CHROMIUM DOCKYARD

< Beef Scarecrow

All the Intros, All At Once Norman (I’ve Dropped My Cup of Tea) My Venetian Blind Shut Up Mum Touching Robots in Paris Blackdown Flat Deep Perv Beat The Bean Factory Oil on Mars? My Face

GENERAL INFO Gary’s fourth (or fifth) full-length album, 13 (or 19, or maybe even 22) years in the making. Released exclusively on Bandcamp on 18 December 2025. RECORDING VENUES & DATES Walthamstow, East London: Apr-May 2007 Poplar, East London: 16 Jan - 14 Feb 2013; 21-24 May 2013; 9 Jan - 19 Mar 2014; 26-30 Jul 2014; 10 & 11 Nov 2014; 6 Jan - 3 Feb 2015; 20 Mar 2015; 7 Apr 2015; 15 & 16 Apr 2015; 12 Aug 2015; 3-25 Nov 2015; 4 & 5 Feb 2016; 10 May 2016; 21-29 Jun 2016; 20 & 21 Jul 2016; 3 Feb 2022; 21 Mar - 15 Sep 2022; 27 Nov - 21 Dec 2023; 22 Apr 2024; 12 Nov - 3 Dec 2024; 28 Dec 2024; 21 Jan - 25 Jul 2025; 1 Sep - 12 Nov 2025. Somewhere in the region of 400 working days. On my own. COVER IMAGE Despite the apparently infinite recording period, the cover came together fairly quickly. The idea was to photograph Gary over the course of a day in a range of different costumes from the past – clothes I used to wear that no longer fit, to emphasise the sense that this is a middle aged man going back and trying on old selves. I thought the eventual image would be a parody of the cover for Polaroid Suitcase, with the same guy in the same clothes holding a similar mannequin, but it’s 22 years later and he looks shit now. Thankfully, we were alert to the machinations of the improvisational art fairy, and this shot of Gary cowering from a lamp – an accident that evolved while experimenting with lighting states – quickly leapt out as a favourite. In a beautiful example of team work, Katy came up with the initial concept, then I spent a couple of days mucking around with it until I was convinced. I could go into more detail but it would spoil the magic. You can see a whole bunch of other possible alternatives here. THE MUSIC An eclectic collection of eleven pop songs and one experimental documentary, simultaneously more ambitious and more accessible than anything Gary Le Strange has attempted before. A journey through his fractured psyche, via his most terrifying apocalyptic visions and his innermost emotional depths. THE RECORDING PROCESS It should have been straightforward. It was just me singing over electronic backing tracks I made on Cubase, the same way I’ve been making music since 2005. But I’ve never been one to make things easy on myself and this album had the most tortuous and protracted recording history of anything I’ve ever attempted. The first lyrics, for My Face (the line ‘My face is like a sparking lump of electric meat’ and several others that follow), are from an unfinished piece I wrote for Polaroid Suitcase in 2003. The first instrumental demos (for My Face and Dancing on the Autobahn) hail from the Glamoronica sessions in 2005. I started Norman in 2006 and recorded early versions of both Blackdown and Flat for my other abandoned album, Darkest Hits, in 2007. The oldest bit of audio on Chromium Dockyard is that perfect guitar solo in Blackdown, just before the final pair of choruses. But the album didn’t come together as a concept until early 2013. I’d resurrected Gary in 2012, with the intention of making his entire discography (which had previously been physical only) available online. I hoped this would be a springboard to new material, but I wanted to deal with unfinished business first. I had this half-finished album, Glamoronica, which I’d written songs and made backing tracks for, plus the stuff I’d written for Darkest Hits and a whole bunch of other unrealised ideas. I considered making them all one project, but I realised I had enough good songs to separate it into two, with Glamoronica as its own thing and the rest collated as a bunch of brand new recordings, provisionally called Chromium Dockyard. I was determined not to fail in the same ways I’d failed on previous projects and made a pact with myself that I’d do everything right this time. This meant: a) Making sure all the lyrics were written before I recorded anything b) Recording demos of everything before I decided on the running order c) Generally getting my arse in gear and getting the fuck on with it I genuinely thought if I did all these things, I could finish the album by the summer of 2014. And all the evidence suggested I was right. I’d already recorded the demos by the middle of February 2013 and released all my old albums - including a six-track version of Glamoronica, with new vocals - at regular intervals over the course of the year. There was a brief interlude where I got offered the chance to write the music for a series called Crackanory on Dave, but that was great experience and earned me enough well-needed cash to get me through Christmas. I was well on track to start work in January and, if I just stayed focused, I could rattle through it in no time. Then my mate Gareth offered me the chance to write the soundtrack to his first feature film. I knew it would delay me a bit so I was planning to say no until I read the script for The Ghoul and realised it was going to be phenomenal. I’m so glad I changed my mind. It’s possibly the best professional experience I’ve had as a composer - I learned so much and it led to some of the best music I’ve ever made. I can’t imagine how much I’d regret not having done it. No matter what way I look at it, it was the right decision. But it delayed Chromium Dockyard. I did the film in three or four blocks over the course of the next 18 months, between the second series of Crackanory and a pilot for a new show called Murder in Successville, trying to slot Gary in the gaps. I reckoned that, if I wanted to stay on top of it but remain practical (and make a public display of intent), I should record a couple of singles first while I wait for a bigger chunk of time to finish the album. Norman was the first one out of the gate - intended as the first track on the album, it made sense people should hear that one first - but it turned out to be extraordinarily ambitious. It sounds silly now, because it only took three weeks to record and mix it, but at the time that seemed unacceptably long. Especially when my professional work usually required me to write and record about twenty minutes of music in two or three days. So on the one hand, I was learning to make music ever more quickly, then as my skills improved and my standards got higher, my own music (which I obviously thought of as inherently more important) was taking more and more time to get right. This created a schism in me, in which I started to resent myself for taking so long over something that needed doing yesterday. But in fact, looking back on it, I was absolutely right to take more time over this stuff. It was way more complex than any of the stuff I did for TV and required a different way of working to get right. Either way, Norman was a production triumph, Gary’s most accomplished piece of work to date. I released it as a single on November 25th, 2014. 2015 was a great year. I finished the Ghoul soundtrack, Murder in Successville got the green light, Crackanory went to Series 3 and somehow I still managed to slot in two more Gary Le Strange singles, each with their own pop video. I was gigging again and consistently trying out new material on stage: as well as Norman and Shut Up Mum, I sang My Venetian Blind and Oil on Mars several times. It’s obvious I was still intending to finish the album, no matter how long it took. And then it died. I don’t know exactly what happened. I was still very busy - increasingly so - but determined to keep making the album between jobs. I didn’t want to keep releasing singles but, since the album itself was taking so long, I thought I might be able to release it as several EPs and compile it into an album later. I spent a bit of time in 2016 working on four tracks for a potential EP called ‘Four Songs About Identity and Fashion’ (see the cover concept below), but I wasn’t very happy with any of it. I can’t tell you whether it was overwork, burnout, ADHD or a general sense that the tide had turned and the dog had had its day, but the whole thing suddenly seemed irrelevant. When I got my next chance, I started working on a completely different project instead (which I also never finished - there’s a pattern forming here). Gary’s last public appearance was on February 2nd 2016 at the Distraction Club with Mitch Benn and Kirsty Newton singing Heroes in tribute to Bowie, who had just died, devastating everyone. My own last gig was at Karaoke Circus later that same month, singing Bowie’s Fantastic Voyage in another tribute with Phil Whelans, Steve Evans and my wife Katy. I’ve only stepped on stage once since. After my last recording session in July 2016, Gary was actually, physically, clinically dead.

Obviously he didn’t die, not completely. Every now and again, I’d get drunk and listen to one or two of his old tracks and wail about how things might have been, but as the years went on and the dream became ever more distant, the prospect of it seemed less and less possible. Towards the end of the decade, I ended up suffering a protracted nervous breakdown and lost all my enthusiasm for making music. Every time I tried felt like wading through treacle. So when the TV industry started dying, I lost all my regular employment and, when that beautiful big Covid lockdown happened, giving me all the time I ever needed to get back into Le Strange and finish what I started, instead I spent my days learning how to cook better and making a website about my childhood (which I also didn’t finish - see what I mean about patterns?) Then, sometime early in 2022, I had a spurt of inspiration. I realised it was possible to put this creaky old stuff out there, if only I could frame it in the right way. It was hard to get started, but I was curious to see how much my voice had changed and set about re-recording all the vocals. Then I started adding new instrumental lines and preparing to mix the album. 64 days in total I did that year. But by September, I ran out of steam and ditched it all over again. But it kept coming back. I nailed Flat in a few laser- focused sessions at the end of 2023, and Oil on Mars towards the end of 2024. I came to understand that, if I could only stay on it and give each track the time it deserved, it didn’t have to be old and creaky at all. The running order kept changing - for a long time I didn’t want to include the singles, and I Am a Video never entered the conversation - but it was only when I decided to do the eleven-and-a-half-mnute intro that everything fell into place. The deadline kept changing - first spring, then summer, then October, and finally Christmas. But I did it. I finished Chromium Dockyard, and now anything is possible. THOUGHTS & FEELINGS It’s impossible to work on something for this amount of time without at some point falling completely out of love with it. There were times when I’d rather have pulled my own nails out than listen to any of these songs again. But as this year wore on and the final forms of these songs emerged, I’ve found them all increasingly listenable. Even just a couple of months ago, I still wasn’t sure I’d got it right. But now I’ve signed the whole thing off, I just can’t get enough of it. I’ve been listening to it over and over while writing this page and it gets better every time. The truth is, this project’s been a millstone around my neck for 13 years, a heavier burden than I’ve ever forced myself to carry before. And now it’s finally coming out, I’m not really sure exactly how I’ll feel. I thought I’d just feel exhausted and quite right, I do. But as I write this, it’s less than a week till the release date and I’m genuinely excited for people to hear this. Gary Le Strange is back. And even though, at this rate, it’ll be 2039 before we hear the follow-up, I’m confident enough to say this will be a tough one to beat. It’s my favourite Gary Le Strange album by a mile, and I hope it will be yours too. BEST TRACK Sure, there are some songs I like more than others. But for me having made them, it’s always about the gulf between what I intended and what I actually achieved. Other more neutral listeners (presumably your good self) remain unburdened by this. For the moment, I’d like to keep it that way. Besides, right now, they all sound pretty good to me.