LISTEN: Chris Thompson Releases New Single 'Blood On His Hands'
Best known as the lead vocalist for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
By: Sarah Jae Leiber Oct. 08, 2020
Best known as the lead vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band and their major hit "Blinded By The Light," legendary singer Chris Thompson has penned a seething new message about the current US administration with his single "Blood On His Hands."
Says Chris, "I think the meaning is pretty clear. The leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world cannot tell the truth and seems unable to stand up to or carry out his responsibilities, resulting in a tremendous amount of hardship and a lot of needless deaths. He had his chance and has come up short so often and everything is falling around his ears."
A phone call from Chris's uncle set the recording of the new song in motion. Says Chris, "I keep Quicktime files of all the little ideas that pop into my head while I'm practicing or playing around on my guitar. During a call with my 88 year old uncle in New Zealand, we talked about the current situation regarding Covid in his country and mine, eventually getting on to the developing situation in America and how it was being dealt with. He was appalled by the President and remarked, 'that man's got Blood on his hands.' As I was listening back to some of my latest Quick time files, I found a perfect musical accompaniment to that lyric idea, which became the chorus for our song. My wife and I worked on the lyric together, took a little while to get it expressing how we felt."
Recording it because of the lockdown situation was difficult so Chris first put down a rough drum track and started recording the guitars. He farmed the bass part out to an old band mate from New Zealand, Sid Limbert, drums were done in Norway by Steinar Krokstad. Keyboards were done in Belgium by the 3rd writer of the music Pieter Akkermans. Background vocals and lap steel were done in California by Jesse Siebenberg and other vocals in Spain by Hille Belemans and in England by Lance Ellington. Chris's vocals were done at home. Although complicated, he was really happy how it turned out. The track was mixed in Belgium where Chris resides with his wife and two daughters.
Listen to the new single here:
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