Bringing The Hope

Welcome to an album of songs, words, and collaborations. Quite different to the last Erin Bardwell Collective album which was an all instrumental affair (the Volume 3 CD from 2008). We needed to capture all the new materiel from the live set that the band had been coming up with. So they recorded themselves all playing live together. Overdubs were then added to include the essential addition of a REAL piano. The band includes many song writers, and it was time to focus on that. And aslo there were some collaborations going on. Not just within the band, but from people connected to the band. Hope you enjoy their latest offering. A1. Is This Love (Somehow) Sandra says – “Erin plays a tune without lyrics at rehearsal, I find I can hear key words in notes he is playing, so sit and write a ‘poem’ to what I can hear then adapt it to become the lyrics of a song. This one is about people getting back on the dating scene after time out, and it's expectations” A2. Bringing The Hope Erin says – “I was working on a music idea but didn't have any words. Sandra had written a set of lyrics and she passed them onto me to see if they could be used on something because she had no tune in mine. After a bit of tweaking we had a new song” Sandra says – “This was written after watching a program on 60/70's reggae and ska, and the influence it's had on me since being The EBC” A3. Hungry Children Erin says – “Originally recorded at Drive Studios, Swindon in the 1980's by my Dad's old band. He asked me if I wanted to interpret it. I always remembered the song. So we rehearsed it, played it out live, and the idea of recording it fitted in well with the collaborative theme of this LP. I looked on at said recording session back in 1987 aged 13 but got sent home early on the bus in the snow while the adults did the mixing into the night. Was the beginning of my interest in recording studios” A4. She's in Love Eddie says – “This is a song about a car and a girl” A5. Time on Our Side Sandra says – “This song came about after a bout of insomnia. I had the first line of a song in my head and thought if I didn't get up and write it down I would forget it. So at 3am I sat at my kitchen table and wrote the first two verses and chorus, emailing them to Erin to see what he thought” Erin says – “I had been working on two pieces of music. When I received these lyrics from Sandra I amalgamated it all together into one tune” B1. Twice Shy Erin says – “I wanted to try out the accordion at rehearsal to see if that could work. I had this idea based around two minor chords (the buttons on my accordion have limited chords to choose from) so that dictated how the song was structured. It was a two chord trick that I had experimented with a few years back. It was time to resurrect it because I had written some lyrics for it. Gave the words to Sandra on a scrap of paper at band practice one night and within a couple of weeks we were playing it live in London!” B2. The Doctor Said Erin says – “A song about getting old. After speaking to older relatives of mine and hearing about their experiences. They felt they weren't being listened to” B3. Freedom Train Pete says – “I wrote the song to pay homage to the simple desire of ordinary people everywhere, striving to do the best for their families. It was inspired by the actions and death of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi (a.k.a. ‘Basboosa’), which unwittingly lead to the Tunisian revolution and the subsequent Arab Spring” B4. Feeling the Heat Erin says – “This was an idea that Sandra brought to a practice. Originally it was the feel, the tempo and the chord structure which came first. Then the words were added fairly quickly soon after” Sandra says – “An upbeat feelgood tune written on a sunny Tuesday evening sat around Erin's piano with Ed on his acoustic guitar. We were being very ‘rock & roll’ drinking tea if I remember rightly” B5. I'll Be Good to You Eddie says – “This is a song about a girl” Booking enquiries: erinbardwell@hotmail.com