Evil Spanish

Credits

Recorded by Pete Heywood, Mixed by Pete Heywood and Rob Omerod and Mastered by Rob Omerod in Noah's Ark, Radcliffe, Manchester.

Songs written by Andrew Chester, Track 11 Written by Andrew Chester / Rod Smith

Music written by Andrew Chester / Black Jackson

Evil Spanish

From the ashes of My Computer mark 1, a phoenix rises in the form of a band. Black Jackson had been together since school. A proper band, they had been playing together for 10 years, when Andrew Chester is introduced to their drummer Mike Irving in the middle of the ill-fated ‘No CV’ tour. Mike is blown away by the gig at Manchester’s Blowout and follows My Computer up to Glasgow for King Tuts. Sadly, despite the epic gigs, Chester has realised he is only going through the motions as it is dawning on him of the horrors of the past three years and he knows it’s over after the tour. He is merely fulfilling obligations. It is now 2008 and Chester is looking to get back to his band roots and make another My Computer record, as a band. He goes to see Black Jackson in their mill in Radcliffe, Manchester. He is clean after the no weed intake of 2007, which saw him perfect an album of sweet soul music as Good Neighbour with Lee Doyle, a Producer he meets stacking shelves to survive. The band however, has no intention of giving up the weed and Chester is comatose from his first skunk spliff in 12 months. He looks up to the heavens and sees a microphone bearing down on him. An electric guitar is placed gently in his hands and he starts to play Massive Loss from No Computer. The band joins in and it’s like Alexis Corner jamming with Cream. More spliffs are smoked and whisky and beer is downed. The old magic is coming back to Chester as his Mojo starts to work and he starts finding his voice after a lengthy hiatus from rehearsing with a band. As if by magic, a producer appears and the next thing he knows he is recording an album on this guy Pete’s gear. Old songs are tried and ditched; new rocking songs are written and recorded. They simply don’t come more naturally than this. The band are like THE Band and all Chester’s Bobby Dylan dreams come true as, over the course of a few short months, an albums worth of material is recorded, mixed and mastered…live. On weed, beer and whisky and with the best young backing band in Manchester, Andrew Chester finds his roots and puts them down for the record.

Evil Spanish is a straight-ahead, no nonsense, balls out, Rock ‘n’ Roll record.

Track by track guide by Andrew Chester

1. Unchain Me

The Lyric - Ever been trapped in a mortgage? Well, this one is for you.

The Music - A slow building ballad with plenty of soul. Motown acoustics lead the way to soothing strings, bass and electric guitar culminating in a screaming plea to be unchained from the hell of owning your own home. The saints then come marching in to bring the track to a close. One of the most colossal tunes I have ever written.

2. Repossessed

The Lyric - Ever been threatened with repossession? I have, three times in the same albatross of a house. Battles - fought 3, won 3. See book.

The Music - Anyone remember punk? A riff that came to me stoned out of my mind at midnight in Noah's Ark with Pete Heywood's Ibanez Amp and Cab turned up to 50. Stands up to Oasis and The Sex Pistols and absolutely nails the modern condition. Where the fuck are you Radio 1? This is what the nation needs.

3. Negativity Breakdown

The Lyric - The truth about drugs and staying alive after them.

The Music - Heavenly feedback gives way to an onslaught of insanely good song writing. Vibro guitars, driven guitars, acoustic guitars an organ with original sixties dust on it and more gut wrenching vocals from the bottom of my soul. Epic Rock.

4. Vision On

The Lyric - Revenge on your past druggy lifestyle and hope for a better future.

The Music - More sixties (gold) dust is found. The Beatles electric piano meets Tim Buckley with his guitar and amp plugged in on Saddleworth Moor in the dead of night, the pissing rain and the howling wind. Shivering, tumultuous and defiant.

5. What Took You So Long

The Lyric - Well, what took you so long?

The Music - The Stooges bump ugly with Led Zep and wake up to the Spanish inquisition. The reason why the album is called Evil Spanish.

6. This Is A Rock

The lyric - Sick of being deep, I dumb it all down to sex it up.

The Music - Sublime Evil Spanish garage rock.

7. Bed Song

The Lyric - When you just wanna go to bed with a fucked up woman for two weeks and get fucked up.

The Music - La Grange speeded up.

8. Wallop!

The Lyric - Have some of this you celebrity twats!

The Music - This time it's Zeppelin who meet Buckley on Saddleworth Moor. Picked up and driven there by The Mighty Boosh.

9. Taste

The Lyric - Drawing the line with bad habits and bad woman.

The music - 60's west coast American pop sounds.

10. If

The Lyric - Q. Who thinks of a haircut, jeans or a pair of shoes when they are hit by music? A. Nofuckingbody.

The Music - If Lennon were alive today, this is the kind of music he would be writing Liam Gallagher. Heartbreakingly beautiful piano, acoustic and electric guitars and a chord progression to die for.

11. Into the night

The Lyric - My final word on love.

The Music - If Spielberg wrote ballads.

12. Albatross Grove

The Lyric - My fucking house.

The Music - Ghostly Acid Folk.