going to PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS in your insatiable lust for more Batt-relevant gossip and news. Now to this week. Well, the biggest thing (LAST week, actually) was the removal of my halo traction brace at the Wellington Hospital. I now no longer look like either a Jedi knight or a bloke with a cucumber frame on his head (depending on which way your imagination leans) - but I do have some odd-looking holes in my head above the eyebrows. In fact I look like somebody who might have tried to have an eyebrow transplant that went wrong! Still, it all means that the doctors reckoned the three months' imprisonment in it had allowed the badly broken bone (my C2 vertebra) to heal enough. The X ray lady had a shock. She said she'd never seen an X ray like it where the patient had survived! I don't know whether that makes me feel better or worse! (You can still see the original break on the X ray, even though it is healing across by creating boney matter which is stitching itself across the gap). That's enough
medical stuff - except to say that I can now shower, bath, tie
my own shoelaces, etc. Can't drive of course. (Can drive Release date creeps nearer for the Planets album. EMI printed us some autograph postcards. Here's one:
This Thursday (15th) the band will be at the London Planetarium, playing for the public as they wait to see the Planetarium show. So there's a chance to see them play if you missed the Festival Hall concert. We're doing a "press call" at 11.30 and the band will play in a special "Planets" room (to raise money for Children In Need - (BBC Telethon). Then, on Friday, the band will play the new single on the BBC "Children In Need" show - well, at 1am on Saturday morning actually. They'll also feature in a picture spread in OK! magazine on the same day (November 16th). As I write this -on Remembrance Day Sunday - when we in the UK remember our war dead - the Northern towns of Afghanistan have fallen to the Northern Alliance and they are marching on Kabul. I once wrote a song about "The Lion Of Kandahar" - - seen from the point of view of a Mujahideen fighter against the Russians. It was just a dramatic song - like a film soundtrack sort of song, seen from the eyes of a local fighter. It's amazing how the World can change so much in a short time. Now the lyric reads like a pat on the back for the Taliban. This week I was excluded from a radio show because the producer said he didn't like my "political views"!!! I can't say which radio station it was until the facts are established, but it was a BBC show. Amazing - the UK is supposed to be a free country. In any case I'm sure it must be because I wrote the theme for the Conservatives in the last election. I'm not even a big political thinker - I just knew that Conservatives would be more inclined to keep the identity of the UK and less inclined to reduce defence forces. I actually think Tony Blair's a good bloke, and have always said so. If anyone REALLY wants my political opinions I could write a book - and it would end up proposing a World government with World laws, complete religious and racial tolerance and no laws based solely on religious beliefs. Lawmakers would include all religions and races. There could never be any wars then. But it will never happen! (People's religions forbid it). I'll just dream on... Sorry - got a bit carried away there! Have a good week. (And if you are American, get on a plane and come over and support our tourist industry!) Don't be shy! Love, Mike PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER FOLLOWS:
Monday,6th October,2001 Dear Everybody, Just to change the subject for a moment, I thought you might like to see the nearly finished painting by Simon Williams, for my new Solo Album, "Bright Eyes At The Railway Hotel". ("New album" is a slight exaggeration, as some of you have had it in its initial assembly state for over a year - but as it is always changing slightly and isn't released properly yet, it's still "new"). Simon also did my last album, "Arabesque" - on Epic. That was the one with me standing up in a rowing boat. This picture is a bit more secure-looking, although that wasn't a deliberate intention. Simon thought it would be nice to have me at the piano (in a manner of speaking) surrounded by real objects and things of importance to me and/or drawn from the lyrics of the songs. He's a fantastic painter... I first tracked him down by finding out who did the brilliant covers for EMI's THE CLASSICAL EXPERIENCE series, and t'was him.
There has still been quite a lot of Planetness around lately. One of our bedrooms is still an offline edit suite for the purposes of editing the video, and other footage for an EPK - (inaccurate music biz jargon for Eletronic Press Kit, which actually goes out on video so should be called a VPK) - and we've been tweaking the album cover art and doing nice, cool shots of the band for publicity use. On 9th (This Tuesday) they play for a media audience in order to launch the album. They'll do five pieces. See also The Planets' Newsletter on their own site but don't forget to come back to my site afterwards, you little rascals. We did the Generation Game TV show this week (yesterday) and it looked great. It's the first studio-based TV show the band have done (the other camera experiences being the Festival Hall TV special and the video) - so an interesting new experience. Also, it was the first "full mime" they've done - ie, not playing for real. It's a pity, but a lot of the top Light Entertainment shows won't LET you play live - they just aren't set up for it, in this modern world where most people prefer to mime. Call me old fashioned... So tonight it's a quiet night in with the current Mrs Batt, watching "An Audience With Kylie Minogue" on telly. Mrs B is a huge Kylie fan, and anyway the show was produced by a friend of ours so she got a FREE TICKET! Hey! Power. You really have to know the right people to get by these days. Hope you're getting by OK, and not worrying too much about things you can't change. All best wishes Mike PS:I've been
reading Rolf Harris's autobiography this week "Can You Tell
What It Is Yet?". It's well-written and honest. I'm finding
a lot of his opinions and early traits similar to mine... for
example, we're both strong in the visual arts, both played accordion
for sing-songs in our early years, both told stories to kids,
both very influenced by Danny Kaye - he thinks music educators
waste the opportunity of educating young children about chord
structure (I've always felt strongly about this) - in fact I think
Rolf Harris must be my long lost older brother! Monday,24th September,2001 Dear World, A memorable week last week. We did the Festival Hall and six thousand people lost their lives in New York. Damn. For "Damn", read every expletive you've ever uttered. It had to happen - we all knew it would happen, and this just happened to be the time when it did. It will happen again. Fighting an enemy within you is like fighting a Cancer, but I know there will be a way. Our lives have probably changed forever (just as the lives of the people of Northern Ireland or of the marshes of Southern Iraq changed forever some years ago). Our children may/will face greater challenges than we ever faced. My generation has got off lightly. We missed the Second World War, weren't there for Vietnam - being British - ,and can only watch in fear as our young are or will be called upon to be brave for the future. It means that we, too, have to be brave - because in each successive war on this planet, civilians have borne more of the brunt - but we middle-aged civilians are not in any control of it, and yet we are wise enough to heed and be aware of the precedents. So meanwhile, back at the DisneyLand which is my life - there's a band called THE PLANETS who are about to be launched by EMI Classics and my new company, Dramatico Entertainment. Our Festival Hall gig went brilliantly. The band were great (not PERFECT - in case any of you in the band are reading this and think you WERE!)- to start with - so wooden that I thought they were using furniture polish for make-up (!) - but after they heard the first applause (after the first tune) they all relaxed and were great. Real stars. At the party afterwards, Mums and Dads rubbed shoulders with media stars and captains of industry. My mate Chris Tarrant gave us a shamelessly fantastic review on Capital FM the following morning. He's such a tart. Anything to keep in with me. And now the hard bit. Getting enough top line newspapers, TV shows and radio people to take an interest in the four weeks leading up to the album release. We have a good team, both at my own offce, and within EMI and also the independent promotion teams retained to work on the PR and broadcast plugging. But we need a bit of luck, too. For those of you who are kindly interested (as your e mails suggest)in my broken neck and Salima's injuries - well, we are fine. Salima's right hand recovered just in time for her to rehearse up to scratch for the Festival Hall (where she played beautifully) and my neck brace has immobilised my spine so well that I feel perfectly secure. It weighs a stone (literally) so that it does make me feel glad when I get to bed (can't take it off but at least the weight is taken off it) - and I am so grateful to be alive that I can't stop grinning! So don't waste any concern on us: look to yourselves and your own families. There are enough bad things out there to worry about, so help yourselves. Just remember to be courageous, because if you have that, you have all the protection you really need.(Or so I'm told). All best wishes, Mike PS: Illustration pics for this letter will appear when I have time...
Friday,7th September,2001 Dear All, Well, back to Spain we did indeed go. My friendly neighbourhood neurosurgeon (Neil Dawood - check him out if you ever break your neck), said it was OK, so off we went. We took a nurse, the lighting cameraman (Roger McDonald) and all the band, plus Salima's mum, Dawn, to help look after Salima, who was (and still is, despite current Royal Festival Hall rehearsals) - very delicate, and only now trying to use her hand to play the oboe after her injury in the same car that did for me. It was a good four days. We went back to the lovely Monastery location (see last newsletter via 'recent newsletters') and, despite the crane grips doing their best to spend all day to build the crane for the opening shot, we still managed to shoot the stuff and then get on to the Fiesta scene at Pedrazza village the following day - when we went -on a night shoot - from 6pm til 6am the following morning, using a cowd of extras recruited locally. It's now edited and you'll hopefully be seeing it soon on a TV screen near you. By the way, British Midland were bloody awful. We flew 14 people out, business class, costing a fortune. They forgot all the vegetarian meals, argued about availability of wheelchairs, for me and Salima despite being forewarned - and were generally rude and unhelpful. If you are a nice helpful person and you work for British Midland, be aware that your company is letting you down. Now we are in SERIOUS rehearsal mode for the Festival Hall on September 13th. We have done one week at the local Territotial Army drill hall - mainly concentrating on the musical side, (with the lovely Jae Alexander musically supervising for me) - and then one week at the same place concentrating on the movement side - with Jae being joined by choreograher Leigh Miles. The band are coming on leaps and bounds. Now we are seeing a coordinated band of people moving together in harmony and still playing brilliantly. There's never been a band like this. I can't think of one, anyway. There was a band in Holland called Flairck, with whom I worked once - producing their 'Sleight Of Hand' album - and they were very musical and rather similar in terms of 'music led' presentation - but I really think THE PLANETS are a unique thing. Also, this week, I have been editing the video, using my daughter's bedroom as an offline suite (with hired equipment and editor). It's the only way to fly. Every home should have one. As long as the editor doesn't mind S Club 7 posters on the walls and mauve curtains, you're OK. I've been finishing the album mix downstairs in the studio - all at the same time, and also rushing backwards and forwards (mainly forwards) to the T.A. Hall to check out the Festival Hall rehearsals. Three jobs at once, but very exhilerating - plus of course liasing with EMI about marketing and so on. The neck brace is a bit of a burden, but actually perfectly OK when you think of the alternatives (best not to). You also get very funny looks in restaurants - sleep sitting up, and it takes two people half an hour to change your shirt! Small price to pay for being allowed to keep on having fun, though. Looking forward to next week's concert. Come along if you can get a ticket! See you there! Gotta go now. Nurse, the screens! Cheers, Mike
Friday,17th August, 2001 Dear World, I am sorry, but I refuse to begin this newsletter with an apology. (I know I've used that gag before but I'm not sorry). It's been over a month since the last newsletter and the reason is that I was waiting until I could give you full details of the new group and the special website - which I can now do - and also there was the small matter of a terrible car crash out in Spain where we were making the video. I am pleased to report that we who were injured are all on the mend. Those of you who saw it on the TV news or read it in the papers won't yet be aware of our progress in getting better, so I'll tell you - I broke my neck quite badly. The Spanish neurosurgeon said it was unbelievable to see such a badly fractured second cervical vertebra and still be talking to the patient! He bolted me into a traction neck brace (four screws into the scull!) and apparently the bone should mend itself in time. I have to wear the brace for three months. There is no spinal chord damage, so I'm very lucky.I can think, talk, walk about, play the piano...in fact I'm off back to Spain with the band next week to direct the re-shoot of the video. Salima Williams, our oboe player, was badly bashed in the crash. She was in front of me in the people carrier, and took a nasty blow to the head, has a big haematoma on her left leg and hurt her hand. We are waiting to see how she is today, before confirming that the video shoot will go ahead next week. We also hope she'll be match fit for the Festival Hall on Thursday, 13th September. I'd rather
not go into graphic detail about the crash - it actually makes
me re-live it when I tell it - but just suffice to say we were
being driven to the shoot by a Spanish production assistant at
6.30am on Tuesday 7th August, in Segovia, Spain. Aboard were Roger
McDonald, the lighting cameraman (Director Of Photography), Salima,
Alex O'Neil (Producer of the video), the driver, and myself as
director of the video. The car hit a big concrete block, head
on at 60 miles per hour on a hairpin bend. The driver and Alex
were OK because of the front seat airbags, but Roger suffered
a broken rib and a punctured lung, Salima as above and I got the
star prize of three months in a "Scaffolding Man" outfit
- but a hell of a lot better than being killed or paralyzed. So, now to the positive stuff. THE PLANETS is the name of our new, eight piece band, and we are all desperately excited about everything that is happening. You can meet them - or at least look at and read about them, at their own new site, www.theplanets.org.uk which is now open for you to access. It's at an early design stage, so check it every few days to see it grow. The plans for the release of "Classical Graffiti" -the first album via our deal with EMI Classics - are well under way, and the Festival Hall concert will precede the album release by about one month. So that means the album will be out mid-to-late October. I know this is a public site and not exactly the place for intimate, private messages, but I would like to say to Salima, Ruth, Anne, Beverley, Jonathan, Michael, Lac-Hong and Ben - I'm really proud of you all, and after our setback last week I am even further resolved to make this project happen, with your help. Nothing will stop us. Thanks for all your dedicated efforts patience and musicianship. I really believe that you will soon be making a big step which will establish you as a sensational, internationally successful and artistically ground-breaking band. And now back to the newsletter! For those of you who would have preferred one of my recipes or something about the dog, sorry if this week's letter was too exciting for you. I hope you are all well - and making good use of the things that you find. Love, Mike. Monday 2nd July, 2001 Hello again. The task and the pleasure of writing a newsletter combine to present me with a challenge this week...how to write a newsletter without giving away any secrets. Most of the things I'm doing at the moment are Top Secret (if anybody cares) - and so I'll have to think of something to divert you. I suppose I could do you my special seafood pasta recipe, as served to my Japanese fiend Matsutoya-san last Sunday evening (with his two Japanese friends whom I will not name as a matter of politeness as one of them is famous in Japan and may not like my namedropping) - or on the other hand, not much need for me to tell you the recipe really. The title says it all. You get some seafood and then you get some pasta and put them both together and it's ready. Hey, life's easy sometimes. You do the whole dish really quickly, obviously, so you have to chat to your guests as they sit in the kitchen sipping Chateau Chunda and looking up admiringly at you. You chuck a load of calamari, prawns, mussels and white fish bits into a frying pan, add some wine, some previously...(wait a minute! I'm giving you the recipe after all)... previously prepared garlic butter and parsley. A bit of cornflour in cold water, to thicken it (unless you like cream in your food - which I don't) - put on the new SHE DAISY album and invite your granny round just as you throw the spaghetti into a pan of boiling water. By the way,
(coincidentally) many thanks to my loyal and helpful Japan-based
fan and correspondent (you know who you are) - who sent me the
Dixie Chicks' autographs, knowing I'm a fan of theirs. That was
very thoughtful - the bit of paper is pinned to my workstation
notice board to impress my mates. But this week it is definitely
She Daisy - check 'em out and see what you think. The next newsletter will be packed full of even less useless things than this one. There will be full news and details all about the new band, and the announcement of a new website we're currently building - especially for the band. Hope your lives are currently slightly less hectic than mine and half as much fun - because that's enough for anyone! (I'm just greedy!). Love and sandwiches, Mike Weds, 13th June, 2001 Dear World, It's been slightly too long since I updated the newsletter. Sorry. Which reminds me, I found myself writing "slightly slower than you'd expect" on a music part the other day, as a tempo marking. I think I am finally going into the twilight. Take me, I'm ready. These last
few weeks have been, to say the least, a challenge, but at the
same time, very stimulating. After my fond diary about our band
rehearsal in the last newsletter, our star violinist left the
band the next day, seemingly without much of a thought for his
fellow musicians and the disarray it would cause - for reasons
which are related to emotional turmoil in his private life - (which
one sympathises with) - but it threw us into a frenzy to say the
least. I was performing in Stuttgart on the Friday (as noted in
the last newsletter) - but diverted to Rome the next day before
returning home - in order to audition a potential replacement.
The Stuttgart gig had gone very well indeed, and was a night of
great fun and just a few drinks - so my trip to Rome - being via
Switzerland and involving two trips on prop/non-jet aircaft and
a two hour cab drive to the beautiful old town of Spiletto - was
a surreal adventure. I met my auditionee and his charming girlfriend,
for dinner, and left the next day after wandering in the tiny
streets of the town on a lovely sunny day. I was the guest of EMI, and we had dinner in a box at the Albert Hall, before the show. I knew my friend Rob Dickins - (Chairman of the awards) and his sweetie of a wife - Cherrie Gillespie - were in the box next to us - and so just for a joke in the middle of dinner, I banged on the thin walls between his box and mine, put my head round the door and said "Can you keep the noise down in here, we're trying to get some sleep next door!" much laughter - but I was immediately horrified to see that the Duchess of Kent and the Secretary Of State for the Arts were his dinner guests! Lucky I never wanted a knighthood anyway. So anyway - I started building my band back up again the next day - and (with a wonderful new new bassist and wicked new percussionist)I am pleased to say they are now a stronger, better presented and more stable, brilliant band than before! Hurrah! I am going
to display here a picture of some friends of mine. Not that it
has anything to do with my new band, of course. I am saying nothing
about them - and this may not be a picture of them. Either I could
be lying, or just teasing you (should you care) - and this may
just be eight of my friends from the pub, posing with instruments
after I've cooked them "Fish a la Aga" and played them
a Dixie Chicks album. You never can tell. And in the meantime, the dear old Tories got whipped in the General Election. Have to say, the cuddly and compassionate qualities I had hoped would come out in their campaign were very much pushed to the back and we had an image of a rather Nationalistic party - which, frankly I was feeling was far too right wing to be elected. If the Tories want to be elected, they have to move to the left - ie the centre - just as Tony Blair did by moving a pace to the right to present the Labour party as a bit like conservatives. All very unhappy - but if they really are so right wing, it is necessary to change now and re-think. I still think William Hague is a brilliant and good man. I also think Tony Blair is - nice, and well motivated - but it rubs me up the wrong way that he calls his party the Labour party, when it clearly isn't a truly socialist-driven entity. Well, if you aren't asleep by now, I nearly am, so this looks like the bottom of the page. I am spending this week working with my new band - a great lot, and buzzing with excitement and creativity - and a lot of laughs and some football in the garden. Stay cool, hang loose, boogie down, keep the law of the Wolf Cub pack and do a good turn to somebody every day. Love, Mike
Dear World, It was a
brilliant, sunny day at wherever I live, today. Brilliance of
a different kind was also in evidence - because most of the members
of my new band came over for a rehearsal. We were trying out Roland
"V" drums (electronic drums), Zeta midi cellos. mallet
cat (midi vibraphone thingy) and other similar cosmic bollocks.
Very encouraging. Our two cellists will now have no trouble at
all morphing themselves into a drumkit while the percussionist
rushes off to prove his World Dominance potential on the xylophone.
What you do - (in case you don't know) with a midi instrument
is, you send a code from your real instrument (in this case a
cello) which tells a little box that you are playing, say a D
natural, fortissimo. The box tells another sound (say a choir
or something) to sing a fortissimo D natural, and - Robert is
the husband of your Auntie! You get a D natural choir note played
by a cello. At the kick of a footswitch, you can convert the choir
to a pickled Zambibwian nose-harmonica or a the Brass section
of the New Foundland Symphony Orchestra. Hurrah! I'm off to Germany later this week to perform a short recital for e-park records, my new European partners for Dramatico Records. In between all these things I'm trying hard to get plenty of stuff written and arranged for the band to record in June and July. I'm also trying to organise streaming from this site - of audio and videos - so if anyone knows how I can get some sort of trigger to somewhere that hosts streaming - please let me know (Virginbiz sites like this one, amazingly don't/can't support streaming). I guess I have to link out to somewhere else. Boffins please advise. Well, that wasn't a hilarious, recipe-infested newsletter, but sometimes you just get what you get.I'm feeling quite serious at the moment. Maybe I need a bloody good run around the garden in a Womble suit. But then again...maybe I don't. Take care, Mike May 2nd, 2001 Dear World, Yesterday (Tuesday) was Steve (my engineer's) birthday. He was twenty-three. Damn. How can anybody be twenty-three? Here's a picture of him blowing out the candles on his Marks and Spencer's chocolate caterpillar cake at the lunch we had for him. Spaghetti Bolognese in the conservatory - (not as good as the Ritz, but nearer). A lot has happened on the music front this week. Well, last week, to be more accurate. I agreed a Worldwide record deal with a major classical label - for the new group, who are now formed and ready to record. They will all report to Batt Control on June 4th for two months' residential recording and rehearsals prior to a launch in the Autumn. I am thrilled with my choice of people; - there are eight in the group now - (name of group and names of players yet to be announced) but in instrument terms, they are - flute (girl), oboe(girl), violin/vocals (boy) cello(boy) Bass guitar/cello/vocals (girl), Classical/electric guitar (girl), another classical/electric guitar (boy), Percussion/drums (boy). So four boys
and four girls. I expect them to be self-sufficient on stage -
that is to say - not to need a backing group or backing track
- although there is the chance we would augment them with a few
extra players for bigger gigs. Mike
April 18th, 2001 Hello. Just got back from OZ, where a quick week in Sydney was followed by a quick week in Melbourne. I do in fact
have some great pics of the Opera House and Harbour bridge taken
from my poncey yacht in 1981 - that was Braemar, the boat I had
then, and in which I circumsised the globe.We anchored off the
Opera House and watched the fireworks on New Year's Eve and it
was stunning. So stunning that my slightly intoxicated first wife
jumped off the boat in shark infested waters and swam round the
yacht, fully clothed, to celebrate - realising afterwards that
she had been wearing a £25,000 diamond-infested watch. In
those days £25,000 didn't even get you a waterproof one.
Mad days they were. Once again, the picture doesn't really prove it - you have to believe me. Also, they were the harmless smoked salmon variety. Not your fearless type containing raw sharks' bollocks or anything, but very good with that green mustard that blows your brains out on the way down after it's bounced off the top of the inside of your skull. Anyway - I was pretty impressed. You have to get all the right bits, like squares of Japanese seaweed, dried, then cook the rice and add in this stuff they give you - I think there's sugar in it - but it makes the rice go all claggy so you can roll it up and it doesn't separate; in fact you want it to be all the things you don't usually want rice to be: sticky and claggy! Then you roll the lot up in the seaweed with all the bits like salmon, avocado and stuff - and cut it into rolls - then you eat it with the ginger shavings and Wassabe mustard and soy sauce. Hey! Go and make some now. Don't wait a moment longer. Anyway. Enough. Back in London after a perfectly nice flight back (I always think people who moan about travelling from or to Australia are whingers). Think about it - you sit in a plane for 26 hours and you get out halfway across the World, 12,000 miles from where you began. Meanwhile, back in London - quite a lot to get back to - including timetabling the recording sessions for the new band - and release dates. My deadline to finish writing and arranging the album is the end of May - so lots of work to do - (why am I writing this, then, instead of writing music? Because THIS is easier!). We'll record in June and July, and mix in August. Got to tear myself away now - will add some more in a week or so. Don't go chasing waterfalls. Regards Mike
April 12th, 2001 Dear World, Just a quick
newsletter-ette at the moment as I am in transit in Australia
and back on April 17th. So I'll leave the most recent complete
letter under this (for those who haven't read it yet) - and give
you just a few thrilling lines to keep you going until I get back! This little note will be improved upon soon, but right now - it's 12th April and I'm off tomorrow to see my mate Daryl Somers who lives about an hour south of Melbourne. He's great value and I'm looking forward to seeing him after a long time. We share lots of interests. Those of you who are Aussies or Aussie-aware will know that he is Dead Famous in OZ and a Good Bloke to boot. He's getting plenty of Tucker in for the day. We'll all probably sit on the beach and eat something or other. Yesterday
we went to a wine place called Yerring Station near Healsville,
where we ordered some food to complement our wine. Lots of Love Mike
March 18th, 2001 Hello again. Last night we had a party at Batt Control for the purpose of celebrating my brother Dick's 50th birthday. Bloody 'ell! Doesn't seem long ago we were pitching camp by some foggy river while Dad dug the latrine and I was cooking the baked beans. Last week I got further with the formation of my new group - although no decisions yet - so if you are a candidate checking out the site - DON'T WORRY! (Yet)... I've also been writing like mad for the new album which I will record with them this Summer. This week the story broke that I have written the music for the Conservative Party for the forthcoming general election. It was leaked by a genuine mistake when a journalist happened to overhear a senior conservative party official talking at an off-the-record dinner party. That's what the SECRET was last week - that I couldn't tell you. So Newsnight, that serious-minded current affairs TV programme presented by the supposedly sensible and even-handed Jeremy Paxman, described the music as having been written by "one of the Wombles". You wouldn't credit it, would you - that a serious current affairs programme could be so cheaply tabloid.(Although I DID laugh). I learn something every day - and the thing I learn is NEVER that I underestimated people. Always the opposite! Anyway, I'm used to cheap Wombley jibes. You make your own bed in this business - but sometimes, after 30 years you think they'd grow up enough to mention one or two of the other things. And also I get all this "Why are you a conservative?" - as if I had just told people I'm a a pornographer or a car thief. The fact is, I have always felt that the country is best led by conservative economic and incentive values for small businesses - if tied in with a strong sense of caring for the underprivileged and less well-off. I think Tony Blair is a nice and very competent bloke, but he really vaselined the labour party into being something it wasn't in order to make it electable last time - just at the time the Tory party had distanced itself from the country by seeming unfeeling and lacking in humility.We needed a change then - I think many conservatives were even a bit relieved. But with all this euphoria over the budget, and Gordon Brown being hailed as a good chancellor, let's not forget we follow the USA in and out of recessions and growth periods. The Conservatives paved the way for the current (or, in light of the stock market crash, perhaps I should say "recent") economic stability by facing up to the demanding and aggressive unions in the seventies -which Labour never did, because they were/are funded by the unions - and yet a strong Labour opposition rightly brought the Conservatives down when they started acting like they had a God-given right to govern. Now I think the conservatives are building a new and more compassionate philosophy (rather like a reverse of the hybrid labour- conservative philosophy adopted by Tony Blair to get Labour in last time) - and I reckon a new generation of conservative MP's - backed by a caring and demandingly humane public - would be a good thing for Britain.I think William Hague is a good man and sincere in his wish to bring this about. That's why I wrote their music. I'd be a communist if I thought it would work, but it doesn't. Where does the sharing stop, in Marxist thinking? At country boundaries? Within Continents? What if Mars had starving millions? Would we send half of Earth's resources? Where would it end? Worldwide sharing of resources and food? Ideally, yes. But then you'd need a World Government. Who's going to Rule the World and not get corrupted!? The guys who run Radio One can't even do THAT without becoming too big for their boots! Compassion and sharing has to come from the individual conscience, not JUST from rules. Labour's "Stealth" taxes are fine by me. The money has to come from somewhere. I just remember the seventies, under Labour - when you paid a quid in the pound tax off your income. You felt you might as well give up! Meanwhile, back at Normalness - This week I continue to write for the new album, and am also very busy with several other projects. Getting ready for a trip to Australia. Writing a stage show for next Christmas. Organising the administration for my new publishing company.Looking out of the window. Watching Comic relief and revisiting the horrors of Rwanda. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Hope you are getting along OK. Love, Mike
Dear All, I've spent the last three weeks writing a score for the Royal Philharmonic, the purpose of which is, for the moment, SECRET - so I can't even tell YOU. But it's been a marathon, trying to write and orchestrate 20 minutes of music for an 80 piece orchestra in three weeks. Actually, if you get 6 weeks to write a whole film score you're lucky - so the intensity isn't unusual - it's just that this commission hit me unexpectedly,so it's been a bit difficult to fit everything else in around it. Not complaining, though. We recorded at Whitfield Street studios yesterday - Saturday 3rd March - and it was (despite the wonderful collective personality and dedicated musicianship of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) - the session from Hell. Let's just say I had a bit of trouble communicating with the engineer. Don't ask. It's too horrible. I like to think I'm good in a crisis - which came in handy yesterday! Nevertheless, we came out with some great work - beautiful playing from my beloved RPO, under trying circumstances - and they helped me to overcome the studio-based difficulties. Nice to know that all eighty of a room full of people are on your side and trying to make it happen for you. Today, the
legendary and brilliant Chris Spedding was here all the way from
LA to do guitar overdubs at Batt Control, and I took a picture
of him in THE CHAIR -(same chair as that in which I am pictured
with BOND - see button on the left - (coloured blue - saying "BOND"). Sorry there's no recipe today! Or - if you don't like my recipes - I'm happy to announce that there isn't one this week. Make your own one up! Chuck loads of things into a pan and let it all mush together. Can't hurt anybody! Some cornflakes, a dash of brandy, a little cornflour, some red wine and a few finely chopped pieces of bacon and some diced Ostrich. Nothing can go wrong. This week
-I think it was Tuesday - we woke up to several inches of snow,
and - never mind foot and mouth - the sheep in our field were
all WHITE - even though some of them are really black. It must
be the pits to be a sheep, standing in a field, minding your own
business, and then suddenly this freezing cold white stuff just
comes along and covers you, without even asking. Peace and Love, Mike February 11th, 2001 Dear All, Well, I suppose the time has come to drag myself off the couch, switch off the documentary on Frankie Howard and sprinkle a little fun into your lives by updating the newsletter . I haven't written a new one for nearly a month. It also struck me that I haven't done a recipe since18th MAY 2000 - so I guess I really ought to share my latest culinary creation with you. OK, then - it's a dull, bleak, sometimes rainy day and you live on top of a hill, so the wind drives up the hill and forces itself into the cracks round the old windows. You put on a record. In my case on this occasion it is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing "Nimrod" from Elgar's Enigma Variations - conducted by... ME! - (that's the sort of bloke I am) but in your case it would probably be some old bollocks like Frank Ifield sings The Springfields, or a little Mills Brothers gem like "Paper Doll" on a 78, or any Motorhead album (they all sound the same). Whatever it is, get two or three duck legs and some bits of pheasant breast. We're going to make Batty's Duck and Pheasant Casserole. Don't panic. You can get the bits from Waitrose. Try to get organic - you (probably) don't want all that oestrogen they pump into non-organic poultry nowadays. You can also put some chicken bits in as well if you want. Any old bits of poultry will do. Actually I lied when I said this was a new creation - I make up all sorts if casseroley things these days and I've chanced this way before. We have an AGA cooker in the kitchen (it's so much more convenient than having it in the bedroom) - and it's great for these "chuck anything in and leave it til it's done" dishes. I do them when we're recording, because they are quick to prepare even though the cooking time is an hour and a half. You can put anything in - fish, meat, whatever you want. But today it's DUCK and PHEASANT. So! Cut some big onions, say three - in chunky rings. Get a small punnet of those baby cherry tomatoes. Cut up about three apples. Find a metal roasting dish or an oven-proof casserole dish. Pour a little olive oil into it, and then lay the poultry across the bottom of the dish. Personally, I sometimes quick-fry the breast portions for about 1 minute before putting them in, but strictly speaking that seals the flavour in - and really you want the flavour to get out all over the place for this dish. Anyway -
put the onions, tomatoes and apples all over and in between the
poultry, and cut up loads of mushrooms and add them in; - (try
to get some of those shitake mushrooms - [cepes] - they're great
for flavour). Add some mixed herbs. I wouldn't put garlic in this
one, personally. I don't think it goes too well with the gamey/poultry
flavours. Fruit goes well. Anyway. Make up some chicken stock
in a cup - say three stock cubes with hot water - and pour it
in. Make a loose paste of some cornflour and cold water. Put THAT
in. Then get some cheap old red wine and splash THAT in. |
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