The latest in our 2015 song-of-the-month sequence is 'Time Out', a song that has grown and morphed with us throughout the last 20 years of our musical lives. Jeez, I remember trying to get an early version of it down in my Gran's flat (she was away - not sure the neighbours cared for it much) one hot summer at the end of the millennium, using an Akai S2000 sampler and our erstwhile Bonham-obsessed drummer.
It started out as a dark bluesy/Stonesy jam, partly inspired by the emotional space on the Dylan album of the same name, before it tightened up into a sleeker Stone Roses-inspired guitar and drum loop swagger. When we started to explore our love of folk and country it seemed to naturally fit into a 2 acoustic guitar arrangement, and has stuck around ever since.
I bet every songwriter and artist has songs like this, ones that aren't necessarily anyone else's favourites but just linger around, as a litmus test of where they're at musically, always hovering around the edge of sets, ready to be rolled out when the feeling's right. I think this one has a particular longevity as it's great fun to play and has a very different emotional edge than a lot of our songs, being essentially angry and vituperative. It's always had a two-part vocal which has survived into this latest version with its banjo and Americana shuffle, though the lead has swapped through the years. So here it is again, on another sultry summer evening:
If songs are children, this is a particularly surly and truculent teenager, but, hey, it's still our kid and we love it...
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