IN MEMORY OF DAVID LONGDON
It’s Friday July 17, 2009. David Longdon’s at Aubitt Studios, and he’s putting his heart and soul into this session. It’s just the way he does things.
He’s come down from Shrewsbury to Southampton for two days’ work for Big Big Train, this modestly successful prog rock band he’s just connected with. It was Aubitt’s owner and the band’s engineer, Rob Aubrey, who made the introduction. The year before, the unknown singer had recorded some vocals at Aubitt for The Old Road, the swansong solo album from IQ’s Martin Orford. Aubrey was impressed with his voice, attitude and confidence, and promptly called Big Big Train’s co-founder and chief songwriter, Greg Spawton, to enthuse about the new talent he’d stumbled upon.
The band already had a singer, and were coasting along nicely with some generously received albums. Then Aubrey played Spawton the Longdon recordings, and his imagination buzzed with the potential: the band’s music might transcend its current level, and their horizons might widen further, if it were Longdon delivering their songs. Spawton took a gamble and phoned him. Over the miles,
