Why Closer Apart?

In 1990, Jeremy moved out of London to the north.  From now on, we’d meet as friends, occasionally have a jam, usually playing the stuff from long ago, but to all intents and purposes USSB was over.  There’d be a new phase, a new rhythm, maybe a new project, but I had no idea what that would be.

I’d been an actor since leaving college so acting would now take precedence.   But music didn’t disappear from my life……In late 1989, I was asked to audition for a Russian play, Marya, by Isaac Babel, for a run at the London Old Vic.

The director was Roger Michell, somebody I was really keen to work with. I met him and read a scene, in the middle of which there was a stage direction, “He takes out his cello and plays”.  I looked at Roger.  “I know you’re a musician”, he said.  So I continued reading.

A few days later, I was called back.  Roger said, “I’ll be honest with you – it’s between you and Stephen B…”.   “Well”, I said, “I’ve known Stephen for a long time, he’s a terrific actor, and an excellent musician….”  “Yes, but I don’t think he plays the cello.”  A pause.  “Do you play the cello?”  Another, longer pause.  “Yes”, I lied.  And yes, it was a lie, I had never even picked up a cello!  A couple of weeks later, just before Christmas, my agent phoned to say the Old Vic was offering me the job.  Sheer panic.  Why do actors always feel they can be anyone?  Including cellists.  I had three weeks or so till rehearsals, then about four weeks till previews.  7 weeks.  

I rang a cellist I knew from a previous project who said she’d teach me the rudiments, lend me her second cello and it would all be ok!  The composer said he knew me as a guitarist and he’d write a piece that would feel a bit guitar-like to me, but would sound impressive.  It did turn out alright in the end, and I went on learning cello for a couple of years after that.

In the end, it was almost seven years between the end of USSB and the start of the next phase, during which there was acting, writing, but hardly any playing.  One day, an old friend who was a film cameraman, looked up from his coffee, said he wanted to make a short film and would I make some music for it.  I got together with Mick Ford, my collaborator on many projects since university, who’d played a bit with NTP and a lot with USSB, and we started recording some short pieces.  We finished a take, I was on piano, and he said, “Why aren’t we doing this any more?”

So, a new phase, a new rhythm….new songs, new pieces.

I heard a radio interview with John Bailey, husband of Iris Murdoch, the philosopher and author, who was living with dementia.  Asked about how their relationship was changing, he replied, “It’s as though we’re getting closer and closer apart.” 

I thought that was a fantastic phrase, told Mick and he came up with Closer Apart, the song which opens our first album, sung by his partner, Rudi Davies.  It seemed obvious somehow that we should call ourselves, or our new project, CLOSER APART.