The Jabberwocky Story
(in Oliver's words)
The story of Jabberwocky begins about three years ago...
I was working on Jim Ling's "Friday Night Rock Show" on Lantern
FM in North Devon. I used to present a section within the show
called 'The Prog Spot'. Unfortunately the show has now been taken
off the air.
On one occasion I wasn’t due to appear and was looking forward
to a nice relaxing evening with a bottle of wine and no gigs,
when I received a call from the presenter, Jim Ling. He told me
that he was interviewing Marillion’s original drummer that evening
because of his release of his band's debut album (Arena - "Songs
from the Lions Cage") - did I want to pop up and say hi? I was
in two minds whether or not to go to the station as I was extremely
tired, but I decided it wouldn’t hurt to pop up, say 'hi', and
get a couple of my Marillion records scribbled on...
I met Mick and we got on extremely well. I remember him telling
me that I should come up country and meet Arena’s keyboard player
as he was a major Wakeman fan and we’d probably get along well
too.
I took him at his word and one hectic weekend, I jumped into the
car and drove up and met Clive. I had previously sent Clive some
of my demo’s and Mick was right - we got on extremely well. We
discussed the possibility of working together on a long term project.
On one occasion we were discussing the project in the pub when
Steve Rothery from Marillion walked through the door just as "Kayleigh"
came on the jukebox and I remember wondering if he’d just put
it on!
Clive then moved to the current location of the studio and the
writing began. All our writing sessions were pretty frantic as
I lived about 200 miles away from him, so trying to find a few
days a month when our schedules agreed was almost impossible.
We considered many ideas but the one we favoured most was "Jabberwocky".
One day we were discussing the possible artists we could use for
the cover. I suggested Rodney Matthews, whom I had studied whilst
at college. I still had his phone number and called him to find
out his prices. To my amazement he told me he had just finished
a piece called "the Jabberwocky"! That sealed it - the project
was now officially on!
Writing continued on and off as Clive and I concentrated on our
other projects - Clive with Arena and Pendragon; me with my debut
album ‘Heaven’s Isle’, music for television and corporate work
for companies such as Allen and Heath, the mixing desk company.
Towards the end of '97 we had nearly completed the basic arrangement
of 55 minutes of music for the album. We then started planning
the musicians we would like to work with.
I immediately wanted to use Tony Fernandez. I had seen him work
with Dad for years and I have always been impressed with his playing.
He is also one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. I also wanted to
work with Bob Catley. I had interviewed him on the radio show,
and having heard the excellent first Hard Rain album, considered
him to be 'a must' for our project. I got him to agree over too
many drinks at the Classic Rock Society Awards Night in December
'97!
Also in attendance at the awards night was Yes’s original guitar
player Peter Banks, whom I got on very well with. He was later
approached by Clive to work on the album and was very keen to
be involved. Dad was then offered the job as narrator, because
not only does he have a great speaking voice (I remember him telling
Adam & me stories as a child) but we thought it would be a nice
touch to feature him on an album and not have him playing keyboards!
Clive suggested the excellent singers Tracy Hitchings and Paul
Allison whom he had worked with on previous occasions. James Plumridge
was drafted in for his portrayal of the Jabberwock and his outrageous
personality. Ian Salmon covered the fretted bass and secondary
guitar parts and was very quick, accurate and thoroughly professional
(in other words he let Clive & I play on the Nintendo whilst he
was recorded)!
Peter Gee, a fellow member of Pendragon with Clive, was approached
for the fretless bass sections and completing the line up is Jon
Jeary, a member of Threshold with co-producer Karl Groom.
The recording took place during May and August of '98 and the
mastering took place in Abbey Road Studios, London, which unfortunately
I had to miss as I was visiting Dad during his recent illness.
The CD’s were pressed and shipped out. Initial reactions have
been extremely favourable, with the Classic Rock Society hailing
it as a ‘Future Progessive Classic’. High praise indeed, and very
rewarding after the years of hard work.
The album is due for release on January the 11th 1999. I hope
you will get as much enjoyment listening to it as we had recording
it!
Here’s to the next one...
Cheers!
Oliver Wakeman
December 1998
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