Archive for July, 2012
Thursday, July 26th, 2012
You may have noticed that I talk about sport quite a lot and I have to confess it is a bit of an obsession for me. Aside from my work in the studio, recording music, sport really is my passion in life – I’ll watch anything, even a bit of show jumping if it’s on. So two weeks of solid sport sounds like heaven to me but obviously I can’t watch everything so I’ve made a list of the main things I’d like to see during the Olympics. Here are a few of my top things to watch during London 2012:
- Road cycling: 28/29 July and 1 August 2012
I don’t mind the other types of cycling – track, MTB etc. – but road racing is my favourite, probably because of watching the Tour de France. The men’s race is one of the first events of the games, on Saturday 28 July, so let’s hope we start as we mean to go on with Mark Cavendish winning gold for us.
- Men’s 100m: 4/5 August 2012
It’s one of the shortest events but also one of the most exciting, as well as being the hottest ticket in town. He’s had a patchy season so far but Usain Bolt is still the favourite and I’ll definitely be tuning in to see if he can beat his own world record.
- Football: 25 July: 11 August 2012
It doesn’t feel quite right without many of our star England players, not to mention David Beckham, but I’ll still be following the football with interest to see how we get on. I’ll probably watch the women’s matches too.
- Tennis: 28 July: 5 August 2012
Having reached his first Wimbledon final this year, Andy Murray turns his attention to a gold medal. But will Federer stand in his way for that one as well?
- Canoe slalom: 29 July -2 August 2012
The thing I love about the Olympics is that you get to watch lots of random sport you otherwise wouldn’t. I’ll probably get wrapped up in the table tennis or the fencing as well but canoe slalom is one of those sports that I love watching when it’s on – which is about once every four years.
Tags: Cycling, David Beckham, London 2012, London Olympics, Mark Cavendish, Team GB, The Olympic Games, Usain Bolt
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Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
Once again I tried not to let sport take over my whole weekend but, once again, I pretty much failed. I don’t normally like watching cycling time trials but the deciding stage of the Tour de France on Saturday had me gripped, and it was amazing to watch Bradley Wiggins storm home for an emphatic overall victory in the Tour. There may always be a question of whether Chris Froome could have gained enough time in the mountains to beat him overall but we’ll never know – they rode as a team, with Froome supporting Wiggins, so that’s that.
And what a way to finish it on Sunday as well, with the yellow jersey leading out the rainbow jersey on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, for Mark Cavendish to win a record fourth final stage in a row. It really couldn’t have been a better Tour de France for the British riders and it seems to have captured the public’s interest as well. I’ve never seen so much cycling in the newspapers but I doubt it will last, what with the Olympic coming up. Wiggins doesn’t seem too bothered about the attention either and I don’t blame him – he is, after all, just a bloke who likes riding his bike.
We raised a glass to the first British winner of the Tour de France on Sunday, as I was out for a meal with my daughter and her boyfriend in one of the top Manchester restaurants. I had a lovely steak and a few glasses of nice wine and the best thing was that the boyfriend was paying, which topped off a great weekend.
Tags: Bradley Wiggins, Cycling, London Olympics, Manchester, Manchester restaurants, Mark Cavendish, Tour de France
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Thursday, July 19th, 2012
The band finally got a decent take of their single down yesterday afternoon, playing it straight through with no mistakes. It does sound good but I can’t help feeling their nerves and anxiety at not making it all the way through held them back a little with their playing – I’m sure it would sound much more fluid and relaxed if there was no pressure on them, or if they recorded all their parts separately, but that’s not really a decision I’m here to make. I can advise them on what I think is best, which I did, but ultimately it has to come from them. They are paying I suppose – or at least their record company are.
We finished about 3pm so I was able to watch the last hour of the Tour de France. Yesterday was the first of two big mountain stages that could potentially have decided the overall race so it was a very important day for Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky. Nibali attacked on the final climb, as I thought he would, but Wiggins and Chris Froome had it covered. Their other big rival this year, defending champion Cadel Evans, got dropped earlier in the stage and seemed to be struggling all day. He said afterwards that he had a stomach upset, which obviously doesn’t help when you’re trying to ride a bike over four massive mountains.
If Wiggins gets through today without losing any time it looks like his Tour de France victory is in the bag and it’ll be a very special day for British sport if he makes it to Paris in yellow on Sunday.
Tags: Bradley Wiggins, British cycling, manchester music, Music recording, Recording studio, Team Sky, Tour de France
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Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
After the comedown from Euro 2012 and Andy Murray losing Wimbledon, it was nice to have a week or so without watching loads of sport. I’ve picked up the Tour de France again now though and it has really come together for a brilliant last week, with British rider Bradley Wiggins leading the race. He needs to keep hold of the yellow jersey for another five stages to make it a historic overall win, but only three of those stages give his rivals any real opportunity to take it from him – the mountains on Wednesday and Thursday this week and the individual time trial on Saturday. If nothing major happens on those days, like Wiggins crashing or having a serious lack of form in the hills, he should still be in yellow as they arrive in Paris on Sunday. It would be a great day for British sport as no Brit has ever won the biggest race in cycling.
I won’t be cycling through the Pyrenees or into Paris this week, unfortunately. I’ve got a pretty busy week in the studio with it booked out Monday to Friday. We’re recording a single for a Manchester band at the moment, which is going okay. They’ve decided to record it all live which is fairly unusual these days – most bands will record one or two bits at a time, usually with the singer doing the vocals last. I can understand that they want to get a live ‘feel’ to the music in the recording but it does make things a little trickier for them, mainly because they have to get through one perfect take, without anyone messing their part up. They’ve not managed it yet today so we’ll see how we get on – I might have to persuade them to split it up a bit.
I’m off out looking at cars this weekend again, on Saturday morning. We’re going to look at a new Renault Clio so my mate can compare the finance deals to the price he paid for the second hand one he bought last week. He thinks with all the tax, insurance and MOTs you get with the new models it might be worth switching. We’ll see – I’m going to take the opportunity to take a nice brand new car for a test drive, just for the fun of it.
Tags: Bradley Wiggins, Buying a used car, cars, manchester music, Music recording, Recording studio, Tour de France
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Thursday, July 12th, 2012
A good week this week and I feel like I’ve got loads done, without all the football and tennis to keep up with. The band were really cool and we finished a cracking demo for them, which they’ll be sending out to promoters, agents and labels over the next week or so. I had a bit of a stint in a band, many, many years ago. We never got as far as recording a demo or anything but I remember the excitement of thinking that one day someone might discover us and offer us a record deal, or maybe just a slot on the main stage at Glastonbury. That never happened, of course, but the fact that it could have done, by some twist of fate or chance encounter, was enough to keep us interested. We only played one gig, if I remember rightly, then the singer left to go and live in Hong Kong, or something weird like that.
The car shopping trip this afternoon went well, eventually. We sat in traffic for about an hour to get to the first place, which was only seven miles away. My mate was getting really frustrated with it but I just sat playing Frutopia games on my iPad – I’m glad I took that along in the end. He ended up buying a really nice little Renault Clio in the third garage we went to. It’s only a few years old and has done a few miles but it was in perfect condition and he got it for a good price, so that’s him sorted.
Naturally, I didn’t buy anything, but I was sitting in some off-road vehicles that look like a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll scrap the search for a practical, spacious car that I can use for studio stuff and at the weekends, and just get something that’s fun to drive but completely impractical. I’ll have to have a think about that.
Tags: Buying a used car, cars, Music, Music demo, Music recording, Recording studio, Unsigned bands
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Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
After all the sporting excitement over the last few weeks it’s nice to have a bit of a break and think about something else for a change. I’ve got a lot of work on in the studio this week and I’m looking forward to really getting into it. A local band are in for three days recording their first demo and I love the excitement and enthusiasm that brings – they’re so full of optimism and it reminds me of what I was like when I first started in this game. I must be getting old and jaded now.
On Thursday afternoon a mate and I are heading out to look at some second hand cars. We’re planning to get to about six or seven different places so it’s going to be busy, but good fun hopefully. We’ll be looking for him mainly as he’s in desperate need of a run around – he got shunted from behind last week, which wrote his car off, and he needs to get back on the road as soon as possible. I’ll be looking at cars for me, as ever – I still haven’t found the right model for me yet and I’m determined to get the perfect one, and that’s only going to happen if I keep looking. One day, you never know, I might come back from a trip like this having actually bought a car. There seems to be about as much chance of that at the moment as there is of me getting a sporting prediction right.
Tags: Buying a used car, cars, Manchester, Music, Music recording, Recording studio, Unsigned bands
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Thursday, July 5th, 2012
I’ve not watched as much sport as I thought I would this week. I have kept an eye on Andy Murray’s scores at Wimbledon and I’m pleased he’s in the semi final tomorrow but I’ve not felt the need to watch every point, like I have in the past. Likewise the cycling – it is only the first week of the Tour de France and the race won’t be decided yet but I normally watch a lot more than I have been. Maybe all the sport this summer has just got too much for me – and we haven’t even got to the Olympics yet.
Still, it means I’ve had a bit of free time to do some other things. Work was good this week, recording a single for a signed band and doing some mastering work on one of their old albums that they weren’t happy with. I’ve also had a big booking for most of September. It came straight from a record company, which is quite unusual, and they didn’t give many details other than they wanted to record an album. I reckon it could either be a newly signed band they want to get to work as soon as possible or maybe a secret project from an established group. We’ll see – you never know, I might have Justin Bieber in here recording his next album.
I’m winding down for the weekend now really – a bit of sorting out in the studio tomorrow and I guess I will be watching the tennis. Can Andy Murray make it to a Wimbledon final? We’ll find out soon.
Tags: Andy Murray, Bradley Wiggins, Justin Bieber, Music, Music recording, Tour de France, Wimbledon
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Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
If Rafael Nadal was reading this blog, I’m pretty sure he’d want a word with me about jinxing his Wimbledon chances. Likewise Germany and Portugal in Euro 2012 – neither of them even reached the final so it shows how good my sporting predictions are. If you are reading this Nadal, Germany and Portugal, I’m sorry. Still, it’s a good job I didn’t put any money on it.
I watched a bit of the Euro 2012 final but didn’t find myself as interested in it as I was the rest of the tournament. Spain put me off I think but it turns out it was a decent display in the end – how could it not be with four goals? They deserved it undoubtedly but some of their play in the tournament put me off a bit – they shut the game down and make it boring at times, which isn’t much fun to watch as a neutral. I was out in town at the time anyway, doing a bit of a tour of the best bars in Manchester with the lads, so we saw bits and pieces.
Nadal getting knocked out of Wimbledon was a bit of a shock, obviously. Again, I watched some highlights and couldn’t believe the level his opponent, Lukas Rosol, was playing at. He just seemed to be hitting the ball without any fear or nerves and they just kept landing in for him. Amazing – although it was obviously a one off as he crashed out in his next game, losing in straight sets.
I’ve got a standard sort of week ahead – four days in the studio, a few things to sort out, planning to go and see some cars next week, and keeping up with Andy Murray at Wimbledon and the Tour de France. As I write this we still have a chance of a Brit doing well in both the cycling and tennis – let’s hope it stays that way.
Tags: Andy Murray, Euro 2012, Football predictions, Manchester bars, Rafael Nadal, Tour de France, Wimbledon
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