STARSAILOR SPEAK OUT OVER SPECTOR

Frontman James Walsh tells NME.COM he was "shocked" to hear of the producer's arrest on a murder charge...

STARSAILOR frontman JAMES WALSH says it would be a “great honour” if they were the last band to have worked with troubled producer PHIL SPECTOR but that it would feel “strange”.

The band coaxed the legend into the studio to help them out on their second album ‘Silence Is Easy’, and he produced two tracks shortly before being arrested on a murder charge. And while Walsh admits Spector’s methods were unorthodox, he was not prepared for the shock news that he had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Walsh said: “It feels strange really. The time we spent with him, he was eccentric but by no means was there any indication that he could be capable of anything that serious.

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It would obviously be a great honour if we were to be the last band. But also it would mean the loss of someone so good who had given so much to music.”

When asked how strange Spector was to work with, Walsh replied: “I think it was an amazing experience first and foremost. To see, for example, the way he could make a string quartet sound like an orchestra.

“His hours were very unconventional. He started at six at night and finished at four in the morning. That was quite hard work. He didn’t want to use anything modern, any pro-tools or anything like that. Whatever you recorded, stuck. You couldn’t really go back over anything and say ‘That could sound better or that could sound better’. In the end, two of the songs he did are on the album – ‘Silence Is Easy’ and ‘White Dove’. That style suited those two songs better than the other ones.”

‘Silence Is Easy’ is released on September 15. It was produced by the band and Danton Supple, except ‘Silence Is Easy’ and ‘White Dove’ which were produced by Phil Spector, and ‘Shark Food’ which was produced by John Leckie. A single of the same name appears on September 1. The band then head off on a UK tour around the same time.

The tour calls at: Glasgow Academy (September 19)

Manchester Apollo (20)

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Birmingham Academy (22)

Leeds University (23)

Nottingham Rock City (24)

Cambridge Corn Exchange (26)

Cardiff University (27)

Bristol Academy (28)

Southampton Guildhall (30)

Norwich UEA (October 1)

London Brixton Academy (3)

For tickets, call the NME Ticketline on 0870 1 663 663.

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