A MUSICIAN who helped raise thousands of pounds for charity during online festivals during the pandemic has released a new album that’s been a year in the making.
Dave Kidd, originally from Cotherstone, was one of the four musicians that entertained hundreds of people performing sets live from his living room last year during the Lockdown and Loaded sessions.
After enjoying getting back into his music during lockdown, Mr Kidd began seriously putting tracks together in December and had anticipated to have the album complete by May.
He said: “It’s taken about six months longer than I’d originally anticipated, but it is about a thousand times better than I thought it could be.”
Mr Kidd, who now lives at Hurworth, near Darlington, but still works in Barnard Castle, had planned to produce all nine tracks on the album, It is What it is, but called on the help of a seasoned producer Mark Jones to help master all of the tracks.
He said: “Originally I was going to use drums that were synthesized but it was rubbish and I sent it to Andy Yeadon to have a listen. He said that Rob [his brother] was between jobs and could have a look.
“Rob ended up doing the drums, which is great and it sounds so much better.
“I was also having trouble with one of the songs as when I was recording at home.
“It was coming out wrong, so I asked Mark, who’s a really clever sound engineer, to master it.”
He added: “I had to break the song into individual parts and send it to him. I’m really pleased I did because it sounds much better.
“In the end that song sounded so much better than the rest and I didn’t want it to make the others sound bad so persuaded Mark, in his spare time, to do the other eight songs.”
By the August, the album was uploaded to a platform for technical checks, but one song pinged back for copyright infringement.
“I’d used the entire speech from the Chaplin film The Great Dictator in the song, so I had to write to the Chaplin family who own the copyright for their permission to use it.
“They wrote back in two days and said previously they had given permission, but as there were now more than 100 songs that were using it, they would have to charge me 1,500 Euros to use it, so I completely removed it and that took time as well.”
The album went live on Thursday, November 18, and is available for download from all the usual streaming services for £6.
Mr Kidd has also produced a limited number of CDs which will be available from the Handcrafter’s Hub, on The Bank, in Barnard Castle, also priced £6.
He added: “I started off with this album going in one direction and I have been trying to keep up with it.
“It was the first time I have had to sit and write lyrics and I’ve used parts of my brain that I didn’t think I had but I’m really proud of what I’ve done and I think it’s the best yet.
“I’m planning another album, but I’ve got some work to do on the house before I start.”
