the Village has only existed as an entity since June 2013, but the music played on debut album Welcome to the Village has been around for so much longer. Phil Matthews has been playing guitar and writing songs since the age of 14 with various bands over the years. From the early days with Applause right through to LaF he has been the main writer as well as lead/rhythm guitar player. But since beginning the Village, Phil wrote and recorded seven songs in his studio, The Conservatory, playing all the instruments himself and providing all the vocals. Phil has normally written in collaboration with others but over the last few months he has felt the need to say things through the medium of song that are too personal for anyone else to get involved. That is not to say that the album is one of introspective misery as the themes of the album are reflection and reminiscence, along with thoughts of childhood and teenage years. Phil is a man of many musical tastes, but would admit that The Beatles have been a big influence on him, and elements of their music are never too far from the surface with his songs, although his influences range from Led Zeppelin and the Lightning Seeds to more obscure acts such as Stackridge. The songs that he has now completed reflect on aspects of his life, as far back as his childhood right up to the present, but are performed in a contemporary style rather than what would be considered “singer/songwriter”. Welcome to the Village, the seven-track mini album, has now been completed and was released in January 2014 via iTunes and all the usual download sources. The album was six months in the making, and Phil would like to take this opportunity to thank Andy Dobson for realising all the graphic ideas that were in his head. A special thank you must also be extended to Will Jennison at Pro Music Mastering for making the final results sound so good. Further information on the Village can be found at www.theVillage.me.uk and regular updates are available at www.twitter.com/theVillage9. Album information The personal nature of the songs on Welcome to the Village is evident from start to finish, as a listen to tracks such as ‘Little Tom Peep’ will testify. The themes of the album are reflection, and reminiscence, along with thoughts of childhood and teenage years. Ironically the song which most obviously uses those themes, ‘Goodnight Mr Pootles’, is not a memory from Phil's youth, but was actually inspired by a very minor character in a book by best selling fantasy writer Jasper Fforde, an author whose work he admires greatly. The book is titled One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing, and Phil contacted Jasper to check that it was fine to use Mr Pootles (or just Pootles as he appears in the book) in the song. Phil was excited to receive a personal reply from Mr Fforde giving the song his blessing. As a result Phil decided to add the words "for Jasper" to the final version of the song. ‘Land Called Far Away’ does, however, use personal memories and themes in its lyrics as the opening line about “racing with the devil” refers to the late 1960s song by The Gun. It was the lead guitar work by Adrian Gurvitz that inspired Phil to first pick up a guitar, while the line about chasing shadows name checks an old LaF song that still features in their live show. ‘Summerisle’ – the one instrumental on the album – is the island to which Edward Woodward is drawn for his horrific death in the cult classic film The Wicker Man. ‘Loneliness Is An Empty Place’ was inspired by a night at the local pub which proved to be a fairly negative experience when none of the others who were supposed to join him bothered to turn up. Both ‘Mind And You’ and lead track ‘That's The Way It Is’ are clearly about disagreements with someone – most likely female, although there are no clues as to whether the two songs are about different people or who they are. The one remaining song, ‘Little Tom Peep’, is based on the British music hall idea of double-entendre and is not intended to be taken seriously. Phil toured around the Midlands and further afield performing the various tracks from his first album. Often solo or with Mr Hugh on harmony vocals and various instruments. He was still busy on the writing and recording front, and it is the result of that time, hopefully well spent, that brought about the contents of this new album. Some such as Lionel Strange and 50 Years have already been played live to much acclaim, while others such as Hymn 4 Her, and The Cham Cham make their debuts here. Hopefully you will find the efforts worthwhile, and we would love to hear from you. Maybe you could contact the Village through their website www.theVillage.me.uk.