We talked with Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-The Coral) about his upcoming album “A Bad Wind Blows Through My Heart”.

NT: What was it like stepping away from ‘The Coral’, a band you had been with for quite a while, and making an album on your own.

BRJ: It wasn’t easy leaving the band but it was the right thing to do and I knew it at the time. Making the albums on my own wasn’t too hard, I knew what I wanted to do mostly. Any kind of transition will have its sticky points, but all in all it wasn’t to bad.

NT: “A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart” was recorded in your old bedroom at your parent’s house, what drew you back there to record the album?

BRJ: Well all my equipment was stored there as my house is quite small, over time it kind of became studio where I’d put down ideas. When I started to demo the album I realised that the sound I got in that little room was great and would really help the album. I didn’t want a big grand studio sound. It needed to be quite homemade and humble.

NT: The album really seems to define you as a singer songwriter, can you tell us about some of the inspirations behind the songs.

BRJ: All the songs are either things that have happened in my life, people I’ve met or just thoughts I’ve had. Nothing too out of the ordinary really.

NT: Your last album was kind of a conceptual one, written as the soundtrack to the novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller”, where did the idea behind the record come from?

BRJ: Well I knew I wanted to make a symphonic record, I was aiming to get work writing for tv and film. I had a meeting with laurence bell where he suggested doing a soundtrack to an imaginary film, I just thought it’d be more interesting to soundtrack a novel.

NT: What was it like recording with a full Orchestra?

BRJ: It was pretty amazing. Very daunting, those people play the greats every day and having them look at your scores can be overwhelming. I spent most of the recording day smoking outside and hiding. It was an experience though and the results are worth the anxiety.

NT: Which five albums continue to inspire you these days?

BRJ:

Barafundal-Gorkys Zygotic Mynci

Knock Knock-Smog

Songs from a room-Leonard Cohen

Madcap Laughs-Syd Barrat

Closer-Joy Division

http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/bill-ryder-jones