The Saturday List #492 - All of the instruments I've played (badly) on recordings apart from guitars

 Any regular reader will know that I play guitar and sing in a band called The False Dots. It may (or may not) come as a surprise to know that I've played plenty of other instruments, mostly rather badly, over the years. I thought it might be a good list to put together a list of some of the other instruments, which I've mangled on our recordings over the years. 

1. Mononphonic synthisiser on Fog (Our 2nd demo in 1980). My mate Joe Malone had bought a synth. I asked if I could borrow it, as we were recording a demo. Joe kindly lent it to me. We recorded the song at Alan Warner's Lane Studios. As it was an 8 track studio, I took the executive decision to remove Craigs guitar and replace it with the synth. Craig was very unhappy with this, but it actually worked really well and Craig admitted it was the right decision. It nearly got us a deal with Chiswick Records, but as we only had Fog with synth on, they asked us to go back and record some more songs. We couldn't as I didn't have one and they were expensive. Sadly I don't have an online copy to play you! It was actually the first time I'd played a keyboard. I think I did \ok.

2. Prophet V electric keyboard. Fast forward to 1982 and the False Dots recorded Memory for You at a studio in Sydenham, South London. It was our first release. The studio had a Prophet V keyboard on. We had spare time, so I added the keyboards. Craig was again cynical, but we kept his guitar so he warmed to it. Given that I couldn't play the instrument and did it on the spot, I think I did OK.

3. Conga's. Back in 2008, when Paul Hircombe and Tony Cavaye were in the band, we recorded a five minute long instrumental called Pauls Song, as Paul wrote it. I didn't think the intro worked, so I put a Conga on it. I quite like it. Tony gets cross because in the video we used footage of another drummer miming his track.

4. Tambourine. I also played Tambourine on the track. 

5. Bass guitar. During lockdown, I made this song as a response to the BLM protests. I rather like it. Charlie Honderick sung it, it has programmed drums and I played Bass and Lead. 

6. Whistling. One way you can make your own body into a musical instrument! I did some whistling on the track Dublins Finest Castle.

The False Dots have a new album coming out later in the year. We are in the final stages of recording and mixing it. Who knows, there may be more to add to the list. Have a great weekend,