Following on from a collaboration with Saint Judes’ Infirmary that began in December 2006 (see News item), Vettriano was invited by the band to record a spoken-word piece for, Tacoma Radar, a track on their second album, This has been the death of us. You can listen to Tacoma Radar and Goodbye Jack Vettriano, on our Press & Media page.
The writer, Ian Rankin, was approached by Saint Judes’ after they had read in an interview that he had been listening to their first album, Happy Healthy Lucky Month. Rankin wrote lyrics for the band and performed them himself in a spoken-word piece for the track, ‘At The Foot Of The Walk’, which the band describe as a love letter to Edinburgh.
Rankin and Vettriano, both from Fife and of similar age and background, had known each other for a while before spending a day with the band in their recording studio. The two men share a love of music but there are other links that form the basis of their mutual admiration and friendship, which Ian Rankin discusses in the Foreword that he went on to write for Pavilion Books’ new publication on Vettriano, ‘Studio Life’.
Click HERE to read an interview with Saint Judes’ about their forthcoming album.