Bootprints
One of the most fun days in the middle of the most fun periods I’ve ever spent in a recording studio was the day we recorded Bootprints for King Creosote’s KC Rules OK album. It’s a great song anyway but I think the Earlies brought something else to it. It starts with the cassette demo of the tune that Kenny brought in for us to hear, all warped and oozing lo-fi charm, before Richard Young’s irresistible Latin groove kicks in. I’m not sure where Richard lifted this one from but it’s not the obvious choice that a lesser drummer would’ve gone for. We’d brought in a selection of Giles’ children’s toys for various tracks in the sessions and so in with the shakers there are some plastic chicks that made a chirping sound. Kenny left a massive empty chunk for us to fill in the middle of the song, asking if I could do a bastardized version of the melody which is where that very seaside organ kicks in. There’s a delightful vibraphone solo from Richard before Gaz and Nicky’s call and answer section between the trombone and baritone sax. It’s all so bloody charming, capped off with Tom Knott’s mariachi trumpets at the end.
It was always fun to play live which we did with various line-ups over the years. I was thrilled to recently find this one from 2010. We hadn’t seen Kenny for a few years and Marc Riley phoned asking if Richard, Nathan and I would join in on a King Creosote session. We had a damn good time and some kindly soul recorded it…