Fans team up to release charity single ‘Two for Joy’
Inspiration for anniversary song came from Beastie Boys and Goldie Lookin Chain
A pair of long-time Maidenhead United supporters have teamed up to produce an unofficial charity single to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Magpies’ first football match at York Road.
‘Two For Joy’, by KSG (Matthew Foster) & The Sunshine Man (Gordon Sweeney) reflects on United’s long history at the ground and the triumphs and tribulations they’ve had since 1871. It was digitally released on Tuesday (February 16), 150 years to the day Maidenhead defeated Marlow.
With Foster on vocals and Sweeney on production, the duo hope football fans will give their track a listen with all proceeds set to be donated to the Maidenhead United FC Community Trust.
“It was really fun to make,” said Sweeney. “I think Foz (Foster) had been working on those lyrics since 2012 so he saw the opportunity to build on some of the earlier memories he included in the song with some more recent ones like our promotion, winning the title at Margate, and some of the great FA Cup runs we’ve had under Dev.
“He got in touch with me about six months ago with his plans, so we got to work making it happen.
“Due to lockdown, he had to chant the lyrics down the phone, send them across, and I had to produce the music from my end.
“I put down an initial backing track that sounded a bit like Aphex Twin mixed with Radiohead.
“It got a bit of a thumbs down, so I went back to the drawing board. Foz sent me a couple of reference tracks like The Beastie Boys, Goldie Lookin Chain and The Fall as inspiration.
“After listening to those, I messed around with the guitar some more and managed to come up with the backing track. I added his lyrics over the top of it, which he re-recorded a couple of times, and the track was born.”
Sweeney said it was ‘enjoyable’ to work on the track with Foster, someone he has stood next to in the terraces since 1996.
“I’ve known him since I started going in ’96,” he said. “It was the first season I started attending so I was about 15-years-old. He had been going for a good few years with his granddad before then when he was a toddler.
“We stand in the same spot in the Bell Street end so I’ve known him for years and years. “We’ve become good mates on the terraces,” added Sweeney.
‘Two For Joy’ by KSG and The Sunshine Man is available to download from iTunes, Spotify, and other music platforms.
The lack of clarity over future funding from Government has caused Maidenhead United some concern in recent weeks, but CEO Jon Adams is confident the Magpies will be able to ‘springboard’ back into life and continue to grow once the problems of the pandemic have passed.
The club has been forced to place community coaches and staff on furlough for a couple of periods during the past 12 months, but they’ve managed to keep more of their staff engaged and involved this time around, and it remains the club’s intention to not make anyone redundant.
“The club is lucky because we were in a relatively stable position before we entered into the challenges of COVID,” said Adams.
“Many clubs at our level will have been in a more perilous position so we started from a stable base. We’ve also
had the advantage of the funding we received from Government and we’re grateful for this.
“The lack of clarity around funding at this stage does cause some concern, but our approach has been to make sure we retain the opportunity to start up again, push forward again and continue to grow and develop once we’re through COVID.”
Half term holiday sessions for kids have been moved online to keep those who would have taken part active and engaged. While at the other end of the age spectrum, online stretching classes have been put on for the club’s walking footballers.
He added: “Not everyone on our community team has been furloughed this time around, and we’ve not made anyone redundant and it remains our intention to keep all of our staff on board so we’re ready to springboard again.
“You’ll see there’s a little bit more activity. There’s been some online provision and engagement in terms of community programme. It’s small, but it’s really about making sure we offer the opportunity for our younger users of the community programmes to remain engaged.
“I think this half-term for example we’re offering free 45-minute sessions for those who would have otherwise attended our holiday camps.
“They get the opportunity to play a bit of football and be active during the half-term period.
“And we’re also running an activity for our walking football programme, which is more about them undertaking stretching activities, so that when they return to football again, they can get started quickly.
“The intention has been to keep things bubbling along so that we can get going again and there’s no intention at this point to reduce our staffing.”