Freak Show

Take some heavy, heavy riffing, mix in some psychedelic rock and then add some delicate funk.

That's what we got at the studios the other night... not in our room but in the chillout area. We being the Monkey Fingers rhythm section. We had nothing much to do, while we were waiting for the vocalists to finish recording their tracks, but hang out — and listen to the sounds blasting out of three other rooms.

From one: industrial bass, guitar and drums that sounded like the awakening of a monstrous beast. From another: far-out hippie guitar noodling and a crazed voice. From the third: cool keyboards and great grooves.

The strange thing is that although sometimes it was a cacophonous sound storm, for much of the time that we sat and listened it actually meshed together really well: a battle of the bands that ended with everyone playing on the same side. Chaos — and yet somehow a bizarre intelligence at work. It could have been a piece of vintage Frank Zappa.

Monkey Business

I had the pleasure of playing drums on a recording session by Brighton band The Monkey Fingers last night. It was the usual story of three-and-a-half hours setting everything up, half an hour playing and two hours trying to sort out the recordings.

The Funky Mingers, as they are also known, play mainly rhythm and blues in a Sixties/Seventies, Stones/Beatles kind of way. And the lead guitarist Gary is 18. He wasn't even born when people were born who weren't even born in that era. And yet he totally has the feel for the music and played some great solos.

I recall my father saying that the music we were listening to in the Sixties wouldn't last. Well, he got that wrong...