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Below are some of the videos Kindred Spirit Music have produced since we began our journey in 2020 plus other photos and stories
the House of the Rising Sun
Arthur Brown's Crazy World of Lockdown
Recorded remotely between April and June 2020, this was the first of our collaborations from lockdown, begun during the first week of the pandemic. Ian Grant called Paul Mitchell having see his version of 'All By Myself' on YouTube and asked if we could do something on a larger scale. Seeing as between us we had access to a lot of musicians who were stuck indoors with nothing to do, we phoned around a few friends to see who was up for it, and, provided they had the means to record themselves and video it, we could make it work. FYI Arthur Brown really wanted to do it but didn't have any gear. We fixed that and through the miracles of modern technology, Paul remotely operated a laptop that was in Arthur's home so he was able to be on the track. It's a corker I'm sure you'll agree!!
All Right Now
the Crazy World of Lockdown
This was our second offering in late 2020, released to celebrate the first covid vaccines being made available. For this recording we went a little further afield and added our friend and tragically recently departed drum legend, Clem Burke, who managed to record his drums in a small studio as part of his 'work' which allowed him to leave home in LA to make this recording. Glen Matlock took bass duties and Irish bodhran ace Paul Tuthill adds a bit of rhythmic spice to the preface of the solo. Sonja Kristina added a vocal foil to Arthur Brown's raucous lead part and then Chris Spedding (who had played this song many times with its writer, Andy Fraser in the Sharks) was the ideal man for the guitar. Tony Moore from Iron Maiden added some keys and wonderful backing vocals while our own Josh Phillips plays his customary Hammond organ.
Angels
Kindred Spirit (feat. Marcella Detroit & Tony Hadley)
Recorded remotely between April and June 2021, this was originally an idea of the late Steve Brown to help his friend Paul Gilley in raising money to gift a special 'Angel of the Nation' to the grieving families of front line workers who died of covid whilst protecting others. Sadly Steve passed away suddenly in early 2021 and his widow contacted Ian Grant and asked if we could see the project through. We were honoured to be asked and called on our vast phonebook of musicians and singers to see who would be up for it. Marcella Detroit does a wonderful job singing this track, with the last minute addition of the fabulous Tony Hadley, whose vocal performance was captured on the microphone of is iPad which just goes to show what you can do with modern technology!
Think Loud
Kindred Spirit
(feat.Leo Sayer & Marcella Detroit
In 2023, Ian Grant wrote the words to describe the LSVT Think Loud therapy he was going through to help his speech which was being affected by his Parkinson's disease. Paul Mitchell and Josh Phillips completed the job by setting it to music and John Illesley added bass, Stuart Elliott drums and percussion with Leo Sayer and Marcella Detroit on vocals with Paul on guitars and Josh on keyboards plus the amazing Jordan Family Choir on backing vocals. Then Ian got as many celebrity mates to film themselves for the video including Mark Butcher, Stuart Pearce, Pat Cash and even Downton Abbey's own Lady Cora, Elizabeth McGovern! The song appears on Kindred Spirit Music album Think Loud 4 Parkinson's
Liam Bolton
A personal drum lesson from Steve Jordan on a kit given to him by Charlie Watts!!
Here's a piece of my current kindred spirit folklore -It was 25 years ago on 30th March that Bill Bolton rang me to tell me Joe Seabrook had passed. i had known Joe since 1978 when HarveyGoldsmith arranged for me to meet Joe, Paddy Callaghan and Alan Clayton at the Stranglers gig in Battersea Park telling me we needed some pro security and not The Hells Angels. Joe was impressive. A big chap with a vice like grip when shaking hands and a scar down one side of his face. And he had been Keith Richards minder since 1969. I took Joe on for The Stranglers and we all got to like each other. Then I employed him again when I was The Cults co-manager and then Big Country's manager. We became great friends and there was a mutual fondness for each other. Some of you will remember Annie, Joe's partner. Her brother Bill as a 9 year old followed The Stranglers and still does to this day and has introduced his and Michelle his wife's son Liam to them. 23 years ago, he became Keith's minder keeping it in the family. How about that. Alan Clayton is still on the music scene having formed a band - The Dirty Strangers - in the 80s which Keith joined for a short period while he and Mick weren't getting on. I managed the Dirty Strangers and released 3 of their albums on Track Records
Liam Bolton is the same age as my grandson, Josh. They were born a few days apart. And Keith's grandaughter Ava a week after the boy's (photo attached). I didn't know until last year, maybe the year before that Liam wanted to learn drumming and what a great start he had. Charlie Watts gave him a kit.I have stayed in touch with Bill and his wife not so much in person but via social media and when The Rolling Stones are on tour. I said to Bill, I would do what I could to help Liam. So I thought I'd send a video of Liam rehearsing to Rick Buckler (formerly of The Jam) and he wrote encouraging emails to Liam. I wanted to arrange for them to meet but sadly Rick passed a few months ago but, this one of the emails
"Hi Ian,
Love Liam's shades. Very good, two things I noticed, Liam could practice locking in on his own internal clock (especially during to stops) and I opened the HiHat briefly on the snare beats to add a fizz to the snare sound. Always more interesting to practice playing along to favorite tracks, keep up the good work. Hope this helps.
All the best
Rick Buckler"
Meanwhile, Liam has been having lessons with Steve Jordan no less and has also played with Rolling Stones bass player Darryl Jones and their keyboardist and two of their backing singers. So, when the call was made for drummers to appear in 'Let There Be Drums', I just had to tell Nigel Dick about him.