cover design by E Buchanan

WOODSTOCK SAYS:

All the songs in this little collection are in some way about the frustrations of work.

Swimming With Sharks was inspired by two friends at BBC Worldwide, Matt Ogden and Jo Chivers. Matt thought he was going to Bermuda to play the trumpet (he never got there, Bermuda disappeared at the crucial moment) and while he fantasised about swimming with dolphins Jo said "They have swimming with sharks now." A song was born. Some of the
clever effects John added to the mix nearly crashed his computer, but we think it was worth it.

Sleepwalking is pretty self-explanatory. I had a go at the Proper Job thing for a bit - went for nine days and accidentally stayed for nine months because everyone was very nice. But I didn't get an awful lot of writing done because I was too shagged out all the time. Almost rock and roll.

Right Thing is my response to bureaucracy, among other things. As my brother-in-law says, things are usually not so much an intergalactic conspiracy as a series of cock-ups and minor justifications. It's also, obviously, about wondering why people do things. Big things or little things. We had loads of fun sampling mobile phones, keys and bits of paper to provide the sound colour on this one.

Hurts Too Much To Cry was written in 1998 after I poked myself in the eye with a sharp stick on a day that was already going pear-shaped. Great firework display, if you take the pain away. It was during the Edinburgh Fringe and I was involved in putting on and performing in a 50-show mini-festival of new songwriting. I found out the hard way about the sharks (see above). Give me dolphins any day of the week.

Right Thing is soon to be released on Ear Candy, a new compilation of original songs by worldwide artists put together by the Manchester (UK)-based Planet of Sound.

Swimming with Sharks has recently been released on the Austrian compilation album BandUnion IV, featuring songwriters from five different countries.