The Foulness! The Stench! (Original Demo)

All instruments – Matt

Recorded 2006

This is the demo for the instrumental piece that appeared on the 3rd Antique Seeking Nuns EP 'Careful! It’s Tepid'.

Anything You Want (Instrumental)

Joff Winks – Guitar
Matt Baber – Rhodes
Brad Waisman – Bass
Paul Mallyon – Drums

Recorded May 2008

This is the backing track, with a few additional overdubs, that later turned into Diving Bell. The title was something Joff used to sing at gigs when “anything you want” was the only fixed lyric. Everything else would be made up on the night! The final vocals would be written around two years later!

The View Part 2 (Original Demo)

Matt – Keys, Guitar, Drum Machine
Andrew Booker– Drums

Recorded 2010 & 2015 (Drums)

This is Matt’s 2010 demo of the song from 'Now We Have Power' but with additional drumming from Andy who Matt asked to help in figuring out ways that the drums could blend with the drum machine pattern.

In the end, we ditched that drum machine entirely for something created on a Yamaha CS-80, and by the time we actually recorded the album properly Paul was back on drums. So, it’s nice to hear this alternate version with a different approach.

The sound effects were going to be a larger part of the record than they ultimately became, with the exception of Speech Day. There’s a much earlier demo of this song on a cassette dating back to 2003.

Tonic For the Snoring (Original Demo)

Joff – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drum Programming
Matt – Keys

Recorded 2008

This is basically Joff’s demo of the song with additional keyboard work from Matt. A slightly more electronic vibe than the finished Diving Bell special edition version.

Marimba Jam

Joff – Guitar
Matt – Rhodes, Synth, Marimba Programming
Paul – Drums, Bass

Recorded June 2008

Sometimes when Brad went off on tour it would be tricky for us to do a full rehearsal of our normal songs. So, occasionally the trio would gather and just improvise. On this occasion, Matt set up a marimba pattern on the sequencer and we improvised this little piece. There are a couple of versions of us doing this – this one was edited in 2019 by Matt to give it a bit of structure with a few Teo Macero like splices!

Dark Ages (Original Demo)

Joff – Guitar
Matt – Keys
Brad – Bass
Paul – Drums

Recorded 2005

And then when Brad was back in the country we’d all pile into Paul’s soundproofed shed at the bottom of his garden and record the latest tracks.

“Shed Benteens” as we called it was perhaps only fractionally bigger than a garden shed and would rapidly run out of oxygen the longer we played! But we had many a fun day hauled up inside, bashing away.

Dark Ages (Original Demo)

Joff – Guitar
Matt – Keys
Brad – Bass
Paul – Drums

Recorded 2005

And then when Brad was back in the country we’d all pile into Paul’s soundproofed shed at the bottom of his garden and record the latest tracks.

“Shed Benteens” as we called it was perhaps only fractionally bigger than a garden shed and would rapidly run out of oxygen the longer we played! But we had many a fun day hauled up inside, bashing away.

Blues Tune (Demo Excerpt)

Matt – All instruments

Recorded 2012

A short outtake from an unused song idea around the time of 'The Weight of the World'. The title refers to an earlier section of the song that sort of had a bluesy riff…kind of.

Cartoon Friends (Acoustic Version)

Joff – Guitar, Vocals
Matt – Rhodes, Bass Synth
Paul – Acoustic Guitar

Recorded summer 2005

We have often gone out in a stripped-back acoustic format over the years. It’s really easy and the songs sound great when rearranged.

This dates from just before we recorded the 'Songs For Days' album. This song of Joff’s was a front runner for being on the album but when it came to eventually make 'Songs For Days' for some reason we never recorded it. There is a full band demo version on the compilation album 'What We Ask is Where We Begin'.

From The Ground Up (Original Demo)

Joff – Guitars
Matt – Keys & Sequencer
Brad – Bass
Paul – Drums

Recorded Sep 2011

One of the last recordings we made with Paul before he left the band.

This is completely live in the rehearsal room. All of the extra keys and electronic percussion in the final section are triggered in real-time from the Korg Trinity sequencer, which meant we had to keep our fingers crossed that we hadn’t sped up too much by the time Matt hit the sequencer button! Always worthy of note is Brad’s gloriously mutant bass tone towards the end.

Chat Show (Duo Version)

Joff – Guitars & Vocals
Matt – Keys

Recorded 2003

This takes us way back to almost the beginning. Joff and Matt set up in the basement studio of Mike de Albuquerque in Oxford, recording an early version of a song that would eventually appear twelve years later on 'Now We Have Light'.

There are a few more songs from this session that might appear in future volumes.

Double Egg (Instrumental)

Joff – Guitar
Matt – Rhodes & Synth
Brad – Bass
Paul – Drums

Recorded April 2004

The very first session that the quartet played. We recorded the entire Double Egg EP in a single day at Dungeon Studios with Richard Haines engineering.

Apple Pie (Solo Version)

Joff – Guitar

Recorded 2003

A more elaborate version can be found on 'What We Ask is Where We Begin', but this presents Joff’s original solo rendition of the piece.