Mull’s new album is the cat’s whiskers
SUEDE legend Bernard Butler has revealed how Scots singer Colin MacIntyre had an audience of cats for Mull Historical’s new album.
Wakelines – due out next Friday – was recorded in the front room of Butler’s London home.
The guitarist who has produced The Libertines, Sharleen Spiteri’s solo album, Tricky and Duffy, said: “Colin sang one song with one of my boys sitting on the sofa – only because he was waiting to get into the kitchen. My cats watched him sing for weeks.
“The shower became my echo chamber and the drum room one of the kids’ rooms.”
For Colin it was a busy time. As well as writing and recording the eighth Mull Historical Society album he was writing his memoir Hometown Tales: The Boy in the Bubble about growing up on Mull. He also penned his first children’s book The Humdrum Drum which has a musical soundtrack, wrote his second novel and adapted his debut novel The Letters of Ivor Punch for the stage. The album looks back as Colin remembers moments from his past on Mull. He said: “The track 14 Year Old Boy tells the story of my first electric guitar being waded ashore to the isle of Mull, held high above the waves by my father, Kenny MacIntyre. It was a Fender Telecaster guitar. Whenever I play the guitar even now I still expect an electric shock.
“The title Wakelines refers to the child inside too. When I would wake early to watch as my father left the island for his work at the BBC back in the city. He didn’t know I was watching. I missed him dreadfully.” ● Wakelines is out next Friday, September 21.
Colin plays The Hug & Pint, Glasgow on Thursday, Pleasance Bar, Edinburgh, next Friday and Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, on September 22. He finishes a UK tour at the Mull Theatre, Isle of Mull on October 27.