Rob Cottingham solo album

Rob Cottingham, singer, song-writer, keyboard player, and the musician who founded Touchstone back in 2001 – as a result of his debut solo album, ‘Behind The Orchard Tree’ – is due to release a second solo album over a decade on which he describes as a “cross-genre-ational, eclectic mix with hints of rock, pop and prog, plus a few surprises thrown into the bag”.

Words and music are by Rob who advises that the album very much revolves around the themes of “time, death, self-realisation…and not taking yourself too seriously…”

The album title will be “Captain Blue”, named after one of the album tracks. When asked what was behind the title, Rob responded “it’s a long story – you will really need to buy the album to find out!”

The album is being recorded at Sinewave Studios in Tamworth under the auspices of Alan Caves, a giant in the rock recording industry, and Chris Lynch – Touchstone’s live Sound Engineer. Alan was the studio manager of DEP studios in Birmingham. He recorded UB40′s Labour of Love album, which included the hit Red Red Wine, and he was their Front Of House engineer in the 80s.

He also worked with a lot of the big acts which came out of Birmingham such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Tears For Fears – to name but a few. He also recorded “On A Story Teller’s Night” – Magnum’s most successful album, and the one that arguably ‘made’ them back in 1985. Alan was also the engineer for The Boomtown Rats at the height of their success. After his spell at DEP, Alan went to Sandwell College and became chief lecturer for their course in recording and sound technologies. Many of Alan’s pupils have gone on to work in the music industry and some, like Bitty McClean, have gone on to be stars in their own right. Alan designed the studios at DEP, Sandwell College, and now Sinewave Studios. Chris Lynch is also the chief house sound man at The Leamington Assembly Rooms, and vocalist and guitarist of the band, Lost In Vegas. Jon Caves, Alan’s son and an accomplished drummer in his own right, also supports on the engineering front.

The album will be mixed by Alan and Rob, and will be mastered by Tim Turan (You Me At Six; Status Quo; Frost*; Madness; Hawkwind; It Bites; Van Halen and many more).

Album artwork will be by another industry giant of the world of art, Andrew Wildman. Andrew is a British artist famed for his artwork on Marvel Comics and Transformers magazines, and has his own fan base stretching across continents. Rob was after a more illustrative approach to add more ‘life’ into his album concept design, rather than ‘design’ per se.

The album cover artwork, band members and pricing will be announced soon, together with details of how to pre-order the album via a brand new website, also due to be launched soon.

In the meantime, news and announcements can be found on Rob’s Facebook page  and you can follow progress also by following Rob via his brand new Twitter page ‘@RobCottingham1′. Press releases will also be found on ‘http://www.captainblue.info’.

The album will be released on the Heavy Right Foot record label in October 2012.