2005
Another Xmas and, although the song may not have reached
Christmas No.1, it did get into the charts and it was featured on
TV. Everyone was delighted, but then...
"As soon as Boxing Day dawned we realised that, despite all
the pre Xmas work and lots of new fans, we had nothing else to
offer. If Rockford was to become anything more than a bit of
Christmas fun, we had to do more!"
"We had already developed a story about creatures on an
Island called Perpetuity but it took until a fateful night, just after Christmas 2005 for the story of
Perpetuity/Infinity and Rockford to come together into Rockford's Rock Opera!" And so, to cut a long story short, early in 2005 the first Rockford 'sessions' took
place using hired equipment installed in the Sweetapple's attic and
engineered by their good friend, Sean.
At first Matthew just recorded songs - Roaming with Rockford
and The Tale of the Cocklebur Ick were two of the first - but
then we started to put the story together and to work out how
the songs would flow within it.
"By Easter 2005 we had completed what was to become the
first version of Rockford's Rock Opera, narrated by Elaine.
It was about 30 minutes long but, even in this draft form,
showed the promise of what was to come."
"It was clear from our first version of the story that, much as
we had a clear idea of the story, we would need a real
scriptwriter, actor and comedian to take the tale forward.
Lucky then that we knew Steve Punt!"
Sean spent 2 days sitting in the attic perfecting Rockford's 'wind' noises - which were later to become a trademark of The Herculous.
