Music
“All you have to do is learn a good dance”
This song was born from a riff i had in the No Hope In New Jersey days. It reemerged when me and Dave went into the studio many years later and made a recording of it at Wong Studios. It got played on BBC Introducing, but i always thought it could be improved upon, so years later i brought it into the studio at Far Heath and me, Dave and Karl recorded it again. I wanted to make it more concise and punchy. I showed the song to my uncle and he said “Andy where’s the guitar solo”, so i went back in the studio and did a solo.
The song eventually made it onto the Fresh On The Net LP.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and added dropped D bass in chorus by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by David Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and Mastered by Angus Wallace at Far Heath
“If you could take me back to 1985”
I wrote this song on a cruise ship. I did a short fill in contract. Luckily i had my own cabin and started writing this song. It was inspired by watching the season 1 of Cobra Kai and it’s soundtrack of 80s rock music. I wanted to do a guitar solo like Steve Lukather and a song with a similar vibe to Beat It.
I originally went to Karl’s house and we recorded the drums at his, but in his mind it was only a demo. I did everything else at mine.
I thought the song had potential so i sent my stems over to my mate Ziggy Sullivan, a very talented musician and producer. I thought nothing of it, then a few months he sent me a rough mix with a couple of neat edits. I thought it was great. He then suggested changing my original chorus lyrics to revolve around the word 1985, as this would suit the 80s feel of the track. I rerecorded the chorus vocal and altered the melody abit. Ziggy really knows how to catch and plant a hook.
The song got played on BBC Introducing with Dean Jackson.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt and Ziggy Sullivan
Vocals, backing vocals, bass and guitar by Andrew Van Garratt
Drums by Karl Thompson
Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Effects and Production by Ziggy Sullivin
I heard John Lennon was inspired by The Tibetan Book Of The Dead while he was writing Tomorrow Never Knows. So i started to delve into the book and started writing songs. I was also listening to The Prodigy at the time. I wrote about 10 songs and this one originally was called Hey, Between The Living, but layer i changed it “Hey, Into The Void’. Originally Tomorrow Never Knows was called “The Void”.
The song was featured on The Fresh On The Net LP, Tom Robinson’s BBC Introducing Mixtape and became a Northampton BBC Introducing track of the week on Jan 13th 2020
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars, bass and original drum programming by Andrew Van Garratt
Guitars, drum programming and production by Stumagru
Mastered by Angus Wallace
“But those days we gave”
This song was a look back at when i was in No Hope In New Jersey. We were signed and on the brink of making it. Essentially we didn’t and got dropped. The song was musically inspired by The Smiths , Neil Young and The Super Furry Animals. The song became a Leicester BBC Music Introducing track of the week and was played each morning for one week on the Ben Jackson Morning Show back in May 2018.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and piano by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by David Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and mastered by Angus Wallace
“One fine day, I am told it wasn’t mean’t to be”
The “One Fine Day” is the day we got dropped by Atlantic. At the time i didn’t realise the impact it would have. I thought, i will get signed again no problem. But it all unravelled and my life in Manchester came to an end.
The song was inspired by mid 60s jangly pop. The Beatles, The Byrds and The Who. This song also became a Leicester BBC Music Introducing track of the week and was played each morning for one week on the Ben Jackson Morning Show back in Oct 2018.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and piano by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by David Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and mastered by Angus Wallace
“Internal Validation”
The seeds of the chorus came from an idea i had in No Hope In New Jersey. But the song got completely changed around. I see the song as a mix of Fire by Kasabian and Lithium by Nirvana.
The song was featured on Northampton BBC Introducing.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by David Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and mastered by Angus Wallace
“Learn to form defence”
At the time of writing this song i was teaching Blackbird by The Beatles and started to experiment with those sort of chord voicing. The song eventually became very much like The Left Bank and The Kinks. Lyrically i was introduced to the concept of self actualisation. For too many years i find we seek constant approval of what we are doing by other people. With this song i was trying to remove that.
The song got played by Dean Jackson on Leicester’s BBC Introducing. He also mentioned the song when he introduced the song 1985 a few months later. I think he liked it
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars, acoustic guitars and keyboards by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by David Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and mastered by Angus Wallace
“Look at life from another lense”
I had just bought Addictive Drums to write demos with. The default beat was a funk beat. So i started with that. I was also inspired by the song Colours by Beck. The song came in one evening after teaching guitar on a Monday evening. The song is about looking at life through another lense. I eventually went to Stumagro’s studio up in Castleford and we recorded the song there. We did it all in a day. The song became BBC Radio Leicester track of the week on Jan 20th 2020. I was invited into the studio and had an interview with Ben Jackson on his morning show. Subsequently the song got played each morning of that week.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and bass by Andrew Van Garratt
Production and extra ideas by Stu Magru
Mastered by Angus Wallace
“Hey Yeah”
A last minute addition to the album. This song is recalling memories of times in the university cafeteria. I have memories of the drama students using the cafeteria as a platform to perform also. Everybody got to know there business even if we didn’t want to know.
I was asked by BBC Radio Leicester to record a cover version of SkyFall by Adele for a Xmas show they had planned. So we went back in the studio and recorded my arrangement of the song. I upped the tempo and added a few choice guitar solos, Karl said seeing that we are here lets record another song. Musically the song was influenced by The Vines.
The song featured on Stu Reeves HFM Rock Show, Stu’s been a great supporter of ours.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitar and bass by Andrew Van Garratt
Drums by Karl Thompson
Produced and mastered by Angus Wallace
“Do you have a problem?”
The seeds of this song grew from a conversation i heard between 2 motorist’s. They were at a gridlock. I heard the phrase’s “Do you have a problem?” and “I am serious”. I thought i would write a song using those lines. Tom Robinson from BBC6 music had written a nice quote about “ Hey, Into The Void”, so i thought i would attempt another drums and bass tune.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals, guitars and bass by Andrew Van Garratt
Production and extra ideas by Stu Magru
Mastered by Angus Wallace
“Keep the darkness at bay”
I am heavily effected by the changes of the season, so i take note of the change. The genesis of this song came to me on the morning of the photo shoot i did for the album cover of Work Of Fiction. I was staying in a Air BnB in Manchester.
Musically i wanted to combine the doom and gloom of Winter in the verse’s with abit more optimism in the choruses. A mix of Black Sabbath, The Beatles and Nirvana.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals and guitars by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by Dave Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Engineered by Angus Wallace
Production, edit, extra instruments, effects, backing vocals and final mix by Ziggy Sullivin
“One day i hope to know”
I was listening to some of John Lennon’s solo material and was interested in a rising chord pattern he used which had an augmented chord as a passing chord. While i was writing the song i had a photo of the grandfather i never knew looking at me. I wondered if he approved of the way i had lived my life so far.
I sent over the original stem’s to Ziggy and we shortened the song and this gave it more compact. He likened the song to some Jeff Lynn’s solo material and ELO. Jeff Lynn also helped produce Free A Bird and Real Love, some old John Lennon demos. So musically Ziggy spotted where i was coming from. He added some great string parts, backing vocals and played piano on the song.
Credits
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Vocals and guitars by Andrew Van Garratt
Bass by Dave Dhonue
Drums by Karl Thompson
Engineered by Angus Wallace
Production, edit, extra instruments, effects, backing vocals and final mix by Ziggy Sullivin
I wanted to write a piece of music like Beethoven’s 2nd movement in his 7th Symphony. I have always admired Beethoven but always felt intimidated to write music inspired by him. I sat down and finished this piece of music one Friday evening with my synth keyboard. I sent over the stem track to StuMagro and he added some great production to the track
Originally i titled the piece Wisdom Both Ways but thought it needed a more poignant title. I thought the piece sounded romantic so thought Romance should be in the title as I had heard the song “Goodbye To Romance” by Ozzy Osbourne earlier in the day. The piece was my first attempt at an orchestrated filmic piece so deserved the title of Opus 1.
Credits:
Song by Andrew Van Garratt
Keyboards by Andrew Van Garratt
Production by Stumagru
Mastered by Angus Wallace
Music
When you feel you can’t go on
When you feel your times gone wrong
Even when you’ve tried so hard
Even when you know its gone
Days when life can bring you down
Now you let it come around
Now you say you can be sure
You say you can not take much more
One Fine Day
I am told it wasn’t meant to be
One Fine Day
I found I am not them but like me.
Now i know I am rest assured
Now I know your getting bored
When theres nothing left to say
Why don’t you say it anyway
One Fine Day
I am told it wasn’t meant to be
One Fine Day
I found I am not them but like me.
There will always be a little hole in my heart, it shows
There will always be, regret inside me will it go
When you feel you can’t go on
When you feel your lifes gone wrong
Gone wrong
Gone wrong
Music
Don’t look at me
Don’t talk to me
We should be fine
Avoid my sign
Everywhere i want too take a walk
Everytime your there
If we could take it back to 1985
If we could take it back to when i felt alive
If we could take back when time was on our side
So take me back to life in 1985
That was fun Was that fun
Don’t flick my face
My mind displaced
Aggressive stance
With just one dance
Everywhere i want too take a walk
Everytime your there
If we could take it back to 1985
If we could take it back to when i felt alive
If we could take back when time was on our side
So take me back to life in 1985
That was fun Was that fun
Deny its wrong you can see
It won’t be long
Till you leave
Everywhere i want too take a walk
Everytime your there
If we could take it back to 1985
If we could take it back to when i felt alive
If we could take back when time was on our side
So take me back to life in 1985
That was fun
That was fun
Was that fun
—
Credits:
Written by Andrew Van Garratt and Ziggy Sullivan
Vocals, Guitars and Bass by Andrew Van Garratt
Synths and Backing Vocals by Ziggy Sullivan
Drums by Karl Thompson
Engineered by Andrew Van Garratt, Karl Thompson and Ziggy Sullivan
Produced by Ziggy Sullivan
Artwork by Matt Squibbs
Music
‘Complexity, but now there’s clarity’
When I first walked into Far Heath studios I noticed a gold record was on the wall by The Fall. I always liked The Fall and thought it was a good omen, as there are elements of The Fall in this song.
Inspiration came when I was working on a TV show. I overheard a conversation when I was in the dressing room. A lot of words were being uttered but nothing was actually being said. It was very early in the morning and I had been up since 3 a.m., and I felt ‘Nothing Here Is Real’. When I sang the phrase I think it stuck because it reminded me of the words ‘nothing is real’ from ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ by the Beatles.
‘Down and out I couldn’t stay, live to fight another day’
The song was born from a riff, but a riff which sounded very familiar. I was concerned about copyright so I phoned the MU who suggested I change it. Unfortunately, we had the studio booked the next day, so I had to come up with a new opening riff, sharpish. I came up with five, but decided to stay with the simplest. I think it works well.
‘I think I am going to lose my mind’
The opening riff was inspired by ‘Foxy Lady’ by Jimi Hendrix, but later modified. The theme is a doomed relationship. I was working at The Met pub in Manchester. I really liked this girl who always looked at me with a sweet smile. We were meant to meet up, but she texted me, saying she had just gone to France. I told my flatmate and he said, ‘She’s lying to you,’ so I responded, in effect, ‘Likely story!’ and the relationship ended there and then. I later heard that she had gone to France and that she did like me. I was such a fool, so ‘I Wish’ things had turned out differently.
‘Is history based upon a lie, the one they showed us from the sky?’
I wanted to write a song like Neil Young. His best songs give me the feeling that he finds a great idea and wants to share it with you to help your day and perspective on life. I have about seven of his albums; the ones I particularly love are Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and After The Gold Rush.
The song was inspired when I met a group of people, one of whom, I could tell, had made up their mind about me and didn’t like me before I even spoke. I suppose the song is about predetermined judgement: prejudice.
‘Seeking some serenity, sowing tears placed in the sea’
I always loved the Blur song ‘Tracy Jacks’, especially the opening two-chord refrain with the name, and I wanted to write something similar. ‘Sally Anne’ is such a catchy name, I couldn’t resist!
Melodically, I felt inspired by mid-era Jam from the time of Setting Sons. I couldn’t think of a contrasting vocal section, so thought, ‘Why not write an instrumental section instead?’ I wanted to write a solo similar to John Squire’s work on the first Stone Roses album – a very melodic solo in that vein. For the last bit in the guitar solo I fused ideas from Bill Nelson and Mark Knopfler.
The song itself is about the frustrations we all sometimes have to face. I noticed that many of those who acquire wealth seem to move to the countryside to get away from other people. I thought that was interesting.
On the rooftop watch the sky
See the day drop from up high
See the day glow up ahead
Watch it wither when unfed
So we need to find a better frame of mind
Caught up in this race you’ll fall behind
Life’s a river, watch the flow
Never fight it, you should know
Catch the whirlwind if you can
Never lose it in your plan
So we need to find a better frame of mind
Caught up in this race you’ll fall behind
Open up, you might find
So we need to find a better frame of mind
Somewhere calm that can treat you kind
Need to find a better frame of mind
Caught up in this race you’ll fall behind, fall behind
‘I remember once upon a time’
I wanted a similar feel to ‘Better Things’ by the Kinks, with a touch of Weezer for good measure. I was also listening a lot to REM at the time of recording this, so perhaps that was reflected in the instrumental arrangement. I was once in a band signed to Atlantic Records. We released a record which got decent reviews. I thought my dreams were going to be realised, but sadly we were dropped. The song in many ways was about that. I was in denial at the time of writing it, but I now realise they were the best days of my life.
‘Struggle with the good times, struggle with the bad times’
The concept came to me when I lived in Manchester. We would walk to a nightclub in the winter, heading into the wind and rain. At the time, money was so scarce the idea of getting a taxi was completely foreign to me. When we arrived at the club we looked a mess, but everybody else looked amazing – unaffected by the winter weather. This is reflected in the line ‘Look at all the happy shiny girls, dancing round without their winter clothes’. I had originally wanted to sing ‘happy shiny people’ because I didn’t want to be gender-specific, but REM had already used that line, and ‘girls’ seemed to scan better.
Musically, the verses were inspired by Frankie Valli/60s girl groups – I wanted that doo-wop feel. The chord sequence and lyrics reflect that. Then, in the chorus, I wanted to write something like Weezer – I always enjoyed their choruses on the album Pinkerton. After the choruses I wanted a climax similar to the Police’s in ‘Every Breath You Take’.
‘Take another picture, post it up and show it to the world’
Musically, this song was inspired by Nirvana – a mix of ‘Drain You’ and ‘All Apologies’.
I saw an advert on YouTube showing someone giving ideas for what to wear at a red carpet event. I am intimidated by the glitz and glamour of that sort of thing; I feel really uncomfortable. That was the starting point of the lyrics. I just expanded on it.
There was a time when BBC sport had a batch of catchy guitar pieces, for F1, snooker, etc. I remember when I decided to memorise the snooker theme tune for a laugh. At the time I was writing this song I was listening to a lot of RATM, so this song is a mix of Rage and snooker. Lyrically, it’s about hypochrondria – at the time I was suffering from a few ailments.
This was written around the time Lemmy died. I have a couple of Motorhead albums and have read Lemmy’s biography. I always admired him, and took comfort from the belief that whatever was happening in the world, Motorhead would be on tour or recording an album. This song is heavily influenced by that group. I set myself a challenge of writing the fastest song I could with no-holds-barred guitar solos, in the spirit of Motorhead. It’s always fun playing this song live.
‘The trapping walls of yesteryear are gathering’
I wrote this song when David Bowie died. To be a singer is a strange thing. You have to find an identity you feel comfortable in. I like playing guitar more than singing, I won’t lie. David Bowie’s and John Lennon’s vocal styles were two I felt I could do and not be embarrassed by adopting. So I learned to sing a lot of songs from Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. They were huge albums to me. I noticed ‘Life On Mars?’ has the credit ‘inspired by Frankie’ so I wanted to do a song for Bowie. Thank you, David.
