There will only be a few reasons why you are reading this. I hope it's because Spriggan Mist have got big enough for you to be interested, but it's more likely that you were involved in the making of this CD or you are related to me or a bit morbidly I'm no longer walking this earth, cos musicians are always better after they've gone aren't they?
Now this is my take on the proceedings ok? So if you were involved or are mentioned in these memoirs please don't be offended and remember any inaccuracies are my own as are my views. If you haven't fallen into that category I hope you enjoy reading almost as much as the CD.
We released Spriggan Mist's debut album Caught in a Spell in June 2010 at 3 Wishes Faery Fest at Colliford Lake Country Park. Now before I get into the story telling let me explain why this was the chosen place to release it by explaining a little Spriggan Mist history. Spriggan Mist was the brainchild of my wife Maxine. We had been playing in a covers band for a couple of years and bored of playing someone else’s music she started to get these little folk tunes in her head and we recorded some rough tracks down on a portable recording device (for you techies out there think it was a Boss BR900-CD) and Karen Kay The Faery Queen of 3 Wishes Faery Fest noticed the tracks on a hastily put together MySpace page and asked us to play at the festival. I think the name Spriggan Mist drew her more than the music but none the less she gave us the chance. With six months to practice and get a live set together we had to find a group of musicians ready and willing to do it as Maxine played all the instruments except bass on these tracks, we also needed more songs to fill a 45 min slot. So over a few months we amassed the Caught in a Spell line up.
Maxine Cilia -Vocals Guitar ,Sax, recorder
Baz Cilia - Vocals , Bass
Dave Lambert - Vocals, Guitar, Violin
Gill Lambert- Flute, Keyboard
Andy Wilkin - Percussion
It became quite evident that Dave was going to be an influence on proceedings, immediately Max and I could see that here was a very competent guitarist with singer song writing capabilities and due to our inexperience we allowed him to take hold of Spriggan Mist and stamp a little bit of him on it. At the time of creating the CD this wasn't a problem a few strains and cracks appeared a year later but that isn't for this piece of writing although I'm sure you will see that in a way the signs were written on the wall from the time of Caught in a Spell's birth.
I remember Max and I being impatient and driven from the outset which really at times grated I'm sure on the older more settled in what they do Dave ,Gill and Andy.
Things came to a head in November 2009 when during a rehearsal I suggested we needed to have a CD out soon and suggested rather bluntly to Dave who had the ability to record it although had never taken on a task such as this before that it needed doing now!. I got a frosty response. I remember Dave sat slumped in our music room and clearly saying to me that this wasn't something to be rushed and that if he was doing it would be done on his terms and when he wanted or get someone else to record it. Now I don't think that this was a petulant attempt at being a control freak (As I saw it at the time by the way) now I kind of feel Dave was out of his comfort zone and was trying to get it all boxed in his mind. But none the less seven months later with band intact we produced a nine track CD from his home studio which we are all very proud of and this is the story….
Track 1 The Park
This was written by Dave and was on a set of songs that he gave us on a Cd to listen to. What's it about? Not sure Dave would never let on but I feel it was part auto biographical and personal so didn't pursue the issue. Originally entitled Dog Sh1t park, it was slightly re arranged for Spriggan Mist. Now the first obstacle was that Dave wanted drums in this track. Andy Wilkin was a percussionist, the only drummer we knew was our then 8 year old Aaron. I remember the recording of this as if yesterday .Dave came armed with various mics and chucked a set of head phones on the little boys head and took about three takes of the song. Aaron was drumming to a guide track that Dave had put together. It was recorded on Dave's portable recording soundscape system I think. This was nicknamed the beast. It was built by Dave and Gill and housed all sorts of digital menageries Dave says that he didn't have to do much to the drum track, a bit of compression but what you hear on the recording is what Aaron drummed. The rest of the tracks were laid one by one in Dave's studio. We went along to his house in Lightwater Surrey over a period of a few weeks and laid the tracks as and when. Most of my tracks were laid in the morning before work, I was in work clothes for most of the recording. Not very rock and roll!.
I wrote the start poem from the feel I thought Dave was trying to capture. I had to do that bass run which I must say I struggled with live as I was doing this alien thing called singing in harmony so had lots of things to do in my head ….Dave original track didn't have a sax so Max was all over that with her Sax…now if you listen to the track carefully you will hear some background ahhs and oohs. Dave was very clever here. He recorded the whole band at different times singing Ahs to a keyboard note. He had us do an ah for each note and programmed them in somewhere somehow. This allowed him to then play a chorus of ahhs without us being there in perfect timing and harmony. Listen to the track behind the sax you can hear it rather subtle yet very necessary. Needless to say live this never happened but never missed either.
Finally the sound effects I'm reliably informed Dave went around recording the footsteps on gravel , birds and other sound effects. The scraping at the end? Andy rubbing his drum sticks on his congas. Why? Cos he could ?
Track 2 Earth Calling
This was Maxine's tune, one of the first she wrote. The original is almost unrecognisable and was one of the one's Karen Kay would have heard from a crudely recorded and put together EP called Konditions of Change….(more about that another time). This was re arranged by Dave . Do I like this version…..hmmm yes of course would I like to play it again with Spriggs' hmmm yes but with a mixture of Max's composition and Dave's. So why was it rearranged? I felt that Dave and Gill just couldn't get the syncopation that Max seems to do effortlessly. Gill is a classically trained Flautist and she never jammed, read everything and I think that Dave felt there must be a better way to present Earth Calling. He did however add that amazing start with synth and electric violin. The synth was always played by midi pedals live. One of the highlights of the album for me that intro and I remember hearing it and being blown away. Earth calling meanders away and to me sounds a little too folky for my ears but that’s where we were at the time and still has Maxine's quirky signature written all over it that Spriggan Mist are known for. I get to lay down a heavy bass line in this with a bit of wah on it. Maxine actually plays a banjitar on this. An instrument sadly dropped from the live performance due to stage ease.
Track 3 Indigo Child
Maxine wrote this about our little lad Aaron. Indigo Child was recorded on a demo a long time before this recording was made It is the first track on the CD you hear Maxine singing with that distinctive Kate Bush esque. Apparently Dave made Maxine sing this really quietly when recording it. Dave is doing backing vocals for this a task soon passed to me post Lambert era .Dave added the guitar solo and the chord structure behind the solo from a song of his called Anneliese. It remains one of the favourites of Spriggan Mist fans and we always see people singing its lyrics.
Track 4 Dragut's Eye
I wrote the lyrics to this in September 2008 at work on a rainy Tuesday evening the first day back from holiday in Malta. I didn't show these lyrics to anyone they were the first lyrics I had ever written and was rather shy of them. Then when we did the Konditions of Change EP I showed them to Maxine who put the melody to my words. Often confused as a love song it is actually a protest song about how Malta, a country I grew up in and hold citizenship for. Whilst on holiday I was in Kalkara when to my shock and horror the medieval bastions at Vittoriosa had been hacked into and monstrous glass modern day apartments had sprung up in the gap that had been made. I was told that some Manchester United players had purchased some of them (couldn't confirm this ) but it was happening all over Malta. I've always loved the Great Siege of Malta and General Dragut was a Turk who tried to sack Malta in 1565. He met his sticky end on Malta. So it's about others envy at trying to take Malta as their own and even now although "She" is not being fought over with the use of arms foreign investors have slowly "Ripped her heart out with every brick" The bell you hear at the beginning was recorded by Maxine on her mobile phone at midnight in a place called Marsa. We wanted as many bell tolls as possible from an authentic Maltese church bell without any street noises and I believe it was our last night on the island before recording and we were running late with about 10 seconds to midnight our hire car screeched to a halt in the pjazza in Mara and Maxine recorded it on her mobile phone. The end phone conversation is between me and an old friend Anglu Farrugia in Maltese we are talking about me coming to Malta and a bit of banter etc…Dave's idea but recorded by me on me mobile. So although a song about old values being eroded by modern development modern technology well and truly used.
Track 5 Faery Queen
Arguably one of the most requested songs Spriggan Mist do. Dave Lambert's song. The "album recording" is a much slower softer song than how it has evolved over the years but this was how it was written. It was written especially for 3 Wishes Faery Fest. Apparently the little poem that our then 5 year old Brianna reads is a representation of all the band members…Dave would never tell me who any of us were ..am I Apple , Elder or Rowan tree? I don't know. The use of Brianna in the role of Faery messenger was ingenious. There is a story behind the song. Dave once told me it’s about a medieval army retreating from battle . Blood stained and bruised their numbers so depleted they retreat into a small wood where the Faery messenger calls to them and takes them to the faery realm. They know that at dawn they will have to face their enemy and they will inevitably die but for that night the Faery Queen throws them a wonderful party for which their worries are far away. The bass drum is Aaron's. Andy works overtime on his congas and the flute recorder duo by Gill and Max giving the track an oldie woldy feel in contrast with the electric guitar riff Dave bangs out. Me? I just hold the steady bass line and sing backing…in contrast to my part now where I sing it live. Then there is the arpegiator…an electronic sequence of notes this caused many a heartache live …with timing etc. But on the record sounds great.
Track 6 Waiting for a dewdrop to fall
Probably one of the prettiest songs written by Max. She wrote this during a training session at work one day. She read these lyrics out to me on the phone just as I had come across one of the parents, Clive Elkington on the school run with a tripod and a camera pointed at a bush. I asked him what he was doing and he said…"I am waiting for a Dewdrop to fall" He wanted to catch the dewdrop falling off a leaf. I relayed this story to Max and by the end of the day the song materialised. Dave is on the violin for this Max gives a great vocal performance and Gill's flute interchange with the violin is very well worked. This is the only track I play fretless bass on. I loved playing this song live but sadly has fallen off our sets these days.
Track 7 Spriggan Dance
Way before the Lamberts and Andy came along I penned Spriggan Dance. Maxine was away so I decided I would attempt recording it on my own just bass and over laid vocals I had a few ciders and thought it was the business. I excitedly played the track back to Maxine the next day and was told how it was…..pretty awful…it was actually really bad so it was stored to the back of a file somewhere until Dave and I were doing a ." This is the most awful thing I have written session" and I played him Spriggan Dance and won the competition although a song of his with included the lyrics quiche lorraine came a close second. Anyway he took a copy of it and using my melody and some of my words created Spriggan Dance as we all know and love it now. Maxine however wasn't always a fan of the song. She bowed down to the band’s enthusiasm to do the song but don't think she really bought into it. Probably grew on her over the years and her sax play on the track really sets the end bit off perfectly. We don't often do the beginning talk over intro anymore favouring to drop it to add to the flow of the set ….but sometimes it's resurrected. This is the only track I’m ever allowed to play slap/pop bass on too.
Track 8 Faery Dust
Written about our little Brianna who from the word go
completely embraced the whole Fae deal, Maxine wrote this for our first appearance at
Faery fest. Is a song of two contrasts you have the twinkling of Max’s guitar
with her high near on Angelic vocal performance with Dave’s psychedelic guitar
playing. This is in my opinion where Dave and max worked best. Max would come
to the band with a song and Dave would add something to the song. I got the
feeling Max was happier with that arrangement than Dave and certainly in latter
weeks I saw Dave trying too hard to write songs for Spriggan Mist which lead to
a back log in material from Maxine. One wonders if Dave had allowed Maxine to
write the material and he assist in the arrangement the Lambert /Cilia
connection would have worked for longer but then I think the partnership had
run its cause musically. The unusual thing about this song is the guitar solo
carries on behind Max’s singing creating that aforementioned psychedelic feel. Probably was and is one of my favourite
bass lines to play live.
Track 9 Solstice
Maxine wrote this and couldn’t sing it. It sits on the
bottom of my range so was off the scale for her . This track is probably the
most openly “Pagan” of tracks on the album.
Very tribal I set out to have a very low rhythmic bass line with a rumble
in the chorus, Max provides the backing and the percussion done by Andy just
put the T in tribal. Dave dishes out the violin solo for the last time on the
track. The quiet bit on this track is my favourite bit of singing on the whole
album (as in my favourite bit to sing that is) Maxine and I actually sang this
at a summer Solstice ritual at 3 wishes Faery Fest in a middle of a circle…no
instruments ..just us and it worked , a
gift to The Holly king maybe …the song ends the album with a real triumphant
noise of instruments which brings a reprise to the footsteps from the first
song completing a never ending circle.
The artwork was done by my brother David we gave him the
idea of Sebastian the Spriggan being caught up in handcuffs made of mist but he
changed this to the plant/branches idea. The booklet within contains artwork originally
used in backdrop projections at one of
our gigs ,all beautifully done by David . He wasn’t entirely happy with the
final print in his eyes it came out too dark. For us it was and still is
perfect.
Within a few months Andy decided that with all his blues
commitments and the realisation of the fact Spriggan Mist needed a conventional drummer
he would leave Spriggs’ The Lamberts decided a few months later that it was time
to go. Not sure Gill really enjoyed the band thing totally. Don’t get me wrong
she always gave 110% but got the feeling she wouldn’t miss it when she left.
She did however apart from playing the flute did key in sound effects and
lighting from behind her little box of tricks a fact not always apparent as she
hid at the back. As for Dave, it was a
bitter sweet affair. I think both Dave and Max needed freedom to write their
own thing Max had grown frustrated that she had so many songs to get out, I had
started writing too and Dave looked like he was trying to write for a band that
was moving away from who and where he was going.. I believe Max and I empowered
him with our drive and enthusiasm to produce a work of art that he hadn’t ever
done before or since. In return we
gained a lot of experience from him and learned a few lessons too. Without a
cross word and a mutual respect for each other The Lamberts and Cilias parted
company. With Caught in a Spell only a year old and with the CD well into
profit ,Spriggan Mist were Max and I again. Time for a bit of soul retrieving
