/ / J O N AT H O N H O L D E R & T H E G O O D T H I N K I N G / /
I N T O T H E T H I N K T A N K
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onathon Holder & The Good Thinking is one unique musical songwriting duo: Jonathon himself, a wizard on the piano with a voice that’ll blow your mind; and multiinstrumentalist and record producer, Andrew Hunt. The result? A pretty spellbinding fusion, actually. We catch up with the boys in North London over coffee, to discuss their record deal with new indie label, Marvellous Records, a cool recording session in St. Giles in the Field, and most importantly, the music behind the men... “I have always had classical in me, so to speak,” opens Jonathon, a charming if not slightly manic character, dressed in colourful clothes, and sporting a grin from ear to ear. Like this guy already. “I had a few piano lessons, and I was really into The Beatles, but then I saw the [Ray Charles] movie, Ray, and it did something to me. I was suddenly skiing off piste a bit. I just got the 06
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vibe of it, the impression, but I didn’t want to play exactly like Ray Charles, and I think that’s why my sound has come out not so similar to anyone, you know?” Holder’s right hand man, Andrew Hunt, is essentially the ‘Good Thinking’ part of the duo, and provides a different insight and approach to the dynamics and the recording of the music. “[smiles] When I work with anyone, they come round, have a few drinks, and listen to records, to see if we’ll get on; it’s the most important thing to me,” explains Hunt. “Can they sing? Can they write? Is there potential? Great, if so, but it’s mainly about whether I can help them reach that potential, and if we don’t see eye to eye, it’s no good.” So, Holder went round to Hunt’s place, drank some beers, and played a load of records; and when Hunt pulled out a copy of Ray Charles’ first record, he saw ‘that spark’. “Listening to that record, I immediately understood where the emotion and feel of Jonathon’s playing came from,” Hunt explains. “So we sat in a room, got another guy
involved, and wrote a single there and then, and the label loved it. They then just commissioned us to do an EP, and now that’s evolved into an album.” “But that’s what I really needed, working with Andrew, as it kept me from bouncing off the walls,” adds Holder. They both giggle, like old school friends. “It’s the producer’s ear that really makes the difference, too. Andrew doesn’t listen to records the same way as us mortals. If I put on Ray Charles, I may love the piano, but he will spot vocal timings, and all sorts, which gives us ideas for the record. That, to me, is priceless.” As a result of some repeated computer software failures, Holder and Hunt actually ended up doing a lot of the writing of the album on a four-track Portastudio. Although it wasn’t Logic or Pro Tools, as Jonathon put it at the time, ‘technology may fail us, but the talent will never let us down’. Did that ring true? “It did! We wrote it all on a four-track, even the arrangements,” smiles Hunt. “I was initially on guitar, and Jonathon was on keys, but writing on guitar was fighting his playing, so
/ / J O N AT H O N H O L D E R & T H E G O O D T H I N K I N G / /
“A L O T O F T H E BEST MUSIC COMES OUT O F FA I T H A N D CO M PASS I O N .” I went on to bass, and then it all started to click.” One of the great things about their working relationship is the free musical reign they get with their record label, Marvellous Records. I guess it takes balls to support ‘real’ music in this day and age? “Definitely,” Holder concurs. I ask him about his previous musical endeavours, and he beams (again). “Believe it or not, I played in a backing band for a hip hop artist, and we then started producing together. I was doing that nearly full time for a couple of years, and then moved on to house and dance music, too. Then, I knew I needed to crack on with my own thing, and thankfully that’s when the [record] deal opportunity reared its head.” It’s certainly an eclectic mix, which made recording the EP particularly interesting. I ask the twosome to tell me about their recent recording project in St. Giles in the Field. “Because it’s mostly just the two of us, the majority of the work was done at my studio, which is not very big, and has no real piano,” Hunt explains. “But I really wanted real piano, and to serve two purposes: as well as recording the single, we also wanted to do a very spiritual ballad of pure emotion, and finding an environment that could capture that was tough. We looked at many studios, but every time, something wasn’t quite right, and then I met an old friend of mine up in London’s Centre Point Paramount Bar, which has a gallery, and as we’re walking round, I spotted St. Giles in the Field. She then tells me there’s a piano in there, and the guy is very accommodating, so we decided to check it out; and on arrival, we 07 HEADLINER
realised it suited both tunes we wanted to record perfectly. Because it’s in a church, we also filmed it, and Jonathon’s performances are amazing.” I’ll second that. Hunt recruited the help of Source Distribution’s Andy Bensley to provide some key kit for the recording, including a set of Genelec monitors, Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones, and some API kit. “I know the guys at Source Distribution well, so Andy came down and specced it all for me. All the mics were mine, and we pieced it with the API Box, where you have your four mic pres, and loads of line ins, so I could hook up all my pres, and it was spot on,” Hunt says. “The Genelecs have DSP software, and although they’re not necessarily my go-to monitor, when you’re on location, like this, it isn’t possible to go and grab your own speakers and set it all up, as you don’t have the time to treat the room, and you’re also in very close proximity with the live arena. What was great was, we were able to calibrate the Genelecs to be the best they could be in that environment, and that was such a bonus.” To make it work artistically, Holder would have to feel entirely at ease. “I wanted a setup whereby Jonathon only concentrated on his performance, and me,” Hunt explains. “It was just me, another assistant on site, Jonathon, and two film crew, and it worked great. His performance of the very spiritual, Nobody Knows, was a real highlight. I knew when he was in the zone that he’d nail it, which he did. It’s a unique, and very special recording.”
The song Nobody Knows clearly means a lot to Holder, too: “It’s such a universal thing, the lyric ‘nobody knows the trouble I see’... [pauses] I mean, I don’t know anyone who can’t relate to that, somehow, whether it’s a global issue, or just a little day to day decision you might make,” he says. “As a concept, that’s how I feel. I am not a Christian, but I love Christian music. I love Stevie Wonder, and even he is very religiously motivated, but I also love Bach, so that’s where my influences span the musical spectrum. A lot of the best music comes out of faith and compassion, and I don’t follow any organised religion; I relate to the passion, if not to the verse.” I can almost feel the depth in Holder’s thinking, just by talking to him, and his passion is indeed unquestionable. The first single, It Shouldn’t Matter (To You), has now been mastered by award-winning mastering engineer, Mandy Parnell, and was released on June 8. “Expect a very big sounding record with lots of backing vocals,” Hunt smiles. “It’s not a retro feeling album, the sentiment is very modern sounding; and it’s about building the tracks rather than comping. We rehearse, and make it solely about performance, working out parts as a whole, which makes a difference when you’re working with backing singers, as the mics respond differently. When you’re working with Jonathon, the performance is where you get the emotion from, not the programming.” www.marvellousrecords.com