“Songs About Giant Isopods”

So. The time has come. In winter of 2007, for reasons which have slipped from my grasp, I commissioned a group of musicians to each compose and record a song about the species Bathynomus Giganteus – better known as Giant Isopods.

Seventeen bands wrote seventeen songs, they e-mailed them to me, I made a tracklist, someone designed a cover, one band even made a video and then… nothing.

I have no one to blame but myself. Sure some of the bands dragged their feet with things, but in the end a combination of no longer being able to access a certain online community during the day, and the time it took to get certain things organised (plus recording ‘Fight My Battles For Me’) meant I never felt I had time to do the album justice. The plan had been to put it together and release it as a charity record, with proceeds going to the Marine Conservation Society. It never happened. I can only apologise.

So today, as long-belated attempt to make amends to the musicians who made some, frankly, amazing contributions to a very silly idea for a record, I have decided to just upload the thing so people can finally listen to it.

So here it is:

1. Paul Hawkins – Isopod (I can evolve)
2. Pocus Whiteface – Giant Isopods Ate My Well-Known Brand of Corn Chips
3. Pagan Wanderer Lu – An Isopod Is Cute In The Eyes Of An Isopod
4. Silence at Sea – Gladiators on Repeat
5. Plurals – What Know They Of Bathynomus?
6. Thee Merricks – Chitinous Tease
7. The Jaynes – Crusty The Isopod
8. Stealthtones – Nefarious Crustacean Confectionary Debacle
9. Little My – In Isolation Nothing Makes Sense
10. Werk – Giant Isopods Have Stolen My Gameboy
11. Jam on Bread – Isopod in my bathroom
12. The Silent Clothes – Hold it Together
13. Tom Lee – Two Letters Less Than The Apple
14. Time Space Repeat – Rise of the Giant Isopods
15. Meles Meles – Isopod Love Song
16. Ziggy Bolus & The Thomas Ferguson Band – Me, Myself and Isopod
17. Hello World – Vorarephilia

all songs are (c) 2007 the artists.

Every song on it is a triumph. What originally excited me about putting something like this together was how the hell anyone would react to writing about something so esoteric as what is, essentially, a huge underwater woodlouse. I turned away some perfectly good pieces of music purely because they were essentially instrumentals, I wanted to see what people came up with lyrically. Who knew someone would use Isopods as an analogy for a failing relationship? Or draw a link between them and TV’s Gladiators? Giant woodlice stealing your gameboy? Then there’s Tom Lee’s frankly baffling contribution. As I said already, every band on there rose to the challenge amazingly. I hope you enjoy the album. And I hope it was worth the wait.

I also urge you, if you enjoy the record, please make a donation to the Marine Conservation Society. Looking after sea creatures isn’t the most glamorous work going, that’s all the more reason to help them out. Do it whilst the record’s downloading!

Tags: Giant Isopods