This weeks featured artist was our first LoneBoyStore Chart Number One, and from the north east of England just like myself, is solo artist Chris Swinney.

BIOGRAPHY - courtesy of Chris Swinney

There were no angels sprinkling stardust and no street celebrations on the day Chris Swinney had his bottom slapped for the very first time.

Chris was born into a working class background. His father was a coal miner and his mother was a hard working housewife – the way it was for many back in the late 1950s.

Scremerston near Berwick-upon-Tweed, was where it all began but before Chris was two years old, The Blackhill Colliery where his father worked was closing and the Swinney family moved to Shilbottle near Alnwick in Northumberland, England where the coal mine was thriving.

Chris spent a lot of his early years listening to the radio – particularly the U.K. charts on BBC Radio 1 and Radio Luxembourg late at night in bed, where he’d sing along to the hits at the top of his voice.

Around the age of twelve, Chris took a huge interest in The Beatles and decided that playing guitar was the thing for him. After a short time playing a classical guitar which he struggled with, his parents bought him his first steel strung acoustic guitar manufactured by “Kay”. His guitar tutor became The Beatles Complete Songbook and he worked his way through it until he’d learnt most of his favourites.

His recording set up back then was one microphone and a cassette recorder and his first taste of sound on sound recording was when he used two cassette recorders to enable him to sing harmonies with himself (and build up lots of hiss and noise in his recordings!).

Chris also bought his first electric guitar in the early 1970s from the music shop in his home town of Berwick-upon-Tweed – a black “Avon” Les Paul copy. This was accompanied by a 15 watt WEM guitar combo.

By the age of 16, Chris was performing gigs at his local pubs and clubs. He spent some time with one or two bands but was more at home playing solo. It was around this time that Chris became interested in writing his own songs.

Chris met Berny in 1977 at one of the local pubs where he used to play and in 1978 they were married. In 1979 they upped sticks and moved from Northumberland to Harrogate, North Yorkshire due to lack of work in their area.

Chris continued to play occasional gigs and worked with bands around Harrogate but few got past the rehearsal stage.

However primitive those two early cassette players were, the enjoyment of being able to build the parts for a song always stayed with Chris and, in the first half of the 1980s, he bought his first four-track cassette recorder – a Tascam Porta One. From then on, he was well and truly hooked on writing and recording his own songs and was rarely seen performing live, except for the occasional one or two songs in his local pub.

Chris used his new recording machine to record demos which he could submit to publishers and sent off a huge amount of tapes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Due to this, many of his songs were assigned to publishers but despite lots of positive feedback, none resulted in any of Chris’ songs being covered by artists.

With the advent of the CD recorder and the digital multi-track, in 2000 Chris decided to put some of his favourite recordings together on one CD entitled, “First”.

In November 2002, Chris and Berny made the move back to north Northumberland, just a few miles from where Chris was born.

Chris was submitting very little to publishers by this time and decided to concentrate on writing and recording a new album. Many of the tracks were to be inspired by his own personal experiences and feelings. In 2004, “Was it something I said?”, was released and it wasn’t long before Chris was back in the studio writing and recording again for his next CD, “Major 3rd”, which became available in 2006.

As of early 2008, Chris is continuing to write and record for his next CD with view to a release later in the year.

Copyright © 2007 Chris Swinney

 Major 3rd

 1 Out of my life

 2 Just when I Thought

 3 This Hasn't Been His Day

 4 Missy's Eyes

 5 What Are You Gonna Do?

 6 Guise of Conservation

 7 Any Other Way

 8 You Threw It All Away

 9 Something in Rennison's Pies

10 Without Wheels

11 Right Back At You

12 What Are You Gonna Do? (instrumental)

I often dream up some kind of imaginary situation or story for my songs but it’s great when something real and inspirational comes along – plus it can make the song writing process a whole lot easier because, in a way, part of the job is already done.

A few years ago, there was a live report on TV about a small passenger jet with around fifteen people on board which needed to land at an airport but the problem was the landing gear wouldn’t come down. They showed the jet circling the runway while the pilot used up as much fuel as possible so there would be less to ignite when the sparks flew as he landed the plane on its undercarriage. We watched as the pilot did a superb job of touching down safe and sound, saving all on board.

It was great to see a real-life drama coming to an end in a positive way when, as we know, so many don’t.

I suppose the main reason for choosing that as my featured track is because it gives a positive message about making things work out in the face of adversity and, if possible, coming out of it completely unscathed. I also really like the melody and way I’ve put the lyrics together with just a touch of humour! .....Chris Swinney 

questions & answers

If you could duet with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

I’d prefer to duet with a living person as you tend to get more out of them!

Seriously though… the list would be a very long one but up amongst the top ten would be:

Jeff Lynne, Justin Currie, Michael Penn, Kevin Gilbert and Randy Van Warmer (the last two are sadly now entertaining some very lucky angels).

Who are your musical influences?

Like so many others, it was The Beatles who first got me interested in playing guitar and writing my own songs and they still have a strong influence on a lot of my work today. In fact, many of my influences were very influenced by The Beatles themselves, such as Michael Penn and Jeff Lynne.

I grew up listening to Lindisfarne who are from the area where I live and I can sometimes hear similarities in my vocal style and vocal harmonies.

I can also hear a Del Amitri sound creeping into my production from time to time which is no surprise to me!

How do you write your songs? Do you start with the music or the lyrics?  

This can vary but generally I’ll form a melody as the lyrics come to mind so that I can sing the words early on and make sure they phrase correctly and don’t sound contrived or clumsy. The melody I choose is usually very similar to the one I use for the finished song.

Occasionally, I have been known to record a full backing arrangement, then start writing the song itself – I have one on my recorder at the moment which doesn’t have a song yet!

Probably the method I use least of all is to write a full set of lyrics first without singing or playing – I find it more difficult to be inspired that way.

Can you play any instruments? If so, which ones and do you have a favourite?

Acoustic guitar was my first instrument and still is the one I use mostly when I’m writing and playing songs. For that reason, I think I would choose it as my favourite instrument.

When I began recording and producing my own songs I always worked alone so it was a natural progression to get to grips with bass guitar and keyboards. I understand the basic principle behind playing the drums so I’m able to create realistic drum tracks – which a realistic drummer could play without having to be an octopus!

That’s as far as any programming goes on my recordings – the rest is me playing into the recorder until I get it right.

How did you get into music, was it from an early age?

I was interested in singing and playing at primary school and my first recollection of a performance was in front of the class at around eight years old. I sang The Hollies “Jennifer Eccles” with a school friend – thank God camcorders didn’t exist back then!

It wasn’t until around the age of twelve when I got hooked on The Beatles, that I decided to take things further.

Do you have any musical training?

Nothing really formal, although I was very lucky to have some singing lessons from a very highly respected vocal performer and singing teacher who happened to be a customer at the music shop where I worked in Harrogate.

I was singing in a band at the time and needed some better vocal technique to get me through the sessions. She was a great help to me and I often remember the very useful tips she taught me.

Apart from that, I mainly struggled through learning music by myself. I used The Beatles Complete Songbook as my guitar tutor which helped give me an ear for working out songs when I didn’t have the chords in front of me.

I don’t like the term “self-taught” as I think we all learn from other people in some way.

Which of your songs are you most proud of?

I sometimes run through my recordings after a long break from them so that I can listen with a fresh ear and, although I’m usually happy with what I hear, if I had to choose one song it would be “Tell Her No” which is on my first CD called “First”. I remember being very enthusiastic about that one at the time of writing and recording and I just can’t find fault with it whenever I listen. It’s one of those quite simple songs lyrically and musically that works so well in my opinion.

Where were you born, and do you still live there?

I was born at home in a very small mining village called Scremerston which is very close to Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland. I was there for a couple of years until my family moved to another mining village in Northumberland called Shilbottle.

After a brief interlude to Harrogate (1979 – 2002!) my wife and I are back in North Northumberland… and very pleased to be there!

Where would you like to see yourself in five years time?

Musically – Greater success would be nice! I haven’t had any covers of my songs recorded yet but I’d be very interested to hear how someone else would interpret my music… if they’re a big star, then all well and good!

I would like to get together with some like-minded musicians and form a live band… if I can tear myself away from the studio. Again, it would be interesting to hear how my songs would turn out with the input of three or four new musicians.

I am running a website at http://www.lightstayson.co.uk which is promoting a studio album idea which I have and it would be nice to have more interest in that.

Life itself – I’m really very happy with my lot and where I’m living. I have a wonderful wife/music critic and a cat who thinks she can sing better than I do… maybe she’s right! So, I would say that I’d like to see myself here in five years time.

Six words that best describe you:

Obsessive, Introspective, Compulsive, Loyal, Honest, Friendly.

What’s your favourite of all of your songs?

I think it would have to be “Tell Her No” again – with a few close seconds.

How long did it take to write and record your album ‘Major 3rd"?

I think some writing for the album had taken place during the second half of 2005 but we moved house during October/November 2006 which put things on hold for a while. I’d say all in all it took around a year.

What’s the best Live / recording moment you ever had?

This would have to be a “recording moment” as far as I’m concerned but it’s very difficult to remember one in particular. A really good recording moment for me is when I’m on form and the part I am recording works with very few takes – especially if it’s a tricky part!

I have an old style approach to my recording and, although I use a digital multi-track recorder, I never copy and paste good takes to where they’d fit in another part of the song – I think that takes the human element right out of the mix! I do get more good moments out of my recording because in a way I’m doing it live (if that makes sense).

Where was your first public performance?

Now that is a tough one!

I did a lot of gigs around the Shilbottle and Alnwick area in my teens – most were solo but some were with a band. Shilbottle had a large Working Men’s Club and a pub and I played them both.

Having said that, my very first one was most likely with a band at Alnwick town hall during the annual fair week in 1974.

featured track - without wheels

Artist

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