By Giles Sibbald
Maybe I’m a dreamer, maybe I’ve lived out a childhood where dreaming was possible, but I wonder where all the playfulness went, the fun of entering a world where you can imagine, be curious, explore, make observations, create stories. On our own or with others, it doesn’t matter.
Savagely insular and capitalist rhetoric where meritocracy is played out on a ruthlessly imbalanced playing field. Ah yes, that’s where the playfulness went……
Storytellers open eyes. Storytellers open minds. Never underestimate the power of our imagination, our resilience and storytelling to bring about change and rebuild lives.
Storytellers are visionaries.
Duets tell stories: Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald – April in Paris. Johnny Cash and June Carter – Jackson. Elton John and Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Diana Ross and Lionel Richie – Endless Love. Each of these is timeless and transcends ego.
The debut album from Galen Ayers and Paul Simonon, ‘Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?’, is a collection of timeless duets that tips its cap to the essence of what matters – living life itself. Galen and Paul freely explore their own global musical and cultural influences, their own observations, their own voices in life. The album is sung in English and Spanish and cements the inclusivity of the duet. Luminaries Simon Tong, Seb Rochford, Dan Donovan and (occasionally) Damon Albarn flawlessly evoke the glory days of French chansons, English sea shanties, reggae, Hank Marvin, Del Shannon, film noir soundtracks and traditional Spanish. It’s all anchored by the spacious production of the legendary Tony Visconti.
The result is a wonderfully imaginative storybook that is sophisticated yet playful.
Music is one of the fabrics that weaves Galen and Paul together. Galen was born in France and raised in Mallorca. In her formative years, she spent time on tour with her father, Kevin Ayers, and wrote and played music in vibrant multi-cultural and bi-lingual environments. For Paul, growing up in Brixton and Ladbroke Grove amongst art, books and the creative forces of the nascent 1970’s punk scene informed what’s accompanied him through life: musically through The Clash, Havana 3AM, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen and artistically through painting and, latterly, wood carving. Indelible influences for both of them, undoubtedly.
Let’s dive in.
Giles Sibbald
I really love the idea of a traditional duet. I think it’s underused.
Paul Simonon
We’re overusing it now.
Galen Ayers
Do you mean we’re over using it or we’re overusing it? {All laughing}
Giles Sibbald
So, Paul – you took had taken yourself off to Mallorca in the summer of 2020 and were shacked up in a remote fishing village and you spent 18 months there painting, writing songs, busking outside cafes and re-evaluating before coming back to London. You guys have known each other for quite a few years now, so did the idea to record together feel like a natural, instinctive thing to do?
Paul Simonon
Well, the thing is, when I was in Mallorca, I did have the idea of getting a friend there to actually sing the handful of songs. But then, I came back to London, and nobody had been rehearsing or anything, so I thought, ‘Okay, I need to think again’. But then, by chance, a good mutual friend told me that Galen was in town, so we met up and had a conversation. At that time, it was really more about me playing bass on a record, because Galen was working on some songs, too. But then, after a few days, it all just clicked and we were both like, ‘well, you know what, we’re both here, let’s give it a go’. So, yeah, it just fell in naturally, really.
Giles Sibbald
Some mischievous serendipity going on?
Paul Simonon
Well, this is really interesting, because the whole process of making the album was hanging on a thin piece of cotton. There seemed to be so many issues stacked against us – Simon Tong was in the middle of a tour as was Seb (Rochford, drums), Tony (Visconti, producer) got Covid and he wasn’t able to come in on the first day and there were other mishaps. But somehow – magically – we all held it together to complete the record.
Galen Ayers
Paul and I hadn’t seen each other for years, so when we met, we just happened to both be available in the same place – mentally and practically – where we could actually, well, experiment at first and then when we realised that we actually wanted to go all the way and make the album, we experienced what Paul just said. But, all through that, we always turned up. We have a roundtable at Paul’s house and every day we showed up and were constantly songwriting. We had a good, solid, I would say, six months of that, so whatever happened, we would have a bunch of songs.
Giles Sibbald
Did it feel like a bit of an experiment doing this?
Paul Simonon
Every record is a bit like an experiment. But it was nice, because we like trading ideas between us and if there was something we were both a bit stuck on, suddenly, there’d be a third idea that we would never dreamt up without us having a conversation.
Galen Ayers
Yeah, I guess it depends how you define an experiment. But I think we had a similar intention, which was to create something neither of us individually had done before. We were both very open, I think, to how we got our outcome.
Giles Sibbald
This has probably been written before, but the record feels like observational pieces of life. I think that kind of storytelling is so compelling, you know, where you can see yourself in that story and how it plays out. Did you feel like you were the characters in those stories or being the narrator of what you observe?
Paul Simonon
I think the characters of the songs begged it. I can’t help but make observations of what is around me. We’re both like that, you know. Galen’s got the talent of weaving words – like a poet. I’m just more straightforward, I guess.
Giles Sibbald
You’ve both got this vast love and talent for music, written words, art, physical objects. And another thing that ties you together and ties your art together is your activism.
Paul Simonon
That’s us, exactly!
Galen Ayers
Not dragging Paul down with me {both laugh as Paul crumples}, but I think we both have a holistic approach to life and I think what you’ve identified is that, I think. I think we both agree that activism doesn’t necessarily have to be a big gesture, it can be your everyday decisions. And it’s the same with my favourite albums growing up – and still growing up {laughs} – are those that invite you into a world. So, to create that world, right, you need to really be mindful of the details in the artwork, in the lyrics and this all becomes one holistic view. Then, I hope, when the listener actually gets to the record, they’re able to enter a world.
Giles Sibbald
That’s a great way to describe it, Galen, and I think you’ve done that really effectively with these songs, introducing these influences. I was talking to a guitarist recently and he was saying how important it is for him and, he believes, all musicians to go travelling and immerse themselves in different cultures.
Paul Simonon
They’re like ingredients, really. I suppose we’ve both had different sorts of experiences and some of the same experiences of listening to music ever since we were young. Those things lock into the back of your mind, so when a new idea for a song comes up and we work on the lyrics, then suddenly the idea says, ‘I need a tambourine’. And you say ‘right, this track needs a tambourine’ or it’ll say ‘I need a cello’ or something. So anyway…..{with a mischievous look}…..I’ve said no to the cello {laughs}
Giles Sibbald
Dammit! I play the cello!
Galen Ayers
Oh no…..I’m sorry! The cello is beautiful.
Giles Sibbald
I thought I was going to get the call!
Paul Simonon
Save it for your own album! {laughs}
Galen Ayers
The aesthetic that we ended up wanting to create was quite a simple one. It’s not simple in the kind of derogative way, but just with a lot of space and allowing Tony Visconti’s production to provide that space. All my friends have said that you can hear every instrument in its own place, having its own pivotal role, you know, coming in, being the star of the show and then backing out. Just being able to have our two voices together for the first time, we got very excited about how to showcase them differently. In some of them, I’m just doing the backing vocals and Paul’s doing the lead, and some we’re very much doing a duet in the traditional sense. And some I’m taking the lead.
Giles Sibbald
What did you learn about yourself while you were working together?
Paul Simonon
Well, for me, it was like challenging myself to do something that I might not normally do. Taking myself out of my comfort zone. Making this record was definitely that. The singing was the part that was taking me out of my comfort zone. Writing the music, that’s always a struggle one way or the other – you’ve got an idea, and you have to work out how to put across what you feel.
Galen Ayers
I agree, I felt the same, I’d also say that it was a struggle at times, but it was a learning curve to be able to embrace all of Paul’s influences alongside mine and also to make up our own. The other learning curve was singing in Spanish. Now I don’t, in any way, pretend that I can sing in the tradition of the beautiful, amazing voices of Spain, like flamenco, for example. So, I’m not in any way assuming that I sound like that. We spent a lot of time playing around with tempos and simplifying the words so that they could actually hit in a way that I felt were true to the tonality of Spanish singing, if that makes sense. Spanish – not as much as English – has a very physical aspect to the way it communicates. So, I wanted to bring that across in the singing. What I mean by that is not try and put too many words in one verse, for example; or allowing for elongated vowels, you know, to sit on a vowel for a while and create that emotion without having to explain the emotion.
Paul Simonon
Fine tuning the writing process, really.
Giles Sibbald
I think lyrics are just integral to the song and I like that approach of giving them their own space and to allow listeners to make their own interpretations – it makes you think more and hopefully has a deeper impact. And my interpretation is going to be different to, you know, my next door neighbour.
Galen Ayers
Yeah, and sometimes you read musicians’ memoirs, and they actually explain to you what they were thinking of when they wrote the song, what they actually meant, and in a way it, it adds something, but it cuts the wings in another way. It’s so weird. A bittersweet thing when you find out.
Giles Sibbald
Galen, you mentioned that singing in the Spanish language was a learning curve. Were you worried about how your Spanish language might be perceived?
Galen Ayers
I know what you mean. I didn’t give much thought to the perception, really, although there was the time where I finally played it to some Spanish friends. And they went, ‘Oh, we like your accent.’ And I was shocked! I thought ‘No, I don’t have an accent! What are you talking about?!’ I grew up with a transatlantic accent, I think they call it. You can hear it. Spanish was my first language and I used to speak Mallorquin too, so I’m used to my accent being all over the place. So, you either embrace it and accept that this is how you sound or you try and fix it.
Paul Simonon
It adds good textures. Like when we’re singing ‘It’s another night to catch the bus’, it’s like yelling, it sounds like I’m on the bus. It’s just two voices that both go into Soho.
Galen Ayers
It’s great that we’re zoning into the different languages. One of the things that we’ve spoken about before is that this is a post-Brexit, post-Covid album so this is a celebration of Europe in the shadow of Brexit. Not one person has told me anything good that’s come out of Brexit.
Giles Sibbald
Lonely Town, particularly with the video, gives you a reminder of what a real community means and when you’re singing about when tourists come in, create their carnage, and then they leave again, I think that image accentuates how important the community is and especially in light of Brexit and xenophobia.
Paul Simonon
Yeah, and then that same situation applies to villages around Great Britain too. Pubs close down, then the post office goes, then the bank’s gone and so on…
Galen Ayers
Now you have ghettos in the middle of London created by people with their fifth or sixth home that they never come to. Nothing can survive if there’s nobody walking around or living in those areas……
“Ya nadie vive aquí
Todos se han ido
Oh pueblito
¡Has perdido tu corazón!”
Translated from the English words of ‘Lonely Town’ by Galen Ayers and Paul Simonon
‘Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?’ is out now on Sony
See them live:
7th June 2023 – The Tabernacle, London
11th June 2023 – La Maroquinerie, Paris
Photos by: Dan Donovan
