The artists recorded their song at the Legend Music Recording Studio in Koh Kaew, owned and operated by producer and composer, and long-term Phuket expat, Gary Crause over last weekend (June 13-14).
“Drums were tracked on the Saturday with the rest of the instrumentation and vocals tracked on the Sunday,” Gary told The Phuket News.
“The sessions were filmed in their entirety for a music video that will be released in the week of the 21st of June, and in the spirit of following the current social distancing rules, the Sunday recordings were broken into three parts with a maximum of 10 people per session,” he added.
Contributing to the sessions were well known Phuket musicians Rockin’ Pat from Rockin’ Angels Blues Café in Phuket Town, Colin Hill, George Cordeiro, Violin virtuoso Alex Gregg and famed author, set designer and Blues Shouter Jimmy Fame.
Joining the more experienced musicians were an eclectic mix of younger up and coming artists in AndreaH, Blaze KC and Dasha D’Aria who have all released original music in the past 12 months, as well as students and teachers from the Phuket Academy of Performing Arts and UWC Thailand.
Whilst the day was a lot of fun, the reason behind the recording and filming of the track were never far from the participants minds, with some making financial contributions on the day towards the Lean On Me Food Donation campaign run through the local Villa Market stores, Gary explained
“After a long day of recording, filming and heavy rain, the sessions came to a close at around 4pm on Sunday with an exhausted but satisfied audio and video team, with lead videographer Daniel Wolf exclaiming, ‘Well, I think we have it!’” he added.
Not ones to sit on their laurels or waste any time, Daniel set about editing a short promo clip together on Monday, whilst producer Gary got to terms with editing, mixing and mastering the massive audio project.
Asked what brought the project about, Gary explained, “We had visited with Yvonne Symons [Villa Market] and Kath Cumming [Help Phuket Today] and they had been telling us about the extreme and urgent need for food donations in pretty much every community in Phuket as so many people had lost their jobs or ability to earn an income because of the effects of the virus.
“It left me thinking that we had to make it as easy and as seamless as possible for people to contribute, so the next day I contacted Villa Market to see if they would be interested in partnering as they have the infrastructure to facilitate that. They were on board immediately. It all kind of spiraled into action from there!
"It seems to be easier for people to buy into an idea when we give it a name. I contacted a bunch of my closest musician friends and asked if they would like to assist with recording a song for the promotion of the campaign, and unanimously the response was ‘Hell Yes!’” Gary concluded.
The Lean On Me single can already be heard on Phuket radio station Live 89.5 FM as well as inside the Villa Market stores. The single is free for download from the Phuket Academy of Performing Arts SoundCloud page to anyone that would like a copy.
All the Phuket Musicians Collective ask in return is that you scan the barcode in support of the Lean On Me initiative the next time you purchase something from your local Villa Market.
The teaser video can be seen here and the full music video will be out soon!
See also:
Help Phuket Today providing assistance to poor and migrant families