Chops

As I walked down the little hill path from Archway Road to the tube this morning, I found myself captivated by little drops of rain dangling from a metal fence. The sun was incredibly low, and the droplets of water had turned into a mini rainbow; each little crystal a discreet colour. The green one was by far the most vibrant. The greatest wordsmith would struggle to describe the colour. Like an emerald burning from within.

We've been recording drums and bass for the Channel 4 project all day today. Our drummer, a Newcastle lad called Martyn, used the phrase "gospel chops" to describe one of the numbers: "This song's a bit gospel chops isn't it?" What he meant was that the song had a bit of a gospel vibe which he wanted to bring out with his drumming. But it suddenly struck me what an unusual and versatile word "chops" is. Obviously it can mean mouth, as in "smacked in the chops"  but I'd personally be most likely to use it to mean experience. "Has he got telly chops?" ie, "does he know how to perform in front of a camera?" "Does she have the chops to sing Queen Of the Night?" "Has she got a top E?" But I might also use the word to compliment a really decent voice; "she's got a fine set of chops on her..." Maybe I over use the word because, as a vegetarian, I don't eat pork chops!

A rather lovely thing happened in the studio today. Julian's assistant, Josh, whom I found out yesterday is another music graduate from York University, was making us a cup of tea when his phone rang. He'd obviously recently changed his ring tone to play a piece of dramatic classical music, which I rather liked because it sounded a little like the London Requiem. I was about to shout across at him to say "if you like that, you should hear my requiem," when I realised it WAS my requiem!

He was mortified, but I was thrilled. I have always wondered what it would feel like to randomly hear one of my own songs playing on the radio - without prior knowledge - so hearing the Requiem, out of context like that, was rather exciting.

Today's session went about as well as I could have hoped. It is so lovely to have reached the stage with the music where it's something other people are working on. It's no longer a private thing blaring into my ears through a pair of headphones. People are interpreting it. Getting into it. Giving me a sense of what it could be. Both Rex (bass) and Martyn played wonderfully, and the songs are flying off the page; particularly the opening sequence, which is a mad dash through a million different musical genres. The pressure valve has suddenly been released and I'm breathing again.

I wish I could say the same for poor Nathan, who is drowning in a sea of admin and niggling emails. Of course everyone who writes to him has something they're really keen to find out, and Nathan is dealing with as many requests as he can, but by the time he finishes one response, another three have appeared in his inbox. Half way through the session today, I took a phone call from him in a desperate state, which I was absolutely helpless to do anything about. I think the straw that broke this particular camel's back was finding out we suddenly don't have one of our sopranos for Sunday's session. I am returning home now to see if there's anything I can do to help. I'd love to whisk him away for a few hours to see a film or have a meal, but sadly there's too much to do.