The Unpredictability of Life

I've spent a lot of my life kind of traipsing around everywhere you know not to say I wouldn't love to go and play in Japan and stuff but it's yeah. It was even like maybe I could just do like a drone set or a solar thing and maybe I will do things like that on the new album. The only way you can judge music is if it excites you and gives you goose bumps in that moment of creation, that's about the only thing you can be certain of. If it does that to you it could well do it to other people exactly so I'm just gonna keep making music for myself on my own terms and hopefully putting it out there.

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In this episode, John ventures over to Clapton to join James Ellis Ford and talk about how he wrote, recorded, and produced the album ‘The Hum’.

His debut solo release after almost two decades working with some of the world's biggest artists, James looks back on how his approach to music has changed over the course of the album, reflecting on the different mindsets and decisions that come with producing his own work compared to that of others.

As well as a deep dive into his vast studio setup and hybrid system of new and old creative techniques, we’re treated to thoughts on the fine line of ironing out the humanness of mistakes, and how more often than not, pieces of gear can give you back ideas that you’d never have expected.

Listen to find out which undiscovered mics are used across almost all of the records he works on, how to implement a Frippertronics-style tape setup, and what you can create when you push a bass clarinet to its limits.

Tracks discussed: I Never Wanted Anything, Squeaky Wheel, The Yips

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Listen to ‘The Hum’ here.