Often Mickey will chuck me out of the garage (studio). I get bored quite easily and when he is busy checking the triple resonance loop of an equated reverb dynamic echo thruster (or something like that, I don\u2019t tend to pay attention) for 2 HOURS I will start fiddling with anything I can find.
\nUnluckily for Mickey the garage is full of instruments and so he often bites his lip for a bit before telling me to 0121do-one. So, I trudge around the back of his house, trying to avoid his carpet of a next door neighbour, go in the kitchen and have a cup of tea \u2013 if I can get his induction hob to work (who has these?!?!? What\u2019s wrong with BRITISH GAS FOR BRITISH PEOPLE—oh shit, I let the veneer slip there..).<\/p>\n
Once I\u2019ve got my tea I\u2019ll usually find a quiet corner, slip half a bottle of vodka into my tea and cry myself to sleep at the thought that we\u2019ve never headlined arenas or been to a sauna with Sting (bucket list, #2 after swim with dolphins\/Bono) BUT on some particular days I\u2019ll pick up a guitar and have a strum\u2026<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how Baywatch came about \u2013 I must have been in a good mood as it is quite a positive song.. Mickey had left an old guitar lying about (it\u2019s got quite a big sound, so lends itself to strumming rather than picking) and I was really going for it, trying to evoke who knows what, and I started singing this line about \u201cwatching television, Baywatch should\u2019ve taught me better than that\u201d. The words didn\u2019t really fit and clattered together but I really like it \u2013 it was fun to sing and I thought it was a really good image.<\/p>\n
Mickey came in half way through a chorus and was like, what\u2019s that? We pretty much demo\u2019d it straight away\u2026 I played Mickey\u2019s son\u2019s toy drum kit, which actually songs pretty good \u2013 we kept some of it for the final recording\u2026<\/p>\n
Most of the words for the verses came quite easily \u2013 there is quite a melodic contrast naturally and the chorus line is so grand in intention that the job of the verses seemed obvious \u2013 to fill in a bit of the detail about why I was singing about Baywatch\u2026<\/p>\n
Initially the chorus evoked a lot of memories of 90s evening TV \u2013 boundless energy, anything is possible, in your face nonsense a lot of the time, but with a sinister edge\u2026 pretty similar to now in lots of ways, just transported for the next generation of pliable young minds\u2026 I mentioned Gladiators, John Fashanu, Jim Davidson (tosser) but it didn\u2019t really get to a point\u2026<\/p>\n
Even though the demo was quick and painless there were a couple of big struggles when it came to recording the song properly \u2013 we couldn\u2019t recreate the energy of the initial recording, this is often a problem for us \u2013 in the bass and in the drums it just wasn\u2019t there, plus the constant chugging got a bit annoying \u2013 hence the change in soundscape between chorus and verse. We solved this by Mickey leaving me alone in the studio for 10 minutes (this is normally really bad), but I used my only three tricks \u2013 mute stuff, change the key of some vocals, and reverse some guitar shit. I felt like a momentary Brian Eno\u2026 That solved one conundrum but then I couldn\u2019t get the last line of the chorus\u2026 for months..<\/p>\n
I felt like the chorus had a great first and last line \u2013 Baywatch should\u2019ve taught me better than that, and What kind of message is that to send out? \u2013 and I had a coherent message \u2013 the idea of having a platform and choosing to inundate people with inane, pretty sexist content, reinforcing stereotypes, and not saying anything\u2026 but I had no set up line \u2013 what is the message I was talking about?!?\u2026 an initial line I had was in reference to Jim Davidson \u2013 So if you give a job to a wife-beater.. but it did not sit comfortably with me \u2013 I didn\u2019t want to trivialise domestic violence by using the phrase wife-beater \u2013 which is not right on so many levels, and by its normalisation into everyday vernacular in an almost light hearted way, undoubtedly undermines a debate on men who assault their partners.. I know some people turn off when the debate on intricacies of language crop up but words are powerful stuff that is linked to behaviour and attitude in my mind \u2013 I often find myself questioning my own use of certain words and actions, all part of my own conditioning and learnt attitude\u2026 ah!!!!!!! I mean well\u2026.<\/p>\n
So yes, eventually I found a line and it stuck and we could finish Baywatch and let you hear it. As is the norm with a Little Comets song it is probably not as deep as we think it is and quite a crass portrayal of a complex issue\u2026 but at least we are trying eh!?<\/p>\n
I saw something the other day that I think relates to this song, and it bothered me enough to mention it. I was watching the sports news and an article about the return of the Women\u2019s Premier League Football came on, even though my team are down the divisions I was interested to see the scores and some action, so imagine my dismay when the one goal from the one match they focused on wasn\u2019t a thirty yard screamer or an outrageous dibble and finish, but a \u201ccomical\u201d goalkeeping error \u2013 why?\u2026 \u00a0Small this may seem, but this is every second of every day, drip drip drip drip..<\/p>\n
Anyway..<\/p>\n
Morally Outraged in Sutton Coldfield.<\/p>\n
LYRICS<\/strong><\/p>\n The kind of person I want to be Saturday evening watching TV I fear that this is happening again Saturday evenings watching TV Underneath the waves until you feel nothing Saturday evening watching TV Often Mickey will chuck me out of the garage (studio). I get bored quite easily and when he is busy checking the triple resonance loop of an equated reverb dynamic echo thruster (or something like that, I don\u2019t tend to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWas crystallised in 1993
\nWhen staring at a oblong screen
\nThe world got bleaker
\nTransfixed upon a culture of men
\nHow easy now for me to pretend
\nThat I was not infected at all
\nIt runs much deeper<\/p>\n
\nBaywatch should’ve taught me better than that
\nSee the endless possibilities
\nGet lost in the swimsuits
\nA shoreline filled with vacuous words
\nRepeated on every channel I turn
\nGet underneath the waves until you feel nothing
\nWhat kind of message is that to send out?<\/p>\n
\nOur children become women and men
\nThey tap at an implacable screen
\nTheir will gets weaker
\nA life in which you have to pretend
\nI hope they break before they can bend
\nThe tireless self-erosion goes on
\nand on
\nand on
\nand on<\/p>\n
\nBaywatch should’ve taught me better than that
\nSee the endless possibilities
\nDissolve in the swimsuits
\nThen after that the channels I turn
\nMore dubious lessons for me to learn
\nI’m underneath the waves and I feel nothing
\nWhat kind of message is that to send out?<\/p>\n
\nWhat kind of message is that to send out?
\nCovered by the waves until you feel nothing
\nGet sicker
\nSelf-loathing in the bathroom mirror
\nReal people
\nNo fear
\nSame message
\nCan it get much clearer?<\/p>\n
\nBaywatch should’ve taught me better than that
\nI see the endless possibilities
\nDissolve in the swimsuits
\nThere are no longer channels to turn
\nThere are no longer lessons to learn
\nUnderneath the waves until you feel nothing
\nWhat kind of message is that to send out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"