Hi Katy, My question is a 2 part question for anyone in the band that wants to answer. I want to know how long it took them to generate the material on the first DD release, from concept to completed work. I understand John and Nick had a couple of tunes that eventually made it onto Rio but as far the eight tracks on the original release go ("Is there something I should know?" appeared later on the US release I think), what was the total time spent creating the music? 1 year? 4 years? 7 months? My second question is, if it took awhile on the first, did they feel any pressure time-wise on Rio? Thank you, Erik

(A group answer) WE CAN'T GIVE YOU A CONCISE ANSWER ON THIS QUESTION. WE DO REMEMBER THE WRITING AND RECORDING BEING FAIRLY RAPID. THE WHOLE RECORDING PROCESS TOOK LESS THAN TWO MONTHS. MOST OF THE SESSIONS WERE DONE AT CHIPPING NORTON AND RED BUS STUDIOS. WE ALSO HAD A FEW UNSUCCESSFUL DAYS AT ABBEY ROAD. SOME ELEMENTS OF THE SONGS DID PREVIOUSLY EXIST. SIMON HAD SEVERAL LYRICS, AND BETWEEN US, WE HAD SOME OF THE MUSIC, BUT THE BULK OF THE WRITING WAS PROBABLY DONE WITHIN A 3 MONTH PERIOD. AS IT WAS NEVER CONSOLIDATED, WE WERE USUALLY REHEARSING FOR A LIVE SHOW AND ALSO HAPPENED TO WRITE A SONG DURING THE DAY. WHEN YOU ARE A NEW BAND, YOU ARE FORCED TO WRITE ENOUGH SONGS TO BE ABLE TO PERFORM A SHOW LASTING 30 - 40 MINUTES. THE ONLY OTHER OPTION WOULD BE TO PLAY COVERS, SO WE DID HAVE A REAL INCENTIVE TO COMPLETE ENOUGH MATERIAL AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.

REGARDING THE "RIO" ALBUM, THE ONLY REAL PRESSURE WE FELT WAS TO INSURE THE SONGS STOOD UP TO THE ONES WE HAD WRITTEN ON THE FIRST RECORD. WE NEVER STOPPED WRITING, SO WE HAD ALREADY GOTTEN "RIO," "MY OWN WAY" AND "SAVE A PRAYER" VERY EARLY ON. WE AGAIN WORKED VERY EFFICIENTLY IN THE STUDIO, AND TOWARDS THE END OF THE SESSIONS, ACTUALLY HAD TWO STUDIOS RUNNING AT THE SAME TIME SO WE COULD COMPLETE THE RECORD ON TIME TO MEET OUR VIDEO FILMING SCHEDULE IN SRI LANKA.