I am always a little apprehensive about recording new Ginkgo artists, partly because I don’t know them and partly because I worry my game is up, they’ll see me as I am, a fraud, a scheister who can’t get it together.

Maybe it’s all because I am Danish.

The Nextmen turned up on my doorstep, all 3 of them. 2 blokes and a girl, I figured, in a fight against me they would definately win but since we were here to make music I quickly forgot about that.

They were wildly enthusiastic and friendly, me a little nervous. I made them a cup of tea and after disposing of the wet tea bags in the bread container I showed them the flat. They walked straight into the living room and said hello to my wife Mel who made fun of their names and asked them if they were American (good to have a funny wife, it creates an easy vibe).

Time to make music and was blown away by their level of musicianship. We recorded all 3 of them at the same time live in my bedroom (idea for album title: live from the bedroom!!!) Brad on Fender Rhodes, Dominic on acoustic guitar and Zarif lead vocals. We had some problems with the Fender Rhodes, it did’nt cut through properly but we went ahead with the recording anyway, my attitude was a bit like, “hey it’s rock’n'roll” and I was keen to get something recorded.  They nailed the track first take and after fixing a few rhodes parts afterwards it was time for another cup of tea. I had a good chat with Brad (chat with Brad is a good rhyme), he and Dominic are also producers. Sometimes putting 3 producers in the same room can be a recipe for disaster and again I was amazed how well we were able to communicate without the typical schoolyard competition, I really liked all 3 of them a lot. Zarif is an incredible vocalist and in her field probably one of the best I’ve worked with.

And so it was time to finish, they left and I cleared up. It took me 3 hours to set up for the session and one hour to take it all down. Weird how it seems easier to undo something than to do it - it took several years to build the twin towers and a couple of hours to tear them down which is actually quicker than it took for me to setup my studio for the Nextmen.

On Friday I am going to my good friend Andreas’ studio to put the rhodes through a guitar amp and record it back into the track, then off to have a drink.

Hope this was interesting.