Skye Edwards of Morcheeba jumped on the phone last from her London home to chat to me about her return to the band, their new album and her emerging solo career.
It had been seven years since Morcheeba last released a record with Skye Edwards on vocals. In the meantime, they released 'The Antidote' with Daisy Martey on vocals, toured with Jody Sternberg and then released a music-driven record 'Dive Deep' in 2008 with various vocals.It seemed Morcheeba were struggling to find footing without Skye, but that problem is solved now with their seventh record 'Blood Like Lemonade' seeing the Godfrey brothers reunited with their charismatic front woman.
"I was in London having a meeting with my manager who also is the Morcheeba manager and as I was coming out of the office Ross was going in," Edwards told Undercover. "It was a real surprise to see him because I hadn't seen him for seven years and he also lives in California so it was like "What are you doing here?!" We gave each other a big hug and sort of talked for a while and we were just smiling at each other. We were happy to see each other.
"I guess about a week later my manager sort of took me out for lunch and then said Paul and Ross are working on a new record. Are you interested? Would you like to sing a couple of songs? My first reaction was "No, why would I want to do that?" I was about to release my second solo album 'Keeping Secrets' but Paul came out from France because he lives there now and we went out and got really drunk, spoke about the past and spoke about the future and thought okay, let's give it a go."
After seven years of no contact, the band had an album in stores less than a year later.
"It was quite quick really from bumping into Ross in September, we started working on the album in October and we finished all the songs in December, I recorded my vocals in January and February and here we are in June about to release the record."
Originally Paul and Ross Godfrey (the other two thirds of the band) approached Edwards only to sing a couple of songs, but it quickly blossomed into a whole record.
"That's what they wanted, a couple of songs, and I said to them 'If we are going to do this we should do a whole record," she confidently proclaimed. "Let's do it properly. Let's make something special. Let's get back to the roots of Morcheeba. I guess they were asking me tentatively, they weren't sure if I'd be interested at all, so they came at me with a couple of songs and I think I surprised them by saying let's do a whole album."
Skye seemed cautious, even over the phone, but her pride in the record couldn't be contained, especially thanks to their in-house production and even mastering.
"We were communicating more than we ever have in the past. Even if it was via e-mail we were able to get ideas and opinions across really quickly," she explained. "It felt pretty easy to me. I think the most intense part was when Ross came over and spent some time in France with Paul to mix it. That's always a tense part of the record, the mixing part, and then Paul mastered the record himself which he's not done before. It's also the first time we haven't had any outside engineers. If we do another album, this is how we'll do it."
When questioned about the meaning of the word "if", Edwards clarified with "I say 'if' because it's a real suck it and see kind of approach with this record, but we did have a good time and we did make an amazing record. I've been doing a few interviews with Ross over in Europe and when we're asked if we're going to make another album again we say "Yes, we would like to," but it's got to be something that all three of us want to do and are happy to do because we know now that we can all survive without Morcheeba.
"Ross has been working on some film soundtracks and Paul has been working with other singers outside of Morcheeba and I've got my 'Keeping Secrets' record that I'd like to continue with, so when we come back to Morcheeba it'll have to be something we'd like to do. I think we will, but I don't know when."
In the last few years Edwards has managed to release two solo albums, although the second one 'Keeping Secrets' hasn't been given the time it deserves. Fans should remain patient, however, because the proud singer hasn't forgotten about it.
"I've put a lot into 'Keeping Secrets'. That was just released in October, but I've put it on hold to do 'Blood Like Lemonade', but I think that's a great record and I'd like to continue with it. It's like the Black Eyed Peas. Will I. Am does his solo thing but he's still part of the Black Eyed Peas. It's possible to do both. Obviously not at the same time, but I'd like to do that.
So when do fans get to see her and her old posse out on the road?
"I hope [we'll come to Australia]. We haven't got any dates on the calendar yet. We've got shows up until October around Europe and we go out to the Hollywood Bowl in July, so I guess if we do make it to Australia it'll be next year. The last time I was in Australia was with Morcheeba in 2003, but I think they were out there last year with 'Dive Deep'. There is a strong chance we'll get out there."
Morcheeba's 'Blood Like Lemonade' is in stores now.
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