Multi-talented singer
and musician Toby Campbell contacted me to say that she would be travelling around the world on an educational grant to learn about
how people in different countries approached studio recording. She asked if she could spend a day in my studio working with me.
She told me that along the way she had spent some time in South America assisting at a small studio where she had recorded a couple of her own song demos. When she arrived she immediately impressed me with one of these songs, "Rules of Capital". I loved the lyric, but felt that the musical arrangement was far too basic, so I invited her to spend a second day recording this.
Damon Butcher had previously arranged to come in on that particular day, so I asked if he would mind taking a break from our scheduled writing session to work with Toby instead. Damon agreed, so the three of us put together a quick arrangement of Toby's song. Damon played piano, I played guitar and bass, and Toby played violin and sang. The day went wonderfully well and at the end we had the song nailed! Some time later, Blair Cunningham overdubbed drums and John McKenzie overdubbed bass guitar to finish it off.
Toby came back to see me a few days after the recording session, quickly listened to the rough mix, said that she loved Damon's piano-playing, then announced that she would be touring around Europe for the rest of the year. I heard later that she had spent some time playing with a band called "Gum" in Scotland before returning to her home in Seattle in the US.
