We arrived at Fairview Studios just after midday on Friday 18^th May, after a five hour drive.  My pal Derek Walklate accompanied me.  I had met Derek a couple of years earlier at the Sundaze Festival.

Fairview Studios is tucked away down a lane.  It's basically a couple of small rooms in an outbuilding at the bottom of someones garden!  But there we met John Spence who has engineered many of Bill's album (Atom Shop, Practically Wired, CLV, and Noise Candy etc etc) A charming guy who has become a close friend of Bill's over the years, made us feel welcome and told us Bill was on his way over.

Bill arrived soon after.  He was relaxed, happy and looking very well.  If I was to take one thought away from this day it would be Bill laughing.

It is very difficult to remember everything that was said over the next most enjoyable 3 hours that Derek and I spent in Bill's company.

I firstly did a short interview with him but unfortunately for some reason my dat recorder didn’t record (damn it! –my apologies to everyone)

Bill had only recently heard of the way in which the Deal had been arranged and the money raised from the fans.  It was a great surprise to him when I told him that we had in fact raised £4018 instead of the £3000 which had been the "price agreed"- I had asked Paul Page at Lenin to keep it quiet.  He read with interest the locations across the USA and UK where donations had been sent in.   All those who donated, by the way, I gave him your cheques in the original envelopes as many had also enclosed notes/letters to him. A super gesture from Bill is that he may be sending a surprise to all those contributors, but more of that later!   Thanks again to all those generous people who sent me their money who for the record were: Michael Grime, Ian Gilby, A Horrod, M Bostock, Tim Barr, Derek Walklate, Oliver Stelling, Bill Docherty, George Best, Michael Cardwell, George Skraznas, P Colombe, J Hahn, Robert Weissburg, Eric Wenner, Eric Tilley, and Diane Boltoy (some done from memory so excuse spelling mistakes but that’s memory babe)

Bill said Noise Candy mastering was complete.  He now had to deal with the artwork which he has all the ideas for in his head but has not yet started, Bill has a toy robot which he is to photograph for the cover of King Frankenstein. Hopefully there will be a booklet with lyrics (only 1 instrumental album included) but Bill has yet to sit down and hand write out all the lyrics by listening back to all the tracks!! Looks like a very late 2000 release then I suppose.

The "Whistling While The World Turns" album is nearly finished - there is a slight delay on the printing as Yuka Fuji is finishing off the Artwork.

Bill also has a 7^th "secret" album of Piano and Vibraphone pieces - I think he said 19 tracks long which should also get released.

Not all of Bill's Mac gear has yet arrived - he joked that he just about mastered turning the computer on but nothing more!  Having surrendered the analogue gear and not yet being set up with an alternative recording set up Bill is dedicating his time to some mastering the DVD.

At all my meetings with Bill I have always been nervous about keeping him too long or boring him and we gave him several opportunities to call matters to a close but he didn’t take any of them!  We talked about so many things with John Spence and Bill.  He confirmed his desire to play live again.  Robert Fripp has encouraged him to do so but there just isnt any funding for this from Discipline.  Bill said he had even started to write a list of a few old Be Bop and older material to do.  His first on the list was funnily enough "Contemplation"( because its only 2 chords!) [for those who don't know, Stewart recorded a cover of Bill's "Contemplation" on the Multiplex tribute CD!]

Just as I thought things were coming to a close, we told Bill we were going for a pint, he said he would come and take us to the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferribie. Why?   Well, because it was where Be Bop Deluxe played their first ever gig!

So 20 minutes later there we were, Bill's old Analogue Tape recorders in the boot of my car, following Bill's Mercedes through the lanes of Yorkshire on route to "The Duke" (sad amps and crashed guitars played badly at the Duke !!) - was this real???

We sat and talked in the Duke for yet another hour plus with Bill and John about loads of stuff.  Remember the story about Lisa? [Rosenberg, old flame of Bill's, inspired "15th of July (Invisibles)", "Love's Immortal Shining Angel", and other songs] Well, there is another track on Noise Candy where each letter of L>I>S>A> is the first of each word of the title. (I however cannot remember what it was !)

We talked about Harold Budd, about what the fans meant to him, about his past Cars, taking his Mum to the Races in his Rolls Royce many years ago, recording techniques, writing simple songs, The Priory of Sion, the Internet, Be Bop, The Hayward Gallery, Sakamoto, South of France, Jean Cocteau, Sylvian and many other things.

Bill took us to the hall on the first floor and showed us where the Band played.   Bill was full of nostalgic stories which were very entertaining.  We took a few more photos outside and then we said our goodbyes.

We at no time felt hurried by Bill,he was most generous with his time and his openess. It was another memorable meeting - a thoroughly enjoyable big day out

Stewart Gray kindly asked me to accompany him on the long journey to Hull last week. The timing was unfortunate with many work commitments that day but there are few opportunities in life to meet up with the person who's music I have been listening to for 25 years and whose career and life I have followed closely and empathised with all of this years.

We arrived at Fairview Studios at lunchtime after our 320 mile journey to be greeted by the amiable John Spence. The studios may be a thing of the past in the near future as the owner has plans to sell the property. John is hoping that something can be agreed beforehand to save the studio from redevelopment.

Enter Bill Nelson, looking well and lean with the usual charismatic smile. I have spoken many times with people who have known Bill in the past and all have said what a genuine and generous man he is and this is exactly how we found him this day. He told us of his frustrating morning so far in trying to familiarise himself with his new computer which was to be used primarily for film work. Bill (under advice) had bought the software which is used by the BBC and quickly realised that it would take him quite a while to get to grips with it. We all agreed that professional help may be the answer (for the computer not Bill's sanity!!).

Bill spoke of the delay in the artwork for Whistling While The World Turns and sympathized with Paul Page who could not get a high enough resolution for the printers to provide the required quality. The artwork has now been passed to Yuka Fuji for completion which will result in a small delay in the release. Meanwhile the mastering of Noise Candy is complete. All 121 songs have been done and Bill must now sit down to transcribe the lyrics for the box set. The six CD's are almost all double length and are as varied a chocolates in a chocolate box! From the metal guitar sounds of King Frankenstein to the Texan swing elements of another CD. The box set will come with a booklet complete with lyrics and should be in our hands by late autumn. The artwork is complete in Bill's head and should be able to be finished relatively quickly. Bill had some bad news in the fact that the touring work he had spoken of with Harold Budd would not come to fruition although he would probably contribute some guitar work to the album. Apparently Harold's management believed he had referred to Bill Laswell for the tour and had arranged this only to be corrected by Harold but it was all too late at this point. Unfortunately Bill was left California dreaming.

Stewart presented Bill with the cheques from the contributors and handed them over to Bill complete with names, address and any other correspondence. Bill thanked the contributors and in particular Michael Grimes who had showed extreme generosity in making this possible. Bill told us how he suffered greatly from not giving enough of his time to paperwork and correspondence. He admitted to total failure when writing a half page note to someone but would then, a few months later, write several pages to a friend. He hoped to find a suitable way to show his gratitude to each contributor. Stewart showed a great flair for journalism and would have been a model professional but unfortunately he had problems with his DAT and thus the interview was not recorded.

Bill spoke of his desire to tour with a band but realises that this is unlikely to happen although it's still there in the back of his mind. He told Stewart how much he enjoyed listening to Multiplex and was very impressed with Stewart's contribution. He too would commence a live gig with 'Contemplation' as it was so easy with minimal practice sessions required with a band. Bill and Stewart spoke of different chords which floated by me (being the non-musician) although Bill invited Stewart to a future sound check to show him how to play 'Out of Touch'!! Bill said that the secret was to keep it all very simple and he had moved from making things more complicated than necessary. The layering then made it all sound far more complex than it really was. We also spoke about tribute bands and in particular Sunburst Deluxe, he was very impressed with their quality but was slightly baffled as to why they should use their undoubtless talents to copy his material in a such a way. When I asked Bill if he had any intentions to sell his Cocteau-esque artwork that he had done in the past, he said it was too unoriginal and again referred to the style of tribute bands.

We then decided a trip to the pub would be welcome. After loading the newly acquired gear into Stewarts car we followed Bill along the country roads to his old haunt. This was a very surreal moment to be following Bill Nelson in his car to a pub. We went to the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferribie. The pub had been modernised (although not too badly) and was the venue for Be Bop Deluxes first ever concert and residency. The barmaid was an old friend of the late Ian Parkins' wife and used to attend those early concerts. Bill sipped his mineral water (having to attend a party later that evening) and touched on a few hundred topics in the couple of hours we were there. He spoke of the trial of hitting the big 50 last year and how much it had affected his views on life. Without dwelling on the darker side of getting old we moved swiftly on. I stated that I had seen a barrel in a bargoda (not sure if that's the correct word for a Spanish sherry factory!) in Jerez De La Frontera which had been signed by Jean Cocteau with the words -'to the blood of kings'. I believed it referred to the sherry but Bill explained that it referred to the bloodline of Christ (Priory of Sion) and we should read the book 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'. I asked Bill if he planned to revisit Japan in the near future with Emiko but said that he was planning on a family holiday in the South of France in the near future as Emi had never been there. He spoke of the beauty of Menton and the Cocteau museum there.

Bill continued to open up and tell us many stories (including his romance with Lisa Rosenberg which was initiated in the very pub in which we were sat) and took us to show the attached venue which saw the rise of Be Bop Deluxe all those years ago. Meeting someone with whom we hold in such high esteem can often be a disappointing experience to many especially in an industry such as this. However, the day only added to those good things which people had said about Bill Nelson.

Stewart and I sat and watched Bill drive away and reflected on what a great day it had been. The thought of a 320 mile drive on a Friday evening did nothing to dampen our spirits after a day like we'd just experienced.