Andrew Kay: Cook it!
Last week I alluded to my day in the recording studio, which was something of an exaggeration as it was in fact only a morning. The whole story started like this:
I have regular meetings with the boss Mr Smith. Not as you might expect in an office or a boardroom, no, none of that old school nonsense for us. Our meeting place of choice is the Roedean Café where we indulge in breakfast. Breakfast meetings are of course the fashionable choice for all high-flyers, although I think they choose The Ritz or somewhere equally flashy. We like mugs of tea and a bit of a sausage and egg fest.
It was at one such meeting that Bill and I got around to discussing my TV programmes for the launch of Latest TV this summer. Fully aware of how much filming I have been doing in the Netherlands and beyond he was concerned that I had appropriate music for both.
It was agreed that I would brief and commission something for ICEx and he suggested a young composer called Sian Elizabeth Selway. This I have done and I declare now that she is quite, quite brilliant. Her main theme reflects my brief beautifully and the mood versions that she has created to suit all my purposes are truly inspired. Impressed? Too right I am!
My second food programme will be called Cook It! and will be about cooking at home. When asked to describe it I said it was a hybrid, like Delia meets Top Gear. Now what could be more fun than that? Well, I can now tell you, my day at the studio comes pretty close!
Bill suggested that I go away and write a lyric for a theme song and that he would write the music. I went away and thought about it and decided – why not?!
A few hours later the job was done and I emailed him my words with the suggestion that it was a bit rock ’n’ roll with a Jerry Lee Lewis vibe. I knew that would appeal to him.
A week later he called to say he had created a tune and would I like to go over to him and hear it. I was nervous, I mean, I’m not a song writer, but then again 15 years ago I wasn’t a writer at all. We met early, and over mugs of tea at his home he played it through. I loved it, it was exactly what I had in mind.
The next job was to record it in the studio with music maestro Julian Tardo, what I hadn’t counted on was having to sing it myself. Bill assured me it was easy and all I had to do was record a guide track, we would get a pro in to sing it for the real version. With that in mind I relaxed and, on the day I went in and gave it my best.
Hours later Julian sent me a sound file and, on my phone I gave it a listen. Well I was amazed, he had turned our tune into a full blown rocky wonder and as for my voice, far more choir boy than rocker normally, he had made me sound like a ‘50s leather-jacketed belter.
“I played it to a friend and his words were pretty unrepeatable but ended with the following – ‘Well, you don’t sound like that at Lucky Voice!’”
I played it to a friend and his words were pretty unrepeatable but ended with the following – “Well, you don’t sound like that at Lucky Voice!” and maybe I don’t, but I will on Cook It! when it hits your TV screens on Channel 8 this summer.
If you want to hear it then come down to Hove Lawns for the food festival on Good Friday and Saturday where I host the Live Food Show. I will be playing it throughout the day and talking about the programme and how you can get involved.
Follow me: @latestandrew
