It was with great excitement that we launched The Amazing Sessions last week. It sounded pretty good, if we may say so ourselves. And what a great bunch of guys Boy Jumps Ship are. But we’re not the sort to rest on our laurels, and no sooner has the dust begun to settle and we’re gearing up to bring you the next one. Last Thursday [30th Sept] saw Charly Coombes & The New Breed join us in the studio for the next installment of The Amazing Sessions.

Chris McManus, engineering the session, told us more:

“Amazing Radio and amazingtunes.com, as well as providing their music related services, also deal in Amazing Jobs it seems. Last Thursday I was lucky enough to have the Oxford based Charly Coombes And The New Breed travel north and drop in the studio to record the next installment of The Amazing Sessions.

So just as the band arrived from their epic 4 and a half hour trip ‘up North’, what else could happen but the heavens open at the exact moment the van pulls up. Cue regional apologies for our meteorological short-comings and a sarcastic “welcome to the North”, and it was all hands on deck to unload into the studio. Spirits were high though, rising above the weather, and as hands were shook and introductions made, the air of anticipation began to grow.

The guys – Charly on keys, Dave on guitar, Jake on bass, and Rich (not in the above picture, filling in for today’s session) on drums – began to setup and sound check their instruments and it quickly became clear that as well as having some great banter, they’re all very talented musicians in their own right. After some excellent exchange of what can only be described as ‘geeky’ gear topics, the band were informed of the Sega Megadrive, with over 50 games, waiting for them upstairs while we finished setting up. Fifa 95, yes that’s right, 95! is the first on, quickly replaced by the all time classic, Sonic… It’s a miracle anything gets recorded to be honest.

When all was plugged in and sound checks began everything sounded great, so the band started with the track ‘Molly’. A tight rhythm section opens this one with distorted bass, followed by some great piano and guitar hooks. It was a great start to the day and a sure sign of things to come. We then moved on to their New Amazing Chart Number 1 track ‘Panic In Between the Sheets’, a track I know very well from its popularity on Amazing Radio. This really went to show that these guys are a great live band – and on a personal note, has one of my top 5 piano hooks ever. Easy.

Next the guys took it down a notch with ‘Sub Rosa’, a slower more moody number, and then finished with ‘Jungles and Tides’ in record time, coinciding nicely with the delivery of their pizza order.

After a cheesy prize for their graft they then started the interview with Frankie Ward of The Afternoon Show on Amazing Radio. I’m not going to lie, it was an amusing 20 minutes involving topics such as “why you shouldn’t work in all three of the big fast food chains, two’s OK but never three”. Once we were all done with the interview the lads were nice enough to give us a ‘Pimp my Ride/cribs’ style tour of their very special van. Highlights included flat screen with 5:1 sound, custom table, a fridge and a very subtle but impressive personalized ‘CCATNB TRANSIT’ logo on the back, as if!

All in all a great day and a great session with a bunch of really nice chaps who tell us they will be touring hard soon, so keep an eye out for them.”

You can catch the session from 5pm, Wednesday 6th October, on The Afternoon Show

This session was powered by Blank Studios, a Sega Megadrive, pizza and not working in 3 large fast food chains.