Ian Toomey – ‘Never Alone’ Dark and doomy, ‘Never Alone’ is Ian Toomey’s second solo single, following on from last year’s two-tracker ‘Very Soon Everyone’s Leaving’. There’s no B-side this time as ‘Never Alone’ is a stand-alone download, but the track offers four minutes of the very best of contemporary British metal from the highly-regarded B**ches Sin guitarist. Attention-grabbing from the off, ‘Never Alone’ is driven by a seemingly relentless riff augmented by – as you’d expect – some fluid guitar work from Toomey and his sparring partner and producer Chris Tsangarides before it plays out to a Sabbathy closing passage. It doesn’t sound a million miles from the material on ‘The Rapture’, Toomey’s last album with B**ches Sin, thanks to David A Mills’ exquisitely plaintive vocals and a solid but never overplayed backbone from drummer Steve Turton. Exciting and melancholic in equal measures… John Tucker January 2013 Never Alone - the story... Ian Toomey’s second solo single had an interesting conception. Keen to follow up on the interest generated by last year’s ‘Very Soon Everyone’s Leaving’ the B**ches Sin guitarist booked studio time originally to rework a Jimi Hendrix song, an itch he’d been dying to scratch for a good few many years. After a few hours in the company of legendary producer and some-time band mate Chris Tsangarides, however, Toomey decided that what sounded good in rehearsal didn’t meet his exacting standards and called time out. “We’d worked out an arrangement that sounded great in rehearsals but just didn’t seem to work once we’d got into the studios,” recalls Toomey. “This is something I’d wanted to do for a long time and it had to be right – not only in memory of Jimi Hendrix but also because I’ve always prided myself on working to the highest standards, whether it be B**ches Sin, Flashpoint or my own solo material. So we were recording the Hendrix cover, the rehearsals had gone very well and the new arrangement sounded great... Until we were in the studio and started to lay down the backing track, that is. Although it sounds like a surreal experience I just had this overriding feeling that we shouldn't be doing it and although we tried a couple of takes it just wasn't working for me so I killed it off there and then.” At that point in time there wasn’t actually a Plan B, although… “Just before we set off for Chris Tsangarides studios I’d picked up my Washburn A20 from my long-time friend Ian Beck (ex-Cobra from Lancaster) who’s always looked after my guitars for me. Having had no inspiration for anything new worth recording – in my opinion – since the B**ches Sin album ‘The Rapture’ I put the guitar on to check it out and the riff seemingly just dropped out of the ether. I raced home – frantically trying not to forget it! – and started to play it through, developing the lead riff in a matter of moments. Fortunately David was at home and so I hurried round to his studio and we recorded a very rough demo to take with us to Chris’s. “Anyway, back at the studios everyone in the band was taken aback at my decision to call things to a halt. We took a short break and then I suggested to Steve, “let’s go back in and work out the new track” for which we only had the riff and most of the verse. Steve and I go back such a long way we’re pretty much telepathic and it went extremely well – so well that in about fifteen-twenty minutes we were ready to go. And that was it; we nailed it first take. David came up with the chorus line and then enlarged on it to produce the lyrics very quickly. The riff that closes the principal part of the song had been written by Chris while we were putting down the backing track, and was then recorded and edited on later. Again it was done first take. “Once in the studio the whole recording just flowed. Maybe it was a ‘gift from The Universe’,” laughs Toomey. “After all, credit where credit’s due. And OK, so we only ended up with one song to release, but we are all over the moon with the result.” The band: Ian Toomey- guitars Chris Tsangarides – guitars David A Mills – vocals Steve Turton – drums The Dark Lord – bass Produced by Chris Tsangarides For more information contact: www.iantoomey.com Also available – Ian Toomey ‘Very Soon Everyone’s Leaving’