Matt Phillips

Matt Phillips gives you the lowdown on his brand new album Red, White and The Blues which was demoed and recorded with producer, Joe Darrington, at their own Shabby Road Studio in Chelmsford, Essex.

Inspiration behind Red, White and The Blues:

“I’d been reading about bands from the Sixties like The Kinks, The Who and The Small Faces and how they used to put concept albums together so that their record was more than just a collection of great tunes. So I was trying to recapture that spirit really. The album doesn’t tell a traditional story but all the songs are centred around themes like escapism, dealing with the routine of working life and, amongst all that, trying to discover who you are. The title comes from this image I conjured up of a depression over the country and the Union Jack. Inspired by the wet summers and the credit crunch I guess. Obviously our recording budget didn’t cover Abbey Road so we put together Shabby Road instead and the result is this collection of ten songs.”

Rush Hour Blues:

“This song was inspired by the traffic jam which sits outside my flat in Chelmsford every morning and early evening. Oh, rock 'n' roll is alive and well in my house y'know. Not long after finishing this track I got a letter in the post from the council which said I was living in the most polluted part of Chelmsford. That reminds me, must see the doc about this cough.....”

Head In The Clouds:

“A song about looking out of the window on the tube, bus or train and seeing those tourism posters for golden beaches and the cool blue Med - It’s such a contrast to your actual reality at the time which is crammed in a carriage with someone’s copy of the Metro jammed in your ear.”

Ain’t Much Love In The City:

“This is the soundtrack to one of those days where everything goes pear-shaped. It’s about walking to work in the rain, putting up with a job you don’t like and trying to battle the big city commuter rush. Joe put down the strings and traffic noises for this song as well. Actually, me and Joe went to New York a few years ago and our hotel room suffered from terrible traffic noise. It was unbelievable. Even more unbelievable was that after complaining to the manager about sub standard double glazing we discovered that we’d had the window open the whole time.”

Click here for Part 2 of our track-by-track guide to Red, White and The Blues

If you'd rather see Z-list celebs and reality TV wannabes falling through a trapdoor rather than walking down the red carpet then get Something for Nothing on your MP3 player today!

Buy it now on iTunes by clicking here