My Name is on the Bills

My Name is on the Bills is the second album to be released by Welsh rhythm and blues band Red - Eyed Fly. Nicknamed "the Bills", the CD and accompanying vinal were released in August 2007, two years after the band was first formed. Out of the eight track listings, two were compositions of the whole band, and the other rest were separately written by lead singer Mike Bird, with the exception of "Calling Time", jointly written by lead guitarist Richard Eason, and "Montgomery Man", jointly written by bassist Rob Davies.
Writing
My Name is on the Bills was Red - Eyed Fly's first professional album, with writing stemming from a variety of techniques that played into the band's live performances over the previous year. The album is a collection of the songs written by the band itself, leaving out covers from notable jazz, blues and rock musicians. Nothing was written specifically for this album, but added when the time for recording came, although Bird had ideas for recording with the band as one of his main interests. Notable listings include the title track, "Calling Time", "My Purgatory" and "She's Up To Something". "My Name is on the Bills", Bird's slightly humourous latin/blues song, allegedly written for the Credit Crunch, but originating from an earlier 1990s twelve-bar blues song of his. "The Stutter" is most likely the most performed track on the album, which became the instumental opening for the band at almost every live perfomance it played,featuring the memorable shout of "Stutter" from Richard Eason, shaking up the tempo of the song into an actual stuttering effect. "My Purgatory" is a throwback to cabaret latin, but with a meaningful blues undertone, generate from Bird's style of singing. "Don't You Wish You Could Run Your Life Like You Run Mine" and "She's Up To Something", are two other of Bird's compositions dataing back to previous band experiences, the latter of which being a slow blues, with long lead guitar solo by Eason. "Calling Time" is a more Freddy King inspired twelve-bar blues riff featuring vocals from both Mike Bird and Richard Eason.
Recording
The album was recorded, engineered and produced by the band over a the course of a weekend in January 2007, at UWE is Bristol, with mastering and additional production taking place at SSL, Oxfordshire, in Spring 2007. Multiple takes were taken on many of the songs, notably My Name is on the Bills, in which Bird went back to record an additional harmonica solo, and vocal overdubbs by The Clan on the previously mentioned track. Following this, keyboards were later added to My Purgratory some time after January, with piano and slide added to That's Why I Drink So Much.
Track Listings
1.Don't You Wish You Could Run your Life Like You Run Mine? (Bird)
2. My name is on the Bills (Bird)
3. That's Why I Drink So Much (Bird)
4. The Stutter (Bird, Eason, Davies, Harvey)
5. She's Up To Something (Bird)
6. My Purgatory (Bird, Eason, Harvey)
7. Calling Time (Bird, Eason)
8. Montgomery Man (Bird, Davies)
Personnel
Mike Bird - lead, rhythm guitar and lead guitar, harmonica
Richard Eason - lead Guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
Robert Davies - bass guitar, backing vocals
Carl Harvey - drums, percussion
Gethin John, Tom Smith - keyboards
The Clan - additional vocals
David Eason - engineer, producer January - August 2007
Gethin John - Producer

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