Cutting Crew

BREAKING NEWS!!!
So here is the news all our fans in USA have been waiting for:
Cutting Crew will play a 14 date tour of USA commencing on June 17th in Boston and ending in Atlanta on 15th July!!
They will play alongside ABC/Heaven 17/Wang Chung/Berlin/Missing Persons
Go to tour website www.regenerationtour.com to see dates and all line-ups for shows.
Grammy nominated/Multi-Million sellers who spawned classic hits (I Just) Died in Your Arms and Ive Been in Love Before have a brand new album Grinning Souls.
Go visit "Cutting Crew" Official Website!!
FREE demos, FREE CDs and some NEW songs!!!
www.cuttingcrew.biz
***STOP PRESS***
The songs on our player are updated monthly and they are an attempt to give you some old hits and some rarities and some upcoming songs to record from recent demos.
Over the past 6 months Nick has made a wonderful new friendship with an Italian singer/writer who is simply a genius of energy and ideas and dedicated musical excellence. Her name is Sandrina Sedona and they have collaborated on the musical piece from the (last Cutting Crew album) Grinning Souls.... "Lauren's Theme" .
It is a classical/instrumental piece that Nick wrote as he felt the lyrics for the original "song" were too raw and upsetting to include in a rock album. Sandrina pounced like a cat and translated his original text and has sung the melody in Italian..she arranged and edited and basically breathed so much new life into this gorgeous melody. The track is only a demo at the moment but the reactions we have received have been so strong that we will try to offer it to one of the crop of new young classical vocal groups/soloists in the world. Wish us luck and thank you Sandrina!!
It's not often I feel the need to immediately write something on the site but I HAD to say how sad I was to hear of the passing of Rick Wright of Pink Floyd.
Every song I ever wrote was influenced by his chords and movements in their arrangements.....a complete master of understatement as Roger and Dave took centre stage he ploughed on with the coolest Hammond tones and all kinds of cutting edge sounds and experiments.
I saw the band a few times including the premier of 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' at Wembley Arena in Quadrophonic.
A true master lost so far too early.
Nick van Eede
Nick has recently signed an endorsement deal with Freshman Guitars based in Glasgow.
Sean Kelly has been building a great roster of Freshman players including The Kooks, Sandi Thom and Kelly Clarkson.
See the range at: http://www.freshmanguitars.co.uk
Here are the Answers to the Ten Questions for Nick that you all submitted last year!
Enjoy!
Did you like the interpretation that Acid Eyeliner did of "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight?" Michelle North Las Vegas, NV
"I love this band and everything they stand for. They’ve got tons of energy in their music and in their scream for attention from down under! The live version was sensational as you could hear 100’s of sweaty fans singing along to a great band BUT to the old chestnut DIYA. You would not believe how many covers have been requested over the past few years and how few I have given permission to …..so many of them dance versions using the original samples but these lads just strapped their guitars on and delivered. I’ve offered to help with the single but the corporate UK music industry is so hard to get into these days…I wish them every success and truly hope to meet them one day."
Nick, what is your favourite song from Broadcast? Sean
"Any Colour is my nearly immediate choice! (Close run thing to “It shouldn’t take Too long” as we play this on tour every night and its so ballsy and has a really uplifting lyric….I also hit all the high notes without going falsetto….most nights, ha ha). …But back to “Any Colour”…..This was totally the first song that Kevin and I ever played and wrote together. I had the tune and the chords and he wrote all that majestic guitar stuff in just minutes. It was all demoed in about an hour in Terry Brown’s basement studio in Toronto and Kevin used his Roland Guitar Synthesiser for his parts so it sounded like nobody else! Gotta learn this song for the new tour!!!"
I bumped into you a long time ago in Crawley (probably about 15 years ago - eeeek!!), and we had a lovely chat. You were in the process of writing a song called 'Mona Lisa' and had bought a card of the painting to show Lauren who Mona Lisa was. You very kindly signed the card and gave it to me! (sorry Lauren :o) ) I've wondered about that song since then. Did it ever get finished, or did the name change and has it appeared elsewhere? Mariangela
"I remember this day clearly as you were so lovely and asked the coolest questions. This was during a very dark time in my musical life when I almost became a hermit and wrote 15 songs never to be heard by anyone……yet! “(Stole your) Mona Lisa” was a rock song with the final lyrics….”I’m the one who stole your Mona Lisa, drew a moustache right across her face”. Every video and every demo and every unreleased track by me and Cutting Crew, the office is planning to make available in the next 6 months…..either for download/sale or just posted on the internet and Mona Lisa will be included. Time is not only a thief but also a healer and all these years later those original songs sound very very strong. In fact, we play a song called “Mothers Little Angel” live and the lyric is very challenging about a young girl who is abused and runs away from home only to finally find some form of happiness with her own new baby boy"
What's the story with the Genesis audition?
"Lets start at the end. I got told I didn’t have the job on the morning of my wedding! Mike Rutherford called me at 11am and he said “I hope I haven’t called at a bad time but we all loved you and your personality but we thought you didn’t have enough high-end crack in your voice…sorry have a great weekend” I duly told him I was getting married in 5 hours and it was a minor aggravation as my wife-to-be was screaming that the flowers hadn’t arrived and my nine year old daughter (bridesmaid) was already slightly tipsy on ginger wine! Back to the audition, it was a fantastic day. I arrived at their billion-dollar farmhouse/studio to see 6 cars all the same colour with consecutive number plates and Tony Smith (their legendary manager) outside to welcome me. I had been told that there was a band to back me and any problems with song arrangements/keys could be sorted on the studio floor. I arrived and met Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford BUT NO BAND. I ripped into “I can’t dance” and then the tricky “Turn it on again” and all was was going great. Then I explained to them that “Tonight tonight Tonight” would make my testicles climb into my body for the rest of my life and could they drop they key by a tone? The excellent engineer smugly suggested that he could put his finger on the tape and slow it down. I didn’t show any panic and proceeded to sound like Norman Wisdom singing Phil Collins on Brighton Piers karaoke night. I rallied with a splendid “No Son Of Mine” and after 11 classic songs I was knackered and dying for a fag or a beer. I was politely offered cucumber sandwiches and a cup of tea……seriously! The rest is non-history but I will remember it for the rest of my life….almost as much as my wedding day"
On "For The Longest Time" (B-side of DIYA) what is it that is being said in the "Soap opera" style part of the song.
"We were in a tiny studio in south London for 6 hours to record the B-side for DIYA. Remember we were just another band with a record deal and no success but this esoteric piece sat along side the hit on 3 million bits of vinyl. The whole band chipped in and then Kevin suggested an interlude with some radio stuff….so as to keep it like the concept on the album Broadcast. He found a play on BBC Radio, held the mic to the radio and Hey Presto. But the dialogue seemed to really fit in a happy accident way. Those were the days when you only kept and used what you recorded and got on with it. No questions asked and no royalties paid to the playwright!"
Been a fan for a long time...I was wondering if you have any contact with any remaining members of the original line-up?
"Colin and his girlfriend flew out to join me and my family whilst we were living in Barbados. We had a great time and he seemed in great spirits. I’ve heard some of his excellent new songs with various co-writers. Frosty is ALWAYS busy. I haven’t seen him for a long time but I understand he is a very in-demand session drummer, especially in London’s West End theatre world. Miss them all."
What is your favourite word or expression?
"Common Decency. I will get a tattoo this year of Honestas Communis. A rough Latin translation."
What is your least favourite word or expression?
"I regret not having tried that!!"
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
"Sex, Whisky and Words…oh and a new musical toy in the studio."
Is there any one artist/band/whoever that you'd just love to collaborate with on a project (that you haven't yet)? If so, who would that be? Thanks.
"Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis. So cool…menacing..un-intelligible….uplifting!"
Do you own an iPod? If so, what's in it?...
"No IPOD ( I hate the new generation of people walking around for hours in a bubble of music…it diminishes what music should be and is life really that dull to hide in your cans for half your day?? So here’s my I-TUNES top 20.
First of all, without a doubt and with no hesitation Rufus Wainwright. His “Going to a Town” blows my mind like “Black Dog” by Led Zep did 35 years ago and Supertramp’s “If Everyone was Listening” did 25 years ago.
Bruce Springsteen – Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Combination Head – Glass & Steel
Ron Hynes – Dry
Natasha Bedingfield – I Bruise Easily
Razorlight – America
QueensOfTheStoneAge – No One Knows
Mir- Suicide Letter2
Stephen Fretwell – New York
Tom Baxter – My Declaration
Filomath- Surrounded
Foo Fighters – In Your Honour
Nelly Furtado- Say it Right
Embrace – Glorious Day
Kite- Firefly
Kaiser Chiefs - Love’s Not A Competition
All I wanna Do is Rock- Travis
Give it Up – Talk Talk
So there you are!! Thanks to all of YOU for the questions and of course big thanks to Nick for giving us the answers!!
Amazing news from the Cutting Crew HQ!!!
They have just signed a record deal for the USA and Canada with Spectra Records. This means the Grinning Souls album will now soon be available from the streets of San Francisco to Saskatoon!!!