25 November 2004 was a fun day.

Me, my sister (Becky Jacobs) and six of my most talented friends (Richard and James Larcombe, Sarah Measures, Dan Chudley, Kavus Torabi and Paul Westwood) went to Maida Vale Studios and performed four of my songs on 20 musical instruments (Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ with Leslie speaker, Steinway grand piano, three electric guitars, three acoustic guitars, trumpet, saxophone, recorder, flute, hammered dulcimer, drums, celeste, electric organ, tubular bells, bass guitar, Jen SX1000 synth).

The songs were taken from the first two Max Tundra albums: Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be, and Mastered By Guy At The Exchange. Some of the original material, being sequenced in nature, had never been played by human hands before, so it was a hugely enjoyable challenge to come up with arrangements for the tracks.

I remember hiring the tubular bells (an E-flat and a B-flat) from a company called Beat About The Bush and schlepping them over on public transport. Much of the other gear was provided by Maida Vale - I had never seen a Leslie speaker before and it was wonderful to get up close with such a majestic beast.

I met John Peel a couple of times. At Sónar in Barcelona he asked me if I'd ever recorded a Peel Session. When I told him I hadn't, he said: "We really must get you in." Sadly he passed away before these tracks (the third-to-last one ever) were broadcast on 14 December 2004, but hopefully he would have found something incisive to say about them.