Starz In Their Eyes

Product Information

This line is in the context of the protagonist’s apparent success; while they feel they are at the top of the tree the feint chuckles of producers and industry characters present a damning soundtrack.

The celebrities are described as "bullshitters" wrapped up in fake glamour, chasing after fleeting fame.At this point I was pretty happy with what I’d got, but never could have foreseen what the song would later become in the studio. Whilst I could pick out more of the lyrics to dissect they all tend to suggest the same two things; that fame isn’t what it's cracked up to be and that the industry uses and abuses talent. It’s highly publicised that the rich and famous do have their struggles; we often put them up on a pedestal and stare at them with wide and envious eyes wishing for their fortune and fame, but really it’s not the dream we make it out to be. He’s played and recorded with a crazy list of legends including Whitney Houston, Richard Ashcroft, Cher, Maxi Priest and Tina Turner.

When it came to recording the parts the idea for the big tom drums in the intro came from hearing a snippet of an Adam Ant tune (on my way back from the loo) being played in a neighbouring studio. In the press she was being simultaneously lauded for winning the contest and derided for being ‘overweight’ and not what a ‘normal’ pop star should look like. Jay Reynolds, who produced the whole of Overtones, then worked tirelessly, tweaking, editing, honing, even re-recording the drums, to get the best out of this tune. I’m pretty sure the spark that started the lyrics was a story I happened to see about UK Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus. Starz in their Eyes” attacks talent shows and ‘get famous quick’ schemes which abuse the contestants and then drop them at a moment’s notice when they quickly become irrelevant.

To add salt to the wounds was the constant hounding from paparazzi and the press that thrust what can be a fatal spotlight streaming constant pressure and scrutiny on the shoulders of one person. At some point my mate Sam got his little nephew to record the “When I grow up I’m wanna be famous” line, and that was pretty much it. I sang an approximation of what I thought the guitar riff should sound like and Adam embellished it and played it beautifully. The whole song is a masterpiece filled with sentiments of the rise and fall of fame; the quick highs followed by the crushing lows. I’m just happy my most well known song has a real and enduring message, and a bit of timelessness in the production.