April 2008 Archives

The Scaremongers – Cardigan Girl

Personnel:
Vocals: Armitage, Sue Roberts, Smith
Bass: Glen Smith
Keyboards: Nick Watts
Guitars: Martin Malone
The Rest: Smith
Recorded and mixed: Steve Whitfield (aided by Dez)

Recorded and mixed at Chairworks in Castleford, 1st-3rd March 2008
Mastered by Pob

Smith says:

The annoying thing about Cardigan Girl is the composition was pretty much all Armitage's work. The guy is bored of a weekday, picks up his guitar and writes his first song, and it's a corker. I added the acoustic bit at the beginning, (and that's my first vocal on record, three cheers for me) but other than, it's Armitage all the way. Doesn't he have enough stuff he's good at without invading my turf?

This is the first appearance of real drums on our songs, (along with Modesty and Grace), which is a big step forward. And it's also the first appearance of Martin Malone on guitar. Martin used to be in the band Eskimo Chains, (in fact, I think he used to be the band Eskimo Chains) and his magificent jangle-athon really makes this record. The other great characteristic, from our point of view, is Nick Watts' excellent Hamond work. We were after something that hinted at Felt without being transparently a Felt rip off, and Nick nailed it. Similarly, we wanted Martin's guitar work to be Johnny Marr-esque, (we were thinking Big Mouth Strkes Again) without being blatent, and Martin's naturally exhuberant fretwork caught that mood perfectly.

Ned Williams created a great video for Cardigan Girl. Thanks, Ned:

Cardigan Girl

Cardigan Girl on the worn-out station
Trains haven't stopped here since the dawn of creation
I'm watching you now through the upstairs curtain
Cardigan Girl, Cardigan Girl

Cardigan Girl on the unmanned station
Trains haven't stopped here since the dawn of creation
Watching you now through the upstairs curtains
Cardigan Girl, C-C-C-Cardigan Girl

Cardigan Girl, with your retro shades on
A boy like me could kill your reputation
But it's not in my nature to try and suggest some shenanigans, girl
C-C-C-Cardigan Girl

Have you really got somewhere better to go
Like a Cardigans gig or a Charlatans show
Are you feeling the heat in this most un-English weather
If I came down there with melted snow
And some tunes I taped from a radio show
Could we sit and dream, listen and talk together
Until whenever

Cardigan Girl, with your knitwear and jeans on
Are you cold to the bones or is coolness the reason
Your feathers are white at the height of the season
Ptarmigan Girl, C-C-C-Cardigan Girl

Would you think I'm forward if I smiled or waved, girl
Would you think me backward if I opened my cakehole
Am I something stuck to the taproom carpet
Am I something left over at the farmer's market

Cardigan Girl, on the empty platform
I'm thinking of entering terminal freefall
I'm thinking of chucking myself at your feet, girl
Cardigan Girl, C-C-C-Cardigan Girl

Cardigan Girl on the unmanned station
Trains haven't stopped here since the dawn of creation
Watching you now through the upstairs curtains
Cardigan Girl, C-C-C-Cardigan Girl

Have you really got somewhere better to go
Like a Cardigans gig or a Charlatans show
Are you feeling the heat in this most un-English weather
If I came down there with melted snow
And some tunes I taped from a radio show
Could we sit and dream, listen and talk together
Until whenever

Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl
Cardigan Girl

The Scaremongers – Modesty and Grace

Personnel:
Vocals: Armitage, Sue Roberts, Smith
Bass: Glen Smith
Keyboards: Nick Watts
Stylophone: Steve Whitfield
Cymbal Crash: Dez
The Rest: Smith
Recorded and mixed: Steve Whitfield (aided by Dez)

Recorded and mixed at Chairworks in Castleford, 1st-3rd March 2008
Mastered by Pob

Smith says:

I seem to classify songs by where I wrote them, or where I came up with the first idea for them. Some songs are Shelley songs, the ones I wrote when I was living at home with my parents. There are some college songs, which I wrote when I was away in Manchester. There are some post-Poly songs, which were written either in Shelley or Scissett. There are some Sheffield songs, (but really not that many - I started recording when I was living in Sheffield, and so it was more about learning to document what I'd written, rather than writing anything new). And there are a few London songs, and Modesty and Grace is definitely a London song.

I wrote it over a chord loop on Cubase, and it was going to be a dazzling Europop classic, except I couldn't get the verses to sit right. The riff and the hook were in place, and the vocal line, but it didn't sing very well, and all my verses were shamefully trite - I had this notion it could be translated into French, as everything sounds better when it's sung in French. The 'whores of fate' refrain wasn't there at the time - that arrived courtesy of Armitage when he got his ink-stained fingers on it, as did the words for the verses. And it was too slow, and it sounded lame.

So when it came to recording it, we speeded it up, and put real drums on it, which were really just a drum loop with a few fills dropped in. We didn't have a middle 8 for it, so we concocted one in the studio. I love the guitar on the break (a Les Paul Studio through a Fender Deluxe amp, guitar geeks), and I love the Hammond that Nick plays (a real Hammond - my dream's come true!) but the thing that really moves it along is Glen's bass line, which is subtle but gives it such a pulse! (True confessions - when we came up with the bassline, we were thinking of Red Light Spells Danger by Billy Ocean, one of the great disco classics).

Lyrics

Modesty and Grace

Remember the incident at the motorway service station
A five ton trucker called the police
The sovereign and chain gang were giving the burger boy aggravation
You handed out the pick-and-mix of peace

Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace

The pimped-up petrolheads were pushing hard for a confrontation
Squealing tyres and handbrake turns
The way you ignored them was a kind of international condemnation
The kind of coolness that burns

Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace

(The whores of fate hitch up their skirts
The dogs of war reach the gates
The saints unmask their sneers and smirks
You walk on through time and space)

While every nation speaks annihilation unto nation
And every party ends in tears
While every person preaches poison unto person
I watch you walking through the years

Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace
Modesty and Grace

(The whores of fate hitch up their skirts
The dogs of war reach the gates
The saints unmask their sneers and smirks
You walk on through time and space)

Credits:
Director - Martin McDonnell (martin @ blackboxfilms . .com )
Producer - Rob Miller (robmiller22 @ hotmail . com)
Camera - Sam Al-Kadi
G Brown - Christian Hayes
Scaremongers - Chisara Agor
- Kyle Bennett
- Chloe Downes
- Adam Dransfield
- Malachi O'Shea

Video directed by Ned Williams.