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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Robbie Williams and Take That _ Robbie & Guy
Posted by: Sydney 3rd March 2013, 10:18 AM
I resurrected this article from The Guardian in 2005, I wonder of this is the 'project' that has been taken out of the box after all these years , is this what Robbie blogged about recently 
Life after Robbie
Tomorrow he will be feted for writing the best song of the decade. But after their huge success with Angels, Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams famously fell out. He tells Laura Barton how he coped with the split - and about the secret project that may reunite them
The Guardian, Wednesday 25 May 2005
They say the devil has all the best tunes, but today, disconcertingly, Guy Chambers appears a vision of well-scrubbed cherubism. "I think truly ambitious people can be evil," he says sweetly, "but I don't think I've ever been evil with a capital E." Nevertheless, Chambers is behind many of the world's most successful pop records, and tomorrow will collect an Ivor Novello award for having written the "song of the decade" - Angels, recorded by Robbie Williams. Though he has gone on to write for many other artists - Jamie Cullum, Brian McFadden, Charlotte Church and Kylie Minogue among them - it is with Williams, the singer with whom he worked for five and a half years, and from whom he acrimoniously split in 2002, that his name is most stickily entangled.
Despite the low-level fame the association has brought him, his face has remained rather less well known. There is an air of David Cassidy about him, a hint of Daniel Bedingfield, but one would be hard-put to place him. One afternoon not so very long ago, he found himself at Buckingham Palace. "I was speaking to Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, and then the Queen came up to us. 'You must be the newest member,' she said to me. I think she thought I was in Status Quo."
His most recent work, the Isis Project, is unlikely to bring quite as much attention as some of his previous collaborations. Recorded as a gift for his five-year-old daughter, Isis, all of the songs are in French, the lyrics written by the French artist Keren Ann Zeidel, set to Chambers' music, and sung by British actress Sophie Hunter. "We went," Chambers puts it, "down the Jane Birkin road." Chambers himself does not speak French. "I like the fact it's in French, and the fact that the words are very poetic, sort of metaphors and sort of archaic. And I like the fact that I don't know specifically what the songs are about. The music's very personal, but the message and the words are just part of the sound of it for me. And I love being able to switch that part of my brain off - the critical part. Because I did get a bit tired a year or two ago of listening to English."
It's certainly a long way from the pop fodder of his work with Williams. Angels was a typical Chambers confection, soaring orchestral strings, stirring piano, and a chorus about waterfalls and love and affection and loving angels instead. It lends itself well to karaoke, and throughout the summer of 1999 proved inescapable.
The song's phenomenal success brought a procession of hopeful young artists to his Primrose Hill studio. What, I ask, would he do if I were a young popstrel in search of a song. "Well, I'd ask you what you'd been doing and what's your state of mind, cos it's all about people's energy. You know, are you the sort of person who wants to take a risk with your sound? Or are you very conservative? Or are you very emotional, are you very confrontational? And then you try to bring that out in the music ... so that when they walk out the door with this music they feel it's them - I don't want them to go away thinking, 'That's really Guy Chambers'."
He might start by muddling around with a sample or a guitar. "Or he or she might have a melody that they're walking around with. Or he or she may say something that makes me think 'that's a great title.' I'm always looking for titles. I'm title obsessed." And what's his best title? "Ooh," he says. "I think Millennium was quite clever. Because we didn't have a title for that, and then I said 'Millennium', and he [Robbie] went, 'What's that got to do with anything?' and I said, 'Well, the Millennium's coming up and it's gonna be huge, and the radio's gonna want a tune with Millennium on it."
Songwriting, he says, is easiest when someone has "an emotional block they want to unblock - cos I think music can do that." He says the Isis Project has been an unblocking for him. "It's a way of me moving on from the Robbie legacy." He speaks a lot like this, his sentences laced with the easy, faintly cheesy sentiment of the pop lyric. "I can't repeat that with anybody else, but it's taken a while to realise that - I can't find another Robbie because there isn't another Robbie." He talks of Williams as one might refer to a great lost love, returning to him with a persistent, scab-picking obsessiveness, his voice carrying a mingling of affection and begrudgery and bewilderment.
Pre-Robbie, Chambers, now 41, had a mildly successful, persistently musical existence. He grew up in Surrey, his mother had worked for a record label, his father was a flute player with the London Philharmonic, and the young Chambers would sit in on rehearsals at the Royal Festival Hall. "I had piano lessons from when I was five. And I was in a choir and I picked up the guitar when I was 10. I tried the french horn, I tried the trumpet, I tried the violin. But then I found the piano and the guitar, because I liked to write my own songs. My piano teacher, when I was about six, said to my mum, 'Oh he really likes jazz' because I was trying to change the music - I would get bored of trying to read other people's music."
When Chambers was 13 his father accepted a job with the Liverpool Philharmonic, and the family moved north. He started bunking off to go to a friend's house and listen to records - "in those days it would have been Deaf School and Echo and the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes and the Clash."
He went on to study music at Guildhall and stayed to do a postgraduate course in composition, despite not actually enjoying it. "At Guildhall a lot of the kids were from posh homes and they didn't seem to be doing it for the right reasons." Which are? "I suppose I'm a bit romantic about music. I believe that if you're a musician you should want to die for it. It should be the most important thing in your life." And how does his wife feel about that? "One of the reasons I married her is that she's cool with that fact, that I put music first. But having said that, since I had kids it's changed." Chambers has three children - Isis, Mali and Gala. "The sort of love that your children bring out in you is so unique. It's as deep as the love of music, but because it's your own flesh and blood it's ... radical love. There," he grins, "is a good title."
He dabbled in bands himself, of course - a synth-led group named Hambi and the Dance, who were once supported by Frankie Goes to Hollywood; a brief stint playing keyboards for Jimmy Nail ("It was when he did Crocodile bleedin' Shoes. But I needed the roof doing"), the Waterboys, World Party, the Lemon Trees. But it was when he was introduced to Robbie that his fortunes changed. He recalls that the first time they met, "I was intimidated by him. Just like he was intimidated by me. It was a mutual intimidation. I'm still intimidated by him. He's got this persona, you never know what he's going to say or think. He's edgy. But that's quite good for me creatively. It woke me up a bit."
Their working relationship was relentlessly intense. Chambers toured with Williams, and they wrote continually. "We'd write songs on the back of buses, in hotels. He came on holiday with me." Does he miss him? "Sometimes, yeah. But I don't miss the pressure and some of the politics." The pressure was to write huge hits. "And I love that - it's an incredible challenge, but at the same time it grinds you down after a while." And the politics? "That's more of a personal thing." They both lost perspective, he says. "I think I got a bit big for my boots, and I think I did try to work with too many people. But I'm restless. And I think it was just very difficult to communicate with him at that time, that last year - not least cos he'd moved to LA. And I think once we'd lost that connection of seeing one another almost daily, I think things started breaking down."
Anyway, he continues, "we're talking again now". He drops it into the conversation nonchalantly, between mouthfuls of tabbouleh and a shrug. "I went to the Troubador in LA to see Coldplay and he was there at the same gig. It's a small club, so I bumped into him at the bar and we had a hug and afterwards there was an aftershow and we had a little chat together and then we went for dinner the following week and had a really, really good chat."
And would they consider working together again? "Yeah," he says, "we're definitely going to do something. But I can't say what it is, it's top secret. I haven't told anyone - my brother doesn't even know. But it is completely different. It's a project. I'm not saying what it is." His eyes twinkle, and for one fleeting second one glimpses the devilish side of Guy Chambers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/may/25/popandrock1
Posted by: Jupiter9 3rd March 2013, 10:01 PM
A project? 
Completely different?
Posted by: Sydney 14th February 2014, 06:53 AM
Thanks to Laurastanley on TRWS 
http://sourcedistribution.co.uk/featured_artists.php?fid=42
Posted by: Sydney11 25th October 2016, 04:44 AM
Thought it was time to bring this thread back to life seeing as the boys are back together 
Wonder which song is he referring to 
Guys latest blog
Stockholm Hair Cuts & Back in the Studio
October 24, 2016
Last week we flew to Stockholm to do an intimate acoustic show for the ingeniously named "I Like Radio" and I managed to get a much needed haircut from Rob's hairdresser du jour, Davide, a task he managed with minimum fuss! Earlier in the week I spent two days with John Buckley who has recently signed to Capitol Records. We wrote two songs together in two different moods; the first one introspective, slow and moody, and the second one upbeat and sunny. He has rich tone to his voice and an instinctive intelligence that should get him a long way.
Today I am re-recording one of Rob and my old songs in a new arrangement, working with the hugely talented Owen Parker, and for the rest of the week we are rehearsing for the upcoming Troxy show. We are all excited about this show as we are playing some new songs for the first time.
Stay tuned!
G X
http://guychambers.com/blog/
Posted by: Laura130262 25th October 2016, 11:31 PM
Wonder which song is he referring to
Look forward to finding out.
What always seems "wrong" to me is that Guy wasn't around when Robbie did Knebworth.
If there was one gig they should have shared the experience of together, it should have been that one.
I like Guy's blogs - I hope he writes longer ones.
Posted by: Sydney11 6th November 2017, 06:23 AM
I wonder what happened to this then
Posted by: Laura130262 6th November 2017, 11:37 PM
I can't find another Robbie because there isn't another Robbie."
Too right.
It mentions in the book how they got back together briefly in LA in 2007 when he was doing the LA Vale football matches and tried to write together but it didn't work.
Maybe that's what he was referring to in late 2005? 
They obviously weren't in the right head space then.
It is interesting reading back through old articles though isn't it? Seeing what happened etc.
Posted by: Sydney11 7th November 2017, 06:19 AM
Too right.
It mentions in the book how they got back together briefly in LA in 2007 when he was doing the LA Vale football matches and tried to write together but it didn't work.
Maybe that's what he was referring to in late 2005?
They obviously weren't in the right head space then.
It is interesting reading back through old articles though isn't it? Seeing what happened etc.
I'm getting there very slowly Laura , kinda a couple of pages a week & then going back to read the bits I had forgotten . I vaguely remember seeing a video back in the day of Guy at one of Robbie's soccer games in LA , do you remember that , was it also around the time that we started seeing Ayda appearing every now & then ...
It all took time but was so well worth it in the end
Posted by: Laura130262 7th November 2017, 11:55 PM
It all took time but was so well worth it in the end
Yes - I remember that Tess - in the summer of 2007 Guy was at the football and that was when Ayda was going to some of the matches.
Can't believe that was ten years ago. There were times then when I began to doubt he would ever go back to being a pop star.
Posted by: Sydney11 11th April 2018, 08:09 PM
Recent interview by Guy , wonder how his new opera is going
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p063hfc8
Thanks to http://forum.robbiewilliamsmusic.ru/viewtopic.php?id=214&p=5 for post
Could only find one review so far on the opera itself, I hope it goes well for Guy http://www.onstagenorthants.co.uk/the-selfish-giant-guy-chambers-review/
Posted by: Laura130262 11th April 2018, 11:05 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p063hfc8
Thanks to http://forum.robbiewilliamsmusic.ru/viewtopic.php?id=214&p=5 for post
Could only find one review so far on the opera itself, I hope it goes well for Guy http://www.onstagenorthants.co.uk/the-selfish-giant-guy-chambers-review/
Ive listened to the snippets on twitter. It sounds rather lovely actually.
. I listened to an interview he gave last week. Both his mum and dad were involved with classical music at the highest level. Music really does run through his veins. Very talented man. I also didn't know he has four children. I like Guy. There's a lot of class about him and he seems very calm and measured.
Posted by: Sydney11 12th April 2018, 07:18 PM
. I listened to an interview he gave last week. Both his mum and dad were involved with classical music at the highest level. Music really does run through his veins. Very talented man. I also didn't know he has four children. I like Guy. There's a lot of class about him and he seems very calm and measured.Guy always comes across as nervous when he is being interviewed , does he carefully choose his words when talking about Robbie & their past ...
Posted by: Laura130262 12th April 2018, 11:26 PM
I think certainly he did when they first got back together.
RW only got a small mention at the end when Guy was talking about those he had worked with which is right and proper as the interview wasn't about Robbie. When asked Guy said Robbie was unique, a great wordsmith and very, very funny.
Posted by: Sydney11 13th April 2018, 03:02 AM
Posted by: Sydney11 30th June 2019, 08:11 AM
“I’m still intimidated by him”: what it’s like to be the ghostwriter behind some of pop’s greatest hits
After a successful career writing songs for Robbie Williams, Guy Chambers has just released his first album. But what is it like to be ‘silent’ partner in a songwriting collaboration with a megastar—and how do you strike out on your own?
Robbie Williams performs live in concert at L’Alhambra in Paris, France.
Behind many of our favourite tunes, there’s often a songwriter who receives none of the onstage glory, the breathless autograph requests, the chance to make it onto the covers and homepages of music publications. What is it like to be ‘silent’ partner in a songwriting collaboration with a megastar?
Guy Chambers knows. He’s just released his first album, Go Gentle Into The Light at the age of 56, after a successful career writing songs with Robbie Williams. The album is a selection of Chambers’ classic songs played as piano instrumentals.
Chambers collaborated as songwriter, producer and musical director on Robbie Williams’ first five solo albums, all of which reached number 1 in the United Kingdom album chart and have sold over 40 million records globally. Their hit singles include “Angels,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Millennium,” “Feel” and “Rock DJ,” among others.
In 1995, Chambers’ own band, The Lemon Trees, disbanded. Describing how he first met Williams two years later in 1997, he says that it happened “through my publisher, Paul Curran, who was a friend of Robbie’s manager, Tim Clark. Rob called me up and asked me if I could write ‘dirty pop,’ I said ‘yes’—and the rest is history.”
In a 2005 Guardian profile, Chambers explained their dynamic more fully: “I was intimidated by [Williams]. Just like he was intimidated by me. It was mutual intimidation. I’m still intimidated by him. He’s got this persona, you never know what he’s going to say or think. He’s edgy. But that’s quite good for me creatively. It woke me up a bit.”
It was also around this time that Chambers started working with award-winning singer-turned-songwriter Cathy Dennis. A pop performer in her own right, Dennis was called “a half-remembered 90s star” in a 2008 Guardian profile, which then adds: “she had 10 consecutive UK top 40 hit singles in the 1990s,” the most famous of them being “Touch Me (All Night Long)” from 1991.
It was only the year after, however, that another song she wrote was in the charts—but this time, sung by someone else. Dannii Minogue’s 1992 “Love’s On Every Corner” was the first song Dennis wrote for someone else.
Talking about the years in which she’s sold her songs to other singers, she said: “I think I naturally thrive in situations where I feel that I’m the underdog—that’s the kind of thing that drives me.”
Dennis went on to work with S Club 7 in the 1990s, writing end-of-the-night anthems such as “Reach” (2000). She continued to pen a string of 2000s bangers, for Kylie Minogue (“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” in 2001; “Come Into My World” in 2002), Britney Spears (“Toxic” 2003) and Katy Perry (“I Kissed A Girl” 2008).
This year is heading back onstage for the first time since the early 90s. After years away from the performing spotlight, winning multiple Ivor Novello Awards for her songwriting, Dennis will be celebrating her 30th anniversary in music this summer by playing the Mighty Hoopla Festival in London’s Brockwell Park on June 8.
Speaking to the Sun last month, she said: “I haven’t done it for a very long time and I enjoy it … I don’t really understand why I’ve neglected it as much as I have.”
Guy Chambers seems a bit more low-key than Cathy Dennis, and he doesn’t appear to be bringing The Lemon Trees back any time soon. Yet while Chambers and Williams continue to work together, it’s the songwriter who has the new album out, while Williams is about to kick off his first-ever Las Vegas residency.
Apart from old friend Dennis, which other songwriters out there should we be paying more attention to? Chambers doesn’t hesitate to name names: “I admire anything Max Martin does, and Coldplay. They’re the most successful band in the world so you can’t deny their collaborative magic works.”
While it’s true that Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has written songs for an impressive variety of acts—Embrace, Jamelia, the Streets, Jay-Z, Dua Lipa—Max Martin’s back catalogue reads like the greatest hits of early 21st-century pop. By the turn of the century, he’d written Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” (1998), The Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” (1999) and NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” (2000).
More recently, he’s worked with Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. He is the songwriter with the third-most number-one singles (22) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind only Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon (26). Oh, and he’s the 99th richest person in his native Sweden, making US$19 million in 2016.
He could buy plenty of time on a stage if he wanted it—but unlike Chambers and Dennis, Max Martin hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to perform.
So what does Chambers’ own album sound like? Talking to Music Week, he explained how he put Go Gentle Into The Light together: “I chose the music that I thought would lend itself to solo piano, they were not chosen as part of a greatest hits exercise. I learnt a lot about the songs. I thought it would be nice for them to be heard in their pure melodic form. It was a little gift to myself.”
That’s what the album is—Chambers’ work, with Robbie Williams removed. That works particularly nicely on tracks, like “No Regrets’, “Feel” and (surely his lost Bond theme) “Millennium,” where Chambers’ intricate piano work has always taken centre stage.
Perhaps it was a mistake to leave “Angels” in, though, because the stripped-down version is a four-minute reminder that Robbie Williams’ surprisingly vulnerable turn on this song, on the edge of his voice cracking with emotion, is what makes it an enduring hit. It was this song, from his first solo album, that cemented Williams’ post-Take That career, and made the rest of his partnership with Guy Chambers possible.
In an industry known for being cutthroat, accepting that someone else will be performing songs you wrote seems refreshingly altruistic. Was Chambers ever annoyed about remaining in the stage wings all those years, while Williams was getting screamed at adoring fans?
“There are no frustrations not being the performer,” Chambers says. “I’m just glad that artists want to perform something I’ve written. I always see that as a bonus.”
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/guy-chambers-robbie-williams-ghostwriter-pop-songs
Posted by: Laura130262 30th June 2019, 11:25 PM
Interesting article. Thanks Tess.
These article writers though - just can't resist the "writing for" Robbie Williams slant instead of the "writing with" can they? 
Posted by: Sydney11 1st July 2019, 04:31 AM
These article writers though - just can't resist the "writing for" Robbie Williams slant instead of the "writing with" can they?
Robbie spent too many years not taking himself seriously enough Laura , that kind of attitude rubs off & people have used it against him. I agree these articles are always edited in a certain way by the authors ...
I always think the relationship between Guy & Robbie is a delicate one & something that could very easily be broken again ...
Posted by: Laura130262 1st July 2019, 11:12 PM
Do you Tess?
I don't feel that.
I think they have enough space that each can go and do their own thing and just come together when they feel it's right.
I hope that's the case anyway. I like Guy being around. It feels "right".
Just as it doesn't feel right not having JW around
Posted by: Sydney11 2nd July 2019, 10:01 PM
I am really looking forward to hearing the songs in the musical, they say there is a real Brit pop feel to them
https://www.list.co.uk/article/108745-robbie-williams-and-guy-chambers-channel-britpop-for-david-walliams-musical-soundtrack/
Posted by: Sydney11 22nd July 2019, 03:53 PM
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'I don't do budget': Musician Guy Chambers on touring with Robbie Williams and his favourite UK bolthole
The songwriter recalls rowing the Danube with Robbie Williams, diving in Jamaica and a boys’ trip to Rhodes gone wrong.
My greatest melodies have taken root while travelling. I’m always looking for new chords and new harmonies, and being in different countries, particularly France, Austria and Hungary, can be inspiring. My job has taken me all over the world – though I’m still hankering to visit mainland China – and I get to travel a lot. I’m truly relaxed when holidaying or visiting Sussex
As a child, I used to go every year with my family and we would spend the entire summer there. Each year my dad, a flautist, would play at Glyndebourne and we’d spend long days paddling at the beach in Seaford. We have a country house in Lewes and I find spending time in our garden there is the perfect antidote to work stress: It’s my favourite place in Britain.
I’ve lived in London since I was 18. I’ve grown up in the capital, surrounded by the most amazing museums, galleries, theatres, concert halls and parks – the Hampstead ponds are a must for visitors. There are endless opportunities to have fun and I have no inclination to move. Almost every year we trundle down to Cap Ferret in France. We rent a house in this stunning location, looking out over the peninsula. It combines the best things about France – the food, the wine and that “je ne sais quoi” style. Everyone is always out cycling, too, which suits me just fine.
I like to have a piano wherever I travel in the world. I do a lot of writing when I am away. For instance, Robbie Williams’s Go Gentle track, which was released as a single a few years ago, was penned in the house we rent in Cap Ferret. Robbie and I had the best time at a festival in Budapest. It wasn’t your Glastonbury-style experience. We actually stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, and in between sets Robbie rented a boat which we took out on to the Danube river. It was a lot of fun. Budapest is such a delightful city. It has lovely outdoor baths, a magnificent opera house and amazing “Ruin Bars” which are unlike anything you will find anywhere else in Europe. The buildings are semi-derelict shells that have been taken over and refurnished with old junk. They are very atmospheric.
The beautiful hilltop town of Barolo in Italy is a magical place to play a gig. I had an amazing time when I visited the town’s festival. I’m a big wine nut and I always like to buy a bottle of local wine when travelling, but people there were stocking up on the stuff like it was going out of fashion. People thought I was the hotel pianist in Venice. My wife and I have visited the city for the past 20 years and we always stay at the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, which has the most remarkable view of St Mark’s Square. One of the first things I do each time is head for the piano. On our last visit, I decided to try out some of the songs on my new album. They went down well but did leave my fellow guests a little confused…
Budget trips aren’t my thing, nor are adventure holidays – too stressful. I always go luxury. My favourite thing to do is to flop out on a sun lounger with a book. I tend to read about six books over a fortnight, which is a real score compared with my London average. My favourite hotel in the world must be The Hôtel Costes in Paris. It’s dark, glamorous and has a beautiful underground swimming pool in the old cellar. I was one of the first guests to play there back in 1997 and I’ve returned for the odd long weekend many times since.
There's more to Las Vegas than slot machines says Guy, Las Vegas is a tremendously ugly city, But it actually has another, more foodie-focused side to it. I visited a few years ago and was surprised to discover that I actually enjoyed the experience. Grace Jones was our neighbour in Jamaica. We rented a villa at the GoldenEye hotel in Jamaica and she happened to be there at the same time. I have four children and we had the most amazing holiday there last August. When we weren’t sleeping or eating, we were scuba diving and deep-sea fishing. It was bliss.
A boys’ trip gone wrong stands out as my most calamitous holiday, ever. I went to Rhodes with my brother and one of our mates, on an “allocation upon arrival” package holiday before I got married. I didn’t like the first place we stopped at, so we moved to another. Then we moved pretty much every day. It was the last time I ever did that.
My best advice for coping with jet lag !!
Resist the temptation of an on-board beverage, keep your laptop out of reach, try not to work, and sleep as much as possible. And then exercise as soon as possible after you arrive.
Guy Chambers’s album Go Gentle Into the Light is out now on BMG.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/celebrit...avel-interview/
Posted by: Laura130262 22nd July 2019, 11:17 PM
"People thought I was the hotel pianist in Venice."
Posted by: Sydney11 23rd July 2019, 06:55 AM
Made him feel humble I'll bet
Posted by: Sydney11 15th August 2019, 08:24 PM
Guy Chambers
@guyachambers
·
I am delighted to be playing this special one-off gig in partnership with @TheRSC where I will be previewing songs from The Boy in the Dress musical and from my album 'Go Gentle Into The Light'.
Posted by: Laura130262 15th August 2019, 11:30 PM
I wonder if the music from Boy in the Dress will be available online?
I'm guessing yes?
Posted by: Sydney11 16th August 2019, 05:35 AM
I'm guessing yes?
They will most likely be selling CD's at the shows dont' you think , it's a RS production so I guess they will be in charge of all that along with David W. We might get to hear a snippet from the GC performance in October
Posted by: Laura130262 16th August 2019, 11:54 PM
Yes - that sounds right Tess - they'll sell them on the night in the Foyer - with the cast recording.
Posted by: Better Man 17th August 2019, 09:15 PM
I'm sure we will get CD, yes.
https://shop.rsc.org.uk/collections/audio?from=nav
Posted by: Sydney11 18th August 2019, 07:19 PM
https://shop.rsc.org.uk/collections/audio?from=nav
Excellent, will do a bit of shopping then in December
Posted by: Laura130262 18th August 2019, 11:07 PM
Hopefully from the foyer Tess
Posted by: Sydney11 19th August 2019, 09:07 PM
16 weeks on Friday & we can make that very purchase
Posted by: Laura130262 19th August 2019, 11:19 PM
Practically round the corner.
Posted by: Sydney11 28th August 2019, 10:29 PM
Guy Chambers: "If you're working on a song you really believe in, it's never boring"
The platinum-selling songwriter and producer talks studio techniques, collaboration and more
DANNY TURNERAUG 20, 2019
Taught a harsh music industry lesson when his short-lived pop act The Lemon Trees was disbanded after one album, classically trained producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Guy Chambers rerouted to embark on a career in production.
After some success with British songwriter Cathy Dennis, the opportunity to co-write with the charismatic pop star Robbie Williams, formerly of UK chart toppers Take That, proved to be an irresistible challenge. His 1997 debut album, Life thru a Lens, was written within a week — 60 songs later, the duo had amassed tens of millions of sales, toured the world and earned prestigious industry awards.
The partnership ended acrimoniously in 2002, but with his reputation intact, Chambers went on to work with the likes of pop heavyweights Kylie Minogue, James Blunt, Mark Ronson and John Newman before resuming writing with Williams in 2013. This year saw the release of Chamber’s debut solo album Go Gentle into the Light. Inspired by the death of his mother two years ago, it features instrumental piano versions of Robbie Williams’ tracks co-written by the duo. We talk to the self-effacing Chambers about the album, his early days and one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in British pop history.
You recorded a song with Marc Almond in 1984. What was it like working with him?
Some friends of mine were in his band, Marc and the Mambas. I wrote this song, got a demo of it to Marc, who liked it, and he came into this little 16-track studio at the Guildhall School and sang it. I was only 21 and used to take things like that for granted, but I was a Soft Cell fan. That was my first production, released on a label called Some Bizarre run by a lunatic called Stevo. Never got a penny for that record.
Did you learn something from that?
I did, to read the contracts, but it’s very easy for musicians to be naïve about things like that and it’s not really a good idea to spend a couple of hours reading contracts without a lawyer who will explain to you what they mean in plain English. Of course, lawyers deliberately make it complicated so they can charge more money.
That was your one and only release as The Burmoe Brothers. Why did that project expire so quickly?
Rough Trade offered me a record deal so I went to see Geoff Travis. He said if you can sing I’ll offer you a deal, but I had no confidence in my voice whatsoever — still don’t now! I looked around for a singer but couldn’t find anyone, which is why I didn’t sign and The Burmoe Brothers ended. Struggling to find someone I like enough to sing songs and co-write with has been a theme throughout my career.
It’s written that you were captivated by Kate Bush playing piano live at the Liverpool Empire Theatre in 1979?
I started playing piano when I was five and used to learn her songs. I think I went to the opening night of the tour and that gig made a big impression on me. I was a huge fan of Kate as an artist and had a massive crush on her as well. The show was groundbreaking. I was lucky to grow up in Liverpool and see a lot of great shows: Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Squeeze, Deep Purple, The Pretenders, XTC, and punk bands like The Damned and Generation X. That was a very good education for me, and going to see bands then was cheap — you could go for a pound, or 50p.
Where are those bands today?
I think there are some good bands, like Foals and Everything Everything. Circle Waves are a good Liverpool band and I do think there’s some good artists, but it’s harder for them to get noticed because there’s so much more media. When I was a kid, there were no video games or mobiles and I’d stopped watching TV by the age of 13.
Robbie Williams had left UK pop group Take That and you were approached to co-write his debut album. How did that come about?
Why would he pick me you mean? It was through my publisher who asked if I fancied meeting him. I tended to say yes to most things I was offered because I was curious to see what people were like. Rob called me up and said “can you write dirty pop?” I said yes. He’s never been big on conversation over the phone. We clicked immediately because I instinctively knew what he wanted, but I didn’t have the stressful part of the job, which is being famous. That was a blessing for me, having the adulation without being pestered all the time.
How was that partnership different from all the other artists you’ve worked with?
Because I’ve been working with him for so long, I know what buttons to press to get him excited. There are certain genres he likes and we’ve done a lot of sampling over the years, even though he doesn’t like having to split the publishing. He’s obsessed with “The Whole of the Moon” piano part by The Waterboys, so I know a lot about his tastes. He loves the 80s. Our relationship is definitely unique and unlike anything I’ve had with any other musician — we’ve been through a lot together.
Some people say they can’t predict the success of a song, but did you know in advance that tracks like “Angels” or “Let Me Entertain You” would be big hits across the UK and Europe?
We were pretty confident about them, but we weren’t that confident about Rob and his health. There was the jeopardy of just getting him sober enough to sing, and whether he would get through the year without killing himself. He was in a real mess throughout that first album, so there was a lot of stress, but when you’ve got that adrenalin kicking in, you’re immune to pressure.
Do you know you’re onto something special early in a track’s conception or mixing stage?
I think it tends to be quite early and then you hope you don’t screw it up as you start producing. You can overwork records, and you know that when you can’t stand to listen to them anymore. That’s my rule of thumb and there’s a lot to be said for removing things rather than adding. Depeche Mode, for example, are very clever at having few elements but the parts and sounds are perfect. That’s a real art.
Does that only come with experience?
I know that Mode spend a long time finding the right elements, it doesn’t just happen in a couple of hours or weeks. The same applies to Kraftwerk who hone parts down to the bare minimum to great effect. I’m more of a maximalist. I chuck quite a lot at my records, but as I’ve got older I’m leaning more towards minimalism.
I hear you have a Kraftwerk story?
Robbie’s German promoter is also Kraftwerk’s manager. We’ve got a bet on that I can find a way for Rob to do a duet with Kraftwerk and the manager and label have bet against me saying it’s never going to happen. We’re still working on it. 
Are there any artists, past or present, that you’d love to have worked with?
I’d like to have another go at working with Lana Del Rey, and there’s a French lady called Clara Luciani who also has a fantastic voice — they both have a certain mystery to them. Then there’s David Bowie, but I wouldn’t have been able to put myself forward to work with him — I’m too modest and wouldn’t think he needed me. With co-writing, you put yourself in a room with people you think you can elevate. There’s no point me being in a room with Stevie Wonder — I won’t help him and I know that.
With Kylie Minogue, for example, you wrote one track on an album that featured a host of producers. Does that track have to fit into a bigger picture or do you approach it independently?
We would listen to what she wanted, but there was no discussion about how to make it fit. She was very much in the studio every day, keeping an eye on what we were doing but also trusted our taste. I did a lot of work with Steve Power at that time and I tend to prefer co-producing. People don’t realize how much work is involved in production, especially as I like to make records very thoroughly and carefully.
Is there a mechanical aspect to production that’s uninspiring, compared to that initial creative impetus?
If you’re working on a song you really believe in, it’s never boring, whereas if you’re working on one you’re not sure about, it can be tedious. It’s all about the foundations being strong. A good test is to play it to friends in a relaxed environment to see what they think. When you’re in the studio you can get a false sense of security about how good something is, and if it doesn’t get much reaction outside of the studio you have to ask why. Is it too long, slow, fast, or in the wrong key? Is the lyric not hitting right or the vocal too quiet? The hardest part of a mix is getting the vocal to hit right. But a career often comes down to one song.
Why do you think that is?
You can’t endlessly have great tracks out there — no one does that. When you’re young, you’re not so set in your ways or likely to be married with children. You have an enormous amount of freedom and many years behind you to write about. It’s all fresh. As you get older, you have new experiences, but not the same as when you’re 22. Rob and I had massive motivation, and you’re right, that changes. The biggest motivation for us now is how to get a new song into his catalog. It has to be so good that it knocks out one of our hits. There’s no point writing a song that’s ‘okay’ — it’s not going to get in his set.
Tell us about the new album, Go Gentle into the Light, which are piano renditions of tracks that you co-wrote with Robbie?
The main reason was that my mum, who took me to piano lessons, always said I should do a piano album. When she passed away a couple of years ago, I thought it was a shame I hadn’t done one and should do before my playing gets worse. I had to think about what to play and thought people would be more interested if I did songs that they already knew.
Was the selection process quite intuitive?
I wrote down all of our most famous tracks and tried to play them — the album is the ones that worked the best. “Let me Entertain You” and “Rock DJ” are very difficult to play on the piano. They’re not difficult to play in a live show, but they’re hard to play on their own and sell without supporting instruments. All the clothes of the production were removed and I tried to have one mood. I don’t have grand plans for it; my motivation was just to make it very relaxing, particularly as we’re living in such stressful political times.
Did recording the tracks require a lot of preparation, or did you rely on muscle memory to play them?
I didn’t practise or prepare the songs before playing them. I guess I learned that the melodies hold up without all the instrumentation, which was quite reassuring. It was nice being able to play tracks like “Heaven from Here” and “No Regrets,” which he doesn’t perform now. We did it in a day at Abbey Road and my manager, Steve Abbott, produced me. He was the one that really encouraged me to get it out there.
None of it was recorded in your studio?
This is a pretty good room, but it’s a writing space. We do master here, but it’s a different ball game to Studio One in Abbey Road, which is massive and has beautiful, natural acoustic reverberation that’s very flattering. That’s what you want when playing the piano. There’s no unnatural reverb on the record — just the sound of me in that room and I wanted that authenticity. Abbey Road is like a church. You’re focused as soon as you walk through the door, not least because it’s so expensive [laughs]. I had one day to get it right, but one of the problems of modern technology is that you can keep tinkering forever.
Your mixing desk looks like the heartbeat of your studio?
It’s an EMI REDD, made around 1969. It was in Abbey Road, and at some point they put wheels on it so it became a mobile desk. It’s a classic of its kind, like an old car, but we use it every day. We bring the tracks up on the faders and can record drums really easily, but we don’t have enough channels to record everything so we’ll do that in the box. It has massive headroom and can take a lot of punishment without distortion. Unlike an SSL desk, it doesn’t color the sound, it’s quite neutral and pure, which I like.
Your room appears very hardware-driven, as opposed to the relative simplicity of software?
Yes, but I don’t like complicated keyboards or desks either — I find that gets in the way of the music. This environment to suit my aesthetic tastes, but you need mic pres and compressors for recording drums, guitars and vocals.
Does software play a limited role for you?
I don’t sit with the mouse, ever, I have engineers who do all that. I like the freedom of not having to think about the technical side of recording things. I had a bedroom studio in my 20s and 30s, but now that I can afford to pay someone to do it I’d rather not have to worry about how things are going to be recorded. I’ll be at the mastering sessions for sure, because things can go wrong.
What do you need to keep an eye on?
Over-compression is the biggest fault. If you over-compress you get rid of the dynamics and the records lose their life. It’s an addiction. Labels like records that are loud, but look at Adele. Her records aren’t loud; people like them for the vocals and lyrics, not because they’re loud — the whole thing’s a joke. I’ve got lots of compressors, but I’m also wary of them.
You have some classic keyboards too. Do they give you that immediacy you’re looking for?
I love analog keyboards and the Roland Paraphonic-505 string synthesizer is my latest obsession. I’m also quite obsessed with David Bowie’s Low album, so I love the ARP Solina String Ensemble, which is the sound of disco and cheesy French music. The Juno-60 is a favorite — it’s punchier than the 106, and I love the anarchy of churning things out and seeing what will happen. You can do that with software, but it’s not as fun or rewarding as using a keyboard.
BY DANNY TURNER
https://www.emusician.com/artists/guy-chambers
Posted by: Laura130262 28th August 2019, 11:50 PM
Guy always has something interesting to say. I like reading his opinions.
Posted by: elisabeth1974 29th August 2019, 06:48 AM
he is very humble for his success. You seldom see this kind of behavior so often anymore
Posted by: Laura130262 29th August 2019, 11:20 PM
Also I think he has a very simple, pure idea of how his music should sound. He doesn't try to over complicate stuff and gives RW the space for his lyrics.
I can see why they work so well together.
Posted by: Sydney11 30th August 2019, 10:06 PM
Guy is old school & true to his art form , I like the guy , he understands Robbie & obviously has a lot of patience
Posted by: Laura130262 30th August 2019, 10:57 PM
Gosh yes - especially in the early days.
Posted by: Sydney11 31st August 2019, 07:52 AM
I think they have a more 'open arrangement' these days which is better for both of them , definitely widens their horizons & given that Robbie is now older I am sure he has realised that
Posted by: Sydney11 6th September 2019, 08:20 PM
Boy in the Dress composer Guy Chambers announces solo show at RSC
By Gill Sutherland -6th September 201903
Songwriter, musician and producer, Guy Chambers, best known for his work with Robbie Williams, will play a one-off concert at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday, 27th October.
Guy and Robbie are one of the most successful and loved songwriting partnerships in British pop history. As Robbie’s writing partner, Guy has produced seven Number One albums, sold millions of records around the world, and is responsible for some of the biggest hit singles of the last 25 years, hits such as Angels, Let Me Entertain You, Strong, No Regrets, Millennium, Rock DJ and Feel.
For this concert, Guy will perform tracks from his new album Go Gentle Into The Light, a collection of piano instrumental versions of some of his most well-known songs. Guy’s visit to Stratford-upon-Avon comes ahead of the opening of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new musical, The Boy in the Dress, for which Robbie and Guy have written the lyrics and music. Adapted by Mark Ravenhill from David Walliams’ debut novel, and directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, the show runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre between 8th November and 8th March 2020.
Guy commented: “I am delighted to be playing at the Swan Theatre in advance of the opening of the musical The Boy in the Dress, the music and lyrics of which I have written with Robbie Williams. At this concert I will be playing songs from my album Go Gentle Into The Light which are piano versions of some of Robbie’s biggest hits. I will also preview a song from the upcoming musical.”
stratford-herald.com/101826-boy-dress-composer-guy-chambers-announces-solo-show-rsc.html
Posted by: Laura130262 6th September 2019, 10:40 PM
By Gill Sutherland -6th September 201903
Songwriter, musician and producer, Guy Chambers, best known for his work with Robbie Williams, will play a one-off concert at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday, 27th October.
I will also preview a song from the upcoming musical.”
stratford-herald.com/101826-boy-dress-composer-guy-chambers-announces-solo-show-rsc.html
Nice!
Posted by: Sydney11 18th September 2019, 09:45 PM
Guy Chambers' top 5 tips for songwriters: "I think if songs are good they will find a home"
“Then, on Robbie's last album, The Heavy Entertainment Show, we must have written… I wouldn't want to say a number, but we wrote a lot of songs to get to the few that ended up on the record. I think if songs are good they will find a home, but I think, if you’re a young songwriter, you mustn't be disheartened by the fact that maybe only one in 10 of your songs gets used, or it could be one in 20. It could even be one in 50. It’s quality, not quantity - always, always, always.
https://www.musicradar.com/news/guy-chambers-top-5-tips-for-songwriters-i-think-if-songs-are-good-they-will-find-a-home
Posted by: Sydney11 23rd October 2019, 05:35 AM
Guy is briefly mentioned re the BBC children in need album
BBC One and BBC Children in Need reveal track list and release date for all-star album Got It Covered
Following an exclusive announcement on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 this morning, BBC One and BBC Children in Need have today confirmed the hotly anticipated Children in Need: Got It Covered album will be released on Friday 1 November in conjunction with Silva Screen Records.
The album, in aid of BBC Children in Need, is an exciting new venture for the charity this year and features a glittering line-up of some of the UK’s most critically-acclaimed actors from stage and screen who have banded together to help make a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK.
A special 90-minute programme showcasing the entire recording process will be broadcast on BBC One ahead of the annual BBC Children in Need Appeal show later this year, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes action, special guest appearances and much more.
Full album track list is as follows:
Helena Bonham Carter CBE has covered Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
Jim Broadbent has covered Blue Moon by Rogers and Hart
Olivia Colman CBE has covered Glory Box by Portishead
Shaun Dooley has covered Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift
Luke Evans has covered Smile by Charlie Chaplin
Suranne Jones has covered Symphony by Clean Bandit
Adrian Lester OBE has covered I Wish by Stevie Wonder
Himesh Patel has covered All These Things That I’ve Done by The Killers
David Tennant has covered Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers
Jodie Whittaker has covered Yellow by Coldplay
Plus a special group cover of It Must Be Love by Labi Siffre
The album is now available for pre-order on the BBC Children in Need website.
Each track was carefully crafted and recorded at the legendary recording studios, Abbey Road and Rak Studios in London, whilst the actors received expert guidance and mentoring from Brit and Mercury award-winning record producers and songwriters, Guy Chambers and Jonathan Quarmby. With over 20 years of industry experience, veteran vocal coach Mark De-Lisser also came on board to help the actors produce their tracks.
Children in Need: Got It Covered is a co-production by BBC Studios and 20four7films. It has been commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director, BBC Content and Kate Phillips, Controller, Entertainment Commissioning. The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Rachel Ashdown. The executive producers are Mel Balac, Creative Director at BBC Studios, and Polly Dooley, Executive Producer at 20four7films, and the director is Peter Coventry.
BBC Children in Need relies on the generosity and creativity of the thousands of supporters and fundraisers who raise millions of pounds for the charity every year. To date, the UK public has raised over £1 billion for children and young people facing disadvantage across the UK.
All profits will go to BBC Children in Need, with a minimum of £1.50 per album (charity number 802052 in England & Wales and SC039557 in Scotland).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/cin-gic
Posted by: Sydney11 20th July 2020, 07:59 PM
Guy from RAH , forgot about this
Posted by: Better Man 13th October 2020, 04:08 PM
Big new interview with Guy.
See page 34.
https://headlinermagazine.net/headliners/guy-chambers-the-art-of-songwriting.html?fbclid=IwAR3tqIXExOPdzwRZLHswPCUCg3YpJRE5V7S2oAyq6awB_WYgURQxJnGh6Jk
https://headlinermagazine.net/latest-issue.html
Posted by: Sydney11 13th October 2020, 09:01 PM
See page 34.
https://headlinermagazine.net/headliners/guy-chambers-the-art-of-songwriting.html?fbclid=IwAR3tqIXExOPdzwRZLHswPCUCg3YpJRE5V7S2oAyq6awB_WYgURQxJnGh6Jk
https://headlinermagazine.net/latest-issue.html
Thanks for posting Alex, really interesting interview. . Gosh !! , BITD going to London , how exciting, I hope it makes it there one day . Interesting the whole writing process
While there is a plan in place for The Boy in the Dress to come to London, these plans have been put on hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which has of course thrown up a massive bout of uncertainty for theatres who must be eager to reopen their doors. In 2018, Chambers wrote a children’s folk opera based on the Oscar Wilde short story The Selfish Giant, a personal project on which he had much more freedom to express his musical creativity:
Posted by: Laura130262 13th October 2020, 11:16 PM
While there is a plan in place for The Boy in the Dress to come to London, these plans have been put on hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which has of course thrown up a massive bout of uncertainty for theatres who must be eager to reopen their doors. In 2018, Chambers wrote a children’s folk opera based on the Oscar Wilde short story The Selfish Giant, a personal project on which he had much more freedom to express his musical creativity:
Lovely article from Guy.
Love this bit about The Boy in the Dress. Fingers crossed for it in the future.
Posted by: Sydney11 7th June 2021, 06:52 AM
Posted by: Sydney11 31st May 2022, 07:14 AM
“I did a musical with Robbie Williams, Boy in the Dress,” he continues. The show, adapted from the book by David Walliams, co-creator of the BBC’s Little Britain comedy series, debuted at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 2019. “And I’m working on another one now. I’m more interested in the theater and getting my music out that way.”
https://www.mixonline.com/recording/facilities/getting-to-know-guy-chambers-part-1
https://www.mixonline.com/recording/getting-to-know-guy-chambers-part-2
Posted by: Better Man 17th October 2022, 02:19 PM
https://thecancerplatform.com/journey
The Cancer Awareness Trust is thrilled to be supported by the multi-award winning, record-breaking English singer-songwriter and entertainer, Robbie Williams, and his song writing partner Guy Chambers.
They will be supporting our unique album, The Evamore Project, featuring on our first album, due to be released in 2023, and raising global awareness of The Cancer Platform from The Cancer Awareness Trust.
The Evamore album is a special project founded by Sir Chris Evans, bringing together the biggest names in music and acting to perform on a special collection of songs. They join a roster of stars including Glenn Close, Black Sabbath, Cillian Murphy, Brian Eno, Ronnie Wood, Delta Goodrem and many, many others. Evamore helps to raise awareness and funds for the work of the charity in developing the global platform and will ensure millions more people around the world living with cancer are aware of the platform which can help transform their cancer journey! The album will launch in 2023 to coincide with the launch of the new platform! Robbie is represented by ie:music who have supported The Evamore Project and The Cancer Awareness Trust from day one of our journey, now recognised as one of our Founding Partners. Everyone at The Cancer Awareness Trust thanks Robbie, Guy and all at ie:music for making this support possible.
