Radio Ga-Ga

Like a kid outside a dreamy sweetshop, I just wanted to press my nose up against the glass in Dean Jackson's BBC studio and peer around the radio station.


The LED aurora was strangely alluring, all sugar-coated bright red, blue and green against the licorice backdrop of black machinery. PC screens glared in the corner of the darkened rooms - each studio honeycombed to the next with a window, which, if I pressed up against my nose just enough, and arched my neck the right way, allowed me to see into all almost the studios at once.

Tom seemed far cooler than I did. I wasn't being very cool at all. Is wanting to hide your immaturity a sign of maturity? Perhaps the answer comes with age. Dean popped in and out of the room. He didn't seem altogether cool, though he was apologetic - he was a bit late because he'd been interviewing the Foo Fighters. Not that surprised he wasn't altogether cool then.


But there's a thought, from the Foo Fighters to Polymath in five minutes....

We explained Tom was doing the talking, and he picked up his headphones. Dean readied the machines - the lights blinked on and Tom sat forward,
fiddling with his headphones. I looked down, they were in pieces. They were broken. We were quiet. Dean didn't notice. Tom fixed the headphones.
"Ready?"
Dean was up for this.


After the rudimentary "What's good about Nottingham" questions - national media is so tacky - Tom got chatting about DCP, mia, and his musical past. It was ace hearing Dean pour praise on Tom's prior endeavours - I knew I was lucky to have latched on. As he went on to explain how Hyper-Real, and Tom's accompanying quotes, would be used on Radio One, I drifted back to the dreamy sweetshop, all bright lights and excited sugar-rushes.

- Ali 

• Lessons Learned
  So it's all over now! About 4-5 months of planning went off with a bang on Sat 3rd May. A huge success and huge fun for everyone involved!
  
  by Tom Walsh on May 14, 2008 at 10:50:16 AM
  
  
• Adventures in mixing
  A quick talk through the recording process of our debut EP.
  
  by Tom Walsh on February 11, 2008 at 09:20:10 PM
  
  
• Artists' First Impressions
  I've always been the frontman in bands, and they've usually been of my creation. After a self-loathingly slack three years in Nottingham, walking into someone else's band was a bit scary. Would I come across as a loser?
  
  by Tom Walsh on November 19, 2007 at 07:07:57 PM
  
  
• Radio Ga-Ga
  Like a kid outside a dreamy sweetshop, I just wanted to press my nose up against the glass in Dean Jackson's BBC studio and peer around the radio station.
  
  by Tom Walsh on November 19, 2007 at 06:57:14 PM