Following the interest generated by his debut solo single last year, the Total Rock Radio-playlisted Very Soon Everyone’s Leaving, Bitches Sin frontman IAN TOOMEY releases a second single from his forthcoming album, currently being recorded with his partner-in-crime, the legendary producer CHRIS TSANGARIDES.
Ian’s second solo single, NEVER ALONE, had an interesting conception. Keen to follow up on the interest generated by Very Soon… he booked studio time originally to rework a Jimi Hendrix song, an itch he’d been dying to scratch for some time. After a few hours in the company of producer and some-time band-mate Chris Tsangarides, however, Toomey decided that what sounded good in rehearsal didn’t meet his exacting standards and called time out.
“The arrangement that sounded great in rehearsals but didn’t seem to work once we’d got into the studios,” recalls Toomey. “I’d wanted to do it for a long time and it had to be right – not only in memory of Jimi Hendrix but also because I’ve always prided myself on working to the highest standards, whether it be Bitches Sin, Flashpoint or my solo material. It sounds surreal, but I had this overriding feeling that we shouldn't be doing it, so I killed it off there and then.”
At that point in time there wasn’t actually a Plan B, although…
“Just before we set off for Chris’s studio I’d picked up my Washburn A20 from a friend. Having had no inspiration for anything new since the Bitches Sin album ‘The Rapture’ I put the guitar on and the riff seemingly just dropped out of the ether. I raced home – frantically trying not to forget it! – and started to play it through, developing the lead riff in a matter of moments. Fortunately David was at home and so I hurried round to his studio and we recorded a very rough demo to take with us to Chris’s.
“At the studio everyone was taken aback at my decision to call things to a halt. We took a short break and then I suggested to Steve that we worked on this new track, for which we only had the riff and most of the verse. Steve and I go back such a long way we’re pretty much telepathic and it went extremely well – so well that in about fifteen minutes we were ready to go! We nailed it first take. David came up with the chorus line and enlarged on it to produce the lyrics very quickly. The riff that closes the principal part of the song had been written by Chris while we were putting down the backing track, and was then recorded and edited on later. Again it was done first take.
“The whole recording just flowed. Maybe it was a ‘gift from The Universe’,” laughs Toomey. “OK, so we only ended up with one song to release, but we are all over the moon with the result.”
The band on the single is: Ian Toomey (guitars), Chris Tsangarides (guitars), David A Mills (vocals), Steve Turton (drums) and The Dark Lord (bass), and it was produced by Chris Tsangarides.
“The arrangement that sounded great in rehearsals but didn’t seem to work once we’d got into the studios,” recalls Toomey. “I’d wanted to do it for a long time and it had to be right – not only in memory of Jimi Hendrix but also because I’ve always prided myself on working to the highest standards, whether it be Bitches Sin, Flashpoint or my solo material. It sounds surreal, but I had this overriding feeling that we shouldn't be doing it, so I killed it off there and then.”
At that point in time there wasn’t actually a Plan B, although…
“Just before we set off for Chris’s studio I’d picked up my Washburn A20 from a friend. Having had no inspiration for anything new since the Bitches Sin album ‘The Rapture’ I put the guitar on and the riff seemingly just dropped out of the ether. I raced home – frantically trying not to forget it! – and started to play it through, developing the lead riff in a matter of moments. Fortunately David was at home and so I hurried round to his studio and we recorded a very rough demo to take with us to Chris’s.
“At the studio everyone was taken aback at my decision to call things to a halt. We took a short break and then I suggested to Steve that we worked on this new track, for which we only had the riff and most of the verse. Steve and I go back such a long way we’re pretty much telepathic and it went extremely well – so well that in about fifteen minutes we were ready to go! We nailed it first take. David came up with the chorus line and enlarged on it to produce the lyrics very quickly. The riff that closes the principal part of the song had been written by Chris while we were putting down the backing track, and was then recorded and edited on later. Again it was done first take.
“The whole recording just flowed. Maybe it was a ‘gift from The Universe’,” laughs Toomey. “OK, so we only ended up with one song to release, but we are all over the moon with the result.”
The band on the single is: Ian Toomey (guitars), Chris Tsangarides (guitars), David A Mills (vocals), Steve Turton (drums) and The Dark Lord (bass), and it was produced by Chris Tsangarides.
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