It’s Friday July 17, 2009. David Longdon’s at Aubitt Studios, and he’s putting his heart and soul into this session. It’s just the way he does things.
He’s come down from Shrewsbury to Southampton for two days’ work for Big Big Train, this modestly successful prog rock band he’s just connected with. It was Aubitt’s owner and the band’s engineer, Rob Aubrey, who made the introduction. The year before, the unknown singer had recorded some vocals at Aubitt for The Old Road, the swansong solo album from IQ’s Martin Orford. Aubrey was impressed with his voice, attitude and confidence, and promptly called Big Big Train’s co-founder and chief songwriter, Greg Spawton, to enthuse about the new talent he’d stumbled upon.