One Way Trip Collage

Writers

Original song by Milburn & Wishart, rewrite by "One Way Trip" crew

Performers

Bridget Remembers

This song dates back to around 1983 when I was in a band called Next Year's Big Thing. Then it had a respray in 1996 when I worked with Michael Vesty. Now at last it sees the light of day in a totally new and wonderful incarnation. I recorded my vocals and hummed along to parts where there were none to give Don an idea of what might go there and uploaded the results to Don. Those hummed parts have been reversed and used in the track...I now know that anything you send to Don can be included on a track!

When I invited Steve to guest on a track he said sure as long as he liked it...Hurray!...he liked it! Dan Mingo were rehearsing at Steve's studio at the time and Jerry heard and liked the track, so he pitched in too. Jerry and I weren't in Hawkwind at the same time but we did play a one off gig together as Whirlwind in Bath. Steve recorded himself and Jerry in London and uploaded the files to Don in America.

Jasper Pattison is a best mate and the bassist from the fab ska punk band Citizen Fish. He also plays in Heed The Thunder with trombonist Matt Dowse. He recorded his bass parts in two sessions round my house. For this track he said "press record" so I did and he stopped when the track did...what you hear on the CD he did from cold in one take, he'd never heard the music before...genius!

Don Remembers

One Way Trip, Earth Born, Storm Shelter, and Evening are kind of interesting in that I’ve never heard their original versions. For One Way Trip, I got Bridget’s vocals, created a click track to set the tempo, then dove in. I think the "Forbidden Planet" synth sounds came first, then the synth riff (probably influenced by old memories of either Deep Purple or David Bowie or maybe the regular listens to Massive Attack while working at my day job).

From a purely old wave, new wave standpoint, the piece could have ended after I added a drum pattern - all the frequency ranges were touched. However, there was plenty more to come. What was especially cool, was that I couldn’t have envisioned such a groove-oriented bass, or Jerry’s heavy floydian solos. I knew that Steve would come up with great spacey synths, but was extra happy that he took the time to add orchestral percussions. It was obvious that each crew member had plunged deep into the piece and had picked up on something that was needed, something that could make the piece better, more exciting. One Way Trip is a great example of how the sum is greater than any one person. Plus, if you put your trust in good musicians, they’ll produce some wondrous performances.

In many pieces conceived since 2006 (including One Way Trip), I’ve tried to incorporate the Click track in Pro Tools and use it as a musical element. Here’s the recipe: start by choosing one pitch for the first beat and another pitch for the three down beats; have the Click pattern trigger a synth sound (the quarter note synths in this piece); add an effect; then weave the pattern in and out of the piece so that it sounds musical and not repetitious. Sometimes it works!

Don's Timeline