“Having carried on with an instrument after childhood recorder classes, it is almost a musician’s duty to declare that they were surrounded by music growing up. It is here, like many others that I admit I did not pack my musical suitcase myself, it was of course my parents and older siblings that did the duty.”
“Growing up, I was lucky enough to have music serving a soundtrack to most of my younger life. Queen, Greatest Hits One on an early trip to France, Womack and Womack battling for airspace against the hoover and Alanis Morissette enticing a guilty snigger in the back of the car for me and a host of other late ’80s kids. We were stood firmly in the lobby of the digital age and my first solo expedition into a record shop saw me leaving with a CD in hand, Big Willie Style no less.
At home however, my older brother had already been out and about on the Manchester DJ scene before I was even thought about. Accordingly, it was through him that I first came into contact with the physical vinyl and it was to remain in his hands until I was old enough to buy my own. Early on, in my presence, the record was solely an item to be fetishised and collected by DJs, to be blended, mixed and occasionally scratched but it was the CD, easy enough to drop into my school blazer pocket, that became the weapon of choice in forming musical allegiances in my early teens.
Sitting at the drums at around 13, I really started to listen to music seriously and it didn’t take long for me to properly discover the beauty of vinyl and the enthusiasm my brother had shown for it and he soon kitted me out with a turntable and a few notable cast offs. From here, I split my paper round wage between vinyl, drums, and lemon bons bons in equal measure and committed to watching Wayne’s World at least twice a week.
As I fell into Clockwork Radio in my Uni years—we began living out of the same house and before long, the turntable was set up. It’s increasingly often we sit down, drop the needle towards the LP, wait for the crackle, pass around the sleeve, discuss the players, the recording, the artwork, and really soak up all aspects of the statement a record makes. By its very nature, it becomes a collective experience rather than the individual ingestion that’s become so characteristic of our youtube generation.
Off the back of a few years of writing, touring, and recording, we went into the studio recently to cut our debut album and we were adamant it was going to be pressed on vinyl. The recording process was simple: 2 days in one of the best sounding live rooms around (80 Hertz Studios, Manchester), a Neve console, and the most friendly audio nerd I’ve ever met in the form of George Atkins. That old school approach resulted in a really organic sounding record and we couldn’t think of a better medium for conveying the sound we captured in the studio.
Unashamedly, we are also drawn in by the ‘cool’ of the 12”. Since a tour in Denmark, and seeing all the great sleeve designs by Mike Højgaard for The Liberty Balance, Kristian Harting, and Mads Beldring et al, the tangible qualities of the LP just will not be beaten. Not even with a stick. Plus, vinyl seems to capture well the essence of the band.
We’ve evolved to be all about shared experience; from the live shows to hand-making our merchandise and sleeping on fans floors. No Man Is An Island is a result of these encounters and in the name of coherence, we want to give people the opportunity to share in the event of listening to our music, allowing them to engage actively in the communal way we do whilst back at the ranch.
Simply, nothing has seriously challenged the analogue, audio-hug of the LP and that, makes for the most exciting element of our release.”
—Dan
Clockwork Radio debut album No Man Is An Island, is released 8th September 2014 via Poly Tune.
