In 2018 The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt released a thirty track album called ‘The Custodian’ featuring acoustic versions of thirty songs garnered from his four-decade-long career as a singer/songwriter.
The album’s title was inspired by a conversation Hunt had with BBC 6 Music’s very own Tom Robinson when they played a show together in New York City in the early 2000s.
Tom asked Miles who it was that he then considered had true ownership of the songs he had written over the years. Reasoning by that point that the true owner of the songs was now with Hunt’s audience and not their original author. As it was those people that had taken the songs with them throughout their life’s journeys.
As Tom saw it Hunt was now merely The Custodian, the person charged with making sure the songs, when performed live, were treated with the respect the audience expected.
“I loved that idea and it stayed with me for years. It was with this idea that I recorded the first Custodian album in 2018”
says Hunt.
During the 2020 lockdown Hunt performed a series of Facebook Live shows, averaging 2 to 3,000 viewers on each occasion. This inspired him to record a second volume of ‘The Custodian’, featuring a further thirty acoustic versions of songs cherry-picked from his thirty-five-year career as a recording artist.
Hunt says of his Facebook Live experiences “I only lost a handful of shows due to the CV19 lockdown, unlike a fair few of my fellow musician friends I lost very little income, I was fortunate. So I did my Facebook Live shows in the spirit of bringing a little cheer into the lives of the wonderful people that have stayed with me all of these years. And I have to say they were very emotional experiences. There were a lot of people that were contacting me during the shows that were having a really rough time. I felt blessed that they chose to share that with me and extremely humbled that I was able to give them a bit of relief from their troubles.”
‘The Custodian 2’ features songs from The Wonder Stuff’s mighty arsenal as well songs from Hunt’s other band, Vent 414, and records he has made with Erica Nockalls as well as his solo releases.
In addition to the CD release of ‘’The Custodian 2’ both ‘Custodian’ albums are to be released as a vinyl box set – sixty acoustic gems in one beautifully packaged release.
Here’s the full tracklisting;
‘The Custodian’
Speakeasy
It’s Not True…
Unbearable
Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More
Can’t Shape Up
Them, Big Oak Trees
The Size Of A Cow
Caught In My Shadow
Maybe
On The Ropes
Sing The Absurd
I Think I Must’ve Had Something Really Useful To Say
Room 512, All The News That’s Fit To Print
Fixer
Fits & Starts
Everything Is Not Okay
Flapping On The Pier
Escape From Rubbish Island
Was I Meant To Be Sorry?
Tricks Of The Trade
We Hold Each Other Up
Falsified
Were You There?
Steady As You Go
Right Side Of The Turf
You Can’t Go Back (To Once Upon A Time)
Don’t You Ever
Good Deeds & Highs
The Sweetest Of Bitterest Ends
Custodian
‘The Custodian 2’
Down Here
Am A Monster
Meaner Than Mean
A Wish Away
It’s Yer Money I’m After, Baby
Who Wants To Be The Disco King?
Piece Of Sky
Radio Ass Kiss
Cartoon Boyfriend
Play
Welcome To The Cheap Seats
Here Comes Everyone
Sleep Alone
Me, My Mom, My Dad & My Brother
Ten Trenches Deep
A Great Drinker
Hush
Hot Love Now!
Life Before You
Immortalising Chase
A Yes & A No
Smoked
Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight
The Sun Goes Down On Manor Road
The Cake
Friendly Company
The Kids From The Green
When The Currency Was Youth
Don’t Anyone Dare Give A Damn
In My Sights
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