As some of you may know, I’ve been recording my long-deferred followup to my 1985 hit single “Skateland Rock/Too Sweet For Words.” This means that it’s been only thirty-one years and counting between Andy Bassford solo releases. Music fans with good memories will realize that this is even longer than it took Guns n’ Roses to finish “Chinese Democracy,” often cited as the most delayed album in modern history.
Being later than G n’ R is embarrassing, but by way of explanation, they outnumber me six or seven or eight to one (I’ve lost count). G n’ R also has a much bigger administrative staff than I do, plus management, booking, a record label, sound men, guitar techs, and other hard-working people. This frees them up to rehearse, record, argue, fire people, audition for replacements, wait for Axl to show up, and so on. So of course they were done a lot faster than I will be.
Although I’m pretty sure I have more musicians on my project than G n’ R has had band members, I have a much smaller team backing my play. As of this writing, it consists of the small but mighty Bassford Holdings (whose sole employee is CEO/CFO/Database Administrator/Bassist Extraordinaire Ethan Bassford) to help me with the paperwork. I am very grateful to have Bassford Holdings in my corner, but unlike Axl and company, I have to write my social media posts, lift amps, and make phone calls myself.
This has been quite an adventure, psychologically, emotionally, and financially. Now that the recording part of the process is nearly complete, I have to start thinking more about the business end of things. And business means self-promotion, which at this point means generating a bit of mystery and hype about the project.
Although I’ve told a few people about what I’m doing, I’m not ready to go full frontal yet online. So I thought it might be fun to give you some of the credits beforehand, to whet your interest a bit. Some of these people are quite well known, at least within the music industry. Others are unjustly obscure. There may be one or two more cameos; I haven’t decided yet. If there are, I will add them to this post. Ladies and gentlemen, here they are.
Singers and Players of Instruments:
- Karl Wright: drums/congas/percussion
- Jeff Ganz: electric bass
- Mitch Margold: piano/organ
- Courtney M. Panton (New Kingston): drums/vocals
- Courtney Panton (New Kingston): bass
- Tahir Panton (New Kingston): keyboards/vocals
- Stephen Suckarie (New Kingston): vocals
- Earl Appleton (New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble): electric piano/organ
- Monty Alexander: piano/melodica
- Willie Martinez: timbales/percussion
- Al Street: electric guitar/acoustic guitar/tenor banjo
- Mikey Chung: electric guitar
- Paul Sutton: drums
- Derrick Barnett: electric bass
- Larry McDonald: congas/repeater/percussion
- Sidney Mills: piano/organ
- Janice Pendarvis: vocals/contractor
- Shevon (Shae) Lawrence: vocals
- Audrey Martells: vocals
- Simone (Simone G) Gordon: vocals
- Andrea (Magano) Sawyers: vocals
- Kim Miller: vocals/tambourine
- Leroy Guy: electric bass
- Ronnie Murphy: drums
- George Naha: electric guitar
- Troy (Klaryti Yaad) Auxilly-Wilson: drums
- Ethan Bassford: electric bass
- Hassan Abdul-Ash Shakur: upright bass
- Andre Blackwood: piano
- Brett Tubin: electric guitar
- James K. Smith: trumpet
- Kevin Batchelor: trumpet
- Anant Pradhan: alto sax
- Fred Reiter (New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble): tenor sax
- Clark Gayton: trombone
- Andy Bassford: electric guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, six string bass
Engineers:
- Gordon (Commissioner Gordon) Williams
- Josh Hahn
- Duff Harris
Studios:
Videographers/Photographers:
- Victor Moore
- Andrea (Magano) Sawyers
- Simone (Simone G) Gordon