Dead Can Dance

I joined DCD as drummer/percussionist in December 1982 after a chance meeting with Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard on the Isle of Dogs in East London. We recorded the sessions at Blackwing Studios in South London the following summer, formally signed to 4AD Records in September 1983, and this debut album was released in February 1984. It comprises eight tracks from the Blackwing sessions plus two - The Fatal Impact and Frontier - from early sessions in Australia where DCD was formed.

John Peel Sessions

Sessions recorded - typically at the BBC studios in Maida Vale - for John Peel's Radio One show became legendary, and essential to many bands/artists shut out from the commercial mainstream to get airplay and build audiences. DCD recorded two sessions - 1983 and 1984. The first included two tracks - Instrumental and Labour of Love - which were exclusive to the session (only years later being commercially released via retrospective compilations). The session tracks generally - because of the pace and time constraints of the recordings - have a more 'live' feel to them than the official LP and EP versions.

Image credit: 4AD Records

Spiritchaser

After leaving DCD in 1991 for family reasons, I was thrilled to be invited back by Brendan and Lisa in 1995 to participate in recording sessions for a new album. Brendan assembled an eight-piece samba-style rhythm section and we spent a week at DCD's Quivvy Church studio in Ireland laying down tracks, with me assigned the bass/root drum (equivalent to a surdo drum in samba, but here using an orchestral bass drum set horizontally). Drumming from these sessions ultimately made it onto two tracks on the Spiritchaser album released in 1996.

Garden of the Arcane Delights

DCD's first album had reached no.3 in the UK 'Indie' album charts and 4AD were keen for us to also be in contention for the singles charts. However, Brendan and Lisa were against the temporary, disposable format of singles, and the commercial exploitation of fans who bought singles then the same tracks again when the album came out. The compromise was that DCD would release a 12" 45rpm vinyl "EP"of four tracks which would stand alone from the albums. Radio DJs were free to select whichever track they pleased to play as 'the single', and the format was eligible for singles chart ranking.

Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

After the early recordings, Brendan generally preferred to record the drums and percussion digitally to allow total control over each individual component at the mixing and production stage (while we continued to use the acoustic instruments for live performance). Hence I was only peripherally involved in sessions for subsequent DCD albums. However, for this third studio album, I played a couple of small parts which required the human touch.

Sambatiki

This is a single track which also came from the 1995 Quivvy Sessions. It didn't fit the vision for the Spiritchaser album, but demanded not be left on the cutting room floor. It was included as a single-track CD within the concert programmes for DCD's 1996 North American tour and has subsequently appeared on retrospective compilations. Original discs in the tour programmes have become something of a collectors' item!