Almost as soon as Dan and Dave started playing their ukuleles, they started coming up with tunes. The general process behind this is: Dave comes up with the rhythm part, records it, emails the tune to Dan who then adds a jaunty lead line over the top and emails it back.
Tracey's come up with some stonking tunes too, but the process there is somewhat different. She turns up at a rehearsal, says something along the lines of: "I've got a new tune, but it's rubbish" and then proceeds to play something which isn't.
Have a listen:
THE RICHWOODS - WHALEY'S KITCHEN, July 25th 2009
Dan's kitchen became a recording studio again and you can listen to the tracks we recorded by clicking on the links below. There're a few oldies in there that we zipped through for sound level purposes, along with some stonking new stuff. Enjoy.
The Red Wine Incident click here
Yee Haw click here
Pocketful Of Stones click here
Grinding Gears click here
Ground Loop Isolator click here
Another Saturday Night click here
Crikey click here
And we re-recorded:
Snow On The Sea here
I Was Dave Brubeck's Neighbour here
Bag Of Hats here
THE RICHWOODS - 2009
For Pocketful Of Stones click here
For Grinding Gears click here
For Wide Open Space click here
For The Red Wine Incident click here
For Another Saturday Night click here
THE RICHWOODS LIVE AT SCALEDOWN 28th NOVEMBER 2008
Recorded by Andy Coules. Here it is in its entirety: here
A word of warning. There's quite a lot of bad language on this as well as a significant amount of faffing around between being introduced and the performance actually starting. One day, Dave will get round to editing the original recording.
WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS click here
Happy Christmas 2008 from TheRichwoods.
WHALEY'S KITCHEN SESSIONS: 1st August 2008
We gathered around a single USB mic in Dan's kitchen and recorded some new versions of older stuff along with a new tune (bearing the wistful, elegant title of Piss and Curry) from Tracey. Also along for the fun and games was Clive on his rather elegant cavaquinho. Listen to the results of a superb evening by clicking on the links below.
Bag Of Hats
I Was Dave Brubeck's Neighbour
George Formby Hootenanny
Piss and Curry
Tracey: 'This one was 'inspired' by the lodger from hell. Things had been going downhill pretty much from the moment my lodger arrived and a month later I woke up on a Sunday morning, vaguely aware that he had arrived home very late the previous night. I stumbled half-asleep into my bathroom and stepped in a puddle of wee on the floor. This, you would think, was bad enough, but I then went into the kitchen for something to mop it up with and skidded on some chicken curry that was all over the floor, and the fridge, and the walls. I am at a loss to put my feelings about this into words, so here's a song instead - I'm not sure it's really screaming 'bastard!' though.'
Snow On The Sea
Stabbing The Cat
Uke Crazy Mother
ORIGINAL DEMOS - FEBRUARY 2008 - JUNE 2008
George Formby Hootenanny : click here
Tell someone you play a ukulele and the reaction, generally, is laughter and a bad impression of George Formby singing When I'm Cleaning Windows. Actually, though, Mr Formby generally played a banjo-uke. It's called George Formby Hootenanny nonetheless for no other reason than it's a good title.
I Was Dave Brubeck's Neighbour : click here
Dave says: "I wasn't his neighbour. But I did try to do a Take Five-ish type tune. It didn't really work out so I kept the chords and did this instead. When we played this live recently, everyone tittered at the title, which I'd never thought was particularly funny. Which goes to show that I'm no judge of anything."
Uke Crazy Mother : click here
Dave again: "The first one I ever wrote and sent to Dan, after he'd sent me one of his and I couldn't think of a lead line to play over the top. The title says it all - not that my Mum likes ukuleles to an excessive degree, but that once I'd bought a ukulele I discovered how bloody addictive they are."
Yee Haw : click here
'I'm coming up with a three chord hillbilly foot-tapper,' announced Dave to Dan in an email one morning. He didn't. It's not hillbilly, but it's got three chords (G, C and D7 if you want to play along) and it's definitely a foot-tapper.
Bag Of Hats : click here
The first tune that Dan composed on the ukulele and recorded originally as Uku-Whaley. The current title is a reference to the cause of a bizarre accident that led to Dan scratching the cornea of his eye. As opposed to the cornea in his knee, of course. You can hear the original version by visiting www.danwhaley.co.uk/ and heading for the downloads page. We would also recommend that you take the time to have a good look round the rest of Dan's highly entertaining and informative site.
Yo Mama : click here
Dan did the rhythm part and the lead line and sent it to Dave, who responded by wishing that he'd thought of it first.
Pipe Cleaner : click here
Dave: 'I really don't think too long and hard about titles. I called this one Pipe Cleaner simply because it was the first thing I thought of after I'd recorded it. It has no significance whatsoever. But for some reason, it fits. But I'd probably be saying that even if I'd called it Bum Fluff.'
Terence Rigby : click here
Again, no significance whatsoever. Terence Rigby is the actor at the beginning of Get Carter who says 'We don't want you going up The North, Jack,' to Michael Caine. But he's done loads of other stuff too.
Big Frog : click here
Dave was attempting to come up with something vaguely Flamenco-ish, having been switched on to the delights of Rodrigo y Gabriela. It sort of worked.
One Thirty-Three And Counting : click here
Dave: 'I love the Herman's Hermits recording (their original one, not the subsequent re-recordings which are an insult) of Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter. So I learned the chords for the intro and verse, changed the key and took a few out and came up with this. When I looked up at the end of recording my bit, I noticed the counter was at 1' 33". Hence the title.
Snow On The Sea : click here
Tracey: 'So my original inspiration for this masterpiece was waking up on a Sunday in March (was it?) and finding 3 inches of snow outside. It doesn't often snow in Brighton and I find it quite odd that it snows on the beach. The song is supposed to reflect the calmness of the falling snow vs. the (slightly) crashing waves of the sea. I sound like an arse.'
Let's Get Out Of It : click here
Dave: 'Do The Richwoods really need another tune that has the F and C7 chords in it? No. But just in case, here it is.'
Stabbing The Cat : click here
Dan: 'This one was penned while I was lounging around the pool in Majorca. The title is of course a euphemism for relaxing in a gentlemanly way, which is not, I hasten to add, what I was doing whilst lounging around the pool. Oh no, in fact to quote George Formby, I was sitting there with my little ukulele in my hand...'
Crikey : click here
Dave: 'The lead line that Dan came up with has a bit in it that's very reminiscent of a Bobby Vee song, but I can't recall the title. Crikey is just too good a word not to use as a song title.'
Ground Loop Isolator : click here
Dan: 'A Ground Loop Isolator is an obscure piece of sound equipment used by Andy Coules, the highly talented recording engineer and one of my co-curators at Scaledown. But what, you may ask, does one use a Ground Loop Isolator for? Alas I have absolutely no idea, as despite Andy's repeated attempts to explain to me what it does, it just won't stick. Still, I like the sound of it, hence I named this song after it.'
Cheesecake : click here
Tracey: 'This song is dedicated to a really amazing piece of cheesecake I experienced a couple of months ago in Boston (US). I had eaten a giant meal beforehand, so I had half of it that evening and the rest for breakfast the next morning. Stunning.'
Uke-Oh Oh No : click here
