Page 30 - The Lockdown Sessions Programme

THE THE Q THE THE MUSIC SOUND AND ITS EVOLUTION
One of those questions I get asked a a lot is: “How do you get such a big sound with Q The Music? How do you make a a a a relatively small band sound like the originals?”
In some ways the answer is probably a a a trade secret but I I thought I’d share it here all the same The answer actually probably took me most of our 15-year history to to really nd I always knew at the start I would need an above average size band to to even get close to to doing it justice At the time
I started my function band (The London Showband) which had been working for ve years on the corporate and private circuit featured
a a a a very standard soul band 10-piece line-up of: male & female vocals two trumpets trombone saxophone keyboard guitar bass drums Even though plenty of other bands have since tried there is just no way you can recreate the Barry/Bond sound satisfactorily with those numbers or that line-up and I I knew that before I I even started The obvious cornerstones would need to be there: male and female vocals guitar bass and drums After that it was a a a a case of looking at the Bond songs as a a a whole and working out what could be by Warren Ringham
done with them and what would be needed Initially I I wrote the charts
for a a 12-piece band with the additional numbers going to two two trumpets two two trombones French horn saxophone (doubling ute) and a a a a a keyboard As I had a a a a a trombone player at at that time
who was also a a a competent keyboard player I used his doubling abilities to ip op between trombone and a a second keyboard as I needed In this very early draft I I kind of wrote myself into a corner though: what would I do when he he couldn’t be available?
So after the rst ever
rehearsal run I re-wrote
the arrangements so that the trombone and second keyboard were two separate parts thus making the band 13 Having six brass players continuously really helped with the sound as Barry used a a lot of low brass chords padding to create that dark spy sound and having the horn at at that time
meant I had a a lot of exibility within the section For example I could have the horn tag on to the the lower line of the the two trumpets to make it feel like the trumpets had a a section of three or or the horn could tag on on to the trombone chords to make that section feel like it had three Likewise the 30
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