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'Alfalpha' by Alfalpha (LP)
Line-up: Nick Laird Clowes, Sam Harley (bass) and Andy Harley (12 string, piano)
Produced by Jeff Dexter and Ian Samwell (who also wrote Cliff Richard’s ‘Move It’)
Label: EMI
We were managed by Tony Howard, Marc Bolan’s manager. We were back-up on Bolan's last record. David Hockney took album cover.
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The Act - 'Too late at 20' LP
Line-up: Nick Laird Clowes, Sam Harley (bass), Derek Adams (Drums), Mark Gilmour (Lead guitar)
Produced by Joe Boyd (who also produced The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake)
Label: Hannibal Records
We went electric and cut our hair. David Gilmour's band included members of Alfalpha and Dave Gilmour's brother Mark). 4 star review Rolling Stone. Gilbert Gabriel joined the very last incarnation of The Act. We then splintered off to form The Dream Academy.
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The Dream Academy
Our goal: to make cinematic acoustic music in a world of 80s funk.
Line-up: Nick Laird Clowes, Gilbert, Kate St John
Label: Reprise Records
3 albums:
The Dream Academy
Produced by Nick Laird Clowes with David Gilmour
Remembrance Days
Produced by Nick Laird Clowes, Hugh Padgham
A Different Kind of Weather
Produced by Nick Laird Clowes, Antony Moore, Dave Gilmour
The Dream Academy split in 1990
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Trashmonk - Mona Lisa Overdrive 1999
Solo album
Produced by Nick Laird Clowes
(Re-issued with extra tracks on Poptones 2000)
Label: Creation Records
Alan McGee, just back from a nervous breakdown, asked me to come and play my tracks. He lay on a sofa and after 3 songs he said: "I have no doubt whatsoever you could write another American No. 1... If you can any interest in doing that! Now, why would you want to do that?" I then played a song recorded on a cassette machine in the middle of the night in The Bowery (NYC) and he said '"That's it! The sound of Trashmonk".
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Films:
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The Invisible Circus 2001
Directed by Adam Brooks (he produced a promo for The Dream Academy, 'The Lesson of Love'. Starring Cameron Diaz
Original score
Adam Brooks had become a great friend since the Dream Academy days and had bought the Trashmonk LP in Paris, where he had started filming The Invisible Circus. He believed that I could score his film… the studio eventually agreed.
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The Dreamers 2003
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Music consultant
Bernardo wanted music from 1968 to be used as score, "with no cliches". The process for creating the music for the film was really unusual: Woke in the morning, thought of my mental library of songs, what would be right for the scenes. Went to my studio and sourced the songs, took them to Bertolucci in a Soho editing suite every evening, Bertolucci listened to them and if he liked them we'd go next door to a large cinema where the music would be sync'd to the film and we'd dub it in. All fuelled on large amounts of espresso… It was like jamming with film!
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Fierce People 2005
Directed by Griffin Dunne
Starring Donald Sutherland, Diane Lane
Original score
Griffin came over to London, I played him some pieces of music, none of which really seemed right. Then I played him a drum machine part and played some percussion instruments I'd got from the street markets of Nairobi and we realised we'd cracked it!
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Battle for Haditha 2007
Directed by Nick Broomfield
Original score
A hugely enjoyable experience. Took all of three weeks to write and record, ended up in Berlin dubbing the music into the film on the nightshift (from 7pm to 7am) and re-recording ADR - additional battle cries in a studio during the day.
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A Time Comes 2009
Directed by Nick Broomfield
Original score
The story of the Kingsnorth Six, a Greenpeace documentary. Six weeks on, no days off start to finish. Mostly recorded and played everything myself. Also resulted in the song Mayday. Woke up the first morning after watching the film ... 5am... with the chorus in my mind. Sang it into my iphone recorder, then started writing the lyrics onto the iphone, an hour later, emailed it to myself on the same phone, first time from start to finish on the iphone.
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