(still) Doin' Alright...
Apart from anything else; the success of this one (co-written) tune persuaded me to continue with music.
The story now, risks becoming a cliché, surely; Hitherto anonymous legacy ex band-mate of classic rock band gets micro-role in world busting bio-pic, Realises a new lease of life after decades; It’s the Cinderella story, isn’t it? For me, though, the glass slipper turned out to be a boost of confidence worth a good deal more than money (although there was some of that, as well) All because of one song.
As the ‘sixties drew to a close, I graduated from Art College in West London, determined to make a living as a rock musician. I was the bass player & vocalist for a cool little trio, on the cusp of moving from the college circuit up to the next level. The trouble was, I’d started to get tired of the approach and the music, and was, well, frankly, restless… I’d got it into my head that the ship had sailed for the music we were playing; I’d been corrupted, perhaps by circumstance; all I knew is I was tired of that particular approach - and I wanted to give myself a chance to focus on writing and developing a more introspective body of work.
I quit the trio, whose name was ‘Smile’ and went foraging for alternatives. During the time with the trio, I’d written a couple of songs with the guitarist, a certain (Sir) Brian May, and I wasn’t to revisit them in any form until well after the millennium.
I spent much of my working life in Film & TV models and effects, working on everything from kid’s series to feature films and commercials, I built models, animated stop-frame sequences, and directed whole commercials; When the digital computer started to tear our industry apart, we moved into museum, exhibition, and physical effects; The millennium was our busiest time. We built large installations for the notorious Millenium Dome in London’s East End, Major Exhibitions in Bristol & Leicester; We were BUSY. Then it dried up. After 2000 there was no longer anything like the volume of work we were used to. It was altogether a strange time. After the attack on the twin towers, My partner and I called it a day.
This is what prompted my return to practicing music seriously. I reconnected with my erstwhile colleague Richard Lightman from the ‘seventies band Tailfeather, and we embarked on my first solo album ‘aMIGO’.
During his formative years, my eldest son, Andrew had responded very favourably to the kind of music I exposed the family household to. He expressed a desire to learn the drums (doesn’t any kid?) - and took it to a respectable stage of development in a relatively short space of time. We DID see eye to eye on matters of rhythm - and as a result, he became the drummer for the album.
We populated the album with a mix of legacy songs, and new-build material. One such tune was ‘Doin’ Alright’ - though it underwent a major transformation in order to fit in with the ‘groove-centric’ approach we were taking. Sir Brian contributed some stonking guitar and vocals (it was this very track that made me realise what a great singer he is) - I can surmise that, judging by the plays it gets on my Spotify page, this version isn’t too badly regarded by the Queen diaspora; and I like it, too… That’s not to say I ever rejected the earlier (and subsequent) treatments. I’m intimately bound up with the tune; nowadays, I perform it in its original form. It’s quite hard to make interesting just acoustically with a single guitar, but I do my best.
In one of life’s gob-smacking moments recently - I was watching some clips on You Tube of someone I am a great fan of - I’ve seen him several times, and I think there’s a good argument to say he may be the greatest living instrumental artist - the American mandolin player and singer/songwriter Chris Thile; Suddenly, I came across this; not just Chris Thile, but the wonderful Sarah Jarosz too!
Take a listen to ‘Doin’ Alright’ here…
‘Doin’ Alright’ - Tim Staffell aMIGO album