Previous Shards Of Reason Band Members
Brian McCarthy
I’ve known Brian for longer that I care to remember and have been playing in bands with him on and off for almost as long again. Brian was half of the original Shards line-up, being the producer/engineer of the first two albums, quite aside from his peerless guitar work and keyboard profundity. When I decided that the time was right to record what became the album “Swept Away”, there was only really one choice of collaborator and only one person I trusted with the material.
The results are there for all to see; Brian has, mainly due to the longevity of our friendship and musical compatibility,the knack of knowing exactly what I was hearing in my head when it came to arrangements and the general “feel” of each track.
He was really into his stride by the time we started working on the second Shards album “Isolation”. Some of Brian’s finest work lives on that album and, for me, it marked him moving away from traditionalrock-form and into the moreoff-kilter, left-field playing I always knew he had in him.
Take a listen to the solo on “Seize The Day” to see what I mean. I have a lot to thank Brian for, but most of all I have to thank him for being a friend for so long.
John McCarthy
Yes, of course they’re related – brothers. I’ve known John (by association) for almost as long as I’ve known Brian and he was my first choice of keyboard player when we started the “Swept Away” album. That swirling intro on “Fall Of Victorialand” is John, along with the rest of the rather kicking keyboards on that track.
After that track had been completed, he withdrew from the trio, citing that Brian was a better keyboard player than he himself was (this self-denigration is alive and kicking in Mr J McC to this very day, ladies and gentlemen...just ask the other members of his own band, who keep telling him to turn his keyboards UP at gigs).
One of the most hard-working, meticulous and best keyboard players you’ll see play, one of the nicest guys you will ever be lucky enough to meet and someone I’m very happy to able to call “my friend”.
Yes, of course they’re related – brothers. I’ve known John (by association) for almost as long as I’ve known Brian and he was my first choice of keyboard player when we started the “Swept Away” album. That swirling intro on “Fall Of Victorialand” is John, along with the rest of the rather kicking keyboards on that track.
After that track had been completed, he withdrew from the trio, citing that Brian was a better keyboard player than he himself was (this self-denigration is alive and kicking in Mr J McC to this very day, ladies and gentlemen...just ask the other members of his own band, who keep telling him to turn his keyboards UP at gigs).
One of the most hard-working, meticulous and best keyboard players you’ll see play, one of the nicest guys you will ever be lucky enough to meet and someone I’m very happy to able to call “my friend”.
Brittany May
A brave girl is Brittany. I got to know her from an internet forum for a band we’re mutually into (Cocteau Twins), where I appealed for anyone female with a British accent and simple recording capabilities to record a few lines of speech for one or two impending tracks on the as-then-unfinished “Isolation” album. Britt (living in America, but not surrendering her Britishness one iota) offered her services and dutifully recorded the list of phrases I’d asked for, re-recording them as and when I asked for it, as I needed a specific meter for some parts.
She had no idea what I was going to do with them, right up to the point where I sent her a copy of the completed album, but trusted that I wouldn’t abuse our friendship. What arose from those blind recordings was the chillingly-erotic vocal part of the Voice Of The Hive on two ‘Isolation’ tracks... "Best Laid Plans” and, most notably, “The Son Of MK Ultra”. I’ve heard the spoken lyric on the latter described as “pure filth” – I can’t disagree!
It’s fair to say that her contribution makes that track one of the album’s highlights...so thanks again, Britters, for being such a trusting soul and for letting me turn you into a member of the band, even for a short time.
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