The Prescotts

Will Cook and Matt Thomas, aka ‘the Prescotts’, have been friends for about five years. Their interest in composing music goes back as far as they can both remember.

“Music has given me something to offset the monotony of my day job,” said Will. "I've always enjoyed picking up a guitar more than picking up a pen.”

The two gents share a common passion for writing music and their widespread appreciation for music and many influences contribute to what spills out in the recording sessions.

Matt recalls the process of writing the song ‘Know I’m Right’:

“Will brought in this short melody written on an electric guitar and initially I thought it would sound better coming from a grand piano. In the end the song features neither the guitar melody nor piano. We decided to highlight a simple acoustic guitar part and arrange the song around a bass and drum groove. That’s the way things happen in these sessions.”

Matt is no stranger to the studio atmosphere as he has been the owner/engineer of Shattered Wings Studio next to Ottawa’s trendy core for over seven years. He enjoys stepping out from behind the engineer’s console and writing original music with Will.

Will jumped at the opportunity to work with Matt on compositions which now fall under the moniker of ‘the Prescotts’. “Up until Matt approached me about doing this project I had been recording my ideas on a Sanyo microcassette recorder. I felt technologically challenged,” he jokes.

The studio has given them both a place to flush out their ideas. Instead of bringing in a complete composition in need of finishing touches, they have been using the studio as a writing tool.

“The only flaw in this entire process is that there is not enough time in a day, days in a week, to satisfy our interest in this project,” Matt said. “We never struggle to find ideas musically. Finding time to record is the hard part.”

As for what the future holds in store for the Prescotts… Well, they have no idea, and they aren’t thinking that far ahead. Both agree they are doing this for themselves with no ulterior motives. They hope people like the music, but the take it or leave it approach sits just fine with them because they are enjoying themselves so much.

“As with anything, some people will love it and some will hate it,” said Will. “Honestly, we’d feel best somewhere right in the middle. As long as we’re having this good of a time writing music, we’ll keep pumping out the tunes.”