Artistic drive Scottish songwriter McCulloch recorded entire new album in his campervan
WHEN musicians set out to make albums, they often seek out studios in exotic locations.
Sir Elton John and Duran Duran are among many who headed to the island of Mustique to work on records while The Rolling Stones famously recorded – and partied – on the French Riviera to deliver Exile On Main St which was released 50 years ago this year.
Meanwhile, Johnny Cash went behind bars at California’s Folsom Prison for his first- ever live album back in 1968.
But Scottish singer/ songwriter Norrie McCulloch – who now performs under the Canyons & Highlands moniker – didn’t seek out a far- flung retreat or look out his passport when he started recording his selftitled album, due out next month, during the first Covid- 19 lockdown in Scotland.
He did opt for an unusual, closer- to- home location but it proved practical and, ultimately, successful.
McCulloch simply opened his front door and walked a few steps down his driveway, unlocked his campervan, and laid down the lead vocal acoustic parts for the Canyons & Highlands album on his Stirlingshire home’s doorstep.
“I had written a bunch of songs that I knew would be the makings of a new record but with studios closed and meeting up with other musicians not permitted, I had to look at other options,” said McCulloch.
“I had started out aiming to record in the spare room in my house, figuring that I could leave any recording gear in there set up, but this didn’t work out. Everyone in the neighbourhood was at home and with the hot early summer weather, the neighbours were all out in their gardens.
“So, when I tried recording during the day there were sessions where I’d feel like I was getting a good take of a track just for someone nearby to fire up a lawnmower. It was funny at first but I soon found that I just wasn’t getting any further forward with recording.
“Next I tried out recording in the evening – no- one is going to cut their grass or build an outhouse at night, right?
“True enough the place was pretty quiet during the night but my partner is an NHS nurse who was working through both lockdowns and she was at home in the evenings. I wanted to be there to support her and do whatever I could to take her mind off the stresses that she and her colleagues were experiencing at work.
“She needed a good sleep after shifts in the hospital so me next door singing and playing until the early hours would have tested the best of relationships.
I thought I had run out of ways to get some decent recordings completed when I started remembering happier times when we could travel wherever we liked and the times I’d go away in my campervan and use it like a mobile writing retreat.
“On previous records, I wrote and worked on many of the songs while away on trips in the campervan and I had always thought playing guitar inside the campervan sounded great.
“So that’s when I thought I’d give recording in it a go. It felt like I was getting a separate place to work away from the house and that really helped me focus.”
McCulloch ran a power cable out of a window to the van on the driveway and set up the recording equipment. As the campervan is insulated and fabric covered on the inside, he reckoned, in theory, it should be almost like a sound recording booth.
As soon as the van was set up, things started to move along quickly with all vocals and guitar being put down on the songs in a few days.
Next came Creative Scotland funding so he could flesh out the tracks with other musicians whom he could pay, like Dave McGowan who added his bass parts by recording in the van during a period when people could leave their own areas but were not allowed to go into each other’s homes. McGowan’s Fender Rhodes parts were recorded by running cables from the “studio” gear in the van through a window at McGowan’s house.
Everything recorded in Scotland was sent to McCulloch’s sound engineer friend, Iain Thomson in Nashville, Tennessee, and finally it was mastered in New York.
I had always thought playing guitar inside the van sounded great. So that’s when I thought I’d give recording in it a go