A year on from Uncle John's Band's Small Town CD, Red Corolla is my first solo release in four years. I have chosen to put out a six-track EP, rather than a full-length album, as I would like the focus to be on the title song, in terms of airplay. The EP format also allows an outlet for songs which might not fit stylistically within an album.

Why a Red Corolla?
Rock and pop are littered with songs about pink Cadillacs, blue T-Birds, "drove my Chevy to the levee…", etc. Yet the most popular car in the world today is the Toyota Corolla. I thought about this while driving one day - in our red Corolla. Later that day, while visiting someone in a psychiatric unit, I found myself alone in a TV lounge for a few minutes. A nurse came up and introduced herself, thinking I was a patient. On the way home, I began to think - what if I was a patient? What if I hadn't been allowed the simple pleasure of going home at the end of the afternoon? The song practically wrote itself after that.

The Day That Peace Broke Out
It is said that war is good for the economy - everyone finds work in munitions factories, shipyards, hospitals and, of course, in the front line. I imagined a war coming to an end and a public feeling of despair. "What do we do now?" I originally wrote it when Jim Bolger was Prime Minister. I changed the PM's gender when Jenny Shipley took over. I also wanted a suggestion of Thatcherism, which is partly why I chose to refer to "the pound in your pocket" rather than "dollar" - it also has the effect of making the song seem to come from another time, which I liked.

A Cappella Blues
On New Year's Day 1999, I sprained my wrist and was unable to play the guitar for six weeks. This happened during a lengthy break in the Uncle John's Band recordings and I was itching to do something in the studio. Once again, government policy (still National back then) inspired the content of the song.

I made a four-second vocal drum loop and built it up from there. The "harmonica" solo was sung through a guitar effects pedal. And I did the 12-bar bassline in one breath!

Favourite Son
When I knew Alan Muggeridge was going to die, I was determined that I would not write a song about him, as these things rarely turn out well and can sound forced. However, the day he died, these beautiful open chords came to me. Two days later, I tried matching this tune to two half finished lyrics I had been working on. I used about four lines from those and the rest turned up out of the blue. And despite myself, I had written a song about Alan.

I invited Mike Harding to play the harmonica part. Mike was very close to Alan, which I felt was important with such a personal song.

Technical note: My original version was in F but Mike didn't have an F harmonica. Rather than buy him one, I re-recorded it in G.

Scatter My Ashes
One of the first songs recorded at my home studio, Little Pink, I previously released this on Renaissance Man, in 1996. With hindsight, I wish I'd added more vocals and had an acoustic guitar filling out the backing groove. So I did and here it is. Of course, if you did climb St Bees Head and attempt to scatter my ashes in the Irish Sea, you'd get a mouthful of ashes. So please, don't try.

Her Face Lights Up The Train
Recorded in 1993 at Rowan Studio, I was never satisfied with how I edited the train effect at the end. The last time I visited Alan, three weeks before he died, I copied some of my studio masters onto DAT to bring home. Once I had it at home, I knew I had to get that train right…

Alan makes an accidental cameo appearance on this track. While I was recording the acoustic guitar, he closed the control room door. You can hear it during the intro. I can still picture him through the glass, walking back to the mixing desk.