We had the pleasure of interviewing Tony McGuinness of Above & Beyond over Zoom video!
Before Tony McGuinness was Tony McGuinness of @aboveandbeyond , he was another artist, another music industry professional, another man entirely, which is completely understandable. Because, for the Tony McGuinness who is finally releasing his debut album almost three decades after he recorded it, it was a whole other lifetime.
‘Salt’ is the great lost solo project from the songwriter who would become the chief “male voice” lyricist in Above & Beyond (beloved favorites like “Sun & Moon,” “Thing Called Love,” “Northern Soul,” “Gratitude,” and more).
Now, at last, in 2024, the fans, followers, and the fascinated can hear the DNA of that songwriting mastery. McGuinness wrote the heart of Salt’s nine tracks in a heady six-month burst between 1995 and 1996, the result of a classic ’90s whirlwind romance in London that was popping off with the explosion of club culture in the UK.
This whirlwind romance became the inspiration behind “Biker Babe,” the first single from the forthcoming album. “She had a Triumph motorcycle T-shirt on,” says McGuinness. "And I just went twang on my guitar and sang: ‘biker babe, biker babe…’. And that's how that song came.”
In “Biker Babe,” a sun-dappled Sixties strum with, let’s just say it, Noel Gallagher-shaped contours, Tony wrote a song where he and Shelley’s story was transposed onto characters in Twin Peaks. “Which is where the mention of The Roadhouse comes from," he says of a lovelorn confessional which, 28 years later, opens Salt, "and ran with that all the way through to the ending. I knew she was gonna have to go back to America because she had no visa, and she had a flat in America that she didn't want to lose.”
Also on the “Biker Babe” single is “Babydoll White,” a title which fans may recognize in another form from McGuinness’s Deep House alias ‘Fingerprint.’ He had remixed the track as a deep house record and released it in 2020 on Anjunabeats; however, the song originated in a completely different form. “Babydoll White” features a guitar solo by co-producer and longtime collaborator Bob Bradley.
‘Biker Babe’, and the entire “Salt” album is out now via Anjunabeats.
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