Mudd engineered Liam Bradley’s drums on Coldwalking.
Where do I start?
Mudd is a local legend in Northern Ireland, to say the least… I met him for the first time on a session with Jules Maxwell, while recording Jules’s 1997 album, ‘Bolt’. From the stories I had heard, I was expecting a huge gruff guy with a beard like a rhododendron bush to thunder his way into the studio and pronunce himself to be the Mighty Mudd.
How wrong can you be – he was nothing of the sort, being as he is a tall slim chap with long grey hair, a bit of a baby face and a great Antrim accent. I took an instant liking to him. His reputation was fearsome – he would slaughter musicians and bands with one fell stroke of his sharp tongue… an example wouldn’t go amiss.
Soon after the first meeting, I found myself back in the studio as a young band came in for an overnight session. Mudd had been in hospital and wasn’t in great form, so I agreed to help out, for my sins. The band were keen, too keen, and Mudd noticed this with some dread. We got all the gear set up, and were getting ready for a first take. They bashed through the tune, bursting with enthusiasm at the expense of musicality and control, playing it a bit fast and messily. Needless to say, this did not go down at all well with Mudd. At this point the lead singer made the mistake I’m sure he’s never forgotten – he asked ‘What do you think… should we change anything or what?’…
… The finger of Mudd pressed down on the talk-back button slowly, as he prepared himself for the weighty advice which was to be dispensed to the would-be popstars…
CLICK – “Yeah, I’ve a couple of suggestions. If you got a new drummer, bass player, singer and guitar player and came back in about ten years, that might improve things.” – CLICK
I jumped in, dispatching Mudd off to bed with a cup of tea, and took over for a bit, pulling these shell-shocked rabbits out from the glaring headlights of Mudd Wallace. I couldn’t help laughing my ass off – those poor buggers. There are a number of other classics, but I’ll save them for later.
Regardless of this side of the man, I have always found him to be a complete star. He’s a fantastic engineer, and has a superb dry sense of humour. We always got on very well in the studio, and made a good production team, getting some great results with a couple of bands. He was always very supportive of my stuff, letting me run riot in the studio if I needed to, and when the time came to record Liam Bradley’s drums on ‘Coldwalking’, he was right there to help. He’s another one of those truly generous people who will give his time and effort without too much thought, if he likes you. Haven’t seen him for a while, but its only a matter of time until I roll up the M2 into Randalstown, past that beautiful viaduct and the slow river, up to the studio for a cup of tea at some ungodly hour and some good chat and laughs…