ALL ABOUT "WOLF NOTES"

Having been in the music business from age 17, Nigel Stonier has since the late 80s been a widely acclaimed songwriter, musician and producer who has worked, either in the studio or live, with artists including Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne, Mike Scott and the Waterboys, Paul Young, Clare Teal, Thea Gilmore, Martha Wainwright, Gretchen Peters and Robert Plant. His work has included several top 40 singles and albums, as well as many songs on globally successful film soundtracks. His solo output includes seven studio albums, the latest of which Wolf Notes is just released.

 

He talks to Simon Button about starting the new album in lockdown, the significance of the title and the stories behind some of the songs.

 

How would you describe the new album?

I'd love to say 'This is the one where I fuse Swedish techno with alt-prog' but that would, y'know, be a lie. Wolf Notes is like the latest chapter in what I do. People who've heard my music know the template: songs informed by (but not defined by) folk, a melodic twist, an indie vibe and a focus on lyrics. I like to think of it as Sense and Pop Sensibility

 

How did you come up with the title Wolf Notes and what does it refer to?

A wolf note is a little freak of music, when on string instruments the player hits a note that's close to a frequency in the instrument's body. What comes out is a howl and it's known as a wolf note. It's kind of an intruder on a beautiful instrument, but without the capacity for the occasional wolf note the instrument wouldn't have its magical tone in the first place. I liked the image and what it said to me.

 

When did the album's gestation begin?

In March 2020 I found myself having just bought a new apartment, just as lockdown arrived. I landed on March 19th and I had a bed, a fridge, broadband, an acoustic guitar and little else for a few weeks. 

It was already a time of ends and beginnings for me and, like many people, I had more time on my hands than in over a decade. I was suddenly surrounded by space, both external and internal. There was no option to get in the studio - or to get anywhere, for that matter - but suddenly there was time to write as well as to play, and review songs I'd not finished. 

So I started and the core body of songs that make up Wolf Notes appeared.

 

How did things develop from there, musically speaking?

Well, maybe in accordance with the time we were living through, I found myself taking things back to basics. It wasn't a conscious move; I just realised I was writing songs with simpler chord structures and less opaque lyrics than sometimes in the past. There was a sense of everything being pared back to the roots, I guess.

 

What were the musical influences that you drew on for the record?

Let's see. 

I was listening to Bill Fay's Countless Branches and Florist's Emily Alone. I loved the directness in the writing and the absence of adornment in the sound. Then Gordon Lightfoot released Solo, which I loved. It's impressive that he released a record so stark, in his mid 80s. 

I was also revisiting some old stuff like Bill Withers' Still Bill and the first Jackson C. Frank album -

records and songs that were full of space. Sometimes it's about making the silence count.

 

Your life was also undergoing some upheavals at the time, such as the break-up of your marriage. It must have been a turbulent period in your life?

[Long silence] Well, yes perhaps. But really, I mean, have the last five years on the whole been great for anybody? 

We've endured a pandemic. 

Many brilliant people have passed. 

I know many people who lost loved ones and even more whose livelihoods went to ruin. 

I know brilliant musicians now delivering pizzas or drawing Universal Credit. 

There are bills that can't be paid and careers that are on the scrapheap. So yes, there were profound changes in my life and challenges, but these things are all relative. And I'm here now and feeling energised. My two boys are thriving, those dearest to me are in good health and I've just had one of my busiest years making music. I'm in a good place. I actually feel grateful and very blessed.

 

Did any of your personal issues bleed into your songwriting?

Personal issues are always in your songs. 

Everything that happens from when you wake up, everything that you ever did... They're in there, whether consciously or not. 

I'd say there's a line to be drawn between personal and autobiographical, though, and anyone expecting to hear a 'break-up' album will be disappointed. If you want one of those then go listen to Blood on the Tracks or Shoot Out The Lights. It wouldn't occur to me to make that type of record and frankly with the mood of the world right now I think it's the last thing anyone needs. To hear a middle-aged white guy who's lucky enough to do this for his job bleating self-pity? No, no!

 

When it came to recording the album, which artists did you reach out to and how did they contribute to the finished work?

I'm lucky to know some great people. Rob Harris from Jamiroquai played some killer guitar and rising indie star Little Sparrow aka Katie Ware came in and did some beautiful harmonies. My old chum Rod Clements from Lindisfarne played slide guitar and CJ Hillman, the AMA award-winning steel player, also did some stellar stuff. I've been writing songs with Steve Wickham from The Waterboys and one of those - a track called "Soul" - is on the album.

 

Your sons Egan and Asher are also on the record, aren't they?

Yeah and that was just a natural thing. Egan is a violinist and he and I have probably played music together pretty much every day since he was four. He's a wonderful player and he has played all over the country and the continent with both his parents. He was around when many of these songs were written and was intrinsic to them. He's 18 and is on his own musical path, but luckily he still enjoys playing with me! 

Ash is 13 and he's just something else. He paints off a different palette and his tastes are wide but he's obsessed with - and deeply knowledgable about - rap and hip-hop, and he's very rhythm conscious, he plays keys and programmes beats, he's amazing. 

He played lots of hand drums and shakers for us, then asked if he could put kit drums on the first track Don't Lose Songs. When he came in for the last 24 bars as the song builds, he did two takes and blew us away.

 

Some of the subject matters are very intriguing, like That's Why God Made Tribute Bands...

With that song, I suppose it's kind of a little rant about reality and what people accept as reality. I went through a year or so of watching more Saturday night TV than I have in my entire life and finding myself being both repelled and glued to it, like everyone else - it struck me as like a Danse Macabre played out to the Benny Hill theme tune. 

I was gonna call the song Never Mind The Botox but I couldn't find enough rhymes.

 

What can you tell me about other tracks like That's Where You'll Be and The New Alright?

That's Where You'll Be is a very personal one. A lifelong friend had a shocking, terrible health diagnosis. I wrote this song to give to her; she was positive and vibrant to the end and I wanted the song to reflect that. Then there's The New Alright. I was sat watching the news on an iPad during the first lockdown or I was looking through my apartment window, and I wrote it all down as I saw it. The song is as close as I get to stream-of-consciousness songwriting. For once I just let it come out and didn't edit myself.

 

You were part of a Covid fundraising record, weren't you?

Yeah, I was. 

Whispering Bob Harris, a dear long-standing friend, called me. He said he was producing a remake of Stand By Me to raise funds for musicians hit by the pandemic and asked me if I was up for it, and of course I said 'Sure'. 

Then I googled it and learned that he'd already got Mark Knopfler, Peter Frampton and Rick Wakeman on it. I called him back and said 'Bob, are you sure you need me, those guys are pretty good!' but he assured me that he did. So I played on it, it was fab and we raised over £20,000.

 

Aside from making your own album, have you been involved in any other projects of late?

I produced an album for Dave Hemingway (formerly of The Beautiful South fame) and his new band Sunbirds. And I just made a record with the internationally acclaimed blues artist Martin Harley as well as albums with new artists The Far North and Megan Lee - both of whom I was delighted to be able to help get on national radio for the first time. 

Then Sam Smith recently covered one of my songs at their BBC Proms gig, which was wonderful.

 

You've been in the business since you were 17. What are you proudest of about your longevity and can you pick a few career highlights?

I'm proud of the longevity itself, I guess - keeping the show on the road. As for career highlights, there would be so many that we'd need a whole other interview! I've worked with incredible, gifted and life-changing people and I've got gratitude towards every single one of them.

But I'm also thinking about the next phase and people I'm waiting to work with.

I'm looking forward, and I don't want to sound trite or disingenuous but I really do consider myself incredibly lucky.

 

You always seem to be working but what do you do to kick back?

People say that a lot, but I'm no workaholic. I'm an avid reader - fiction, mostly - and absolutely love crossword puzzles. I also love cricket (watching not playing!) and football to a degree, theatre, films, good vegetarian food... None of which sound very rock-and-roll but, well, whatever gets you through the night, as someone once said.