Chip Bailey makes music with cheese graters and egg whisks. He performs squeaky toys, bells and whistles. He will get it on, and he bangs a gong.
Chip is a much-loved confederate of Peter Wilson, in any other case often known as Duke Particular. His percussion expertise carry shock and humour to the music. He performs in tailcoats and hussar jackets and he appears to be like like a renegade nephew of the music corridor legend, Max Wall.
He was born in London and raised in an overspill property in Swindon. The music has taken him far and for a few years he was based mostly in Birmingham. Then there was a interval of private difficulties and Chip moved to a distant cottage in Wales, the place life grew to become a problem.
4 years in the past, Peter Wilson made a suggestion. Why not transfer to Belfast? In any case, Bailey was an everyday visitor of the town, and the music scene revered him. A trial transfer grew to become a everlasting shift. Chip purchased Peter’s previous terrace home in Strandtown, east Belfast and principally, he’s very completely satisfied.
“Simply being a part of the colourful music neighborhood, it’s introduced me alive,” he says. “I had no concept what I used to be going to do with the remainder of my life. I had no ambitions. I felt like I had finished what I needed to do. However I assumed, I’ve been coming right here for 20-odd years. And I used to be a part of what’s happening. So if there’s wherever within the phrase, I’d really feel at dwelling, it could be right here.
“I completely like it right here. I’ve all the time felt secure right here and all the time felt welcome. I’ve by no means felt judged or excluded. It’s been completely life altering. I’ve acquired renewed imaginative and prescient.”
Now Chip has constructed a house studio and the creativity has returned.
“I’ve had a lot stuff in my head for years, however by no means been capable of get it out. It’s been superb to take a seat right here and get all these things out.”
He's making a brand new album, the follow-up to his 2008 launch, The Temperance Society Chronicles (Half 1). He's additionally placing a number of his new-found vitality into the reason for arts and older folks.
“It’s one in all my passions,” he insists. “It’s concerning the place of older folks within the music trade. All of the assets are going to younger folks and to up-and-coming artists. However there’s quite a bit for us previous geezers to contribute. We need to create a platform for older musicians, and likewise to battle towards the lukewarm response you get, usually.”
He performs an lively position in an organisation known as OTH, beforehand often known as Over The Hill. The title of the venture was designed to battle towards the stigma of previous age. Led by Paul Kane and supported by gamers akin to Liz Kelly and Bernard Jackson, OTH is getting ready for a brand new album launch, produced by Chip.
The title of the document is Isobars. Paul Kane explains that they’re utilizing a time period from meteorology to speak concerning the internal turbulence that members of OTH have been feeling.
“It was loosely based mostly on isobars on a climate map. The nearer they're collectively, it signifies that there’s a despair there. Having talked to folks, as a result of they had been older, together with myself, we realised that a climate sample gained’t keep there perpetually, and it'll transfer on.
“Chip and I sat down with folks in a really open and trustworthy dialogue at one of many Over The Hill conferences. We mentioned, we’re considering of doing this album. Would folks be up for speaking concerning the private points round this?
“And we had been overwhelmed with the honesty of individuals telling their tales or describing buddies. They had been utilizing phrases like ‘black canine’ and speaking about having this factor trailing behind you, feeling weighed down. And that was the core of the album. For me the energy of it was the honesty.”
Isobars is much more spectacular in that most of the songwriters had been new to the recording course of. Chip guided them, from vocal snatches and patches of songs, into the total, recorded expression. There have been mature artists like Dolores Vischer, who got here up with Carpe Diem, a punky chorus towards the dying of the sunshine.
“That’s the great thing about what we’re doing,” says Paul. “It’s pushing the envelope, doing issues that we’d by no means finished earlier than, and doing issues which may have been seen as ‘too younger’ for us.”
OTH is approaching its tenth birthday. It has achieved admirable work. There have been performances for dementia sufferers, when octogenarians have chosen to sing previous favourites like You're My Sunshine and have reconnected to a vital a part of themselves. On condition that the pandemic has put an additional stress on our psychological well being, Paul is eager to proceed with the mission.
“We’re open to everybody. We’re aimed toward mature and older musicians, and we simply need folks to really feel that it’s a secure place to be, to welcome them and to supply them a chance to be who they need to be.”
And when it comes to Chip’s contribution to OTH, Paul is unstinting.
“Chip has been a blessing: his enthusiasm, his vitality, his creativity and his sense of humour. We get on like a home on fireplace. He’s very clear about what he needs, and he’s additionally acquired a giant coronary heart. He buys into the entire OTH idea. Coming to us as an outsider, he mentioned to us that we had been pretty distinctive. He hadn’t seen something like this earlier than. And he’s simply purchased into it, 100%. What extra might you ask for?”
Isobars is launched on September 1. See www.overthehillbelfast.com for extra info