Last year, Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymond has released a memoir chronicling his musical life, entitled In one ear: the Cocteau twins, Ivor and me via Nine Eight Books in the UK. The book was released yesterday (November 18) through Bonnier Books and the contents tell the story of Raymond joining the famous pop group 4AD.
The memoir begins with the bassist and keyboardist's early years, exploring his life as the son of famed composer Ivor Raymond. It also details his involvement in This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, as well as how he first met the latter band through a “chance meeting”.
Raymond, who worked at the famous record store Beggars Banquet (with British indie labels 4AD and Beggars Banquet upstairs), was there the day before the opening when a trio of Scottish musicians knocked on the door asking Ivo-Watts Russell, who ran 4AD, wanting to hand over a tape to the music director.
Raymond told the musicians that Russell would not be there, and they quietly asked, “Could you give him this tape? This is our first record.”
In 1983, Will Heggie left the band and the remaining two founding members, Robin Guthrie and vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, moved to London, allowing Raymond to see more of the band.
He soon began attending their concerts and hanging out with the two of them. “I went to their tour that year in a few UK cities, usually with Ivo, and after one show we were chatting and Guthrie mentioned that he liked being in a studio but wanted to record in one without the engineers fussing around him. I invited them both to come and use this little sixteen-track studio that I helped out at at the weekends in Camden Town.”
During that studio session, Fraser and Guthrie said to Raymonde, “We thought you wanted to write some songs with us?” And the rest is history.
