Gods and Toys

One Cure For Man's 'Gods and Toys' - Track by Track by James Parkinson

Gods and Toys by One Cure For Man is the second album by Indie/Rock artist, songwriter and producer, James Parkinson from Burnley, Lancashire. The album began in May 2014 in his home in Leicestershire and recording finished in February 2015 when he relocated back to his native Lancashire. It features friends and old band members James Brookes Buckley on drum duties, the fantastic vocals and lyrics of Jeremy Tennant on 1000 Stars as well as Ros Pilgrim on string duties again. The album was mixed by friend and all round audio wizard John Meredith of www.armyourears.com and mastered by Peter Maher (Rolling Stones, U2, Lana Del Ray). Here is the story behind each song:

1. The Freedom. It's a song inspired by the writings of George Orwell on conformity and the real lack of human exchange and open-minded conversation within society. I wanted the music to reflect the lyric; short, sharp, powerful and always with a brooding intensity. My favourite part is the end before the guitar solo, John changed my organ sound into an electric piano and it sounded so much better with the guitar arpeggio riff. It was written around 2009 and started off as an experimental track which I recorded a few sound effects for such as a door slamming and recording the tap running to sound like rain, I also remember writing the chords over the football highlights and imagining the top goals of the week being played while it raced along. I forgot about it for years and then heard it one day and thought it had a great chorus and chord sequence and started to turn it into what you hear now.

2. Europe Is Close. This song goes back to 2007 when I was playing live bass for my friend Tyler Zypreksa (now of band 3108). I borrowed his Roland Juno keyboard and started to experiment with the drum and percussion patterns. It was totally inspired by The Jam song 'Music For The Last Couple' from The Sound Affects album, hence the massive, pulverising bass sound and interesting percussion. I recorded it instrumentally, gave it the title and then left it for about a year. After that I started reading about Benjamin Disraeli and how he used the term ‘Splendid Isolation’ reflecting his minimal involvement with European affairs. I began to think about what it feels like living on an island, being isolated, exploring themes of alienation and xenophobia. The song delves into the idea that because we are physically separated from Europe so too are we mentally and therefore we can't ever really be fully part of it.

3. Sleep Prince. I think I wrote this towards the end of the band era just before One Cure For Man became a solo project. It was hugely inspired by the song 'Goodbye Lucille' by Prefab Sprout which is such a beautiful, textured pop song. There is humour and sadness in the self-deprecating chorus of this song. Basically the character wears a suit of armour to protect himself from society, he feels vulnerable in his own skin and for speaking out and using his intellect and honesty so he wears the armour to protect himself from ignorance and bigotry. Sadly it's not about the artist formally known as Prince and his sleeping habits.

4. The Lost. The main riff to this song was written around 2007 when I was in band called Subjects Of The City. I remember playing it in rehearsals and thinking it had a Fleetwood Mac, Albatross vibe, but in waltz time. When it came to recording it I wanted to keep the same feel but mix it with the sound of the Cocteau Twins with the repetitive beat and a huge soundscape vibe. For the lyrics, I remember reading about a film script that had been given to Ray Harryhausen (master of stop-motion animation) who illustrated all the scenes but it never came to fruition. I thought about how much effort and thought must go into so many projects but a lot never happen. My own mind started to fill in the gaps and I began to visualise what it would have looked like. Sometimes in life the idea and the conversation it sparks is much more impressive than the reality of it’s conclusion. The line "There's more pleasure in not seeing a friend" sums up the whole idea. It's just a very sad lyric and it's easy to draw parallels between the common idea that reading the book is always more powerful than watching the film.

5. Blood Rain. This is a quite a new song about the biblical aspects of war and human tragedy. The Blood Rain represents a visual consequence of the atrocities committed by man over time. There's a touch of me trying to write a guitar melody like Gary Moore and Roy Buchanan and something from late 1970's Thin Lizzy. I really love the melodic bass line throughout the song and the pretty little piano motif. It's probably one of my favourite songs off the album, there's so many musical references in that song from Bowie to Abba.

6. Gods and Toys. I distinctly remembering writing this song in an office room in my old house with wooden floors, I already had my recording gear set up so I just recorded it as I wrote it and the combination of my nylon acoustic and the wooden floorboards cemented the production ethos. I really wanted to try and write a big song but on the acoustic without the band, and I remember having a breakthrough moment with coming up with the vocal melody. I ended up writing string parts for it to make it more epic and got Ros Pilgrim who'd worked with me on the last album to record all the parts. The song is about how people in power elevate themselves to God-like statuses, and naturally abuse these positions for their own gain and control over others. Exploring what the arrogance of power is when it thinks it's supported by the divine.

7. 1000 Stars. I wrote the music to this around 2010 and gave it to Jeremy Tennant who was singing with the band at the time and then he wrote the words. We both really loved it and I don't think it ever got shown or considered by the rest of the band so we sat on it for ages. When it came to making the album I thought it would be a great idea to record it properly and get Jeremy to come over and record his voice. It's a very simple song but I think that's what makes it so affective. The music was inspired by the theme to the 1981 film Clash Of The Titans which I absolutely loved when I was little (and still do). When it came to the drums I thought it should sound like 'With Or Without You' by U2. Now you won't get many folk using those combinations in a song!

8. Hazel. When I met my girlfriend and now wife, the first holiday we went on was to Norfolk. At the time I was in a different band and I took a video camera with me to film shots for a music video. To impress her I used all the spare footage and made a video and wrote this music to accompany it, all in one day. I was probably at my creative zenith back then and looking back it's pretty strange to think how fearless I was, doing things like that in a day. When it came to recording the song for the album I remembered I'd seen a Korean film called a Tale of Two Sisters and there was a piece of music that reminded me of this song. I got the idea of adding the nylon acoustic on the second part to flesh out another melody and it really worked. The strings by Ros are simply stunning, especially towards the end of the song. I've never written a love song before in my life but this has to be the nearest thing.

9. Hold Me Back. For me, this is probably the most important song in my career as it was the catalyst for me getting into recording and production and it sowed the seed for me becoming a solo artist. Back in 2007 I recorded a demo in my old flat in Leicester along with the help of my friend Blake Goddard for our band at the time. We'd been to a recording studio and had a generally great time but the overall results were hugely disappointing and I knew I had to start learning to do things myself to get the sound I really wanted in my head. This song became my first attempt at mixing and production and when I realised I could do it better than this expensive studio I never looked back. Lyrically it's a sarcastic look at societies general repulsion and fear towards intellect, thought and creativity.

10. Always There For You. A song that began about artists who were involved in the First World War such as George Grosz, Otto Dix, Franz Marc and Egon Schiele, and how it affected their art. This is my oldest fully-formed song, written when I was at University. I don't know where the music came from, a bit of Pink Floyd mixed with some Johnny Marr guitar work probably. I had the idea very late on of making one of the guitars very Nile Rodgers-esque so I used some Chic references for when it came to production. The song simply attempts to get to the centre of how ugly war is.

11. Song For Infinity. For anyone who used to come and see us play back in 2009/2010 they will remember this being performed a lot and it always went down really well at gigs so we always ended every set with it. It's got a very Glam Rock feel but the chorus was just weird and jazzy and I remember being really pleased when I came up with the bass line in the chorus. The lyric is quite complex and based on the writings of Albert Camus about the absurdity of existence and how there is no meaning in life and once we accept that we become more happy. It recalls the story of Sisyphus who was sentenced by Zeus to carry a boulder up a hill, only for it to fall back down again once he reached the top, the process would continue for eternity. Camus suggests that once Sisyphus realises the absurdity of his fate he eventually becomes happy. Of all the songs I've ever written this is the one that most people at gigs comment on, especially about the guitar playing.

Read the latest reviews of Gods and Toys by When The Horn Blows and The Rut Reviews Gods and Toys

Gods and Toys is now available on download from iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and on limited edition CD and download from Bandcamp and can also be found through the official website: www.onecureforman.com

Tuesday, 17 November 2015