Julian Emery: Songwriter and Producer for McFly, a collab with Taylor Swift & Leaving Session Work

Carl Stanbridge wanted to be a drummer. A keyboard player at his church in Felixstowe said they would get a bass first and he could do drums later. That was thirty years ago, and he is still on bass. He has played for Mavis Staples, Candi Staton, Gloria Gaynor, Jason Donovan and Marti Pellow, read West End shows including Blood Brothers, and spent twenty-six years in the band for Young Voices, the touring show that puts thousands of schoolchildren on an arena stage. He also teaches. He is unusually straight about the parts of the job nobody puts in a prospectus. He does his own accounts, and says the most useful thing in his whole music education was not a masterclass, it was an accountant who came into Bass Tech for one afternoon and showed them how to keep books. He talks about the fifty pounds a week he needed to survive in his twenties, the pension he started far too late, mild tinnitus and two sets of earplugs that are never quite the right one, falling asleep at will before a gig, and the flatness of day two at home after seven weeks on the road. And teaching, which he says sometimes turns into a therapy session, because a twenty-minute lesson may be the only time that week a child gets one to one with an adult who is not their parent.

This week we're in drummer Alex Toff's own studio for a properly honest conversation about life as a session musician. Alex has spent three decades behind the kit for Belinda Carlisle, the late Bonnie Tyler, Imogen Heap, Ed Harcourt, A-ha and many more — on stage, on tour, and increasingly from his own soundproofed garage. We talk about how he actually got the gigs (spoiler: it's never just the playing), the moment he decided to go full-time in October 1996, and what it's really like to lose a decade-long touring gig overnight — recorded just three weeks after Bonnie Tyler's death. Alex is refreshingly candid about the money (mortgages don't pause for gaps in the diary), the physical toll (arthritis, an A-fib scare, and an NHS vs. private healthcare story worth hearing), his favourite bit of gear, and where he genuinely thinks AI is heading for session players. Honest, funny, and a proper insight into the reality behind the glamour. Our Guest: Alex Toff Website: https://www.alextoffdrums.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alextoffdrums Website: https://www.talkingnotes.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearetalkingnotes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearetalkingnotes X: https://x.com/talkingnoteshq TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetalkingnotes Music by Julian Emery Website: https://www.julianemerymusic.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianemerymusic Mentioned in this episode: Belinda Carlisle, Bonnie Tyler, Imogen Heap, Ed Harcourt, a-ha, AC/DC, Billy Cobham, Jeff Beck, Steve Lukather, Toto, Queen, The Blow Monkeys (Tony Kiley), The Shadows (Brian Bennett), Lionel Richie, Take That, River Phoenix, The Viper Room, James Nisbet, Matt Round (ABBA Voyage), Suno. Gear: Ludwig Black Magic, Ludwig Black Beauty, Premier, Remo Ambassador X, Shure SM57, Hammond, Fender Rhodes.

Matt Round has spent three decades as one of the UK's most in-demand touring bassists. He's MD for James Morrison, bass player in the ABBA Voyage band, and a session player whose credits include Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze. We talk about the freelance life most people never see: swapping heads between wildly different gigs, the unglamorous admin that keeps a touring career afloat, and what it's like when avatars are the singers in the band. He also explains why he still takes the odd £150 pub gig, how he stays grounded after decades on the road, and which instrument got away. Honest, funny and a proper look behind the glamour. 🎧 Talking Notes: real conversations with the musicians behind the music. Our Guest: Matt Round https://www.instagram.com/mattroundbass Website: https://www.talkingnotes.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearetalkingnotes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearetalkingnotes X: https://x.com/talkingnoteshq TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetalkingnotes Music by Julian Emery Website: https://www.julianemerymusic.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianemerymusic Mentioned in this episode: James Morrison, ABBA Voyage, ABBA (Benny Andersson), Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze, Van Morrison, Gary Barlow, Mungo Jerry (Ray Dorset), Adam Ant (Tom Edwards), Neal Wilkinson, Carl Stanbridge, The Cult, Cradle of Filth (Dani Filth), Prince, Funkadelic, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Kiss. Places and bodies: Glastonbury, Indigo at The O2, Goldsmiths, Musicians' Union, Children in Need. Gear: Fender Precision Bass, Fender Vintera, Gibson EB2, Wal Basses, Leslie speaker, Logic Pro.

Matt Prior has spent 28 years as a touring and session guitarist, most notably with Bonnie Tyler, but this conversation goes way beyond the gear and the gigs.In this episode, Matt talks about the Clapton solo that changed the course of his life, the audition he lost because of how he looked, and the phone call in a Tesco queue in Aylesbury that changed everything. He's honest about the highs and lows of life as a working musician, including the reality of streaming royalties (500,000 streams, 17 pence), and shares stories most guitarists only tell each other, from a Jimmy Page name-drop to playing for the head of the Russian mafia. This is The Rig, The Road, The Reckoning - real conversations with the musicians behind the music, from Talking Notes.