Julie Staines

.. " / "A man should not leave this earth with unfinished business. He should live each day as if it was a pre-flight check. He should ask each morning, am I prepared to lift-off?" This Is Me. My first real attempt at songwriting and fronting a band was with the all girl band, Dearjon. It was all bras and tight jeans which looking back explains why our audience was mostly male. The band split and I got together with producer Steve Ennever to write an album of quirky English songs. We did that, called it British Racing Green and gigged around London with the help of Paul Holman, Mark Arnold and other fabulous musicians and within a year were signed to Columbia Records in New York . I have to say that for a few years I had the best time: swanning around the Big Apple in limos and drinking lots of Cosmopolitans in trendy wine bars with some great people. I thought I'd arrived. We recorded the album in Los Angeles with Matt Wallace producing and some amazing guys playing. Brian McCloud drummed, Lyle Workman played guitar and Mike Elizondo was on bass. For a while things couldn't have looked any brighter but as lots of signed artists experience, things did go pair shaped for lots of different reasons. We got an album out of it though and some of the songs are still used in films today which is nice when the PRS cheques come through the door. I wish I was Sting on those days! We kept trying to make good of the situation and the guys from Fevertree bought themselves plane tickets to LA and shook the place up a bit. The three Burts certainly got the attention of the Americans but it was a bit too late to do too much more. Cheers to the Burts. Nowadays I gig a lot and am involved in lots of different things musically. When I was asked to join the Shakers I jumped at the chance purely because of the material that they do. It's very satisfying to be in a band with fantastic musicians who play what they love without exception. I do some session work for various companies and I actually enjoy that because I don't have to be as emotionally involved with the work. The stuff that I continue to write with Steve still reflects a massive part of me and I get really precious about what I'm trying to say. Songs about growing up in the East End and perhaps how I miss those days; songs about getting drunk and wearing second hand clothes and waking up on a Sunday morning with the Salvation Army coming down the street. Good news folks, there is a brand new Julie Band on its way. Be lucky and mind how you grow! Julz.