From a bit of market research, it was clear that the fans wanted to hear songs and tunes from the bands current live set, so to make it as close to that as possible, the whole album was recorded live in Big Noise studio in Cardiff. Apart from Lizzy's vocals, there were no overdubs and the whole thing was recorded and mixed in less than three days. A slight difficulty occurred then, when Dave was deported for being an illegal alien. This was very sad, particularly as he was reported by a 'friend' who then stole all his gear while he was in custody. True, he had been in the UK. for 3 years on a six month visa, but he'd always earned his way and even played at the Cardiff Police Ball for two years. Everyone knew Dave and that he probably shouldn't have been here, but he kept himself to himself and was a really nice guy, so no-one minded. He was put on a plane without the chance to say goodbye— we remember him fondly.
Stop Press! Spooky stuff time... Having lost contact with Dave three and a half years ago, writing about him led to comments that we ought to try and find him again via the web. Lo and behold, an email has just arrived from him asking us to get in touch. Ooh... How the telepathetic power of the cosmic computer reaches out!Knowing that Dave's disappearance was always a possibility, we had kept in touch with a couple of guitarists interested in stepping in if necessary and so a call to Martyn Standing, who had seen the band at the ill-fated Harvest Pair in West Wales, heralded the next chapter. Mart was from Cwmbran, near Newport, but since doing his degree in Coventry had stayed in the area. To join Bluehorses he moved to Cardiff and for a couple of years all the members of the band lived within a five minute walk of each other, which was nice — always in and out of each others houses with each others tea/ coffee/chocolate Hobnobs etc.
Mart naturally wanted to put his own stamp on the as yet unreleased album and a few more hours in the studio saw to that. They didn't want to wipe Dave off the face of the earth, so left his guitar and vocal on a couple of tracks—'Into the Woods' and the indisputable classic 'Big white Telephone'. The intention was to just sell the CD at gigs and they were soon ordering a repress to keep up with sales. Sending it out for review wasn't even considered, so when the phone rang at BH Towers and the caller introduced himself as Ian Anderson, the editor of Folk Roots, they were quite taken aback, Ian explained that he'd heard a lot about the band on the grapevine and would they send a copy of the album for review. Modesty prevailing they weren't expecting much, so when a copy of the mag arrived a month or two later with an extremely glowing review, a photo and request for an interview, they realised for the first time that they might just be doing something a bit special.
The rest of the story has been well documented: The release of Dragons Milk and Coal resulted in their being featured on the front cover of Froots and was awarded MOJO Polk Album of the Month. There have been many great reviews for the following albums and video; many festival headlines and a few more line-up changes. Liz expanded her repertoire to include electric mandolin; keyboards and recently the electric Celtic harp. In late 2001, Mart left to be replaced on guitar by Nic's old friend from his Bangor days, Neil Browning, who brought with him a multitude of other instruments including bouzouki, squeezebox, banjo and crumhorn! At the moment, the 'second fiddle' (sorry!) position recently vacated by Debs is being held by Mark Knight—The Mad Fiddler!
So that’s the past, you know all about the present, but what of the future?
More of the different!
At the time of writing (really!) and after several years of trying to get their attention, 'Mad Tom's Song is being played on the Mike Harding Show on BBC Radio 2 which might possibly help the bands wider recognition. New music is being written: the bands ethos of never standing still is being maintained and everyone's looking forward to producing more fresh and exciting sounds with a few surprises bursting to be let out of the bag!
I'll leave you there now... but first, all of the members of Bluehorses have asked me to extend their best wishes and thanks to everyone who's helped, followed and encouraged the band — it's all of you guys that have kept them going over the years through thick and thin.
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On to Chapter 4 click here
