The beginning of 2003 found me without a band. Implosion was inevitable. I had envisaged a follow up to the ‘HARDLY SEE A THING’ album as being done by a fixed line-up of musicians as opposed to session players. But, as so often happens, the devil fools with the best laid plans of mice and men, and so after eliminating two or three possible studio alternatives, I decided to pursue the obvious and recorded the whole thing on my own in a domestic situation (the living room) with a whole lot of borrowed instruments and an 8-TRACK-ADAT. What’s an 8-TRACK-ADAT? Basically it’s a machine which allows you to record eight separate channels of sound. So, for example you could, if you wanted to, record your voice eight separate times, if you’re that way inclined. You could actually do more if you tried the wonders of track-sharing, but you lose some control in mixing then. Track-sharing more than one vocal line is ok, track-sharing a drum and an electric guitar is just irresponsible.

I wanted the album to contain the full spectrum of what I’m about as a writer hopefully without any loss of plot! I achieved what I set out to do. The album is both colourful and consistent with whimsy and cheek into the bargain. And the recording doesn’t suffer for the usual 8-track ailments of drum programming and sequencers.

In December I performed a one-off gig with members of voodoo/surf band ‘Tightrope’ who learned much of the ‘RAIN BEFORE SEVEN’ album from a rough mix CD months before the final printed and pressed disc became an actuality. Thanks guys. And around that time I was engaged in the mixing process with Uli Hoffmann. Five days spread over as many weeks. A highly effective method of gaining some objectivity concerning the mixing of the songs. Nice one, Uli.

The songs. I certainly won’t attempt to analyse the lyrical and musical content of all 14 songs. But I will say one or two things about each track.

1. OPENED THE DOOR
This epitomises what I’m about. It’s a compact little mid-rock number with a twist. Features harmonica of the suck’n’blow variety.

2. KANGAROO
I asked Ellen (my girlfriend) for a word or a phrase (ah, so that’s what IDEAS means) and I’d turn it into a song. 70’s style guitar riff and tomtom stomp meets poet pop. Rolf Harris reference at the end. Cheers Ellen.

3. SPECIAL DAYS
I reckon this is one of my best songs. I played it over a year ago acoustically on a Jeff Jones Moray Firth Radio interview. Rock ballad waltz.

4. REVOLVING DOOR
This was the first song recorded for the album. One of two songs with the word ‘door’ in the title. Simple, dizzy, light.

5. THREE MINUTE LOVE SONG
It’s actually only 2 minutes 53 seconds long. “I’m dysfunctional sometimes”. The electric guitar line at the end is very Scottish. Purple hill optional.

6. BIG DIVIDE
If I’d had a channel spare, I’d have put a keyboard organ on this. Contains the line, “took a lotta time took a little long” and one or two “ooh la la la’s”

7. DUST AND GOLD
The only guitar on this is slide played with a metal biro pen. Yes, I know. Wanted the drums on this track to come across loose and amateur. Think I achieved that alright.

8. FLYING OBJECTS
Bottles, flares, bees, a chair, a television set, a helicopter. All useful, all potentially dangerous. But don’t ask ‘Billy’ as he’s permanently brain damaged. The song isn’t political, it alludes slightly to the helplessness of watching with discomfort disasters on TV News from the relative comfort of an armchair. Features airborne electric guitar.

9. GOING HOME
I’ve been back to my Bonnie North East Scotland home town (see Biog) once a year for the past three years with Ellen. This is a seascape and shows a bit more of my folky side. Buckie used to be a fishing port and a lot of local fishermen lost their lives at sea. A love song.

10. GOT TO MOVE ON
A little brash rendition of a song about getting out of a rut.

11. RAIN BEFORE SEVEN
Oh no, Pink Floyd by default! I was originally inspired to obtain a delay device through which to play my guitar, by watching John Martyn concerts. This tune owes a lot to him. But in the end it’s still kind of Phil Manzanera and Pink Floyd with delusions of U2. There are no words in this one. It’s the title track, obviously.

12. RAINMAKER
Same chord sequence from beginning to end. Thematic, stormy.

13. SMALL TOWN SECRETS
claustrophobic.

14. ANY OLD WISH
The last track to be recorded and oh boy was I feeling low! I enjoyed recording it though something dark and sinister was obliterating vision in my left eye. To quote Fran Healy “I was seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights”…

15. TO STAY HIGH
This track is a secret, unlisted track. So don’t tell anyone! Recorded on a 4-track borrowed from Paul Harriman, I recorded this at the same time I demoed ‘Billy the Kid’ for the last album. Faked a female voice by slowing the tape down whilst recording and singing slightly higher. Atmospheric and indeed hissy. Rattlesnake ballad.

I hope these comments help provide some illumination. You can e-mail specific questions if you want, I’m always pleased to hear from you. (frasersongs@web.de)
Ah, just one comment about the album title. It comes from a weather proverb “RAIN BEFORE SEVEN, FINE BY ELEVEN”.

Fraser, March 2004

CRY FREE
BILLY THE KID
SIMPLE LIFE

line-up for this session:

Fraser Cameron - singing and guitar
Oliver Utzt - electric guitar
Paul Harriman - bass
Lillo Scrimali - Piano/keys
Wolf Simon - drums

The sun beamed through the studio windows and I had a spring in my step. "Small World Studios has a really good feel to it, it´s not one of those dungeon affairs full of old beer cans, bottles and ashtrays overfilled with fag* ends. (If you´re American, that means, cigarette-butts´, or does that mean something else as well?) , and spiders the size of a child´s hand. On the contrary. I wrote 'cry free' on the morning of that first recording session. I´d recorded 'Billy the Kid' and 'Simple Life' at home alone on 4-track. - these versions sound very different. I'm going to make 'Billy 4track (demo version) the Kid' available for download so you can compare it. The first band take on 'Simple Life' had brushes on bongos and no drums. Later Bert Smaak played a full drum kit on it, bringing it to life.

Paul Harriman (from Small World Sudios) and I got to know each other even better over the next while. It was just the two of us (thats a song isn't it) in the studio so we'd have a beer and a fag* in between preparing tracks, sharing experiences, trading stories. I´d sleep over at Paul´s and when the weather was warm, I´d stay up all night on the balcony watching the leaves on the trees shaking about. Now, I don´t know if it was just a trick of the moonlight, or the drink, but those trees looked AND sounded like they were talking to me. Probably the drink.

I can´t remember what the next song commited to tape was. it might have been, 'Hardly see a Thing' or maybe, 'Need for Love', which is not on the record.

Oliver Utzt brought in as co-producer.
I was eager to finish the album - about half of it was in the can by this time. I wrote the following songs over an evening:

'Forgot to rise with the Sun'
'Pretty Girls are never sad'
'Another World'
'Helluva Kid'

In addition to these, we did, 'Love in different Ways', which I originally recorded in holland with Ton Damen as engineer and 'Balloon' dedicated to Vera, a Pink-Floyd-Fan I´d known who sadly took her life (aged 19) in a cold winter German river, and 'Don´t look now' which ended up being the opening track by default - we couldn´t find anywhere else to put it.

The album was not done in one block - like in one month every day start to finish, or four days a week in every week. Rather, it was done as and when studio time was available and the respective musos were free to come in. There was also a three-month hitch prior to mastering because a Chinese restaurant located underneath Samson´s studio, burnt down.

Unlucky moment: "Furious Trains"
Olly Utzt and I got busted on a train from Stuttgart to Esslingen (where we had a gig that evening) for not having a ticket. Now, if there were closed circuit cameras at Stuttgarts main station, and the security people were to examin recorded footage, they would see two odd characters with guitars, bags and cases trying their utmost to stick a 10 Mark-note into an unwilling ticket-dispenser. But that´s another story.

I hope you like the album that is known as,
"Hardly see a Thing"

Fraser, Valentine's Day 2001