Mcalmont & Butler

Bernard: All the Smiths performances. I had all their performances on tape, and knew all the guitars they'd used on which song, what they were wearing, everything. I remember New Order as well, and that was really funny because they always insisted on doing it live, which you can do now, but in the 80's they were given a hard time for doing it, and they always sounded shocking! But I always thought it was really impressive that they made the effort.<br>David: There was a lot of music about at the time, but my mother was really fond of Tony Bennett, so I guess that was really the first time I got into the idea of male expression. And Art Garfunkel's 'I only have eyes for you' in 1975 was a favourite and still is.

Bernard: Very musical reasons really. The music I was making seemed to be turning in that direction and suggesting David's voice. Then I remembered I hadn't spoken to him in 7 years, so I'd better deal with that! I just called him up and said here's a load of songs, if you like them they're yours. If you don't, don't worry about it. There wasn't really any chit-chat about anything else. And within a week, we were working on the songs. 'Falling' was one of the first songs we wrote. It was the first one that came out fresh once we were together. It was quite deliberate that I was trying to write something that was specific to what I thought 'McAlmont & Butler' was. I always thought of 'McAlmont & Butler' as a thing, rather than just 2 people, or 2 solo artists. We wanted it to be more of a trade mark. We see it as something very singular that we do together. 'Falling' represents all those things really - a very singular sound.

David: Well the press is entertaining, but eminently forgettable unless you decide to keep a scrapbook which we don't. The most important thing for us is that we were big enough to get over anything that may have been exchanged then. We prefer to leave it at that, and often what happens is that the press just run with the story they want to anyway. But for us, we're back together, we've made a stunning record, and there's everything to look forward to.<br>Bernard: It's a positive thing. We really don't care about talking about the past. We don't want to hide it, we just think it is dull. We feel it's really inspiring to say that you can put all this nonsense to one side and create what you really want which is this positive and uplifting record.

Bernard: It's similar in direction, but the sound isn't completely representative of the whole record, it's quite diverse. I think that's good. The songs sound good together. It's a combination of David's voice and what we actually do within the song-writing. It's not just about what you hear, it's the feeling you get from a record. So many records, particularly dance and rock, are very linear in their approach. I'm much more interested in making things as colourful as possible.

David: It varies depending on how far Bernard goes with a piece of music. Sometimes I add to what he has done or sometimes I make suggestions as to what I think we should write. It's never the same which I think is why we have such variety. With 'Falling' for example, it was pretty much finished and we just worked on the words together.<br>Bernard: The ideal is that there is no ego within it and that the song rules everything. All that matters is what comes out of the speakers and that's what we're very focussed on. It doesn't matter how you get there or who does it, just that it sounds great. It's a very unselfish way of making music.

Bernard: With regard to what I wanted to get out of Dave's voice there's Dave Gaudin's Deep Soul which is in 3 volumes. They're compilations of old soul records, and the name implies that they're trying to see how much they can get out of a soul voice - how far a voice can go beyond purely singing.<br>David: I've always cared about the words of a song, and how they are sung, so Dionne Warwick singing the Baccharach and David song 'Books' is really important to me. I'm amazed what Burt Baccharach created musically. I really like Joni Mitchell as well as a lyricist - song-writing as a diary of life. That's how I write lyrics. Also anything by Stevie Wonder in the 70's, favourites being Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions

Bernard: Jack Nitzsche who arranged for the Rolling Stonesand Neil Young, and worked with Phil Spector. He was very diverse, eccentric and emotional, and he has influenced me as an arranger.