Joe Payne
Capture Light, Rise and Fall, Circles in Time, Kintsugi
I read Prog Magazine (of course) and when I saw that someone called Joe Payne had won Best Male Vocalist two years running in the Readers’ Poll, I thought I would check him out.
I found some YouTube clips of Joe singing with The Enid. Both Libby and I were amazed at his range and the quality and tone of his voice; we immediately booked tickets to go and see him live. After the show we met up and had a brief chat; I can’t recall exactly but I probably did ask him if he ever did sessions. Fast forward eight months, having left the band Joe was now pursuing a solo career. I made contact again to see if he might be interested in collaborating on some songs. Having agreed, he worked on One Race; it sounded so good I immediately asked if he would do Capture Light. I knew that song needed a special voice to bring it to life and technically it required someone with a good vocal range. Luckily Joe has a five octave range so I knew he could deliver. The results were beyond expectation – spine tingling! By now I was working on the final song for the album and again Joe agreed to sing on what would become Tears from the Sun.
When the time came to record new material, I already knew Joe would be perfect for Heretic and The Golden Thread. While we were sorting out vocal arrangements for these, I asked if he would do me a favour and put down a guide vocal for Dark Arts. He kindly agreed and when I heard it there was no point in using anyone else! Being just a few feet away and hearing him sing the end section was something I will always remember.
Joe is a perfectionist and that is apparent in his approach; his vocal contributions add so much to the ‘emotion’ of the songs which really elevates the material. He also paid me the great compliment of including the song Capture Light in his live shows.